Clipmarks | wildcat's resources collection

Classic Sci-Fi channel

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:07:17 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

The CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION CHANNEL

A Boy and His Dog
The Adams Family
Assignment in Outer Space
Astro Boy
Attack_From_Space
Babylon 5
Battlestar Galactica - original series
Battlestar Galactica - 1980
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Cleopatra 2525
The Day the Sky Explorded
Exo-Squad
Firefly
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 1
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 2
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 3
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 4

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 5

When you want something done right, do it yourself. Right?

I've been very disappointed by the so-called SciFi Channel since its inception. Like many others, I believed that I'd be able to tune in and regularly catch repeats of classic shows, great classic movies, some SF oriented 'made-for content' (coverage of conventions, literature, authors, etc) and maybe some original movies or series, carefully chosen to insure the preservation of the genre.

Tags: channel, sci-fi, classics

Marcel Proust- quotes

Thu, 22 May 2008 09:51:46 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.brainyquote.com

A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.

A fashionable milieu is one in which everybody's opinion is made up of the opinion of all the others. Has everybody a different opinion? Then it is a literary milieu.

A powerful idea communicates some of its strength to him who challenges it.

All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.

As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost and science can never regress.

Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded our religions and composed our masterpieces.

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.

If only for the sake of elegance, I try to remain morally pure.

Tags: proust, brilliant, powerful

A curious quest

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:13:01 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: play it, you'll love it

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Now, this is the way we ought to be testing our children:

Questionaut: A Point-and-Click Quiz Adventure by Amanita Design and the BBC

One of the most talented names in the casual gaming business, Amanita Design, creators of the delightful Samorost series, have just teamed up with the BBC to come up with this absolute gem of a game. It’s so cute, you won’t realize it is supposed to be educational... that is until you find yourself completely stumped on a math* question.

The questions are aimed at 11-year-olds, but that may not keep you from scratching your head a few times. Even finding the questions can be a little tricky. The game begins with two friends lazily lounging on a tiny pastoral planet. As you click around and explore, you’ll set off little chain reactions. One of these will lead to one of the friend’s hat being blown away. The other friend promptly chases after it in his hot air balloon. Now, this is where you come in

it is worth playing through more than once.

Tags: games, quest, knowledge

The cost of food: Facts and figures

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:04:27 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Explore the facts and figures behind the rising price of food across the globe.

Rising oil prices and fears over climate change have seen a massive rise in the use of maize to make bio-fuels, pushing up food prices

There will be billions more mouths to feed by 2050, making an increased demand for food a long-term trend

Tags: food, corn, wheat, world, population

"Encyclopedia of Life" -Online 'Macroscope' Launched

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:36:24 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

“The launch of the Encyclopedia of Life will have a profound and creative effect in science. It aims not only to summarize all that we know of Earth’s life forms, but also to accelerate the discovery of the vast array that remain unknown. This great effort promises to lay out new directions for research in every branch of biology.” EOL Video

Edward O. Wilson, Harvard evolutionary biologist and naturalist.

Like a modern-day Aristotle, Harvard's famed biologist, E.O. Wilson, unveiled the first 30,000 pages of the massive online Encyclopedia of Life yesterday at the prestigious Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference in Monterey, California.

Intended as a tool for scientists and policymakers and a fascinating resource for anyone interested in the living world, the EOL is being developed by a unique collaboration between scientists and the general public

EOL hopes to accelerate our understanding of the world’s remaining biodiversity

Tags: biodiversity, life, encyclopedia

Lost Egyptian City Reveals Horrors of Lives of Pharoh's Builders

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:28:37 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Evidence of the brutal lives endured by some ancient Egyptians to build the monuments of the Pharaohs has been uncovered by archaeologists at Amarna, a new capital built on the orders of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, 3,500 years ago.

Archaeologists from a British-based team made a breakthrough when they found human bones in the desert, which had been washed out by floods.

Skeletal remains from a lost city in the middle of Egypt suggest many ordinary people died in their teenage years and lived a punishing lifestyle with common spinal injuries, poor nutrition and stunted growth. The temples and palaces required thousands of large stone blocks. Working in summer temperatures of 40C (104F), the workers would have had to chisel these out of the rock and transport them 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the quarries to the city.

