Linkables 27/6/8

A fair few links this time, so hopefully something of interest for everyone:

First, some cool photos; From The Big Picture, a set of photos from Mars, focusing on Martian weather. The animated dust devils in particular give amazing life to a world that we generally only see in still-image form. And from Cool Things, unbelievable dirty-car art, and amazing clouds (the roll clouds in particular are a little too close to obscenely tall tidal waves for me to be entirely comfortable with them...)

So, you have a hobby? No? How about collecting these?

The New Yorker cartoon caption contest is interesting - every week they present a comic panel with no caption, and invite contributions. Looking through the archives, it's really amazing how well the captions fit the pictures - you have to keep reminding yourself that the picture was not drawn with the particular caption in mind. And here's a piece by a contest winner explaining how to do it.

This twisting tower looks amazingly cool, but seems all too susceptible to awful mechanical difficulties.

An interesting article on how harnessing the mass of data available via the internet can render scientific modelling obsolete.

And, speaking of obsolescence, have you had your obsolete word of the day, yet?

And, speaking of words, check out this great archive of word trivia, found via Fritinancy.

Via the f-word, an article on a really strange gender-crossing tradition in rural Albania.

And finally, Stephen Fry may not blog regularly, but when he does, he really goes for it. A transcript of his speech about the future of the BBC. Funny, irreverent, but also convincing and respectful, every bit Stephen Fry. It takes a while to get through, but I'd say it's well worth a look.