Sunday, November 11, 2012
Nature [Video]
Watch this short clip from a documentary on the incredible power of the ocean, seriously battering some ocean liners.
Story telling in pictures [Article]
During the course of the US Presidential Elections, the New York Times had a beautiful visual depiction of who had the best chances of being elected - titled 512 paths to the White House. This is a "how did we do it" story - How the NYT created its “512 Paths to the White House” data tool
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Does Sugar Kill? [Article]
Om Malik shares, weekly, a list of 7 articles to read. This link exposes Big Sugar's Sweet Little Lies - does sugar kill?. Call it serendipitous, but another blog post by Mr.MoneyMoustache (MMM) used an infographic created using scissors, paper, glue & advertising junkmail to rant about the extent of our consumerist lifestyle.
Prisoner of the Blackberry [Article]
Robert Kaplan tries to persuade us to switch off - In the Information Age, with constant connection to home and work, we've diluted what it means to experience someplace new.
Smart-phone use [How to]
That Google Nexus S smartphone I got is great, but the data plan to use it is quite expensive. This article on How To Drop Your Data Plan And Keep Using Your Smartphone helped to keep it manageable. I was lucky enough to take it to the next level - I got my employer to pay for it! :)
Pooch Index [Article]
Dog ownership, like cocaine use, can be seen as an economic indicator, says the The Pooch Index. (India ranks in the bottom 5, but I'm guessing if they did a survey of stray dogs, that position would reverse pretty quickly!)
Brain Surgery [Video]
No, but it's close. How do you cut a bagel (or a donut) into two intertwining, interlocked bagel parts, unbroken, one twisting through the other (also known as a Mobius bagel)?. Here's the computerised version, but watch this kid doing it in 15 minutes in class! (he's going to be a brain surgeon, surely!)
Why Education? [Video]
He's probably one of the most important contemporary philosophers. Noam Chomsky spells out the purpose of education in this video
Friday, November 9, 2012
Credit Card with personality?
As if plastic money isn't addictive enough for a whole generation who've never seen cash, MasterCard issues a new credit card with its own LCD Screen.
Citizenship Beyond the Election
Thoughts from the CTO of the US govt... http://codeforamerica.org/2012/11/07/citizenship-beyond-the-election/
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The belly button [article]
Ever wondered what that stuff in your belly button is?
On the Occasion of My Belly Button Entering the Scientific Literature
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Herring Farts & Diplomacy
Science doesn't have to be dull to be important. Magnus Wahlberg at TEDx Goteborg. Magnus is the Scandinavian chief of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, which awards the Ig Nobel Prize (an alternative Nobel Prize that honors achievements that first make people laugh, & then think)
Rubbish-talking economists
A researcher has used the rubbish we throw away as an alternative, more reliable measure of consumption than the standard model.
What does "most" mean, mostly?
A linguistic examination of the word commonly used by most of us, to mean a wide range of possibilities when examined closely or rationally.
The End
It has been an intense few months of campaigning & the US has a new president. Or rather, the old one continues with a fresh lease of life. Here are two contrasting thoughts from two people whose writings I follow online: Andrew Sullivan, a Democrat & Jerry Pournelle, a Republican. Yours to make of it what you wish to. And just for kicks, the real winner in this election was Nate Silver. This is why.
Whats wrong with farming?
2 is the number of primary crops that are grown in the biggest of the subsidised agricultural market in the world. Verlyn Klinkenbord wonders whether farmers of the past knew more than we do now. Crop Rotation and the Future of Farming
Use by date [Blog]
Respond to the following statements with agree or disagree.
1. You shouldn’t eat any food after it’s dropped on the floor.
2. You shouldn’t eat any food with mold on it.
3. And you shouldn’t eat any food after the Use-By date posted on it.
Robert Fulghum explains the "expiry date" both literally & figuratively.
Selling Body Parts [Blog]
This is a provocative article. Gary Becker argues for an open market to sell one's body parts. Did I just hear you cringe? Read before you make up your mind.
The Technology behind Online Courses [Article]
The Technology of Massive Open Online Courses introduces some of the people, & the technology that drives MOOC's (Several links on the subject posted before here and here for more)
Guardians of Privacy [Article]
Another thought provoking article by Scott Adams. In Guardians of Privacy, Adams imagines a data-driven world, where the nuns are in charge of location data (those in the habit (pun intended!) for over 20 years) & everyone (& everything) else works off that solid privacy foundation.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Voter suppression - US style...
It'll finally come to an end tomorrow, the tiresome saga of the US Presidential Elections. And like elections everywhere else, voter suppression takes many forms. Here's how they do it US style.
Think of Nothing [Video]
Alan Watts considers what death might be. For a Christian. For a believer in reincarnation. Or for an athiest. An animated video of a Watts lecture, Death is the counterpart of Being.
