Dublin Dr Pepper, the only version of the soft drink to have never switched formulas to incorporate high fructose corn syrup, has been lawyered out of existence.

The small-town Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company, located about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas, has been producing the original formula, which uses Imperial Pure Cane Sugar rather than the cheaper sweeteners, since 1891. Folks, including myself, overwhelmingly insist their version tastes better than that available on regular store shelves.

As such, the quiet town of Dublin has enjoyed a great deal of tourism from those looking to buy the uniquely produced soda and to stop by the visitor-friendly bottling plant. The town even held an annual celebration and linked much of its identity with the drink. ... Continued

During a phone interview with The Arizona Republic yesterday, I discovered that the state's unusual little Bead Museum, which boasted a reportedly world-class collection of ornamental roundness, was shut down last year. And it reminded me of my own brief, and fruitless, visit to the establishment during one of my research trips for Weird Arizona.

Turns out, the museum wasn't much interested in my interest in them, but I used the opportunity to write a little something about them anyway. However, the resultant pair of articles, a spotlight piece and a personal account of my visit, which I wrote together in 2006, were never published. So, in honor of the now lost assembly of orbs, I present them here. ... Continued

The Holga, an inexpensive film camera introduced in the 1980s, has developed a somewhat cult following due the wonderfully unpredictable exposures resulting from its cheap construction. And now industrial designer Saikat Biswas would like to bring the little hobby camera into the digital age.

Biswas's design, which is just a concept for now, is beautifully simple, and aims to retain the inexpensive form factor that makes the original Holga, and similar "toy cameras," so popular. The lens remains plastic, the controls remain few and fully manual, and the overall construction is intended to be less than refined so as to retain the original's beloved distortions and ability to be easily modified.

And just to retain the surprise and delayed gratification that come with the original Holga's film format, Biswas has eliminated any preview screen, so you don't know what you've got till you download your photos later.

Short of a shuttered toy factory, an empty zoo is perhaps one of the saddest abandonments one could encounter. But that, of course, hasn't kept away the more dedicated urban explorers.

If you're up for a visit to one yourself, Environmental Graffiti has compiled a number of such disused and aging zoos as captured by a number of intrepid photographers.

Two are outside the U.S., but the rest can be found in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania.