Present Tense

• The other Ted-fest

  March 4, 2008 @ 3:10 pm | by Shane

  My train journeys have been made more bearable this week by bringing along some of the lectures available on Ted.com. There’s nothing like having your mind expanded, even while you’re being crushed against a door.

  Of the many highlights, may I recommend physicist David Deutsch on What Is Our Place In The Cosmos, the aptly-named Michael Pollan on what the world looks like if we assume that plants are in charge and Deborah Gordon getting down with the ants.

  In the meantime, for those of you who have enjoyed David Attenborough’s breathtaking Life In Cold Blood, here’s a short video in which octopuses do remarkable things. Seriously.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVvn8dpSAt0&rel=0

  Comments (4)

• Selection box

  December 6, 2007 @ 2:01 pm | by Shane

  - Conor Pope’s moment of fame has arrived. He’s been “done” on Gift Grub.

  - China’s moon probe a fake? No, just touched up

  - Charlie Brooker’s column this week was, amongst other things, on what happens when you write nasty things about someone, and then bump into them on the street

  - Christian movie site MovieGuide.org reviews the Dylan biopic I’m Not There: “Strong mixed pagan worldview with strong humanist, politically correct elements…”

  - Shouldn’t we read more sci-fi?

  - That British canoeist who “disappeared” for six years only to emerge in dubious circumstances this week, could have done with help of this site: How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found.

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• Moon to Earth: “You’re blocking my view”

  November 15, 2007 @ 2:33 pm | by Shane

  Beautiful video as sent back by an orbiting Japanese probe. It’s in cutting edge HDTV, of course, because it’s Japanese - although my mate’s dad was in Hong Kong last week and bought a couple of knock-offs of this probe at a market stall.

  Just think that on this blue and white sphere you can find all our hopes and dreams; all our successes and failures; dozens of people excited by Boyzone’s reunion; all of Twink’s angry phonecalls; acres of newsprint that feature the words “Lisa Murphy”; countless drones asking for an Americano because it sounds better than plain “black coffee”; a thousand types of fizzy drink each claiming to make your brain brainier; a million hours of television presented by Gerry Ryan; tens of millions of office workers wondering what chinos they should wear on “casual Friday”; one Jimmy Carr; and many many pointless babbling griping blogs.

  Oh, and a few wars.

  Did they fix a giant laser on that thing too?

  By the way, Australia is upside down in this video, which clearly reveals it to be a fake.

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• That’s no moon…

  August 28, 2007 @ 5:41 pm | by Shane

  The original prop lightsaber from Star Wars is to be launched into space to mark the 30th anniversary of the “greatest movie event of a generation to have been subsequently sullied by the worst movie event of a generation”. (more…)

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• Embarrassing ourselves in front of the rest of the galaxy

  May 25, 2007 @ 9:21 am | by Shane

  Almost 30 years ago, NASA sent the two Voyager probes into deep space with a golden record on board that tells any passing alien where we are, what we look like and how crap we were during the 1970s. Honestly, if you wanted one decade to represent mankind - would you pick the 70s?

  Links: Far Out: Nasa’s Golden Gift to the Aliens

  It includes this “demonstration of licking, eating and drinking”. And a fine demonstration it is too. Let’s just hope the Voyager spacecraft don’t someday encounter a race of ice-cream shaped aliens - or we’re in BIG trouble.

  

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