Jake von Slatt Archive

The Apocalypse Will Be Slow and Boring

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In 1978 James Burke produced and narrated a series on the history of science called Connections. It’s a wonderful series and I highly recommend you get a hold of all three seasons. But right now, watch this video about technology traps.  You’ll get the idea after the first ten

The Alchemy of Stone – Ekaterina Sedia

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This book arrived in the post just as I was leaving for vacation so I was actually able to read it over a period of just 3 days – a rare thing for me!  Ms. Sedia draws a detailed picture of an ancient city ruled by a tripartite balance

Finds: Heathkit Shortwave, RadioPhone, and Timex Sinclair 1500

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More from the same house I found the radios a couple of weeks ago!  Here we have a classic Heathkit Shortwave Receiver, A Heathkit SWR meter (used for measuring antenna efficiency on transmitters) an RCA RadioPhone transmitter and a Timex Sinclair 1500.  My first computer was a TS-1000, the

STMPNK License Plates

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So I got vanity plates for my kit car that read STMPNK but when I did a search on that term I just got unkind and disemvowled Boingboing comments so I acquired the domain stmpnk.com and I've been dropping crumbs around the net like this to boost its position

Jake’s Busy Weekend, Make:TV and HUMANWINE

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Continuing the tale of my long and busy weekend . . . So a crew from PBS’s new show Make:TV spent the weekend with me in the shop filming me at work.  I re-created a couple of projects and made a coach lamp for the car, start to finish. 

Steampunk at the Groton Public Library

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This past Thursday I had the honour of addressing an audience at the Groton Public Library.  I’m afraid I rambled on for a bit at first, but once we got to the question and answer section the questions just kept coming! I also unveiled a new piece, a piece

Finds: Brass Lanterns

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Found this pair of brass lanterns on my way to work yesterday – I used the old "shoelace tie" trick to carry them with me on my bike. It absolutely kills me how many of these I have in my collection – close to 20 now, I think.  Invariably

OH MY! The Music of Michael Scott Parker

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I get a great deal of email these days, I try to answer it all but I’m afraid the day I will not be able to fast approaches. I am grateful for the pics of cool stuff and links to net Steampunkia, and I really do enjoy answering thoughtful

Trash Finds – Vintage Admiral and Akkord Radios

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On my way to work yesterday morning I spotted these in a box at the roadside waiting for collection.  There were a half dozen similar radios but since I was on the bike I could only carry a couple so I grabbed the best of the bunch. On the

Truly Awesome Steampunk Mouse

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Whoa.  A reader sent in this Modding.ru Babelfish link to the most awesome Steampunk mouse I’ve ever seen. I suspect that there are many more skilled DIYers in Russia and the former Soviet territories then just about anywhere else on the planet so we should be seeing more and