Wow! Check out these amazing fractal pancakes over at www.saipancakes.com made by Nathan Shields, a math teacher turned stay at home dad who’s a serious pancake artist. via

In case you haven’t noticed, we really love video games, and so we also love our collection of video game candy. They all come in metal tins, which makes them neat storage containers after you’ve devoured the contents.

We’ve added a free paper toy, “Sniffles, The Frost-Breathing Dragon.” Instead of breathing fire like other dragons, he breathes frost–he freezes whatever he breathes on. As you’d expect, the cold has given him a perpetually runny nose, so his sidekick is a Box of Kleenex. You can either add him to your cart or download from the page.

Teal Capacitor Necklace and Earrings Set
Both our Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace and Capacitor Earrings are popular, so we decided to combine them as a set, with just a slight variation on the necklace.

Orange Varistor Earrings
Varistors are like the “surge protectors” in a circuit. We happen to have two pairs of these orange components elegantly made into earrings.

Bridge Rectifier Earrings
We only have one pair of these earrings made from bridge rectifiers and dangly spring rings

. All of these pieces come in silver anti-static bags with a tamper-proof, holographic seal of authenticity. Make someone happy this V-Day!

What do you think? Do these differences make sense to you?

[via]

We’ve also added a bunch of stuff to our Clearance section to get make room for new stuff to be added next year.

Have a good celebration!

-Liz

* In-stock items only. Not good on t-shirts or musical instruments. EXP 1/12/2012. Limit one use per customer.

Cyberoptix has unleashed more limited edition ties made from real vintage screens used for printing circuit boards. The Resistor Ties feature a pattern for (presumably) an oven’s controls. If you click the detail photos you can zoom in and check out the component labels. The modified polka-dot pattern of the Screw Ties is actually various screw heads including Frearson, Philips, Polydrive, Robertson, slotted, Torx, hex and cross (check out this awesome identification guide we found on Instructables). One of these would be a great gift for an engineering / DIY kind of guy. The Element Control Tie features a graphic, minimalist slice of a wonderfully geometric circuit board screen that was used to print circuit boards for appliance control panels on an oven. Lady Ada has a nice section on circuit board design if you’re curious.

Hello, friends! Liz here. In case you’re wondering why Fractalspin is not jumping on the Cyber Monday / Black Friday uber-discount-mania bandwagon, it’s because the prices you see here are closely tied to real value.

Mrr?? Ok, let me explain.

I started Fractalspin to share cool stuff with people who are interested in fashion, technology, geekery, edgy electronic music, and the blurry overlaps within and without. It’s been super fun, and so rewarding to meet such a cool group of people who’ve wandered this way from all directions. I feel so lucky to have interacted with you all, and I am grateful for your support. I personally select everything we carry here because I think you’ll like it, and the stuff I choose to carry is special. I seek out interesting people creating innovative things who have committed their time and energy to creating these interesting things.

Now that the gushing gratitude is out of the way, let me share some profiles with you so you see where I’m coming from.

I met Michael Una of Unatronics through a friend and got a tour of his studio. It contained–besides the obligatory monitors and computers–a disco-ball bike helmet and a bicycle that would generate music patterns triggered by wheel-speed. Later, he sends me an invite to an art opening at a show featuring his latest work. His piece involved sitting in a chair with headphones listening to ambient sounds that were supposed to resonate with your brainwaves and create a different state of mind. No, this is not craziness–this is being researched. Since Michael understands electronics, he built his own musical toys, the Beep-It, Beep-It Deluxe, and the Seeq-It.

Love our geek-chic ties? They have come from the mind of Bethany Shorb, aka Toybreaker / Cyberoptix. I met her because while touring as an electronic music producer and DJ through Detroit, I saw her art, performed alongside her, and was intrigued with all the things she does. Fast forward a bit and I learn she’s making cool ties. So it’s obvious: Must. Share. We carry the geekier side of the ties she puts out. BTW: She also doesn’t do sales. For pretty much the same reasons.

Unlike major retailers who negotiate on price as a function of distributor-ship arrangements (boring, I know), here at Fractalspin, it’s not about margins. It’s not about increasing chart digits to make shareholders happy. It’s not about doorbusters or bait and switch action. That makes zero sense.

It’s about giving you something super cool that you probably didn’t know was awesome until just now, and you feel comfortable knowing that we are doing it right.

Take a deep breath. And another. Then think about your gift recipients. What do they need? It doesn’t matter what you paid for it–that’s only a tiny victory in your own mind. Think about what they need that they can’t readily acquire.

Keep it local, keep it human-level, keep it authentic.

Totally sincerely, IRL for reals,

Liz McLean Knight

In case you lost pieces from your Electronic Musicians’ Emergency Adapters, or left a cable plugged into a mixer in Ohio, you can easily “>replace the parts you’ve lost easily.

One of our most popular and unusual wallets, our retro-futuristic Credit Card Organizer is now back in stock. You load up six cards in the slots and then push the switches forward to access the card you want. Pretty neat.