World's Only Pencil Sharpener Museum

From the Boston Globe:

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At The World's Only Pencil Sharpener Museum, A Quirky Legacy Can't Be Erased

Keep sharp, be sharp, act sharp, stay sharp is the mantra at the Paul A. Johnson Sharpener Museum in Logan, Ohio

Memories of my grammar school days came flooding back to me as I stepped inside the Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum in Logan, Ohio. It houses more than 4,000 antique and new pencil sharpeners collected by the Rev. Paul A. Johnson.

When I was in the first grade in 1953, at the beginning of the school year, everyone was given four yellow pencils. That was a big deal to a bunch of 5- and 6-year-old kids. In kindergarten, we used crayons for drawing. But first grade with pencils and a sharpener meant we were like the cool, big kids in the upper classes.

Every morning, we lined up in front of the blackboards, clutching our pencils in a death grip. Our teacher, Miss Haley, would shove a pencil into the metal wall-mounted sharpener. With wide eyes we watched as she turned the handle. We heard the grinding sound of the pencil being devoured by that sharpener.

Kids today know mostly electronics: iPads, cellphones, laptops, and PCs have taken the place of pencils and sharpeners.

But their legacy lives on in Ohio.

It all started in 1986 when Johnson retired from his ministry duties. His wife, Charlotte, gave him a Christmas present of two metal pencil sharpeners shaped like antique cars. She hoped the gift would give him something to tinker with, and he would collect a few more. From 1986 until he passed away in 2010, Johnson collected 3,469 sharpeners. Added to this are 1,000 sharpeners donated to the museum by the family of Frank Parades, another avid collector.

Johnson set up the sharpeners in his backyard garden shed. Somehow, people found out about his odd collection. He gave free tours to anyone who stopped by. He assembled the sharpeners (there are no duplicates) into groups of animals, sports, tanks, antique cars and trucks, cannon, slot machines, and musical instruments such as pianos and harps. The list goes on and on.

Disney is well represented here, with sharpeners depicting Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy. There’s a special group in center court: Barbie. Here she is in her ballet slippers and tutu. Barbie in her party dress, Barbie in her bathrobe, and several Barbie telephones in different shapes and shades of pinks and blues.

After Johnson’s death, Charlotte gave the collection and the garden shed to the Hocking Hills Tourism Association. It was placed next to the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center.

Via email, Audrey Martin, deputy director of the Hocking Hills Tourism Association, had this to say about the museum: “Visitors are always wowed by the breadth of the collection, which never fails to transport them back to their childhood, regardless of their age. We have had families drive from as far away as Texas, specifically to see the museum. And, people from around the world have stopped in as part of their visit to the Hocking Hills area.”

Over the years, the garden shed started to show wear, so the powers that be at the Hocking Hills Tourism Association decided to close the museum for two years and do a complete gut job. New walls, ceiling, roof, and floors were installed. The museum is also now accessible for people with disabilities.

Museum-quality glass was used for shelves and cabinets, offering better viewing, no glare, and special ultraviolet components to keep the sun from damaging anything. The world’s only pencil sharpener museum reopened in January 2024.

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If you go: Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum

Mon.-Sat., 9 am- 5 pm

13178 State Road 664 South

Logan, Ohio 43138

740-385-9706

Even safer than DEAD SLOW

Longtime reader Tam D, my Crack San Francisco Bay-Area Correspondent©®™ since time immemorial, earlier this week commented on last Sunday's post "A note on potholes," remarking:

DEAD SLOW has been my mantra in parking lots ever since I saw you coin the phrase* a while back. It's probably saved me a few fender benders, if not lives.

Me too.

But in recent years I've taken things to the next level, and I'm now ready to share this revelation with the world right here.

Before you back up or emerge going forward from a parking space, turn on your hazard lights.

Instantly you've got highly visible blinking red lights emanating from all 4 corners of your vehicle.

Trucks automatically make repeated loud sounds when they back up as a cautionary measure: now you too can join the SAFE club.

