The Tuesday Sundries - Long June, Asteroid Day, & Nat Geo Photog Lectures

Over on livescience.com, we learn from a recent article "Why June 30 Will Be 1 Second Longer" here.

Over on asteroidday.org, we celebrate "The first official Asteroid Day will take place on June 30, 2015" (today!).  Learn more here.

Finally, on the National Geographic YouTube channel, we take a "Photographer’s Journey" with two parts being germane to this blog: "Part 2: Bog Mummies, Babies, and Shark Skin" and "Part 3: Darwin’s Actual Finches."  Enjoy!

The Tuesday Sundries on GRYMVALD.com
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RPG Media Monday - D&D Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate, & Medieval Films

The news from EuroGamer.net is that "D&D adventure Sword Coast Legends gets release date, console versions" here.

Also, on baldursgate.com they have a rather ominous countdown here.

Finally, on Facebook, Bruce Boughner has a crisp list of "Medieval Films" here.

RPG Media Monday on GRYMVALD.com

What can be gleaned from Media

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Setting & Society Sunday - Languages, Deserts, & Space Maps

Three from discovermagazine.com this week with the first being "20 Things You Didn't Know About Language" here.

Also, they teach you "20 Things You Didn't Know About Deserts" here.

Finally, they take us on a pictorial of "Beautiful Maps of Space Throughout the Ages" here.

Setting & Society Sunday on GRYMVALD.com

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Saturday in Space - Resupply Missions, Solar Flares, & Venusian Volcanoes

Over on NASA's blog, they tell us about how the ISS "Gets Ready for a Pair of Resupply Ship Missions" here.

Also, on the main NASA website, quite the picture from earlier this week when the "Sun Unleashes Mid-level Flare" here.

Finally, from nationalgeographic.com, "Volcanoes on Venus May Still Be Awake."  Learn more here.

Saturday in Space on GRYMVALD.com
What's happening in Space and

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Flora & Fauna Friday - Turtle Shells, Fossil Soft Tissue, & Jurassic World

Three from smithsonianmag.com on prehistoric creatures with the first being an article titled "This Ancient Creature Shows How the Turtle Got Its Shell" here.

Also, they tell us about "Dinosaur Soft Tissue Recovered From Eight Cretaceous-Era Fossils" here.

Finally, "14 Fun Facts About the Animals of 'Jurassic World"'" here.

Flora & Fauna Friday on GRYMVALD.com

Examining animals, plants, and the

environments we use for our tabletop RPGing.

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Historical Thursday - War wrecks, Blackbeard's Ship, & the Lancastria

Over on warhistoryonline.com, they feature photos of "War wrecks from around the world" here like the battleship Bismarck.

Also, on nationalgeographic.com, "Blackbeard's Ship Confirmed off North Carolina" here.

Finally, on historytoday.com, the have an article on "The Sinking of the Lancastria" here.

Historical Thursday on GRYMVALD.com

Sifting through History to
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Worldbuilding Wednesday - Neanderthals, Ancient Urn, & Stonehenge(s?)

Over on nationalgeographic.com, they suggest that "Ancient Man Had Neanderthal Great-Great Grandfather" here.

Also, on sciencenordic.com, an "Ancient urn hints at global trade network" here.

Finally, from io9.com from last Fall, "Archaeologists Have Made An Incredible Discovery At Stonehenge."  Learn more here.

Worldbuilding Wednesday on GRYMVALD.com
The nuts and bolts of Worldbuilding
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The Tuesday Sundries - Mummified Dog, Grass Bridge, & Pirate Treasure

Over on siberiantimes.com, a recent article discusses a "Autopsy carried out in Far East on world's oldest dog mummified by ice" here.

Also, on smithsonianmag.com, an article heralds that "A Dozen Indigenous Craftsman From Peru Will Weave Grass into a 60-Foot Suspension Bridge in Washington, D.C." here.

Finally, on boingboing.net, they tell us that "Pirate treasure is real. Here's how we found it."  Learn more here.

The Tuesday Sundries on GRYMVALD.com
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RPG Media Monday - Folk Horror, Robot-Dinos, & Hoplites

Over on tasteofcinema.com, they shared list of "10 Great British Folk Horror Films That Are Worth Your Time" here.

Also, on theverge.com, "Watch a post-apocalyptic cavewoman hunt robot dinosaurs in a new PS4 game" here.

Finally, on openculture.com (and from the Steve Simons YouTube channel), they have an article on Greek Hoplites that includes a video where they are animated right off of ancient artwork.  See more here and enjoy!

RPG Media Monday on GRYMVALD.com

What can be gleaned from Media

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Setting & Society Sunday - RPG Blog Carnival: Summerland

Thanks to Phil, the RPG Blog Carnival theme for June of 2015 is Summerland and entries can be found on Tales of a GM here. The archive for the rest of the RPG Blog Carnival is on roleplayingtips.com here.

