Smithsonian Institution

Behind the Scenes at Autumn Stanford's Brooklyn Kolache Shop

At Fork in the Road, we love kolaches -- the delicious Eastern European pastries that landed in Texas via the state's Czech immigrants and eventually made their way out to Brooklyn. And we're not the only ones! A new Smithsonian video features Autumn Stanford, owner of Brooklyn Kolache Co., who rece ... More >>

A Machine That Separates Oreos, Plus 20 Examples of Counterfeit Meat

Check out this video of the Oreo obsessive David Neevel, a man who loves the cookies but hates the cream filling -- hates it so much that he built a complex contraption (over a period of ".04" years) to wipe the cream from each individual cookie. Naturally, the charming robot and its maker's dry Ron ... More >>

Whoopi Goldberg Honored At HRC Gala

The Greater New York's HRC (Human Rights Campaign) gala at the Waldorf was a big old gay jamboree, with the theme "Make Equality Count" firing up everyone from the silent auction through the dinner speakers and beyond. One of the honorees was Whoopi Goldberg, who's been quite progressive on the air ... More >>

Are Mealworms the Meat of the Future?

Smithsonian takes a look at a new study from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands which finds that the greenhouse gas footprint of a pound of mealworm protein is just 1 percent that of a pound of beef. Mealworm, potentially the meat of the future, is a cute name for beetle larvae.

Lunch Box Nostalgia

I used to take my brother's old Popeye lunch box and thermos to school when I was a kid, and every now and then, usually around this time of year, I try to find it online (unsuccessfully). I was distracted by the National Museum of American History's collection of about 75 pieces. From the lidded, ... More >>

Three Good Things: Oyster Edition

1 Andy Curtin and Aaron Lefkove of Littleneck show us how to shuck oysters with a super summery GIF. You can almost hear the shell crack. [Food Republic] 2 Andrew Beahrs writes about Mark Twain's affection for oysters, and the recent revival of Olympias, those teeny, metallic, West Coast natives. ... More >>

Smithsonian's June Issue Is All About Food

Smithsonian's June issue is all about food and looks very promising, with pieces from Corby Kummer, Mimi Sheraton, Ruth Reichl, and Amy Scattergood.

New Yorkers Have to Wait to See Their New Spacecraft

It looks like we're going to have to re-mark our calendars for the arrival of Enterprise in our own backyard. And not the one from Star Trek, the one from NASA.Due to an overcast prediction for Monday's weather, the space agency is holding back on its transfer ("until further notice") of t ... More >>

Blogroll Gazette: Vegan Test, Disco Robot Waiters

In food blogs this week: Well devises a test to see if you can make it as a vegan. Paleofuture at the Smithsonian looks at the disco robot waiters of 1980s Pasadena. At Food Republic: Why cocktail competitions suck.

Yikes! Do We All Have Gourmand Syndrome?

Like to eat great food and maybe even obsessed with it? Consider yourself a foodie? You may be suffering from a lesion in the right anterior lobe of the brain, in a condition known as Gourmand Syndrome.

Steve Jobs Portrait Already in National Portrait Gallery

The deification of recently deceased Steve Jobs continues apace. A 1982 portrait of the Apple chief by Diana Walker is now being displayed on the first floor of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian. It's a pretty amazing photo:

Satellite Has Fallen, Location Unknown; 43% Think Obama Is Better Than Bush; Putin To Run For Prez Of Russia Again

​UARS -- the 6-ton satellite that just maybe was going to hit you -- fell back to earth sometime between 11:23 p.m. Friday and 1:09 a.m. Saturday EDT, NASA has said. But even though it "penetrated the atmosphere" over the Pacific Ocean, when and where it exactly fell is still unknown, so let t ... More >>

Is This What Democracy Looks Like? Observing the Launch of Occupy Wall Street

Ari Lipsitz​The Occupy Wall Street protest, now in its dwindling stage, started off as something of a shitshow. Around noon on Saturday, Runnin' Scared watched as protesters met at Bowling Green to march around the bronze Wall Street bull and begin their demonstrations. At first, the results w ... More >>

9/11 Families Sue City Over Plans To Put Remains At Museum

​A group of 9/11 family members are suing the city, demanding that they turn over the complete contact list for all relatives of people killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The lawsuit, filed this week, is the latest part of a dispute between some family groups and the 9 ... More >>

