Author Archive: Paul Strauss

McDonald’s isn’t exactly known for the best food, but it is certainly one of the most consistent places to grab a quick bite on the road – and sometimes you just crave the textures and salty seasonings of their burgers and fries.

Since The Mandalorian was released close to Christmas last year, not many official toys of Baby Yoda (aka “The Child”) made it to market in time for the holidays. That’s all changing in 2020, and this might be the best one yet.

As far as I know, most clothes are made out of fabric like cotton, polyester, leather, or nylon. But this unusual fashion line is made entirely out of rubber bands. Student Rie Sakamoto designed the stretchy clothes as part of her Integrated Design thesis project at Japan’s Tama Art University.

Chewbacca and Groot have some things in common. They’re both big, strong, brown, and men of action – not words. But neither of them is particularly cute (though Baby Groot is a different story.)  But if you combined the furry mop of Chewie with the plant-growing abilities of Groot, then shrunk them down to pint-size, the offspring would be simply adorable.

Head down the rabbit hole every time you use your computer. That’s the notion behind this keycap set that features imagery inspired by the Lewis Carroll classic “Alice in Wonderland.” Designed by keyboard enthusiast Rafal Hrynkiewicz, the UnAlice keycap set comes in a creamy Winter White color, with a skinny, easy-to-read typeface.

KFC’s marketing folks have some really strange ideas. Over the years, they’ve made chicken-scented fireplace logs, gravy-scented candles, and a Colonel Sanders bearskin rug. They’re either insane or creative geniuses, because they’ve got me talking about their brand yet again.

Do your kids love science, technology, engineering, or math? Sony’s KOOV system is a great tool for kids to learn about all of these disciplines, while having lots of fun doing it. These modular building kits encourage kids to experiment as they construct robots and other mechanical creations, and learn to program them.

Are you hungry for some milk and cookies? You could trudge all the way to the kitchen cabinet and grab some Oreos, then open the fridge to grab a bottle of milk, but that would be way too much work.

Computer graphics have come a very long way in the past couple of decades, offering up images which are becoming more and more difficult to distinguish from reality. Especially notable are the improvements in physics engines, which allow objects to move and behave more like they do in real life.

If you’re a Star Trek fan, here’s something a little different for your collection. These kits from OzpinsFactory let you assemble your own starships from sheets of laser-cut birch plywood. These models are really nifty, and come in a variety of designs based on ships from the Trek universe.

I always loved playing Atari’s vector-based arcade games back in the 1980s. Games like Tempest, BattleZone, and Quantum were some of my favorites. And then there was Star Wars. I loved shooting down TIE fighters, zapping radar towers, and zooming into the belly of the Death Star to take aim at its exhaust port in hopes of blowing the thing to smithereens.

A couple of years back, I came across some unique ceiling fans designed to look like the fan blades from a jet engine. Now, the artist behind these awe-inspiring fans is back, and he’s showing off his biggest build yet.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “orrery,” it’s one of several words used to describe a mechanical contraption that simulates the orbit of planets, moons, and stars. Some variants are also known as a “tellurium” or a “loxocosm,” all of which are harder to pronounce than “planet machine.”

There’s little question that Baby Yoda (aka “The Child”) is the most adorable character in the history of the entire Star Wars universe. This little dude walked on the scene, took one look at all of the ewoks, porgs, and roller-droids, and said “hold my beer.”

If you grew up in the 1970s or 1980s, Atari was located somewhere near the center of your universe. The brand kicked off the home video game revolution with the Atari 2600, and also created some of the best and most memorable arcade games.

The idea of having a real taxidermy animal head on my wall creeps me out. I think it would just stare at me all day long, thinking I was the one who had it stuffed and mounted.