Monday Links from the Lockdown vol. DXL

Bit grey out today. Do you remember out? That big place you used to go?

Death in the Alps - ”Two planes from the same airline crashed in the same spot in the Alps, 16 years apart. Now the melting ice is releasing their secrets.” Perhaps inevitably, a conspiracy theory posits that there is more to the crashes than the official story suggests.
So, those Navy videos showing UFOs? I’m not saying it’s not aliens, but it’s not aliens. - ”On 27 April 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense officially released three unclassified videos, footage taken on Navy fighter jets. These videos, leaked to the public in 2007 and 2017, appear to show three unidentified flying objects moving in weird and unexpected ways… So what are we seeing?” Phil Plait rounds up a lot of interesting analysis
Berlin in July 1945 (HD 1080p color footage) - Interesting footage of the city in the early days of Allied occupation.
Vital Signs: The Woman Who Needed to Be Upside-Down - A strange medical story: ”I ran to the ambulance bay, rounded a corner, and saw a huge man, seven-foot-something, holding a petite woman, maybe five feet tall, by her feet, her head dangling down… ‘Hi, Dr. Janeira,’ said the upside-down woman. ‘Remember me?’”
Travel the World with These Livestream Cameras - ”From Patagonia to South Africa to Yosemite, visit some of our favorite places on the planet in real time via these live webcams—and start dreaming of where you want to go when we can travel again.” Mary Turner’s collection will give you something different to look at once you’re bored of gazing out of your window, judging the neighbours for going out too much
Q’s History Through Ties - I’ve linked to The Suits of James Bond before (July 2016, to be precise) but it’s worth a revisit for this detailed examination of the ties worn by Q: ”[Desmond] Llewelyn brought his own personal history and affiliations—including military, college and sports club—to the character of Q, also known as Major Boothroyd. Q actually does not wear a different tie every time, though his numerous regimental and club ties subtly give the character a more specific personal background than even James Bond has.” In this scene from Moonraker he wears the 1st and 3rd Trinity College Boat Club Tie.
Coyote v. Acme - ”Opening Statement of Mr. Harold Schoff, attorney for Mr. Coyote: My client, Mr. Wile E. Coyote, a resident of Arizona and contiguous states, does hereby bring suit for damages against the Acme Company, manufacturer and retail distributor of assorted merchandise… Mr. Coyote states that on eighty-five separate occasions he has purchased of the Acme Company (hereinafter, ‘Defendant’), through that company’s mail-order department, certain products which did cause him bodily injury due to defects in manufacture or improper cautionary labelling.”
Ise-ji: Walk With Me - Craig Mod offers a guide to a walking route in Japan: ”The Ise-ji is a 1200+ year old historic route full of life being lived and having been lived. It connects the cities of Ise-Shi and Shingu along the eastern coast of the Kii Peninsula, crossing between Mie and Wakayama Prefectures… Below is a series of notes and diary entries compiled from several walks I’ve taken on the Ise-ji, pivoting around my eight day walk in December 2019.”
Myth and Monolith – The Nine Elms Cold Store - The varied history of a big concrete thing: ”For 35 years between 1964 and 1999 almost every view of Vauxhall was dominated by one building – the Nine Elms Cold Store… For most of its life it stood empty, or if not quite empty then abandoned by its owners. It was often emphatically not empty. According to legend it was used as a cruising ground, a performance space, a recording studio, and a temple for devil worship. Some say people died in there, and that it featured in an episode of ‘The Sweeney’. Can these things possibly be true?”
The British Museum - As we all have more time on our hands, the museum has decided to launch its new online collection early: ”Due to current extraordinary circumstances, we wanted to launch the revamped Collection online to give you access to our fantastic upgraded online collection with all its new filters and features.” So early, in fact, that there are known bugs and other problems, but still: ”It allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records.” If you haven’t completely given up on home schooling, there’s an extensive collection of educational resources for all age groups; and you can even explore the place on Google Street View