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Interesting Non-Game Stuff
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#202Now that's a cool planet we didn't think of yet!
Its rotation is bound to its sun, and they do mention the side permanently facing it. Too bad they left out the other, probably quite a bit colder side, and what kind of weather must rage there due to the differentials.
Good find there! -
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#203Atlas Obscura
Courtesy of the RPG Tips, an amazing side of real obscure locations. The inspiration potential is immense! -
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#204Indeed it is Manfred! Nice find! -
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#205The Devil's Bible - Codex Gigas
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/3619/Overview#tab-Overview
Rogue monks, mysterious pictures and pages, and ritual side by side biblical text.
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Filled with satanic images and demonic spells, the cursed text, according to legend, sprang from a doomed monk’s pact with the devil. What else do we know about this mysterious Devil's Bible?
The Devil’s Bible is so huge that it requires at least two people to carry it.
Once considered the eighth wonder of the world, the Codex Gigas stretches three feet long and weighs a hundred and sixty-five pounds.
It is the only book that places the Old and New Testaments alongside violent, holy incantations.
The Codex Gigas contains one full page – right opposite the devil portrait – of a towering Heavenly City. Although no people can be seen in the Heavenly City, it is a symbol of hope and salvation, a contrast to the portrait of the devil on the opposing page.
The Codex Gigas includes mystical medical formulas for anything from treating ailments such as fevers and epilepsy to resolving practical problems such as finding a thief.
The book's transfer to Prague in 2008 took a year of planning. It was insured for $15.1 million during the transfer.
The Devil’s Bible has 600 pages, which is 310 parchment leaves, all made from donkey skins. -
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#206Now this is cool. Don't have an immediate RP tie in - but wow.
http://www.skytopia.com/project/fractal/mandelbulb.html#renders
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#207Some amazing pictures! Gets you from science fiction to nightmare landscapes so easily... great find! -
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#208Just found this fascinating.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091201/sc_livescience/nakedmoleratssurviveextremeoxygendeprivation -
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#211 -
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#212 -
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#213 -
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#214Burning Gates. Inspiring!
Better pictures
http://www.yousaytoo.com/patricia/the-burning-gates/6431
More description
http://www.vacationideas.me/asia/the-door-to-hell-burning-gas-crater-darvaza-turkmenistan/ -
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#215In the realm of WTFEarth, there's also an ever watchful eye in the middle of Mauritania. Go to google maps, and enter in "Ouadane Mauritania" and switch to satellite view. Can't remember what it's called, but it is an actual geographic feature that geologists have been studying for a while. -
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#216FIFA 2010 World Cup questions
These questions about South Africa were posted on a South African Tourism Website by foreigners around the world and were answered by the website owner (great sense of humour!).
Q: Does it ever get windy in South Africa ? I have never seen it rain on TV, so how do the plants grow? ( UK )
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
Q: Will I be able to see elephants in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends how much youve been drinking.
Q: I want to walk from Durban to Cape Town - can I follow the railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, its only two thousand kilometres take lots of water...
Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in South Africa ? ( Sweden )
A: So its true what they say about Swedes....
Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in South Africa ? Can you send me a list of them in JHB, Cape Town , Knysna and Jeffreys Bay ? ( UK )
A: What did your last slave die of?
Q: Can you give me some information about Koala Bear racing in South Africa ? ( USA )
A: Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the pacific. A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe which does not...oh forget it. Sure, the Koala Bear racing is every Tuesday night in Hillbrow. Come naked.
Q: Which direction is north in South Africa ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 90 degrees. Contact us when you get here and well send the rest of the directions.
Q: Can I bring cutlery into South Africa ? ( UK )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.
Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Hillbrow, come naked.
Q: Do you have perfume in South Africa ? ( France )
A: No, WE don t stink.
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in South Africa ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere where a significant number of Americans gather
Q: Can you tell me the regions in South Africa where the female population is smaller than the male population? ( Italy )
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.
Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in South Africa ? ( France )
A: Only at Christmas.
Q: Are there killer bees in South Africa ? ( Germany )
A: Not yet, but for you, well import them.
Q: Are there supermarkets in Cape Town and is milk available all year round?
A: No, we are a peaceful civilisation of vegan hunter-gatherers. Milk is illegal.
Q: Please send a list of all doctors in South Africa who can di spense rattlesnake serum. ( USA )
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca, which is where YOU come from. All South African snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.
Q: I was in South Africa in 1969, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Hillbrow. Can you help? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you will probably still have to pay her by the hour.
Q: Will I be able to speek English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but youll have to learn it first.
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#217Hahahahahahahahhaha! -
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#218 -
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#219 -
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#220awesomeness! -
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#221Holy sweet mother of all that is unholy thats awesome! :P
I think we have a good source of inspiration for the new quest... -
18 intelligence explained!
#222http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100226/hl_hsn/scientistsunravelmysteriesofintelligence -
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#223 -
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#224 -
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#225Oh nooooooooes! :D
Perhaps, provided we survive that long, this is our golden opportunity to visit other solar systems? If we travel at 10% light speed, it will only take 16 years to travel 0.5 parsec.
