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Interesting Non-Game Stuff
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Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#1Tell me these sculptures are cool!
http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/minimetal.html
Gotta be some ideas floating from them. -
Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#2You might need your own Catapult, trebuchet, or mangonel.
www.trebuchet.com
www.catapults.info
www.mangonel.com -
Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#3http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
The Rasterbator is a web service which creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. The rasterized images can be printed and assembled into extremely cool looking posters up to 20 meters in size.
I downloaded the program to make a 3x4 sheet picture of Escher's Ascending and Descending. The online version is good for rather large rasterized images. -
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#4The World Question Center 2006
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_index.html
Warning: the page is mind-numbing.
Edge.org asked a lot of scientific types the question "What is your dangerous idea?", so what do they think (and fear) might be true, but isn't yet proven.
Many of the ideas turn quite uncomfortable, and would have a massive impact on our world. If you do not wish to torment your mind, there is a lot inspiration for science fiction.
Boy, what a set of ideas. I have seen quite a few of them already, but with all of them in one place, the effect is... *falls apart into many small Lego building blocks* -
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#5An interesting bit from the Discovery Channel.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060206/clay_pla.html?source=rss
They say now it was clay that allowed the existence of large animals. Special clay minerals were created by microbes on the land, then washed into the sea, absorbed vast quantities of oxygen-consuming organic carbon compounds, and finally sank to the seafloor with their carbon loads and were buried.
The result was a 'tipping of scales' in favour of oxygen, which proliferated in the oceans, and later spilled into the sea. And the final effects... can be seen until today. -
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#6Again from Discovery Channel, this time about... toads:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060213/toad_ani.html
A breed of toads is slowly invading Australia (well, not invading, but just spreading out into a new area... but you get the idea). They breed quickly, can poison potential predators (They are named 'Toxic Cane Toads', guess why), and eat lots of insects.
The really interesting bit is, that the ones _at the front_ of the invasion line have longer legs then their already settled colleagues. Once settled in, the mutation dies out - it is useful to be first on the frontier, where no toad has jumped before.
The whole 'invasion' has begun only some seventy years ago. Around 1950, the speed of their spreading was some seven miles per year - today it is 30 miles per year.
---
This only says that, given the right conditions, some species may be able to evolve much faster than is usually thought possible. -
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#7Visit http://www.snapshirts.com/ to get a word cloud being made out of a source like... a webpage. They can print it on a T-shirt for you.
Example for Strolen's Citadel: -
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#8http://www.vertical-visions.com/_temp/postagepaid/index2.html
Tired of receiving mounds of unsolicited letters and offers in the mail? Want to fight back? Want to get rid of that old tire in your garage that the garbage man won't take? Then read on...... -
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#9http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,405947,00.html
New Link - http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/africa-s-new-ocean-a-continent-splits-apart-a-405947.html - Valadaar
AFRICA'S NEW OCEAN - A Continent Splits Apart
That's right, a part of Africa is slowly breaking from its continent, and the ground is slumping
A group of geologists from Addis Ababa University were amazed -- and frightened. They had only just stepped out of their helicopter onto the desert plains of central Ethiopia when the ground began to shake under their feet. The pilot shouted for the scientists to get back to the helicopter. And then it happened: the Earth split open. Crevices began racing toward the researchers like a zipper opening up. After a few seconds, the ground stopped moving, and after they had recovered from their shock, Ayalew and his colleagues realized they had just witnessed history. For the first time ever, human beings were able to witness the first stages in the birth of an ocean.
...
The dramatic event that theywitnessed in the Afar Desert on Sept. 26, 2005 was the first visual proof of this process -- and it was followed by a week-long series of earthquakes. During the months that followed, hundreds of further crevices opened up in the ground, spreading across an area of 345 square miles. "The earth has not stopped moving since," geophysicist Tim Wright of the University of Oxford says. The ground is still splitting open and sinking, he says; small earthquakes are constantly shaking the region.
Large areas are already under the sea level. And in a nick of time (geologically speaking ;) ) will Africa loose its 'horn'
The point is, if there weren't mountains close to the sea, much of the area would be already below water. Can you say 'the campaign world underwent a massive change'? Read the article for more. -
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#10that IS damn interesting! -
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#11And everybody thought Moon's home was going to be the first major earth splitting and ocean filling. -
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#12http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4750557.stm
Hat tip to BBC News this time.