*Tam's understandably chuffed about her inside knowledge emanating from these precincts but I must note for the sake of accuracy that I didn't coin the phrase "DEAD SLOW" but, rather, like her, adopted it as a practice once I happened on it.

brr — My Antarctica blog!

What would it be like to live in Antarctica?

This blog chronicles one Paul Coldren's journey to the icy continent.

It consists of 5 pages describing his time there (the first pictured up top).

He remained in Antarctica 446 days, about 14.5 months.

He wrote:

"This blog is a place for me to record interesting things about Antarctica. During 2022-2023, I deployed to Antarctica as part of the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) to work on IT projects. This was my first year on the ice."

Hubble Captures Clearest View Yet of Egg Nebula

From SciNews:

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A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals for the first time the delicate interplay of cosmic dust and stellar winds in the Egg Nebula, a bipolar protoplanetary nebula within the constellation Cygnus.

The Egg Nebula resides approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus.

Also known the Cygnus Egg and the Egg, the nebula hosts a central star obscured by a dense cloud of dust and is around 0.4 light-years wide.

“The Egg Nebula is the first, youngest, and closest pre-planetary nebula ever discovered,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“The nebula offers a rare opportunity to test theories of late-stage stellar evolution.”

“At this early phase, it shines by reflecting light from its central star, which escapes through a polar ‘eye’ in the surrounding dust.”

“This light emerges from a dusty disk expelled from the star’s surface just a few hundred years ago.”

“Twin beams from the dying star illuminate fast-moving polar lobes that pierce a slower, older series of concentric arcs.”

“Their shapes and motions suggest gravitational interactions with one or more hidden companion stars, all buried deep within the thick disk of stardust.”

“Stars like our Sun shed their outer layers as they exhaust their hydrogen and helium fuel,” they said.

“The exposed core becomes so hot that it ionizes surrounding gas, creating the glowing shells seen in planetary nebulae such as the Helix, Stingray, and Butterfly nebulae.”

“However, the compact Egg Nebula is still in a brief transitional phase — known as the pre-planetary stage — that lasts only a few thousand years.”

“This makes it an ideal time to study the ejection process while the forensic evidence remains fresh.”

“The symmetrical patterns captured by Hubble are too orderly to result from a violent explosion like a supernova.”

“Instead, the arcs, lobes, and central dust cloud likely stem from a coordinated series of poorly understood sputtering events in the carbon-enriched core of the dying star.”

“Aged stars like these forged and released the dust that eventually seeded future star systems, such as our own Solar System, which coalesced into Earth and other rocky planets 4.5 billion years ago.”

'Acceptable Risk'

This is excellent, a 6-part thriller which premiered in Ireland in 2017, set in Ireland and Canada revolving around what appears to be simply the unexpected death of a young drug conglomerate salesman but then steadily widens its gyre of suspicion and mistrust and uncertainty to involve ever more powerful individuals along with the German police and the CIA.

The excellent cast is comprised of no one you're familiar with.

I found the show on Prime Video buried deep in the suggestion box while I was idly surfing what's there: I'm always amazed by how many movies and shows exist and continue to appear.

I only wish there was some way to identify ones I'd really like, gems stuck in amidst hundreds of what to me are duds.

Yes — I've tried that feature where you list things you like and then the AI suggests others like them that it thinks you'd like but the results proved a big disappointment.

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One more thing: another series on Prime Video called "Hidden Assets" is a spinoff of "Acceptable Risk": so far I've watched Season 1 (of 3), a six-episode crime drama set in Ireland and Belgium — it's excellent.

Spectacular Pendant Associated With Henry VIII's Marriage to Catherine of Aragon

From the Smithsonian:

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The Only Surviving Piece of Jewelry Associated With Henry VIII's Reign Is Now On Display In The Permanent Collection of the British Museum

Known as the Tudor Heart, the 24-carat gold pendant from the early 16th century is the only surviving piece of jewelry linked to Henry VIII's marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Their union lasted nearly 24 years, the longest of Henry VIII's six marriages.

