Linkdump #96

Artist Ali Gulec has a lovely gallery of freaky, funky, awesome skulls and skeletons: https://tinyurl.com/4nn37y36

Witness the birth of Kermit the Frog in Jim Henson’s live TV show, “Sam and Friends” (1955)“: https://tinyurl.com/2tyyammj

How HP Lovecraft pronounced “Cthulhu”: https://tinyurl.com/synxfyene

Bhangra fan Gurdeep Pandher of Yukon sends all of us a snowy dance of joy, hope and positivity: https://tinyurl.com/24ps7yxs

A delightful Twitter thread about the history of sewage management in London: https://tinyurl.com/ypsrdutd

The city of Baltimore places salt boxes around the town during winter, so that residents can sprinkle salt and keep walkways and driveways free of ice. Here’s a google map of all the salt boxes, many of which have been decorated by locals. Just click on an “Art Box” icon to see a photo of that box: https://tinyurl.com/rtj8f3uy

The US government, in setting standards for food quality based on appearance, also shaped our perception of what is acceptable to eat. This does not always line up with reality. But having set the standards, the government then had to deal with food producers who took shortcuts to make food appear better to the consumer. In some cases, the standards were not so much about quality as they were about protecting an industry: https://tinyurl.com/2enwrff3

Iceberger. Draw an iceberg and see how it will float: https://tinyurl.com/2ucfcc45

If you’ve never heard of a Patagonian crater agate, please enjoy: https://tinyurl.com/4ftnr6b4

These are the 23 varieties of native corn grown in the Eye of the Not A Cornfield Project: https://tinyurl.com/eeuyepjr

“Under Paris’ glittering Eiffel Tower, undocumented Senegalese migrants sell miniature souvenirs of the monument, to support their families back home. Far from their loved ones and hounded by the police, each day is a struggle through darkness in the City of Lights.”: https://tinyurl.com/sbsmjum9

Sapphire, a 1959 crime drama focuses on racism in London toward immigrants from the West Indies and explores the “underlying insecurities and fears of ordinary people” that exist towards another race: https://tinyurl.com/2s63htus

How cultural taboos can be tied to conservation: “But as the colonists, missionaries, and traders who followed in Cook’s footsteps violently suppressed Native people and knowledge, these protections frayed—and with them, the marine ecosystems that had supported Pacific cultures for millennia. In Hawai’i, after the U.S. government overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and opened the waters to commercial fishing, moi and other fish populations plummeted. Similar scenarios unfolded across the world’s oceans”: https://tinyurl.com/49z4swdm

Yaupon is North America’s only known native caffeinated plant and once threatened the British East India Company. So why has the world forgotten about it?: https://tinyurl.com/5fwwd5fe

Tracking down the source photos for The Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: https://tinyurl.com/434wb5ka

Another amazing selection of gorgeous macro insect photos (as well as other critters, and some lovely landscapes): https://tinyurl.com/3dpdj3w9

After it’s “discovery” by European explorers, the great pyramid of Chichén Itzá was rebuilt into the tourist attraction it is today: https://tinyurl.com/hnbkm8v2

I just learned that there’s a species of jumping spider that’s evolved to look like a moth caterpillar and IT’S SO FUZZY: https://tinyurl.com/9tahf4et

“On the day of Vesak, the biggest Buddhist festival in South and Southeast Asia, a monk carries out annual prayer rites at the Quantum Temple. Artifacts that belong to the past and foretell the future swirl overhead in a hyper-fictional topography made up of hill fort homes, geodesic monuments, haunting projections, and gigantic fish.”: https://tinyurl.com/8kf23ef9

Tim Flach produces beautiful portraits of all kinds of animals. This link is for the “Endangered” gallery, but he has a few other galleries as well: https://tinyurl.com/5c4s8snp

If you’re a fan of Yellow Submarine, Airbnb has one: https://tinyurl.com/y38kc2fh

Scenes from Silence of the Lambs, organized by color (Contains some gifs of gore, violence): https://tinyurl.com/3c6mcmzx

The tale of Rattlesnake Kate (and her infamous dress): https://tinyurl.com/87x4zc8x

“Angélica Dass’s photography challenges how we think about skin color and ethnic identity. In this personal talk, hear about the inspiration behind her portrait project, Humanæ, and her pursuit to document humanity’s true colors rather than the untrue white, red, black and yellow associated with race”: https://tinyurl.com/4vay76x7

BBC 4 Radio has a fascinating podcast series where they talk about 100 different human-made objects, one at a time, from the British Museum Collection: https://tinyurl.com/8b4tv6ds

A little dive into the history of the private underground transportation used by U.S. members of Congress and their staffers: https://tinyurl.com/r75uvcj2

Is the most accurate sword fight in cinematic history?: https://tinyurl.com/2pp6yzrw

“At best, the story of American intelligence activities before and during the crisis is far from complete. One of the most extraordinary omissions to date is the central role played by Moody, a 38-year-old code-breaking whiz and the head of the NSA’s Cuba desk during the perilous fall of 1962. Even today her name is largely unknown outside the agency, and the details of her contributions to the nation’s security remain closely guarded.”: https://tinyurl.com/m7ext8tf

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has acquired a colossal sculpture made from 100,000 pieces of Lego by the Ghanian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, who is known for his Afrofuturist reimaginings of Black histories built from Lego bricks: https://tinyurl.com/shv4emhh

This animated short explores the effects of time and change focusing on the the worlds seemingly never ending cycles. The deterioration of one is the foundation for another. This fact takes on new dimensions when the unexpected forces of nature clash with the existing structures of our civilization (contains a brief scene of a dead animal): https://tinyurl.com/3f6n872

The chef who turns Beef Wellington into art: https://tinyurl.com/79z6bx4m

Image source: https://www.deviantart.com/dragonthunders/art/History-size-chart-Cambrian-823211177

Linkdump #95

Enjoy a Google Street View of a scale model of Ancient Rome that took 35 years to complete: https://tinyurl.com/ykn8edou

If you love taking your time with food, you’re gonna love this 100 hour lasagna: https://tinyurl.com/4vv7bh64

Using new technologies to help understand white blood cells: https://tinyurl.com/1fs0kikg

The real archaeology behind Netflix’s “The Dig”: https://tinyurl.com/ghp8m8it

Sophia Bogle, professional book restorer, shows us how to restore a 120-year-old book. This includes deconstructing the book, repainting the cover, soaking and cleaning the pages in water, and reassembling the cover and pages: https://tinyurl.com/2zsodxx9

Why Cosmic Horror, sometimes referred to as Lovecraftian Horror, is so hard to translate into film (C/W – horror movie clips, gore): https://tinyurl.com/15fd9gvv

“Rich visual parallels between Indigenous artworks and microscopic natural structures hidden in the world around us reveal unexpected and intriguing similarities that can deepen our respect for our country and its stories”: https://tinyurl.com/2v8t7ya3

If you’ve never experienced tumbleweeds firsthand, please enjoy: https://tinyurl.com/yuee59fo

In the mood for a funny, sad, and gossipy historical documentary? I have just the thing: https://tinyurl.com/5x8r9plb

A kimono house that’s been producing works of art since 1555: https://tinyurl.com/g7p8opfi

James Wooden Legs, Spiritual Advisor, grew up in Lame Deer region in the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, and became deaf from a bout with spinal meningitis when he was an infant. James Wooden Legs is fluent in both Plains Indian Sign Language  and American Sign Language, and in this video he shares four stories from his culture: https://tinyurl.com/8g2yx4vf

Spinning the 78’s from the top of the world: https://www.aor.am/

New research has allowed geoscientists to show the uninterrupted movement of Earth’s tectonic plates over the past billion years for the first time, which will help us understand how plate tectonics powers life on Earth: https://tinyurl.com/473t5fu7

When we look up at night, the universe seems pretty quiet. But that perspective is an illusion; in reality, there are millions of world-shattering events happening every instant across the cosmos. This short film explores just how much is going on every moment in our ridiculously enormous universe: https://tinyurl.com/yx39h7js

Same Energy is a visual search engine that uses image categories to locate similar, related images: https://same.energy/

“There are eleventy thousand projects about Agatha Christie’s missing days so now can I get a film about how at 40 she took up with a 26-year-old archaeologist, swam with him in her pink undies, and married him?” A Twitter thread: https://tinyurl.com/2n9wg6bn

“Self-Organising Textures” is an interesting tool that helps us understand the complexities of pattern formation: https://tinyurl.com/yycme4l9

If flowy gowns are your thing, I just learned about Rahul Mishra and -swoon-: https://tinyurl.com/36mlowgo

I fell into this rabbit hole the other day. It’s a YouTube channel dedicated to talking about, explaining, and analyzing all sorts of science-fi, horror, psychological thrillers, and other types of films: https://tinyurl.com/1lioyl0z

