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Found by Dave McCall

Seriously, it's not an RPG supplement, new scans of The Voynich Manuscript from Yale.

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Only four months after their music video for the “The Writing’s on the Wall” filled with optical illusions, OK Go are back with yet another meticulously choreographed dance video for “I Won’t Let You Down.” Filmed in Japan, this new clip features more than a few umbrellas, Honda UNI-CUB personal vehicles (a kind of tiny robo scooter), and a cast of hundreds. Make sure to stick around for the final shot, hard to believe it’s even real, but knowing OK Go, it certainly is.

Found by bas van der burgh

Found by Creative Photographer

The NY Times interviewed several people in their 80s who are still killing it in their careers and creative pursuits. Says Ruth Bader Ginsberg about surprises about turning 80:

Nothing surprised me. But I've learned two things. One is to seek ever more the joys of being alive, because who knows how much longer I will be living? At my age, one must take things day by day. I have been asked again and again, "How long are you going to stay there?" I make that decision year by year. The minute I sense I am beginning to slip, I will go. There's a sense that time is precious and you should enjoy and thrive in what you're doing to the hilt. I appreciate that I have had as long as I have... It's a sense reminiscent of the poem "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." I had some trying times when my husband died. We'd been married for 56 years and knew each other for 60. Now, four years later, I'm doing what I think he would have wanted me to do.

The interviews are accompanied by an essay by Lewis Lapham, himself on the cusp of 80.

John D. Rockefeller in his 80s was known to his business associates as a crazy old man possessed by the stubborn and ferocious will to know why the world wags and what wags it, less interested in money than in the solving of a problem in geography or corporate combination. By sources reliably informed I'm told that Warren Buffett, 84, and Rupert Murdoch, 83, never quit asking questions.

I read a book several years ago which is relevant here called Old Masters and Young Geniuses, in which economist David Galenson divided creative people into two main camps: conceptual and experimental innovators:

1) The conceptual innovators who peak creatively early in life. They have firm ideas about what they want to accomplish and then do so, with certainty. Pablo Picasso is the archetype here; others include T.S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Orson Wells. Picasso said, "I don't seek, I find."

2) The experimental innovators who peak later in life. They create through the painstaking process of doing, making incremental improvements to their art until they're capable of real masterpiece. Cezanne is Galenson's main example of an experimental innovator; others include Frank Lloyd Wright, Mark Twain, and Jackson Pollock. Cezanne remarked, "I seek in painting."

Tags: books   David Galenson   interviews   Lewis Lapham   Old Masters and Young Geniuses   Ruth Bader Ginsberg   working

Found by Creative Photographer

OK Go returns with another hypnotic, tightly-choreographed video for I Won't Let You Down, from their new album Hungry Ghosts. Read the rest

André Christoffer Andersen created this nifty interactive map that estimates world population at any coordinate. Read the rest

"hey yoo guys, i foun the sweet ray bans in the bafroom also, shelly is crying in thdere." Drunk J. Crew. So great.

A mother in Fort Myers, Florida is leading a petition against Toys R Us selling Breaking Bad action figures, to which Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston responded perfectly:

"Florida mom petitions against Toys 'R Us over Breaking Bad action figures." I'm so mad, I'm burning my Florida Mom action figure in protest

— Bryan Cranston (@BryanCranston) October 20, 2014

(Time)

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An excellent graphic from 1970 by Santa Clara University chemistry professor William F. Sheehan (RIP). (via Clifford Pickover)

Back in August, I blogged the announcement of the forthcoming Discovering Scarfolk, a book-length adaptation of the brilliantly creepy Scarfolk Council blog, which chronicles the government publications of a English town that is forever trapped in a loop from 1969-1979, a town that's like Nightvale crossed with Liartown USA, written by John Wyndham. Today, it's out! Read the rest

via http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3420/RM3420.chapter1.html

Andy Ristaino on the quality of his line:

if you put your characters through horrible things are you hurting them? possibly torturing them? when you draw are you touching them? are they alive?  if you bare down possibly hurting them? are you touching them in ways they don’t want you to? now, this sort of thinking is kinda silly to focus on but at the time i was really feeling everything (still am).  i look at a hard line and these days and it’s like having a nail raked across my skin. it’s overbearing. it makes me claustrophobic (i have to admit almost everything makes me claustrophobic).  I don’t want to be touched that way.  I wanted my life to be gentle. so my line became gentle. I didn’t want to molest my characters so my line became light and breezy. i didn’t want to control my characters so my line became jittery. i wanted my line to represent nature itself so the line became more organic.

