8/31/09
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Sola
Times Online on avaldanud kogumikus Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights leiduva maineka Nigeeria kirjaniku Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie lühijutu Sola.Sola has disappeared. Today, I walked into his room and saw his father sitting on his bed, crying, back slumped, and in one hand was the red Arsenal shirt Sola always wore when he watched the Premier League. His father never liked me. For the almost two years that Sola and I have been together, his father would ignore my greetings, would mumble that I was a bad influence, a city girl. But when I walked in and saw him crying, he looked up, his eyes full of bewilderment, and I placed my hand on his shoulder and then offered to boil some water to make him atiya...
Miks peaks Obamale tuumapommid meeldima
Jonathan Tepperman selgitab Newsweekis, miks ei ole Ameerika Ühendriikide presidendi Barack Obama plaan muuta maailm tuumarelvavabaks ehk kõige parem mõte ning näitab, kuidas see samm annaks maailmarahule üsna ränga hoobi.The argument that nuclear weapons can be agents of peace as well as destruction rests on two deceptively simple observations. First, nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945. Second, there's never been a nuclear, or even a nonnuclear, war between two states that possess them. Just stop for a second and think about that: it's hard to overstate how remarkable it is, especially given the singular viciousness of the 20th century. As Kenneth Waltz, the leading "nuclear optimist" and a professor emeritus of political science at UC Berkeley puts it, "We now have 64 years of experience since Hiroshima. It's striking and against all historical precedent that for that substantial period, there has not been any war among nuclear states."
Google'i raamatuprojekt - filantroopia või piraatlus?
William Skidelsky arutleb Guardianis pikemas artiklis Google'i paljuräägitud raamatuprojekti tagamaade üle ja nendib, et ettevõtmine on vähemalt esialgselt plaanitud kujul sattunud suure küsimärgi alla, sest selle vastaste leeriga on nüüd liitunud ka Amazon ja Microsoft.Over the coming months, we will hear a lot more about the Google settlement and its ramifications. Although it's a subject that may seem obscure and specialised, it concerns one of the biggest issues affecting publishing and, indeed, other creative industries – the control of digital rights. No one knows the precise use Google will make of the intellectual property it has gained by scanning the world's library books, and the truth, as Gleick points out, is that the company probably doesn't even know itself. But what is certain is that, in some way or another, Google's entrance into digital bookselling will have a significant impact on the book world in years to come.
8/30/09
Septembrikuu Tarkade Klubi
Septembrikuu Tarkade Klubi nendib, et teadus ei pea olema mitte ainult valgetes kitlites laboratooriumites askeldavate teadlaste pärusmaa ja tegelikult on kõigil meist võimalik otsesemalt või kaudsemalt aidata kaasa uute avastuste sünnile - ajakirja värske number tutvustab kaaneloos võimalusi, kuidas olla teaduse teenistuses.Arheoloog Villu Kadakas kõneleb oma tööst arheoloogia "kiirabina" ja räägib, mida põnevat pakkusid väljakaevamised Vabaduse väljakul.
Lõhnade ülekandmist telefonide, televiisori või interneti vahendusel on meile lubatud juba kümmekond aastat ning Tarkade Klubi uurib, kui kaugel digitaalsed lõhnad tegelikult?
Lisaks lugemist ookeanites tekkinud elust, põrna elutähtsast rollist, mõtete jõul asjade liigutamisest, lennukite mustadest kastidest, orbitaaltanklatest ja 2000 aasta tagusest Teutoburgi lahingust.
Mida oleks tapjarobotite loojatel ulmekirjandusest õppida
Tim Martin manitseb Telegraphis sõjarobotite loojaid lugema antud valdkonda puudutavat ulmekirjandust ning soovitab neil seal kirjeldatavast õppust võtta.As the march of science turns the impossible into the everyday, many works of sci-fi are looking less like blissful escapism and more like user manuals. But perhaps the prize for brazen senselessness in invention goes to the Japanese company that this month showed working prototypes of the Hybrid Assistive Limb, its new mechanical exoskeleton for humans. Lesson one: if you are building a machine to help humans, calling it HAL isn’t a good idea. Lesson two: setting out in this business with a company named Cyberdyne is going to make people nervous. It only costs a few quid to rent The Terminator. We really can’t say we weren’t warned.
vaata veelKirjastajate poolt tagasi lükatud raamatutest
Robert McCrum kirjutab Observeris kirjastajate poolt avaldamist mitte väärivaks kõntsaks tembeldatud käsikirjadest, millest on hiljem saanud menukid.Sometimes it is the authors who get buried by rejection. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide before A Confederacy of Dunces saw the light of day, in a massive launch (slightly helped by the manuscript's backstory) in 1980. Many other celebrated writers, including Beatrix Potter, Joseph Heller, George Orwell, Stephen King, John le Carré and James Joyce, have all experienced the bitter taste of rejection at some point in their literary careers.
Charles Saatchi kunstist ja selle kogumisest
Maailma edukaimaks kunstikogujaks ja kunstiteostega kaubitsejaks peetav Charles Saatchi pajatab Guardianile antud intervjuus kunstist, selle kollektsioneerimisest ja rollist, mida kunst meie maailmas mängib.Who cares what I'm described as? Art collectors are pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. What matters and survives is the art. I buy art that I like. I buy it to show it off in exhibitions. Then, if I feel like it, I sell it and buy more art. As I have been doing this for 30 years, I think most people in the art world get the idea by now. It doesn't mean I've changed my mind about the art that I end up selling. It just means that I don't want to hoard everything for ever.
