How would you remove tree stumps before internal combustion engines created automated options? One way is with a stump puller, like the one owned by the family of Guy Temple. He donated his old fashioned tool to the Pasto Agricultural Museum at Pennsylvania State University. In this video, Mr. Temple explains how a team of horses is able to gradually lever a stump out of the ground using a tool anchored to another tree.
-via reddit
Captain Montgomery Scott, a Starfleet officer of great renown, will be born in the town of Linlithgow, Scotland about two centuries from now. Civic minded citizens of that town are justly proud of their native son and so marked the local museum with a commemorative plaque. Atlas Obscura has photos of it.
Feel like this might help fr 👀
— Overtime (@overtime) July 26, 2021
(via handinyofacehoops/TikTok) pic.twitter.com/wJqWIqac8P
This is a clever invention. The HandInYoFace places a hand-shaped obstruction in front of a player's eyes to simulate the obscured vision of a player trying to shoot and pass while blocked.
I'm struggling to find the origin of this product and video, the latter of which appears to be a TikTok account. Hopefully we can see the training aid in sporting goods stores soon.
-via Super Punch
For more than three centuries, Lock & Co. Hatters in London has produced the finest hats for the most prestigious people, including Lord Nelson, Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, and Charlie Chaplin. And although some its hatmaking methods have changed over the years, many have not. They even use head measuring devices from past times, such as this 150-year old conformer to precisely measure the customer's head.
Lock & Co. has been open since 1676, with the exception of the recent pandemic. Not even getting bombed during the Blitz stopped it. This video by Business Insider traces the long history of the shop and explores its methods for making the world's most sought-after hats.
-via Core77
Redditor dilettantetaun is no dilettante at woodworking. He's a master of his craft. Inspired by the wooden whale automaton made by another redditor, dilettantetaun rendered this extraordinarily refined and fully functional music box. It's made of walnut, oak, maple, basswood, and magic.
Rocking chairs are nice, but what if you want to move in different directions? That's an option, thanks to Nicholas Gardner and Saša Štucin, artists who operate a furniture design studio called Soft Baroque. Their collection includes elegantly crafted pieces that move as you do, such as the chair pictured above.
The kids have to get to school, even when it's winter in northern Maine. Here's a school bus that, according to the Facebook group Crown of Maine, had benches and a woodstove inside. Redditor notbob1959 identifies the location as Main Street in the town of Presque Isle. Here's a modern Google Street View of the same location.
-via Book of Joe
They never stop watching you--not even to blink once. The three eyes are always upon you.
To be fair, the signs gave you plenty of warning.
Horror genre artist Adam D. Woodson (Leonvincible) provides a terrifying but completely reasonable interpretation of the iconic Neighborhood Watch signs often seen in America. These are the ominous beings who stand over us, as though we live inside Welcome to Night Vale.
-via Super Punch
Do you have sensible, practical clothes? Beijing-based fashion house Marrknull can fix that for you. These jeans that debuted for the spring season collection have complete waistlines at both the top and the bottom. Wear them and people will definitely form an impression of you.
-via Weird Universe
UPDATE 7/26/21: I just realized another advantage: these jeans give you twice as many pockets.
Melissa Turkington recently bought a book that I gather is a collection of poetry and fiction by Charles Bukowski. The used book included notes from a woman who was profoundly unimpressed by Bukowski's literary pretentions.
The anonymous commenter is absolutely savage. Why do the characters in Bukowski's semi-autobiographical works fail to secure romantic relationships? It's very obvious to his critic. You can see more of her annotations in Turkington's Twitter thread.
-via AmandaB
UPDATE 7/26/21: Twitter user Katherine Esters says that she's the commenter.
Jasper here has met his new nemesis, Repsaj! 😂🐕#viralhog #mirror #dogsoftwitter #adorable #nemesis #whoops pic.twitter.com/N60soJD6jT
— ViralHog (@ViralHog) July 23, 2021
Jasper the Golden Retriever is rightfully suspicious of Mirror Dog, who looks like a vicious brute. Be sure to warn him off so that he knows not to come on Jasper's porch ever again.
Bernhard Sobotta calls his invention The Cercle. Unlike other camping bikes that pull a trailer, The Cercle has its bed frame in the middle of the vehicle. It unfolds to provide an adequate sleeping space and a table, the latter of which has a built-in steel ring for a camping stove.
I can think of a few post-apocalyptic scenarios in which The Cercle would prove useful. Maneuvering it could be too cumbersome during a zombie apocalypse. But, in an empty Earth event, The Cercle could provide the mobility necessary for foraging. My greatest concern would be providing real protection for the sleeper from two and four-legged predators at night.
-via Laughing Squid | Photo: Bike Citizens
Yes, it's the ultimate dream job because it's all about nature's perfect food: the taco. Food & Wine magazine reports that the spice company McCormick is seeking applicants for its open position of Director of Taco Relations. It's fairly demanding and, sadly, requires more than just eating tacos:
In the role's official description, McCormick explains that applicants will be expected to work up to 20 hours a week for up to four months including attending virtual meetings and occasionally traveling to both the McCormick headquarters and "other taco locations in the U.S." Responsibilities include things like keeping tabs on taco trends by scouring social media and talking with chefs, developing content for McCormick's social channels, and consulting "on inspirational and approachable taco recipes incorporating McCormick's Taco Seasoning" by working with the McCormick Kitchens team.
-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: MaxPixel
In a press release, the Baltimore Museum of Art announced that it will conduct an exhibition hosted by staff members whom visitors see every time that they visit: the security guards. These 17 employees are very familiar with the museum's holdings, so it's appropriate to consult their perspectives:
“Our security officers spend more time in our galleries and living among our collection than any other staff within the institution,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “It is their perspectives, their insights, and their relationships with the art and daily interactions with our visitors that will set the stage for Guarding the Art to be an exceptional experience.”
Guarding the Art opens in March of 2022.
-via Kottke | Photo: Mike Steele
Justin Bateman, a British artist, specializes in selecting and arranging pebbles into temporary mosaics. The arrangements, which he calls "land art", are vividly familiar. He places them in the outside world because, as he quotes artist Robert Smithson, "A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world."