Plankton blooming was now linked to earthquakes - _before_ they happen, mind you. Shortly before it starts, a large amount of thermal energy is released. This logically makes the water warmer, and among other things makes more of the cold, nutrient-rich water be transported from the deep sea to the surface. Plankton blooms.
The final conclusion is, that by monitoring plancton blooming and water temperatures could help to reveal impeding earthquakes. And I find that interesting, too. (Adapt for roleplaying purposes.) -
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#13http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2168328,00.html
A group of historians argue that Romans may not have been so great after all.
"The unique feature of Rome was not its arts or its science or its philosophical culture, not its attachment to law. The unique feature of Rome was that it had the world’s first professional army"
In a few examples they note that Romans were by far not the first or the best in several areas, and that little was not preserved of some cultures - or misunderstood. It is of course a question of indivdual decision on which culture, or nation if you will, should be considered 'worthy' or judged after whatever criteria. But it is interesting to see that our perceptions about a large part of our history might be completely wrong - influenced by chance as well as propaganda of one culture. Funny, isn't it? -
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#14THe only problem I had with the article (and I did some research on this) is that corn wasnt present in Europe during the Roman era. It wasnt until the Renaissance that Corn was exported from the Americas (along with potatoes, and tomatoes) to Europe. I read that some grain fields are called cornfields, though corn itself is not listed as a cereal or a true grain, which are grown in said cornfields. Weird, huh? -
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#15http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060603/sc_space/electricfishonvergeofevolutionarysplit
Current link http://www.livescience.com/10505-electric-fish-verge-evolutionary-split.html - Valadaar 7/10/2014 -
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#16Google's PigeonRank TM
http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
Bet you didn't know how it worked. -
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#17http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/02.19/05-dog.html
(Have read the story in a magazine, above is a link to the Harvard Gazette.)
A researcher found, that dogs are much better at understanding human gestures (like glances or pointing) than our next relatives, chimpanzees, or their relatives, wolves. Because of the long contact between our species they have become better at 'reading' us.
'Domesticated dogs are strikingly similar to young children in their ability to perceive and interpret human gestures, and they show this propensity from a few weeks of age.'
Our furry friends may be closer to us then we thought. Now think of all the possibilities of co-evolution of various species for your game world... -
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#18Dinosaurs were not _that_ cold-blooded.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5166518.stm
It was speculated for some time that dinosaurs could reagulate their body temperature. Whether it is true or not, bigger dinosaurs may have lost heat so slowly that they stayed warm anyway (see the study for more details on how they came to this hypothesis). The biggest of them had supposedly body temperature over 40 degrees Celsius; which gets to limits of what today's animals can handle (and presumably also dinosaurs). This, the authors say, could suggest that the maximum size a dinosaur could grow to was limited by body temperature.
After you read the article, think of all the gigantic monsters of fantasy worlds... an interesting way to consider them, isn't it? -
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#19"There IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/04/09/do0907.xml
Leaving aside the arguments against GW (and arguments for it which are likely to crop up immediately), it in itself poses an interesting topic to ponder on. We are a technically highly advanced civilisation with amazing potential already, but we are not the least immune to irrational beliefs and searching for any holy cause that looks true enough to bash other people's heads with, ignoring any evidence to the contrary. I wonder, what we will believe in when we finally get to the stars? -
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#20http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Study_says_people_don%27t_understand_the_emotional_tone_of_emails%2C_but_think_they_do
Not that new, but I have found it right now. Understanding ourselves on-line is not as easy as we think.
People only ascertain the intended tone on an e-mail message about 56% of the time. The research also found that people think they've correctly interpreted the tone 90% of the time.
Epley and Kruger discovered that not only were the receivers of the e-mails overconfident about their understanding of the message's tone, but the senders were as well: About 78% of the senders thought that the receiver would correctly interpret the tone of their e-mail message.
"People in our study were convinced they've accurately understood the tone of an e-mail message when in fact their odds are no better than chance."
Epley stated that similar misunderstandings of emotional tone play a major role in starting online flame wars. -
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#21 -
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#22This just came in... get your news while it's hot!
Pluto ceased to be a planet
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5703014
After much discussion of the International Astronomical Union, the definition of what constitutes a planet has changed - and Pluto doesn't fit anymore (including several other relative large objects over there in the Kuiper belt - at least one seems to be larger than Pluto). So now we have officially eight planets. Pluto is a now a 'dwarf-planet'.