8/29/09
Artificial Paradise, inc
Artificial Paradise, Inc is an experimental film anticipating a future where a major corporation has developed an unique software, based on organic virtual reality, which holds all the lost memories of humankind. A user connects to this database of the forgotten…what is he searching for?
autor: Jp FRENAY
Joe Abercrombie oma järgmisest raamatust
Fantaasiakirjanduse superstaar Joe Abercrombie pajatab oma blogis oma järgmisest raamatust, mis tõotab tulla vähemalt sama metsikult äge, kui kõik ta senised romaanid, ning annab ettevaatliku lubaduse, et raamat võiks praeguste prognooside kohaselt ilmuda 2011. aasta veebruaris.The Heroes - Both because the action centres around a ring of standing stones called the Heroes, and because it's about heroism and that (meant semi-ironically, of course). It mostly takes place over the course of three days, and is the story of a single battle for control of the North. Think Lord of the Rings meets A Bridge Too Far, with a sprinkling of Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. It's about war, you get me? Principally it follows the (mis)adventures of six assorted persons on both sides and different levels of command, whose paths intersect during the course of the battle in various fateful, horrible, wonderful, surprisingly violent, surprisingly unviolent, and hilarious ways. With the Northmen: a veteran losing his nerve who just wants to keep his crew alive, an ex-Prince determined to claw his way back to power by any means necessary, a young lad determined to win a place in the songs for himself. With the Union: A depressive swordsman who used to be the king's bodyguard, a profiteering standard-bearer, and the venomously ambitious daughter of the Marshal in command. But of course a fair few familiar faces show up on both sides...
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Ohtlikud veeelukad
LiveScience tutvustab kümmet veeolendit, kellega märjas või siis mitte nii märjas keskkonnas kokku sattudes eriti ettevaatlik tasub olla.Yes, this list is subjective, but it's based on research aimed at finding the creatures of the deep that conjure the most compelling combination of frightening personas, actual aggression and/or real pain or death to humans. More often than not, pain and death from sea creatures is avoidable, especially in the case of two on this list that inflict most of their damage in home aquariums and restaurants.
The Republic of Thieves'i proloog
Scott Lynch on oma veebilehele allalaadimiseks välja pannud kelmifantaasiasarja The Gentleman Bastard palavalt oodatud kolmanda raamatu The Republic of Thieves proloogi.You asked politely. You asked impolitely. You sent death threats. You hired mercenaries. Well, they made their point very clear! Enjoy the prologue to The Republic of Thieves, and lay eyes on Sabetha Belacoros for the very first time ;)
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8/28/09
Miks me nutame?
Charles Q. Choi tutvustab LiveScience'is uut ja huvitavat teooriat selle kohta, miks inimesed pisaraid valavad."Crying is a highly evolved behavior," said researcher Oren Hasson, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel. "My analysis suggests that by blurring vision, tears lower defenses and reliably function as signals of submission, a cry for help, and even in a mutual display of attachment and as a group display of cohesion."
Töökaotuse hirm on töötusest rängem
Robert Roy Britt tutvustab LiveScience'is kahte pikaajalist uuringut, mis näitavad, et pidev hirm oma töökoha kadumise pärast mõjub tervisele tegelikust töötusest laastavamalt."Based on how participants rated their own physical and mental health, we found that people who were persistently concerned about losing their jobs reported significantly worse overall health in both studies and were more depressed in one of the studies than those who had actually lost and regained their jobs recently," said Sarah Burgard, a sociologist at the University of Michigan. "In fact, chronic job insecurity was a stronger predictor of poor health than either smoking or hypertension in one of the groups we studied," Burgard said.
vaata veelManu Chao uus plaat valmis vaimuhaiglas
Rory Carroll kirjutab Guardianis, et ekstsentrilise muusiku Manu Chao värske album Viva La Colifata! valmis ühes Buenos Airese psühhiaatriahaiglas ning iga huviline võib antud plaadi veebist tasuta alla laadida ja soovi korral samas ka vaimuhaiglat ja sealsete asukate tehtavat raadiojaama Radio La Colifat annetusega toetada. The album, Viva La Colifata!, features 20 songs about life, love, loneliness, death, sunshine, mothers and the end of the world. It mixes some old Chao tunes with mostly new material from the singer and patients, including poetry and improvisations. The idea, according to the publicity blurb, is to "laugh, cry and meditate about life".
Kummaline pahavara muudab eksperdid nõutuks
John Markoff kirjutab New York Timesis hinnanguliselt juba 5 miljonit arvutit oma kontrolli alla võtnud kuriprogrammist Conficker, mille vastu võitlemise katsed on seni olnud suhteliselt viljatud ning mille loojate eesmärkide osas on asjatundjad praegu üsna erinevatel seisukohtadel.Some researchers think Conficker is an empty shell, or that the authors of the program were scared away in the spring. Others argue that they are simply biding their time. If the misbegotten computer were reactivated, it would not have the problem-solving ability of supercomputers used to design nuclear weapons or simulate climate change. But because it has commandeered so many machines, it could draw on an amount of computing power greater than that from any single computing facility run by governments or Google. It is a dark reflection of the “cloud computing” sweeping the commercial Internet, in which data is stored on the Internet rather than on a personal computer.
8/27/09
vaata veelKõrge testosteroonitase muudab kehvaks isaks
Ewen Callaway tutvustab New Scientistis teadustööd, millega saadi lisakaalu arvamusele, et kõrge testosteroonitasemega mehed pööravad oma naisele ja lastele keskmisest vähem tähelepanu.High testosterone levels have been linked to increased sexual activity, infidelity and marital conflict. However, after men become fathers, their bodies typically pump out less of the hormone. "This is good for us, so we can adapt to social challenges very quickly," says Alexandra Alvergne, an anthropologist at the University of Montpellier, France, and the University of Sheffield, UK, who led the new study.
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