There’s been another batch of video talks posted up on the (revamped) TED website. Some real plums in here. For example, here’s Dan Dennett giving an eloquent presentation on consciousness.
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Leaping Shampoo
The Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society does it again. This time with a video that demonstrates the Kaye Effect using shampoo…Leave a comment
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James Nachtwey: Witness
I linked to a picture taken by James Nachtwey in a recent posting of mine. Nachtwey was recently awarded a prize at this year’s TED. Here is his acceptance speech, in which he illustrates his ability to be a witness. It’s worth watching.Leave a comment
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The Animated Bayeux
I wonder what the seamstresses of the Bayeaux Tapestry would have made of this version of their masterpiece? I suspect they would have liked it…(hat tip to From The Heart Of Europe for the link)Leave a comment
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Unseasonal Weather
I thought that April was supposed to be the month of showers. We’ve had very little rain this month, and currently we are having temperatures of 22 – 24 degrees. The result is that everything in the garden is earlier than normal. For example, here’s two photos of the same tree in blossom. The first was taken last year, on May 4th. The second was taken today. So the blossom is almost three weeks earlier this year. We may be in for a long hot summer…
2 responses to “Unseasonal Weather”
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My garden has everything out at once as well. I’ve mused this weekend at how I like global warming as I was watering the droopy annuals until I wondered what I was doing watering the garden in April. I am beau et bronzé this morning but any hobby gardener can tell you, there have been great changes in the passing of seasons in recent years. Worrying, especially water supplies.
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It is the same in the UK. April is the new May, as they would say in the fashion world. The hawthorn bushes (aka "the May bush"
0 are even in flower. I could get used to this climate change stuff 🙂
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Skin Lane
I mentioned a little while back that Neil Bartlett had a new book out, Skin Lane, and that the reviews sounded good.Well, I’m here to tell you that the reviews were right. The story is simply superb. It grips from the opening prologue and never lets go. A retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, it is set in London in 1967 and observes the events centred around a certain Mr. Freeman (known to his colleagues as Mr F). Mr F works as a cutter in London’s fur trade, and in that year of 1967 – a year that has a special significance for those of us who grew up gay in Britain at the time – he becomes possessed of an obsession that will irrevocably change his life, and the life of those around him.The whole novel reads as though you are caught in a dream (or nightmare) helplessly watching the events play out. I was reminded of the writings of Angela Carter at times. Almost as important as the players in the story is the setting. London itself becomes another character, through the descriptions of the places and the times. Bartlett’s descriptions of the fur trade are convincing – Skin Lane itself is actually Skinners Lane, which was indeed the centre of the fur trade in London.Highly, highly recommended.Ps – for Chris and Ed: Bartlett will be reading from Skin Lane at the Brighton Festival on May 18…2 responses to “Skin Lane”
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Geoff,
You link to the Skinner’s Company site. When we left the Hague, we moved to Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells. It is very hard to avoid the influence of the Skinners (if you should want to do so) living where we do – Sir Andrew Judde left a phenomenal fortune to be administered by the Skinners in support of Tonbridge School (which he founded), which is why they have so many bursaries and scholarships. They also founded the Skinner’s School (formally Sir Andrew Judde’s Commercial School) and the Judde School, the top state boys’ grammar schools in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge respectively. Judde’s gift over 450 years ago still keeps on giving.
(there is also a note about the origin of the phrase "at sixes and sevens" on the site, which may even be true!).
