The 9pm Autumn Series 2021 continues with philosopher, reprobate, and all-round cleverthinker Patrick Stokes. He’s also half of The Fake McCoys.
Continue reading “The 9pm Self-Heating Underpants of Death with philosopher Patrick Stokes”Links for 19 July 2009 through 23 July 2009
Stilgherrian’s links for 19 July 2009 through 23 July 2009, with more than a little apathy:
- The sexual habits of British men and women over 40 years old | Wiley InterScience: A large population-based study which provides the first report on the frequency and timing of sexual activity in British men and women. Over 40.
- saving paradise: Liz Mwambui’s blog, written for Nature Seychelles, is a great example of “personal voice” in an NGO’s corporate blog.
- Washing/Moscow Hot Line: A history of the direct communications link which went into service in 1963.
- Encyclopedia Astronautica: A wonderful compendium of information about spacecraft — actual, projected and mythical.
- Google Flu Trends: Google has found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity up to two weeks faster than traditional systems.
- Nirvana vs Rick Astley: Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit Up | YouTube: A very fine (and scary!) mashup by German-based DJ Morgoth. I’ve had to play it several times now, it’s that good.
- Narcissism and Social Networking Web Sites | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin: Research by Laura E Buffardi and W Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia (US) shows that people using social media sites like Facebook can actually tell, just by looking at a person's profile, whether they're narcissistic or not.
- Totally Wasted | Mother Jones: A major feature on America’s War on Drugs. Plenty to ingest. I mean digest.
- The folly of pretence | Daniel Dennett | The Guardian: One of the greatest philosophers of the mind, a man I’ve actually had the pleasure of meeting, explains why everyone needs to move on from “the God question” — including the militant atheists.
Links for 23 April 2009
Stilgherrian’s links for 23 April 2009, presented with perfectly-pointed toes:
- A Cyber-Attack on an American City | Bruce Perens: On 9 April, people unknown decided to cut the eight fibre optic cables serving the northern Californian city of Morgan Hill. This essay outlines the risks.
- Upbeat office culture fake and creepy, says Alain de Botton | News.com.au: While I’m perhaps jealous of Alain de Botton’s ability to make a living out of this kind of pop philosophy, but he’s got a point.
- Australia’s top 100 Journalists and news media people on Twitter | the earley edition: At least Dave Earley says, “That post title is utter bollocks and mere linkbait. This list does not in any way rank influence, importance or interest, and it contains far more than 100 people. It is also not ‘exhaustive’, since there’s no way I could find and list everyone, just exhausting.”
- Home ownership: real estate dream ‘becoming a complicated nightmare’ | theage.com.au: Hear hear! “For the record, rent money is not dead money. Renters are paying for a service — shelter and protection from the cold. Hardly wasted money. Worse, the deriding of rent as ‘dead money’ incorrectly implies that money spent on mortgage interest payments is somehow ‘alive money’, or a useful investment. Last time I checked, a mortgage holder with a $300,000 mortgage pays $1400 a month in interest payments straight to the pockets of those same banking chiefs we all say we despise.”