Facinorous (adj.):  atrociously wicked.  Funcinorous (adj.): wickedly funny.  Here’s this week’s list ‘o links:

Science

• Chess by machine – Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov talks about his time competing against ever-more-advanced computers until finally being beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer.  Interesting look at how chess changed when computers were allowed, and how chess changed the search for artificial intelligence.
• Clean nuclear power – The big problem with present nuclear power facilities is what to do with the by-products.  Now a new generation of reactors built around thorium may solve that problem, providing perhaps the cleanest source of power available.
• Phylomon – Inspired by the way young children memorise statistics on invented Pokémon creatures, a group of biologists have banded together to create a “real-world Pokémon” set of stats cards.  They are soliciting submissions for artwork and scientifically literate content for the cards.

Social

• U.S. National Archives – The U.S. National Archives has begun scanning historic photographs into Flickr’s photo service.  From the civil war through the 1970s, these are some iconic photos of American history.
• WWII Google Earth – Google has started adding aerial photos from WWII’s European front to Google Earth imagery.  Most of them show the devastation from bombardments on the city infrastructure.
• Afghanistan – January’s entry in The Big Picture’s ongoing monthly look into the lives of people in Afghanistan.  Check out #20, a fellow Saskatchewanian from Dundurn!
• BBC’s History of the World – The BBC website brings the fascinating documentary “The History of the World in 100 Objects” to everyone with an internet connection, complete with commentary from experts in the fields the objects belong to.  From 9000BC forward, this journey through human history is an amazing glimpse of what has come before.

Media

• Microsoft – Interesting article from a former Microsoft project manager on the culture in the company that prevents innovation.  Fascinating look at how the Redmond giant has fallen behind other tech conglomerates.
• Play along Oscars (PDF) – The Academy Awards are only a month away, so not much time to go out and see all the movies on the ballot .  This printable form will allow you to play along on March 7th, and see how your predictions stack up against the Academy’s voters.

Miscellaneous

• Online PDF converter – Ever need to change a document into PDF to send to someone?  This easy online converter does it in seconds, then prompts you to save the new file back to your computer.  Easy!
• Prezi education – Prezi, an online presentation builder (here’s an example I made a year ago), now has an education option where students and teachers can build private presentations (unavailable to the public) for free.

Have a great weekend, and remember, February is Children’s Dental Health Month, so make sure the little ones in your life are brushing properly!

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