The luxury repo men [Article]
You've heard of the repossession guys coming around to take away the car for not making the loan repayments. What about the rich guys who do the same with their toys? The luxury repo men takes a look.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Walking in the rain [Video]
This song, Walking in the Rain, was the song that got me hooked onto Indian classical music. Bansuri (also known as the Bamboo Flute) by Hariprasad Chaurasia & Santoor () by Shivkumar Sharma. A catchy tune & a great start to the day! & if you liked that one, try this one for an ethereal experience
Pharma's secret in India
Since India relaxed its laws governing drugs trials in 2005, foreign drug companies have been keen to take advantage of the country's pool of educated, English-speaking doctors and the huge population from which to choose trial subjects. The BBC asks Have India’s poor become human guinea pigs?
Stacking liquids [for the kids]
Stacking liquids? Really? Have a look at this experiment (on my list to try out with the kids!)
How Teens do Research [Article]
No doubt that the internet has transformed the education business model, but, as Pew Internet's research points out, teachers say the top priority in today's classrooms should be teaching students "how to judge the quality of online information!"
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Big Data: A marketing campaign [Article]
Stephen Few has a scathing commentary on the marketing of Big Data - on why the Big Consultants are in bed with the Big Vendors. Riveting, if you are into such stuff. Big Data, Bad Math: Gartner Consults Its Crystal Ball:
A talking elephant? [Article]
5 words. In Korean. Move over, Parrot: Elephant Mimics Trainer At Zoo.
Future of education [Article]
Education is an industry that has not kept up with the times. How has the internet disrupted this "very important to our future livelihood" kind of industry? Read the other links I posted on the subject here, here & here.
Disaster preparedness
A hurricane survivors musings - New York City gets a small dose of reality that a large portion of the rest of the world lives with every day (lack of water, electricity, cabs, transportation, gridlock, & lots of human interaction!)
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Insta-pictures of Sandy
The story of hurricane sandy told through Instacane. Over 400,000 photographs posted. Instagram is quickly proving to be a very powerful tool to publish stories as they happen. I have my reservations about whether discovering news without context (provided by journalism) is such a good idea, but this site is, as Andrew Sullivan referred to in his blog, Instant Ruin Porn.
No longer ComfortablySmug [Article]
A twitter user @comfortablysnug, was criticized for fake news reports about Hurricane Sandy. His identity was ousted as Shashank Tripathi, a Republican campaign manager. This, & the recent outing of a reddit poster called Violentacrez who was involved with posting (& encouraging others to post) pictures of young women (& sometimes children) without their consent, have raised some challenging questions about community action against anonymous users, as this article points out.
Don't worry, be happy! [Article]
First understand, then destroy stress. Mr. Money Moustache retired from his job at 40 - and this site is his full time job. Read at your own risk!
Downtown Manhattan
This is what a concerned resident of Manhattan discovered, despite Bloomberg's comment that "we've come to the end of the downside" of Hurricane Sandy.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Lydia Calas's Face For NYC Mayor
Lydia Calas is Michael Bloomberg's sign language interpreter, & has become a surprise hero with her animated face contrasting Bloomberg expressionless one.
Feeding the family
Hurricane Sandy has highlighted, for a lot of folk, the reality that when natural disasters strike supply chains, you gotta do with what little they may be. Tips on feeding the family, hurricane edition
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A curious medical case [article]
The lady had a pacemaker installed, & somehow it stopped working, unless she was upside down.
Mid-week inspiration
"Do what you love..." read the passage here" - from Debbie Millman's book "Look both ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life & Design"
Banking on Risky Practices? Posner
Is Banking Unusually Prone to Risky Practices?, Posner explores this question by applying Darwinian theory of evolution (ie survival of the fittest) by adapting to the competitive environment. A good description of the true banking industry, & its current avatar into a short-term focused industry
Monday, October 29, 2012
India's Silicon Valley Garbage Crisis
Sarita Rai describes how the garbage crisis is closing the schism between the gated communities (a favorite for expats) & everyone else.
Teach yourself?
An ambitious experiment by the One Laptop Per Child organisation in two remote villages in Ethiopia is trying to see if see if illiterate kids with no previous exposure to written words can learn how to read all by themselves, by experimenting with the tablet and its preloaded alphabet-training games, e-books, movies, cartoons, paintings, and other programs ,
The Frankenstorm Monster?
Is climate change for real? Are the random weather patterns we're witnessing lately just that? Or does the science behind it stack up? An opinion by Adam Frank on NPR. or is there room for doubt? asTania Lombrozo wonders?
