Link roundup

1. New holiday-themed Sword and Sworcery desktop wallpaper. (I don't think I ever reviewed this game. I love the art and music, but the gameplay gets very tedious after the first delightful 30 minutes or so).

2. Can you guess why death rates rise in good economic times?

3. A look at how an acrylic storefront sign is made. Via.

4. Penelope Trunk's advice on achieving New Year's resolutions.

5. Nightmare fuel - - the wolf spider and its babies.

6. Madeline Flores remembers cassette tapes.

7. Koren Shadmi on the prices freelance illustrators should expect for their work.

Link roundup

1. Abandoned Chinese Disneyworld.

2. If you want to feel nauseous about the economy...

3. Great article about the search for rare earth elements in Alaska (add some super-smart bears and you have a Michael Crichton novel). A taste:

Dotson explained how he’d joined the first landing party as a surveyor to stake the mineral claims on Bokan in 1955. One of the geologists, Don Ross, of the Ross-Adams mine, had found the deposit by dangling a radiation detector outside the window of a tiny Piper Cub propeller plane while he skimmed the peaks of Prince of Wales Island.

4. And from the same issue of Businessweek, read about Amy Jo Martin, the woman behind Shaq's (and other athletes) success on Twitter:

At one point, in October of last year, 9 of the 10 trending topics on Twitter were related to her clients. The two-year-old company does in the “mid-seven figures” in annual billings, which are up 525 percent in 2011. Martin has done so well with teams and athletes that Digital Royalty picked up companies such as DoubleTree and Discount Tire Centers; non-sport clients now make up 70 percent of the business. She employs 15 people (mostly young, mostly women, mostly pretty) and is looking to hire at least five more.

Link roundup

1. Bank of America is planning to fire 30,000-40,000 people.

2. "Squirrel with jazz hands." Via.

3. Apparently, one team was kicked off Food Network's Great Food Truck Race after they were caught cheating. The contest was who could make the most money, and they added $2,000 of their own money to the cash drawer. (Isn't this food truck nonsense over yet? All the cost of a restaurant, none of the convenience.) Via.

Link roundup

1. "Look at this graph. Study it. It is the answer to the question 'What's wrong with 1950s wages in 2011?' The core of our life -- gasoline, electricity, homes, health care and higher education -- is getting expensive faster than general inflation. Meanwhile, average wages are barely keeping up with the yellow line."

2. "Military police are investigating the disappearance of nearly 14,000 rounds of ammunition from Fort Bragg." Via.

3. Cool art by Lee Misenheimer.

The New Yorker cover by Christoph Niemann

August 15, 2011 The New Yorker cover by Christopher Niemann.

Link roundup

1. Salt water shrimp farm in the middle of the desert in Las Vegas. Via.

2. Two conflicting posts I read yesterday - - A. All able adults work, so there's a growing job market for sophisticated assistants like yoga instructors, artisanal cheese makers, travel agents, etc (because people don't have time to do that stuff themselves anymore). B. Two income families will increasingly realize that it's foolish to work two jobs and give away the second salary in taxes, so they'll turn into one-income families. (My family came to that conclusion.)

3. A look at summer camps for rich kids - - well, specifically, a look at how rich kids increasingly arrive at summer camps by private plane. Via.

Link roundup

1. Cool animated poster for The Hunger Games. Ten years from now (at most), this will be standard, right? I was just thinking the other day (as I run out of wall space) that it would make more sense to get a cool digital frame to cycle through posters.

2. In case you want to feel nauseous about the economy.

3. Great one-sentence description of a new book:

a sci-fi mix of Moby Dick and the classic movie Duel, in which an unknown, invincible, Kafkaesque alien ship has returned 300 years after breaking one galactic empire to now threaten the human Commonwealth, and the best and brightest minds that are sent in a invincible ship of their own to stop it, with the only problem being that those best and brightest are also some of the Commonwealth's most twisted sociopaths and if they win, the human empire may find itself in more danger than ever.

4. I haven't tried it yet, but a free adventure game following the same basic concept as the Thursday Next novels sounds great:

You’re Thalia James, a cop who patrols adventure games in search of trouble like characters rebelling against their set roles or stealing the precious objects us Outsiders need to solve important puzzles. The very first scene in the game involves an argument between characters originally cut from The Dig and a conspiracy to return it its earlier, darker Brian Moriarty design. Later, you visit everything from Space Quest X to bits of the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, first to train an impetuous new recruit, and then to take care of a bigger challenge involving the world of adventure games slowly turning into a rather more violent place than usual.

*Previously: Thomas Allen's new cover for The Eyre Affair.

