Monsieur COK. "Mister Cok is the owner of a large bomb factory. Looking for efficiency and profit, he decides to replace his workers by sophisticated robots. The formers stare helplessly at the toil of the robotic labourers. But one of the workers does not accept being discarded so easily..." [Via]

Simius Volants (Flying Monkeys.) Curious creatures by Anthony Sieben.

Madame Alberti's science of flight.

Domestikia: The gorgeously surreal animation of Jennifer Linton (nsfw).

Spot the Sniper.

The Brief, Wondrous Life of Zina Lahr. "When 23-year-old Lahr went missing on a trail outside Ouray, Colorado, the world lost an amazing young talent." [Via]

Peacekeepers - 01 - The Long Way Down. "What would you do if you were getting texts from God?" [Via]

Ten billion years ago earlier galaxy clusters existed than we knew, but the European satellites, Planck and Herschel, put the data through. Now Dust and gas from these three billion year old baby super galaxies have flown to hit us as light seen by the (SPIRE) instrument - an older reality than our own dust... more inside

What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun? "Let us imagine a principle. Call it a principle of freedom... Let us imagine it to hold that the free exercise of an entity’s most complex powers or capacities will, under certain circumstances at least, tend to become an end in itself..." [Via]

The Face of God, on St. John's Wort.

Man Photoshops Technology Into 15th Century Paintings, Hilarity Ensues.

Birthright Israel - makes total sense and also slightly creepy. Ick factor....5 or so? and I'd guess a +2 bonus if you know what AIPAC stands for. via this tangential Crooked Timber discussion.

Alan Moore - quite an extended discussion with the author on various themes in his work.

The Makeover . Tropfest Australia 2013 Second Prize If you don't laugh, I wash my hands of you.

Meet Robosimian, the ape-inspired robot!

Irreplaceable environmental records destroyed. Sent to landfill, dumped or burned. Part of Canada's story erased.

Here's 15 ways to celebrate the New Year . Since I'm 2,500 miles from New York, I won't be watching the ball drop, but I do have the exquisite opportunity to see the potato drop this year. It's no moon pie or possum, but it is appropriate. What are you doing this New Year's Eve? I'm going to forgo the excitement of the potato, and just stay home and listen to the neighbors shoot off their shotguns at midnight--one of the many benefits of living in the rural West. Here's a bit of history on the Time's Square ball. (The Boise potato is this year's russet, and there's not a whole lot of history yet.)

SFFworthy adds Upworthy-style headlines to SciFi/Fantasy/Superhero tropes. What this Tumblr does with linkbait will... damnit now I'm doing it..

The Negativity Scene , my favorite bit of seasonal blasphemy for 2013.

Australian sign language for holidays. via the comment section in a Dan Savage review of the introduction to Sarah Palin's latest book....I really like the internet. I really do. Best to all the monkeys!