I love Fortean Times's online gallery of strange photos and illustrations. Along with antique spirit snapshots, stigmata statues, Bigfoot, and dervishes, they have a nice selection of "simulacra photos." In Fortean terms, simulacra photos depict "spontaneous or natural figures or images. These can occur in nature as well as in the chance conjunction of artefacts." For example, the seed capsules of snapdragons in this photo. Readers are invited to send in their own shots to the print magazine's Simulacra Corner. Link

7L is fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld's imprint at art book publishing house Steidl. I was just at the 7L bookshop in Paris and one of the many objects of desire I encountered was Andy Warhol's Interview: 35 Years of Pop, a seven-volume boxed "best of" collection of the magazine's first (and arguably best) decade. Each book has a different theme: The Covers, The Pictures, The Interviews, The Andy Warhol Interviews, The Fashion, The Directors, and The Back of the Book. There's also a facsimile of the entire first issue from 1969 and the 35th anniversary issue published in October. The whole shebang weighs 88 pounds, but fortunately Lagerfeld brilliantly outfitted the box with wheels and a handlle. Link

BoingBoing reader Isaac says,

"I was going through some old comics from the 1970s, and I stumbled upon a series of ads that I had forgotten about - Marvel and DC both had full-page ads in which their superheroes shilled for Hostess Fruit Pies, Twinkies and more! (Holy Flaky Filling, Batman!) There are links to ten different ads I've scanned and posted."

Link. See also the extensive Seanbaby archive of kitschy Hostess goodness: Link (thanks, Chris and tgr!)

BoingBoing reader Rafael says,

This is a link to an article written for the American Mathematical Society's website back in April 2000 on the function of the Antikythera Mechanism (the world's oldest example of a mechanism with gears dating from 87 B.C.). The discovery of the mechanism surprised scholars because it was not believed that ancient Greeks possessed such technology. The article goes into a lot of detail and has working Java applets!

Link to part one, Link to part two.

BoingBoing reader Tommy York says,

Recently, at a school rally of mine here in San Francisco, I came across the booth of the Christian club at school, AGAPE. I decided to pick up a few little comics of theirs, and I came across this one - one the denounces evolution, procedes to denounce the whole theory of the "atom" too, and by disproving evolution, of course, shows that the only logical alternative is that Jesus is the creator. Propaganda like this in public schools seems a bit off to me.

Link to page-by-page photos of "Big Daddy" creationist comic book. I can't help but wonder what the whole thing would sound like read in the voice of Mr. Slave from South Park. I mean, "Big Daddy"? The unshaven monkey with the banana on the cover looks vaguely Tom of Finland. Oh jesusth christth, Jack Chick!

Update: Reader Lance Simmons says, "There's a much better copy of Big Daddy at the publisher's site." Link. See also these previous BoingBoing posts on Jack Chick's Christian comix: Link, and Link 2.

BoingBoing reader Chris Ruzin says,

"I wrote about my uncle's heavily modded Husqvarna lawnmower and threw in some pictures. I'm not sure how many people spend as much time and money on their mowers as my uncle, but it can't be too many people."

Link

De L'art Si Je Veux is the latest work by Nicolas Clauss from the digital arts group Flying Puppet. It is comprised of statements about art from young people whom the world might not expect to be experts on art.

The paths of contemporary art are so numerous and sometimes so radical that it is amazing, if not useful, to wonder how a naive audience views it; this instance, adolescents from a working-class area. Beyond any cultural references, all genuine interpretations teach us a great deal.

For several months, the young participants were surrounded by significant works of the 20th century. They then gave expression to their impressions through film, interviews, surfing the Net, creating their own images, reflecting a world that might appear inaccessible. The gamble was to create a work of art from this happy undertaking of demystification, this dream factory. Using photos, videos and sound, these young people share with us, through interactive creations, their impressions and their own relationship with Art and the artists they chose.

Link to De L'art Si Je Veux ("Art if I want"), requires Shockwave plug-in.

BoingBoing reader Kristiyan in Varna, Bulgaria says:

You can really feel the people of Ukraine, they want democracy! This is an mp3 file, amateour journalism recording of audio experience. The situation is the city of Lutsk - an Ukrainian city. The recording shows a walk of a fellow there, people screaming, "Yushchenko!" The music of the gathering party, the crowds, the street traffic. The students, the people of Ukraine demanding their democracy. A non-CNN, non-CBS, non-BBC, citizen report.

Link