Science, Music, Reptiles and handbags

it's link time today kiddiwinks!

First up, for the muso's in the readership. I like old musical equipment and stuff, hence my harmonium. And old recordings, I used to have a good collection of 78s until someone threw them out. Grr. Anyway, Phonautogram's are the worlds oldest sound recordings, predating Edison's recordings by a good two decades and were made by a Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. His invention etched soundwaves onto sheets of paper previously blackened by smoke. How cool is that!! A summary of the recent decoding of the sheets to music is here on the NYTimes website. The group who did the work is here, and sound samples here.

Next up, thanks to my fav disease babe, whats that under your arm? A crocodile purse...careful it bites.
Someone wandered out of a Norwegian aquarium carrying a crocodile under his arm. Awesome! A midgit croc called 'Spike', this stuff just writes itself...more info on the croc species here and here.

B.