Ah, Beanie Babies. Back in their heyday, my little sister took to collecting them with disturbing zeal. Suddenly, there was commercial interest not just from her Nerds Rope-addled matrix of grade school associates, but from adult neighbors with disposable cash and a house flipping gene. There were times I’d enter her room just to observe their impeccably organized assemblage…I stared at them and they stared back. Of course, those were the times my sister would rush in with three new strains of the Beans w/accompanying poems, always glaring at me lest I dared to condescend. How could I? I used to collect the remnants of paper hole punches–I preferred to call it confetti–in an old lunch bag. I used to collect dried lily pads of Elmer’s glue that could double as press-on nails. My kind of OCD might not have transposed so seamlessly into the acquisition and hoarding of attractive merchandise, but I swear I wasn’t judging. It just always fascinated me to hear stories of how far possessed consumers would go to obtain a “Ty” tag or twenty.

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As promised, round two here. So you found the first one a little too easy, did ya? Well good luck with this new one! And be sure to come back and let us know if it’s STILL too easy, because, as you’ve seen, there’s always more soundbites where these come from.

I’d heard about smart table cloths and interactive furniture in the works, so when I first got wind of Microsoft’s ‘computer meets coffee table’ (codenamed Milan) I assumed it was something more dining oriented. Like maybe it could keep your coffee at a temperature you like, or help you reorganize the dishes so everyone seated has maximum elbow room. This is totally different, though. It’s more like a ridiculously cool touch-screen monitor that can download images and info from the cameras and phones you place on it, then lets you play with all the data with your fingers. It almost seems straight out of science fiction (Minority Report even). In any case, my description will never do it justice, so watch this video from Popular Mechanics to learn more. That said, I’m not sure it matches my decor. I can’t wait till Apple comes out with one in white.

I am leaving tomorrow for a wedding in Utah. Park City. The weekend itinerary is jammed with bullet-pointed obligations, tempering my excitement for the trip.

Utah’s a state I’ve only ever driven through. I would have spent a night in Richfield in ‘01 if not for a firefighter’s convention, which booked up all the rooms.

If we do manage to sneak away, does anyone have any sight-seeing suggestions? How about dining recommendation?

For some reason, internet junkies who rarely leave the safety and comfort of their living rooms seem to love poking around old, abandoned sites and structures — virtually, of course. There are innumerable photo-explorations of such sites across the internet, a number of which have appeared on this very blog. We wanted to introduce you to some of our recent faves, so you can explore a bit on your own. Remember: bring a dust mask, two flashlights and clothes you never want to wear again. Or … just click:

Abandoned amusement park
Neatorama recently linked to a Japanese site featuring some really evocative, misty pictures of a rusting, tumbledown amusement park in Northern Japan. No more fun to be had here, kiddies. Only hobos and tetanus.

More desolation after the jump! Meanwhile, don’t forget to reminisce with our past posts on abandoned mines, abandoned buildings in Detroit (as explored by famous authors) and the unfortunate town of Pripyat, Ukraine, just outside of Chernobyl. (more…)

As a part of science’s never-ending quest to apply fancy-sounding names to everyday phenomena, psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania have coined the word “touch transference.” It’s what happens — in our minds, at least — when a package of toilet paper touches your fillet mignon at the grocery store, and for the briefest moment, you think: “eww.” We’re talking about cooties here: when something gross touches something otherwise benign, and “infects” it. Turns out, according to a new article in Time, that touch transference holds powerful sway over a lot of people; it certainly drives business in the cleaning products industry, and guides supermarket owners’ decisions on how to organize goods on their shelves. “In a series of studies, the researchers found not only that some products–trash bags, diapers, kitty litter, tampons–evoke a subconscious feeling of disgust even before they’re used for their ultimate messy purposes, but they can also transfer their general ickiness to anything they come in contact with. ‘We were pretty surprised at how strong the effect was,’ says Fitzsimons. ‘This is probably the most robust result in my career.’”

Also interesting was the notion that cooties may have been a very useful thing hundreds of years ago, before humans had any knowledge of germs and the damage they could do. Hence, we’ve always been revolted by things like rotting food. But everybody’s got their own personal set of gross-outs — anybody care to share?

For some reason I can’t stop seeing “Red.” From Chairman Mao skateboards to Frederich Engels comic books, socialism seems to be taking over over the kid’s aisle. In fact, I have no doubt that Senator McCarthy (bless his soul) is rolling over and over in his grave just thinking about these products. Oh well. I guess one good turn deserves another. The following are 7 faux-socialist products definitely worth waiting in line for.

1. Create-A-Commie
If you love fascism’s facial features, you’ll probably love this. Equipped with a magic wand, and plenty of metal shavings, you can turn an ordinary Joe into Joseph “Man of Steel” Stalin. And speaking of steals, the thing retails for just $6.95 at stupid.com!

2. Be the Life of the Soviet Party
If you’re more the type to wear your political ideology on your sleeve, this shirt from threadless.com might fit just right.

3. The Last Last Unicorns
Looking to indulge your fantasies and put the rod back in the Iron Curtain? These magical Cold War Unicorns from Archie McPhee are perfect for nostalgic boys, girls and politicians of all ages.

Finger puppets, plush toys and (re)action figures after the jump! (more…)

The 80th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is underway on ESPN and, later, ABC. If the highlights inspire feelings of nostalgia and competitiveness, you can go spell your ass off at an adult spelling bee.

Last summer, we discussed the bees at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, where people go to get drunk and slay demons from bees past. I only have one spelling bee story, so I’m going to tell it again.

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It’s been a very long time indeed since one of us posted a stumper. Speaking for all us bloggers, we don’t really have a good excuse, I’m sure, other than with all our new quizzes, we forgot about the poor stumpers. If you recall, we’ve had a few Geo Stumpers and Song Stumpers and Celluloid Stumpers to date. So today I thought I’d throw out a new one: the Lost in Translation Stumper. First person to make sense of the below rhyme and tell us what it means, gets a virtual hi-five.

(Hint: Even those without a formidable command of French should be able to figure it out.)

Un petite d’un petite s’attendre vol.
Un petite d’un petite a d’egrait vol.
Al de kien souer c’est, et al de kiens mien,
Que dont peut un petite deux g’edeur a’gien.

Geek cakes seem to fall into four main categories: 1. cakes that resemble computers, game consoles, and other gadgets, 2. cakes that illustrate one’s geeky obsession, 3. cakes that are made by strange technological methods, and 4. cakes that incorporate technology into the finished product.

1. Cakes that look like gadgets. When Miles turned 15, he received a Mac Mini cake, and a Mac Mini, too!

Check out this iPhone cake Flickr user icruise received for his birthday.

There are more cakes made to resemble game consoles, computers, and iPods at YesButNoButYes. This gallery is a little heavy on Apple, but that’s OK, I like apple cakes. Other categories of geek cakes, after the jump.
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