Department

Department 56 Building-and-Accessory Lighting System
$50.00
Use this to eliminate most of the bulky cords that get in the way when setting up your village display. Easily lights 9 lighted buildings and 3 animated accessories in a very easy to use small space. Village landscaping accessories are designed and manufactured by Department 56.

The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs
$26.99
Michael Belfiore, author of the trail-blazing insider's view of the "NewSpace" industry Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots is Boldly Privatizing Space and its extraordinary and occasionally self-funded entrepreneurs, has now produced something similar for the hidden world of DARPA. I've read many articles on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, but this author walks with us down these paths to see how these extraordinary projects come to life, the amazing characters who pursue them, and their powerful outcomes in terms of societal benefits. Belfiore has a special talent for explaining technology development in the context of a compelling tale that is wonderful. He makes these technical advances not only accessible, but truly fascinating and that works like a black hole pulling the reader into another world. If you want to understand how almost impossibly advanced technologies are actually being developed behind the scenes, read this book.

DEPARTMENT 56/ NORTH POLE SERIES/ "REINDEER BARN"
$23.00
DEPARTMENT 56 HERITAGE VILLAGE COLLECTION NORTH POLES SERIES HANDPAINTED PORCELAIN LIGHTED

In Ear Park
$9.99
While Grizzly Bear has been generating quite a stir, this album appears to have, for the most part, slipped right past the radar. At least, this was the case for me. I picked up this album recently and was impressed with the ability of these two artists to layer simple sounds to create a complex arrangement. I think that most of these songs are best in the context of the album as a whole, in other words the one thing this album doesn't really have is many "hit" songs . That is not to say it is completely void of them however. The track "No One Does It Like You" is particularly good with some catchy hooks. Neither is the lack of hits a bad thing. Albums like this one are best appreciated when you can sit down and devote 3/4 of an hour to listening to the whole thing.