A few of my favorites:
John Hodgman, the primal scene of American historiography, The Muppet Movie, and how history judges a dream-thief.
The Cold War avante-garde, from R&D to D&D, the secret origins of hex paper, KAAAAHN!
The case for open source Judaism and the true nature of God. Also, South Park references.
Ben Franklin stars in the most kick-ass 18th-century action movie you never saw.
Why don’t North Americans play cricket? And what does this have to do with rebuilding Iraq?
Most recent posts:
Here’s a second concept course, though the idea is neither new nor mine, and maybe it’s not really a concept course if several people have done it. Still, I would really like to try this someday.
The Backwards Survey
Every single event is the offspring not of one, but of all other events prior or contemporaneous … […]
Last fall, Bill Turkel had a great blog entry calling for “concept projects” in academic history: like concept car prototypes or catwalk fashions, these would be imaginative efforts that need not prove wholly workable or utilitarian, but that might serve to get ideas into circulation, push the boundaries of the form, or, a la Thoreau, […]
Peeing dogs, Donkey Kong, lesbians, sitcoms, and gin.
Spybots invade English village.
Beards, bots, and were they hot?
In loose Borgesian categories:
Totally awesome kid trick-or-treating in totally awesome robox costume, ca. 1971. From Bill Owens, Suburbia. (Bill Owens’ site)
“Enviro-friendly hero Robox faced with redemption human, is huge but flawed robot with human soul and manmade insecurities plus cardboard and spare parts.” From Kaiju Big Battel, ca. 2002.
No reason. I just like robots.
Interwob links to confound and bemuse:
The SITI Program
The Search for Intelligence on the Internet: My man Mark Rayner plugs the numbers into the Drake equation, predicts that there should be 2.7 intelligent blogs in cyberspace. Keep watching the skies!
The Tank
Tom Englehardt posts Chalmers Johnson’s review of Alex Abella’s new history of RAND.
Note To Self: Ia Fhtagn
What appears to be H.P. Lovecraft’s Commonplace Book: creepy images, story ideas, and games he’d like to run. (Via Felix Gilman.)
High Tech Noon
Do not laser-shark me, oh my darling: isn’t everything better with rayguns?
Men In Tights
It’s been well linked (Barista assumed it was taking the piss but I think he underestimates Chabon’s geeky earnestness) but it’s worth it: Michael Chabon on the superhero unitard. PS How good is All-Star Superman, am I right?
The Cardboard Internet
Paul Collins on the Mundaneum, a networked encyclopedia on fifteen million index cards (shades of the Memex?). Plus index cards as (literally) the U.S. War Department’s killer app.
Google Maps of Sci-Fi
BLDG BLOG’s Geoff Manaugh on mapping the fictional onto the real.
More Dick
You heard it here first:* Moby Dick is awesome! (*No, you didn’t.)
Au Clair de la Lune
Feast your ears on the oldest known sound recording–from 17 years before Edison’s phonograph. (Via Corn Chips & Pie.)
The Pickle King of Islamistan
Khalid (née Bertram) Sheldrake, the “power hungry, toothbrush mustachioed, British ninny” who somehow failed to convert western China to Islam.
Invisible elves make our site go:
© 2001–2007 Rob MacDougall
4 responses so far ↓
1 Early Modern Notes » History Carnival 50 // Mar 15, 2007 at 12:10 am
[…] It’s been a good week for discussion of the positive and negative impacts of digital technology on history. Tim Burke worried about losing the serendipitous qualities of traditional searches in Search as Alchemy. I weighed up the status of digital history and the archives. Matthew Weaver considered the concerns raised as Archives board the bandwidth bandwagon. And Bill Turkel made some more upbeat predictions about what’s Coming Soon: History Appliances. Bonus link: Robox ‘71 […]
2 Sean // Mar 16, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Just ’cause you like robots, check out this collection of severed robot heads…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockwasher/sets/72057594079233961/
The Furry One
3 The Constructivist // Mar 16, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I decided that I won’t blog this photo b/c my daughter’s in it, but I thought you’d appreciate the Cardboard Origami Robotto Installation at the Mediatheque building in Sendai, Japan, depicted in it! Now do you see why I mentioned your doing a Fulbright in Japan on MH?
4 Rob // Mar 17, 2007 at 9:51 am
Sean: Sweet! Yoinked for LJ icon purposes.
Bruce: SO CUTE! And the kids are cute too.
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