Link roundup

1. Art box giveaway.

2. Really interesting article about the economy.

3. The new Captain America: Super Solider video game is apparently barely worth a day rental: "The game (which runs to a stingy six hours at best) is sparsely populated by instantly-forgettable enemies."

4. io9 reviews the Warren Ellis/Berg comic SVK ($32 for 40 lackluster pages).

Link roundup

1. The makers of Deus Ex: Human Revolution get it. The easy difficulty mode is officially described as:

Tell Me A Story
You play games for their story and experience, not for their challenge or competitiveness. Enjoy the Deus Ex experience!

2. Great photo essay on Hell Week for Navy Seal hopefuls:

One particularly difficult stretch involves a length of time staying afloat in San Diego bay at night, and then laying down, shirtless on a steel pier. From what I was led to believe, while embracing the pier, certain classes have chanted, “The cold steel is sucking the life from my body. The cold steel is sucking the life from my body.”

3. I fear we're not even close to the end of the financial crisis. Unemployment in Spain is apparently over 20%.

Link roundup

1. Little Prince paper toys.

2. Arnold Kling, writing specifically about Central California, and America in general:

My guess is that those in the informal economy do not get to send their children to elite primary and secondary schools, and they have little in the way of health insurance. But otherwise, they enjoy what I call Diamond Age access to the more basic goods and a few luxuries.

When I took the subway home the other night, I noticed how many people wearing clothes that signified low incomes were playing with smart phones. A few years ago, the smart phone went with a business suit. Now it goes with lots of tattoos and grubby t-shirts.

3. Major League Soccer (and not individual teams) sets player salaries. Compare LA and NY to two small market teams:

NY Red Bulls: $13,397,087.04
LA Galaxy: $12,205,725.12
Real Salt Lake: $3,517,856.76
Colorado Rapids: $3,173,078.64

Via.

Sonic the Hedgehog has fallen on hard times

16-Bit Recession and David Lo-Pan-themed alphabet zine by Steve Wierth, who has t-shirts on sale here.

*Buy Big Trouble in Little China toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. The Los Angeles Times looks at highrise penthouses in Los Angeles that the owners can't seem to rent out. "The top two floors of a premier Westwood high-rise have been empty since the building was completed in 1989."

2. There's now a website for the new American McGee Alice in Wonderland game.

3. Gawker has picked a fight with 4chan.

*Buy Alice in Wonderland toys at eBay.

New toys by Tristan Eaton (link roundup)

Some of the new toys revealed today by Thunderdog, which also recently placed items on sale at Zazzle.

And a few more links:

1. Spaghetti with Sardinian Bottarga recipe.

2. North Tyneside is setting up fake store facades to make areas look less blighted. Via these sites.

3. Psychonauts fan art.

*Previously: Is your child a tagger?

*The Psychonauts Official Strategy Guide is $599.99 at Amazon.

Pocket Firefox logo (link roundup)

Pocket Firefox logo by Yaroslaff Chekunov.

And a few more links:

1. Less you think we're even close to passed the current economic transformation, the NY Times has announced that it has to eliminate (at least) 100 newsroom jobs.

2. And Hawaiian public schools will be closed pretty much every Friday for the rest of the school year. (I guess if parents are laid off, they'll have time to watch the kids.)

3. And Pennsylvania anticipates the need to layoff more workers, also.

In other words, no matter how secure your job seems, now is the time to save money, network, and learn some new work skills.

*Previously: Reimagined Firefox logo by David Lanham.

*Buy Firefox posters at eBay.

Pocket Firefox logo (link roundup)

Pocket Firefox logo by Yaroslaff Chekunov.

And a few more links:

1. Less you think we're even close to passed the current economic transformation, the NY Times has announced that it has to eliminate (at least) 100 newsroom jobs.

2. And Hawaiian public schools will be closed pretty much every Friday for the rest of the school year. (I guess if parents are laid off, they'll have time to watch the kids.)

3. And Pennsylvania anticipates the need to layoff more workers, also.

In other words, no matter how secure your job seems, now is the time to save money, network, and learn some new work skills.

*Previously: Reimagined Firefox logo by David Lanham.

*Buy Firefox posters at eBay.

Zeppelin crash poster (link roundup)

One of two disaster-themed posters by Bart. And don't miss the book covers he created for John Dickie's Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia.

And a few more links:

1. Northland Professional set up billboards throughout the city of Graz, covered in caps, gloves and scarves for people to take. Via.

2. There was a recent criminal trial where the defendant had a tattoo on each eyelid. The word "Lying" was on one, and "Eyes" was on the other. Via.

3. List of malls and restaurants that may be going out of business soon. My local mall is terrible (no nice restaurants, inadequate seating in the food court, parking lot full of crazy angry drivers, no movie theater) and yet it's packed every weekend. Via.

