Links: 2015 — 9

First of all, I strongly urge all readers to do the following.

1. In one browser tab, open this page (featuring a twenty-minute super-slowed version of the original Doctor Who theme music that I linked to some time ago).
2. In another brower tab, open this page (featuring a five-minute silent video of images generated by Google’s neural network; for more information see the links I shared last month).
3. Start the first video playing, quickly switch to the second tab, start that video playing, and set it to full screen mode.
4. Stare at the screen and allow yourself to become fully immersed.

Seriously, you must try this. It’s an amazing combination, a massage for your brain. The only disappointment is that the neural network demonstration is only five minutes long, and you’ll find yourself wishing it lasted the same twenty minutes as the soundtrack.

Now onto other links. There was, of course, the recent encounter between New Horizons and Pluto. Here is a comparison between our new view of Pluto and the view from Hubble that was, until recently, the best we had.

Compared to Triton, Pluto is less jewel-like from a distance, but makes up for it in topography. Close-up images (like this or this — two perspectives on the same region) reveal mountain ranges comparable in size with those on Earth but formed by some entirely different process, and flat plains that resemble a beach at low tide. (I don’t remember anyone predicting we’d find a beach resort on Pluto, although here’s a prediction worth mentioning.) According to the science, there are nitrogen glaciers. And the best is still to come.

Miscellaneous links:

• How a new type of cloud is named. Includes video.
• This case study on mirror touch synaesthesia is a good read (but deserved a better headline writer).
• The card games website pagat.com recently celebrated it’s 20th anniversary. (Incidentally, the Invented Games page now includes a link to my Ganjifa game.)
• A demonstration of the dangers of hackable cars.
• Long article on helping people at the end of a long prison sentence (I didn’t actually read all of this, because it requires more emotional investment that I’ve had time for, but from the portion I read it looks worth the effort).
• Maryn McKenna’s TED talk on antibiotic resistance is information every adult in society needs to know. Its only fault is that a lot more is omitted.
• I invented a whimsical and silly personality test. Feel free to share your results below.

In personal news, I gained some clothes and lost a tree. Also, here’s a photo from a family outing at the Maritime Museum recently.

Bear in a Boat outside maritime museum

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