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Scientists on their “life-changing” books

April 22, 2008 /

via David Pescovitz at Boing Boing

New Scientist has a feature package where seventeen big name scientists recommend books that they considered "life-changing." Here is the list of the scientists and the books they suggest, with each title linking to Amazon. Follow the link at the bottom of the post to the New Scientist article where you can read the scientists’ thoughts on their picks. From New Scientist:

  1. Farthest North – Steve Jones, geneticist
  2. The Art of the Soluble – V. S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist
  3. Animal Liberation – Jane Goodall, primatologist
  4. The Foundation trilogy – Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist
  5. Alice in Wonderland – Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist
  6. One, Two, Three… Infinity – Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist
  7. The Idea of a Social Science – Harry Collins, sociologist of science
  8. Handbook of Mathematical Functions – Peter Atkins, chemist
  9. The Mind of a Mnemonist – Oliver Sacks, neurologist
  10. A Mathematician’s Apology – Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician
  11. The Leopard – Susan Greenfield, neurophysiologist
  12. Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior – Frans de Waal, psychologist and ethologist
  13. Catch-22 / The First Three Minutes – Lawrence Krauss, physicist
  14. William James, Writings 1878-1910 – Daniel Everett, linguist
  15. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Chris Frith, neuroscientist
  16. The Naked Ape – Elaine Morgan, author of The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis
  17. King Solomon’s Ring – Marion Stamp Dawkins, Zoologist

A few familiar titles, and I always like to recommend the writings of William James. I look forward to checking into the others!

More awesome American skool awesumness

April 22, 2008 /

Arizona bill would permit confiscation of books opposed to American values like capitalism:—

Measure backs ‘American values’ in state schools

Arizona schools whose courses "denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization" could lose state funding under the terms of legislation approved Wednesday by a House panel.

SB1108 also would bar teaching practices that "overtly encourage dissent" from those values, including democracy, capitalism, pluralism and religious tolerance. Schools would have to surrender teaching materials to the state superintendent of public instruction, who could withhold state aid from districts that broke the law.

Another section of the bill would bar public schools, community colleges and universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria," a provision Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said is aimed at MEChA, the Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, a student group.

The 9-6 vote by the Appropriations Committee sends the measure to the full House.

The legislation appears aimed largely at the Tucson Unified School District, whose "Raza Studies" program has annoyed some people. Tucson resident Laura Leighton read lawmakers sections of some books used in classrooms which she said promote hatred.

If the proposal becomes law, however, it would have a statewide reach. And that concerned even some lawmakers who voted for it, saying the language of what would and would not be prohibited is "vague."

Article continued via the East Valley Tribune

US school book: “Global warming will avoid high heating bills”

April 19, 2008 /

Friends of the Earth is calling via an email campaign on one of the US largest textbook publishers to correct a school book containing a discussion of global warming "so biased and misleading it would humble a tobacco industry PR man."

"American Government", 11th edition is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and approved for use in high school Advanced Placement courses in the United States. On page 559, the textbook’s authors write that "it is a foolish politician who today opposes environmentalism. And that creates a problem, because not all environmental issues are equally deserving of support. Take the case of global warming. (..) On the one hand, a warmer globe will cause sea levels to rise, threatening coastal communities; on the other hand, greater warmth will make it easier and cheaper to grow crops and avoid high heating bills." (Full)

Whether or not global warming is a proven scientific fact (see this post), I can not imagine what a simplistic mind would even think of putting this in a student’s text book.

via The Road to the Horizon

‘I Love the World’

April 17, 2008 /

Another one for today. Can’t get much better than this! xo
Kudos to agency 72andSunny and creative director Glenn Cole for this inspirational piece of advertising.

Amazing what a power a positive note can have on one’s day. When’s the last time you made a stranger feel this way?

LET GO

April 17, 2008 /

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging activities for this brief Fight Club moment. Thank you.

