How novels help drive social evolution — Analysis correlating literary protagonists with hunter-gatherer archetypes. A weird intersection of literary criticism and anthropology. (Thanks to John Burridge, via mailing list.)
The Klingon Keyboard — For
klingonguy Does it slice off your fingertips when you make a typo? (Thanks to sheelangig.)Steam Robot Design Game — (Thanks to
willyumtx.)Early Green Giant — The Green Man by way of Ray Harryhausen. Except I always thought he looked like Peter Pan after the H-bombs had fallen on Neverland. From Drawn!, the illustration and cartooning blog.
Arabic Logos — From Drawn!, the illustration and cartooning blog. I find myself following more visual arts blogs. This seems to help me in my writing.
vintagephoto — My new favorite LJ community.World's Most Curious Ephemera, Part 2 — More mad genius from Dark Roasted Blend.
The Edge of the American West on media coverage of the Boxer Rebellion
Alternative Currency — A phenomenon of which I have been well-aware, but I never knew the proper nomenclature. Interesting stuff if you're writing about underground economies, for example.
Squid Teeth Inspire Handy Material — The circular teeth squid use to snag and handle prey could lead to strong but lightweight, environmentally friendly composite materials, according to new research. Hmmm...
A Workable Fusion Starship — Centauri Dreams with more on practical interstellar transportation. This is basically Project Orion with semiconductors. I'd sooner carry John Carter's radium rifle around than ride in either one of those things, but it's cool thinking.
Do Naked Singularities Break the Rules of Physics? — All together now: "You cannae break the laws of physics, Jim." (Thanks to
lt260.)Gecko Tape That Lets Go —Technology Review on new generations of adhesives. The article points out an obvious problem I'd never considered, which is how you control when (or whether) an adhesive lets go. Which of course is right up there with "How do they get teflon to stick to the pan?"
?otD: Could we have kippers for breakfast, mummy dear, mummy dear?
1/24/2009
Body movement: 40 minute ride on the stationary bike
This morning's weigh-in: n/a (got distracted and forgot to weigh)
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
| Originally published at jlake.com. |