Sounds of Lincoln [Video]

Sound designer Ben Burtt explains his work to provide “sound” authenticity into the Steven Spielberg movie “Lincoln”, through the use of actual devices that Lincoln may have used during his lifetime. The Sound of Lincoln. Examples he provides: the sounds of doors was recorded at the White House, Lincoln’s actual pocket watch which is preserved at the Kentucky Historical Society provided the tick-tock accompaniment.. interesting video!

Bad news for middle managers [Article]

Scott Adams reckons its the middle managers, not the skilled manual labour, that will be replaced by robots. He observes that that the least skilled employees are promoted to management. You need your most skilled people doing interface design, engineering, and the hard stuff. Management is mostly about optimizing resource allocation, and that is something a robot can learn relatively easily, at least compared to most skilled jobs.