Friday Links: February 3

TARDIS interior map. [link]
"First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." - The Unquiet Dead
"half a mile down the corridor, left, then right, then right again, then the third right, past a weird swirly thing, left, then the other left, through the sun room, past a green door, right, along a wall until it becomes slimy, down a lift to the third floor and straight ahead - easy-peasy!" - TARDIS Adventure Game

Space station concepts that were never made. I still think that the Space Odyssey model and the Inflatable Station are still inevitable developments. Or at least stations based on those designs. [link]

Covered walkway in Italy made from a coverted railway tunnel. We need more areas like this. Covered pedestrian and bike paths. It lets me cover long distances on foot out of the rain and gets those bike riders off the road and not careening madly across traffic. [link]

MAPS! [link]
My favorite of the maps. [link]

A classical violinist did a bit of improvising when someone's phone rang. About 35 seconds in.


Martian rover "Opportunity" turned 8 Earth years old on January 25. That is if you measure from the day it "hatched" on Mars.


Solar activity comes in cycles. This winter and next are peaks in solar storms. This means peaks in aurora activity. Here's a recent picture. [link]

This belongs in the tl;dr category. I doubt I'll ever read it because there's no way I'm voting for him anyway, but I thought I should post it. It's the McCain campaign's writeup about Mitt Romney from 2008. [link]

An interview with Bill Clinton. [link]

What's it like to have an understanding of very advanced mathematics. [link]
It seems to explain why there's so much difficulty explaining science to the religious. I mean, besides the fact that you can't explain something to a person whose income (or worldview) is dependent on them not understanding. But once they have a level 8 or 9 understanding the mathematicians have trouble dealing with the level 3 or 4 explanations. Which means they're right when they say you need another 6 years of school to understand the answer to your question.

Carved up books. [link]

The real reason Yummy wants a cat door for her apartment.


Yeah, I'd drink one of these. [link]

An awesome way to wash your hands. [link]

Assorted Dalek candies. [link]

"This is Aperture" - a Portal song set to the tune of "This is Halloween".


"Attic Junk" - an animated Mitchell & Webb sketch.


After a 10 year legal battle, Neil Gaiman is now part owner of a couple of issues of Spawn and a few issues of some spinoff comics. Gaiman says that it's about character ownership, not the money. [link]

Another 10 seconds of The Avengers.


Commissioner Gordon as Magnum P.I. Now when do we get to see Tom Selleck play Gordon?


Newt Gingrich is being used over illegal use of "Eye of the Tiger" at campaign rallys. [link]

If you want to end movie piracy you have to offer something better. [link]

It's... uh... If you lived through the 90's just hit play.

I'm a bit disturbed by how many of these songs I knew from commercials and not from radio play during my late teen/college years.

More quad-rotors! I welcome our new Skynet overlords.


Scientists are about to finish drilling into a subglacial lake in Antarctica. They hope to find life cut off from the world for 20 million years. Failing that, a small town in western Kansas is their next best bet. [link]

How many singers do you know of who sound fantastic whether played at 33 or 45 rpm? Now you know of at least one. [link]

Monty Python reunion pic? Sorta. [link]

Shaky legal decision in the UK. A picture that isn't a copy, but is very similar, is now copyright infringement. [link]
I mean, I suppose I can see the point in this case, but how many millions of people have taken picture of the Eiffel Tower from more or less the exact same spot?

The 10th President has grandsons that are still alive. [link]

An Andre the Giant memorial. He'd have turned 65 last month. [link]

Fast hands, kid. [link]

Classical art in The Simpsons. [link]

Oreo Pocky. [link]

Meal planner. Enter the number of calories you want to eat over the span of 1 to 9 meals. [link]

Mitt Romney straps his dog to the roof of the car. [link]