Robert D. -
Hi, Robert – good to hear from you. Thanks for the additional info on the Skinners Company… clearly, the furriers’ Guild was not short of a bob or two once it go into its stride…
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Scarred For Life
Sometimes, I really despair for people’s ability to grasp a sense of proportion.The latest example comes from a world that I know little about – American basketball. Still, when did that ever stop me… Yes, I grant you that the comment, that a female basketball team were "nappy-headed hos" by a radio host, Don Imus, was completely crass and insensitive. But for one of the team, Matee Avajon, to state that his comment has "scarred me for life" is so ridiculous as to make me despair.Oh, yes, Matee Avajon, scarred for life? Like this, you mean? Think again.Leave a comment
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Quantum Feminism
I’ve often bemoaned my irritation with management speak here. But the irritations are merely pinpricks in comparison with some of the writing that can be found lurking under the stone of PostModernist critique.Here’s a particularly fine example penned by Carolyn G. Guertin, Senior McLuhan Fellow at the University of Texas. Reading it gives me the feeling of repeatedly bashing my head against a brick wall – and I feel so much better when I stop. Luckily, Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, pricks Guertin’s pomposity in an effective manner, and David Thompson literally rips it to shreds.2 responses to “Quantum Feminism”
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Its quite clear you have missed the seminal, intra-feminist ubershitze of the piece, not to mention the transdisposition of the post-modern dialectic altogether Geoff. What can I say?
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Nah, I could smell the ubershitze from a mile off. It quite turns my stomach…
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The Line…
…between genius and madness is very fine indeed. Take the inestimable Dr. NakaMats, for example.Leave a comment
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Global Strategic Trends
One of the things that Shell has done for over 30 years is craft long term scenarios, looking at possible developments in societies and the world. Twenty years ago, I became involved in helping to set up similar exercises in Shell focusing on possible futures of Information Technology.I am reminded of that with the news that the UK Ministry of Defence has just published its own long term study of Global Strategic Trends, which attempts to forecast trends in the context of Defence out to 30 years. A summary is here, and the full study can be downloaded from here.As has already been noted, the report has definite Ballardian overtones, mixed, I would say, with a soupçon of Brunner…Leave a comment
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A Failed Experiment?
Jeff Atwood, over at Coding Horror, has a thoughtful analysis of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service, and why it might be said to show signs of failure. Worth reading.Leave a comment
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Edalat Square
The one act opera Edalat Square has its premiere next Sunday. The story behind the opera is worth reading.(hat tip to Robert over at Links and Things for the pointer)Leave a comment
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Piscine Pedicure
Fancy spending up to eight hours a day in a pool with hundreds of fish nibbling on your scabby old skin? Yes? Then "Doctor Fish" – otherwise known as Garra rufa sound just the thing for you. Me? I think I’ll pass, at least until some dependable clinical trials have been done…Leave a comment
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I Feel His Pain
As an ex-IT Architect, I know just what the presenter depicted here is going through… Architecture – a passion for me, pointlessness personified for most of my audience. Ah, purgatory, therein lies your sting…Leave a comment
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The Wonders of Science
Sometimes, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It’s always best not to be in the vanguard, I feel. Although I do recall going into our local shoe shop as a child and seeing my feet illuminated with X-rays. Thankfully, we didn’t get new shoes all that often…Leave a comment
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The Luck of the Draw
Or, in this case, the non-luck of the draw. Ben Goldacre, over at Bad Science, draws our attention to the case of Lucia de Berk.One response to “The Luck of the Draw”
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Probability is a tricky subject, as I recall from my university days. For example I was able to baffle a group of educated oil industry types the other day when at a workshop. There were around 30 people, and I bet them that it was almost certain that two of them would share the same birthday. There was general disblelief at this, people thinkng that you would need many more people (at least 365/2 people) than this for it to be likely that two people in the group shared a birthday, yet in fact two people quickly identified themselves as having the same birthday, and I was not lucky. This is a well known probability theory issue called the "birthday problem". In fact it needs just 23 people in a group for it to be more likely than not that two people will share a birthday. There are many such things in probability that are not obvious to most people.
While such things may be counter-intuitive, it is sad in the court case that the defence team did not just call up a universoty maths department to check the prosecution’s figres.
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Copernicus and the Pantheon
There’s a fascinating interview with Walter Murch over at BLDBLOG. I strongly recommend that you go and read it. In it he explores the connections between the Pantheon in Rome and the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. It may all be fanciful, just a series of remarkable coincidences, but it’s a rattling good yarn, and it may even be true. Art and Astronomy combined.Leave a comment
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Metadata Mashup
I think this is one of the finest mashups that I have ever seen. Resonance on sooo many levels…Hat tip to Richard Dawkins Net for the link.Leave a comment
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