MASTER OF PUPPPETS

Remembering the genius of Jim Henson

The Muppets Take Queens

Smithsonian National Museum of American History To Host September 11th Exhibit

​Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress declared the Smithsonian the official repository for materials related to the tragedy, so that they could be permanently preserved. Now, from September 3 to September 11, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History will be displaying ... More >>

Ice Cream Trucks = Crime Scenes on Wheels?

flickr/JuntosWorldwideNo funny business here...or so we hope​Oh, Mr. Softee -- he seems so loving, doling out soft-serve to the masses, annoying cheery tunes in the background. But behind the brightly colored façade of his truck lies an underworld. Smithsonian rounds up a series of criminal ... More >>

Farrah Fawcett's Sexy Swimsuit Donated to Smithsonian: Here Are 5 More Sexy Artifacts

​The sexy red swimsuit that college students in the '70s dreamed about is now an official part of the historical record. Farrah Fawcett's iconic red swimming garb, immortalized on posters that hung in dorm rooms everywhere, was donated to the Smithsonian by her longtime boyfriend Ryan O'Neal y ... More >>

City Will Use Your Toilet Water to Turn Seaweed Into Biofuel

​The city's Department of Environmental Protection announced a new pilot program today that officials say will use cutting-edge technology to convert algae at a Queens waste-water treatment plant into biofuel for cars. How environmental! From our toilets to your cars.

Things to do this weekend for (mostly) free

​The National Weather Service says it's pretty much definitely going to rain all weekend, so indoors is good. Go see the Wizard of Oz today and tomorrow at the Film Forum (double feature, with Captains Courageous)

What's Happening This Week: Make Spanish Tapas and Taste Jewish Appetizers

As many of you know, our weekly dining and drinking newsletter features all the coolest epicurean events in the city. Sign up for it here! Tapas Essentials International Culinary Center August 25 & 27, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Small plates are so ubiquitous these days that it's easy to forget this dining tr ... More >>

The Ten Greatest Dicks In History!

This is one list I definitely wish I was on---a ranking of the most fantabulous penises in creation. Some of the ones listed are only so amazing because they were so small (or so much smaller than expected), but still, I'd love to be including here (or anywhere)! I'd feel so genitally special! One ... More >>

Why Don't Staten Island Tourists Get Past the Terminal?

Did you know that Staten Island had tourism? It makes the attempt, anyway, via SINY, Staten Island USA, and NYC & Co. But the Staten Island Advance frankly admits that it hasn't been working -- tourists may take the ferry over, but they don't wander too far inland. Part of the reason is poor sal ... More >>

Doodle 4 Google Winner Announced.

Oh cute: Google has announced its Doodle for Google art contest winner. It's Christin Engelberth of Bernard A. Harris Jr High School in San Antonio, Texas, and here's her prize piece, selected by a panel of judges from Google, the Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt, and the National Design Museum. She's i ... More >>

Stiller's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Live from D.C.: Inaugural Ball Fatigue

As D.C. continues in this state of Obama-euphoria, many people are suffering from a new kind of epidemic, which I'm dubbing Ball Fatigue. "I just want him to be president already," said a middle-aged African-American man who had come all the way from St. Louis. The man was coming home from an even ... More >>

Suarasama's Tour of Indonesia

The American Cookbook Project

This Just In! New(ish) Music We Currently Love

Feel Like a Misunderstood Shark?

'Old-Schoolest of Collectors'

Grandmaster Flash and the Smithsonian's new hip-hop collection

Old-Fashioned Amenities

Track after track of sincere classicism, internationalist anarchism, and foiled espionage

Ignorants and Know-Alls Keep Out

Eight inauthenticities hard to resist, even when hard to understand, or impossible to love

Greatest Whatevers

Just because you can spell 'forbearance' correctly doesn't mean you'll get a gold star

Exhibit A

Politics on Display in the Fight for a Black Museum

Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Clave

Latin Jazz Finally Gets Its Due

Traveling Exhibit

Making the Case for a National Black Museum

Hail Fellow Well Set

Exhibit WTC

Dividing the Artifacts of September 11

Pazz & Jop Preview

El Fanático

Getting Bizzy

Woody Guthrie's Second Life

Folksinger, Wordslinger, Start Me a Song

Bearfoot in the Head

Are We The World?

Global Music in the U.S. Faces the 21st Century

76 Trombones in the Big Paradise

Consumer Guide

Big Burritos

Consumer Guide