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Monday Links from the Easter Bunny's Secret Underground Lair Vol. LXIX

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    Monday Links from the Easter Bunny's Secret Underground Lair Vol. LXIX

    A lovely sunny bank holiday - what better time to stay indoors and look at things on the Internet!
    • 25 Abandoned Yugoslavia Monuments that look like they're from the Future - "These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). They were designed by different sculptors (Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul, to name a few) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković...), conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their "patriotic education." After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost." Tito: crazy name, crazy guy.

    • Cranking - "Nothing wrecks your living room decor quite like a giant, rented hospital bed." Merlin Mann explains the factors that led him to reappraise his way of living.

    • Albert Whitlock - a scrapbook of memorable matte moments - "No two ways about it, when it boils down to it, the most recognised name in cinematic matte wizardry would have to be the late, great Albert Whitlock. No other name associated with matte painting has had near the impact that Whitlock has had to generations of film viewers." Excellent appraisal of Whitlock's work.

    • From Me To You - Animated GIFs have really come a long way since GeoCities.

    • Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies - "A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping)." Strictly speaking it's not Amazon but independent booksellers using Amazon Marketplace, but it's still pretty funny seeing what happens when two algorithms start wrestling each other.

    • The Post Office Railway (Mail Rail) - The Post Office's private underground railway in London has long been the unattainable goal of urban explorers; finally, some of them made it. The pictures are excellent, though the writing style is utterly abysmal: "It is without a doubt the Mail Rail sits at the throne, laughing maniacally at the puny adventurers unable to even stare it in the eyes without bursting into flames, the pinnacle of exploration in London. There is, and will never be anything like it again, its uniqueness forever unrivalled, London’s final unconquered 'Grail' now a slain beast." FFS

    • Leaving in a Huff - "One thing you may not know about me is that I am a writer. More specifically, I'm a freelance writer. This means I can have several clients at once, work from home in my underwear, and set my own hours. It is basically like being a prostitute, but with less stringent hygiene requirements... Up until last week, one of the places I wrote for was Cinematical, a fine website devoted to news and commentary related to the film world. But now Cinematical has essentially been run into the ground by its corporate overlords. The writers were let go on Wednesday. The editors had already quit. What happened to this once-thriving movie blog? Gather 'round and pay heed and I will tell the tale!" If the management team resulting from AOL's buyout of the Huffington Post is really as incompetent as this post indicates, I'd suggest divesting yourself of any stock you might hold right away.

    • The Mountain - "This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide. Spain´s highest mountain @(3718m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories." Another time-lapse video that cries out to be viewed at HD, fullscreen in a darkened room:


    • What Location Tracking Looks Like - The location data stored by iPhones and Android phones is trivial and worthless, despite the nonsensical scaremongering that blew up late last week. If you really want to be concerned about location tracking, look to your mobile phone operator: "[Politician Malte Spitz] used German privacy law — which, like the law of many European countries, gives individuals a right to see what private companies know about them — to force his cell phone carrier to reveal what it knew about him. The result? 35,831 different facts about his cell phone use over the course of six months. As the German newspaper website Zeit Online reports: 'This profile reveals when Spitz walked down the street, when he took a train, when he was in an airplane. It shows where he was in the cities he visited. It shows when he worked and when he slept, when he could be reached by phone and when was unavailable. It shows when he preferred to talk on his phone and when he preferred to send a text message. It shows which beer gardens he liked to visit in his free time. All in all, it reveals an entire life.'" There's an interactive map that lets you follow his travels

    • Kate Middleton For The Win - The bride-to-be as lolcat:



    Happy invoicing!

    #2
    Love those Yugoslavia things. No 2 reminds me of someplace in the UK, can't think where. 7 is from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 15 is the Animal Farm windmill, 17 is a bit of the South Bank.
    bloggoth

    If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'
    John Wayne (My guru, not to be confused with my beloved prophet Jeremy Clarkson)

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
      [*]The Post Office Railway (Mail Rail) - The Post Office's private underground railway in London has long been the unattainable goal of urban explorers; finally, some of them made it. The pictures are excellent, though the writing style is utterly abysmal: "It is without a doubt the Mail Rail sits at the throne, laughing maniacally at the puny adventurers unable to even stare it in the eyes without bursting into flames, the pinnacle of exploration in London. There is, and will never be anything like it again, its uniqueness forever unrivalled, London’s final unconquered 'Grail' now a slain beast." FFS
      Fascinating, but if it's no longer used then how come all the lights are blazing?

      (Unless the trespassers found light switches and turned them on to take the pics)

      I imagined it would be stuffed full of bundles of cables by now, as that was the reason I heard the GPO had stopped using it.
      Work in the public sector? Read the IR35 FAQ here

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by OwlHoot View Post
        Fascinating, but if it's no longer used then how come all the lights are blazing?

        (Unless the trespassers found light switches and turned them on to take the pics)
        Indeed:
        We stepped out torches in hand, checking for further cameras and alarms. Surprisingly there were none, or so we thought. Presuming the coast was clear we momentarily lowered our guard, stepping out onto the platform. With a bright flash of light the station lit up, a nearby PIR triggering a flood light under which sat a brand new camera. Like a deer mesmerised by the beam of a cars headlight we stared straight it, attempting in vain to cover ourselves when we saw the camera... The floodlight eventually dimmed, plunging the station back into darkness. Concluding the cameras were being recorded at best we threw caution to the wind, covering the cameras with excess items of clothing just to be sure. Flicking a nearby switch kindly labelled ”platform lights” the station buzzed and hummed, its lights springing into life one by one in quick succession.

        Comment


          #5
          Maybe they should look for this

          Crystal Palace pneumatic railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
          bloggoth

          If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'
          John Wayne (My guru, not to be confused with my beloved prophet Jeremy Clarkson)

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by xoggoth View Post
            In 1978, a woman claimed to have found the tunnel and within it saw an old railway carriage filled with skeletons in Victorian outfits.

            Epic win! I might look for that myself next time I'm in that Lahndahn

            P.S. I couldn't resist correcting the sentence; the Wikipedia version now reads "...and to have seen within it..." for "...and within it saw..."
            Last edited by NickFitz; 26 April 2011, 03:23.

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