Friday, October 02, 2009

Friday Links!

First off, in reference to the synaesthesia link I posted last tweek, a fantastic link from Ryan Mattson. It seems that that is a particular kind of syanesthesia where people see time.

Also, in response to the question I asked last week (do people with grapheme-color synaesthesia associate the same colors with numbers, or does it vary by person?), Jared Medina sent in a link to a study indicating that there are some commonalities. Seriously, synaesthesia is one of the most interesting subjects I've ever read about.

Now, a link to a huge story in anthropology--the discovery of Ardi, a skeleton that is over one million years older than Lucy. There are some far-reaching implications, and here's an excerpt:
The find reveals that our forebears underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago.

Andrew B appears later in the links, but this article has to be up front: how powerful was the Apollo 11 computer?

From Nate Carpenter, a link to an excellent article about auto safety. The the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released before and after pictures of crash tests with both an '09 Chevy Malibu and a '59 Chevy Bel Air. Short version: be glad you're not driving cars from 1959.

Michael Hughes sent in a link to a terrifying POV video of a man getting trapped in an avalanche. Believe me, this is scary, scary stuff. Also, a link to spectacular video taken from a hydrogen balloon that rose to over 107,000 feet.

Evil Timmy sent in a link to an excellent article that explains different graffiti styles.

From Brian Minsker, several amazing links. First, and this is both demented and entirely brilliant, it's Star Trek Meets Monty Python. Next, some stunning photographs of the Chaiten volcano. And finally, something I can't even really explain, except to say click to zoom in and keep on clicking.

From Andrew B, a story about the discovery of the world's only known complete ball and chain--found in the Thames. Also, a quite miraculous apple that is half red and half green.

From Sirius, a link to story about a four-winged fossil that bridges the bird-dinosaur gap. Also, the iconic video of a hammer and feather being dropped on the moon. And from the Smithsonian, it's Fantastic Photos of our Solar System.

From The Edwin Garcia Links Machine, a video that you cannot watch without laughing: High-Fiving In NYC. Please note the presence of possibly NSFW-subtitles that drop two f-bombs.

Here's an excellent link from rmcmillon: Weird, Rare Clouds And The Physics Behind Them.

From Mike O'Reilly, a link to a story about an amazing technology: an artificial heart that doesn't beat.

Finally, from David Gloier, and this is quite stunning, an article about how fungi-infected violins were judged to have better sound quality than a Stradivarius.

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