The Best of "Dark Roasted Blend" in 2009

"BEST OF THE YEAR" 2009 Link Dark Roasted Blend: Weird & Wonderful Things in 2009 Promoting "sense of wonder" and intense exploration of our world and beyond, shamelessly cynicism- and nihilism- free, "Dark Roasted Blend" is happy to serve our readers since 2006. As a sort of overview, but mostly trying to highlight the themes and articles of 2009 that you might have missed, here is a roundup of the most popular and interesting posts on DRB (arranged by months): January - Most Popular: World's Most Dangerous Roads, Part 6 Wicked routes in Pakistan, Romania, Ethiopia and... Germany Abandoned Amusement Parks in Asia Spirited Away, or Spirited for Good? January - Hidden Gems: Hellish Weather on Other Planets Wild, Wild Planets... Most Powerful Supercomputers: Brains & Beauty They still need humans, and... lots of water February - Most Popular: Totalitarian Architecture of the Third Reich Imperial dreams... and the agony of taste Chrome-delicious Robot Art & Ray Guns Army of miniature robots gets bigger... and bigger... February - Hidden Gems: Awesome Octopi: Cephalopods from Outer Space Colossal squid, vampire squid, and more February 9, 2009 - SF Site The Ultimate Guide to Modern Writers of Fantastic Literature Epic release by Dark Roasted Blend March - Most Popular: Bladerunner Tokyo (in Large-Format Photography) The future began a long time ago in Tokyo... Monstrous Aviation, Part 2: Huge Helicopters! "Let's see how insanely huge we can make them!" March - Hidden Gems: Apocalyptic Scientific Experiments Not always clean or painless, but can be very quick "Cosmic Motors" Concept Art by Daniel Simon Find a quiet corner to drool over it April - Most Popular: Extraordinary Clocks and Watches "Time does not exist. Clocks exist." Komodo Dragons: They Eat Meat Marauding Dragons on a Desolate Island April - Hidden Gems: One-Track Wonders: Early Monorails Past, Present and Retro-future Wonder Weapons of World War Two Made in Germany, 1940-1945 May - Most Popular: Real Life Spy Gadgets - For the secret agent in all of us Ignorance is bliss... no more World's Most Interesting Bridges, Part 3 Awe-inspiring Construction of Mountain Bridges in China, and more June - Most Popular: Ekranoplans Showcase, Part 2 Mind-boggling, unique concepts Spectacular Steampunk Art Update Part 2 of this eye-popping, mind-boggling series July - Most Popular: Flags of Forgotten Countries Don't just wave a black flag... consider your options Star Wars for Your Mind, Heart and Soul Part 3 of the popular series August - Most Popular: Jet Engines on Trucks (For Fun and Profit) Snow-blowers from hell, and more... Unusual and Marvelous Maps Alternate histories, sea monsters, weird politics September - Most Popular: Incredible Astronomical Clocks Antique and medieval technology blended with art Living, Growing Architecture Grow your house one root at a time October - Most Popular: Lovely Cowgirls in Vintage Westerns Beauties with guns scorched the screen... and it was good The World's Most Magnificent Pipe Organs Simply Blockbusters of Their Time! November - Most Popular: Weird Food McDonald's Sells Around the World Spaghetti! Soaked! In Sugarrr! When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Super Crocs, Boar Crocs, Pancake Crocs... December - Most Popular: 10 Possible Sources of "Avatar" in Classic Science Fiction Going beyond the obvious "Dances with..." Mysterious Non-Egyptians Pyramids James Gaussman and the Jewelled Pyramid of China We also would like to thank our friends: writers, partners and the sites which contributed to the growth of DRB in the last year: (alphabetically): Atlas Obscura BiblioOdyssey bldgblog Boing Boing Brass Goggles Ecstatic Days Ectoplasmosis Enter the Octopus Ephemera Ffffound GigaZine Gizmodo Intelligent Travel Make:Blog Meine Kleine Fabrik Mental Floss Miss Cellania National Geographic Modern Mechanix Neatorama Oddee Oobject Presurfer Random Good Stuff Tim Girvin VideoSift Walyou WebUrbanist WonderHowTo Yanko Design Stay tuned for more extraordinary & thrilling material on DRB in 2010! CONTINUE TO THE BEST OF 2008 ->