Tag Archives: linky-links

A List of Linky-Links

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Ok, folks, time for another of Franklin’s web browser dumps! Ready? Let’s go!

Old Russian nuclear technology

Two links from the EnglishRussia Web site today, both of them concerning cold-war-era Soviet nuclear technology. Those Russians never met a nuclear reactor they didn’t love.

Abandoned Russian nuclear lighthouses

What do you do if you have a whole lot of Arctic waterfront you need to put lighthouses along, but there’s no power or habitation anywhere nearby? Embed nuclear reactors in the lighthouses, seal ’em up, and forget about ’em!

Russian self-propelled nuclear reactors

Small reactors designed to be driven out to remote villages, available in two different styles–crawler models and tractor-trailer rigs.

Science and Technology

The importance of stupidity in scientific research

The thing about doing real research is that you’re trying to answer questions nobody has answered yet. You can’t look up the answers in a book, because nobody knows them. That’s the point. If that makes you feel stupid, that’s OK.

Yeast-powered fuel cell feeds on human blood

They’re still crude and not very powerful, but fuel cells that can create energy from your blood may one day power everything from pacemakers to insulin pumps to synthetic organs.

Debate about vaccine hilights sexual double-standards

When the HPV vaccine was first approved for use in girls, opponents raised a stink that vaccinating against STDs could cause girls to become sexually promiscuous. Now that the vaccine is being studied in boys, critics talk about its effectiveness and its safety–but don’t seem to argue that it will result in boys becoming promiscuous.

My Bionic Quest for Bolero

One person’s experience with trying to reprogram his cochlear implant to make it high enough resolution for him to appreciate music. (Note: Wired can’t get its act together with HTML doctype and encoding tags, so Mac users will have to click View->Text Encoding->Western (ISO Latin 1) to make the weird garbled characters in the story display properly.)

Sex

New Scientist: Spanking and BDSM bring couples closer together

The title says it all, really.

Art

From drjon, who has a habit of posting links that cause me to waste tremendous amounts of time:
Naked Urban Exploration.

Not safe for work, but quite lovely. If you like the (female) human body and you like urban decay, this site’s for you. I’m especially fond of this photo.

Colorful high-speed photos of air rifle pellets hitting stuff

I have an entire essay brewing about the physical world we live in and how it’s only a tiny, crude approximation of all that exists on the back burner right now, inspired by these pictures.

My Little Pony gets a Hollywood makeover

My Little Pony, re-imagined as Slave Leia, Edward Scissorhands, the alien from “Alien,” and more.

Houdini Chair Ensure Your Guests Will Stay for Dessert

One part functional utilitarian object, one part bondage, one part art.

Humor

50 reasons why nobody wants to publish your book

“The world isn’t quite ready for an illustrated children’s book called SOME MOMMIES ARE INTERNET PORNSTARS” and 49 more.

World of Warcraft: The Lich King in IRC chat

Spider pride!

ZOMG win and awesome!

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Frank Miller’s Charlie Brown: A Charlie Brown comic strip as it might be drawn by Frank Miller, the comic book artist responsible for Sin City and The Dark Night Returns.

“That’s right, thumbsucker. I see you…”

Words fail.

Yet Another List o’ Linky-Links

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Once again my Web browser is devouring half of my system’s available RAM and more swap space than you can shake a stick at, so it’s time once again for a long list of links.

Including naturally enough, some Watchmen-related links.

I’ve got several real posts brewing, none of which I’ve actually had time to write (just got home from the office, if that’s any indication), so without further ado, here we go!

Science

Obama to lift restrictions on stem-cell research

Obama Science Memo Goes Beyond Stem Cells

If Obama accomplishes absolutely nothing else in his entire term in office, if he does nothing to stop the pointless and expensive war in Iraq or right the capsizing economy, then his presidency will still be an epic win. Abandoning religious ideology in favor of actual, genuine science is one of the most important things this nation can do. First World superpowers keep their position only by dint of their technological and scientific basis, yet in the past eight years under anti-intellectual Republican rule, the US slipped to #22 in the world in terms of financial support for basic scientific research.

Rewiring the Brain: Inside the New Science of Neuroengineering

This is an incredibly exciting time to live in. We’re closing in on being able to understand and manipulate the stuff of the universe on the smallest scale possible, and we’re also closing in on the ability to understand in ways never before possible the most fundamental things that make us who we are. These areas of exploration bring incredible promise.

