Link Round-Up: February 8, 2012

This birdhouse inspired by Google Maps tells birds where home is.

Infographic: The Science of Smart.

5 Famous Scientists Who Started Their Work As Teens

10 Fascinating Facts About Earth

Blogger Bug Girl explains the finer points of male spider anatomy and, also, probably way more than you wanted to know about Peter Parker's personal life.

Megan Reardon of Not Martha wrote about seven iPhone games that she loves: Megan's recommendations for iPhones games to play on long flights.

New Recruit Hands His Drill Sergeant The Worst Best Reason For Joining The US Military Ever

Plain Chicken has posted a recipe for Pizza Pancakes. Who say you need to choose between breakfast and lunch?

There's a Tumblr devoted to Skyrim Confessions. Surprisingly, not one of them involves peeing into a bottle rather than pausing the game.

Link Round-Up: February 7, 2012

Scientists confirm body of King Richard III found

Bossa Studios created the surgery game "Surgeon Simulator 2013" in a weekend. It's somewhere between Operation, advanced medical training simulations, and splatterpunk films.

H&R Block’s Tax Guide for Procrastinators

Here Are 12 Scientific Findings That Were Actually Faked

Khan Academy has a short series of videos featuring LeBron James asking science and statistics questions, with his "good friend Sal" answering them. They cover stuff like the odds of LeBron making three free throws versus one three pointer and what muscles you use when you shoot a basket. They're an engaging introduction to Khan Academy's videos.

Link Round-Up: February 5, 2012

Via: Reddit

46 Reasons My Three Year Old Might be Freaking Out

Behold the exquisite chessboard (and other games as well) that King Charles I took with him to his execution.

Here’s a point-n-click adventure that’s part psychological thriller and part puzzler, Traumata. Try to uncover the main character’s past while trying to overlook that to talk to other characters, you have to “use” them.

HP Lovecraft answers your questions about everything from dating to bagpipes.

The new Ghostbusters freemium mobile game from Capcom's Beeline Interactive is now available on the App Store for iOS devices. Via Joystiq

While, ostensibly a promotion for a camera company, the world's record for the largest snowball fight was staged earlier this year by Snow Day and benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs of King County. It also looks like it was a lot of fun to participate in.

Link Round-Up:January 31, 2012

Old Testament Murder Count

Photo: Cat Chases Bear Up Tree

Photo: Sewer Fire in Omaha Shoots Flames from Manholes in the Streets

10 Things You Should Know About Dating A Gamer

Here’s a flash game called Super Joe. It’s a platformer with one goal: unlock the exit (if needed) and get out of each screen. The hook is you get a different power every level that changes up the strategy

In Chicago, a warehouse caught fire and the resulting efforts by firefighters coated the structure in ice. I think they might have invented a new art form, there, assuming the building you use can take the added weight.

Daily Links: August 2, 2012

Mars orbiter catches pic of Curiosity on its way down!

This is truly astonishing: the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped what may turn out to be the Space Picture of the Year: Curiosity descending to Mars under its parachutes!

10 Insane Things You Didn't Know 3D Printers Could Do

After The Final Curtain has posted some photos of the inside of Coney Island’s SHORE theater which has been closed since the 70s. If you’ve ever been to Coney Island, you’ve no doubt seen the exterior of this beautiful theater. The inside however, is a different story, mostly falling into heavy disrepair and most likely demolition.

The Castaway's Guide To Making A Home: What do people do when they're shipwrecked on a deserted isle?

Global issues as depicted by Olympic rings.

Man texts, "I need to quit texting," before driving off cliff.

Simple Desks: A frequently updated collection of beautifully minimal desks and workspaces, interspersed with occasional musings on minimalism, productivity, design and technology 

Daily Links: August 1, 2012

28 Freaky Ghost Towns You Can Visit

The 12 Most Unique Playgrounds in the World

10 Most Notorious Wikipedia Editing Scandals

Ever wonder what happens when the Olympic flame dies?

Here's a nifty realtime Olympic medal tracker that allows you to sort by rank, country, total, gold, silver, and bronze medals. Too obvious for you? There are plenty of alternatives: medals per capita ; medals by GDP per capita; number of athletes and billions of dollars GDP per medal (2008); and a discussion of alternative rankings with a sortable rankings table.

The New York Post is reporting that Westside Market, a grocery store in New York City’s Upper West Side, has just launched a “Man Aisle” for their “shopping-challenged” male patrons.

Daily Links: July 24, 2012

Craigslist Joe is a documentary film produced by Zach Galifianakis that follows filmmaker Joseph Garner for 31 days & nights as he tries to find everything he needs off of Craigslist. Here’s the official trailer. It opens in theaters on August 2, 2012.

Get your Monday started with a little Elemental Balance. Use bombs to propel wood into fiery targets. Your rewards for success include confetti.

