Archive for the ‘From the web’ Category
A story you need to read right now
Ted Chiang is one of my favourite short story writers. He’s not very prolific (a story every year or two) but his collection Stories of Your Life and Others is amazing and so are the stories he’s written since then. He’s got a new story available on the Subterranean Press web site, and it’s brilliant: […]
Why tipping should be outlawed
Here’s a good argument for outlawing tipping… Why tipping should be outlawed
Artificial intelligence will be here by 2040
Here’s a fascinating article by Kevin Drum from Mother Jones. He argues that rate of change in artificial intelligence matches that of computing power — it doubles about every 18 months (a phenomenon known as Moore’s Law). This means that for the first while it seems like nothing is happening and then suddenly everything happens […]
Funny & insightful commentary on movies
Here are 3 different groups commenting on movies in an interesting way. Rifftrax The people who made the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 are still doing the same thing except they’re not on TV anymore. They make sound files that you can play while you’re playing a movie — each one typically costs $3.99. […]
Family lived alone in Siberia for 40 years
A family lived by themselves in the wilderness of Siberia for 40 years — they were completely unaware of the events of the outside world, including World War II. A group of geologists stumbled across them in 1978. The family had originally fled to the wilderness to escape religious persecution. You can read the details […]
Lotteries: a bit of statistics
One more post from Life’s Little Mysteries. Are you more likely to get struck by lightning than win the lottery? Of course. You’re also more likely to be killed by a donkey. I’d like to encourage you not to waste your money on the lottery. $550 Million Powerball: What Are Your Chances?
5 ways the world will change this century
Natalie Wolchover on the Life’s Little Mysteries web site tells us a bit about the future. The predictions come from an academic conference. Here’s a hint: human migration, urbanization, water wars, and mass extinctions. Also, something big will happen with energy. Either we’ll find new source(s) of energy and have enough — or we won’t. […]
Books & movies show a world filled with idiots
David Brin, author of books such as Startide Rising and Earth, has a thought-provoking article on Locus Online. It’s about why books and movies have most of their characters behaving as fools. One of his great points: “you never notice propaganda that you already agree with.” He argues that fictional worlds should be more like the real […]
Gil: a comic strip about an 8-year-old boy
Gil is an eight-year-old boy who has a friend named Shandra and a nemesis named Morgan. Various strips show him at school, at home, or hanging out outside. Gil first appeared only on the web but it’s now in newspapers too. It’s written and drawn by Norm Feuti, who also does the strip Retail. I think it’s often […]
World changing ideas and innovation
This web site has some really cool ideas on it — both things that are fun and things that will help make the world a better place. From an exoskeleton to help paralyzed people walk again to 10 steps for improving capitalism to an index of difference-making nonprofit organizations, these are ideas that are worth […]