Link roundup

1. First wine, now violins:

In a double-blind test by professional violinists, most couldn't determine — by sound alone — which violin was an original Stradivarius and which was a modern instrument.

2. Topless Robot on Cartoon Network:

Bandai Japan demanded that Bandai Entertainment get the original '70s Mobile Suit Gundam series on Cartoon Network, despite the fact it was 20 years old, looked 20 years old, and was waaaaaaaay too boring for young American audiences. Cartoon Network, not being insane, refused. Bandai Japan then paid CN to run the original Gundam anime, thus *%$#ing up the Toonami block for years -- because once CN got paid to run an anime, the CN executives weren't going to run any anime without getting a check for it first. If you've ever wondered why an anime that would seemingly have been perfect for Toonami never [aired], chances are it's because the licensor couldn't afford CN's asking price.

3. Tyler Cowen on a book about WWI:

My favorite section details how the British responded when it turned out they had a drastic shortage of binoculars, which at that time were very important for fighting the war. They turned to the world’s leading manufacturer of “precision optics,” namely Germany. The German War Office immediately supplied 8,000 to 10,000 binoculars to Britain, directly intended and designed for military use.

Don't worry, the British sold vital supplies to the Germans...

Link roundup

1. Kotaku's review of the dark side choices in Star Wars: The Old Republic:

I cannot remember a single video game experience that has made me feel quite as dirty and evil

2. You might as well make peace with your body type, because absent drugs, dieting doesn't really work.

3. Why WW2-era fighter planes used pink camouflage.

Link roundup

1. Ever wonder why Animal Planet isn't just puppy cams 24-7? Animal Planet President Marjorie Kaplan:

We did a lot of research and we were saying, "Why is this channel that's been around for 10 years--and everybody says they love--not watched?" We found out it wasn't delivering on what viewers wanted from animal content. The reason they watch television isn't because of the animal content; people watch television because they want to see people. Seeing people in the context of animals gives you great storytelling, but it's different than saying, "Come and watch us because you have a pet." So the idea is how do you get out of your air-conditioned life and experience something that's a little more raw and real. That's the understanding that grew out of River Monsters, and that then leads to Hillbilly Handfishin'.

2. Defusing unexploded WW2 bombs in Europe:

The Allies dropped a mountain of bombs on Berlin. About 465,000 tons of explosives hit the ground, and about one in eight bombs did not explode.

Ralf Kirschnick says that the reason for the high proportion of unexploded ordinance is that the British and Americans tested their bombs in a part of Scotland with particularly hard ground.


Three bomb disposal experts died in Gottingen last year
When they tried them out on the softer earth of Berlin, they sank into the ground - until today's property developers came along.

Via.

3. Ben Templesmith is looking for commissions.

Food Will Win This War - - WW2 propaganda from Disney

Five-minute-long animated propaganda film by Disney showing that the Axis is no match for the USA's potatoes, tomatoes . . . bowling balls . . . and fat Americans. Via.

*Buy Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. From an article at Grantland about WWE wrestlers not having union protection:

Jesse Ventura tried to organize a union in the 1980s6 but, according to the New York Times, "found it hard to find wrestlers willing to join him." When he later sued the WWF to reclaim royalties he thought were owed him (Ventura eventually won a more than $800,000 judgment), it was revealed in the proceedings that Hulk Hogan ratted out his union scheme to Vince McMahon. It's hard to imagine a more blatant example of a top star protecting his status by sabotaging collective action.

2. Two interesting articles by Walter Russell Mead: politics in Thailand (which has an Office of Prevention and Suppression of Information Technology Crimes); China's trouble in Burma.

3. NPR:

It's 1940. The Nazis have taken Copenhagen. They are literally marching through the streets, and physicist Niels Bohr has just hours, maybe minutes, to make two Nobel Prize medals disappear.

These medals are made of 23-karat gold. They are heavy to handle, and being shiny and inscribed, they are noticeable. The Nazis have declared no gold shall leave Germany, but two Nobel laureates, one of Jewish descent, the other an opponent of the National Socialists, have quietly sent their medals to Bohr's Institute of Theoretical Physics, for protection. Their act is probably a capital offense — if the Gestapo can find the evidence.

Read on. Via.

4. And speaking of science, "Daniel Shechtman, who has won the chemistry Nobel for discovering quasicrystals, was initially lambasted for 'bringing disgrace' on his research group." "He recalled how Linus Pauling, a colossus of science and a double Nobel laureate, mounted a frightening 'crusade; against him."