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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Glass Beach

I saw a picture of this fine place on Facebook yesterday and decided it needed a bit more attention.  Read more about Glass Beach here!


Monday, April 29, 2013

Boa Constrictor, National Geographic Style

A recent upload to the National Geographic YouTube channel gives a lot of cool information on boa constrictors in film and graphic form.  If you, like the boa, have the stomach for it, enjoy!


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Time Crystals

A little over a year ago, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek owned up to working on a theory for Time Crystals as a way to supply unlimited energy.  Maybe someday you can add them to a tabletop roleplaying setting and they won't still be a science fiction element.  See more here!


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Teeth Chiseling

A recent National Geographic video uploaded to YouTube highlights Teeth Chiseling.  Enjoy!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Fossilized Elephant Bird Egg

A recent report from the ibtimes.com website featured "Huge Fossilized Egg Sells For $101,813 At Christie’s Auction In London." Read more here!


Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Fearsome Antlion

A recent National Geographic video uploaded to YouTube highlights the Antlion.  Enjoy!


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Making Faces with Morphases.com

A Facebook Friend clued me into a piece of online software that can be used to make faces for PCs, NPCs, etc. located at morphases.com which you can check out here!


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Collings Castle

A Facebook Friend recently took a trip and because of it I became aware of Collings Castle in Turner Falls, Oklahoma.  See more here!


Monday, April 22, 2013

Viking Sunstones

A recent article on LiveScience.com titled "First Evidence of Viking-Like 'Sunstone' Found" details these mysterious artifacts. See more here!


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Rattlesnake Roundup

A video uploaded to YouTube last month from National Geographic features the Rattesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas.  Enjoy!


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Oxus Treasure

If you're unfamiliar, the Oxus Treasure is "a collection of 170 gold and silver items from the Achaemenid Persian period which were found by the Oxus river." See more here!


Friday, April 19, 2013

Owl Research Institute

Do you want to know a little more about owls?  How about a lot more about owls?  Either way, check out the Owl Research Institute website (owlinstitute.org) and you'll be covered.  See more here!


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Mormon Cricket Swarm

Don't worry, they're actually katydids and they don't fly, but when moving in the thousands they sure are awesome.  Enjoy this National Geographic video from their YouTube channel featuring these prolific insects.


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A-Z Animals Wesbite

A friend recently pointed me toward a listing on a website I think most setting creators will find useful, particularly those with an interest in animals, called A-Z-Animals.com  See more here and look up the Thorny Devil below!


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Bulgarian Babugeri Costumes

A Facebook friend recently pointed me toward a photograph of some rather cool costumes worn by Bulgarian men for a festival celebrating some traditional rites.  Read more here!


Monday, April 15, 2013

The Yarn Of Odin's Rune Tally

I was recently pointed toward a YouTube video featuring a reading of "The Yarn Of Odin's Rune Tally in English and Old Norse." Enjoy!


Sunday, April 14, 2013

10,000 Roman Objects From London

A recent article on the Guardian.co.uk website purports that "Archaeologists find 10,000 objects from Roman London." Read more here!


Saturday, April 13, 2013

How to Survive a Gorilla Charge

A recent National Geographic video on YouTube explains "How to Survive a Gorilla Charge." Enjoy!

Friday, April 12, 2013

sQuba, an Underwater Car

The Rinspeed sQuba purports to be the first underwater car.  Now if you add them to your tabletop roleplaying setting, you can no longer claim it is science fiction.  Read more here!


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Footwear in your Setting

Sometimes it is simply enough to mention that a character in a tabletop roleplaying setting is either wearing shoes or boots, and sometimes more detail can be useful.  Are they hard boots that can withstand a snake bite or spike through the sole?  Are they light shoes, even slippers, that make hardly a sound when walking and sneaking?  There was a recent article on news.discovery.com that showed some 2,000 year old shoes and also includes a number of sketches of sandals from that time.  See and read more here!


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Boomslang vs. Chameleon

Some time ago, the National Geographic YouTube channel featured a video showing a "Boomslang vs. Chameleon."   Enjoy!


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Along on the Ice: Douglas Mawson's Survival Legacy

It's been one hundred years, but the survival story of David Mawson, a contemporary Antarctic explorer of Amundsen and Scott, is being revived in a 20 minute National Geographic video.  Enjoy!


Monday, April 8, 2013

Spiders as Big as your Face

As if the spiders we had on record weren't disturbing enough, according to metro.co.uk, in Sri Lanka they have discovered some news one that are rather more so.  See more here!


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Nahr al-Kalb

There is a great website section on livius.org covering Nahr al-Kalb highlighting the reliefs depicting the military campaigns war of Ramesses II.  See more here!


Saturday, April 6, 2013

Citizendium Article - Neanderthal

A Facebook Friend recently pointed me toward a variation on the wiki model called The Citizendium.  It's a wiki but requires verification of authors and maintains a narrower focus than the wikiverse in general.  In particular, the article being touted was one on Neanderthal.  It's well-written and has convinced me I need to spend a bit more time in their pages.  See more here and here!


Friday, April 5, 2013

Viking Spring Thing in Nottinghamshire

If you're in the Nottinghamshire area, you might find some time on May 18th and 19th to join in the Viking Spring Thing. It's a free event hosted by the Friends of Thynghowe and the Forestry Commission, and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, that is sure to be a blast. Find out more here!


Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Thames Estuary Army Forts

The Thames Estuary Forts, or Maunsell Sea Forts, were build in World War Two to defend England from air assault.  Certainly, these relics would now make a fine addition to any post-apocalyptic tabletop setting.  Read more here!



Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Holger the Dane

There is a very cool statue of Holger the Dane in Kronborg Castle and the story behind it is remarkable.  Read more here!


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Hogwarts Floorplans and Such

My buddy Colin pointed out a site recently with a pile of floorplans that should be readily usable for many tabletop roleplaying settings.  It includes maps for many real world castles and locations and some fictitious too.  The site is Randwulf.com, apparently the online name of the cartographer, and you can find it here!


Monday, April 1, 2013

Below the Surface presents: The Fleet of Norse Dublin

If you're in the Dublin area on April 3rd, you might be able to slip into a presentation called "Below the Surface presents: The Fleet of Norse Dublin." See more here!