Sunday Things - Edité-Frignim edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 28 2013

Important information! And some rust and decay.

Our fantastic leader uses Helvetica (I checked)

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Building a Human - pay attention to this important message from our fantastic leader, Arpoovian Shebber-Shenty. From the creators of Look Around You (electrocuted).
All the world's a stage, and oops that bit just dropped off
Stages of Decay - newly-available photo book from Julia Solis documenting the fading theatres, cinemas and vaudeville houses in this 21st century. via rjp
A surprisingly cheery post-apocalypse
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?

Sunday Things - still another edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 21 2013

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

Geographical constraints mean more interesting environments.
Architecture of Density - high-rise flats in Hong Kong, distilled down to their endlessly repeating, subtly unique essentials.
Roughly a billion times the recommended daily allowance of sodium.
The Strange Beauty of Salt Mines - including weirdly ephemeral underground tunnels. Just have to hope that water doesn't get in... via Erik W.
Lovely, dingy industrial shapes.
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.

Sunday Things - photogenic edition

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 14 2013

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

Peering at an invisible world, again. Spider! A holiday isn't being complete without being ejected from the premises.

Bonus Space Plumbing corner:

Sunday Things - packet loss edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 7 2013

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.

Aww, crap

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Wednesday April 3 2013

Iain Banks - both with and without the 'M.' - diagnosed with terminal cancer.

If you haven't already noticed, his writing's a bit of a major personal influence.