Apparently somewhere out there in space there’s a gas giant, much like Jupiter, but with a completely clear sky: https://tinyurl.com/1h0nche9

From The Toast, an amusing list of Things Women In Literature Have Died From: https://tinyurl.com/44nup2tv

The story of a secret society of lightning strike survivors, and the symptoms they still live with: https://tinyurl.com/2z8mrcl6

The delightfully surreal digital collages of Julia Lillard: https://tinyurl.com/3oxf3omg

“Can a project’s success be judged on the basis of its never being completed? Yes, if it’s a living archive of the world’s most complex countryside. It means an undertaking unprecedented in scale and scope, utilizing myriad forms of media in audio, visual and text platforms. One where the stories, the work, the activity, the histories are narrated, as far as possible, as far as we can manage, by rural Indians themselves. By tea-pickers amidst the fields. By fishermen out at sea. By women paddy transplanters singing at work, or by traditional storytellers. By Khalasi men using centuries-old methods to launch heavy ships to sea without forklifts and cranes”: https://tinyurl.com/1s0uyoas

Using Star Wars to explain how mRNA vaccines work: https://tinyurl.com/yrvu6weo

In the mood for a creepy short? Try this film on Vimeo, about an antique mini Ferris wheel: https://vimeo.com/427579189

To preserve Black history, a 19th-century Philadelphian filled hundreds of scrapbooks with newspaper clippings and other materials. But now underfunding and physical decay are putting archives like this one at risk: https://tinyurl.com/2h798rgx

Hear the strange music of distant planetary system TOI-178: https://tinyurl.com/tojrv7vj

Linkdump #94

Yes, this colorful 50s motel could be yours!: tinyurl.com/352kenk7

Bernie Sanders talking to mall goths about anarcho-socialism in 1988: tinyurl.com/z3knflmk

The nature-inspired loveliness of the Liyuan library: tinyurl.com/8v97kky4

Frame By Frame: The Art of Stop Motion: tinyurl.com/e74kst6t

Tim Storms holds Guinness World Records for the lowest vocal note by a man and the greatest vocal range of a man: tinyurl.com/ojxlapu8

A rather complex steampunk wristwatch that honestly looks extremely inconvenient to actually wear: tinyurl.com/4ce6b9pb

How fast can trap-jaw spiders move their chelicerae? Hannah Wood uses high-speed video cameras to document the rate that these appendages move: tinyurl.com/12rvtov6

I had no idea that harvesting durian fruit was so potentially fatal: tinyurl.com/19serx75

Lest you think ping pong is boring, here’s two French champions, Jacques Secrétin and Vincent Purkart, adding a bit of fun to the match: tinyurl.com/3trjr2ku

The saga of two out-of-place ducks in Oakland: tinyurl.com/re9pfoqf

A historical collection of found paper airplanes: tinyurl.com/bqqcnsz4

Botanist makes death metal about photosynthesis: tinyurl.com/yokvijlj

Disney animator Millicent Patrick never received the deserved credit for her role in designing the iconic Gill-man costume for Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954): tinyurl.com/x2gk0w36

Feel like you’re lacking an extra bit extra of spice in your boring Zoom meetings? Cronkshaw Fold Farm has just what you need!: tinyurl.com/1jn097x3

“Cholitas” are Bolivian women with indigenous heritage known for their colorful attire, round top hats and ornate earrings. In the world’s highest capital city of La Paz, Bolivia, 11 Cholitas are on a mission to overcome sexism and discriminatory attitudes and climb mountains in their traditional garb. Since December 2015, they’ve been ascending the country’s snowy peaks as mountain climbers: tinyurl.com/1koq15kq

Take a tour inside a truly splendidly designed tiny home/office camper van: tinyurl.com/3aq8ey1k

A brief history of the parka, an item of clothing that’s allowed people to survive and thrive for thousands of years in some the most inhospitable places (including a cool pic of the interior insulating structures of a caribou hair): tinyurl.com/yxypmujp

The Staves, a three-woman indie folk group, share a lovely rehearsal video: tinyurl.com/39ne5hpv

A giggle-worthy Twitter thread about birds with rather unflattering names: tinyurl.com/1tet719b

Gorgeous new creations from designer Iris van Herpen, made from collected ocean plastics: tinyurl.com/394mkev5

According to his last wishes, renowned ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev was buried in the Russian cemetery at Sainte-Geneviève-des-bois, near Paris. His memorial was designed and built by set designer, Ezio Frigerio who often designed Nureyev’s choreographies sets. This mosaic memorial resembles one of the oriental kilim rugs that Nureyev loved so much: tinyurl.com/1j9k6cyu

