Tim's Tumblr

BBC News - Ten 100-year predictions that came true

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:03:16 +0000

BBC News - Ten 100-year predictions that came true:

Some more accuratel than others, it has to be said. But it’s still impressive that someone writing in 1900 predicted mobile phones and cameras able to instantly transmit their photos across the world.

18 Rants by Mark Twain About Bad Writing - Maria Popova - Entertainment - The Atlantic

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:00:00 +0000

18 Rants by Mark Twain About Bad Writing - Maria Popova - Entertainment - The Atlantic:

Brilliance. Among other things, Mark Twain wrote that the “rules governing literary art in the domain of romantic fiction”

require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others.

and

require that the author shall say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.

MONTBLANC SKELETONS-2 (photo by Montblanc Pen Lover on Flickr)

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:46:29 +0000

MONTBLANC SKELETONS-2 (photo by Montblanc Pen Lover on Flickr)

Ronald Searle: Drawings for a beloved wife – in pictures | Books | guardian.co.uk

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:29:27 +0000

Ronald Searle: Drawings for a beloved wife – in pictures | Books | guardian.co.uk:

Another side to the cartoonist Ronald Searle, best known for his illustrations for the Molesworth and St Trinian’s books.

Rupert Murdoch has joined Twitter. This was suggested as a...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:41:08 +0000

Rupert Murdoch has joined Twitter. This was suggested as a suitable avatar picture.

(source: @OctoberJones on Twitpic)

Dear Santa Letter sent 100 years ago found up chimney - The...

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:55:38 +0000

Dear Santa Letter sent 100 years ago found up chimney - The Irish Times - Wed, Dec 21, 2011

Belgian cartoon about the arrival of a Dutch astronaut on the...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:53:00 +0000

Belgian cartoon about the arrival of a Dutch astronaut on the International Space Station. (The Dutch have a reputation for taking caravans all over the place, I’m told.)

(source: @AnoekDG on Twitpic)

Boatswains and silicon

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:43:08 +0000

Boatswains and silicon:

The Higgs Boson is not the Higgs Boatswain. Neither are breast implants made from a hard brittle metallic-looking material. Continue reading →

Another bookwheel (same post as before) (via Redneck Repairs)

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:04:29 +0000

Another bookwheel (same post as before)

(via Redneck Repairs)

'Alter Ego': Portraits of Gamers Next to Their Avatars - Maria Popova - Entertainment - The Atlantic

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:54:25 +0000

'Alter Ego': Portraits of Gamers Next to Their Avatars - Maria Popova - Entertainment - The Atlantic:

Quite fascinating—expecially the ones where the avatar is like an altered version of the original person, rather than entirely different.

Seriously, just put your phone away until afterwards. (via...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:25:00 +0000

Seriously, just put your phone away until afterwards.

(via @darraghdoyle on Twitpic)

Republicans Vote To Repeal Obama-Backed Bill That Would Destroy Asteroid Headed For Earth | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:50:44 +0000

Republicans Vote To Repeal Obama-Backed Bill That Would Destroy Asteroid Headed For Earth | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:

Sheer brilliance from The Onion.

How headbutts and dances give bees a hive mind | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:25:16 +0000

How headbutts and dances give bees a hive mind | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine:

How bees in a hive interact somewhat similarly to neurons in a brain, enabling decisions to be taken.

Dunbar's number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:38:16 +0000

Dunbar's number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

I didn’t know there was a name for this. It’s the theoretical maximim number of people for whom it’s possible to know “who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person”. Though I don’t see how it can be a specific number, since it will surely vary from person to person.

Agostino Ramelli’s Bookwheel - There, I Fixed It - Redneck Repairs

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:56:40 +0000

Agostino Ramelli’s Bookwheel - There, I Fixed It - Redneck Repairs:

Sixteenth-century solution to the problem of a deskful of open books. Some of these were actually made, in various forms.

Salvador Dalí Illustrates Alice in Wonderland, 1969 | Brain...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Salvador Dalí Illustrates Alice in Wonderland, 1969 | Brain Pickings

Well worth seeing. Sadly the book itself isn’t exactly affordable ($12,900 on Amazon when the post was written).

Hyperbole and a Half: Adventures in Depression

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:33:32 +0000

Hyperbole and a Half: Adventures in Depression:

Should be compulsory reading for everyone who’s ever tried to bully someone out of depression—or tried to bully themself out of depression. Very, very accurate and very, very humorous description of what it’s actually like.

Broadcasters lose their nerve over BBC's climate change programme > National News > News | Click Green

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:40:24 +0000

Broadcasters lose their nerve over BBC's climate change programme > National News > News | Click Green:

Broadcasters in US and elsewhere censor BBC’s Frozen Planet series by omitting the episode about climate change.

symmetry breaking » Blog Archive » Faster-than-light neutrino measurement withstands new test

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:28:44 +0000

symmetry breaking » Blog Archive » Faster-than-light neutrino measurement withstands new test:

Same setup, but with the neutrinos sent in very short, widely spaced pulses to make the timing more accurate.

Legal Challenge to Government’s ‘Forced Labour’ Scheme

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:20:29 +0000

Legal Challenge to Government’s ‘Forced Labour’ Scheme:

Public Interest Lawyers have begun legal action against the UK government’s “Mandatory Work” scheme.