Tom Gallagher asks a very pertinent question on the current push by the US towards drones as the preferred mode of military engagement: “What if China used a drone to kill the Dalai Lama?” how would the world feel about it?
Bradley Manning’s 1000 days in prison [Article]
A commentor on the Guardian site says it well: “Considering all the lies and deceit that led to the Iraq War, Abu Gharaib, Guantanamo, rendition, torture, the propping up of brutal dictators, the war crimes and indiscriminate drone killings, the propaganda on our “news” channels, the trillions of dollars lost, stolen, or tossed dow a hole in the desert, we are prosecuting the wrong guy.”. Bradley Manning, 25, has spent 1000 days in military prison, most of it in solitary confinement, for “the largest leak of US state secrets” to wikileaks.
Insanity in love [Letters of note]
A passionate love letter from one literary giant to another – Henry Miller implores his paramour, Anais Nin, not to expect him to be sane anymore.
Faking feelings to feel better [Article]
Scott Adams shares his secret to feeling good – and it is a lot simpler than you think, just the answer to the question, How Are You Today?
A Function-al story [Article]
Allow Excel Grandpa Walkenbach (of the Excel Bible fame) to entertain you with a story written (almost) entirely with Excel formulas (or functions, as they are also called).
Auschwitz
Won’t say anything about this chilling reminder of what the human species is capable of doing to its own:
Sounds of the sun [Article]
Robert Alexander is a sonification expert. I had no idea what that meant, so I looked to this Wikipedia entry to understand it a bit more. Essentially, it is converting data into sound to interpret it (forget for now the philosophical implications of that statement). Alexander has created sounds & symphonies from data that NASA collected of the Sun’s radiation, its rotation, & of its Solar flares.
For the reading List, I’m on my own & so are you [Book review]
In the last six months or so of reading his blog, Jesse Kornbluth has earned my respect & admiration for the stuff he shares as Headbutler, a job he does with aplomb (I mentally picture him as a modern day Jeeves!). He shares an exercpt of Judy Resnick’s book “I’m On My Own and So Are You: Financial Security for Women”.
Repairing the rungs on the ladder [Article]
This Economist article paints a rather glum picture of meritocracy – or rather, the paradox of meritocracy. The apparent benefit of globalisation and all those other fancy nomenclatures, was that money would flow to merit, rather than connections, as it had in the past. What is happening, at least in America as this article states, is that the clever rich are turning themselves into an entrenched elitist. Education is at the centre of this transformation. No point spending your live to reach the top of the ladder, only to find it leaning against the wrong wall?
Printing food in space? [Article, Video]
3D-printing is all around us. This futuristic technology, that has been around over two decades, is only now showing up in the mainstream. Additive printing, as it is scientifically called, is explained in this educative 10 minute video, if you’ve not seen it yet (I expect not, since it has had only 743 views at the time I’m typing this). The applications of this technology are incredibly diverse – as this team at Cornell University demonstrates, but using it to “print” meals for astronauts. Agree or not with the concept, 3D printing shops will be as ubiquitous as the corner “photocopying” shop used to be in my not so long past.