Friday, January 31, 2014

Southwest U.S. Landscapes

There is a cool video on the National Geographic YouTube channel showing great video of Southwest U.S. landscapes.  Enjoy!



Thursday, January 30, 2014

Tiny Windmills

An article on Wired showed off some tiny windmills which apparently might be used to charge batteries simply by blowing on them with your breath.  Now you can add windmills to the tiny setting you devise for the shrunken PCs you are dooming to them.  See more here!


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Unusual Snow Phenomenon

Over on the National Weather Service website, some interesting and unusual snow-related phenomenon are described.  See more here!


Monday, January 27, 2014

The Art of Eric Lofgren

Sometimes when I am stuck for an idea, I look toward the visual arts, particularly the drawings, illustrations, paintings, and photos of as many cool artists as I can find.  It never fails to jar something loose in my brain pan before too long.  One artist whose amazing work is on display and on sale on his website is Eric Lofgren.  You can see what I mean here!


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Dwarven Forge Unleased

I might normally post this on MFWARS.com but it really is quite the adventure and setting.  Use a browser that will translate the language for you and enjoy this more here!


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Ghost Ship Full of Cannibal Rats

Over on the Independent.co.UK website is an article titled "Mystery of the Lyubov Orlova: Ghost ship full of cannibal rats 'could be heading for Britain.'" Read more here!


Friday, January 24, 2014

Game of Clothes

Over on Smarterist.com, there is a fantastic pictorial on the clothing of A Game of Thrones.  See more here!


Thursday, January 23, 2014

1389 Citizenship in the Republic of Genova

Over on The Medievalists.net website, there is a new article featuring "The Genoese citizenship of Carlo I Tocco of December 2, 1389." Read more here!


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Two-Faced NPCs

Over on genetic.ulriccollette.com, there is a pile of pictures where one side of a face is one person and the other side another. In some cases there is a gender difference and in others dramatic age difference. Many of them would make for interesting NPCs in a science fiction tabletop roleplaying game.  See more here!


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Building a Celtic Roundhouse

Over on NaturalHomes.org, there is quite a bit of info and pics on "Building a Celtic Roundhouse."  See more here!


Monday, January 20, 2014

Skulls Found in "Evil" Maya Sinkhole

A recent National Geographic YouTube channel video is titled "Skulls Found in "Evil" Maya Sinkhole."  Enjoy!


Sunday, January 19, 2014

How the Western Black Rhino Went Extinct

There is an interesting article on the Scientific American blog from last November on the tragic loss of the Western Africa Black Rhino subspecies which had been officially declared extinct about a decade ago.  Read more here!


Saturday, January 18, 2014

Scaphism, and Other Tortures

If one is looking for something absolutely vile to introduce to a game setting, something to truly disgust and to put the player characters on their heels, then look no further than the wikipedia entry on "Scaphism."  Read more here!  But also, perhaps, acquaint yourself with the "10 Most Torturous Methods of Execution" as outlined by Smashing Lists here! (WARNING: Not for the squeamish!)


Friday, January 17, 2014

Thursday, January 16, 2014

30 Year Old Report on the Internet

For those running games in the not-too-distant past, this little video of a "News report from 1981 about the Internet" should help set the mood. See it here!


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

RoboSimian from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Taking 5th place out of 16, RoboSimian, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's official entry at the DARPA Robotics Challenge in December 2013, acquitted itself very well. There is some video on Robosimian handling various challenges on their site at YouTube. Enjoy!


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Seven Strong Men

The seven rock formations of Manpupuner are known as the Seven Strong Me and are rather mysterious. See more here!


Sunday, January 12, 2014

60 Years Sans Bath

If you ever wanted to have an NPC with inherent conflict then how about one that holds important information, is the nicest person in the world, but hasn't bathed in over half a century.  You can find the actual world-record holding for not bathing and lots of pics here!


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Huge Stork vs. Lungfish

National Geographic has uploaded a video titled "Huge Stork vs. Lungfish." Enjoy!


Friday, January 10, 2014

Medieval Tweeting

Over on the UOArtsSciences YouTube channel, a video was added in November of last year titled, "DukTalks 2013 — How to Tweet from Another Century." Enjoy!


Thursday, January 9, 2014

Dinosaur Models

There are some great photos of flesh and skeletal dinosaur models over on Tyler Keillor's website.  See more here!


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Insect Drone Robot

The story of the insect drone robot from TechBlog.com has been around for a couple of years but the picture included is quite evocative, so read more here!


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Better than Burning: Marriage in the Middle Ages

Back in November, the Medievalists.net website featured an article by Danièle Cybulskie titled "Love and Marriage: Medieval Style." See more here!



Monday, January 6, 2014

3,200-year-old Tomb of Chief Beer-Maker in Egypt

Over on the Ancient-Origins,net website there is a recent article titled "Archaeologists uncover 3,200-year-old tomb of chief beer-maker in Egypt." See more here!


Sunday, January 5, 2014

Sensory Deprivation Chamber

MindOpenerz.com asks the question "Sensory Deprivation Chamber: Would You Get Into One?"  The chamber style alone has me thinking of game scenarios.  See more here!


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Carolingian-Era Mass Grave

The Medievalists.net has a new posting highlighting a story on a "Carolingian-era mass grave discovered in France." See more here!


Friday, January 3, 2014

The Atlantic's Netflix-Genre Generator

Want to run an RPG for your next gameday or home event and cannot decide on the cinematic genre?  Perhaps you're running a modern setting, the PCs are walking past the movie house, and you need to tell them what type pf movie is playing?  Well, aren't we lucky that there's "The Atlantic's Netflix-Genre Generator?"  See more here!


Thursday, January 2, 2014

Apparatus of IKEA

It's amazing how much can fit in a smallish box.  See more here on ViralNova.com!


Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Parchment and Vellum

Over on the Medievalists.net, they are featuring the insights of Dr. Mary Watt on Medieval Writing Surfaces.  See more here!