bookofjoe

Alfred E. Neuman's grandfather, discovered at long last

"Nearly 50 years before this familiar face first graced the cover of MAD Magazine, the iconic image of the character that would become known as Alfred E. Neuman was used to sell patent-medicine pain relievers. This illustration is the front of a 1908 calendar issued by the Antikamnia ('Opposed to Pain') Chemical Company in St. Louis and London. Producers of patent medicines issued calendars and wallet-sized 'trade cards' to promote their products. Antikamnia tablets

were marketed as a 'positive relief for all nervousness, pain and sleeplessness due to excesses of any kind.'"

The Antikamnia Chemical Company was prosecuted in 1914 for failing to disclose the source of their tablets' active ingredient on their packaging.

You could look it up.

[via the Fall 2010 issue of UCLA Medicine — Go Bruins!]

Portable Espresso Maker — Episode 2: Return of the Grounds

Constant readers may recall a 2009 iteration of this technology which employed only E.S.E. pods.

"This gavel-sized gadget produces an espresso shot in less than two minutes. Just add ground coffee [or an E.S.E. pod] and hot water, pull the trigger, and presto: back to work."

$149.

5 famous people who started out as weathermen (or weathergirls)

[via Bloomberg BusinessWeek]

Magic Cube Virtual Laser Keyboard

Unlike previous versions of this technology, this one works with Mac, iPhone and iPad as well as PC, BlackBerry, et al —

any device that has Bluetooth.

$199.99.

Abnormal Use: An Unreasonably Dangerous Products Liability Blog

Brought to you by the law firm of Gallivan, White & Boyd in Greenville, South Carolina.

 

Chromatherapy Room Lamp

"Let your interior follow your feelings" is Philips' slogan for the second generation of its remote-controlled battery-operated illuminator, which can bathe your room in 16 million colors.

Just the thing for the road warrior stuck in yet another generic hotel room for what looks to be yet another generic night.

United States of Surnames

From National Geographic: "What's in a surname? A new view of the United States based on the distribution of common last names shows centuries of history and echoes some of America's great immigration sagas. To compile this data, geographers at University College London used phone directories to find the predominant surnames in each state. Software then identified the probable provenances of the 181 names that emerged."

"The most common surnames were then placed geographically and colored by origin."

Interactive zoomable version of the map above here.

Am I the only person here who can never remember if the surname is the last name or the first?

I am?

Oh.

[via Map of the Week and FlowingData]

Interlocking Cutlery

Created

by

German

design

studio

ding3000.

[via Dezeen, wagamamaya, and Konstantin Slawinski]