If you’re visiting China, you might be able to sample iPhone ice cream, which may or may not run afoul of trademark/copyright laws, depending on who you ask.

Having young kids makes you a little crazy - - the Wikipedia entry on Swiper the Fox from Dora the Explorer is 1,300 words of analysis:

Daily Links: July 3, 2012

"History of the World" by Malachi Ward

Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror is a YouTube video guaranteed to get you excited about NASA again. It shows the elaborate process that will get the Curiosity rover onto the Martian surface on August 5. It involves the largest supersonic parachute ever built, multiple vehicles, 76 explosive devices, and a skycrane.

Here are some of the tricks being used in London to avoid building a bunch of facilities that will never be used after the Olympics.

Nissan's Batmobilelike DeltaWing in collaboration with Dan Gurney's All American Racers and others is car initially made to be the new IndyCar but ultimately made to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans and possibly American Le Mans using half the amount of tyres and fuel as any car. It managed to run for 6 of the 24 hours before being taken out in the race. For clarity prior to clicking on the last link, "taken out" refers to another car bumping it and causing it to crash. Or, as the Sun puts it, "BAM! Pow! Holy Jeepers, the Batmobile has hit the wall!"


Scientists test out the legend that the Easter Island statues “walked” to where they are by making one go for a stroll.

Daily Links: June 19, 2012

Scratch-Off Minesweeper Postcards

From the “So Stupid It’s Brilliant” Department of “Why Didnt I Think of This Myself” Mart. Available for purchase at connectdesign. I’m a little worried about Windows timekillers invading the flesh world, but if someone finds a way to bring over the bouncing cards from a victorious game of Solitaire, I might mouth-kiss them.

5 Pillars of the Abandoned World is a tour through lost landscapes and shrugged off citadels. From the Gothic, Disney villainness ominousness of Miranda Castle to the distant splendor (photo by Cédric Mayence) of the abandoned Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Don't feel left out, North Americans: the US has plenty of holy, holey structures to sweep you off your feet. Fan favorite for urbane decrepitude, Detroit has lots to see. The St. Agnes Catholic Church is the place to be for the religiously inclined ramshackle rambler. Need a place to put up your feet? The Book-Cadillac offers a cozy spot to spread out your tour guide and relax. When you're ready to move on, just head over to Michigan Central Station and hop on the last train to forever. The world's an awfully big stage. There's a lot to take in, but don't worry about a thing. Just enjoy the show. There's no hurry; what's already gone isn't going anywhere.

10 bets that you will always win is a video collection of clever tricks (& science) from Richard Wiseman's Quirkology YouTube channel; see also top 10 quirky science tricks for parties, 10 more science stunts for parties, another 10 quirky science stunts, and 5 amazing mind tricks. Wiseman is a psychologist, magician, and author who created LaughLab: the scientific search for the world's funniest joke; the final report & top jokes are available here and over 1000 LaughLab jokes here.

Connect yourself to Kevin Bacon through film and you earn a Bacon Number, connect yourself to mathematician Paul Erdos through published papers and you earn an Erdos Number, connect yourself to Black Sabbath through recorded, published music and you earn a Sabbath Number. Want to know which 3 people have an Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath Number?

Raising the Dead:'At the bottom of the biggest underwater cave in the world, diving deeper than almost anyone had ever gone, Dave Shaw found the body of a young man who had disappeared ten years earlier. What happened after Shaw promised to go back is nearly unbelievable—unless you believe in ghosts.'

Daily Links: June 11, 2012

Source: Buzzfeed

News: Amelia Earhart's remains may have been found  ...seventy years ago, then were promptly lost.

10 Ways A Tampon Can Save Your Life, incase you ever find yourself stranded in the middle of the Yukon with nothing but a pack of Tampax.

35 Lifechanging Ways To Use Everyday Objects - such as using a banana to get the scratches out of a CD or DVD, the very popular "make a hair bun with a sock" trick, and the ever-useful how to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew. "These handy little things are all things you probably own already. I know this is a topic usually reserved for moms on Pinterest..." It's true, the denizens of Pinterest are an excellent source of useful tips: how to peel a potato in 10 seconds, how to get rid of a sunburn, making emergency ingredient substitutions when you're baking, or 20 new ways to use magic erasers; why not iron your kitchen floor to get out ground-in dirt? ... A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff.

How many hours per week does a person have to work in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at minimum wage? Following a report (PDF) by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a rather striking infographic has been making the rounds (NYT) on the web. The bottom line: nowhere in the USA is it possible to afford a two-bedroom apartment on forty hours per week of minimum wage work.