Accompanied by a 75-link gold chain and a clasp in the shape of a hand, the pendant features a red and white Tudor rose, a pomegranate bush, and the initials "H" and "K." Red letters spell out tousiors, an old French word for "always," on a golden banner that stretches across the artifact.

In 2019, amateur metal detectorist Charlie Clarke unearthed the pendant in a field in Warwickshire, England.

At first, some experts expressed skepticism about the artifact's authenticity. But after extensive analyses, historians concluded that it likely dates to the middle of Henry and Catherine's marriage, which lasted from 1509 to 1533.

10 Rules for Thinking Clearly — Bertrand Russell

********************************

Bertrand Russell, New York Times Magazine, December 16, 1951.

8 great actors who make any film they're in worth watching

In no particular order:

• Saoirse Ronan

• Sofia Helin

• Kristen Stewart

• Jessie Buckley

• Golshifteh Farahani

• Jodi Foster

• Julianne Moore

• Naomi Watts

Junior CIA Agent Secret Dissolving Message Labels

You know who you are.

These one–time use messaging tools are cleverly hidden in the kitchen and cooking spaces because stealthy peeps like you know very well that you never put secret stuff out there where just anyone can find it.

Heck no: 'Hide in plain sight' is one of the first lessons for the agent–in–training.

"Run them under water or in the dishwasher and the paper disappears, as does the adhesive residue!"

A roll of 500 1" x 2" secret message labels costs $9.99.

6 phrases I use that I never hear anyone else employ

Dead Slow

Then the penny dropped

As any fool can plainly see

Res ipsa loquitur

Sic transit gloria [± mundi]

Bob's your uncle

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Anyone else? Bueller?

Charms — Kay Ryan

The dead do not
become stars or ghosts.
In fact, they are
hardly undone.
Soon their randomly
dispersed parts
reappear one
by one on
foreign hosts—
the beloved ear
or freckled arm,
separate as a
milagro or bracelet
charm. It is not
grotesque, though
odd. Even a piece
does us some good.

Drink Tray

Designed 

by 

Martino D'Esposito 

for Ligne Roset.

A note on potholes

In my little 36-house subdivision just outside Podunkville aka Charlottesville, Virginia, we are financially responsible for road upkeep even though the roads — each about a half-mile long (actually, two of them, roughly perpendicular, forming one [1] intersection) — are public and thus not able to be regulated or monitored, say with a gatehouse etc.

For as long as I've lived here, our homeowners association has levied annual dues on each household: when I moved here in 1983 they were $100/year, and have since increased to $400/year.

This money is used to pay for road repair and snow removal as well as minor upkeep, such as replacing a stop sign someone ran into and paving over donuts which appear every couple years at the intersection.

The main expenditure has always been for pothole repair, which comes up every couple years.

I went along with the usual majority vote to fix them up to a couple years ago, when it occurred to me that the majority of road damage was the result of heavy machinery contracted by a small minority of homeowners for home and yard improvements.

Why should I pay for fixing the road adjacent to their property?

Especially since its the same few residences who hire contractors for such projects, repeatedly?

Then the penny dropped: 

            A pothole is an inverted speed bump. 

Lagniappe: they're free!

We have a STOP sign at our intersection and signs at the subdivision entrance that say 

           CAUTION: CHILDREN PLAYING

but over half of the people who live here and most who don't don't stop.

And even though there's a sign at the entrance under the caution sign that says

           SPEED LIMIT — 20 MPH

very few drivers observe it — including residents with kids.

So from now on when someone brings up pothole repair at one of our infrequent association meetings, I am going to stand up and register my objections to fixing them by noting the facts above and pleading for complete and total neglect: the worse our roads, the safer we all are.

Driving 

never hurt anyone nor their car.

Pop Speech — 'Air guitar for the lips'

• don't go there

• get over it

• whoa!

• duh

• I don't think so

• that is so last year

• too much information

• whatever

• you da man

• bring it on

• glitterati

• fashionista

• I hate it when that happens

• in your dreams

• put a cork in it

• tell me about it

• you got that right

• don't even think about it

• bling

• it's all good

• yesss!

