Sunday 27 May 2012

10 stories and links I found educative, interesting or simply weird

Busy Dublin Bridge via Britannica Blog by Brendan van Son
The locals like to say that DublinIreland, is like a little village that has somehow turned into a big city.
Photo by Brendan van Son.
Photo by Brendan van Son.
The great thing about Dublin is that in many ways it manages to maintain its small-town vibe. It is quaint and easy to get around, but at the same time has all of the bonuses of a big city. The bridges that cross the city’s canal, like the one in the photograph, are often as much as 300 years old.
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Brendan van Son is a travel writer and photographer from Alberta, Canada. He is editor-in-chief of Vagabundo Magazine [worth looking at if only for the stunning pictures, but also has great stories about places to see]. To see more of his work check out his blog, Brendan’s Adventures. You can also follow Brendan on twitter @brendanvanson and like his fan page for updates on Facebook.

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
What’s the difference between story-truth and happening-truth? Where’s the line in nonfiction between cheating and distilling, artfulness and fabrication?... more

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Super Mario Summary – Single Screen Style Online Game via How-To Geek by Asian Angel
What would Super Mario be like if each level was condensed down to a single screen?
Find out with Super Mario Summary! Each level of this game fits on a single screen but will certainly keep you busy as you try to win.
All that is needed to play the game are the Space Bar for jumping and the Left/Right Arrows keys to move.
From the website: A Super Mario Summary is my entry to the 23rd Ludum Dare 48 hour game development challenge. I tried to recreate every level in the original Super Mario Brothers game, but on a single screen each. The result is a puzzle platformer where you need to combine reflexes, timing, and clever thinking to succeed.
A Super Mario Summary [via BoingBoing]

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Battle Panic via How-To Geek by Asian Angel
In this game you engage in an epic quest to defeat the Orcs that control the wilderness lands and bring civilization to that which has been ruled by evil. Can you achieve victory and free the surrounding lands from evil or will you fall before the oncoming Orc hordes?
Asian Angel’s walk-through is here but if you want to bypass that the game is here.

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Homer goes global. From Cairo to Shanghai, Tokyo to Moscow, translations of The Iliad grow from a trickle to a flood. “The poetry rocks and has a macho cast to it, like rap music”... more

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Stain-shedding coating gets tough via BBC News - Technology
Chemists devise a means to coat cotton fabrics with durable “super-hydrophobic” layers that repel water and stains alike.
Full story

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How long does food poisoning last? via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker

Image: X.L.D. Agar 1 - detail, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from nathanreading's photostream
I recently had what I am pretty sure was foodborne illness. It arrived in the middle of a friend’s birthday party, a sudden onslaught of misery that lasted for the next 8 hours, reminding me, horribly, of a similar scene in The Mask of the Red Death. It was followed by two days of pretty much constant sleep. I don't recommend it.
But if a growing body of research is right, that 48-hours of grossness might not be the end of your body’s interaction with a foodborne bug. In fact, some people seem to have otherwise unexplained symptoms persisting for years after they thought they’d recovered from food poisoning.
Read the rest of Maggie’s story here

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
We speak the “us against them” language of solidarity. But we’re social animals, says Richard Sennett, capable of cooperating more deeply than the existing social order envisions... more

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Beautiful photo of a volcanic eruption via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker

Volcano Tungurahua in Ecuador erupts about every 90 years – it’s a schedule the mountain has kept for 1,300 years.
This photo was taken by Patrick Taschler in 2006. (Via Astronomy Photo of the Day and Alexandra Witze)

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Patent for Battleship game via Steve van Dulken’s Patent blog
There has been publicity over the new film Battleship, based on the game of that name. Back in 1933 Louis Coffin applied for a patent for the game. It's the classic game where opponents try to “hit” enemy ships which are marked by pegs on each side of the same vertical board.
Read more


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