Why There's No Such Thing As A Sold Out Concert (Even For Justin Bieber)

Daily Links: June 1, 2012

Here's a shot of the extensive home gaming setup of Youtube user 16bitghost. As you can see, he has pretty much every console ever made and custom cabinetry to house it all.  It was posted to Reddit by Samsara_tmh. Take a video tour on his Youtube channel. It's a pretty awe-inspiring sight.

Build a Hovercraft With Your Kids — When Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage built hovercrafts for Mythbusters, he realized that these floating-on-air vehicles were easy to make, not too expensive, and fun. So he built one with his kids. More diy hovercraft fun.

Confessions of a Genius Art Forger — In one of Germany's greatest art scandals, former hippie and talented artist Wolfgang Beltracchi forged dozens of paintings over a period of 35 years, earning millions and fooling top collectors and museums. In a SPIEGEL interview, he reveals how he did it and why he eventually got caught. Art Forger All Smiles After Guilty Plea Seals Deal.  Ringleader Reveals He Faked Many More Works. 


Dominic Wilcox watch sculptures combine vintage timepieces with miniature figures to create unique animated scenes.

The Green Bar is a beautifully-craft steampunk-style wet bar.

“Skyrim Gets Played”, a Skyrim gangster rap song witten and directed by RAWN. It’s available for purchase on iTunes.

Link Round-Up: May 24, 2012

Thirty years later, I carry all of this in my pocket, in a device roughly the size of a bill fold. I can't wait to see what I'll be carrying thirty years down the road.

100 Geeks You Should Be Following on Twitter

Censorship Towel cleverly pixelates your body in real life. The towel was designed by Carmichael Collective as an ongoing art project by Minneapolis-based advertising agency Carmichael Lynch. 

Ektoplazm is now the world’s largest distributor of free (and legal) psytrance music specializing in high-quality Creative Commons-licensed content from netlabels and independent artists, all released in MP3 and lossless CD-quality FLAC and WAV formats.

"A Harvard MBA Pays Down $101K Of Debt." Two years after he graduated from Harvard with an MBA, Joe Mihalic, now manager of strategic alliances and business development at Dell, vowed to do “everything in my power–short of lying, cheating, and stealing–to pay down" his student loan debt, (then totaling 90K,) "in the next ten months.” After applying for a weekend delivery job, he also decided to chronicle the steps he was taking on a blog: "No More Harvard Debt." First page of posts is here. Penultimate post explains his process: "Mission Accomplished."

Scrabble for Cheaters, as played by Eddie Guerrero's rules

What’s a Readlist? A group of web pages—articles, recipes, course materials, anything—bundled into an e-book you can send to your Kindle, iPad, or iPhone.

Daily Links: May 17, 2012

10 Overshadowed Scientists and Inventors.

The Book Depository, the UK's largest online bookseller, which is owned by Amazon, has created a mesmerizing live map that apparently tells viewers when a book is purchased through their system.

Lion tries to eat baby human dressed like a zebra, is foiled by lion-proof glass.

Särkänniemi Adventure Park in Tampere, Finland is now home to Angry Birds Land, a themed section of the park that is based on the popular mobile game by Finnish video game development company Rovio Entertainment. It has 12 rides, an adventure course, food stands and games. Angry Birds Land is currently open but the official grand opening celebration happens June 8, 2012.

Daily Links: May 2, 2012

"Should I Check My Email?" by Wendy Macnaughton

10 Untranslatable Words (And When You'll Want to Use Them)

Homemade Star Trek phaser really will stun you

Stephen King on taxing the ultra-rich... including himself. An engaging -and colorful- discussion on taxes for the ultra rich.

You can now own the original floating home used by MACGYVER as his home in the TV series

Daily Links: April 26, 2012

Stonehenge Bouncy Castle

This interactive art work by Jeremy Deller entitled “Sacrilege”, is a full 1:1 scale of Stonehedge for kids to run around and bounce on, as part of Glasgow’s International Festival of Visual Arts exhibit. Were we not supposed to be jumping on the actual Stonehenge this entire time? Somebody should have told me.

Adulting: How to become a grown-up in 387 easy(ish) steps.

Is this the banana your grandchildren will eat?

Messages with a Bottle is the hilarious comedy of a new father as he comes to grips with fatherhood.

The Official Hipster Survival Guide to New York City

Daily Links: April 25, 2012

A Super Mario Summary by Johan Peitz

This is rad. A Super Mario Summary is every level in the original Super Mario Brothers game, each recreated on a single screen. This was Jonah’s entry to the 23rd Ludum Dare 48 hour game development challenge.

H. P. Lovecraft answers your relationship questions.

Lessons in the Art of Pillow Fort Construction "Tether your sheets and blankets securely, but try not to get too attached yourself." How To Build A Great Blanket Fort, Blanket Fort Birthday Party.

Your Logical Fallacy Is... complete with free downloadable infographic poster.

