Thursday 24 February 2011

How Tech Tools Transformed New York's Sex Trade

An interesting piece by Sudhir Venkatesh, professor of sociology at Columbia University and author of the book Gang Leader for a Day, writing in Wired magazine detailing the economics, geography and sociology of the sex industry in New York city.

Reverse graffiti

Reverse graffiti or clean tagging is a method of creating temporary images on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt from a surface. The designs tend to last between one and three weeks depending on the location and and how protected the work is.



Reverse graffiti artist Moose makes a big statement about clean in San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel.


Damon Runyon Theater

A collection of old time radio classic radio plays hosted at The internet archive. This collection comprises of 52 selected stories each dramatised over a half hour.

Picture courtesy of flickr user 24oranges.nl

How Far Away is the Moon?



If the Earth were the size of a basketball and the moon a tennis ball, how far apart would they be? Diagrams that are not to scale make us think that they're closer than they really are.

Wednesday 23 February 2011



From "The Empire Strikes Back" to "Robin Hood", award-winning Foley artist Gary Hecker of Todd-AO says it takes “timing and a huge creative mind” to be the man behind the sound. Here, he shares tips and tricks he’s learned during a career that has spanned more than 200 films.

Hecker also recently joined CSS Studios’ Todd-AO in late 2009. One of the most accomplished Foley artists in Hollywood. Among his recent credits are 2012, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Angel & Demons, Watchmen and the Spiderman trilogy.

"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But, "Success" is Possible



Power of Decision (USAF 1958) may be the first (and perhaps the only) U.S. government film depicting the Cold War nightmare of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict. The U.S. Air Force produced it during 1956-1957 at the request of the Strategic Air Command.

For a more indepth analysis of the chilling film seen in this preview and to see the full length film, please go to the National Security Archive

You should never meet your heroes, how do you know if you will like them?


Grace Kelly and a disappointed looking cat.

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Star Size Comparison


This video really puts into perspective how small we really are.

A Tale of Two Twins



A story book unfolds the incredible tale of a pair of identical twins who, after one of them embarking on an intergalactic journey at near the speed of light, age at vastly different rates. Intrigued by the seemingly impossible situation, the narrators invite the audience into a lively chat on special relativity concepts, such as time dilation and nonequivalent reference frames, that are the culprits behind Einstein’s famous Twin Paradox.

Blackfriars Bridge (1896)


Film courtesy of the BFI

Journey back to July 1896 though this tantalising half-minute of footage revealing Victorian londoners making their way to work across the Thames by tram, horse-drawn carriage and, for the health-conscious (or the poor), good old Shanks' pony.

What's The Right Thing To Do?



Episode 01 "THE MORAL SIDE OF MURDER"

If you had to choose between (1) killing one person to save the lives of five others and (2) doing nothing even though you knew that five people would die right before your eyes if you did nothing—what would you do? What would be the right thing to do? Thats the hypothetical scenario Professor Michael Sandel uses to launch his course on moral reasoning. After the majority of students votes for killing the one person in order to save the lives of five others, Sandel presents three similar moral conundrums—each one artfully designed to make the decision more difficult. As students stand up to defend their conflicting choices, it becomes clear that the assumptions behind our moral reasoning are often contradictory, and the question of what is right and what is wrong is not always black and white.

Mangoes can’t buy you love

External factors like the Internet, post-Soviet economic upheaval and the availability of exotic fruit have given young Russians a different system of values and approach to life.

Elena Strelnikova, writing in OD Russia, gives a wry overview of parenting in provincial Russia.

Monday 21 February 2011

200 Countries, 200 Years



In this promo video for the BBC series "The Joy of Stats". Professor Hans Rosling tells the story of the world in 200 countries, over 200 years, in just four minutes.

Dizzy Heights (1931)


Video courtesy of the BFI

Hundreds of feet above the streets of Paris, workmen make adjustments to the scaffolding surrounding huge new exhibition buildings. The film was originally released on 16 March 1931.

Random and Pseudorandom


Image courtesy of Flicker fyuryu

Randomness is the mathematics of the unpredictable. Dice and roulette wheels produce random numbers: those which are unpredictable and display no pattern. But mathematicians also talk of 'pseudorandom' numbers - those which appear to be random but are not.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests on the BBC radio 4 series "In Our Time" discuss randomness and pseudorandomness.

What Is a Tree Worth?

Trees brighten city streets and delight nature-starved urbanites. Now scientists are learning that they also play a crucial role in the green infrastructure of America’s cities.

Jill Jonnes writing in The Wilson Quarterly about the surprising value of urbam trees.

Morality is a Culturally Conditioned Response

Relativism has been widely criticized. It is attacked as being sophomoric, pernicious, and even incoherent. Moral philosophers, theologians, and social scientists try to identify objective values so as to forestall the relativist menace. I think these efforts have failed. Moral relativism is a plausible doctrine, and it has important implications for how we conduct our lives, organize our societies, and deal with others.

Jesse Prinz writing in Philosophy Now magazine (Jan/Feb 2011 edition) that morality is a culturally conditioned response.

Language as a Window into Human Nature



Steven Pinker shows us how the mind turns the finite building blocks of language into infinite meanings.