Cabinet of Curiosities, the blog carnival that celebrates the stories behind the stuff of our lives and those things most passing strange that we come upon in our wanderings, is back from its Summer hiatus.
When the teacher asks you what you did this summer, perhaps you can answer, like Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County, 
Mississippi, that you spent your time peeping at naked ladies (thereby guaranteeing yourself a trip to the Principal's office, not to mention thousands of sweaty palmed hits from steamy web searches). "The COC9 has 'natural history' as one of its subdivisions --- and being naked is about as natural as one can be" says Terry. It would certainly seem the kiss of the spider lily is sweet seduction.
Or maybe you took in the good vibrations of the Sun Disc Chariot , as Christina did at the new permanent exhibition of Danish Prehistory at the National Museum in Copenhagen.
Wunderkammer; A Century of Curiosities is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York through Armistice Day.
Wunderkammer tourists unite!"; says Jessica Palmer of Bioephemera. She has a link to this great list of US shops and museums with a curiosity cabinet theme.
We like our natural history on the pulpy, paranormal side here at CofC, so were delighted with Nesher's submission from the blog Popular Google Searches - Trends and Reviews that Giant Squid are the real deal. This will come as a comfort to hundreds of sperm whales that would otherwise have had to make do with massive helpings of normal-sized calamari.
Speaking of pulp, I recently discovered something that 25-28mm tabletop war-gamers have known all along; from deeds of daring do in far-flung places to mad science run amok, all you need to make your Pulp Era dreams a reality is paint, time and imagination. All these guys need is a scale model Zeppelin.
Our friend D.E. Cloutier the Jungle Trader, no stranger to weird goings on in the Back of Beyond, has been following the strange tale of the Headless Hitler. Reinstalled in his Berlin bunker, the wax dictator is described by Spiegel On-line as as looking "like an aging man who has just had his face slapped at an office party."
In other wax news, a model of the man who once possessed the world's longest nose can be seen, if not believed, at Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum in Piccadilly Circus. If you decide to go, another not-to-be-missed attraction is a portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales, made using laundry lint.
Damn Data / Cabinet of Curiosities does Ripley's one better with a post featuring a cross bearing Jesus constructed entirely of balloons. Even Steve Martin would be hard pressed to meet the high standard for this low art form as practiced by the Fellowship of Christian Magicians.
If you are a private collector of medical curiosities, ephemera and artifacts, Morbid Anatomy wants to hear from you!
Finally, I offer this hypothetical news item in response to the media getting all bunched up over Queen Victoria's knickers. We are, in fact, amused.
Next month, Cabinet of Curiosities will be hosted by Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family, and then in November he will pass the baton to M. Diane Rogers of CanadaGeneaology. Submissions for these carnivals can be made to the hosts directly, or via the carnival submission form.
Tim, Thanks for including the natural naked ladies in COC9. I stopped my search for more of the naked beauties to read all the entries in the ever-popular and fun COC. Thanks for putting all this together.
Terry Thornton
HILL COUNTRY OF MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI
Posted by: Terry Thornton | September 15, 2008 at 02:54 PM