Links · Legacy archive
Interesting Non-Game Stuff
-
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#121Just the equipment for uncouth modern times:
"energy weapon protection device"
...in other words, taser-proof clothes, for students, political activists, and criminals alike. Don't wallow in a state of shock - do something about it! -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#122http://www.songbirdnest.com/
oooOOOOhhh YES! Itunes-like player integrated seamlessly with web-wide mp3 search. Win/Linux/Mac It R.O.C.K.S.
Still in alpha/beta. It will _probably_ crash.
forgive my use of hyperbole... -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#123VIA has launched their new pico-itx recently. Full x86 platform. up to 1gb ram, via c7 1ghz cpu.
http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/pico-itx/
it is only 10 x 7.5 cm (less than 4 x 3 in)
Guilty as charged.... -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#124Been using Songbird for a few months now. It works quite well, even as a Beta. I haven't upgraded to the newest version, but it certainly works great. The one complaint I have about it is that it tends to have naming problems when you import new music files. But, renaming is easy and quick, so no real problem there.
Edit: And no, it has crashed on me maybe once, and otherwise messed up twice. This thing is ROBUST. They dun gooooood. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#125http://www.nationalpost.com/story-printer.html?id=589efd96-7ca6-4058-be32-156b137c500c
How a high-school drop out earned some decent money by forging classical art pieces without anyone noticing... until he got careless, and misspelled the cuneiform on an ancient Assyrian stone relief. See kids, this is why spelling is important.. :D
---
http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speech-complexity.html
Micheal Crichton on Complexity Theory, and why should one be careful with doomsday scenarios, and simple solutions for a non-linear world. He meanders a bit, but makes the point well. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#126Piezoelectric Nanowires Turn Fabric Into Power Source.
In other words: Making energy with clothes. :) -
A handful of links
#127NASA Baffled by Unexplained Force Acting on Space Probes
Courtesy of Muro, it was noticed that several of the space probes seem to be moving a bit faster or slower than expected, without any obvious reason. Speculations continue.
Planet Projected at Solar System's Edge
The Japanese have announced another planet up to two-thirds the size of the Earth may be orbiting in the far reaches of the solar system. The search has already started; the expected orbital period should be about one thousand years.
Scientists figure out secret of Maya’s blue paint
At last, the secret of Maya Blue is revealed, a surprisingly durable pigment that kept much of its color for centuries. Besides the artistic potential, it was used during religious ceremonies: to paint a person blue before throwing him down a well.
Cannibalism May Have Wiped Out Neanderthals
A new theory on the extinction of the once concurrent race of ours. The title sums it up. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#128Forgive my infatuation with bookshelves.
http://freshome.com/2008/02/25/30-of-the-most-creative-bookshelves-designs/ -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#129HUD contact lenses. Now I have to code a contact lens version of the site.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/05/bionic-contact-lens.html -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#130Man frolics in potentially lethal cold
Wim Hof has the ability to withstand cold that could kill anyone else.
Can you say "Immune to Cold" in your game's jargon? :) -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#131Posting these pretties in non-game thread, but they could certainly be game-related as well, of course.
http://users.triera.net/poldolfi/galerija-maket-ladij/katalog.html -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#132Can somebody explain how:
Physicists Make Artificial Black Hole Using Optical Fiber
I would really like to know. (Okay, they didn't make a black hole, just it's event horizon, but still.) -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#133Never thought a pregnant dude could be so sexy!
http://www.popfi.com/2008/03/21/the-story-of-the-pregnant-man/
[img width=382 height=400]http://towleroad.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/26/thomasbeatie.jpg
NOT!!!! OMFG!
This is some funny stuff. He is on youtube and everything. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#134Swimming orangutans’ spearfishing exploits amaze the wildlife experts
There you have it, an interesting little detail. What really got my attention is this:
"Other apes introduced to the island were seen trying to spear fish with sticks after watching fishermen using rods. The naturalists also noted that the apes quickly worked out that it was even easier to steal fish from unattended lines used by the humans on the island."
Apes taking over human tools! We should have seen it coming! Is this the end of the human race? -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#135You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#136Another handful:
How to Save a Species: Serve It for Dinner.
Study sheds light on spider sex (they use UVB rays to communicate with females)
Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#137Heh, and to counter "Ice Age Commeth"
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23612876-11949,00.html -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#138Is it bad I find this absurdly cute? -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#139Yes. Very bad. Very, very, bad.
-
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#141Y'all know how much Robert E. Howard (love him or not) has influenced fantasy fiction and gaming.
This is the man who influenced and inspired REH.
Old-school-hard-core-no-holds-barred-unapologetic-ram-your-face-adventure yarns!!
Meet Harold Lamb.
[http://www.haroldlamb.net/index.htm]
Before there was Conan, there was Khlit. (strangely disturbing name, I know :P) -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#142Khlit...
The Curved Saber...
^^
My kind of guy!
During an upcoming night of brave adventure I shall defeat the keeper of the gate with my curved saber and, surely, rescue Khlit! -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#143Heartbreaker of the day:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1538938220080516 -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#144"Accidentally?" With what, a chainsaw? Do you know how tough the meat of the heart is? It's pretty sturdy stuff. Not only that, but it's rather well protected. By design, the ribcage does a fair job of keeping this sort of nonsense from happening. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#145The Financial Times wrote about a new report of the World Bank Growth Commission on how to achieve growth; lasting several years, researched by many prestigious economists, and taking up lots of money, all what you would expect.
What makes it interesting are the conclusions, basically saying they don't have an idea, but it still should be left to those experts. :)
- 'It is hard to know how the economy will respond to a policy, and the right answer in the present moment may not apply in the future.'
- 'Growth should be directed by markets, except when it should be directed by governments.'
(Hat tip to Cafe Hayek) -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#146Next time you need a cool Dryad visual for your game
http://whisperingcraneinstitute.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/dancin-tree.jpg -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#147Nice one! Do we have a thread on such pictures? -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#148Aliens Like Pie!!!
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23886370-5012749,00.html -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#149You can't make this up.
In a bunch of silly techniques is described under 'Tissue Growth', how women can, ummm, increase some of their bodily proportions. :)
But there are more interesting implications than that:
The study raises the possibility that you could use the mind for tissue regrowth of all sorts – especially to help healing. If you are bruised or injured, vividly imagine the area emersed in a healing white light. In this light, see your tissue becoming "vitalised" and growing back until the area is fully healed. Repeat two or three times a day.
Magic. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#150Vampires: the Celtic Connection
A 4000-year old grave has been discovered, with several measures in place to prevent the dead from rising. For your inspiration:
The 10th or 11th-century "vampire burial ground" of Celakovice, just outside Prague, proves that, whether they were real or a metaphor for all manner of human ills, the vampires were the most enduring of human ogres.
In 1966, archaeologist Jaroslav Spacek was called to investigate a number of "unusual graves" discovered during building work. They formed part of a unique vampire burial ground.
He reported: "All the skeletons, buried in separate graves, showed the tell-tale signs of anti-vampire rituals. Some were weighted down, others had a nail driven through their temple, were tied down or variously debilitated and their heads cut off and faced downward so that they should not find their way back to the world of the living. These noteworthy funerary rituals indicate that the bodies were the remains of revenants in the eyes of the medieval villagers of Celakovice."
The dread of dead men walking, and sucking the blood of their friends and families, prompted isolated rural communities down the ages to apply specific protective measures. The Slavs, Hungarians and Germanic peoples of central-east Europe and the Balkans used more than a dozen "magic means" to keep vampires from returning from their graves.
Over the centuries, the people of central-east Europe and the Balkans were confronted with "vampire epidemics" and fought long-running battles against the undead suspected of returning from the grave. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#151"Star Trek warp drive is a possibility, say scientists"
Darn, and I hoped they would prove a better TV Series first. So be it... stabilize the stabilizers!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/15/sciwarpdrive115.xml -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#152All this extraordinary feat requires, says the new study, is for scientists to harness a mysterious and poorly understood cosmic antigravity force, called dark energy.
First teleportation turns out to just be an electron tunnelling thing, now this. Can I at least get a phaser set to stun? -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#153How about a stunner set to phase? -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#154Much more contemporary, a British camera "sees" under clothes
It can can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away and detect hidden objects from up to 80 feet away, effective even when people are moving. It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company says.
Welcome to a Brave New World!
---
Classier: an ultrasound machine 'turns cheap plonk into fine wine in 30 minutes'.
It does this by aging the alcoholic contents. Necromancy at work, this time for the betterment of the human race. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#155Instant food
Breakfast 8000 years ago wasn't that much different from what we enjoy today, according to a study that describes the world's oldest known cooked cereal.
"In this form, the cereal grain can be stored throughout the year and consumed easily, even without boiling, by merely soaking in hot water."
Food for thought and adventurers. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#156
Scientists discover Patagonian diesel that grows on trees
Actually it is a fungus, that naturally produces a mixture of chemicals that is remarkably similar to diesel. Forget hydrogen and solar cars, the future lies in fungus! -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#157When I grow up, I want a library like this one:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all
Watch and weep and imagine. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#158Finally: the flying car is here!
The seed of this improbable adventure was sown four years ago when Gilo Cardozo, a paramotor manufacturer, had a eureka moment. For those not familiar with paramotors, picture a parachutist with a giant industrial fan strapped to his back, which provides forward motion and boosts lift for the parachute - or wing - during takeoff. Cardozo’s brainwave was to attach a car to the fan.
“I started making a paramotor on wheels that you sit on and take off and it suddenly occurred to me, ‘Why not just have a car that does everything?’” recalls Cardozo, whose Wiltshire-based company Parajet built the paramotor that the adventurer Bear Grylls used to fly near Everest last year.
A workable flying car has been the inventors’ holy grail for half a century, but the reality has remained elusive.
... -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#159Oh dear, if this invention ever becomes mainstream, I see air pollution getting a lot worse. -
Re: Interesting Non-Game Stuff
#160I dont think it would have that much of an impact. Flying is scary and I dont think the car would sell well. I would buy one, but I'm not scared of heights or flying. Also, it has a 4 cylinder 140 hp diesel engine, that's pretty clean compared to a normal gasoline engine