hylobatidae.org

Brain has been eaten by re-release of a side project. For anyone here due to Raspberry Pi hacking or whatever, my previous hobby of computer game modding accidentally turned into a job. Anyway, for various reasons, I've got round to re-releasing my oft-downloaded Half-Life 2 mod. On Valve's mighty, world-spanning Steam. Yay!

MINERVA on Steam - or if you'd rather, the super-cryptic official site.

Things will be back to normal next week, once my brain has accumulated sufficient new links for linking.

Important information! And some rust and decay.

Building a Human - pay attention to this important message from our fantastic leader, Arpoovian Shebber-Shenty. From the creators of Look Around You (electrocuted).

Stages of Decay - newly-available photo book from Julia Solis documenting the fading theatres, cinemas and vaudeville houses in this 21st century. via rjp

Happy End - Dietmar Eckell's photos of long-abandoned aircraft wrecks, remnants from crashes in which everyone survived. Loads more to explore on the site as well. via Michael C.

Bonus Spaghetti Code corner:

• The Marbled Lungfish - largest known genome of any vertebrate, this unassuming creature is the Microsoft Windows of the animal world. What does it do with a genome over forty times the size of a human's?

Catching up again. Sunday is imminent. Have some links!

Architecture of Density - high-rise flats in Hong Kong, distilled down to their endlessly repeating, subtly unique essentials.

The Strange Beauty of Salt Mines - including weirdly ephemeral underground tunnels. Just have to hope that water doesn't get in... via Erik W.

Abandoned Power Stations - nice compilation of links to Flickr and elsewhere. via Steve K.

Bonus Disappointing Robots corner:

• Robot Shaming - unlike 'pet shaming', robots don't have feelings. They hate it when you anthropomorphise them.

Haven't had much in the way of intertubes. Have some photos instead - a couple shown below...

Bonus Space Plumbing corner:

• Houston, we have a hygiene problem - I've seen the Apollo 10 command module at the Science Museum in London. I didn't realise it had hosted such drastic ... floaters.

Stuck behind a really slow internet connection. Please accept some text-only links:

• Namie, Fukishima Prefecture, Japan - the world has a new Pripyat with the evacuated lands around the Fukushima nuclear power station. Perhaps politically motivated, a Google Street View car has been let loose on the roads of one particular town. Effectively abandoned, the dereliction ranges from the occasional earthquake-damaged building in the town to a scoured, apocalyptic coastline. Grim viewing.
• Baking a Hello World Cake - there's an esoteric programming language named Chef, which visually mimics cooking recipes. Unfortunately, the usual 'Hello World Soufflé' contains such unlikely ingredients as six gallons of oil and a hundred eggs - so one hero decided to design a functioning chocolate cake recipe as an alternative...
• Escape crew capsule - for when an ejector seat isn't enough. The accompanying photo of a capsule from a B-58 Hustler is a thing straight from science fiction.
• New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual - need to design yourself a '70s subway station, complete with fully authentic typography? Here you are. via locworks

Bonus Rampant Spoilers section:

• So, the splendid Bioshock Infinite has had plenty of interesting things written about it. Some only-read-if-you've-played-it articles here, here, here and here.