These Travel Booklets From Throughout The UK Were Collected By Barbara Denison Over The Course Of Three

The Graduate, 1967.

Fairyland, or, Through the Enchanted Forest.

[Gloucester, England], [Roberts Brothers], [ca. 1890-1915].

Bryn Mawr College Special Collections GV1469.F221 T4 1890z

This whimsical board game, with its blinding powder, cabbage, meat, and cake tokens, has it all! Wild two-headed animals ravage the forest and hapless children must make it through armed only with odd grocery items! The game is a new addition to the Bryn Mawr College Special Collections as part of the Ellery Yale Wood Collection of Children’s Books.

the phrase “curiosity killed the cat” is actually not the full phrase it actually is “curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back” so don’t let anyone tell you not to be a curious little baby okay go and be interested in the world uwu

Ah—so that’s how it works!

yall ever heard about the wave

I just completed the finishing touches on my new poster, a detailed map of the Mandelbrot Set in a vintage style. I’m calling it the Mandelmap.

The Mandelbrot Set is a fractal shape with infinite detail that you can zoom in on. I often explore the Mandelbrot Set to find trippy patterns to create gifs with, but when I started I felt like I was just poking around at random. So I wanted to create a printed guide for myself to find my way around… I soon realized this was going to be a lot of work, so I decided I might as well take it to the next level and make an awesome poster that would be not just for myself but for everyone else to enjoy too.

What you see here is the result of more than a year’s research, planning, and execution. It’s a 36x24 inch poster rendered fully at 300 dpi, and everything you see was created from scratch. I will be posting more updates and information as I get the test prints in, and I hope to have this poster available to buy within the next couple months!

www.mandelmap.com

What the heck is ‘Johnston’s Fluid Beef’? According to this Victorian age flyer in the Canada Medical and Surgical Journal of April 1883, it is “the most perfect food for invalids ever introduced, concentrated preparation for nutritious beef tea or soup, specially recommended by the Medical Faculty.” But the directions for use on page 4 may be a recipe for botulism: “Add a small teaspoon to a cup of boiling water and season to taste; or as a sandwich paste it may be used on toast, with or without butter. The can may remain open for weeks without detriment to the contents.”

The story of ‘Johnston’s Fluid Beef’ began in 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War, when Napoleon III ordered a million cans of beef to feed troops. John Lawson Johnston, a Scot living in Montreal, had the task of providing it. Transportation and storage were problematic, so Johnston created a product known as Johnston’s Fluid Beef, later called Bovril, to meet the need. By 1888, Johnston’s Fluid Beef became a British staple sold in 3,000 U.K. public houses, grocers and dispensing chemists, and remains so today. A major downturn in sales occurred in 2004 when the company changed its formula to make Bovril vegetarian. The Guardian reported in 2007: “Rather than any new-found vegetarian gusto, the move [by Bovril] to yeast extract in 2004 was largely triggered by concerns about beef consumption and BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy], which affected Bovril’s export market.” But by 2006, the beef was back in Bovril and the company survives. Modern directions for use are recommended.

Smuggling salt is Slovenian culture!

Be proud of smuggling salt, people! We certainly are!

E H Shepard illustration from Now we are six by A A Milne 

Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) 

Lampreys in their mature stage are parasites, latching onto other fish with their suction cup like mouths. Keratinised teeth rasp away their host’s skin, as the lamprey releases anticoagulants to ensure a steady supply of blood. Many victims die of infections or blood loss. 

Dave Herasimtschuk and Jeremy Monroe