Geek on Film: A Serious Man, Coen Brothers, 2009 [IMDb]

About the Wikipedia Knowledge Dump:

“From the bold to the beautiful, from the wicked to the wise, every day the Wikipedia team relegates possibly “inappropriate” submissions to the garbage dump of time. Here, we make selected “potential” rejects immortal and preserve them for posterity. (All of these entries have been nominated for deletion at the time of posting.)”

The site is edited by Cliff Pickover. According to himself, he’s “a prolific author and futurist, having published more than 40 books, translated into over a dozen languages. Exploring topics ranging from computers and creativity to art, mathematics, parallel universes, Einstein, time travel, alien life, religion, dimethyltryptamine elves, and the nature of human genius” (Official website). He’s the author of such books as Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves (2005) and Jews in Hyperspace.

Here’s what you may find while browsing this knowledge dumpster:

• A list of Celebrity Laser Eye Patients
• An article on drunk blogging
• A list of songs about hair
• A list of fictional worms
• An article about the difficulty of having sexual intercourse with a mermaid
• A list of bands beginning with the word “lemon”
• An article about The Chickenology Encyclopedia : a compilation of answers to the question “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
• A list of notable moustaches in art and fiction
• An article about the sexuality of Abraham Lincoln
• An article about human cheese
• A list of Homer Simpson’s lifelong dreams
• Last but not least, let’s not forget the list of people who died in the bathroom.

Discovered via Doctorak, GO!

Learn more about cabinet of curiousities. Think of them as antique tumblelogs.

“”Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?” (German: “Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?”) is the title of a 1784 essay by the philosopher Immanuel Kant. In the December 1784 publication of the Berlinische Monatsschrift (Berlin Monthly), edited by Friedrich Gedike and Johann Erich Biester, Kant replied to the question posed a year earlier by the Reverend Johann Friedrich Zöllner, who was also an official in the Prussian government. Zöllner’s question was addressed to a broad intellectual public, in reply to Biester’s essay entitled: “Proposal, not to engage the clergy any longer when marriages are conducted” (April 1783) and a number of leading intellectuals replied with essays, of which Kant’s is the most famous and has had the most impact. Kant’s opening paragraph of the essay is a much-cited definition of a lack of Enlightenment as people’s inability to think for themselves due not to their lack of intellect, but lack of courage.” (Wikipedia)

Complete English translation of Kant’s essay here.

Published by the American Library Association. Subject : Soldier moving from trenches to city over a bridge of books.

About the DocSouth project : “Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes thirteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs. The University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsors Documenting the American South, and the texts and materials come primarily from its southern holdings. The UNC University Library is committed to the long-term availability of these collections and their online records. An editorial board guides development of this digital library.” (read more)

More propaganda posters related to World War I at the DocSouth project.

“As intelligence goes up, happiness goes down. See, I made a graph. I make lots of graphs.” (Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons, episode 257, January 7, 2001).

Summary: “Poster promoting library use, showing a man in a pose based on Rodin’s “Thinker.”

Great serigraphy posters by the WPA. More available HERE.

Previously on Skandalon

This image and many more related to slide rule history at the impressive Slide Rule Museum, Historical Photos’ section.

Description: “Knowledge Navigator 1987 mock-up. The device opened like a book, with the “spine” lifting the face to an easy reading angle, and acting as a carrying handle when closed. The dark circle at the top is a video camera similar to a modern webcam, the slot in the upper right holds a memory card, and the grills on either side of the screen are speakers. In one featurette, the screen is also shown acting as a scanner.”