Deep thought on the side: no matter how exact a definition is made, nature is usually going to create some ambigous case just in case. ;) -
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#23What I would like to know is how much money was spent to determine that an object 7,375,927,931 km away from earth is not :gasp: a planet...
tense moment of silence
pregnant pause of reality tv show
...but a DWARF PLANET!
The aliens are laughing at us now. -
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#24Actually, I think that's the best proof that we haven't been visited by aliens: we've never heard them laughing. -
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#25You folks actually believe this propaganda? Is the truth not clear to you? This is but the culmination of years of conspiracy.
Astronomers started the cover-up in 1930, when they "discovered" the 9th planet and named it Pluto. Of course the 9th planet is Yuggoth, a colony of the Mi-Go. The scientists tried to downplay it as a tiny rock of ice, but everyone knows Yuggoth has a massive Mi-Go city and is rich in tok'l-metal, a rare and valuable substance found only here.
Why the conspiracy? Because the truth would throw the world into panic. Not only would the shocking fact of extraterrestrials in our solar system create riots and revolutions, but their existance also proves an ancient threat: Great Lord Cthulu! The existance of Yuggoth and the Mi-Go indicate that Cthulu is not a mere myth, but the high priest of the Great Old Ones. His glorious uprising is at hand! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Cthulu for president! NO MORE YEARS! -
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#26Come now. Next you'll say that the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign are behind this alleged cover up. -
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#27no more years :lol: -
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#28http://www.other-realms.com/otherrealms/assets/product_images/PAAAAAPJKIIMDPBMt.jpg
http://www.lurkerfilms.com/catalog/images/LFS-01-NO_MORE_YEARS.jpg -
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#29Oh, that's awesome. -
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#30http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060905-eagle-human.html
Birds were NOT our friends :D -
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#31The future is finally here!
Now we can have our own personal one person helicopter. For some meager $30,000 anyone of us can fly.
Woot! -
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#32Well, 30 minute flight time isn't enough to get my to work.
Dang. -
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#33Puffy Planet Poses Pretty Puzzle
The universe is always good for another mystery. While large gaseous planets (Juputer, Uranus and the like) have usually a smaller density than smaller rocky planets, this specimen is even 'lighter' than usual. "In other words, it's lighter than a giant ball of cork! Just like Saturn, it would float in a bathtub if you could find a tub big enough to hold it, but it would float almost three times higher."
The mathematical models, that describe large gaseous planets well, are now at a loss, so more ideas are being sought. It will be interesting to know the hypothesis that will explain them. -
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#35Do you dream of Electric Sheep?
A screensaver program. You may download or create new "sheep" and let users choose whether it prospers or slowly dissappears. A voting system using the up and down keys allow you to vote for the current screensaver. Those that gain enough up sheep remain living and those that don't will eventually die and not be downloaded automatically by anybody.
Screensaver will automatically download or you can download from their online sheep catalog.
Fractals are fun! -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#363000 years old dam put into operation again.
Built by the Hittites some 3240 years ago, once cleared it came complete with an antique purifying pool to make the water drinkable, as well as irrigation channels. The dam wall of stone and natural clay was built in a way that experts say strikingly resembles modern-day construction techniques.
"Up to now, this area was merely a swamp and the water was wasted... Our people could not irrigate their fields," said the mayor of the village. "But now they can, thanks to the Hittite dam that has returned to its original function."
Can you say the old things are still good enough today? -
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#37Roman descendants found in China?
As the critic at the bottom of the article suggests, even if they are descended from Crassus' army, they may not be of Latin stock. The post-Marian Reforms Roman army recruited from non-citizens in the provinces, so they could be from anywhere in Europe. Still, a fascinating possibility. They're certainly descendents of some non-Chinese race, the question is whom. -
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#38Crystals 'helped Viking sailors'
It is theorised, that the Vikings used a crystal called sunstone for navigation. The freshly researched secret is that even in (some) foggy and cloudy conditions can the crystal polarize sunlight - and so show where the sun really is, even if not visible on the sky.
And it wasn't even magic. :) -
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#39That's just too cool for words! -
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#40This is really a bit off topic, but Non-Game Stuff, so:
Myths about the developing world
Perhaps not exactly myths, but misconceptions and the way statistics can be wrongly grasped. Luckily the man presenting it makes it much more fun than it sounds! It is actually entertaining.