JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div class="container">
    <a href="http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/14094/20140418/scientists-create-stem-cells-cloning-techniques-match-two-adult-men.htm">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/04/17/kepler_186f_earth_sized_planet_in_the_habitable_zone.html">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/nanoparticles-can-deliver-three-cancer-drugs-at-once-0415">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="http://www.onlinetes.com/shiny-quantum-dots-solar-cells-lanl-41714.aspx">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-112">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/526591/stem-cell-treatment-for-blindness-moving-through-patient-testing/">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="http://www.geekosystem.com/mass-produced-blood-close/">&nbsp;</a>
    <a href="http://www.science20.com/news_articles/lost_world_3millionyearold_landscape_still_exists_under_greenland_ice_sheet-134527">&nbsp;</a>
</div>

CSS

.container {
    background: url("http://i.imgur.com/YauAwI5.png") no-repeat;
    width: 1275px;
    height: 1600px;
    padding: 196px 0px 0 24px; /* top right bottom left */
    overflow: scroll;
}

.container a {
    display: inline-block;
    width: 618px;
    height: 298px;
    margin: 7px 4px 7px 4px;
    text-decoration: none;
    /* background: red; */  /* debug link position */
    opacity: 0.5;
}

.container a:hover {
     background: #fff;  
     opacity: 0.10;
}

.container a.reddit-link {
    height: 150px;
    width: 520px;
}