December 2010
“So how big is that surplus? So if you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of...”
– Clay Shirky, 2008, outlining the basic idea that would become his book Cognitive Surplus.
Fifty posts in two days.
That’s a comparative lot for me.
It turns out that Tumblr is a good platform for me: my writing problems start at being VERY very very very long-winded; so a site designed around micro-blogging and many small updates bypasses that part of my brain that thinks that lumping together seven links, four opinions, and a 100 word micro-story into a 10,000 word lumbering monstrosity unreadable for...
http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm →
Oh wow. Space Jam’s publicity website is still on line.
Gotta love late 90s web design.
The Singularity →
The Singularity is a very interesting topic - an idea that probably isn’t given as much thought as it deserves.
Basically, the Singularity is the idea that as computer technology is getting faster at an exponential rate, then at some point in the not-too-distant future, the hardware of a supercomputer (and the software running on it) will be smarter than a human being. At this point it will...
The Daily Mail: What's the point of Australia,... →
The Daily Mail, a British satire of right-wing magazines, has this to say about Australia:
For now that we have taken cricket away, what does Australia have left? Certainly not rugby. England won the World Cup in their country in 2003 and then smashed them last month at Twickenham, while their rugby league team is continually beaten by New Zealand.
They don’t play soccer with any seriousness...
1 tag
Communicating Climate Change →
Three facts.
1) Climate change is real. Humans are the only credible cause. http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
2) Only 45% of Australians believe in man-made global warming.http://andrewnorton.info/2010/12/06/the-continuing-cooling-of-climate-change-belief/
3) Somebody, somewhere, isn’t doing their job. Our politicians are either skeptics, or Julia Gillard, who - though I agree with her...
Communicating Climate Change →
Three facts.
1) Climate change is real. Humans are the only credible cause. http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
2) Only 45% of Australians believe in man-made global warming.http://andrewnorton.info/2010/12/06/the-continuing-cooling-of-climate-change-belief/
3) Somebody, somewhere, isn’t doing their job. Our politicians are either skeptics, or Julia Gillard, who - though I agree with her...
1 tag
Scientists Ask Congress To Fund $50 Billion... →
WASHINGTON, DC—Top physicists from several major American universities appeared before a Congressional committee Monday to request $50 billion for a science thing that would further U.S. advancement science-wise and broaden human knowing.
The scientists spoke for approximately three hours about the complicated science machine, which is expensive, and large, telling members of the House...
Scientists Ask Congress To Fund $50 Billion... →
WASHINGTON, DC—Top physicists from several major American universities appeared before a Congressional committee Monday to request $50 billion for a science thing that would further U.S. advancement science-wise and broaden human knowing.
The scientists spoke for approximately three hours about the complicated science machine, which is expensive, and large, telling members of the House...
Internet in joke:
Type 241543903 into Google, then go images.
““Saying ‘I notice you’re a nerd’ is like saying,...”
– John Green, Vlogbrothers
How much to drink in a day →
A quote and a link in the same post? Why ever not?
“That’s absolutely true, about the eight glasses a day. There’s no reason whatsoever to drink eight glasses of water a day unless you, for whatever reason, particularly like the taste of water. Most experts agree that unless there’s something horribly wrong with you, you should just drink water whenever you’re - get...
Apple vs Google →
A side-by-side comparison of the two tech companies that have come to symbolise the decade. From an examination of their culture - Google’s endless tinkering, Apple’s rigorous design practices - to their relationship as companies. This is a magnificent article.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt startled commentators in 2009 by saying, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know,...
FarmVille Vs. real farms →
An infographic.
Political preferences: hardwired? →
Neuroscientists are examining whether political allegiances are hard-wired into people after finding evidence that the brains of conservatives are a different shape to those of left-wingers.
Scans of 90 students’ brains at University College London (UCL) uncovered a “strong correlation” between the thickness of two particular areas of grey matter and an individual’s...
"Damn right," I said. →
George W. Bush’s autobiography Decision Points, recently released, isn’t the god-awful schlock everyone thinks it is. It is in fact a masterpiece of post-modern literature, ingeniously raising questions about the nature of truth. Its slavish devotion to Dubya’s every action and disregard for the other members of his cabinet are expertly crafted to simultaneously raise and...
1 tag
The arts of persuasion →
How to persuade: 20 quick tips - each linked to an extensive article - that will make any argument perfectly persuasive.
The arts of persuasion →
How to persuade: 20 quick tips - each linked to an extensive article - that will make any argument perfectly persuasive.
