Ordinal's Cabinet of Ephemera

A selection of steampunk, Victoriana and Second Life news about which I do not really wish to write at length.

For longer nonsense, please see An Engine Fit For My Proceeding, and for shorter, see my Twitterings.

May 26

“

Given pride of place in an unassuming museum on the East Coast of America is a pair of 200-year-old duelling pistols shrouded in mystery.

The intricately decorated guns were said to have been forged from the iron of a fallen meteorite.

They were a unique gift from the commander of a South American region, which would later become Argentina, to the fourth US president, James Madison.

— BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Science probe for ‘space pistols’

Apr 15

» vintage ephemera - a set on Flickr

Mar 18

Armour and top hat (via peacay)

Mar 17

Sneeze

Mar 15

halloweenesque octopus (via peacay)

Feb 20

Warren Ellis » FIXED

Feb 09

BibliOdyssey: Geomancy Almanac

Jan 02

Victorian gloves with map of London - Boing Boing

Dec 25

The Stroh Violin. “To overcome the lack of carrying power of string instruments, John M.A. Stroh introduced new “violins” like this one in England in the early 1900s. Stroh replaced the violin’s usual wooden body with a metal resonator to produce a louder, more penetrating sound.”

Dec 19

“ The Oxford English Dictionary has materteral and materterine, both derived from the Latin matertera (maternal aunt), and described as “humorously pedantic”; for “characterstic of an aunt”. There are two quotations : With maternal and materteral anxiety (1823) and A kindly materterine message (1874).

— FunTrivia Community Forums: Avuncular

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: Lost world wildlife

Dec 18

» Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project

Nearly 7000 digital recordings of original wax cylinders.

Dec 14

English Knife & Fork Pistol by Linsley Brothers, Leeds - HLEBOOKS.com

Dec 11

“ when someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.

— Jeff Bezos, quoted in “Cory Doctorow: How comes Amazon gets it wrong on digital? | Technology | Guardian Unlimited”

» Somehow disturbingly Torley-threatening artwork