Did you know that every Monday is Job's birthday [observed]?  The text reads, "Job's birthday—the date be cursed!  You'd better celebrate the death of the day."  From an 1896 ad for laundry soap in The Ladies' Home Journal.

We were delighted to receive a photo from someone who got two copies of our guide to writing Cursive Numbers.  Why write numbers in cursive?  Because "it's important to do what others are not doing" (Kristin M. White, It's the Student, Not the College).  Plus, cursive adds more than a little flair to a numerical sequence.  It's been wisely said that "flair is crucial" (Joseph Needham, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China), and even though Taoists believe flair cannot be taught or transferred but rather attained only by minute concentration, this guide to cursive numbers will, without a doubt, instill flair into your every integer.  Let us never forget that "Embellishment with flair is crucial to provide something that people will remember" (H. J. M. Claessen, Time Past, Time Present, Time Future).  

"Concert in a lion's den."  From Popular Mechanics, 1911.

If you ever wondered about the workings of Dali's melting timepieces, here's a droopy gear from Popular Mechanics, 1908.

The magazine that scoffed at the time-honored conception of Earth-Air-Fire-Water-Spirit being the Five Elements actually suggested that the "mysterious realms" of Rock, Water, and Gas harbor strange creatures.  From Popular Mechanics, 1929.

Yes, the first article here actually says that wild birds are "anxious" to join their captive brethren in zoos.  The second article is about deer and elk who escape but then voluntarily return to a fenced area.  These are great examples of why we rag on vintage Popular Mechanics.  The undisgused fascism is terrifying.  The first article is from 1929, and the second is from 1931.  As an offensive bonus, note the article about how a hunted wolf commits suicide by shooting itself, from 1932.

Doing the impossible requires a short-distance rangefinder.  From Popular Mechanics, 1925.

We're not alone in owing success to the prophecies of ancient cat cults.  From the Boston Post, December 4, 1920.

We checked under a microscope, and this volume really could be described as the result of a "fortuitous concurrence of atoms."  From Recess Studies, 1870.

Indeed, a magazine highly skeptical of mysticism and the occult encourages using shadows to trace grotesque, horned entities.  From Popular Mechanics, 1928.

Life itself has an anonymous author.  From 1844.

Crop circles in embryo, from Popular Mechanics, 1920.

Where submarines come from, via Jugend, 1912.

The better champagnes hatch from eggs, as we learn in Jugend, 1907.

"Teaching a child to exhale" (Pearson's, 1897).  Indeed, "Good breathing doesn't come naturally to most people" (Human Biology, 2005) and "A regular system of correct breathing must be taught in the first days of instruction" (Manual of Church Music, 1905).

You've heard that we're all made of stardust, but so are bicycles, sewing machines, and typewriters.  Or ... smoke coalesces into the Platonic ideals of bicycles, typewriters, and sewing machines, and the cosmos celebrates.  From Jugend, 1906.

"The newest thing in winter auto headgear."  From Popular Mechanics, 1911.

Every time one clown cries, another smiles.  In this way, balance truly exists, at least for a moment.  From Jugend, 1896.