Hmmm... If the star plough through the Oort cloud... What about it's planets? Will this be a cosmic game of marbles hitting each other? Whoooo! -
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#226lovely, weird, ancient tree visuals for your campaign needs...
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/old-tree-gallery/all/1?npu=1&mbid=yhp -
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#227Oh my god thats a scary hole:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/31/honduras.storm.emergency/index.html?hpt=T1
Could you imagine THAT appearing in your back yard? -
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#228Some people just have to mess up everything:
Dracula was not bloodthirsty, just a victim of bad propaganda, new exhibition claims
Vlad the Impaler, the medieval Romanian prince who inspired the character of Count Dracula, was not a blood-thirsty tyrant, he was simply a misunderstood victim of bad Western European propaganda...
...this just can't be true! -
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#229Amazing ring designs: http://www.beautifullife.info/fashion-design/30-creative-and-stylish-rings/
and Full Medieval Sourcebooks http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook2.html
Very cool stuff, possibly usable for games. -
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#230Because something like this deserves the kind of heading generally reserved only for yellow journalism...
Astronomers discover largest known diamond in galaxy!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3492919.stm -
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#231 -
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#232I was going to add that one too :)
Another take:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/29/science-habitable-exoplanet-gliese.html
I like this quote:
"If these are rare, we shouldn't have found one so quickly and so nearby," Vogt said in a statement.
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#233Optimistic of him to say that, but I think there's a bit too much we don't know to be conclusively stating what we should and shouldn't expect the population distribution of planets across the galaxy to look like.
In other news, research at Cornell has produced something nifty: An AI that, given only a handful of operations (and I do mean a handful - {+, -, *}) and experiment data, is able to derive the underlying physical laws guiding the system.
A non-programmer distillation: www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/newtonai/
A more technical summary: www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April09/NaturalLaws.ws.html
The research publication itself: www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/324/5923/81 -
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#234Sooo... Chaosmark... Your university computer science teacher is no good, much poorer than you, and Steve Vogt, a distinguished scientist from UCSC, is "optimistic" when he utters statements about his chosen field of study, a field you have no competence nor education in?
I suspect it might be the Dunning-Kruger effect after all! :p -
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#235I tend to agree with the general 'no place is special' approach. If we found one this easily (relative term), then they are common. I never count on being ridiculously lucky.
Franky, since planets are roughly matter that was not close enough together to make a star or star-like structure, my vote is planets are as common as dust, just hard to see.
For the record, I think dark matter and dark energy are bogus too :) We may find out that most matter in the universe is taken up by sub-stellar mass objects and that there is a reason for 'dark matter' to have a distribution different then 'not-so-dark' matter.
But I do acknowledge the earth is somewhat round :)
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#236
Sooo... Chaosmark... Your university computer science teacher is no good, much poorer than you, and Steve Vogt, a distinguished scientist from UCSC, is "optimistic" when he utters statements about his chosen field of study, a field you have no competence nor education in?
I suspect it might be the Dunning-Kruger effect after all! :p
To the contrary, I do have some formal education in Astronomy, as well as a hobbyist interest in the field. I therefore understand the various assumptions that are being made when our conclusions are being developed; for instance, his statement relies on the fact that our area of the galaxy is nothing special, which is by no means certain. It's a reasonable assumption to make, but we simply don't know. Thus, his conclusion, however grounded in commonly-accepted theory about planetary distribution, is optimistic. I simply was replying that, knowing the chain of assumptions being made, I think it's a bit early to be taking a single data point and extrapolating out to infinity. Give me another few local planets and I'll be more than happily swayed over.
I didn't say he was wrong, just more optimistic about it than I would be looking at a single point of data. Of course, I would never expect my opinion to be taken over his in a formal setting. He IS the expert between the pair of us; I just have reservations, and reasons for them.
As for the teacher, well, he just plain sucks at teaching. There's no getting around it. :P He's quite knowledgeable, certainly, but he's one of those people that just can't quite pass on his knowledge to a classroom effectively. D-KE doesn't apply to this one, at least. XD
Val: Have you ever read 'Reinventing Gravity'? The author brings up some interesting history, including the snippet that dark matter isn't a new concept at all; it was one of the commonly accepted theories explaining the precession of Mercury before Einstein proposed Relativity. To me, that immediately brings up the idea that our formulation of gravity probably needs an overhaul, much like it did back when Einstein took it on himself to figure out what was causing the data mismatch.
Perhaps someone will finally figure out a good theory of quantum gravity that unifies and explains it all. We can hope, right? -
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#237Hook, line and sinker. Every time. Life is good to me!
Pie is on the house! -
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#238 -
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#239Dracula Fish! Bald Birds! Giant Carnivorous Plants! Mekong FTW!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101006/wl_asia_afp/wildlifeenvironmentseasiamekong -
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#240