Archive for the 'Off Topic' Category
Stonehenge: Six Ton Altar Stone Came from Scotland
August 14th, 2024Via: Daily Mail: They’re the circle of stones that have left historians scratching their heads for centuries. Now, experts have made a ‘stunning’ discovery about one of Stonehenge’s most famous rocks. It has been known for a while that most of the monument’s world-renowned ‘bluestones’ were sourced from the Preseli Hills in Wales, around 240km […]
Quilts and Cats of Calico
July 6th, 2024This is very far off topic. My wife and daughter, Niamh, love the Calico board game. Besides the cats in the game, our actual cats love to “help” with the gameplay. I won’t play Calico and neither will my boys. Although my youngest daughter is fascinated with Calico, she is too young to play. She […]
The Land, Water and Air Around Us Are Chock-Full of DNA Fragments from Fungi that Mycologists Can’t Link to Known Organisms
June 28th, 2024Via: Scientific American: If you want to discover a hidden world of new life-forms, you don’t have to scour dark caves or slog through remote rainforests. Just look under your feet. When then-graduate student Anna Rosling went to northern Sweden to map the distribution of a particular root-loving fungus, she found something much more intriguing: […]
Ultrasonic Investigations in Shopping Centres
June 9th, 2024For the handful of people who can hear it… Via: Absorptions: I can’t remember how I first came across these near-ultrasonic ‘beacons’ ubiquitous in PA systems. I might have been scrolling through the audio spectrum while waiting for the underground train; or it might have been the screeching ‘tinnitus-like’ sensation I would often get near […]
Aune AR5000 Openback Headphones
May 9th, 2024I was going to post this to an audio forum but thought that some budget audiophiles out in Cryptogon land might be interested. The Amazon affiliate links pay me a small commission. Your support is very much appreciated. — I’ve had my Aune AR5000 openbacks for about a month and they are fantastic. Very detailed […]
JavaScript Pilot in Microsoft Flight Simulator
May 5th, 2024Via: Pomax: …we’re writing a web page that can control an autopilot running in JS that, in turn, controls a little virtual aeroplane. And by “little” I actually mean “most aeroplanes in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020” because as it turns out, MSFS comes with an API that can be used to both query *and set* […]
Alligators Freeze Themselves in Solid Ice to Survive Cold Snap in Southern U.S.
January 25th, 2024Via: Telegraph: Alligators are allowing themselves to freeze solid in icy ponds and swamps to survive an unexpected cold snap in the American South. The creatures were spotted submerged in ice with only their snouts poking out to breathe as temperatures fell as low as -10C across Texas and North Carolina. The phenomenon has been […]
City of Los Angeles Attempts to Find Next of Kin of Unclaimed Dead for Three Years Before Burying Remains in Mass Graves
January 5th, 2024Via: AP: Martirosyan and her colleagues spend three years investigating a case before relinquishing the deceased to a communal gravesite, a last resort in the county cemetery. Similar work is done in cities across the U.S. but in Los Angeles, with one of the nation’s largest homeless populations, the efforts are particularly difficult.
Black Friday Sale
November 24th, 2023I don’t want to do this, but I’m profoundly broke. If you’re going to spend money on Amazon during this time of deep discounts, please consider supporting Cryptogon by using this affiliate link: amazon.com It’s free to you and earns me a small commission on whatever you buy. Looking for an idea? This is probably […]
Off Topic: Cattails: A Wildwood Story
October 22nd, 2023Very briefly, if you have children who like cats, consider a new and very nice video game called Cattails: A Wildwood Story. My daughter has read all of the Warrior Cats books and tells me that the people who made the game must be fans of those books. So, if your child likes the Warrior […]
