10 non-work-related items that I found fun or interesting

A dinosaur’s teeth can be a map of its travels via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker
Bones can tell you a lot about a creature, but there’s much more they can't tell you. Bones are not behaviour. We know what the skeletons of dinosaurs looked like. But there's a great deal about their appearance and behaviour that we can only guess at.
Sometimes, though, bones can surprise you. Sometimes, they carry secrets locked inside. At Not Exactly Rocket Science, Ed Yong writes about a new study that's uncovered evidence about dinosaur behavior, using information stored in the dinosaurs’ teeth. The paper suggests that the North American Camarasaurus had a seasonal migration.
Fascinating stuff.

Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
"Hey, babe, fancy a shag?" Drink doesn't make us amorous and uninhibited. Culture does. So next time you wake up with regrets, blame not the booze, but yourself... more

Did the Italian Renaissance Begin in Baghdad? via Big Think by Bob Duggan
The Italian Renaissance remains one of those amazing hinges of human history where civilization made a great leap that continues to be felt today. For German art historian Hans Belting, this “quantum leap consistent in the way perspective introduced the gaze into the picture and thus, at the time, the human subject doing the gazing”.
Read More about Belting’s theory and the history behind his ideas.

‘I dreamed I was ‘X’ in my Maidenform bra’, 1944-1966 via HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT by Chris

Thank you to Vintage Ads and Stuff
See ALL the fantastic pictures here

Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Noël Coward likened reading a footnote to going downstairs to answer the door while making love. Digression didn't suit him. He's not alone... more

Friday Fun: Zombie Defense Agency via the How-To Geek by Asian Angel
In this game your mission is to set up a solid defence to stop the incoming waves of zombie hordes using the various weapon towers at your disposal.
As always you cxan choose to read Asian Angel’s walkthrough here or go straight to the game here

The beauty of ancient globalisation via Prospero by A.Y.
Today Peshawar in north-west Pakistan is a hotbed of insurgency and a strategic military entry point into Afghanistan. But more than 1,500 years ago the Gandhara region, which surrounded present-day Peshawar, was an important point along the Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean. Propelled by Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire, settlers from the West brought classical Greco-Roman influences, while traders from the East brought Buddhism. This unique cross-pollination permeates art from the Gandhara region, which encompassed swaths of north-west Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the first century BC and the fifth century AD. These works are an extraordinary example of ancient globalisation.
“The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara”, the first exhibition of Gandharan art from Pakistan in America since 1960, is on view at the Asia Society in New York through October.
“The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara” is on view at the Asia Society in New York through October 30th. Read more
Which means that by the time you read this it will be over – and I can find no mention anywhere of the exhibition being staged anywhere else in the world. Wikipedia has some stunning images http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara#Art and jump to Art.

Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
For Arthur Conan Doyle, who found "unaffectedness" his own chief virtue, the ideal of happiness was "men who do their duty." He did his... more

A Case Study of the “Primark Effect” via Big Think by Big Think Editors
The “fast fashion” retail model pioneered by companies such as Zara and H&M has been taken a step farther by Primark, the UK-based retailer offering clothes at rock-bottom prices. In fact, the significant change in consumer habits since the financial crisis, which … Read More

Yellowstone Bison via Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin

A herd of bison in a valley in the northwestern region of Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). I shot this iPhone snap while shooting video with Miles O’Brien and team – we’re working on a story for the PBS NewsHour. We’re in Montana today, driving out shortly to a cattle rancher’s digs. Photo notes: I shot this in the “regular” (not HDR) iPhone photo setting, and did only very minor tweaks in Photoshop (levels, exposure, to bring some of those mid-range clouds into greater clarity). But this is not an HDR or faux-HDR photo, and I didn’t use any filters or do much in Photoshop. This is pretty much how it looks right on the iPhone.

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