The Raven-
It is often a fine line between SF and horror, finer still as we approach Halloween! In the spirit of the holiday here is a tidbit for your pleasure! https://youtu.be/BefliMlEzZ8
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, ‘Why, why, why?'” – Kurt Vonnegut
"The only difference between Bush and Hitler is that Hitler was elected" - Kurt Vonnegut Whether you believe their is any truth in this quote or not you can't deny that is sounds like pure Vonnegut. Have any other SF authors wrote about the event of their lifetime...
The Future of A.I. will be live streamed
As part of Pres. Obama's Global Entrepreneurship summit Stanford University will be hosting a conference on the future of Artificial Intelligence. This is an example of the acceleration of a trend we have seen in recent years in which the focus of A.I. has been...
Shadows in the Grass (Indie Movie)
If you're always looking for good content it is important to support the Indie community! So check this out: https://vimeo.com/163429017
Best Political Song Ever?
Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who's Pete Townshend We'll be fighting in the streets With our children at our feet And the morals that they worship will be gone And the men who spurred us on Sit in judgement of all wrong They decide and the shotgun sings the song I'll...
Dinesh D’Souza Claims in a New Film that the Democratic Party Was Pro-Slavery. Here’s the Sad Truth.
Originally published by Michael Todd Landis on HNN Dinesh D’Souza Claims in a New Film that the Democratic Party Was Pro-Slavery. Here's the Sad Truth. On March 5, 2016, conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza announced via trailer on his webpage the debut of a would-be...
Danger enough to give them glory
by David A. Mindell First published on historynewsnetwork.org David A. Mindell is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at MIT. This article is excerpted from Our Robots, Ourselves, published...
Can Yahoo save democracy?
It is fashionable these days to bemoan the state of democracy, voter participation is weak, public engagement is in decline and many citizens feel powerless and alienated. In fact many people do not even register to vote! Yet it is a fundamental assumption that...
Geek Books!
This is neither Political Science or Science Fiction, but if you know the difference between a UI interface and an SQL server (as I know many of you do) then this post is for you. Eric Ligman, a Microsoft minion, is giving away a bunch of free e-books. The really...
A Star Trek documentary?
A Star Trek documentary? Hasn't that been done to death? Well, yes and no. Sure their are plenty of Star Trek documentaries around, but this one is a little different. It is being done by Adam Nimoy, Leonard Nimoy's son. I wouldn't expect an unbiased view of...
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to speak at Stanford
As part of the observation of the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be speaking at Stanford University June 25th at 3pm. Of course this is because Stanford is such an excellent place (although I am biased since I work here)!...
Getting to know President Lincoln
The problem with history is that it is so far away. Reading about a noble figure such as Abraham Lincoln so often leaves one feeling oddly detached from the very figure that we are trying to get to know. Reading about his leadership during the Civil War, his great...
Read Edgar Allan Poe (for free)
Sure you could go to the library but what you really want is to stay home in your pajamas and still be entertained. So here is a link to the Poe Museum which has among other things many of Poe's writings available for free. Enjoy!
Science Fiction: Catalyst for Reality
If your going to be in Seattle on May 20th 2015 you might want to check out this get together at the Microsoft campus, Science Fiction: Catalyst for Reality. With Greg Bear as a presenter and run in conjunction with MIT's Enterprise Forum Northwest it promises to be...
A Magna Carta Cartoon!
Most Americans tend to think that the ideas in the Declaration of Independence were original to Thomas Jefferson and his contemporaries, but as they say, their is nothing new under the sun! Take a minute to learn about the Magna Carta. Courtesy of the British...
Privacy Tools: How to Block Online Tracking
Author Name, ProPublica. July 3, 2014, 9 a.m. Many sites (including ProPublica) track user behavior using a variety of invisible third-party software. This means any time you visit a web page, you're likely sharing data about your online habits, from clicks to views...
Poor Godzilla
I finally got to see Godzilla, an enjoyable but vapid experience. Rather then a real review here is a short list of the more outlandish physics problems: (minor spoilers included) When the damaged nuclear reactor core melts down the escaping steam expands at the same...
Donald Duck says, pay your taxes (to beat the Axis)
Do you want to get an Italian mad? Tell them how boring soccer, I mean football, is. That was a hell of a game last night wasn't it Adolfo, one to one, bet you've never seen that before! And lets not talk about the French and cheese. You want to get an American mad?...
Presidents Clinton and Reagan agree!
Submitted for your pleasure, without comment: http://youtu.be/6PNttGg-z84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfejBpD_wm4
See a Real Time Media Map
Data visualization is all the rage these days, usually these sites are an interesting exercise in rehashing someone else's data which is interesting to look at and think about for a moment and then quickly forgotten. So it is good to see a site that brings something...
Do you have an Inner Fish?
Your Inner Fish. Neil Shubin. Pantheon Books, New York 2008. 229 pages. Neil Shubin's [easyazon_link asin="0307277453" locale="US" new_window="default" nofollow="default" tag="rethse-20"]Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human...
If nothing else, read A Preface to Democratic Theory
The recent passing of Robert Dahl got me thinking about which of his works I value the most. Although best known for his New Haven study and the resulting works that came out of it, [easyazon_link asin="0300103921" locale="US" new_window="default" tag="rethse-20"]Who...
Country Club’ Campuses: A Public University Ex-President Shares His Second Thoughts
by Marian Wang ProPublica, Nov. 11, 2013, 12:53 p.m. James Garland was president of Miami University -- a public university in Ohio -- for a decade, retiring in 2006 after spearheading a number of changes aimed at raising the school's profile and pulling in more...
