Sunday [Furniture]: 4500 BC: The first piece of furniture appears in in the Malaysian river delta silt deposit area. We know this with a high degree of certainty, since the area’s silt is quite effective at preserving ancient artifacts. Especially fine upholstery. Yes, the first piece of furniture also bore the first example of fine upholstery. This exquisite upholstery was not surpassed for over 5000 years, when a 19th century seamstress created what her husband thought to be a fairly bland sofa slip-cover. Little did he know, it was the finest specimen of its kind to exist in over 5500 years.
Saturday [Maps]: I love maps. There is something about them that captivates me, causing me to plaster my walls with them. When you walk into my room, you are assaulted by an array of maps. Directly ahead is a 15th (I think?) century map of the world, in all its hand-drawn, distorted glory. On the left, an enormous map of Mongolia with land-use contours that stretch from cool greens and blues to the flaming reds and oranges of the Gobi. To gaze upon a map is to see into its world; whether it be 15th century Europe, or 21st century Mongolia.