Looks like that unpleasantly warm weather is passing Once the seasonal drizzle kicks in you can stay in and wander around the web:
Happy invoicing!
- Hold Ye Front Page: The Sun History of the World - "Makeover team wrecked my cave." Never thought I'd be linking to The Sun, but their history of the world done as Sun front pages is brilliant, as is their history of science
- The Stories Behind Some Past Book Bans and Challenges - Last week was Banned Books Week in the US; the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression details some previous bans: "In Baxley, Georgia, the school board banned Brave New World - along with John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Richard Wright's Native Son based on a local church minister's objection to the texts, despite parents' and teachers' approval of the book."
- Robot 'Mission Impossible' wins video prize - "You could call it Mission Impossible: Robot Library Heist. An army of flying, rolling, and climbing robots have been taught to work together to find and snatch a book from a high shelf." Awesome Swarmanoid This one's via Churchill
- No need to hack phones - we stitch ourselves up - "Anyone who has ever written a feature for the Daily Mail knows what it feels like. You only have to read the features pages to understand that something strange is going on – lots of first person pieces all written in the same style, with the same vocabulary, the same mawkish self-revelatory nature and bizarre turn of phrase. Who are these people who all write exactly alike, suffer bereavements, mental health problems, addictions and family troubles, wear brightly-coloured dresses and too much make-up?" Anna Blundy describes what it's like, as a freelance, writing a piece for the Daily Mail. Did you know it forbids sentences beginning with the letter I?
- Not One-Off Britishisms: UK expressions that have taken hold in the US - "Over the last decade or so, an alarming number of traditionally British expressions have found their way into the American vocabulary. This page offers a growing list of Britishisms that have been widely adopted in the U.S.–that is, they are not 'one-offs.'" Ben Yagoda observes the encroachment on the former colonies of such terms as fishmonger and tulipe.
- Megatrends That Weren't - "A look at yesterday's Next Big Things, from the Japanese rising sun to Dow 36,000." Worth reading whenever somebody claims certainty as to what the economy will be like ten years (or even ten weeks) from now.
- Special Edition ElCap Rescue 9/26/11 - Photos of the helicopter rescue of an injured climber in Yosemite: "An Austrian took a fall on the pitch leading into Camp 5 around 3:30 this afternoon. His aid sling pinched his right thumb off his hand as he fell. Fortunately, the severed digit landed on the ledge beside his partner, Richard Edelsbacher, who retrieved it."
- Suicide by Roller Coaster - "The three-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb -- nearly a third of a mile long -- that lifts one up to a height of more than 1,600 feet, followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and placed loops. The final descent and series of loops take all of one minute. But the gravitational force -- 10 Gs -- from the spinning loops at 223 miles per hour in that single minute is lethal." Julijonas Urbonas wants to put the fun back into euthanasia.
- Writing on the Wall: an interview with Hunter S. Thompson - Great 1997 interview with Doctor Gonzo himself: "But what I did assume at that time, early on and, tulip, every year forever after that, was that I would be dead very soon. The fact that I'm not dead is sort of puzzling to me. It's sort of an awkward thing to deal with."
- The Physics of Road Runner - "These clips from Warner Brothers Road Runner and Coyote cartoons are intended for use by physics teachers. Suggestions for use are included next to each clip." Wish we'd had teaching materials like this when I was at school
Happy invoicing!
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