12Feb/08Off
Daily Round Up, 12 Feb 2008
Essentially three days of dredges is made up for today. Here goes!
- Before we get too far along, I have to give a shout out to Primeval - watched the first season one episode this morning, and just wow, this is pretty damn good. Sure beats the very disappointing Torchwood for last week, "Meat." I mean, come on, alien slug thing lands in your back yard, so your first thought once you notice it seems to grow and grow is to start carving it up and selling the meat? Meh. It was this article on the mini-pterodactyl (skeleton) that was recently found that reminded me of all that.
- The battle against the sedentary lifestyle, which I think is actually is part of my position description at work, is featured over at lifehacker.
- Lifehacker also introduces us to the Social Wallpapering site in this article. What impressed me with the Social Wallpapering site was not only the quality of the pics, but the fact that they had a whole section for dual monitor displays, and the bloody things actually fit right. You don't know how weary I am of large desktop wallpapers that turn out to be "tiles great" - if I wanted tiled, I'd have gone with a tile to begin with.
- Interesting read on how to stimulate memory recall, at least if your skull is open and you happen to have some electrodes handy. And know the parts of the brain. On second thought, don't try this one at home, just read the article and wait for the day they stick energizers in your head under the aluminum cap, Ken.
- Back on the serious side after last week's dip, Universe Today is running a nice introductory article on gravitation wave detectors, and what insights they should be able to offer us into some of the neighborhood's features and hotspots.
- Feeling a creativity slump? Need a pointer on where you hid the mental juice that gets your synapses going? First up, ZenHabits has a nice little reminder on 5 easy sources of inspiration for when you need that extra little kick. And if that's not enough, WriteToDone is also running an article on 12 essential tips for writing. Sure, they couch it as blog writing tips, but really they are somewhat universal.
- io9, which is a great source for scifi and almost science articles, has a nice little clip from this 1968 film, "1999 A.D.," which earily predicts a lot of the home features of the modern era. Some of the technique was wrong, but the concepts were certainly made a reality - shopping from home, webcams, the works.
- Perhaps one of the most disturbing parts of these mechanical wonders is that those are real insect shells. Ack.
- Like many, I was hit by the crackenberry not working for a while yesterday. When in this situation, might I recommend a few distractions?
- If you've ever been interested in Ian M. Banks (SCIFI) writing, but never had an opportunity to break into the Culture he creates, here is a nice article summing it all up for you.
- Over at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, there was obviously a mistake, since this copy of Snow Crash went to someone in Cumming, George, instead of a Cummings. A mistake I'm sure he'll rectify shortly.
- But speaking of Patrick, there's a brief note that a sample chapter from G.R.R.Martin's new book will be featured in a new Bantam magazine. Definitely a good way to sell some magazines, and if you haven't read any of G.R.R.Martin's books, I can tell you you are definitely missing out on the best 1000 or so page turners ever.
I was going to wrap this up this morning with a nice listing on Craig's list for all you Bostonians willing to help find a lost anaconda in the Beacon Hill area, but it seems the listing has been flagged for removal. Instead, I leave you with this humorous little film (YouTube, sorry kids at work, you'll have to watch when you get home): clips from three classic films, dubbed over by the cast of Spongebob Squarepants. Enjoy!
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