Tangled Mind

kickstarter for CLANG, fabulous vid, posted here somewhat belatedly as note-to-self.

BBC website on the rise and use of LJ in Russia -- an interesting read

If you haven't booked yet, may I recommend Yeego? Just booked double room, 2 nights, ~£40 cheaper than Park Inn official rates.
edit to add: to clarify, that's a booking at the Park Inn -- not an alternate hotel.

Southern Lights seen from ISS (video)

trailer for Hysteria, which looks delightful and features Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rupert Everett and Hugh Dancy.

UK Internet usage by type

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011 -- stunning images with commentary.
Chatbots arguing -- better than Today in Parliament
Hearing the Past -- not, as suggested by headlines, all about recreating the sound of a ritual at Stonehenge 4,000 years ago: it's a broader examination of how to recreate a soundscape.

I have also been refreshing this page, as it is relevant to my interests for the week ahead :)

Test your Vocabulary. (I scored 44,300 but that may well be due to my fascination with obscure words. I loved their selection here).

we still don't have enough data for complete analysis by age or education level, especially because we have very little data for participants under 15. ... We especially need participation from children and teenagers, where the biggest vocabulary growth occurs, so families are key. (For little kids, obviously they'll need a parent or older sibiling to help!)

In praise of Joanne Rowling’s Hermione Granger series

It’s easy to imagine Hermione’s origin story as some warmed-over Star Wars claptrap, with tragically missing parents and unsatisfying parental substitutes and a realization that she belongs to a hidden order, with wondrous (and unsettlingly genetic) gifts. But, no: Hermione’s normal parents are her normal parents. She just so happens to be gifted. Being special, Rowling tells us, isn’t about where you come from; it’s about what you can do

(Now I want someone to write this, as a transformative work / homage / whatever)

Who holds the copyright to a photo taken by a monkey? (My immediate response: the tabloid that's employing the monkey, of course.)

Harry Potter and the Curse of Headache

Headache disorders are common in children and adolescents. Even young male Wizards are disabled by them. In this article we review Harry Potter's headaches as described in the biographical series by JK Rowling. Moreover, we attempt to classify them. Regrettably we are not privy to the Wizard system of classifying headache disorders and are therefore limited to the Muggle method, the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition (ICHD-II).

(does this count as fanfic?)

How medieval armour influenced battles -- though ladymoonray and I recently saw a video of a chap in full armour climbing a ladder, doing jumping jacks, and generally being pretty mobile.

The Inner Dark -- horribly accurate depiction of depression, with happy ending. May be cathartic.

EDIT TO ADD
Doctor Who Tube Map - graphic representation of eleven Doctors and their companions, opponents etc.

Is it just me or is Chrome gobbling more and more resources lately?

Hunt Down Chainsaw Barbie!

Ken may have been the one to dump Barbie, but you could be the one to stop Mattel from destroying rainforests for cheap packaging.

Our investigation and testing of Barbie's packaging revealed her boxes are made from Indonesia's rainforests which are vital to the continued survival of endangered orang-utans and Sumatran tigers and for keeping our climate on an even keel.

Already over 150,000 Greenpeace supporters have emailed Mattel demanding they stop making Barbie's packaging from Indonesia's rainforests. Thousands and thousands of people have shared Barbie's dirty secret on Facebook and Twitter. The pressure is mounting and you can be part of the next activity to expose Barbie's role in deforestation.

Not content with the devastation in Indonesia, Barbie is now on the rampage in the UK. Hundreds of Chainsaw Barbie dolls, each brandishing a pink chainsaw, are hidden across the country and I'm relying on you to help track them down.

none in Cambridge, but maybe there's an infestation near you -- check the map!

via SMS, WINOLJ

[reposted from a comment elsewhere, because this is too good not to share]

Someone linked to an article on News Around the World and asked 'is this actually in English?'

Well ...

Front-page stories include:

• We are entertained to forebode the 8th Annual National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program Photo Contest.


• Like cosmic ghosts, represent black holes bush be zipping harmlessly ended Earth on a lawful basis, a infant conceptualise suggests


• Police in Srbija hit inactive past Slav expeditionary Negro Ratko Mladic, the highest-ranking struggle crimes venture ease at super from the peninsula wars of the 1990s


• Coal India, the world’s highest rage miner, is in recent talks to take up to 40 quotient gaming in Indonesia’s Golden Energy Mines in a tending valued at between $750 meg and $1 billion, trinity sources with frank noesis said on Thursday

RAGE MINING! I have no words. Well, not ones like this.

1. Reading Liz Jensen's The Rapture (which is set in a fictional south-coast town uncannily reminiscent of Folkestone)

2. BBC News remarkably restrained:

An atheist and entrepreneur from New Hampshire, Bart Centre, is enjoying a boost in business for Eternal Earth-bound Pets, which he set up to look after the pets of those who believe they will be raptured.

He has more than 250 clients who are paying up to $135 (£83) to have their pets picked up and cared for after the rapture.

They would be disappointed twice, he told the Wall Street Journal. "Once because they weren't raptured and again because I don't do refunds."

3. The world had better not end before Doctor Who at 6:45.