[apparatus] überprüfen sie aus diesen popkulturlinks, dummes

In the interregnum, that dark and lonely span of a month when I wasn't blogging regularly, I accumulated a bunch of links to stuff that I wanted to share, but couldn't figure out how to. Well, since we're back in business, I now know!



This has got to show up in the next GURPS:

That there is what you call your human-powered dirigible. Words cannot express the total awesome coolness of this device. Click the pic for a story from Wired and check out the video below.

Wasn't there an old video game like this, where you actually had to pedal on a bike rig to make your CGI balloonist move around? RL is way cooler.

A not a word cloud, but an image-cloud:

That there is a Montage-a-google of the word autogyro, made with a cool little app that you can find at the link. It used Google Image Search results to generate the collage. The creator, Grant Robinson, also has an interactive puzzle version that gives you the images and lets you guess what the search term was.


Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the heather:

What we have here is your basic Swedish bagpipe. That's right - the Scots were not the only ones keening and wailing their way across the countryside and into musical history - the Swedes were at it, too! Click here to hear the subtle difference in the tone of the Scandinavian instrument, and here if you actually want to go read about them.

I swear I couldn't have made this up if I had tried:

Offered without additional comment. Click the pic to go to the source.

When worlds collide:

Pal JJ blogs over on Still Sipping. She is a woman of refined and cultivated tastes, and her posts are filled with insightful observations about oenology - wine, that is, and its making and drinking. Of course, this means I have often have no idea what she is talking about, since I live in the world of three-buck-Chuck and she tells amusing stories about tastings such as this one:

A memorable hilarious moment was when four of us inadvertently started shuffling three of our glasses of wine and couldn't figure out which was whose, with only one of us having a sharp enough olfactory to finally distinguish the one Lyeth Merlot from the two Alexander Valley Cabs, a sobering moment for the other 3 of us who have vowed to practice more sniffing and sipping to help build these important skills!

But JJ has never lost touch with us hoi polloi, and knowing that I would more likely choose a bottle by its label (the picture, that is) than anything else, sent me this:

I'm sure that's some smooth sipping.

The best for last:

All kidding aside, this is a wonderful little film that says so much about the creative process, teaching, biases and perceptions, and much more.

That's all for now. Until next time, remember: Benutzen Sie nicht Drogen und Bleiben Sie in der Schule.

Dummes.