The interesting and informative links and resources thread.

[FaustWolf]

Good lord, it's like a freakin' Compendium for the Suikoden series:
http://gensopedia.duefiumi.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Some Suiko fansites have spotty info on characters, game world history, etc. There's a few spelling errors floating about (I suspect English-as-Second-Language fans did some of the articles) but it's seriously be the best thing to happen to Suikoden fandom, and I can't believe I was missing it this long.

[Lord J Esq]

The Phrase Finder:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/index.html

As a wordsmith, not only do I love etymologies but sometimes I need to check into them. With specific words, it's fairly easy. With phrases, it's not--or at least it wasn't until I found this website. It's a real trove.

[Mr Bekkler]

There's a few spelling errors floating about (I suspect English-as-Second-Language fans did some of the articles) but it's seriously be the best thing to happen to Suikoden fandom, and I can't believe I was missing it this long.

 

[FaustWolf]

 

I'll leave my post up there uncorrected for the sheer comedic value.

[IAmSerge]

I obviously missed an obvious error in your previous post.

would someone mind being a captain obvious for me? =D

[V_Translanka]

I don't understand the first bolded segment, myself, but the second should be fairly obvious, Captain or no...I wish I had played some of the Suikoden series as all I've ever heard about it is how great it is...>_>

[Mr Bekkler]

I don't understand the first bolded segment, myself

It's just funny because he was suspiscious. Then he made the error. Which was suspiscious.

[Thought]

http://www.genocidewatch.org/aboutgenocide/unindicators.htm

A list of the UN-Established indicators that may signal that a state is moving towards genocide. It has been years since I had seen the list and it was a bit surprising how common some of them are, particularly in places where I normally don't think of as being potential sites of genocide.

[ZaichikArky]

I really like watching Discovery Health Channel these days. Most of the stories they feature are either about obese people, or families with sextuplets(thanks, Jon & Kate....).

But last night they showed a program I'd never seen before. A mother had her hands full because she had a set of triplets who were deafblind. 2 of the girls are completely blind, and one is only legally. They really lucked out with that one because she actually is doing much better than her sisters.

The 2 completely deafblind girls have a variety of problems, and the family really can't afford to find an Anne Sullivan for both girls. I hear now they're getting one "Intervenor", as they call it, for one of the girls for 2 years. Otherwise it's just been small sessions with random specialists. As I was watching the program, they had a specialist from Canada stay with them for 2 weeks.

I dunno, a lot of people on websites have been complaining that the parents aren't doing enough, but why don't they try raising 3 deafblind girls at the same time? They're doing what they can, though I do think they could have tried to do more early on. The retardation of the girls is in question. Since they didn't start to develop speech until very late, no one is really sure if they're capable of some day functionally communicating.

Here is an article about them: http://deafness.about.com/od/deafblind/a/dbtriplets.htm

[TriforceofEternity]

Vgmusic.com has TONS and Tons OF CT and CC midis with remixes galore and it actually sounds good if you got the [b]right soundboard[/b] installed or otherwise it will make your ears bleed and gush blood.


If you get an 8-bit player called GSCXX then it makes the midis even more retro if you are into 8-bit music and it's as close to a NES sound as you'll get.

Unfortunately the fan base is pretty weak and mediocre. Even more so in the "song request' section which is like hardly ever answered or acknowledge thus being a wast of forum memory storage.

It has a decent music Q & A section for music 'geeks' as they are called who wish to study and learn music making but that's pretty much the uses the site has.

[Ramsus]

For MIDI playback, you can also use real-time MIDI software synthesizers on Linux that can load most soundfont formats. That way, you can pick and choose soundfonts to match the MIDI, even if you just have a cheap soundcard with not MIDI playback or soundfont support built-in.

[Ramsus]

http://www.jamesgunn.com/evolution-fucked-your-shit-up-the-worlds-50-freakiest-animals

I think this deserves more interesting than WTF, simply because it makes you realize just how much biodiversity there is on our planet.

[Uboa]

Likewise, this article is worthy of more than WTF:

Large Hadron Collider Struggles, Adding to the Mysteries of Life

Particularly for this part:

The collider’s own prodigious energies are in some way its worst enemy. At full strength, the energy stored in its superconducting magnets would equal that of an Airbus A380 flying at 450 miles an hour, and the proton beam itself could pierce 100 feet of solid copper.

In order to carry enough current, the collider’s magnets are cooled by liquid helium to a temperature of 1.9 degrees above absolute zero, at which point the niobium-titanium cables in them lose all electrical resistance and become superconducting.

Any perturbation, however, such as a bad soldering job on a splice, can cause resistance and heat the cable and cause it to lose its superconductivity in what physicists call a “quench.” Which is what happened on Sept. 19, when the junction between two magnets vaporized in a shower of sparks, soot and liberated helium.

Wow.

[Uboa]

I'm getting lucky with finding good independent music sellers offering mp3 downloads.  (I found two three so far.  I consider that lucky!)

http://www.magnatune.com/
http://www.soulseduction.com/
http://www.cdfreedom.com/

If I find more I'll update this list.  (Double post because I felt like this deserved its own reply.)

Edited -- forgot one.

[Thought]

http://atlasobscura.com/

The Atlas Obscura is a user-created website devoted to... well, obscure elements of the world, from natural wonders to man-made oddities. To help illustrate the nature of the Atlas, I propose for your viewing pleasure:

The Monticello Dam Spillway and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves