Friday, May 25, 2007

Friday Links

For your reading pleasure.

First off, Jessie Leimkuehler sent me a link to a brilliant article on cave diving.

At depths of one thousand feet.

It's a story about friendship and hubris and fortune, both good and bad. It's also one of the most gripping magazine articles I've read in years, and you can read it here.

Jim Rossignol wrote an excellent article in The Escapist about how the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. weaves reality, film, and literature into a cohesive and complex game world. It's a terrific piece of writing, and you can read it here.

I can't remember if I've linked to this previously, but there's an excellent profile of Ken Kutaragi over at Eurogamer. It's easy to pigeonhole him as the captain of the Yamato 3, but his career was quite remarkable, and you can read about it here.

I saw a link over at Digital Sportspage to a video called "Battle at Kruger," and it's so amazing that it's hard to describe. If you ever wondered what would happen if wildebeests, lions, and crocodiles got into a fight, then this is your dream video, and there are multiple jaw-dropping moments as well. See it here.

I've been getting this link for a week, so I decided it was finally time to post it. A police officer in the Detroit area scammed some pot from a bust, took it home, and had his wife make brownies. It all goes so badly after they eat the brownies that he winds up calling 911, and the resulting conversation is Hall of Fame worthy.

Just remember: in Hockeytown, the score always matters. Listen to the call here.

I'd never heard of Brood XIII until this week, but they're hatching. In case you don't live in the Midwest, you might not know that billions of cicadas are hatching soon after being underground for seventeen years.

And if you're wondering how loud a single cicada can be, it's 90 decibels, or as loud as a blender. With densities projectd to be as high as 1.5 million per acre, it's going to be (using a technical term) pretty ***damned loud. Read all about it here.

Here's something I never expected: dolphins speak in dialects.
BANGOR, Wales - Dolphins living off the coast of Wales whistle, bark and groan in a different dialect from dolphins off the western coast of Ireland, scientists have discovered.

Find out more here.

Finally, here's a link from Sirirus about a new planet that's been discovered. Here's why Gliese 581 is different from other planets:
Out of the hundreds of planets so far uncovered around other stars, Gliese 581c is the best candidate for habitation. It could conceivably boast such terrestrial amenities as liquid oceans, a benign atmosphere, and plate tectonics to churn metal ore close to the surface, useful for any advanced beings with a penchant for technology.

Read about it here.

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