Link roundup

1. Hilarious photo of kids learning about the wonders of the human reproduction.

2. A Baltimore Sun photographer accepted a buyout, started a blog, and then more or less destroyed the industry for professional photographers:

By teaching a horde of novices the skills necessary to shoot photographs of a quality that was until very recently only within the grasp of an elite few, Hobby has played a significant role in the transformation of the profession. In the last few years, the market rate for many types of professional photographs has dropped by as much as 99 percent.

3. "A special mask that produces sights and smells fooled study participants into thinking they were eating a cookie they weren't."

*Buy vintage cameras at eBay.

Portal 2 images/spoilers

The ARG seems to be a bit of a dud unless there's a true surprise waiting, but the game's tremendous. It has a strong feel of Bioshock, if Bioshock had a sense of humor (I hope someone puts together a video highlighting the dialog). Here's a few signs and other moments from Portal 2.


Safety first.


Test warning.


Repulsion gel.


Press to open.


In case of implosion, look directly at implosion. (Because implosions are awesome.)


GLaDOS emergency shutdown and cake dispensary.



Potatoes actually play a fairly large role in the game. Is it too late to make my son's science project a potato battery?

*Portal 2 is $35 at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. There's a Thor version of Angry Birds that you can play in your browser.

2. Here's a fun series of experiments to do with your kids over spring break - - use homemade play dough as squishy circuits and light up LEDs and spinning motors.

3. Last Exit to Nowhere is giving away 10 t-shirts.

This hologram of a magnifying glass is awesome

Check out these holograms of a telescope and magnifying glass - - they seem to actually function/magnify. Via.

*Buy comics with hologram covers at eBay.

Link roundup

1. io9:

The Isle Royale wolf population was founded in the late 1940s, and it's been under close scientific observation ever since. Researchers had assumed that the wolves were completely cut off from their relatives on the mainland, but in 1997 one wolf crossed over to the island using an ice bridge, and his arrival may go a long way to keep the population genetically viable.

2. And also from io9:

About 9,000 years ago, the Fuzhou Basin in southeastern China fell victim to rising sea levels, pushing underwater the marshy lands needed for rice farming. The marooned people there became seafarers, which eventually led to the colonization of Taiwan.

3. An ARG at Valve.

Link roundup

1. How to make a battery out of pennies. Via.

2. MSNBC:

The Los Angeles City Attorney's office is trying a new legal maneuver to try to stamp out graffiti — it's charging 10 graffiti writers with violating unfair competition laws because they're selling works on the strength of reputations built on vandalism.
Assistant City Attorney Anne Tremblay says these graffiti writers — all associated with the MTA tagging crew — have an unfair advantage over legitimate artists because they gained notoriety through crime.

Via.

3. WebMD:

Electronic faucets may be touch-free, but they are far from germ-free. In a new study, researchers at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine report finding higher levels of disease-carrying bacteria on hands-free faucets compared to conventional, manually operated faucets.

Via these sites.

*Buy chemistry sets at Amazon.

Albert Funkenstein and the Scientific Method

Today's $10 plus shipping Tee Fury t-shirt features Albert Funkenstein and the Scientific Method by miderock. But I prefer the seal by itself, which is available as sticker in miderock's RedBubble store:

Here's what happens when you fill an ant colony with concrete

Here's what happens when you fill an ant colony with concrete and then excavate the results. Apparently the segments is from this longer film about ants:



Via.

*Buy ant farms at Amazon.

Astronomer nesting dolls

Astronomer nesting dolls by Nate Bellegarde.

*Buy nesting dolls at eBay.

Link roundup

1. The start of this article about Chernobyl is so good, I'm not sure I want to read the article and ruin it:

Twenty-five years after the Soviet-era meltdown drove 60,000 people from their homes in the Ukraine, a rebirth is taking place inside the exclusion zone. With Geiger counter in hand, the author explores Europe's strangest wildlife refuge, an enchanted postapocalyptic forest from which entirely new species may soon emerge.

Via.

2. Garfield cake.

3. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw makes a compelling case for a video game that makes you weaker as you progress. Via.

*Buy Garfield Minus Garfield at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Camouflaged cat animated gif. Via.

2. Alice in Wonderland painting by N.C. Winters.

3. Is exposure to radiation actually good for you?

*Buy Alice in Wonderland toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. I like the look of the art for the upcoming all-ages Wonder Woman picture book Wonder Woman: The Story of the Amazon Princess

2. Great article about an SR-71 Blackbird flying over Libya in the 80's. Here's a strange detail about the plane at rest:

Ironically, the plane was dripping, much like the misshapen model had assembled in my youth. Fuel was seeping through the joints, raining down on the hangar floor. At Mach 3, the plane would expand several inches because of the severe temperature, which could heat the leading edge of the wing to 1,100 degrees. To prevent cracking, expansion joints had been built into the plane. Sealant resembling rubber glue covered the seams, but when the plane was subsonic, fuel would leak through the joints.