New Scientist: Humans may be primed to believe in creation

I’ve written before about how the brain is not an organ of thought so much as an organ for generating beliefs–a “belief engine,” if you will–and this research shows that a predisposition belief in purpose is a very strong component of that belief engine.

Missing Link Between Fructose, Insulin Resistance Found

For the first time, a concrete, documented mechanism between fructose and fructose-containing sweeteners and diabetes is uncovered.

Sociology

Catholic Church excommunicates doctors who perform lifesaving emergency abortion on 9-year-old rape victim; take no action against her rapist

The Vatican uses the line “life must always be protected” to justify the excommunication, in apparent ignorance of the irony that without the abortion, the young rape victim, and the babies, would have died.

Bush: ‘Sanctity of Human Life Day’

In the last days of his Administration, former President Bush declared Jan. 18 to be “National Sanctity of Human Life Day.” Apparently, the sanctity of human life doesn’t apply to the citizens of Middle Eastern nations that happen to be geographically close to other nations that were responsible for terrorist attacks on us.

Steve Pavlina: 2009 Focus – Intimate Relationships

So there’s this guy who is…well, I’m not exactly sure what he is. He seems to be a motivational coach (or “personal development” coach, whatever that is). Anyway, he writes a blog, and in his blog he says that 2009 is the year he’s going to explore polyamory. And he linked to my site on his list of resources.

Bizarre

Photos of abandoned Russian ships frozen in ice

I really, really, really, really want to visit this place. The Russians have always been amazing at taking urban decay to the next level, and this place is just beautiful.

The Most Amazing Star Trek Collectible of All Time

If by “amazing” you mean “horrifying beyond all human reason.” The commentary is priceless.

Watchmen condoms: We’re society’s only protection

If you want your schlong to look just like Dr. Manhattan’s, now’s your chance! These blue condoms come in a flip-top case with the smiley face on the front, and …yeah. I have nothing else to add.

Long List o Linky-Links

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Since my Web browser currently has a zillion pages open (and is consuming mass quantities of RAM as a result), and since I can’t use the browser on my iPhone because the maximum possible number of pages is open, it’s time once again to share the wealth and post another Grand List of Linky-Links.

In today’s assortment, we have a wide variety of links for your edification and viewing pleasure.

Ready? Here we go!

Society & Politics

New Scientist: Conservatives are biggest consumers of porn

Not that it’s really a surprise to anyone. I’ve long suspected that many social conservatives fall into one of two broad camps: closeted self-loathers, and people who are really only concerned with the appearance of propriety rather than with actual propriety.

Business Week: Portland, Oregon is America’s unhappiest city

Uh-oh. And I’m planning to move there shortly!

Lesbian Nation: Chronicles of the Lesbian Separatist Movement

In the seventies, a movement arose among lesbians who believed that the key to sexual and social freedom lay in withdrawing entirely from American society–including, in many cases, refusing to interact with or even speak to men. Battle too long, and you become the thing you’re fighting against.

Science

Will You Perceive the Event that Kills You?

My favorite link on the list. Will you even be aware of the thing that ends your life? The human sensory apparatus and nervious system are so slow that we are constantly living in the past–about 300-500 milliseconds in the past, to be exact. Many of the things that can kill you do so in less time than that. Interesting stuff, including a rundown of the sequence of events in a car crash, and how far behind your awareness of those events will lag.

Researchers solve mystery of deep-sea fish

Meet the barreleye–a fish with nostrils that look like eyes, a transparent head, and tubular eyes that swivel up and down entirely inside its head. Man, there is some seriously weird stuff in the deep ocean.

Natural selection: Darwin’s God-killer

Two centuries after Origin of Species and people STILL don’t actually know what evolution is. (Hint: If you’re thinking “survival of the fittest,” you ain’t really got it.) Is this idea really a “god-killer”? Of course not. But it does demolish one very specific notion of god–the idea that the world was created in six literal 24-hour days exactly six thousand, four hundred and some odd years ago.

Junkfood Science: Why we think overeating causes obesity

There are many things we all know are true that actually aren’t. Turns out that the notion that people are overweight simply because they eat too much is one of them. The history of a fascinating study on food and food deprivation, which probably would not be possible today ’cause it would violate ethical guidelines on human research.

