I think it was a temporary fork and he didn't want to cut the steerer. The crazy stem / bar I'm not going to try and explain, you'll have to suffer you're own way through his blogs to find that out.
Every few months I find myself wondering what kind of monstrosity he's been building, but after a couple of paragraphs of "I'M THE BEST THING EVER!!" I remember why I avoid his blog
the fuck is going on in the general stemmage area?