Monday Links from the Science Park vol. CLXXXVII

[NickFitz]

Chap who authorises my timesheet is on holiday this week, and has failed to delegate the responsibility Ah well, only four more weeks and I'll be polishing the bench while reading this kind of thing

• The Collapse of the Animal Crossing Economy and the Rise of Villager Trading - "Last week, a bug was discovered in the North American version of Animal Crossing that allows for the duplication of both items and "bells," the game's currency... Because both rare items and bells have become easy to obtain, trading has turned to a much rarer commodity -- villagers. As the only game element that remains valuable, villagers are now being bought and sold for millions of bells on a regular basis." The Animal Crossing game universe progresses from Weimar-style hyperinflation to a slave-trading economy in a matter of days
  
  
• Chuck Feeney: The Billionaire Who Is Trying To Go Broke - HT to SimonMac for this interesting profile of the frugal philanthropist: "No commuter even glanced twice at the short New Jersey native... The man who arguably has done more for Ireland than anyone since Saint Patrick slowly limped out of the station completely unnoticed. And that’s just how Feeney likes it."
  
  
• Manipulated Photographs, Manipulated Memories - "Photo manipulation is nearly as old, if not as old, as photography itself... direct manipulation of photographic images (beyond the scope of altering contrast, exposure, sharpness, etc.) can create false memories of events that never occurred. These manipulations change individuals’ memories and can alter how we understand history." Joshua Sarinana considers the relationships between reality, memory, and photography.
  
  
• 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person - I missed Daniel Wong's motivational piece at the start of the year, but it's timeless advice: "If you want to know why society seems to shun you, or why you seem to get no respect, it's because society is full of people who need things. They need houses built, they need food to eat, they need entertainment, they need fulfilling sexual relationships... Either you will go about the task of seeing to those needs by learning a unique set of skills, or the world will reject you, no matter how kind, giving and polite you are. You will be poor, you will be alone, you will be left out in the cold."
  
  
• A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA - Long NY Times article on attempts to save the orange from extermination using genetic modification: "If he had had more time, Mr. Kress could have waited for the orange to naturally evolve resistance to the bacteria known as C. liberibacter asiaticus. That could happen tomorrow. Or it could take years, or many decades. Or the orange in Florida could disappear first."
  
  
• Is GPL still relevant? - Giovanni Bajo considers the changing requirements the industry has of free and open source software licensing. "GPL has been crucial for the free software movement; I think everybody agrees that there would probably be no free software movement, had the GPL not been invented... But software for non-programmers is a totally different market, and one where open-source adoption is very low."
  
  
• Why Stephen King Spends 'Months and Even Years' Writing Opening Sentences - "When I asked him to share a favorite passage for this series, King couldn't choose between two favorites; both, we noticed, were first sentences. So, he analyzed both his choices as part of a broader discussion about opening lines."
  
  
• 10 Ways To Finish Your Relationship On Social Media Without Being A Berk - "It's all gone Pete Tong between you and your partner, and you're behind on your status updates. We suggest 10 ways to make social media work to your advantage in that messy post-relationship hangover..." Sara Reeson on what, and more importantly what not, to post.
  
  
• Slow Ideas - "Some innovations spread fast. How do you speed the ones that don’t?" Atul Gawande considers some of the difficulties that can be encountered in spreading the adoption of worthwhile, and even lifesaving, innovations in medicine.
  
  
• Depression Part Two - "The beginning of my depression had been nothing but feelings, so the emotional deadening that followed was a welcome relief. I had always wanted to not give a **** about anything... But my experiences slowly flattened and blended together until it became obvious that there's a huge difference between not giving a **** and not being able to give a ****." HT to mudskipper for this great piece by Allie Brosh exploring the nature of depression, which follows on from her earlier piece Adventures in Depression. Allie previously appeared in Monday Links LI; you may recognise her unique artistic style
  
  
  

Happy invoicing!

[doodab]

[*]6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person - I missed Daniel Wong's motivational piece at the start of the year, but it's timeless advice: "If you want to know why society seems to shun you, or why you seem to get no respect, it's because society is full of people who need things. They need houses built, they need food to eat, they need entertainment, they need fulfilling sexual relationships... Either you will go about the task of seeing to those needs by learning a unique set of skills, or the world will reject you, no matter how kind, giving and polite you are. You will be poor, you will be alone, you will be left out in the cold."

Good stuff as usual.