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Tor.com is celebrating its fifth birthday with a gift for all of us science fiction fans: all of the original stories published on the site over the last five years collected in a single ebook. Happy birthday, Tor!

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Northbound

thetimemoves:

professorfangirl:

pink-lemonade-rose:

Proto-Corinthian aryballos, circa 640 BCE. Less than two inches tall.

Oh my god, it’s Bubo the owl.

That’s exactly what I thought before I scrolled down and saw Bubo!

Life is only on Earth. And not for long.

chriskotthoff:

The new Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth PDF is now available, full of goodies for Battletech and soon MegaMek. The stats for the Viking IIC reminds me of this scene from Megas XLR. 

MAKE IT RAIN! BLAHAHAHA! (props to the guy who made this gif)

juststark:

AVENGERS! DO THE DANCE!

thefingerfuckingfemalefury:

themetaisawesome:

thefingerfuckingfemalefury:

themetaisawesome:

thefingerfuckingfemalefury:

THE UNIVERSE IS ALL KINDS OF SEXY

Damn straight she is

I AM IN LESBIANS WITH THE UNIVERSE :D

I am in…. straights with the universe

Doesn’t have the same ring to it

Whatever, we can share, the universe is bisexual after all

THE UNIVERSE LOVES ALL :D

art-of-swords:

Executioner’s Sword

• Dated: late 17th century
• Culture: German
• Medium: steel, wood, brass and copper wire
• Measurments: Overall - l:108.90 cm (l:42 13/16 inches) Wt: 2.30 kg; Blade - l:85.70 cm (l:33 11/16 inches); Quillions - w:22.50 cm (w:8 13/16 inches); Grip - l:15.00 cm (l:5 7/8 inches)

Source: © 2012 Cleveland Museum of Art

(via Peter Serafinowicz)

Summer is a great time to take a vacation, but I like to travel to exotic locations in video games. Here is a list of locales I'd love to visit in the digital world.

Admittedly, some of these locations have probably been featured before (as much as I try, I still haven't been able to play every game ever made). Still, these scenic points are highly underutilized and I'd love to see them featured in games more often.

Tenochtitlan
The Aztecs were a dark and mysterious people. This highly artistic culture was more advanced than we give it credit for. They had an advanced system for writing and keeping records, strange burial customs, and would often sell their own children into slavery. Not to mention their brutal human sacrifice rituals. A setting this dangerous and seedy is begging to be explored in a brutal action game.

Ireland
This might sound like an odd choice, but Ireland could be the perfect setting for a survival horror game (just check out the picture up top). Irish lore features some of the darkest and creepiest myths I've ever read: Halloween was derived from the Irish festival of Samhain, and Dracula may have been inspired by the Irish legend of Abhartach. Irish legends are filled with tales of magic and creepy forest creatures ripe for exploring.

Gangs Of New York-era New York
New York isn't new to the video game stage, but early, undeveloped New York is. Sure, Martin Scorsese's Oscar Nominated Gangs of New York was somewhat fictionalized, but that doesn't stop it from being a vibrant setting ripe for a video game. Imagine a New York set just before the Civil War, in a time when the laws were loose, and sword-slinging gangs ruled the streets. Imagine a New York where thousands of foreigners (many of whom didn't speak English) were crammed into a few blocks of New York slums. Now imagine GTA set in that version of Liberty City. (I'd also accept '80s New York.)

Madagascar
Forget about that silly Ben Stiller flick; if you want an alien landscape, check out Madagascar. This south African "island" is about the size of Texas and 70 percent of its animal species as well as 90 percent of its fauna are found nowhere else in the world. Take Far Cry 3's open-world gameplay and throw it into Madagascar for an interesting twist. Add some sci-fi elements or a some magical gnomes if you're feeling really spicy.

The Moon
Have you ever seen Duncan Jones' sci-fi thriller, Moon? If you have, then you know that a story-based murder mystery set in a lonely way station located on Earth's satellite would be killer. Explore a once high tech, but now largely outdated space station, leap to ridiculous heights thanks to the moon's low gravity, and brave the extremes of the lunar atmosphere. What will you do when the station's life support systems begin to fail?

Those are my ideas for some great video game locals. What setting would you pick for a game if you had the power?

laugh-addict:

I JUST WENT TO TACO BELL AND THE GIRL SAID “have a sauce-ome day!” AND I WAS LIKE “wtf” THEN THEY SHOWED ME A LIST OF WORDS THEY HAVE TO USE WHEN TALKING TO CUSTOMERS OMFG

cacty:

sexual fantasy: everyone leaving me alone forever

Dear beautiful Pearl girl,

It was just you and I waiting at the NW 10th and Couch streetcar stop. I kindly asked you for the time, you furrowed your brow, lifted your upper lip and turned your back to me without answering. It's ok, as a fat dude I'm used to every female assuming all I want to do is rape them. Got it. I'll just curl up in the corner and be as un-creepy as possible. You lit your cigarette under the the shelter so I casually walked to the end of the platform as cig smoke irritates my lungs, at which point I heard what I can only describe as a condescending giggle mixed with a dramatic sigh from you. Fuck me, right?

Then, as the streetcar arrived and we boarded (I in the rear, you the next door up), we both look to the left and see one single seat there in the back... as I make my way toward it I hear your heels pacing quickly behind me trying to beat me to the seat.. but you weren't quick enough. As I took my comfy seat for the ride up to 23rd, you gave me this look like I'm the worst human being to ever live.

Sorry, 99.9% of the time I'd offer my seat to women, the elderly, etc but don't expect chivalry after treating me like I'm less than human. There's no excuse for your behavior today.

PS Though I don't look it, I have an eye for designer fashion as that's my industry. Nice fake LV bag, pretty good for a knock-off. Really fits you.

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(via Twitter / garlandgillen: This over zealous #Saints fan …)

We’re pleased to announce that The Old Reader will officially remain open to the public! The application now has a bigger team, significantly more resources, and a new corporate entity in the United States. We’re incredibly excited to be a part of this great web application and would like to share some details about its future as well as thank you for remaining loyal users. We’re big fans and users of The Old Reader and look forward to helping it grow and improve for years to come.

First off we want to say that it’s rare to have an application that inspires as much passion as The Old Reader has as of late. We think that’s a sign of greatness and all credit for that goes to the wonderful team that has been running the show including Dmitry and Elena. We’ve gotten to know them pretty well this past week and they are smart, honest, and passionate people. We’re happy to announce that they are still a part of the team and we hope they will be for a long time to come.  The new team will be managing the project and adding to the engineering, communications, and system administration functions.

So now for the future. The Old Reader is going to retain all of its functionality and remain open to the public. Not only that, we’re going to do everything in our power to grow the user base which will only accentuate the things that make this application special. To facilitate these improvements, we’re going to be transitioning The Old Reader to a top tier hosting facility in the United States this coming week. It’s going to require some downtime and for that we sincerely apologize, but it’s also going to mean A LOT more servers, 10x faster networks, and long-term stability. We realize that doesn’t make the downtime easy but rest assured that things are looking up.

Over the coming weeks we’ll talk more about the new team of The Old Reader. We’re looking forward to introducing ourselves and making significant improvements to this incredible application. Thanks for reading and thanks for using The Old Reader!

What we’re reading

corgisandboobs:

jennibrown-ben-plumm:

Minas Tirith Sandcastle 

A Minas

Tirith

Sand

Castle

So goes Denethor, son of Ecthelion.

*throws crab off the top*