Light's out, you maggots!

There was a time not long ago when you weren't an American unless you made otherwise useless items into lamps. I hear this tradition is still popular in parts of the South. Anyway, here it is, in all of its glory - the Trench Art lamp:

It's probably of WW2 or Korean War vintage - it's made from an old style mess kit (all metal) including the knife, fork, and spoon, old-style canteen (I think they went plastic by Vietnam), and an old style helmet liner. The power cord is delightfully non-modern and probably hazardous.

I put a black light bulb in there for those times when I need to add that certain ambiance to Flintlock's Arsenal.

Speaking of which, one of these posts I'm going to post a panoramic video of Flintlock's Arsenal, so you can see all of my goodies in situ.

Itty Bitty # 1

Every dog has his day...


Even lazy ones.

This little, itty bitty bomb is no bomb at all. This diminutive specimen next to the standard U.S. penny is a Lazy Dog (alternatively Devil Dog). These nasties were included in U.S. non-explosive cluster munitions in WWII and later in Vietnam. The idea was that an airburst of these things over Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hoh Chi Mihn City, or Newark, NJ would bring a swift end to the war. If only they dropped more of them over the last city, things might be different today...

These little things are still sold by the barrelful at gun shows everywhere. They usually run for about $1.00 U.S. apiece. They are so vanilla that I only include one here as a segue into a series of posts on itty bitty things, and so that I could make a Newark, NJ joke... It's OK - I live in Delaware.

Go ahead. Laugh.