Category: Quickhit

[The vaguely menacing Curta mechanical calculator](http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/05/hisgadgetoric-the-curta-mechanical-calculator-peppers-our-eyes/). Beautiful design, but there’s something about it that makes it look a lot like a gun of some kind.

[A survival kit in a barrel](http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/02/20/bedu-emergency-shelt.html). Slightly more sensible than the furniture in a crate from last week.

[Starbucks helps independent coffee shops, rather than killing them](http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/coffee_boost.php). Nativist views (of which the anti-chain thing is one example) are just out of step with the real world, because they assume a zero sum world. The base insight of Adam Smith and Ricardo is that we’re not in a zero sum world. This is just…

[No Country for Old Men](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2008/01/movie-review-no-country-for-old-men/) wins for 2007. Well deserved.

[Really retro – like 12th century Russian](http://www.hiero.ru/2024553). I love the idea of doing these as religious woodcuts. There are a lot more of these if you look in the rest of the gallery linked.

[The strange (and wonderful) behaviour of glass](http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/02/shattered_glass.php). I’d never heard of this one before – although I bet it’s a perennial hit at the Christmas parties at the average glass blowers.

[Taking a cue from Ikea, a flat pack pen](http://www.parafernalia.it/prod_falter_2d.asp). Clever. But I bet you can’t board an airplane with one of those in your baggage…

[Another cool optical illusion](http://www.isnichwahr.de/redirect_ext11541-.html). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there are more bugs in the Human body than there are in the average computer OS…

[A marching bands half-time tribute to great video games](http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1789288). I think it’s pretty likely that this is the nerdiest thing ever.

[The musical based on Abba’s music hits the big screen](http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/mammamia/medium.html). Looks bad. Even worse than the music it’s based on.