Pinterest. A black hole. Hours evaporate in the blink of an eye. Giant trove of visual delight. This infographic found here, on Adriana Kon’s board. For a larger version check out Best Infographic.

A Friday night departure from NYC necessitates looking at the traffic maps if one doesn’t want to get stuck in a major snarl. There are times, though, when looking at the map means nothing in terms of finding a way out. So, this past weekend, there we sat, somewhere in those dark red lines. I entertained myself by zooming in on the various traffic circles and arteries leading in and out of Manhattan.

Lendy’s Electric, on Grand Street in Manhattan, is one of those holdouts from an earlier time when small scale manufacturers and their accompanying tradesmen (tradeswomen?) dominated the downtown landscape. I always enjoy my visits there: so many unfamiliar things to look at, and I always learn something new. Even if that means appropriating some strange slang for a particular electric receptacle or seeing these schematics for plugs and whatnot. These Select-A-Spring photos are from a visit a couple of years ago.

From the very wonderful Reanimation Library. For a bigger image, click here.

Maybe we are. Maybe we’re not. Who can really say for sure. No matter which side of this question you land, it’s still interesting to think that UFO taxonomy is fairly uniform across international borders. I just remembered that one of my classmates, in 3rd grade, swore that he had seen a UFO while away at camp. Even at age 8, I remember feeling derision and scorn for what could only be deemed a complete prevarication. Now, I’m not so certain. Are you? Images and info from here, here, here and here.