Link roundup

1. One of Drew Magary's readers talks about meeting Randy Savage:

We were met backstage by some WWF people who were leading us into the locker room area, and we were brought to Randy to say hello. There were a bunch of other wrestlers around, which was really cool but there was one problem: the good guys were hanging out and being cordial to the bad guys! Seeing good guys like Brett Hart sharing laughs with bad guys like Jake "The Snake" Roberts was almost traumatic to see; like seeing your Dad french kiss your aunt. It simply wasn't supposed to happen.

I was sad, scared and confused. I gathered up the courage to ask why the Good Guys were friends with the Bad Guys. Randy said, "We're not. We're just tricking them. You'll see."

After this, a WWF rep was showing us some other areas of the backstage. I don't remember what we saw, but I know when we circled back to the area where Randy was, all of the wrestlers I had seen before were back in character. Bad guys were yelling at Good Guys about how they were going to kick their butt and Good Guys were holding each other back from attacking the bad guys.

This. Was. Awesome. It IS real! Of course it is!

Randy didn't know me too well, but he cared enough about a young fan and professional wrestling to keep the illusion and innocence alive.

2. Crooked forest. Via.

3. If you've experienced problems commenting, there's apparently a problem affecting some users. (It'll be pretty sad if Blogger stops being reliable - - that's really all it has going for it.)

Link roundup

1. Time-lapse videos of mushrooms growing.

2. Homemade oreo recipe.

3. The BBTS has various Alice: Madness Returns items available for preorder (vorpal blade, tea pot).

Terrific TED talk about Antarctic Ice and the fearsome leopard seal (narwhals, too)

This presentation by Paul Nicklen is possibly the best TED talk I've watched - - funny, fascinating, well-delivered, and supported by tremendous photographs. Among the interesting factoids: The ice he regularly dove in was so cold that he typically vomited each time he hit the water. National Geographic's informal motto is "we publish photographs, not excuses." And unless I heard wrong, one of the whales pictured in the video is believed to be 250 years old.

But most of all, the leopard seal stars as a fearsome (as in, sometimes they eat people), but sometimes charming creature.

*Buy National Geographic back issues at eBay.