And after yesterday’s video on sound, this one on ‘listening’ shows both some stunning skill and reminds us that we’re probably not even beginners at listening:

http://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html

(it’s a longer video but worth the time)

Here’s an example of excellence in presentation, as well as interesting content:

http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_the_4_ways_sound_affects_us.html

(Thanks to joro for yesterday’s Thing and the above)

This must have taken some practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b36Yi-Pb1wM

Possibly the weirdest website you’ll see this month.

http://www.boohbah.com/zone.html

But think about trying to design web pages for those who can’t read your instructions.  Consider how ’sticky’ this site is and how much it draws you in to explore one more thing.

Does anyone remember the classic first person shooter Quake? You can now play against the world on an online version of the game. What’s more it’s free!

Once online your skills are assessed, you’re put through a training course then unleashed on the world with your trusty firearm.

The graphic’s may be retro but the gameplay makes this a classic – go on have a go, you’ll soon have your opponents quaking in their boots!!

www.quakelive.com

Appparently if you have a cat this video is extremely funny. If you don’t you’ll probably wonder what all the fuss is about. With over 45 million combined hits on Youtube, here is Simon’s Cat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s13dLaTIHSg

This contributor to TOTD is very keen on fish. By that I mean keeping them, not eating them! Having an Aquarium in your home is a rewarding and relaxing hobby. However, pet shops and aquarium stores often give very poor advice on how to set up an aquarium or how to stock it with the right sort of fish. If you just put water in the tank and then add the fish you’ll end up with very unhappy and probably dead fish.

So to find out how to set up an aquarium correctly and how to care for your fish check out the Practical Fishkeeping site. The forum is a mine of useful information and there are always friendly people about to answer your questions and share their experiences.

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

Stereoscopy is a way of creating the illusion of depth of field in an image. It is achieved by presenting a slighty different image to each eye. Today we generally see 3-D images through special glasses but in the past the way to achieve this effect was to view two slightly different images through a stereoscope.

At the turn of the century enigmatic photographer T. Enami (1859-1929) captured a number of 3D stereoviews depicting life in Meiji-period Japan. In the past you would have needed a stereoscope to view them but now they have been converted into animated .gifs which uses wiggle stereoscopy to create the illusion of depth of field. This creates amazing 3-D images of Old Japan which can be viewed at

http://pinktentacle.com/2009/10/animated-stereoviews-of-old-japan/

to find out more about stereoscopy and wiggle stereoscopy go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy

Fed up of not participating in lectures?  Want to comment on the lecturer’s slides?  Have a question?

The University of Hull is developing a system where you may be able to do just that:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/10/wildthing.aspx

More about the project here:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/inf11/jiscri/wildthing

Here is an interesting site suggested to us with podcasts about the history of the Roman Empire:

http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/

Each week charts a major event of Roman history with occasional looks at everyday life, biographies of key figures and details of Roman related events you can roam along to!

Thanks to KS for suggesting.