Take a look at these breath-taking photographs of the largest cave in the world, in Vietnam
There’s a jungle inside Vietnam’s mammoth cavern. A skyscraper could fit too. And the end is out of sight.
A story about the oldest song in the world [Article]
Bob Fulghum reasons his choice about the oldest song in the world:
Sometime way, way, way back in human history some alpha person invented humming by running tones together.
And later, when language developed, words were turned into song.
And it may just be possible that the first songs were about the sun and love.
Think about it.
A strange alien world, magnified x1000 [Video]
German photographer Stefan Diller has made micro worlds into immense and detailed landscapes to fly over. After three years of work, he’s refined a mix of scanning electron microscope (SEM) technology with “micro-movie camera” software. Thousands of photos — 1500 frames for one minute of footage — are taken at different positions around the specimen. These images are then animated together into a video process called Nanoflight, as shown in this rather jaw-dropping video.
Travel lessons with my family [article]
If there’s a trip planned shortly with the whole family (there is), here are some useful tips from a family of 8 (6 kids & the parents!)
Lose yourself to dance [Video]
When spinning a record isn’t enough:
To pee or not to pee in the ocean, that is the question [Article]
A hilariously written scientific article by Lauren Wolf that concludes thus:
“No question, pee in the ocean. Urine is harmless stuff in the first place and is diluted to the point of insignificance within minutes. There are far more harmful things in the ocean to worry about!” Yeah, like a Sharknado.
Turned off? Read about the other creatures which inhabit the ocean and who don’t have a bio-chemical processing plant (aka toilet).
I want to make love to you like in the movies [Article Josh Gondelman]
Josh says it best: take the time to read this if you enjoy good reads.
The real take home of the Snowden leaks [Article]
Charlie Stross believes the three-letter acronym agencies haven’t considered a problem: Gen X & Gen Y.
The key facts are: Generation X’s parents expected a job for life, but with few exceptions Gen Xers never had that — they’re used to nomadic employment, hire-and-fire, right-to-work laws, the whole nine yards of organized-labour deracination. …..
… Edward Snowden is 30: he was born in 1983. Generation Y started in 1980-82. I think he’s a sign of things to come. PS: Bradley Manning is 25.
Social exclusion hurts: and how [Article]
A US-based psychologist, Kip Williams, was strolling through a park when a mis-thrown Frisbee caught him on the back of his head. Unhurt, he picked it up and threw it back to one of the players. They threw it back to him. Briefly he was involved in their game, before the Frisbee players stopped passing it to him and returned to their back-and-forth routine.
A relatively unremarkable social interaction, the scientist was nonetheless surprised at how hurt he felt at being excluded from the game and hurried off to his lab to ascertain what is happening in our brains when we feel left out.
Letting go of crutches: Simplifying life [Article]
Leo Babauta discovered the crutches he used in his life (eg smoking) and gave them up. Quite easy to do, he says:
I meditate, drink tea mindfully, run and workout, go for walks, give myself more space in the day, let go of the expectations/ideals that are causing the stress in the first place. I find pleasure in all of these things, and in socializing with good friends, and in a good book, and don’t need to smoke to find pleasure anymore.