Artist Pierre Dacruoix in Portland, OR

April 15, 2008 /

 

I know a lot of the Technoccult community is located on the west coast, particularly in Oregon, so:

Skull Skates presents artist Pierre Dacruoix in his first showing in the USA at Diesel Fuel in Portland, Oregon – Sat. April 26th from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

From Take Me To Your Prom (Color Magazine):

RECENTLY WORLD GOVERNMENTS AND MEDIA HAVE BEEN TAKING STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION BY ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THERE IS IN FACT A GLOBAL WARMING PROBLEM. AS SUGGESTED BY AL GORE IN HIS EYE OPENING DOCUMENTARY "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH", IT’S NOT THE LARGE HUMAN POPULATION, BUT RATHER THE EXCESSIVE LIFESTYLE PRACTICED BY MANY THAT IS GOBBLING UP OUR RESOURCES AND EATING OUR ATMOSPHERE.

IN RESPONSE TO THE GROWING TREND TOWARDS THESE EXCESSIVE LIFESTYLES AND AS AN ACTION TO INITIATE A STYLE SHIFT, VANCOUVER ARTIST PIERRE DACRUOIX HAS DESIGNED A SERIES OF TEN T-SHIRTS UNDER THE "GREEDCLOWN" LABEL. EACH OF THE DESIGNS CARRIES A THOUGHTFUL IMAGE AND MESSAGE, MOCKING THE "BLING" LIFESTYLE AND DEBUNKING THE "SUCCESS IS EXCESS" IDEA.

Dear God

April 15, 2008 /

The designer behind the trend-spotting website, The Cool Hunter, has started a new endeavour called Dear God. People anonymously write in short letters to God, some negative, some positive. He posts them online with an accompanying image to set the mood.

"It doesn’t matter what your version of God is…Jesus, Allah, Buddha or simply a spiritual universal energy… praying to a higher power soothes and heals. It’s scientifically proven that people who pray are healthier, happier and more resilient.

"Share your prayers here and help us create hope one prayer at a time. Simply send us your personal letter to your God and/or a picture that sums up your message visually. (Dear God will source a picture if you don’t have one)."

The Beautiful People

April 15, 2008 /

This really piqued my interest.

Imagine! Our nation sings your nation

April 14, 2008 /

Having spent the past few days reading drafts of the forthcoming book The Art of Memetics, by Edward Wilson & Wes Unruh, my spirit was elated this evening to come across this ad campaign for Pangea Day, 10 May. a) The Art of Memetics is a truly phenomenal treatment of how memes act to infect and how we can use this to personal advantage to survive and become strengthened in the coming Information Age. b) These videos are such a great idea: we’re so accustomed to hearing our national anthem sung by ourselves, it’s like the little voices in our heads. To have a nation we’re generally ignorant of or have little dealings with take it upon themselves to treat the anthem with such care and heart, makes for a poignant campaign in our coming post-national world.

I find that people tend to jump at the notion that memetics and marketing can be used for good. And I’d like to thank Edward Wilson & Wes Unruh, and the Pangea Day folk, and everyone else out there who understand that as long as everyone is educated, no one can well turn it against another. We can use these technologies and wisdoms to work for a better future.

Above is France sings America. And I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but as a Canadian (anglais & français, as well as a whole swath of Asian and Middle Eastern dialects), I’ve always found it odd that the Americans would so inappropriately stereotype and ridicule the nation that gave America one of their greatest symbolic gifts: the Statue of Liberty. Regardless, it’s a beautiful sentiment.

See the other three and others on YouTube. I really like Japan sings Turkey and Kenya sings India.

Herbie Brennan on attempt at evocation to physicality

April 4, 2008 /

Brennan recalls an experiment in ritual magic, an attempted spirit evocation to visible appearance that went curiously wrong. This is interesting, and in tune with what I’d like to see more of online. Albeit, it would be more phenomenal if they had recorded the officer being accosted by the entity during the evocation, but with more people studying and the availability of cameras, maybe we’ll see more firsthand accounts over time.

I, myself, have been studying the evocational methods in the Heptameron for some time now. But I admit, I have not reached a point where I am comfortable performing the rite yet.

Also, while I’m not overly fond of the term "wizard" in a serious tone, I do like its irreverence. Like Randal in Clerks II, reclaiming "porch monkey," perhaps we should work to reclaim wizard? If this sounds like a good idea to you, I’ve found some T-shirts on CaféPress that may be to your liking. I dig the first three:

          

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