With a cast iron frame designed to be screwed down to the desktop, this machine eliminated the need for whittling and sanding pencils, and saved businesses countless hours in lost productivity.
It’s called a “Planetary Pencil Sharpener” because it relies on planetary gears revolving around a sun gear, and all are held in place with a ring gear.
Spirograph worked on the same basic principal, but it sure as hell couldn’t sharpen a pencil.
[Pure awsome Big Daddy Roth Ring found here. Related post here.]
[Found here.]
This predates the “For Dummies” books, and although it focuses on VWs, it’s also a primer on how all the systems in a gasoline-powered car work, how to maintain them, how to diagnose trouble and how to fix it. It’s written as if your Uncle Joe was coaching you, and the diagrams (and comics) are hand-drawn in Robert Crumb style. I learned a lot from it when I was in my 20s, and the book is still in print via Amazon here.
Even if you don’t own an old VW, get a copy and read it just for fun, enjoy the illustrations, and pass it on to your favorite teenage greasemonkey like I did. (It’s the perfect Christmas gift for someone with a VW, an adjustable wrench, a hammer and a couple of screwdrivers.)
Oh, and click on the image to see the big picture.
Goo Goo Goo Joob.
Note that the background decor is pure awesome and negates everything bad in the world.
[Found here.]
“An old European Christmas legend tells of a poor woman unable to provide the traditional decorations for the special holiday. A spider made his home in her tree and began to spin beautiful webs. On Christmas morning, the first light of sun struck the cobwebs, turning them to silver. When the woman awoke, she found the tree was covered with silver treasure. The spider had brought good fortune!”
[via]
Other versions claim it’s a German or Ukrainian tradition, and that either the Christ Child or Santa transformed the webs. Although I grew up in an area with a large German population, I never heard the story and can’t find an original source.
Yet, there IS such a creature called a Christmas Spider.
[Image found here.]
Not to disparage the late Butane James, but being born dead and recovering is one helluva fetus. Aside from that, this compilation is completely awesome.
Tacky Raccoons 