The Nukezilla Sunday Supplement – July 24th 2010

Every Sunday we’re going to post links to articles we think are interesting from the last week. Sundays are usually very quiet around here, so this seems like the best day to do it. We’re going to link to articles on range of subjects, including videogames, technology, movies, geek culture and much, much more.

Note: Sam’s away this weekend, so here’s a smattering of links from previous Supplements. Full service resumes next week!

Videogames

Health Packs, Barrels and Uniforms are Good [Simulationism] – What Games Are. A look at why uniform objects, with uniform colours and styles are used across all games. Why are barrels always red? Why do health packs have red crosses on them? This articles has a look.

The Future for Dummies – Games Industry.biz. A look at the attitudes that the “regular user of the internet” has towards the book “FarmVille For Dummies” and why social games might actually have more value.

Internet

he Raging Septuagenarian – NY Mag. A great profile piece on Rupert Murdoch, the media baron who is taking the internet. While his views might be insane, he’s certainly done very well. As he gets old, however, he’s starting to shape his Murdoch legacy and ensure that his vision continues one. Yeah, even Fox News. (Even more interesting with the recent phone hacking news!)

The Hamster Wheel – Columbia Journalism Review. This can only be described as “eye opening”. It looks how journalism is no longer about depth, instead it’s about quantity. Getting x number of posts out in a day or being first. The writer argues that this only devalues the medium and removes a reporter’s (or blogger’s for that matter) drive.

Science

The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science – Mother Jones. ”A man with conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” This article looks why changing someone’s mind is really hard.

Sit. Stay. Parse. Good Girl! – The New York Times. “Chaser, a border collie who lives in Spartanburg, S.C., has the largest vocabulary of any known dog. She knows 1,022 nouns, a record that displays unexpected depths of the canine mind and may help explain how children acquire language.”

The Itch – The New Yorker. Imagine having an itch you couldn’t get rid of? This woman did, so much that she scratched into her brain and was left seriously debilitated by her injury. This article goes into the psychology and physiology of the itch as well as other strange things that our brain does. So worth a read.

Check out the entire archive here.