End of 2014 Links

An earthquake may have destroyed the Sanxingdui culture in China nearly 3000 years ago.

Bone marrow transplants have progressed past sticking a needle in your bones.

NYPD cop throws man to the ground after spotting him doing Ellen Degeneres' dance dare.

Chuck Wendig has a New Years' Resolution for writers. 

Fiction by Paul di Filippo,

Interview with Mary Robinette Kowal.

Quick Review: The Desert of Souls

The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

In 8th Century Baghdad, the scholar Dabir and Captain Asim, two members of the court of the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid must contend with treachery, foul magics, and fight to protect immortal souls, their own and that of Immortal Baghdad.

This Silk Road/Arabian Nights fantasy is set during the time al-Rashid and Jaffar, and features swashbuckling action, court politics, walking dead, and decisions between love, duty, and survival. The Desert of Souls has characters you won't soon forget treating with matters that are important. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the sequel soon. Yes, there's more. Save the Caliphate once and you're expected to do it again.

Coldest Links

The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe, recorded as being just one degree above absolute zero.

A planet in the "rotisserie" alignment could still support life.

Damien Walter hosts an interview between Monica Byrne and Rudy Rucker on transrealism and Rumpus hosts her interview with Jeff VanderMeer on his Southern Reach trilogy.

Marina Warner: How Fairy Tales Grew Up.

Viking women were most certainly not stay-at-home moms.

EU approves stem cell therapy to treat blindness.

Overview of Iain M. Banks' life, career, and Culture sf novels.

Ancient Links

What did the music of ancient Babylon sound like?

Judge says reporter can't get public records about police "stingray" use.

New pulsed-magnetic method uses nanorods to deliver drugs deeply into the body.

How ancient Romans made better concrete than we do now.

Links, Historical

Skeletons discovered in an ancient cemetery in the southwest of France have shackles on their necks.

Alcohol-vapors might be the solution to the Marie Celeste mystery.

Danish Bronze Age glass beads traced to Egypt.

Art Links to Start December

Lars von Trier doubts he can make movies while sober.

Bleeding Cool talks Electricomics with Leah Moore.

Webcomic about Cibo Matto must be a thing of beauty.

Diamond Dogs, 40 years on.

The LA Review of Books interviews Jonathan Carroll.

Two Links for December

Under certain conditions, you can see infrared light.

Images captured by the Planck spacecraft reveal the shape of the galaxy's magnetic field.

Science Links For the End of November

Airborne lidar permitted researchers from the University of Salamanca discover a 1st Century Roman gold mining network that used a complex hydraulics system lifted from Ancient Egypt.

This is the seal that secured King Tutankhamun's tomb.

Researchers in Germany have grown a complete spinal cord from stem cells.

Antikythera Mechanism dates older than previously thought, going back to at least 205 BC.

Pictures from the ancient Greek tomb discovered in the Macedonian city of Amphipolis.

Comet Sliding Spring could alter the atmosphere of Mars.

Arts Links For the End of November

There was a series of children's storyteller records back in the 1950s and '60s. Before my time, but I was happy to have this pointed out to me as it includes Lauren Bacall reading James Thurber's 13 Clocks. 13 Clocks is a wonderful story, and Lauren Bacall as the narrator can only make it better.

Wm Shakespeare First Folio discovered in the library at Saint-Omer in France.

Terry Pratchett: Accused of philosophy!

The Verge reviews The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, a documentary about Studio Ghibli.