This being the official first day of Summer, I'd say it is time to get this month's RPG Carnical "Summerland" blog post up.  Let's look, then, at three Medievalists.net articles that have something to do with Summer that can help inspire creation for your tabletop Medieval Fantasy RPGs.  First, a song of Summer from the Middle English period can simply be lifted as is, if you like that sort of thing (which I do!).  The article is from May 2014 and is titled "Sumer is Icumen In!"  Find out more here.

Also, a few years ago, they featured a paper from 2006 on "The origin of the European 'Medieval Warm Period'" which looks at "Proxy records and results of a three dimensional climate model show that European summer temperatures roughly a millennium ago " here.

Finally, an article from a few years back examines "Observational Archaeoastronomy at Stonehenge: Winter and Summer Solstice Sun Rise and Set Alignments Accurate to 0.2 o in 4000 BP" here.

Edit: And here's a bonus link from National Geographic on "First Day of Summer: 4 Things to Know About the Summer Solstice" here.

Setting & Society Sunday on GRYMVALD.com

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Saturday in Space - Stratospheres, Lapping Mars, & Titan

Over on skyandtelescope.com, a recent article examines "Searching for Exoplanet Stratospheres" here.

Also, on nasa.gov, they celebrate as a "Veteran NASA Spacecraft Nears 60,000th Lap Around Mars, No Pit Stops" here.

Finally, on sciencechannel.com, a short video takes a look at "Titan, A 'Strangely Eathlike' World" here.

Saturday in Space on GRYMVALD.com
What's happening in Space and

what can it mean for our tabletop RPGing?

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Flora & Fauna Friday - Tortoises & Sea Turtles

Over on smithsonianmag.com, they heralded that the "Second Critically Endangered Tortoise Hatches from a Cracked Egg" here.  "To get the critically endangered Madagascar spider tortoises to breed successfully took both tenacity and a whole lot of luck."

Also, on discovermagazine.com, they share a "Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook for Tortoises" here.  They end the article with an old video of a helpful shell-shaker and his traveling buddy which I will also share here.

Finally, on the Lindsey Kurtz YouTube channel, a video freshly uploaded this week delves into "Endangered Sea Turtles" and what we can all do to help save them.  Watch and learn!

Flora & Fauna Friday on GRYMVALD.com

Examining animals, plants, and the

environments we use for our tabletop RPGing.

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Historical Thursday - Civil War Medicine, Holy Roman Sword, & Hugh Ambrose Passes

Over on imgur.com, check out the pics of "The sword of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I" here.

Also, from smithsonianmag.com, they share "Six Ways the Civil War Changed American Medicine" here.

Finally, on warhistoryonline.com, they tell us "World War Two historian and writer, Hugh Ambrose dies" here.

Historical Thursday on GRYMVALD.com

Sifting through History to
enhance our tabletop RPGing.

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Worldbuilding Wednesday - Iron and Bronze Age Discoveries

Over on universityherald.com, a recent article shares "Ancient Europeans Migrated During Bronze Age, New Studies Suggest" here.

Also, on bajrfed.co.uk, a "Well-preserved Early Iron Age bronze axe found in Surrey" here.

Finally, from pasthorizonspr.com, they tell of a "Late Bronze-Age site destroyed by fire to be excavated further" here.

Worldbuilding Wednesday on GRYMVALD.com
The nuts and bolts of Worldbuilding
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The Tuesday Sundries - London, William Marshal, & the Magna Carta

The Medievalist.net website has been all over the anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, and I've collected a few of the many interesting stories and perspectives on this event.  But before I share a couple of them from there, let me point everyone to historytoday.com where they have an article "Explaining some of the key clauses in the Great Charter" here.  And be sure to check out "Ten Short Videos about the Magna Carta" here.

So, check out this article from the Medievalists.net website on "The City of London and the Magna Carta" here.

Finally, let's wrap up with "Magna Carta: The Medieval Context and the Part Played by William Marshal" here.

The Tuesday Sundries on GRYMVALD.com
Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on GRYMVALD.com
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RPG Media Monday - Smithsonian Art, Pole Arms, & Dueling

Over on openculture.com, they inform us that the "Smithsonian Digitizes & Lets You Download 40,000 Works of Asian and American Art."  Find out more here.

Also, on digilibraries.com, this "Critique" has a section with the "Evolution" of Pole Arms here.

Finally, economist.com heralds a book on Dueling titled "Touché: The Duel in Literature" here.

RPG Media Monday on GRYMVALD.com

What can be gleaned from Media

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Setting & Society Sunday - Rabbits as Food, Chef Title Descriptions, & Culinary Horrors

Over on pasthorizonspr.com, they ask "Why did modern humans hunt and eat rabbit while Neanderthals didn’t?"  Learn more here.

Also, on whatscookingamerica.net, they break down "Chef Title Descriptions" here.

Finally, on brilliantmaps.com, they show us "The Many Disgusting Dishes & Culinary Horrors of Europe" here.

Setting & Society Sunday on GRYMVALD.com

Looking closer at Setting and Society

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