Rambling Random Links

I seem to have a cold or something. It's not too bad -- just enough to wake me up earlier than I would have liked, but not enough to keep me miserable once vertical -- but I already seem to have crud in my lungs, much earlier in the process than usual.

I believe this is a good excuse to scrap the gung-ho, let's-get-high-energy-stuff-done plan I had for today in favor of spending it with DVDs, computers, and books. Hopefully, if I'm very quiet, the germs will think there's nothing to see here and move along. Right?

So, anyway, instead of bracing myself to go out in the cool of the morning and hack down weeds (again), I sit here in my comfy house and bring you random links:

Obey! The Game: This is stupidly addictive. Also harder than it looks. But I made 101 levels!

Simon's Cat in 'The Box': New Simon's Cat video! This guy knows cats frighteningly well.

MESSENGER: A snapshot of home: A picture of the Earth and the moon as a pair of bright dots, taken by the Messenger spacecraft. This sort of thing really does give you a sense of cosmic perspective. Wave to everybody at home!

5 Mind Blowing Ways Your Memory Plays Tricks On You: I love Cracked. Not only are they often very funny, but they're better at presenting scientific knowledge and encouraging critical thinking skills than a lot of much more serious sites. This time, they tackle the somewhat frightening but true ways in which your brain screws with you. They sort of ruin the perception test video, though, by giving you the answer ahead of time. Here, let me show it to you, in case you haven't seen it before. It's a video of people passing a ball back and forth in a hallway. Your task is to count the number of times the ball is passed. It's harder than you'd think. When you're done, you can go to the article linked above to find the answer. It's the second item on the first page.



And speaking of Cracked and critical thinking... Their feature on 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly) is interesting, and possibly mildly reassuring. But what I really love is the guys at The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe's critique of it in their most recent podcast. Partway through, it turns into a brief but hilarious debate on Zombie Kirk vs. Zombie Picard. The zombie discussion starts at about 34:25, but the whole podcast is worth listening to. Especially if you're interested in astronomy, since it features special guest Phil Plait.