3. Disturbing article about the increasing number and increasing sophistication of fake commenters.

Inventables

Inventables calls itself the "the innovator’s hardware store":

We sell materials that designers, artists, and inventors use to develop new products and push the boundaries of what's possible.

Below are just a few items on sale - - translucent concrete and wood, bendable wood, temperature-sensitive color-change fabric, and photoluminescent tape:

It's all about picking gold coins up off the floor

Have you heard of algorithmic trading? Wikipedia explains:

In electronic financial markets, algorithmic trading or automated trading, also known as algo trading, black-box trading or robo trading, is the use of computer programs for entering trading orders with the computer algorithm deciding on aspects of the order such as the timing, price, or quantity of the order, or in many cases initiating the order without human intervention.

Speed is extremely important in such trading. The computer has to execute the trade at the right moment. "It's all about picking gold coins up off the floor - - only the fastest person is going to get the coins."

Spread Networks decided to stretch a fiber-cable between Chicago and New York to facilitate such trades, and since speed was the primary concern, the company spent (according to Forbes's estimate) $300 million to build the 825-mile route as straight as possible. Information travels 3 milliseconds quicker than the previous fastest route. Spread Networks built the line as quickly and quietly as possible to frustrate any competitors, and at one point had 125 construction crews working at the same time.

Link roundup

1. Corlen Kruger has created some cool b-movie posters that are too racy to post. (Some are very NSFW.)

2. "High levels of antibiotic resistance have been found in bacteria that live downstream from a waste-water treatment plant in Patancheru, near Hyderabad in India." Via.

3. "The 10 Most Hilariously Evil Villain Twitter Accounts."

*Buy Drive-In Movie Posters: Illustrated History of Movies at Amazon.

The Horror Virus

"Bacteriophage Attacking" by Equinox Graphics. It's one of National Geographic's choices for best science images of 2010.

*Buy National Geographic maps at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Funny headline: "Homeopathy's Ineffectiveness Saves Lives." (As a demonstration, people ingested what should have been massive overdoses of "medication." But since the "medications" were homeopathic, they contained no active ingredients and had no ill effects.)

2. Even funnier, Zach Galifianakis's latest Between Two Ferns.

3. Conan O'Brien aired hilariously offensive mock Groupon commercials.

Bat Bombs

Here's a ten minute video about America's experiment with bat bombs in World War II. Wikipedia explains:

Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.

Developed by the United States during World War II, four biological factors gave promise to this plan. First, bats occur in large numbers (four caves in Texas are each occupied by several million bats). Second, bats can carry more than their own weight in flight (females carry their young—sometimes twins). Third, bats hibernate, and while dormant they do not require food or maintenance. Fourth, bats fly in darkness, then find secluded places (often in buildings) to hide during daylight.

The plan was to release bat bombs over Japanese cities having widely-dispersed industrial targets. The bats would spread far from the point of release due to the relatively high altitude of their release, then at dawn they would hide in buildings across the city. Shortly thereafter built-in timers would ignite the bombs, causing widespread fires and chaos. The bat bomb idea was conceived by dental surgeon Lytle S. Adams, who submitted it to the White House in January, 1942, where it was subsequently approved by President Roosevelt. Adams was recruited to research and obtain a suitable supply of bats.

Much more here.

UPDATE: Coincidentally, I just saw this:



Roger Dean's album art for "Nitro Function" by Billy Cox. Via these sites.

*Buy propaganda posters at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Absolutely bizarre story about parasitic albino redwood trees (they can't make chlorophyll, so they instead suck all their energy from another tree like a vampire). Via.

2. Tuition at Stanford Law, plus room and board, is over $70,000 per year.

3. How to remove personal information (such as location) from a photograph.

*Buy digital cameras at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Tura Satana tribute (safe for work).

2. One more thing you learned in school that is not true - - South American Army Ants don't devour large mammals, let alone people. Via.

3. My wonderful coupon ninja wife is quite diligent in entering contests. And it just paid off courtesy of My Coke Rewards:

You have won a PlayStation Move Prize Pack which will include: 1 PlayStation 3 system, 1 DualShock controller, 2 PlayStation Move motion controllers, 1 PlayStation Eye camera, 1 SingStar Dance game and 2 SingStar Microphones!

It never even occurred to me that I would one day own the system. Anyone have suggestions for games? I'm thinking Red Dead Redemption for me, and Marvel vs. Capcom to play with my boys.