July 13, 2018
One Thousand Nine Hundred And Eighty Imaginary Animals Brought To Life
Anthrocon 2018, the biggest furry convention in the world, happened last weekend. The official fursuit photo has been released, featuring 1980 fursuiters. Here's the original resolution of the photo, 14920 x 4077 if you want to truly study the details. Here's 500 x 137 so you can click a link and not kill your device and find a menu of other sizes above the picture. [more inside]
“...it doesn’t matter that there’s no Wi-Fi or online multiplayer.”
The video games of Ecuadorean fishing village Santa Marianita [Polygon] “Yet wherever you go, people seem to find ways to play video games here, despite odds like agonizingly slow internet, limited technology access, low wages and even lower computer literacy. If someone in Santa Marianita was able to research the games they wanted, it’s unlikely they’d have the PC or console to play them, much less the internet speeds to keep them updated or play online with friends. But thanks to those small electronics stores in nearby Manta and the occasional console shipment on trucks inbound from distant Guayaquil, local kids and 20-somethings are circumventing some of these challenges and kindling a ferocious love for games.” [more inside]
Does it have any Nuka Cola?
Boy assumes the guise of a Pamela Anderson-like character in a chatroom.
Then he meets the guy of his dreams. This is a (hilarious) recording of a live reading that delves into gender, sexuality, and online dating. You'll laugh but also feel for the narrator and the guy he catfishes.
You Never Think About Structural Engineering
Shopping Mall Collapse in Mexico City (no injuries) Every time I look at a tall building, I think about how a misplaced decimal or overlooked soil survey could kill everyone around. [more inside]
As long as everybody's screaming…
It's National Ice Cream Month in the U.S., and Sunday is National Ice Cream Day!* Guess America's favorite ice cream flavor, then go find out where to get free ice cream this weekend! For a great party trick, make ice cream in a plastic bag!
*I know!
*I know!
Minnark is a cat who lives in Al Ain with his camel friends
Minnark is a cat who lives in Al Ain with his camel friends, Mr. Buzzer and Mr. Buzzer’s mom. Minnark goes for camel rides and traverses camel necks like a bridge. He gets lots of camel cuddles. When winter ends, he chomps off mom’s winter coat. Minnark and Mr. Buzzer enjoy each others’ tails. The camels’ food trough is a great place for cat & camel socializing. Sometimes Mr. Buzzer is a pest. One time this happened.
(All links are to twitter. Names are from google translate.) [more inside]
“Looks like you all know who my pal is"
"In the year and a half since Barack Obama left office, dozens of books have been written about his administration, including memoirs by his official photographer, stenographer, speechwriter, communications director, his foreign policy advisers and his director of national intelligence, not to mention the Obamas’ own forthcoming memoirs.
But only one book includes a scene where Obama bursts into a motorcycle gang clubhouse in Delaware, casually toting a sawed-off shotgun, to rescue Joe Biden from a mob of angry, heavily armed bikers."
Hope Never Dies (NYT) and link to buy the book.
Dig Diaries
It's summer in the northern hemisphere, which means archaeologists are sharpening their trowels as they embark on fieldwork projects. Here's a few dig diaries to follow along:
The Ness of Brodgar is the site of a stunning complex of Neolithic buildings in the West Mainland of Orkney.
Newgrange Farm excavations are investigating a substantial feature discovered through geophysical investigation in 2015. It's the first excavation to take place at the site for 30 years.
Bamburgh Research Project is excavating within the walls of Bamburgh Castle, the site of the fortress palace of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria.
Waterloo Uncovered works with current and former service personnel, alongside archaeologists and students, and are currently excavating Hougoumont Farm at the battlefield at Waterloo.
Fortnite's Formula for Success
Fortnite is the most important video game on the planet. Fortnite is successful like no other game before it for a few reasons. This is interesting even to non-gamers. The NYMag article explains the technical and social reasons for the game's popularity. [more inside]
You mean Jurassic Park isn't accurate?
OK, at least some dinosaurs probably had feathers or proto-feathers, I've come to terms with that. Then it turns out that dinosaurs may have cooed, not roared (reported in Evolution, June 2016). And now you're telling me that T. Rex couldn't stick out its tongue (reported in PLoS One, July 2018)? Time to think about all those dinosaurs among us. (At least it looks like the impressively armored ankylosaurs slurped food with powerful tongues - that's impressive, right?)
"..if you have small children, keep them the hell away from YouTube."
James Bridle takes on the nightmare of children's YouTube videos and the sorry state of the internet. (Mild trigger, adult topics.)
This is for you
How to Be Anxious
This Is The Most Filmed In Alley In NYC
New York City is not a city of dark, dangerous, moody alleys, but that has not stopped Hollywood from portraying it as such. [more inside]
Are We Already Living in Virtual Reality?
In 2005, Metzinger put on a virtual-reality head-mounted display. Inside, he saw his own body, facing away from him, standing in a room. He watched as Lenggenhager stroked its back. Metzinger could feel the stroking, but the body to which it was happening seemed to be situated in front of him. He felt a strange sensation, as though he were drifting in space, or being stretched between the two bodies. He wanted to jump entirely into the body before him, but couldn’t. He seemed marooned outside of himself. It wasn’t quite an out-of-body experience, but it was proof that, using computer technology, the self-model could easily be manipulated. A new area of research had been created: virtual embodiment.
[slnewyorker] [via radiolab] [previously]
Come Out To The Coast! We’ll Get Together, Have A Few Laughs
This week marks the 30th anniversary of Die Hard, arguably the greatest action movie of all time. To celebrate, /Film is exploring the film from every angle with a series of articles. [more inside]
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