Month: April 2008
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Ethical Impulses & The Moral Instinct
Evolution has endowed us with ethical impulses. Do we know what to do with them? In Steven Pinker’s New York Times article, The Moral Instinct, this question is raised and discussed as he takes us on a guided tour of ‘moral psychology‘ – a recently invigorated field. The starting point for appreciating that there is…
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The Large Hadron Collider & the Inevitable (?) Black Hole
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is due to start smashing protons together this summer which has lead some to theorise that the end of the world is nigh. Not to worry, though: we can all sleep soundly enough, as it’s unlikely anything other than some interesting physics is going to be happening underneath France and Switzerland.…
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The World Without Us
What would happen if humans disappeared from the face of the planet right now? What would happen to our infrastructure, the wild animals… our legacy? This is the topic Alan Weisman tackles in his speculative non-fiction book, The World Without Us (which I’m considering adding to my reading list purely out of curiosity). The Wikipedia…
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The Photo Police
All too often we hear stories of over-zealous security officials hassling innocent photographers doing what comes naturally: taking photos of beautiful structures in the public domain. It appears this is now happing in Dubai with people with SLRs being prevented from photographing the awe-inspiring Burj Al Arab hotel (in order to “protect the hotel’s image”).…
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Jonathan Franzen on Shanghai
The novelist Jonathan Franzen is skilled at describing the rich and colourful dreams we have about our futures, whilst still managing to portray the bleak reality of life for society at large (I loved The Corrections). Shanghai seems like a great place for this style to really shine, as a recent audio story in The…
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Designing Your Résumé (CV)
I’ve just written a post all about résumés – how to write them, design them, and how to figure out if you’re really after a new job or a career change: For those of us stuck in the formal, corporate world (for now), résumés (CVs) are a fact of life that we usually try to…
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Incredible Photos of Cambridge (UK) & Some Great Tutorials to Boot
If you’ve ever visited Cambridge (UK) you’ll know that it’s a rather amazing place: its rich history, culture, and natural and structural beauty make it an absolute pleasure to visit. For photographers, I can think of no better place. That said, Cambridge in Colour – the website of Sean McHugh – contains not only some…
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You’re Not a Blogger
The simplest blog post I’ve seen in a long time. The best blog post I’ve seen in a long time. Do what you love… be an entrepreneur. Richard Branson on Copyblogger
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British Standard for Tea Brewing
Conforming to standards is an important part of many jobs, and tea brewing is no exception. In 1980 the British Standards Group produced a document, Method for Preparation of a Liquor of Tea, setting out, once and for all, the British Standard method for the brewing of tea. I’m sure its raison d’être was in…
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Ze Frank’s ‘The Show’
I first came across Ze Frank in August 2006 when I watched his TED Talk, What’s so funny about the Web? Since then I hear of Ze sporadically, but have never really looked into any of his work. Well, that was until this morning when I came across The Show. produced monday through friday for…