Most forms of work possess a certain level of artistry. Wiring and plumbing are no exceptions. Like most of us, I have a fear of my home catching fire or of the pipes bursting. I don’t think about it all that often until I come face to face with evidence of a really bad job. Or, for that matter, a really good job. Regardless, I am fascinated by schematics, and especially so with those that either represent a system that is highly functioning or one that is on the verge of failure.

It doesn’t smell, we can’t taste it and we definitely can’t see it, so it only makes sense that there would be a whole host of devices to aid in its detection. I speak, of course, of radiation. This exceptional collection of monitors and scalers is the property of Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Their Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum has a somewhat singular purpose: to chronicle the scientific and commercial history of radioactivity and radiation. I wonder if Dieter Rams would like these?

I keep meaning to take photos of the various packing materials that accompany most computers and electronics. I ordered a new Magic Mouse the other day and was finally driven to take out the camera. I like how abstract the shapes are.

Who in their right mind doesn’t love a bundt cake, much less a bundt pan? It’s that “dt” at the end that makes it all so satisfying. This pan was found at Bought and Sold, a seductive little antique shop (a branch of Lee Hartwell Antiques) in Callicoon, NY. The patina on this piece is more gray-black than what appears in the photo. It has a fragile quality about it that is irresistible.

I literally gasped when I saw these lithographed renderings from A.W. Faber’s late 19th century catalog of pencils and other office supplies. The pamphlet cover states that Faber has factories in France and Germany and “houses” in London, Paris and Berlin. But the company address is at 78 Reade Street, right here in NYC. I applaud the University of Houston libraries: another superb digital archive. I came to this collection first via Tom Lynch’s blog Went Sketching. One of his posts then led me to the over-the-top obsessed German pencil-centric blog Lexikaliker. I love the interwebs.