"1969 in a bottle"

That's what the vendor offering these bottles was promising. I bumped into him at Seattle's diminutive Octoberfest in the Freemont neighborhood, on the Adobe campus. He was hawking glass bottles filled with a suspension of metallic particles; they made cool swirly designs when shaken.

Lots of people were stopping by for a look, but I didn't see anyone buy. It's not clear what anyone needs with a bottle of swirly metal particles.