Vacuum Trains Could Cross the Atlantic in One Hour
via Big Think by Orion Jones
New train technology could allow passengers to arrive in New York four hours before leaving their point of origin in London. By combining magnet levitation technology, currently used by Japan's bullet trains, with vacuum-sealed train tunnels, passenger cars could reach speeds of 2,500 miles per hour.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Eugene O’Neill never staged Long Day’s Journey during his lifetime. It was too painful. Rarely has a playwright stripped himself so bare. more
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jmrooker: interwar: the opposite of albinism called melanism,
via Walk You Home
Melanism is a recessive trait where the skin and fur are all black. The black panther is a prototypical example of melanism [Wikipedia] but the story I saw has a black lion!
followed by a white one [Wikipedia is much more restrained but at least it shows real albinos]
and then:
the opposite-opposite of albinism is clearly luculentusism in which a recessive trait makes animals glaring and colourful.
I’m not sure the world’s ready for shiny rainbow lions.
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HOWTO make hand-grenade guacamole by Cory Doctorow via Boing Boing
PES, a very talented animation director, shows how you can make guacamole out of hand grenades, casino dice, and Monopoly houses. Imaginative, well-executed, and genuinely funny stuff.
Thanks Fipi Lele!
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
At the far end of theoretical physics, truth and fantasy blur. The glory of science, says Freeman Dyson, is to imagine more than we can prove... more
================================================ Henry Ford: First Ford Made
via Credo Reference Blog
Today’s Featured Topic Page showcases the great American industrialist and pioneer automobile manufacturer: Henry Ford.
View the Henry Ford Credo Topic Page to learn more about the industrialist and innovator who showed great mechanical aptitude throughout his life.
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Japan’s hidden tropical island: Aogashima
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Tofugu has a short article on this unusual and beautiful Japanese island: Aogashima.
Aogashima (“blue island”) is a tropical, volcanic island in the Phillipine Sea. Despite being over 200 miles away from the country’s capital, Aogashima is governed by Tokyo. In fact, a whole stretch of tropical and sometimes uninhabited islands called the Izu Islands are technically part of Tokyo. Volcanic islands? Not typically what comes to mind when you think of Tokyo.A fellow named Izuyan has been traveling to isolated islands of Japan and taking excellent photos.
As you might imagine, Aogashima isn’t the most crowded place in the world. As of this year, only about 200 people live on Aogashima. The island only has one post office and one school.
There are two ways on and off the island: by helicopter or by boat. There’s only one, small harbour where the boats go in an out of, and it seems to be a little unreliable. Because Aogashima is so remote and isolated, it can sometimes be hard to get a boat to or from the island safely.
Here’s his Flickr set for Aogashima.
Japan’s Hidden Tropical Island: Aogashima (Via imgur)
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Jonah Lehrer is the precocious wunderkind of popular science. He’s an affable, Gladwellian liaison to the world of fMRI’s. But is he credible?... more
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Passport to Pimlico: a behind the scenes tour – in pictures
via Technology news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk
The British comedy, made by Ealing studios and directed by Henry Cornelius, in which a group of London residents discover an underground treasure trove from Burgundy and declare a state of independence in the heart of London, is being screened around the country on 5 June to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee. Take a look at some of the photographs from the set of this charming 1949 classic and uncover a twist about the filming …
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Tiny house in Oakland built for $5k
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Lloyd Kahn, author of Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter, posted this photo of a 120-square-foot house built on a trailer chassis. The house will feature a full kitchen, composting toilet, outdoor shower, sleeping loft custom built in furniture and a fireplace. The siding is reclaimed redwood fensing and flooring is maple re-purposed from an old roller skating rink in Petaluma.
Oakland Tiny House
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