links for 2009-04-19

Play the Hand of God and place supernovae to produce star-forming regions in a cloud of gas. My best score is just over 2000.

"Was anyone in your family impressed when you won the Nobel Prize in Physics?
Probably, but who knows? I called my mother up when they announced the Nobel Prize, waiting until 7 in the morning. She said, âThatâs nice â and when are you going to see me next?â"

"Mark Heller calmly read a copy of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" as water balloons splashed around him.
The head master at Academy at the Lakes, Heller, with his Panama hat, suit and bow tie, was sitting calmly in a row boat in the middle of a lake behind the private school on Collier Parkway.
About 100 meters away, teams of students from Roderic Brame's physics class were launching water balloons at him with a large sling shot fashioned out of a lacrosse goal."

"Congratulations! You've just outlived some interesting people. Tell us your date of birth, and we'll tell you who they were."

"I realize that my experiences have probably led me down a road far different than some (but not all) of the parents. I think that experiential learning is far more important for younger kids. Being around kids with similar interests is important. They are not adults, and I think that, when they are older, they will be far happier and successful if they are not dependent on a structure or system to tell them how to do everything. They will be far more creative if they haven't been taught that they need to be confined."

Another true story to make fiction writers despair.

"Eleven leatherback sea turtles are taking part in the Great Turtle Race, speeding from foraging grounds in the frigid waters of Canada to nesting beaches on the sun-soaked shores of the Caribbean. The turtles are tagged with state-of-the-art satellite tracking devices that allow us to follow their incredible 3,700-mile (6,000-kilometer) journey."