4. Article from 1859 complaining that chess was making people fat. Via.

*Previously: Mafia Tetris.

*Buy vintage chess sets at eBay.

Fairy Tale Titan (link roundup)

As far as I can tell, this fairy tale giant mech is one of several illustrations by Samuel Ribeyron that are on display here and part of a new book. Here's his webstore.

And a few more links:

1. Suicide by volcano can be funny.

2. Neon sign FAIL.

3. Supposedly unemployment combined with underemployment is 20% in Los Angeles. Relatedly, when I asked why I had to see the cashier at the gas station rather than just paying at the pump, the cashier told me I lived in a high-fraud area. Via.

4. Creepy fallen tree. Reminds me of Greek myths about people being turned into trees.

*Previously: Neon sign desktop icons.

*Buy fairy tale toys at eBay.

Fairy Tale Titan (link roundup)

As far as I can tell, this fairy tale giant mech is one of several illustrations by Samuel Ribeyron that are on display here and part of a new book. Here's his webstore.

And a few more links:

1. Suicide by volcano can be funny.

2. Neon sign FAIL.

3. Supposedly unemployment combined with underemployment is 20% in Los Angeles. Relatedly, when I asked why I had to see the cashier at the gas station rather than just paying at the pump, the cashier told me I lived in a high-fraud area. Via.

4. Creepy fallen tree. Reminds me of Greek myths about people being turned into trees.

*Previously: Neon sign desktop icons.

*Buy fairy tale toys at eBay.

Plane-eating giraffe (link roundup)

"The Giraffagon" is one of two paintings recently posted by Amanda Visell.

And a few more links:

1. Next time someone claims with a straight face that modern (and legal) training techniques explain why athletes have gotten bigger and faster, ask them why free throw shooting hasn't improved in 40 years.

2. Supposedly, the median price of a home sold in Detroit in December was $7,500, and there's no major grocery chain in the city.

3. Photo of a Burger King salad illustrates the recession nicely.

4. Fascinating article by Michael Lewis about the financial collapse in Iceland. First of all, it mentions someone named "Snorri Snorrasson." Second, it includes information like this:

Alcoa, the biggest aluminum company in the country, encountered two problems peculiar to Iceland when, in 2004, it set about erecting its giant smelting plant. The first was the so-called “hidden people”—or, to put it more plainly, elves—in whom some large number of Icelanders, steeped long and thoroughly in their rich folkloric culture, sincerely believe. Before Alcoa could build its smelter it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it. It was a delicate corporate situation, an Alcoa spokesman told me, because they had to pay hard cash to declare the site elf-free but, as he put it, “we couldn’t as a company be in a position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people.” The other, more serious problem was the Icelandic male: he took more safety risks than aluminum workers in other nations did. “In manufacturing,” says the spokesman, “you want people who follow the rules and fall in line. You don’t want them to be heroes. You don’t want them to try to fix something it’s not their job to fix, because they might blow up the place.” The Icelandic male had a propensity to try to fix something it wasn’t his job to fix.

Read the entire article here.

*Previously: Visell's Fallout Dragon.

*Buy Amanda Visell toys at eBay.

Plane-eating giraffe (link roundup)

"The Giraffagon" is one of two paintings recently posted by Amanda Visell.

And a few more links:

1. Next time someone claims with a straight face that modern (and legal) training techniques explain why athletes have gotten bigger and faster, ask them why free throw shooting hasn't improved in 40 years.

2. Supposedly, the median price of a home sold in Detroit in December was $7,500, and there's no major grocery chain in the city.

3. Photo of a Burger King salad illustrates the recession nicely.

4. Fascinating article by Michael Lewis about the financial collapse in Iceland. First of all, it mentions someone named "Snorri Snorrasson." Second, it includes information like this:

Alcoa, the biggest aluminum company in the country, encountered two problems peculiar to Iceland when, in 2004, it set about erecting its giant smelting plant. The first was the so-called “hidden people”—or, to put it more plainly, elves—in whom some large number of Icelanders, steeped long and thoroughly in their rich folkloric culture, sincerely believe. Before Alcoa could build its smelter it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it. It was a delicate corporate situation, an Alcoa spokesman told me, because they had to pay hard cash to declare the site elf-free but, as he put it, “we couldn’t as a company be in a position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people.” The other, more serious problem was the Icelandic male: he took more safety risks than aluminum workers in other nations did. “In manufacturing,” says the spokesman, “you want people who follow the rules and fall in line. You don’t want them to be heroes. You don’t want them to try to fix something it’s not their job to fix, because they might blow up the place.” The Icelandic male had a propensity to try to fix something it wasn’t his job to fix.

Read the entire article here.

*Previously: Visell's Fallout Dragon.

*Buy Amanda Visell toys at eBay.