01. Pictures of Stuff, cont’d: Bread Bag Ties (above)

“I’d been meaning to mention that Lisa Congdon’s Collection A Day blog, mentioned earlier here, is still awesome.” (murketing)

02. $3 hand-powered suction device quickly heals wounds

“Nobody knows precisely why it works, but doctors have known for decades that the healing process for open wounds can be greatly speeded up by applying negative pressure — that is, suction — under a bandage sealed tightly over the affected area. The speculation is that it helps by drawing bacteria and fluid away from the wound, keeping it cleaner.” (bb)

03. How many words did Shakespeare know?

“In his collected writings, Shakespeare used 31,534 different words. 14,376 words appeared only once and 846 were used more than 100 times. Using statistical techniques, it’s possible to estimate how many words he knew but didn’t use.” (kottke)

04. Bolivian Coca Cola Ripoff Contains Coca Extra

“Well, this gives new meaning to the idea of Coke “Classic”: Bolivian president Evo Morales has approved the production and sale of a soft drink called “Coca Colla,” which, apart from being a familiar-looking dark soda with a red label, also contains an extract made from coca leaves, the raw ingredient used to manufacture cocaine.” #sniff (eatme)

Spring, Summer, and sweat shorts. That’s what the weather is calling for. For the guy who would prefer a well tailored pair of sweat shorts over the usual sporting good shop options, consider these from Band of Outsiders. The toggle drawstring closure works well but feel free to open up the seam and uncuff these beauties. Available from The Corner.

More looks at the Band of Outsiders Sweat Shorts after the click.

“About 500 pops line the shelves, sourced lovingly by John from around the world. John has made it his mission to keep small soda-makers afloat and help them find their consumers. Galco’s also acts as a distributor for restaurants and bars along the West Coast, spreading the gospel of soda made with cane sugar (no high-fructose corn syrup if John can avoid it).”

Ventura Watch Ltd. drops what looks to be the final piece in a watch trilogy. “At first contact, the Kappa impresses with its light weight; case and –in one of the sku’s- the band are made of Titanox®. This Ventura-proprietary material is based on pure titanium-parts submitted to vacuum and extreme heat and then hardened with liquid nitrogen; finally, a micro-thin coat of liquid glass is applied to prevent fingerprint-stains. Highly scratch-resistant Titanox® and crystals made of extremely hard synthetic sapphire ensure that the v-tec Kappa retains its original beauty and longevity for many years to come, an important aspect of the Ventura philosophy.” (timezone)

More looks at the Ventura v-tec Kappa Watch after the click.

We’ve discussed the nomadic tendencies of the Clemens en August line before. Today we look at the line again. Their Spring/Summer 2010 offering should be available once the collection lands in your city. For now, find their pop-ups: “The CLEMENS EN AUGUST pop-up boutique will be located these days in Munich at the Haus der Kunst museum (Prinzregentenstrasse 1, Wed. 21 – Sat. 24 April) and the MAK, Vienna (Weiskirchnerstrasse 1, Thu. 22 – Sat. 24 April).”

More looks at the Clemens en August Spring/Summer 2010 collection after the click.

Behance founder, Scott Belsky has just published a new book, Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality. As Amazon summarizes,”Though creation always begins with an idea, ideas don’t always lead to creation; examining why that’s so, online entrepreneur Belsky finds that, no matter how unique or radically different ideas may be, the individuals and teams who carry those ideas to fruition share a number of common traits, such as engaging peers and leveraging communal forces. In this guide to realizing ideas, Belsky examines those traits in detail.” (inqmnd)

Available now from Amazon.

On view at Grand Rapids Art Museum through May 30, 2010, Side By Side brings together the work of local artist Norman Chamberlain and his mentor, western Michigan’s most famous impressionist Mathias Alten, for the first time. Chamberlain worked closely with Alten beginning in the 1910s and extending through the 1930s. Together they traveled to the Netherlands, New Mexico, and southern California. Shown in pairs, the paintings in this small exhibition allow for comparison of the two artists styles and techniques.

Above is a detail of Chamberlain’s Untitled (Landscape) of 1927. The full painting is pictured after the jump.

Mackage has worked on re-fashioning the standard nylon raincoat into something more in the vein of leather bomber jackets. They come priced at just under 300$US. Something for everyone.

More looks at the Mackage Packables Raincoats after the click.

If there’s a shoe lover in your life, you owe it to them to get a gift like this. This Church’s shoe box comes stacked with polish brushes, creams, polish, a pair of shoe bags, a shoehorn and, most importantly, an incline step – perfect to balance your autumn/winter 2010 Church’s shoes on – which we’ll be showcasing later on this week. Whilst Church’s don’t have their seasonal collections on their official site (something they’re working on for the future), this is available at their official site.

Some of my favorite works shown last week in Milan emerged from Designersblock, which showcased recent works in green wood by a series of nine designers. These folks ventured to Herefordshire where they lived and worked for a week with Gudrun Leitz. The chairs produced on the trip utilize traditional bodging technique – in short, turning green wood – and also employ other traditional methods of furniture manufacture like steam bending.

In all, the results meld contemporary aesthetics and historic precedences. Normally, I’m not fond on contemporary takes on antique forms, but in this case the methods lend well to odes to the past with firm eye toward the present. The chairs are simple, but remain full of intrigue and with notes of the craftsman’s hand. (via Dezeen).

View a few more examples from the project after the jump.