In Brief: Annum Novum Edition

Happy New Year! Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• From the Department of Useless Things, a machine whose only function is to shut itself off. [Boing Boing]


• Tom Bendtsen's installation/sculptures made of books, as featured by the New Yorker blog, are beautiful. This photo of one tower of books, taken from the inside, blows my mind. [Book Bench]


• Speaking of other uses for unwanted books, how many actual copies of major books are sold, and how much of the annual book surplus is turned into pulp? The numbers might surprise you. [The Literary Saloon]


• Oh dear, I think this makes it official: Rolando Villazón's career is over. [Standpoint]


• Anthony Tommasini takes a look at the decade past in terms of how performing arts organizations have done better reaching out to their communities through education programs. [New York Times]