harrypotterismylife:

The Weasley family tree drawn by J.K. Rowling herself.

October 29, 2009, 6:26pm  Comments

thedailywhat:

Chess Set of the Day: Linda and John Meyers’ Type Chess Set, created using, among other things, an old type tray the couple found at a garage sale.

[via.]

Chess-playing design geeks unite!

October 29, 2009, 6:04pm  Comments

» In Which Nothing Will Cut New York But A Diamond - Home - This Recording

Beautiful article about New York City.

One passage that struck home:

Once you get out of the game, it’s hard to get back in, and for some people this is reason not to play at all. Even those like Powell, who love the hustle, or are addicted to it, know a world exists across the river. Powell always retained an image of herself as outsider.

In the autobiographical short story “What Are You Doing In My Dreams?” she envisioned a split self, half of which lived by day in New York and “the other half by night with the dead in long-ago Ohio.” Edmund Wilson described Powell’s real theme as “the provincial in New York who has come on from the Middle West and acclimatized himself (or herself) to the city and made himself a permanent place there, without ever, however, losing his fascinated sense of an alien and anarchic society.

(via)

October 28, 2009, 7:14pm  Comments

Reggie Bush, Football, New Orleans Saints - 11.01.09 - SI Vault

Most spectacular Sports Illustrated cover ever.

October 28, 2009, 1:59pm  Comments

thedailywhat:

[photo via.]

October 28, 2009, 1:56pm  Comments

livesophia:

Even heroes need to be saved every once in awhile.

:)

October 28, 2009, 1:01am  Comments

For all of my skepticism of Disney movies, I do think this is a bit much.

(see, SEH? I am no longer a bitter black melon duck.)

October 27, 2009, 7:12pm  Comments

» Dry Erase Paint for Work, School and Home White Boards| IdeaPaint

This = amazing! The possibilities are endless!

(thanks, LN)

October 27, 2009, 5:49pm  Comments

» Well - The Human Body Is Built for Distance - NYTimes.com

Most mammals can sprint faster than humans — having four legs gives them the advantage. But when it comes to long distances, humans can outrun almost any animal. Because we cool by sweating rather than panting, we can stay cool at speeds and distances that would overheat other animals. On a hot day, the two scientists wrote, a human could even outrun a horse in a 26.2-mile marathon.

Why would evolution favor the distance runner? The prevailing theory is that endurance running allowed primitive humans to incorporate meat into their diet. They may have watched the sky for scavenging birds and then run long distances to reach a fresh kill and steal the meat from whatever animal was there first.

Other research suggests that before the development of slingshots or bows, early hunters engaged in persistence hunting, chasing an animal for hours until it overheated, making it easy to kill at close range. A 2006 report in the journal Current Anthropology documents persistence hunting among modern hunter-gatherers, including the Bushmen in Africa.

“Ancient humans exploited the fact that humans are good runners in the heat,” Dr. Bramble said. “We have such a great cooling system” — many sweat glands, little body

October 27, 2009, 1:51pm  Comments