At last. The Angry Mob Play Set.

Add some dramatic tension to your playtime. Each set includes nine 2” to 3” tall, hard vinyl villagers wielding a variety of weapons for them to wave menacingly at the object of their disdain. Great for intimidating your action figures and teaching children the concept of mob rule.

Only $15.95  (h/t, Tim239)

I’ve lifted these from today’s ephemera because they’re too good to miss. Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz make limited edition snow globes with a difference. Instead of the usual uneventful winter scenes, these six-inch globes offer glimpses of intrigue and alarming goings-on.

More.

Matt Kirkland reveals the innards of some popular cuddly toys. Pooh, Elmo and Ernie are among the fluffy creatures stripped to their stumps and wires.

Children, avert your eyes. (h/t, Ace.) 

When called on to babysit, I’ve found it helpful, indeed necessary, to have a good supply of felt tips, paper and crayons. The crayons in particular evoke a certain nostalgia. Maybe it’s the pleasing feel of them, the spectrum of colours, or their distinctive, familiar smell.

Here are some things I didn’t know about them. 

In the last 98 years, more than 100 billion Crayola crayons have been made.

And,

The average child in the United States will wear down 730 crayons by his 10th birthday. Kids, ages 2-8, spend an average of 28 minutes each day colouring. Combined, children in the US spend 6.3 billion hours colouring annually.

And,

According to a Yale University study, the scent of Crayola crayons is among the 20 most recognisable to American adults. Coffee and peanut butter are 1 and 2.

An illustrated index of Crayola colours, in alphabetical and historical orders, can be found here. There is, of course, a Virtual Museum of Crayon Collecting, with a section devoted to Crayola products and a helpful essay on how to display your collection of crayon boxes. Some, like Pete Goldlust, prefer to carve their crayons.

See also: The Thrill of Pencils and The Thrill of Carpeting.

Business Week is impressed by Lego bricks.

The bricks are so versatile that just six of them can be arranged in 915,103,765 ways. No wonder Lego has been named “Toy of the Century” – twice… The company claims that out of every 1 million elements made, just 18 will be declared defective and removed from the set. Impressive numbers, considering that the Lego Group is producing 15 billion components a year – that’s 1.7 million items an hour, or 28,500 a minute. Tyre production accounts for some of that number; the factory also produces 306 million tiny rubber tyres a year. In fact, going by that number, Lego is the world’s No. 1 tyre manufacturer.

Related: Art of the Brick, how Lego bricks are made, the politics of Lego, and the Lego harpsichord, which sounds much like you’d imagine.

(h/t, Coudal.)