Friday, February 18, 2011

Friday Links!

From Jonathon Arnold, two wonderful spycraft stories. First, The story of Rudolf Abel, the Soviet spy we traded for Gary Powers. One fascinating note: he appealed his conviction on espionage charges all the way to the Supreme Court, where the verdict was affirmed--on a 5-4 vote. Also, and this is an entirely fascinating read, an official F.B.I. site: Famous Cases and Criminals. Oh, and one more, also related to deception, but of the arthropod variety: Madagascar's elusive shell-squatting spider filmed.

This is quite a mesmerizing slide show on Mexico's drug culture (that's a poor description. It would be more accurate to say that these slides portray how deeply embedded into Mexican culture drugs have become).

From Andrew B, and these are clearly a simple masterpiece, it's homemade chocolate Pop-Tarts.

From Ezra Denney, and this is creepily fascinating, it's The Nazi Style Guide.

I have a deep affection for Winnie-the-Pooh (yes, I went from Nazis to Winnie-the-Pooh), and Phil Honeywell sent in a terrific link: the children's dolls that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh. The pictures are quite wonderful.

From Joshua Morris, an answer to why that Toronto Leafs fan kept throwing waffles onto the ice.

From Mark Trinkwalder, and these are both masterpieces, it's Help Save The Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and tree octopus exposes (something I'm not going to tell you).

Another octopus link (this one with 100% more actual existence), this one from Jacob Jaby: the mimic octopus.

From Joshua Buergel, an incredible camera that takes video footage at 2,564 frames per second.

From C. Lee, and I didn't know this: Japanese whiskey is developing quite a reputation. Also, and this is quite interesting, it's The Rita Taketsuru Fan Club: The romantic story of a woman still toasted by some as the Scottish mother of Japan's whisky industry.

From Josh Eaves, and this is awesome: Bioluminescence in the Gippsland Lakes.

From Kevin W, it's a life-sized version of Settlers of Catan. Also, the United States Is No Longer the Fattest Country. U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Here's a fantastic blast from the 2003 past: the first digital sound processor (or DSP, the technology now used in soundbars), and it only cost 40,000!

From Sirius, and it's the snack you didn't even know you wanted: edible giant toasted leafcutter ants.

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