Just a taste of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive. Great news.

by Waxy (via Sean Bonner)

These Victorian Era photos of people making silly faces delight me to no end. Read the rest

A digressive consideration of the popular new show.

[Full Story]

No matter how dark the humor on the Simpsons’ can get, the iconic show always has that bright cheery aesthetic we’ve grown to love. Austin-based artist and illustrator Tim Doyle had another look in mind when he started his UnReal Estate series back in 2012, re-envisioning the worlds of fictional television shows as dark and rundown places. His Simpsons-themed work is fantastically moody and might give you the impression Springfield is far from fictional.

See Also Floor Plans of Famous TV Shows

While Doyle’s works are dark, they certainly aren’t melancholy. Above the burned out streetlights, littered streets and spraypainted walls (with a well placed El Barto tag) are beautiful star filled skies that remind us this is just a busy town that’s gone to sleep for the night. Definitely check out more in the series at MrDoyle.com, where you can see re-imagined locations from Arrested Development, Sesame Street and Doctor Who.

(via Bored Panda)

My favorite weekend of the year is almost here again: Open House Chicago, October 18-19, 2014.

Over 150 locations in the city are open FREE to everyone - most being places that are not normally accessible to the public.

Support my friends over at the Chicago Architecture Foundation and visit www.openhousechicago.org.

Make your list, put on your walking shoes and get out there and explore our amazing city!!!

Futuresight

Found by sedki alimam

Found by Creative Photographer

Found by Creative Photographer

A new social micro-blogging network, Ello, is flooded with users during its beta. Ello is predicated on not selling its users out or selling them stuff. Glenn Fleishman suggests it already needs to be held to the fire. Read the rest

Pizza has long been one of man’s best friends. Crispy, cheesy, melty, meaty — it’s a winning proposition all around. One of the beauties of pizza is how well it makes multiple meals. The ginormous 20-inch NY-style pepperoni pizza above (from the stupendous Fat Sully’s here in Denver) provided 5 delicious meals over the course of 4 days. How many other foods can do that for ya?

The real problem (if you can really call it a problem) is figuring out the best way to eat it after Day 1. There are of course those that believe that reheating pizza in any fashion constitutes true sacrilege — that one should always eat their leftovers cold. Certainly, cold pizza can be a delicious and easy option.

But sometimes you want something warm in your belly and wish to bring back the original flavors and get the hot grease flowing again. How should you go about doing so? Do you pop it in the microwave? Throw it on the grill? Luckily for you, we decided to test out the best ways to reheat your pizza. Our findings may surprise you (as they did me), and may in fact lead to a slice of pie that was even better than the original.

In the name of science!

How to Store Your Pizza

Your method of reheating is not the only factor in play as to how it will taste the next day(s); how you store your pizza in the fridge also matters. Most folks (including myself, before this article) just throw the box in the fridge and leave it at that. While acceptable, I learned that the best way to store pizza is to line a plate/tupperware with paper towels, then put on a layer of pizza, then cover with paper towels again, then wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap. This ensures ultimate freshness.

Method #1 – Microwave

Before writing this article, throwing the ‘za in the microwave was my go-to method of reheating. It’s by far the fastest and most convenient method, and it’s all I ever really knew. So that’s where I started in this experiment. Now, due to some preliminary research, I knew this wasn’t going to be the best method, so I made some adjustments that I knew would make it better. If you’re like me, you always just threw it in the microwave on full power for 30 or so seconds, and came away with a sort of wet, rubbery mess. But it was still pizza, and ultimately, still tasty. Any combination of cheese and meat and bread is going to be good, even if not excellent.

After some asking around, though, I discovered there was a better microwave method. First, keep the paper towel between the plate and the pizza. That will absorb some of the moisture. Then, change your microwave settings to be about 50% power. Instead of 30 seconds, go for a minute. A slow warm up is always better than an instant nuking when it comes to pizza.