The new plans Disney has for allowing people to schedule everything from ride times to food makes a trip to Disneyland sound more like work than fun, but the obsessive compulsive in me secretly can wait to try it.

Link Round-Up: April 24, 2012

Check out this Lickable Wallpaper installed in a London elevator

For centuries, ships navigated by the stars. Thousands of ships' logs representing hundreds of thousands of position readings were diligently recorded by sailors for a future use they never could have imagined: 100 years of ocean travel 1750 to 1850.

Here’s an image blog with a topic I’d never have expected to see: Context-free patent art. Most of it is related to video games, but they’re also kind of humorous to think about being actually used.

In 1942, as part of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government acquired 70,000 acres of land in Eastern Tennessee and established a secret town called Oak Ridge. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge office recently started to digitize its collection of archival photos and share them. Here's some archival film of the construction of Oak Ridge during the WWII Manhattan Project.


Kveendolnitza is a point-n-click adventure in the same vein as Samoroast, so enjoy weird creatures, strange puzzles, and plenty of unique architecture. And don’t forget to find all those secrets the ancients left behind, too…

Link Round-Up: April 23, 2012

Garnier Opera in Paris, France

Photographed by David Leventi

 
The 16th Annual Webby Awards Nominees Have Been Announced

A 'Doomsday shelter' is being built below Kansas prairie where millionaires will be able to sit out the Apocalypse in style

Infographic on lakes, oceans, and what lies beneath.

Led by Phish drummer Jon Fishman, approximately 1,600 participants took part in the World’s Largest Cowbell Ensemble on Saturday on Church Street in Burlington, VT, beating the previous record of 640, set in Switzerland in 2009. Song used to set the new record: The Chambers Brothers' "Time Has Come Today."

Map of the Dead is a zombie survival map created using the Google Places API

Pie a la Apple is a recipe for completely edible, single serving apple pies made out of the apples themselves.

'Zombies' remind drivers of handheld-phone ban

Daily Links: April 10, 2012

The Right Beer For the Occasion

Photo by Gamelaner

The 41 most common cooking/baking mistakes

50 Killer Ikea Hacks to Transform Your Home Office

The AV Club's Todd Van der Werf enters the Dungeon "I’ve been at this for three days straight, and I need to start getting back to my everyday life, to start settling back into my real role as a TV critic with -3 dexterity. I go through the motions of playing the good guy, of standing in front of doors as we open them, in case they’re booby-trapped. This, of course, is how I end up getting splashed with copious amounts of acid, which begins to eat away at my health. (“It’s not a second-edition game unless there’s a room full of acid,” Brett says, and everyone agrees.) Instantly, I’m into it."

Do you love Weatherscan? Sure, we all do. But what do you do when you want to listen to the soothing and comforting Weatherscan soundtrack but can't get to a television? A kindly internet user has provided a playlist for just such an occasion. If your usual go-to weather is Local on the 8s, The Weather Channel also thoughtfully provides their month-by-month playlist.

Food Network Magazine's 100 Greatest Cooking Tips (of All Time) goes beyond the basic "taste-as-you-go" kind of advice (though it's in there).

Internet April Fool's Prank Watch, 2012

An illustrated guide to common logical fallacies as well as well as a very nice worked example of the fallacies involved in Cardinal Keith O'Brien's recent(ish) article against gay marriage.

OMG SPACE aims to illustrate the scale and the grandeur of our solar system, as well as illustrate through the use of infographics our work in the exploration of our solar system with various spacecraft.

Daily Links: March 26, 2012

Infographic: The Learning Power Of Lego

20 Criminal Cases Solved By Using Facebook

25 Facts You Should Know About Your Gray Matter
 Cheating casinos as a good Christian:  Group members believed what they were doing was consistent with their faith because they felt they were taking money away from an evil enterprise. Further, they did not believe that counting cards was inherently a bad thing; rather, it was merely using math skills in a game of chance.

Here's how to make The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Homeless on purpose, how a U1 philosophy student braves the elements, sleeps outside, and keeps an eye on his GPA Shane is a U1 Philosophy student at McGill, and has been homeless since July. He lives on campus, using its facilities like most of us use different rooms in a house. He eats his meals in student lounges and does push-ups in the library. He showers at the gym and stashes extra socks in convenient hiding spots. He won’t say where – he guards his possessions closely.

Instructions for squeezing a survival kit into a pill bottle.

Organized irreligion! This weekend , Washington, D.C. will be invaded by the voice of reason. A free rally featuring Tim Minchin, Paul Provenza, Richard Dawkins, Eddie Izzard, Adam Savage, James Randi, Bad Religion, and many others, in what is anticipated to be the largest gathering of non-believers in America. "If we don't organize, we will be the only ones not organized. Religion will be organized. We won't be organized. That means we lose... and they win."

Unconsumption is a Tumblr devoted to re-purposing old junk into new household items