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.

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.

Picturesque Contrast [Photo]

This recent picture of New York City screams contrast

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.

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?

Bronco Obamma & MItt Rommennee [Video]

If you've had enough of the US Elections, you're not alone!

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!"

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!)

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.