The result: Even with improvements to the methodology, the pizza still came out sort of wet and rubbery. Especially when the pizza was really good to start with, microwaving it just doesn’t do it justice. The crust on the end of my slice was so rubbery that I had to really yank on it with my teeth to eat it. The pizza was certainly still edible, but this method is not recommended unless you really only have a minute to reheat it and be on your way. If you must microwave it (say, at the office), have a paper towel handy and lower the microwave power.

Method #2 – Oven

Next up was the oven. I had seen a tip in a random forum (yes — there are forums regarding the best ways to reheat pizza) from a man who swore to high heaven to cook the pizza for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. I followed suit, letting the oven preheat all the way before putting it directly on the rack.

The result: The ‘za was warm, crispy, every bit as delicious as Day 1. In fact, it tasted almost exactly the same. For my money, I would have given it either a couple more minutes or a slightly higher temperature, but you can’t go wrong with the oven. No rubber here, folks.

Method #3 – Grill

I was pretty excited about trying the grill. My wife makes a mean grilled pizza, so reheating some pie on the grill seemed quite natural. I set it to medium-high and let it warm up for a few minutes. I threw it right on the grate, no oil or anything, and let it cook for 6 minutes or so. I lifted the pizza to make sure the crust looked good (which it did), and made sure the cheese was bubbly on top (it was), and pulled it off to enjoy.

The result: Boy was this method a winner! The cheese was melty, but not rubbery. The pepperoni was crisp. The bottom crust had some awesome grill marks and the perfect amount of char. And the end crust was crunchy and delicious. On a nice day, this method is probably your best bet. The only downside is that while possible to do in poor weather (we are men, after all), it’s not the most convenient or pleasant.

Method #4 – Skillet

I chose to do the skillet last because I had read in a few places that this was the best way to reheat pizza. I first put the skillet on the stovetop and let it preheat over medium for a few minutes. I threw the ‘za on and then covered the pan — this is a crucial step. Without covering it, you risk the toppings and cheese not being quite done/hot enough. If your skillet doesn’t have a lid, throw some foil over it. Let it cook for 6-8 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.

The result: Mamma mia! Delizioso! The skillet pizza was, perhaps, even better than the original. The crust was even crispier, and the pepperoni too. It wasn’t too much different from the grill in terms of taste, but for some reason it seemed a little better. Maybe the ingredients melded together in some magical way that wasn’t present on the grill. We may never know. This method will also be far more convenient than the grill for most people. If you can, this is the way to reheat your pizza. To each their own, of course, but the skillet won out in my book.

What’s your favorite way to reheat pizza?

Towering mountains are often breathtaking, but these images have something more. Swiss photographer Robert Bösch has been traveling to snowy, high-altitude peaks – often bringing along a huge crew of mountaineers that can number in the hundreds. There, the red suited crew create impressively choreographed images that interact with the tall peaks, sheer cliffs and white snow fields that surround them. No. None of these images are digitally manipulated.

Bösch was recently hired by Swiss outdoor equipment company, Mammut, to mark the 150th anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn in the Alps by Edward Whymper. The resulting image (above) sees a team of climbers navigating the same Hörnli ridge used on the first successful ascent, illuminating it in the early dawn with bright red lights.

See more examples of Robert Bösch’s fantastic work on his personal website and below.

Get a look at what went into the epic shoot for Mammut:

(via Bored Panda and My Modern Met)

You know how the old saying goes: When life hands you rising sea levels due to anthropogenic climate change, build canals. The city of Boston is considering such a scenario.

By 2100, climate scientists predict, sea levels around Boston will rise as much as 7.5 feet; in just a few decades water levels will be 2.5 feet higher than they are today. That could mean significant flooding not only during big storms but twice daily during high tides, as well as at times of normal rainfall.

The precise amount of sea-level rise is uncertain, but state and municipal leaders say they are taking the threat seriously, even if they are not yet at the stage of redesigning whole neighborhoods.

"We're not going to start digging the canals tomorrow," said Brian Swett, Boston's chief of energy, environment, and open space. "But the report makes the important point that you can't solve 6 feet of sea level rise simply by building a bigger dam on the Charles River."

Tags: Boston   global warming