A strong desire for something. Bruce Dickinson had a hankering for more cowbell. Maverick and Goose had a hankering for speed. Some people have a hankering for fried chicken on Fridays. Allen Iverson did not have a hankering for practice.
More looping Popeye gifs available here.
AnimationBlack and whiteToreadorsRole reversalsPopeye
The Hubble Space Telescope turns 25 years old this year, and, to celebrate, NASA has released a new image of the famous "Pillars of Creation" photo. A moderately-sized version is above; versions of all sizes are available on the Hubble website.
They've also released a new photo of the Andromeda galaxy that's worth seeing. (Note: the largest file is over 200MB, so don't try to view it in your browser.)
SpaceTelescopesPhotographyYou're getting oldToday's Happy Friday links will feature some of the best of 2014. There's lots of things to peruse; these are some of our favorites.
First, Jason Kottke listed the best science images of 2014. Many cool images but none can top the monkey selfie:
There's two more good "Best of 2014" photo galleries. The first is The Boston Globe's gallery, predominantly focused on its city. The best—with a good story to accompany it—is this one:
Then, over at The Atlantic, Alan Taylor compiles a list of the top National Geographic Photo Contest winners for this year, including this striking image that won the competition:
Two more. First, Longreads has their annual list of the best longform articles of 2014. I haven't read most of these, but one that has stuck with me is Michael Finkel's story of the man who lived in the Maine woods for 30 years before being caught stealing one night.
And finally, Adrian Curry lists his favorite movie posters of the year at MUBI. I've always been partial to the poster for Gabe Polsky's film Red Army, about the U.S.S.R. men's ice hockey team:
Whew! Hope you can finish all that before 2015 ends!