Magdalena Vissagio, an award-winning comic book writer, has created “Modern Presidents”, a manipulated photo series that imagines what past Presidents of the United States might look like in current times: tinyurl.com/4pva8fz3

If our doctors spoke to us like veterinarians: tinyurl.com/yfrk6let

The Science Museum Group cares for a diverse and internationally significant collection of 7.3 million items from science, technology, engineering, medicine, transport and media. I’ve started with looking at “Orthopaedics”, because medical history is fascinating to me, but you can search for any topic you like: tinyurl.com/c920r35d

Image source: tinyurl.com/1hzwiqjc

Linkdump #93

A delightful miniature handcrafted for the modern age: https://tinyurl.com/y3qetmbr

Plowing snow in the Italian Alps: https://tinyurl.com/y64nxbz6

An interesting gif showing the composition of the earth’s surface: https://tinyurl.com/yygef6ks

Lovely zoetrope by Tee Ken Ng: https://tinyurl.com/y4tx73oy

In the mountains of northern Spain, in the 1980s, archaeologists discovered what they believed to be human remains 100ft underground. As improbable as that may be, the story only gets stranger – because the remains weren’t of Homo sapiens, nor were they Neanderthals. They were something new altogether: https://tinyurl.com/y46eo3xh

A tough and extremely worthwhile read about what some migrants endure to reach the U.S., and the horrors that drove them to make the journey: https://tinyurl.com/yyh7wzxp

Finnish sauna culture has been added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage: https://tinyurl.com/y2ttl5yd

Sooooo apparently chocolate ramen is a thing: https://tinyurl.com/yxdf4u33

An interesting and interactive way of learning about musical scales: https://tinyurl.com/yyyab4y8

If you’re a fan of macro insect photos, photographer Alex Wild has a great selection to enjoy: https://tinyurl.com/yy3m4qeu

Archaeologists can see literally social/economic inequality in peoples’ bones: https://tinyurl.com/y2eetute

Overlooking the distant mountain ranges of northern Italy, the Ötzi Peak observation deck by NOA* Network of Architecture is completed at an elevation of 3251 meters (10,660 feet): https://tinyurl.com/y57u7qpx

Remembering a supreme canine actor: https://tinyurl.com/y397qn4s

The paintings of Jules Perahim remind me of Dali: https://tinyurl.com/yy76a2ph

Pee-Wee Park, a giggle-worthy mashup horror film: https://tinyurl.com/yxbzwq85

I was today years old when I found out that there’s such a thing as a “Sympathetic nail violin” (You can skip ahead to about 6:30 if you just want to hear what it sounds like): https://tinyurl.com/y6xaplqc

A delightful diatribe about all the things wrong with a single scene from Gladiator: https://tinyurl.com/y2u5c9fr

Worn copies of World Books, agricultural texts, and classic novels become canvases for Rose Sanderson’s insect studies. Now a few years old, the expansive series boasts more than 100 paintings featuring beetles, moths, and butterflies that splay across the printed material: https://tinyurl.com/y62xft79

A delightful Twitter thread about a chap who volunteered to be infected with 50 parasitic worms. For science, of course: https://tinyurl.com/y3kc2ja2

Lovingly restoring a 1978 Millennium Falcon model: https://tinyurl.com/y2ucx42z

So apparently Microsoft has been granted a patent that would allow the company to make a chatbot using the personal information of deceased people: https://tinyurl.com/y28kyeov

A firefighter edits himself into a TV show to highlight a few issues with media representations of firefighting. I absolutely LOLed: https://tinyurl.com/y4lsffuj

London’s Weiner Holocaust Library has published several hundred digitized survivor testimonies online, and plans to release roughly 1,500 more later in the year: https://tinyurl.com/y5pa2gzo

A drone takes us on a tour of the inside of a Dutch Walrus-class diesel electric submarine: https://tinyurl.com/y3wteczo

Six drummers participate in a well planned musical attack in the suburbs: https://tinyurl.com/y44fkrwu

Wikiart is a fantastic resource where you can look for art based on style, genre, time period, artist name, etc: https://tinyurl.com/gw8xkrk

A Scottish game bird struts around making rather odd noises at a skier. Is it angry? Aroused? Trying to inform him about his car’s extended warranty? WHO KNOWS: https://tinyurl.com/y5vatt8k