Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday Links!

Ben Younkins sent in links to an epic, multi-layered classic. If you take just the vocal track from Van Halen's "Runnin' With the Devil" (which is a classic by itself, and I've linked to it before), then run it through Microsoft's Songsmith (another video that's a cheese classic by itself), you wind up with the unholy mash-up that's been titled "Runnin' With The Songsmith".

From Sirius, a link to a story about the Boston molasses disaster of 1919. Also, a link to the discovery that orangutans can whistle spontaneously, and how it may affect what we believe about speech and language.

From James Riegel, a follow-up to last week's link of a venomous mammal. It's an entire list of venomous mammals, courtesy of Wikipedia.

From Mike Kolar, a link to the remarkable exploits of Rollie Free, who set a motorcycle land speed record in1948 in a Speedo bathing suit and a swimming cap. Seriously.

If you're a fan of college basketball, you'll remember West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle, who was 6'11" and had the touch and range of a shooting guard. I thought he'd wind up with a long NBA career, but instead, he's a teacher (not entirely by his choice).

There's a fascinating profile of Evan Tanner in Men's Journal. Tanner was the former UFC champion who took a motorcycle trip in to the desert and didn't make it back alive. I'm not fan of UFC, but even if you're not, this is an excellent read.

From Keith Grogan, a link to a stunning gallery of photographs of New York City from 1880-1980.

From the Edwin Garcia Links Machine, a link to A Rendezvous, and a Rough Ride Home, the story of cosmonaut Boris Volynov and his return on Soyuz 5 in 1969. There are two words that best describe his experience. The first word is "cluster."

Next, also from the EGLM, a link to an amazing photograph: 19th and 21st century wind power.

From Frank Regan, an excellent article about an undercover cyber-investigation titled Three Years Undercover With the Identity Thieves. I wish this article had been twice as long, at least, but it's still good reading.

From Steven Kreuch, a link to a site that is always interesting and often hilarious: One Sentence: true stories, told in one sentence.

From Neatorama, it's the trebuchet of your dreams. Seriously, now I totally understand how they were powerful enough to be used in castle sieges.

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