Steampunk-style home heating

[petermorwood]

While Sharper Image existed, I used to spend too much quite a lot of time with my nose in their catalogues. I can't recall ever buying anything, mind you, and often wondered why anyone would actually want some of the nonsense on offer. A bit like Skymall catalogues, in a way.

The various websites for Manufactum are a bit that way too, although with a lower "who'd want that?" response and a much higher rate of "I'd love that but ouch!", though NB the UK and International ones are very watered-down, a bit like US site ThinkGeek versus UK site I Want One of Those used to be. They've grown more similar, but there's still a caffeine-in-everything section in one and a bar-and-beer section in the other. Guess which? (The B&B features a Thing I have lusted after ever seeing one in the possession of Constable Haddock of the Ankh-Morpork Watch at last Discworld con: a sensibly-sized hip flask.. Tee hee.)

Lots of the stuff Manufactum sells is equally practical and handsomely designed, just very expensive. Anybody want to buy a Morgan 4/4 1600 sports car from an on-line catalogue store? Manufactum can accommodate you. (I thought it was a model at first, but the tag of €43,850.00 corrected this misapprehension.)

That's where I saw this amazing piece of stuff, which looks more like a movie prop than anything real. It could be at the back of a Titanic-era boiler-room set and not look out of place.

There are other variants, one where the burner is built into a cooktop, another which exchanges the upper oven for a stone-filled storage heater. An additional photo for that one shows it built into a wall-unit, but those who delight in rivets would just leave the works on display for all to admire.

I'd say it was cool, except that's hardly the right word for a heater. Don't park the Zeppelin too close...

Comments

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I'm a former Sharper Image reader too. They used to sell an electronic organizer with lots of buttons called The Wizard, and eventually I got one. As a bit of junk, it was a decidedly AWESOME bit of junk, and just what I wanted at thirteen. It also played a Tetris-like game called Hatris in which you stacked falling hats. This was inexplicably addictive. Many study halls ("free periods" intended for homework, meaning they were not, in fact, free) were spent more productively on Hatris. The business-like demeanor of The Wizard reassured teachers that work was getting done, and in a pinch The Wizard became a calculator, which is the sort of magic you expect from a toy with that many buttons.

[petermorwood.livejournal.com]

Diane reminds me that she at least bought something from SI - a pair of "over-glasses", sunglasses big enough to wear over ordinary specs - and once reminded I wonder how I forgot! They were mirrorized blue with an android-y appearance; a friend commented that all they needed for completion was a row of red LED chase lights pulsing back and forth on the brow-band like a style-conscious Cylon.

Is this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Wizard) the Wizard organizer in question? If so, I see what you mean by businesslike! It looks splendidly techie, and though nowadays the average Casio wristwatch is probably smarter I can't see one of them fooling a teacher for a minute.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

That's the line. Mine had a horizontal orientation like the one below, but colored black to indicate that this was a serious gadget for business people who wouldn't be caught dead playing a game as silly as Hatris.

[petermorwood.livejournal.com]

Or more correctly, "who didn't intend to be caught playing a game as silly as Hatris..."

Appearance is everything, camouflage doubly so. :-)