Science Cookies – Not So Humble Pie occasionally does cookies with a science theme. The Gel Electrophoresis cookies would be cute for a mad science-themed party, and the Laboratory Mice are appropriate any time.
Microsuede does movie reviews via the medium of LOLCats. Here’s Twilight and New Moon. Heh.
Zombie Disney Cosplay – People at a convention. Dressed as Disney characters. Zombie Disney characters. This makes my head hurt.
Great State Quilt Square – Here’s my contribution to the Great State Quilt Project I mentioned a while back. (Of course I managed to work in something Halloweenish.) There’s still time if you want to contribute your own square.
The Tor site has a story by Charles Stross set in the “Laundry” milieu, in which something that definitely isn’t Santa comes down the chimney.
All bureaucracies obey certain iron laws, and one of the oldest is this: get your seasonal leave booked early, lest you be trampled in the rush.
I broke the rule this year, and now I’m paying the price. It’s not my fault I failed to book my Christmas leave in time—I was in hospital and heavily sedated. But the ruthless cut and thrust of office politics makes no allowance for those who fall in the line of battle: “You should have foreseen your hospitalization and planned around it” said the memo from HR when I complained. They’re quite right, and I’ve made a note to book in advance next time I’m about to be abducted by murderous cultists or enemy spies.
If you aren’t familiar with the Laundry Files, I recommend them; they’re sort of spy thriller/horror/science fiction hybrid in which the protagonist is a member of a secret government organization tasked with keeping horrible eldritch things from seeping into our world. The first two novels in the series are The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue, and it appears that a new novel, The Fuler Memorandum, is due out later this year. I get a huge kick out of the stories, particularly the mildly-exasperated way that the protagonist goes about his daily demon-fighting routine, and this is a fun one. Check it out!
Hello, wonderful online graphics resource. Letterheady is “an online homage to offline correspondence; specifically letters.” However, unlike most other letter archive sites, they don’t care about the letter’s content–just its design.
The result is a small (but hopefully growing) repository of all kinds of great stationery ideas. Use them for wedding- or party invitations, or pop them into Photoshop and manipulate away. There’s some great design inspiration here, and I’m definitely going to be checking regularly to see what new things they’ve posted.
The book City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948 is a collection of period mug shots from the early part of the last century. Viewed through the filter of time, the results are haunting. (I don’t know what F. Schmelz there did in 1930 to get himself arrested, but the guy creeps me right out.)
The a time to get site has posted some images from the book, and a bit of googling–I was trying to find out what F. Schmelz did do–also turned up several more images and an essay at SCAN. These latter appear to be taken from the original police files instead of from the book.
These shots are an unusual source of inspiration for art or period photography. A collage of them would be an interesting wall display. I’m sure that in their time many of them were Very Bad People, but at this remove they seem almost ethereal.
The Book of Weird – Written and illustrated by the author, this is a lexicon of things from storybooks, fables and legends. The writing style is wonderfully lyrical, and you’ll learn everything from how to treat lepers (bathe them in blood) to the best way to handle werewolves.
Gravestone Project – A “citizen science” project to gauge climate change by measuring wear on tombstones. Also an excellent excuse for hanging around graveyards.
Crocheted “Jolly Roger” Sweater – Hooded sweater complete with skull, ribcage, and arm bones. Sadly, no tutorial, but lots of inspirational pictures.
Goblin Teeth – Extremely cool jewelry made of “real” goblin teeth by Etsy seller BoilerGoth.
Custom Creature – Etsy seller who carries jewelry made of animal bits (skulls, hoofs, etc.) but also does “rogue taxidermy” featuring things like two-headed birds and chimerae.
Eyeballs – These were posted without description (they appear to perhaps be a candy of some sort) as one of the buffet items from this wedding; I just liked the way they all looked massed on a tray.
This is a bit after the fact, but Brass Goggles did a “12 Days of Christmas” series of posts with ideas for celebrating a steampunk-themed holiday. (Also they apparently gave up after only 8 days.)
Artist Daniel Proulx creates amazing, intricate jewelry based on themes from “Victorian science fiction:” In a word, steampunk. His stuff is wonderfully imaginative, and much of it is surprisingly affordable. He created this video to describe his artistic vision, and you can check out his work on his blog (I love this robot ring and this dragon bracelet) and in his Etsy shop. Lovely!
The Tor site has a 
The book