Firefly just keeps on flying
This is just to cool for words, so just watch the video: http://youtu.be/y364b2Hcq7I The real questions is, will it be as good as Elite?
The “GOP Growth & Opportunity Project”
Can the GOP pull itself back from the Edge? Loosing an election hurts. For the GOP the pain must be particularly intense given their belief that Mitt Romney would not only win but would provide the long coattails needed to move the GOP into positions of power in the...
No Income? No Problem! How the Gov’t Is Saddling Parents with College Loans They Can’t Afford
By Marian Wang, ProPublica, Beckie Supiano and Andrea Fuller, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 4, 2012, 7:22 p.m. This story was co-published with The Chronicle of Higher Education. More than a decade after Aurora Almendral first set foot on her dream college...
How I Passed My U.S. Citizenship Test: By Keeping the Right Answers to Myself
by Dafna Linzer ProPublica, Feb. 23, 2011, 4:31 p.m. This story was co-published with Slate. Last month, I became an American citizen, a tremendous honor and no easy accomplishment, even for a Canadian. After living here for 12 years, I thought I knew everything. Then...
40 years ago, we left the moon
I'm on the surface; and, as I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come—but we believe not too long into the future—I'd like to just (say) what I believe history will record. That America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of...
Let’s Teach Actual Science
"By teaching our kids actual science, we can guarantee the future of this country and its economic growth. By hiding it from them, by equivocating about it with them, by providing false balance between reality and wishful thinking, what we guarantee is a future...
Fun with Polls
To many people think politics is boring, yet nothing gets their attention like finding out how much money a candidate will be worth to them. Can you say "economic stimulus"? If that's to esoteric how about "tax refund"? Or perhaps finding out who agrees (or...
Why Liberals and Libertarians Both Have It Wrong — And Right
Liberals say that rising income inequality is hurting economic growth. Libertarians say that government regulation is to blame. Who’s right?Both, say Steven Teles and Brink Lindsey, who visited Stanford Graduate School of Business recently as part of its Corporations...
Job opportunity!
Human Rights Watch is seeking a Researcher and Advocate on Digital Rights to investigate, analyze, and advocate against human rights abuses related to online activities. The role of the Researcher and Advocate will include documenting and conveying the rights...
What Star Trek got Right and Wrong about Books
When you have to many booksLiving in a Silicon Valley cottage it became clear that something was going to have to go. Unfortunately for me that meant that my wife’s and my rather large collection of books was on the chopping block. So one weekend we took to sorting...
Will religiously unaffiliated Americans increase support for liberal policies, in 2018 and beyond?
Nearly one of every four people in the US is religiously unaffiliated. David Mislin, Temple University Last fall, the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute noted the growing number of religiously unaffiliated Americans: Nearly one of every four people is...
The Virtual Theme Park
Attribution: Science Friday
X-Files: The Deep State
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the X-Files(!) 21st Century Fox's game division FoxNext Games is about to release "The X-Files: Deep State". A role playing mystery/SF game that will transport you into the world of the FBI's paranormal investigators. Apparently...
Koenig On Modern Star Trek
The original series’ Walter Koenig recently shared his opinion on modern Star Trek, including the three recent movies and Star Trek: Discovery.... Check it out: Koenig On Modern Star Trek
40 Years After ‘Star Wars’ Error, Newspaper Apologizes To Wookiee Community
In its 1977 review, The Dallas Morning News called Chewbacca a "Wookie." Now, on the film's 40th anniversary, the long national nightmare has ended. On that note: We, too, have something to confess. (Image credit: Elaine Thompson/AP) Source: 40 Years After 'Star Wars'...
Star Trek Discovery Trailer
https://youtu.be/4dxe_ugmIVM
Good news everybody!
Good news everybody, Matt Groening is giving us the first new Futurama content in years! Bad news, it will be a mobile game. Let's just hope it is better then the Simpson's games! Still, I'm sure it will be worth checking out when it is released (hopefully) later this...
Get me to Alpha Centauri!
I want my anti-matter! It’s hard to make, hard to store, expensive and volatile. But damn it, I want some! “If you had some,” you might ask, “what would you do with it?” Really? Do you have to ask? I would use it for fuel to get me to Alpha Centauri. Or perhaps...
The Raven-
It is often a fine line between SF and horror, finer still as we approach Halloween! In the spirit of the holiday here is a tidbit for your pleasure! https://youtu.be/BefliMlEzZ8
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, ‘Why, why, why?'” – Kurt Vonnegut
"The only difference between Bush and Hitler is that Hitler was elected" - Kurt Vonnegut Whether you believe their is any truth in this quote or not you can't deny that is sounds like pure Vonnegut. Have any other SF authors wrote about the event of their lifetime...
The Future of A.I. will be live streamed
As part of Pres. Obama's Global Entrepreneurship summit Stanford University will be hosting a conference on the future of Artificial Intelligence. This is an example of the acceleration of a trend we have seen in recent years in which the focus of A.I. has been...
Shadows in the Grass (Indie Movie)
If you're always looking for good content it is important to support the Indie community! So check this out: https://vimeo.com/163429017
Best Political Song Ever?
Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who's Pete Townshend We'll be fighting in the streets With our children at our feet And the morals that they worship will be gone And the men who spurred us on Sit in judgement of all wrong They decide and the shotgun sings the song I'll...
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