More?

Read the book, pictured up top.

What are they?

Answer here this time tomorrow.

Hint: bigger than a bread box.

Another: no moving parts.

A third: plastic.

Best Print Ad of the 21st Century?

For sure it's in the top three.

It appeared on October 2, 2005 in the  New York Times magazine, placed by Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

'But do you believe in love, Mr. Evans?'

I don't, she said. No, I don't. It's too small a word, don't you think, Mr. Evans? I have a friend in Fern Tree who teaches piano. Very musical, she is. I'm tone-deaf myself. But one day she was telling me how every room has a note. You just have to find it. She started warbling away, up and down. And suddenly one note came back to us, just bounced back off the walls and rose from the floor and filled the place with this perfect hum. This beautiful sound. Like you've thrown a plum and an orchard comes back at you. You Wouldn't believe it, Mr. Evans. These two completely different things, a note and a room, finding each other. It sounded... right. Am I being ridiculous? Do you think that's what we mean by love, Mr. Evans? The note that comes back to you? That finds you even when you don't want to be found? That one day you find someone, and everything they are comes back to you in a strange way that hums? That fits. That's beautiful. I'm not explaining myself at all well, am I? she said. I'm not very good with words. But that's what we were, Jack and me. We didn't really know each other. I'm not sure if I liked everything about him. I suppose some things about me annoyed him. But I was that room and he was that note and now he's gone. And everything is silent.

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Above, from pages 327-328 of Richard Flanagan's sublime and harrowing Booker Prize-winning 2014 novel "The Narrow Road to the Deep North."

Banana Peel Door Stopper

I ordered one about a yoctosecond after I saw it somewhere many, many years ago.

It's still in place and works great.

I've given them as gifts to several people and as far as I can tell they were as amused as I was.

But who really knows?

Designed by Takashi Ohba.

Silicone: available in ripe yellow or unripe green.

5.75" x 7.5".

$36.

World's Oldest Noodles

A 4,000–year–old bowl of noodles (above), the earliest example ever found, has been unearthed at the Lajia archaelogical site near the Yellow River in northwestern China.

The beautifully preserved noodles were discovered in an overturned, sealed bowl buried under ten feet of sediment.

Radiocarbon dating was used to determine their age.

Houyuan Lu of Beijing's Chinese Academy of Sciences said, in an email interview, "This is the earliest empirical evidence of noodles ever found."

The noodles were made from two kinds of millet, a grain indigenous to China and widely cultivated there 7,000 years ago.

Until this discovery, the oldest account of the existence of noodles was in a 1,900–year–old book written during the East Han Dynasty in China.

Antidepressants or Tolkien?

Can you guess if the word is an antidepressant drug or a Tolkien character?

I said be careful, his pencil is really a flashlight...

Res ipsa loquitur.

From the website, in case your Latin's a bit rusty:

Perfect as we descend into the darker season, this pencil light is great for reading under the covers, finding keys in your bag, and generally lifting one's mood.

Simply push the tip and the eraser lights up!

It charges from a USB cable and is a hand held light, 160mm length.

$42.

Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

bookofjoeTV not a pipe dream after all?

The boj post above appeared on October 4, 2005, eight months after the founding of YouTube.

Google bought YouTube in November, 2006 and the rest is history.

My YouTube channel went live in September of 2009.

It took a little over 20 years from my 2005 fever dream for the boj post below to surface this past Monday on February 9, 2026.

'The Eavesdropper'

I stumbled on this 2017 French thriller earlier this week not knowing a thing about it, but I liked the title enough to take a flutter.

It stars François Cluzet, a excellent French actor whom I've watched in many films without knowing his name.

Well worth the 93 minutes required.

WANT

What does $1 million in pennies look like?

More than a few people find themselves unable to sleep because they can't visualize what $1 million in pennies looks like.

Just kidding.

But since pennies are gonna gradually disappear now that the U.S. stopped making them on November 12, 2025, now is as good a time as any to pay tribute to them.