Penn & Teller challenge the Anti-vaxxer movement
I'm sure someone has already posted this before, but it's still an awesome takedown of the anti-vaxxer meme. Enjoy.
King Joffrey Speaks to Oxford Students
I don't know if this has already made the rounds here or not, but I came across this talk by Game of Thrones cast-member, Jack Gleeson, and felt compelled to share. It's a fascinating sociological breakdown of the cult of celebrity... and not at all bad for something he wrote the night before. Check it out, here:
The Wry Wit of the Crested Canadian Spook, in its Natural Habitat
So, when I logged on to Facebook this morning, I was saw a note in my feed from OpenMedia.ca, a Canadian digital rights advocacy group that I follow, regarding CSEC's surveillance practices. CSEC is Canada's answer to the NSA, and far more secretive—the Canadian public hardly even knew the agency existed until the Ed…
I Seriously Hope This Gets Made!
The ultimate 80's action movie is trying to get funded on Kickstarter. It's called Kung Fury, and you can view the trailer here:
Spoilerific Thoughts about Elysium
Having avoided any reviews or discussion on io9 about this movie, I was able to go see it tonight and thought I'd share my thoughts. Minor spoilers follow (though mostly apparent from the trailers).
Being Sufficiently Illuminated
Dear Observation Deck,
Reading Fiction Trains Greater Tolerance of Ambiguity
So, we all suspected this, right? But a study at the University of Toronto has found evidence that reading works of short fiction makes test subjects more able to tolerate disorder and uncertainty; i.e. more creative, more rational, and less prone to snap judgements and rigid thinking.
Astronomers find first evidence of other universes!
Saw this on Facebook, posted by the Apples in Stereo. Apparently when our universe was born, it collided with other universes, which left impressions on the cosmic microwave background. Neat! Now I just have to find a way to get to the universe where I'm a billionaire rock-god and married to a supermodel...
Why Zombies are so big right now...
My old cognitive science prof talks about the cultural and philosophical implications of the zombie craze in this 7 minute video... To summarize, it's both amusing and tragic.
Just found out about http://anthropomics.blogspot.ca/ —- an anthropology blog talking about the political implications of genetic science; the implications of bad science, and the future of anthropology as a discipline. He doesn't pull any punches, either. The last few entries (from March 9 to Feb 19th) are really…
Just found out about http://anthropomics.blogspot.ca/ —- an anthropology blog talking about the political implications of genetic science; the implications of bad science, and the future of anthropology as a discipline. He doesn't pull any punches, either. The last few entries (from March 9 to Feb 19th) are really…
Survival International director argues that Jared Diamond gets tribal peoples completely wrong in his new book (The World Until Yesterday): http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/30/savaging-primitives-why-jared-diamond-s-the-world-until-yesterday-is-completely-wrong.html
Survival International director argues that Jared Diamond gets tribal peoples completely wrong in his new book (The World Until Yesterday): http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/30/savaging-primitives-why-jared-diamond-s-the-world-until-yesterday-is-completely-wrong.html
Found this interesting: The potential prison sentence for unlocking your cell phone (or for a business that unlocks your cell phone) is now greater than the sentence for turning your phone into an IED. http://boingboing.net/2013/01/29/what-the-ban-on-unlocking-phon.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Note to any role playing gamers out there; Margaret Weis Productions is running a Kickstarter campaign to produce "The Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide" full of tips and tricks for modifying games like Smallville, Leverage, and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and sample mods for the same. The first basic stretch goal is a…