Even Akhanaten's son, Tutankhamen, died aged just 20; and archaeologists are now beginning to believe that there might also have been an epidemic here.

Tags: ancient egypt, pharaohs, archaeology

multiple intelligences and education

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:29:05 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.infed.org

I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Knowledge is not the same as morality, but we need to understand if we are to avoid past mistakes and move in productive directions. An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do... Ultimately, we must synthesize our understandings for ourselves. The performance of understanding that try matters are the ones we carry out as human beings in an imperfect world which we can affect for good or for ill.

Howard Earl Gardner's (1943- ) work has been marked by a desire not to just describe the world but to help to create the conditions to change it. The scale of his contribution can be gauged from following comments in his introduction to the tenth anniversary edition of Howard Gardner's classic work Frames of Mind. The theory of multiple intelligences:

Tags: intelligences, knowledge, understanding

China 3.0

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:26:27 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

It's not surprising considering China's 3000 year history of technology genius and innovation, that shortly after Russia claimed a vast portion of the Arctic sea floor earlier this year, that China has announced plans to map "every inch" of the surface of the Moon and exploit the vast quantities of Helium-3 thought to lie buried in lunar rocks as part of its ambitious space-exploration program.

Helium 3 fusion energy - classic Buck Rogers propulsion system- may be the key to future space exploration and settlement, requiring less radioactive shielding, lightening the load

With China's announcement, a new Moon-focused Space Race seems locked in place. China made its first steps in space just a few years ago, and is in the process of establishing a lunar base by 2024

Tags: china

The Physics of Information: What the Universe Doesn't Want You to Know

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:04:39 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: The panellists for the discussion werr. Leonard Susskind is widely recognized as one of the most creative researchers in the field of theoretical particle physics.
Dr. Seth Lloyd is a Professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.
Dr. Christopher Fuchs is a Long Term Visitor with Perimeter Institute and is an adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of New Mexico.
Sir Anthony Leggett is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

Physicists are not like you and me. That’s because they don't see the world the same way we do.

Take information, for instance. When you have a question or an interest in some topic, and you want more information about it, chances are you look for answers by reading a book, searching the Internet, or even listening to a radio program. But that's not how physicists view information. They want to know what it's actually made of. And that idea leads to a whole lot of weird and quirky views of how the universe works.

The Physics of Information was the topic of a recent public forum, sponsored by Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, and moderated by Bob McDonald. And Quirks was there to record the event. Do ideas about information and reality inspire fruitful new approaches to the hardest problems of modern physics?

Tags: information, universe, physics

A Theory of Humor

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:03:15 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.tomveatch.com

This paper presents a theory of humor, that certain psychological state which tends to produce laughter. The theory states that humor is fully characterized by three conditions, each of which, separately, is necessary for humor to occur, and all of which, jointly, are sufficient for humor to occur. The conditions of this theory describe a subjective state of apparent emotional absurdity, where the perceived situation is seen as normal, and where, simultaneously, some affective commitment of the perceiver to the way something in the situation ought to be is violated. This theory is explained in detail and its logical properties and empirical consequences are explored. Recognized properties of humor are explained (incongruity, surprise, aggression, emotional transformation, apparent comprehension difficulty, etc.). A wide variety of biological, social/communicational, and other classes of humor-related phenomena are characterized and explained in terms of the theory

Tags: humor, theory

Science Encyclopedia

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:35:27 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: an amazing resource, check the history of ideas particularly

Clip Source: science.jrank.org

Science Encyclopedia

Science Encyclopedia Vol 1

Aardvark, Abacus, Abrasives - How do abrasives work?, Abscess, Absolute Zero, Abyssal Plain, Acceleration - History, Linear Acceleration, Circular Acceleration, Force And Acceleration, Accelerators - Linear Accelerators, Circular Accelerators, Cyclotron Modifications, Applications, Accretion Disk, Accuracy - Accuracy In Measurements, In Calculations, Rounding, Acetic Acid, Acetone, Acetylcholine, Acetylsalicylic Acid - History, Mechanism of action, Adverse affects, Acid Rain - Atmospheric Deposition, Chemistry Of Precipitation, Spatial Patterns Of Acidic Precipitation, Dry Deposition Of Acidifying Substances, Acids and Bases - Classic Definition Of Acids And Bases, Strong And Weak Acids And Bases, Brønsted-lowry Definition Of Acids And Bases…

