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Monday Links from the Premier Inn vol. CLXXXVIII

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    Monday Links from the Premier Inn vol. CLXXXVIII

    Spent much of today wrestling with Git. Seldom has a distributed version control system been so appropriately named
    • Creator of xkcd Reveals Secret Backstory of His Epic 3,099-Panel Comic - "There was no story, no punchline, no words. 30 minutes later, the image changed; the figures shifted slightly. And they continued to change every half-hour for the next week–and every hour for months after that–slowly coalescing into a story as the two characters discovered disturbing changes in the landscape around them, and set out on an epic, time-lapsed journey to discover the truth about what was happening to their world." Randall Munroe does it again

    • OAuth of Fealy - Ian Bogost's little rant in response to a Facebook Developer questionnaire attracted attention recently, and here he expands on his views on developing for the Facebook Platform: "Facebook promises something it doesn't deliver. Or worse, it doesn't even promise what it doesn't deliver. Then, like the abuser who blames his victim, the company sends tone-deaf surveys asking "how can we improve," as if its worst offenses weren't obvious. This is the behavior of sociopaths."

    • How to make bad charts in 7 simple rules - "Though we normally focus on verifying facts, claims and statistics, today we focus our attention on a few bewildering infographics." Federica Cocco of FullFact.org explains some of the devious visual misrepresentations and obfuscations coming to a chart near you soon.

    • Cinema's Greatest Effects Shots Picked By Hollywood's Top VFX Specialists - "From Eadweard Muybridge and George Méliès to James Cameron and Phil Tippett, the history of movie effects is basically the greatest bedtime story never told. Except it’s a yarn so full of dragons, dinosaurs and mimetic polyalloy killing machines sent back from the future that you’d never get any sleep after hearing it. As Life Of Pi and Avatar amply demonstrate, there are many chapters still to be written and innovations still to be forged, but whether in-camera, matte, prosthetic, CG, or just lovingly modelled by a man with a passion for Plasticine, effects have brought magic to the movies since the silent era. In a unique celebration of the art, Empire asked the people who make them happen to pick their favourites."

    • 1950s Housewife Rules - Useful advice from Housekeeping Monthly, May 1955; e.g. "Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first – remember his topics of conversation are more important that yours."

    • Volvo Gave Away the Most Important Design They Ever Patented - "In 1959, Volvo delivered its first car that used Bohlin's answer, a three point seat belt that can be seen in the above image and every car sold today. Volvo received a patent for the design in 1962, but rather than hoard it, they gave it to the world. Volvo shared the design, allowed any carmaker to use it, and sent Bohlin on a world tour to encourage its use." A salutary lesson in how to use, rather than abuse, patents.

    • Pamphlet from 1917 Shows Death Trends Are Never Ever Forever - Another interesting piece of death-related ephemera from Caitlin Doughty, mortician and founder of the Order of the Good Death: "My friend Susannah, urban preservationist extraordinaire, sent me this pamphlet from 1917 on Community Mausoleums in Chicago. The pamphlet is filled with high falutin’ rhetoric like, “Above all things we ask for our Dead the grace of Good Taste.” According to the pamphlet, community mausoleums will last as long as the monuments of Rome. And yet, despite all that, Susannah found it on a list of Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois."

    • -… ..- .-. .-. .. – — .— ..- … – .. -.-. . - "In 1853, the first telegraph line was strung in California... it’s hard to appreciate just how isolated San Francisco was in that era. The fastest Clipper ship from New York took 89 days. It was just 30 days if you cut over through Panama or Nicaragua (if you wanted to risk dying of malaria). Overland from Iowa was about three months." Interesting look at the history of communications in the days when sending the equivalent of one tweet would cost $42

    • Prepare to Be Shocked! - "What happens when you actually click on one of those “One Weird Trick” ads?" Alex Kaufman clicks on the badly-drawn ads so you don't have to

    • Porn Sex vs Real Sex, The Differences Explained With Food - useful and educational video for those who easily confuse fantasy and reality.



    Happy invoicing!

    #2
    Originally posted by zeitghost
    Bonus Breaking Bad linky: The New Atlantis » Criminal Elements

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by zeitghost
      Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
      Bonus Breaking Bad linky: The New Atlantis » Criminal Elements
      Also, BBC News - Breaking Bad: Why doesn't the UK have a crystal meth problem?

      Particularly notable for the experiences of 'Roy', an IT worker from London

      Comment


        #4
        How did you miss?

        Shark Week. #SharkCat cleaning Kitchen! - YouTube


        Comment


          #5
          From the "Prepare to be shocked ads..."

          “Research on persuasion shows the more arguments you list in favor of something, regardless of the quality of those arguments, the more that people tend to believe it,”

          The secret to my success revealed.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by DimPrawn View Post
            From the "Prepare to be shocked ads..."

            “Research on persuasion shows the more arguments you list in favor of something, regardless of the quality of those arguments, the more that people tend to believe it,”

            The secret to my success revealed.

            I'm not convinced. Can you add a few more points to persuade me?

            Comment

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