Religion as a mother [video]
Why do so many people picture God as a man? asks the narrator in the animated video on Open University's newest series, 60-second adventures in religion. Also watch Religion as Social Control, Religion as ritual, and religion as virus
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Social Devaluation [Essay]
Dylan Grice, an analyst from Societe Generale, in his letter titled "You are debasing more than our currency", asks, "do our money-printing central banks and their cheerleaders understand the full consequences of the monetary debasement they continue to engineer?"
Saturday, October 27, 2012
A celebrity profile [article]
I hate celebrity profiles. Heck, I hate celebrities. And when this 1966 profile by Gay Talese, called Frank Sinatra has a cold, turned up in my recommended read list, I scoffed, casually clicked on the link, & read -no, raced - through the whole article. Written like a Sicilian novel! Wonderful read for a weekend.
Split of a second [video]
Two videos of the Norwegian Wingsuit World Champion, Espen Fadnes. The first is called "sense of flying, an incredible jump off a mountain & flying down at 250kmph. He speaks about visualizing the flight before he actually does the jump. The second video is called "Split of a second".
Friday, October 26, 2012
The Future of Learning [Video]
What is the future of learning in a networked world? "Teachers don't have to have any answers. The answers are everywhere.They need to direct students to ask the right questions."
Britain's oldest blacksmith
I shall live tired, but I shall not retire, says Fred Harriss, 84, whos' been at his job for the last 74 years!
Japanese Juggling Festival [Video]
Captured on a smart phone so a bit jumpy, but check out this dude, Yanazo! Incredible control, using just one ball for half the performance.
The Original Jump [Video]
Before Felix Baumgartner did his death-defying jump from 39km up, Joe Kittinger did it from 31km. Watch a documentary of his jump in 1960.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The Writer who could not read [Video]
It happened suddenly one day. Howard Engel, a Canadian mystery writer, woke up and realized he couldn’t read the daily newspaper, let alone his own novels. He had suffered a stroke, it turns out, that left him with a rare condition called alexia sine agraphia, a condition that strangely leaves victims unable to read, but able to write.
Seth Godin on Education
16 minutes on the history of education (also known as indoctrination, unquestioning obedience, compliance) & its radical transformation (courtesy the internet).
Grains of Sand Magnified
Every single grain of sand looks different, according to Dr Gary Greenberg, who magnified sand particles 200 times, & photographed what he saw. Grains of Sand Magnified
Election Rigging
In the country that promotes "democracy" around the world - Democrats blast Ottawa County elections board for giving voters the wrong election date and polling place.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Teen Building
This teen built his own tiny home on wheels so he could move out of his parents' house, and have no mortgage.
Iceland
A stark question about the distinct lack of coverage by the media about the developments in Iceland, very simply asked by Jacob Perillo on Google+ . (If the link doesn't work for you for any reason, I'm happy to send you a text version of the write up).
West London Free School
An unapologetic attempt to provide quality education - without charging an arm & a leg. Also possibly the strictest school in England, as this article points out.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Sanctions are "genocide"
During the course of the third US Presidential debate, both "leaders" wanted tougher sanctions against Iran. Here's a take from a former UN official, who says Iraq sanctions are "genocide". As an aside, I watched the debate live on the internet, & followed along on Twitter (for some interesting real-time perspectives)
Iceland's new constitution [News]
How technology & civilian involvement is working in bankrupt Iceland, with a crowd-sourced Constitution being approved by two-thirds of its population. Sure, there will be dissent, but isn't that how democracy is supposed to work?
eek books!
Imagine this situation: You walk into a book store, find a book whose title seems interesting, browse through it, & decide to buy it. You come back home, & put it on your bookshelf. A couple of days later, a book store employees walks into your house, & takes away the book, because they don't like who you are associating yourself with. Outrageous? Essentially what happened to Norwegian Linn Jordet Nygaard with her e-book collection on her Kindle.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Everything sounds better..[videos]
Ever wondered how everyday activities would sound in a concert hall? for eg, singing in the shower, or the power saw going through wood? Well, if you haven't, check this out!
Alain de Botton - Pleasures & Success of Work [TED Talk]
If you've not heard Alain de Botton's keen & (witty observations), & are (or know someone who is) in a job-threatening situation, well worth the 15 minutes of your busy life! "Because it’s bad enough not getting what you want, but it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along."
How to write about poverty [Book Review]
In a review of two books based on India's oft-portrayed poverty, Martha Nussbaum posits on how to write about poverty. The two books she critiques are Katherine Boo's BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS & Siddhartha Deb's THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED. " What should we think about a social environment that creates hope and then so often frustrates it?