The History of Ideas Vol 1

Abolitionism - Political Ideas, Colonization, Religious Ideas, Economic Ideas, Tactics, Organizations,

Absolute Music - Beethoven And German Influence

Tags: dictionary, history, ideas, science

Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:22:48 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: by Sam Harris

Clip Source: richarddawkins.net

Like many people, I once trusted in the wisdom of Nature. I imagined that there were real boundaries between the natural and the artificial, between one species and another, and thought that, with the advent of genetic engineering, we would be tinkering with life at our peril. I now believe that this romantic view of Nature is a stultifying and dangerous mythology.

Every 100 million years or so, an asteroid or comet the size of a mountain smashes into the earth, killing nearly everything that lives. If ever we needed proof of Nature's indifference to the welfare of complex organisms such as ourselves, there it is. The history of life on this planet has been one of merciless destruction and blind, lurching renewal.

Nothing in the natural order demands that our descendants resemble us in any particular way. Very likely, they will not resemble us. We will almost certainly transform ourselves, likely beyond recognition, in the generations to come.

Tags: sam harris, evolution, nature

Eight of the funniest research projects ever

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:16:59 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

SYDNEY: Strange things are done in the name of research and the more memorable are commemorated by the Ig Nobel prizes, brainchild of the Annals of Improbable Research magazine, which aims to honour achievements that make people laugh and then think.

RODENT JETSETTERS

How does a hamster feel when you simulate jetlag?

SURPRISING FLAVOUR

Vanilla can come from the most unlikely of sources.

for developing a way to extract vanillin from cow faeces. Why cow dung? It's cheaper

FLAT BEER

How many mathematicians do you need to watch beer go flat? Just the one

the observation will lead to a proof that beer froth obeys the law of exponential decay

REINVENTING THE WHEEL

I REALLY, REALLY LOVE YOU

It might be roses and moonlight to you, but to your friends, obsession with your new love may seem more like a disease

MURPHY'S TOAST

Does toast more often land buttered-side down?

SMELLY FEET

It might be sweat and bacteria, but the main factor in how bad your feet smell is how you feel about them

HAPPY CLAMS

Tags: strange, research, projects

ARE YOU LIVING IN A COMPUTER SIMULATION?

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:57:39 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: we need not assume that the thesis of substrate-independence is necessarily true (either analytically or metaphysically) – just that, in fact, a computer running a suitable program would be conscious

Clip Source: www.simulation-argument.com

This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation. A number of other consequences of this result are also discussed.

from the interest this thesis may hold for those who are engaged in futuristic speculation, there are also more purely theoretical rewards. The argument provides a stimulus for formulating some methodological and metaphysical questions, and it suggests naturalistic analogies to certain traditional religious conceptions, which some may find amusing or thought-provoking.

Tags: computing, simulation, future

Growing up in the Universe - Richard Dawkins

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:06:49 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Lectures for Children from a young Richard Dawkins

Clip Source: richarddawkins.net

Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. With brilliance and clarity, Dawkins unravels an educational gem that will mesmerize young and old alike. Illuminating demonstrations, wildlife, virtual reality, and special guests (including Douglas Adams) all combine to make this collection a timeless classic

Episode 1: Waking Up in the Universe

Episode 2: Designed and Designoid Objects

Episode 3: Climbing Mount Improbable

Episode 4: The Ultraviolet Garden

Episode 5: The Genesis of Purpose

Praise for 'Growing Up in the Universe':

"Science as epiphany! An instinctive teacher, Richard Dawkins increases our understanding of the universe and provokes our wonder at it in equal measure." - The Most Reverend Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Church of Scotland.

Dawkins's capacity for clear explanation, assisted by excellent and often beautiful illustrations, is formidable."

- Quentin de la Bédoyère, Catholic Herald.

Tags: evolution, science, richard dawkins