Globe and Mail: Canadian researchers turn skin cells into stem cells

The new technique is easier and safer than previous techniques to coax mature cells back into becoming stem cells.

Mermaid Dream Comes True Thanks to Weta

Weta Digital, the company that did the special effects for the Lord of the Rings movies, has a lot of experience with advanced prosthetic effects. So when a girl with no legs approached them with the idea of making her a functional mermaid prosthetic, they said “Sure!”

2009: Shaping up to be a bad year for anti-vaccinationists

Everything under the sun has its conspiracy theorists. Terrorism has its 9/11 “truthers.” The space program has its moon hoax conspiracy nutters. Geologists have the flat-earthers and the young-earthers to contend with. And the medical community has, among others, the anti-vaccination nutters. Difference is, the moon hoaxers and flat-earthers don’t put other people’s lives at risk. 2009 looks to be a bad year for this particular breed of nutter.

Sex and Relationships

The Single Best Working Assumption for Drama-Free Relationships

Sometimes it’s the simple things that are most effective.

Control Tower: The Hot Bi Babe

Yes, I know it’s an old article, but Mistress Matisse lays it on the line about why those zillions of married poly-in-theory couples will not likely find that hot bisexual woman they’re looking for.

And finally, here’s an old video circulating YouTube about the evils of pornography, though it has an interesting historical footnote:

The footnote? The person who made this video is none other than Charles Keating.

Keating, for those who don’t remember him, was an anti-sex, anti-porn moral crusader for many years, and joined President Reagan’s Meese Commission on Pornography in an attempt to lobby for tough anti-porn laws.

He later went on to embezzle about $1.2 billion from Lincoln Savings and Loan, singlehandedly triggering the collapse of the entire S&L industry. To Keating, you see, porn = immoral, stealing the life savings from working families = perfectly moral.

Another List of Linky-Links

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Today’s crop of links covers a lot of territory, from cutting edge science stuff to LOLcat perversaions. Off we go:

Science

Our World May Be a Giant Hologram

A device intended to look for gravity waves may instead have provided evidence confirming a strange hypothesis that space itself is composed of subunits, and that there is a “smallest possible unit” of space.

Scientists Stop the Ageing Process

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine report the ability to prevent ageing in the cells of a mouse liver by blocking the accumulation of protein detritus.

What’s In the Vault?

Vaults are cool nanoscale, spontaneously self-assembling structures within cells…and nobody knows what they do.

Humor

Яolcats

LOLcats as seen through the prism of Stalin-era Soviet propaganda ideology.

Caligula for President

Uncomfortable truths about American democracy, helped along with a little black humor. “In thrall to the natural, inexorable, cyclic states of empire, the American government is finally beginning to sprout hair on its lip and smell like all the others, and is almost beginning to resemble an adult superpower, in regard to the vast, regrettable and boringly predictable evils of monarchic leadership.”

I Want to Be a Kitten

An antidote to the previous link.

LOLkink

Because sometimes BDSM is just funny. Warning: Not safe for work.

Technology

Military Investigates Amnesia Beams

With a flash of light. Seriously.

Philosophy

The Idiocy of ‘Defamation of Religion’

Some folks, and some nations, are seeking to make “defamation of religion” a crime. Why that’s a profoundly stupid idea.

Link o’ the Day

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Forced orgasm belt. Lockable belt that holds a Hitachi Magic Wand in place. Dear God, I know some folks I’d like to lock into this for an hour or three.

Link totally NSFW.

Link O’ the Day

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Hamlet: The Facebook News Feed Edition

Polonius thinks this curtain looks like a good thing to hide behind.

Polonius is no longer online.

Brilliant! (With a tip of the linky-link hat to champignon)

Link O’ The Day…

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peristaltor points out that if John McCain insists on calling himself a “maverick,” he (and his handlers) might want to learn a little bit about the word’s origin. I had no idea myself where the word came from, and now that I know, I gotta say: McCain keeps using that word. I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

Interesting to folks who care about politics and folks who find language fascinating. I know I have a few of both on my flist.

Y’know, my birthday’s only five months away…

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…and there’s an eBay auction going on right now for a full-size, hand-built, three-story-tall piece of Roman siege equipment, specially constructed by The Discovery Channel for a piece on the history of siege warfare.

I’m, y’know, just sayin’.