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Reign of the Techno-Nanny [Essay]
Jathan Sadowski argues that apps are like techno-nannies and essentially we are becoming too reliant on them. And not all of it is a good thing. It is a great, thoughtful and well argued essay. Reign of the Techno-Nanny. "We’ve all heard stories of people driving into rivers because their GPS told them to. We might laugh at them for so blindly following directions, but that’s only because it’s an over-the-top example of what we do every day. We tend to be quite adept at following the technological prompts we’re presented with. Not driving into the river is one thing, but knowing when to defer to the phone is not so as simple as resolving to make prudent, conscious decisions about the technology’s limitations."
The SuperSonic Man [article]
A 2-year old interview with Felix Baumgartner, who, last week, jumped out of a helium balloon 39km in the sky, & lived to tell the tale.
Don't go Baghdad on Tehran
Rolf-Ekeus & Malfrid Braut Hegghammer explain why the West should avoid doing the same mistakes with Iran as it did with Iraq. As they say, "The West's approach to Iran today mirrors the way it handled Iraq. Then, as now, the emphasis is on force, pressure, and uncovering evidence of an ongoing weapons program."
100 people answer the question, “How old are you?
in Dutch, of course. Watch the video (150 seconds) & read about its creator, Jeroen Wolf.
An AIDS Ad
The AIDS Council of Finland draws you in with sex in this advert, and then jars you using Facebook "Places" as a creative linchpin.
Scientists Read Dreams
This may have been rather difficult for the participants in the experiment, waking up every 10 minutes to record a dream, while their brain waves were simultaneously recorded using EEG. "Knowing more about the content of dreams and how it relates to brain activity may help us to understand the function of dreaming"
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Odyssey Expedition
"We all dream about travelling the world. But some dreams are bigger than others." Graham Hughes is trying to be the first person to visit every single country in the world, WITHOUT FLYING to get there. Read about his amazing story here!
Friday, October 19, 2012
Baby Elephant rescue
Members of the Amboseli Trust, an elephant welfare and conservation
group, have attempted to rescue a baby elephant trapped in a water well
in Kenya
Collectors Items
Newsweek will stop printing its iconic magazine at the end of this year. Keep your collectors item copies (no guarantees that it will make your retirement fund any stronger!)
How much is your spare time worth?
Have you given it any thought? Mr. Money Moustache weighs in with his.
Internet spying
Who do you turn to when your telco, who you pay a monthly fee to use its services, starts spying on your internet usage & selling that information to third parties, without your consent?
You don't own what you bought?
As this lady found out, buying digital copies of books/ movies/ etc for your digital device doesn't necessarily mean you will have access to it anytime you want, or that you "own" it either.
China & US Jobs
During the 2nd US Presidential Debate, Mitt Romney said that China's currency currency manipulation
and intellectual property theft has allowed it to become the largest
manufacturer in the world, causing the loss of 500,000 American
manufacturing jobs in the last four years. Anthony Tao defends China: Even now, when China’s per [capita] GDP is still nearly six times less
than the US’s, China is just artificially keeping its currency down
cause it really wants to stick it to Americans, right? Because there are
just so many Americans who dream about working in an iPhone-assembling
factory.
Destruction
The leading bird in a European project to develop a method to save a
rare species of ibis was killed last weekend by illegal hunters in
Italy. Goja, a northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), was on her way to wintering grounds in Tuscany when she was shot down, along with two other birds that she was leading.
Human Powered Helicopter
The Sikorsky Prize from the American Helicopter Society has promised $250,000 to anyone that build’s a human-powered helicopter that can “hover for a minute, reach a height of 3 meters (about 10 feet), and stay in a 10-meter box.” No one has claimed this prize in 30 years. And not for a lack of trying.
But students at the University of Maryland, Team Gamera HPH, are now closer than most to reaching this goal. Watch the video above and read more about them on NPR.
Volcanoes & Flamingoes
A clip from the BBC’s Wild South America, fly above the phenomenally massive volcanoes high up in the Andes mountain range in South America’s Altiplano. Plus, witness the region’s flamingos as they “dance” in a colony together — quite a sight to see!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Inspiration
The world is full of stories of inspirational people. My friend (Thanks Suben!) shared with me the story of Maha Sinnathamby, a Sinhalese of Malaysian origin, & one of Australia's modern day successes. Read more about him & his 10 principles for success here. (A teaser: Work for purpose, not results)
Art Project [Link]
If art is your sort of thing, but getting to those expensive museums that feature them isn't, Google's Art Project may be the answer you're looking for. There are currently 42 new online exhibitions to spend your time admiring.
Definitions [Article]
Joel Spolsky, a software professional, has a way with words. For my not-so-computer-friendly readers, here's his simple explanation of the difference between Systems Software & Application Software.
Changes [article]
Her son was to have served in Afghanistan, but Claire Felice ended up there instead - as a photo-journalist, clicking pictures of her country's Marine lads, before, during & after their time there.
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