Old is the New New

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.

Elektro: The World's Fair Robot That Smoked
Excellent robot content from Dave Lester. Ah, but was it trained to smash your camera?