This 82 by 52 inch quilt was made by Carol of FunThreads for a quilting fair. She adapted an image of Spock from a pumpkin carving template. You can read instructions for making your own at the link.

Link via Dude Craft

It took them a while, but the New York Times considered it a point of honor to ensure that the error-ridden 29 June 1899 obituary for Lt. M. K. Schwenk (USN) was publicly corrected. James Barron writes:

If journalism is indeed the first rough draft of history, there is always time to revise, polish and perfect, even if pinning down the details about Lieutenant Schwenk after so many years turned out to be less than straightforward.

A descendant of Lt. Schwenk wrote in to inform the Times that many details in its obituary were wrong. So the Times assigned a reporter to spend months writing a carefully-verified obituary for the young Spanish-American War veteran who died of appendicitis on Manhattan. You can read of Schwenk's adventures at the link.

Link via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Sigma Chi Fraternity

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It's a Heteropteryx dilatata, more commonly known as a Malaysian Jungle Nymph. At six inches long, these critters are among the biggest insects in the world. They eat bramble, leaves, and unattended children.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ

I ran across these haunting, frightening images at Colossal last week. They're the work of Isaac Cordal, who creates and poses tiny cement sculptures to reveal a dystopian vision of a sinking world. When he's done photographing them, Cordal leaves the figures in place:

Many of my sculptures I leave on the street, usually pasted on walls. They become part of the ornamentation of some cities. Their survival in the street depends on many factors. Their main predators are cleaning services, weekend thieves (they become an alcoholic's Olympics games), or curious people who think that street art is only for them. Street art is for everyone, not for one. It is here to stay in the streets.

Artist Website and Interview via Colossal

These marvelous sculptures of Star Wars characters have been attributed to an artist named Steve Thompson. The detailed work on the stormtrooper helmet is particularly nice.

via blastr | Previously: Crayon Sculpture

Elevator technology is taking a great leap forward from what you're probably used to. Newer models can be accessed by swiping ID cards and programmed and controlled by managers, either to give priority to certain users or track who is going where:

In downtown Denver at 1999 Broadway, a 43-story building, a law firm requested that the elevator have the capability to keep its attorneys away from employees of an office of the Internal Revenue Service with which it shares an elevator bank, says Jeff Blain, a Schindler sales manager who worked on the project.

At the 55-story Bank of America Building, at One Bryant Park in New York City, elevators can let bank VIPs ride separately from rank-and-file staff, says Michael Landis, Schindler vice president of marketing. Many of the bank's senior executives work on the 50th floor and are typically directed to their own elevator anyway, making the technology unnecessary. "But it's one of the features that they particularly liked and its one of the key features that won us the contract," Mr. Landis says.

Trying to hide from your boss? That's not going to work anymore:

The elevators at the 13-story Curtis Center in downtown Philadelphia, are built so the most senior executives can punch into the computer that they would like to see certain employees upon arrival. When employees swipe their ID cards to call the elevator in the lobby, they can be rerouted to the boss's floor.

Link via Geekosystem | Photo by Flickr user notacrime used under Creative Commons license

Snyder, a street artist in Carlsbad, California, added a bit of stencil work to a weathered wall to create this image. It's called "Eddie the Great Gray."

Link via Copyranter | Artist's Website

What is this thing? I'm having trouble tracking down an authoritative source (or even the origin of this photograph), but here's what's written on the sign:

This unusual item was captured by US forces during the Pacific Campaigns of World War II. It consists of a pistol known as the 7mm "Baby Nambu" and a samurai sword blade. This item was not a standard Japanese Army item and it is believed that the owner had it fabricated on his own initiative. It is further believed that it was intended to be used in frontal-type assaults.

Well, it's not a bad idea. But it has one obvious flaw: no place to mount a scope. I mean, really, who wants to go into battle with a sword pistol with only iron sights?

via MArooned

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What are you doing for the next hour? Good, because you've got a lot of entertainment ahead of you. YouTube user BloodyRenegadeX's channel is packed with great flipbook animations, such as this one about Sonic the Hedgehog.

YouTube Channel via Geekologie

You ate food from that thing? You're braver than I thought. Appropriately, the truck is called the Grillenium Falcon, and there's a fried sandwich on the side is shaped like the Millennium Falcon. It's operated by Hammontree’s Grilled Cheese in Fayetteville, Arkansas. What do you think should be on the menu?

Link via Super Punch | Photo: redditpoweruser

Do you remember the scene in The Return of the Jedi when Emperor Palpatine arrived at the second Death Star? Using a huge supply of minifigs and a detailed setting totaling 30,000 pieces, LEGO artist Jay Hoff recreated it. You can see several other photographs at the link.

Link via The Mary Sue

At 2.7 meters in height, Krittayakorn Chaijit's sculpture of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean is perfect for the tasteful living room. It's made from recycled car and machine parts and coated with lacquer to protect it from rust. At Chaijit's website, you can see his other sculptures of Optimus Prime, the alien queen from Alien, and the Predator.

Link via Technabob | Artist's Website

CatherinetteRings, an Etsy seller from Montreal, made this music box that looks like a robotic spider. When wound, it plays "Frère Jacques." I think that taxidermed eye really sets it apart from other steampunk spider music boxes.

Link via Boing Boing

Barn Bocock remade six corporate logos for Star Wars fans. You can probably guess what Pizza Hut was turned into.

Link via Fanboy

Back in the early 1970s, an illustrator named Phil Kirkland created some amazing textbook illustrations, mostly for psychology and health books. Pictured above is his "Moving from Youth to Adulthood". I think that I missed this section of adolescence, because I don't remember it at all.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