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Virtual Medieval Europe, a journey back in time through text and illustrations If you'd like to know a bit about medieval life in Europe, History on the Net has some information on life in medieval times, prepared as educational summaries for students. If you'd like to know more, Medieval Life And Times has a broader scope, and the surface links often have a number of subsequent links to even more information on sub-topics. If you want even more specifics, here is a list of medieval occupations, some information on buying, selling and bartering in medieval times, and a history of horses in Europe. The occupations and bartering links are part of the Economics section of The Magic Jar project, "a magical item which gives glimpses of some other world." The site was put together as a part of The Crystal Obelisk project, a "virtual roleplaying soapbox" for hosting a variety of things for roleplaying games, like Don't Eat Them - A Guidebook to Companion and Work Animals (in which you can find the history of horses in Europe). The list of occupations came from various sources, including this alphabetical list of occupations (Archive.org view of a now-dead site), that has apparently become part of Geneaology Knowledgebase, though the Old Occupations list doesn't show up for me. History on the Net is a pretty broad site, too, and has been seen on the blue twice before, once on a post about various types of homes, and then on the marriages and reformation of Henry VIII. I shot myself at 15 p.s.i. just to make sure. President Obama fires a marshmallow gun built by an 8th grader.[SLYT] The President meets Joey from Phoenix, AZ at the White House Science Fair. The two launch a marshmallow across the State Dining Room of the White House with Joey's science project - an air cannon. Face the thing that should not be In the coldest spot on the earth's coldest continent, Russian scientists have reached a freshwater lake the size of Lake Ontario after spending a decade drilling through more than two miles of solid i Maybe the mountains of madness are underground. Lovecraft would loved to have seen this. Program or be Programmed Programming is the new High School Diploma "...though we may have our differences, we are one people, and we are one nation, united by a common creed." Founded in 1857, The Atlantic is one of the oldest publications still being produced in the US. They have created a commemorative issue for the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War that includes articles published in the magazine over a century ago, an extensive gallery of images, as well as a few essays and analyses by modern writers, including President Obama. Editor's note. (Via: James Fallows' Reddit AMA) Table of Contents (Just in case anyone missed it above.) Some essays, poems and stories by notable authors: Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathanial Hawthorne, Frederick Douglass and W.E. B. Du Bois. DIY WALL-E The WALL-E Builders Club formed in October 2007 as an offshoot of the R2 (yes that one) builders club, to create their own WALL-E replica. This is their current progress on the project. The Great Backyard Bird Count Next weekend, February 17-20, is the 2012 Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab for Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada. The Count has been an annual event since 1998. The information collected goes into Cornell's bird database, the Avian Knowledge Network, which holds 36 million records of bird observations. The GBBC relies on volunteers across North America to help them collect information about bird populations. You can do a count in one place like your backyard, recording the number of species you see in a minimum of 15 minutes, or you can do a traveling count, recording the birds you see as you hike along a trail. If you're unfamiliar with bird identification, WhatBird is a pretty handy resource, as is Cornell's Bird Guide In 2011, the most counted bird in America was the European Starling, an introduced species descended from 60 birds released in Central Park in 1890 by the American Acclimatization Society and an eccentric pharmacist named Eugene Schiefflin, who wanted to introduce all of the birds mentioned by Shakespeare to North America. Citizen science bird counting isn't just for President's Day Weekend, either. Audubon has the 111-year-old Christmas Bird Count, Cornell and Bird Studies Canada have the winter-long Project FeederWatch, and eBird counts year-round. If birds aren't your thing, Cornell has a list of other citizen science projects that need your help. Birds previously on Metafilter: Audubon - Birds of America and This One's for the Birds. An Internet Troll So there you go: an internet troll. That's what they look like. CHEEZ Cartoon Art Canada's Exclaim magazine former cartoonist Fiona Symth's new art. CHEEZ was originally a monthly comic/drawing published in Canada's Exclaim Magazine over a ten year period from 1992 to 2002. There were no editorial restrictions on the work apart from the monthly deadline and the colour restrictions of the paper (the art work had to be black and white). Each strip was created shortly before the deadline and numbered in chronological order. This CHEEZ will be drawn weekly and will continue with the same numbering sequence and restrictive palette. A collection of the first one hundred strips was published as CHEEZ 100 by Pedlar Press in 2001. "I don't understand how you evolved. You are too goofy," "The idea that a species domesticated itself is a bit crazy, but there are some species that outcompeted others by becoming nicer." Wired examines the phenomena of self-domestication. "This possibility is most apparent in bonobos, a close cousin of chimpanzees. Unlike their violent cousins, bonobos are generally peaceful. And while many animals have evolved to be socially agreeable, bonobos — and possibly other species — seem to be experiencing something more precise and profound: the physical and behavioral changes specifically described in studies of domestication, but as a natural evolutionary process." States Target Foreign Law There are several groups trying to pass bills in different states to ban the application of foreign laws in a US court, especially Sharia law. These groups are almost all using model legislation drafted by anti-Muslim activist David Yerushalmi. Coming back like Jordan wearing the 45 Tom Murphy is an Anchor/Reporter/Producer and Weather Man on Channel 11 in Alpena, Michigan. Bonus: "You don't want it with Mario on the 150cc, especially on Toad's Rainbow Road". Jeremy mother fuckin' Lin "Lin is saving the Knicks with super-human play, but he's dispelling myths about Asian America by being otherwise hyper-normal and I thank him. He doesn't have a duty to embrace Asian America, speak for Asian America, or represent Asian America because right now he IS Asian America." -- Eddie Huang on Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin, and being Asian in America. (Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks) wah wah wah wah waahhh John Williams turned 80 today! The American composer is best known for the themes from Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Indiana Jones, but starting with the score adaptation for Valley of the Dolls, he's racked up 47 Oscar nominations in a 44-year span, including 5 wins. Oscar Wins: 1971: Best Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score, Fiddler on the Roof 1975: Best Original Dramatic Score, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sX2Y0W8l0 1977: Best Original Score: Star Wars 1982: Best Original Score, ET The Extra Terrestrial 1993: Best Original Score, Schindler's List Other Scores: 1974: The Sugarland Express 1978: Superman 1987: Empire of the Sun 1989: Born on the Fourth of July 1990: Home Alone 1993: Jurassic Park 2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 2002: Catch Me If You Can 2011: The Adventures of Tintin 2011: War Horse Other Works: Olympic Fanfare Mission Theme (NBC Nightly News) NBC Sunday Night Football Air and Simple Gifts (from Barack Obama's inauguration as US President) He also composed a Fanfare for Michael Dukakis for the 1988 presidential campaign, but I can't seem to locate it. 52 Songs 52 Stories 52 Songs 52 Stories It's a simple idea, really. Each week in 2012 I'm going to pick a song, usually at random. I'm going to write a very short story inspired by that song, and post a video for the song and a story here. From author Iain Rowan.

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Someday man should learn how to enjoy liberty without license, nourishment without gluttony, and pleasure without debauchery. Self-control is a better human policy of behavior regulation than is extreme self-denial.

My jokes are so lame I shot my horse.