10 Websites To Make You Think Supposedly browsing the internet requires more brain power than watching television. Although judging from some of the websites we’ve come across that assumption is cast into doubt. Here’s some of the sites we like that might get your brain to sit up and listen. Ted A conference that started in 1984 bringing together experts in technology, entertainment and design quickly grew into so much more. New Scientist The New Scientist website carries new articles from the magazine as well as the NS archive of over 76,000 pieces. Big Think The Big Think website is a collection of ‘global thought leaders’ who offer their thoughts and analysis on world events and other important developments. Café Scientifque ‘for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology’ Breathing Earth This fantastic website by David Bleja demonstrates CO2 emissions and world population growth in real time on a global map. Arts & Letters Daily How Stuff Works
74 Books to Read if You Love the Hunger Games If you haven't read the Hunger Games you really should! They're pretty awesome. Check them out: If you're already a fan of the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins... You should add these books to your to be read pile! (The recommendations are in no particular order.) Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie In a world where Officials pick your perfect mate, what happens when you’ve two choices? Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner A boy wakes up in a Glade with other boys knowing only his name, not how he got there, or how to escape the enclosed walls. Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry A young boy is given the job to retain the Community’s memories and to advise them using that knowledge, but he doesn’t like what he sees when he knows the past. Books of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau A city of light amidst the darkness begins to go black and survival means finding a way out by going through the unknown. Uglies Quartet by Scott Westerfeld Selection Trilogy by Kiera Cass UPDATE: Novellas added to series: The Prince , The Guard
How Time Crystals Could Rewrite The Rules Of Physics If you overheard someone talking about time crystals in a bar, you’d think they were mad, or drunk. Or both. These things, theoretically, oscillate for eternity without any energy input whatsoever — and if that sounds like a perpetual motion machine, it’s because it is. Because that’s exactly the situation we find ourselves in. When matter crystallizes, its atoms spontaneously organise themselves into the rows, columns and stacks of a three-dimensional lattice. In other words, he’s saying it must be possible to create a crystal that has regular, time-varying motion going on inside — without any energy being dumped into the system. Fortunately, he has at least one team of researchers on his side. The only problem is that progress is slow: the Berkeley researchers have admitted that the project could take “anywhere between three and infinity years” to complete. Picture: Kostov/Shutterstock
Assigned Reading: The Ultimate Hipster Reading List There are a million suggested reading lists out there, especially now that it’s the end of the year/decade/life as we know it. So how’s an aspiring literary hipster to know which books are most important in terms of street cred and general knowing-it-all-ness? We decided to go straight to the source, and to that end, we’ve collected a few of our favorite and most knowledgeable lit-hipsters’ own hit lists for your cred-building convenience. Most of the books and stories suggested here are completely awesome, and we’re pretty confident that these people know what they’re talking about (most of them create some not-too-shabby literature themselves), so we suggest that the anti-hipsters among you might do well to read on too. Blake Butler (author of Scorch Atlas, editor of HTMLGiant): (Our favorite selections from his list of 25 Important Books of the ’00s – for the full article click here) Miranda July (performance artist, filmmaker, author of No One Belongs Here More Than You): David J.
Hyperbole and a Half At around midnight last night, it started snowing. A lot. I got absurdly excited about it. My point is that after staring at me in silence for a few long moments in which I am sure he questioned some of his life decisions, Boyfriend was like "Fine." So Boyfriend got all bundled up while I checked to make sure everything was unplugged because I didn't want the house to catch on fire while we were gone and then I got dressed while Boyfriend sat on the couch in his snow-clothes looking like he was on some sort of detonation timer and if the timer went off we would no longer be allowed to go for a walk, so I put my hat and gloves on really fast and then I was like "I'm ready!" Boyfriend wanted to stop and take pictures of the snow and the pretty lights, but I was so excited that I took off running: And then I stopped because I had a really good idea and I yelled "Hey! Anyway, that's Main Street in downtown Hamilton, MT on a Saturday night. We got to the grocery store, and guess what? Not open.
10 Essential Books for Book Nerds What makes a book nerd? Reading a lot of books — and liking to talk about said books — is a major requirement, of course, but there’s often something a little more nebulous involved: book nerds are the kinds of people who get a little thrill when walking into a bookstore, who press volumes into their friends’ hands with serious promises of life changing moments, who are fascinated by following the many tangled threads through authors and literature, happily wandering wherever they might lead. Robin Sloan’s recently published Mr. Mr. Man, is this book fun — especially for any book nerd who isn’t in denial about living in the modern age.
Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry English poetry employs five basic rhythms of varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. The meters are iambs, trochees, spondees, anapests and dactyls. In this document the stressed syllables are marked in boldface type rather than the tradition al "/" and "x." The meters with two-syllable feet are IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbersSPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! Adam Had'em. Here are some more serious examples of the various meters. iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables) That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables) Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables) And the sound | of a voice | that is still dactylic hexameter (6 dactyls, 17 syllables; a trochee replaces the last dactyl) This is the | forest pri | meval, the | murmuring | pine and the | hemlocks
50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Library Post written by Leo Babauta. I recently ran into a couple of reading lists (I’ll share them at the end) and realized that I LOVE reading book recommendations. I can’t get enough of them. So I decided to compile my own (somewhat eclectic) list of novels I think are amazing and essential to every library. I should make some notes before diving in. Another note: there are actually many more books listed here than 50 — a number of those listed are actually series of books, in a couple cases series that include 20 or more books. There are classics here, but there are cheap thrillers and popular fiction and even a few “kids” books. If you could fill your library with only 50 books, you could do much worse than choose these 50. Not in any order but just in the order they came to me: King Lear, by Shakespeare. Some other lists of books I’ve enjoyed recently:
Scientists use brain imaging to reveal the movies in our mind BERKELEY — Imagine tapping into the mind of a coma patient, or watching one’s own dream on YouTube. With a cutting-edge blend of brain imaging and computer simulation, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are bringing these futuristic scenarios within reach. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and computational models, UC Berkeley researchers have succeeded in decoding and reconstructing people’s dynamic visual experiences – in this case, watching Hollywood movie trailers. As yet, the technology can only reconstruct movie clips people have already viewed. The approximate reconstruction (right) of a movie clip (left) is achieved through brain imaging and computer simulation “This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery,” said Professor Jack Gallant, a UC Berkeley neuroscientist and coauthor of the study published online today (Sept. 22) in the journal Current Biology. “We need to know how the brain works in naturalistic conditions,” he said.
kenopsia The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for. The author's mission is to capture the aches, demons, vibes, joys and urges that roam the wilderness of the psychological interior. Each sorrow is bagged, tagged and tranquilized, then released gently back into the subconscious. ▸ visit the facebook page to hear the backstory behind each word ▸ follow on twitter (@obscuresorrows) for whatever reason ▸ send me a tumblr message describing emotions you need words for ▸ send me an email via obscuresorrows@gmail.com JOHN KOENIG is a designer and commercial director who lives in St. He is currently writing a book version of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Copyright © 2013 John Koenig.
Spatial Agency - Connections map Christiania is an autonomous settlement on the site of a former military barracks in Copenhagen. After the military left the site it was fenced off but in 1971 a group of people took over parts of the site to make a children's playground. Soon after Christiania was proclaimed a Freetown with one of the original goals being to 'build up a society from scratch'. It is one of the largest 'slum communes' and was set up in direct response to the lack of affordable housing and social facilities, and as an antidote to stressful city life. The legal status of Christiania has been the source of much conflict with the Danish government and the fate of the settlement was a party political issue throughout the 1970s. Although Christiania is still considered a 'Free State', the first decade of its existence was the most radical, both politically and socially. References About Christa S. Adam Conroy, Christiania: The Evolution of a Commune (London: A. Quotes Connections
11 Most Ironically Banned Books Of All Time Saturday, September 26th through Saturday, October 3rd is the 27th annual National Banned Books Week, a week that opposes censorship, the Thought Police, and closeted gay "family values" types who sublimate their man-on-man urges through rampant and vigorous homophobia. Long time readers of this website will know I hate three things: Internet commenters who misuse your and you're... hypocrisy... and you're mom. Today's list is going after hypocrisy. I searched through lists of books that have been banned at one time or another (mostly in the U.S.), and found the ones whose bans were the most hypocritical, ignorant, and, based on the content of the books, ironic. 1. This gets the number one spot because, ya know, it's an entire novel about the future government banning (and burning) books because they could inspire critical thought. It's been banned because, in "Fahrenheit", one of the books that eventually gets burned is the Bible. 2. 3. 4. Smithers: I'm afraid we have a bad image, Sir.
How Color-Coded Notes Make You A More Efficient Thinker It's a tall order to take physical notes on actual paper with a real pen. Most people I know don't do it, despite the clear benefits . It's more stuff to lug around, while your ever-ready phone offers literally hundreds of apps for speaking, writing, drawing, and syncing notes. But there are real, tested benefits to using multiple colors to stretch out your thoughts, take notes on meetings, and do your research on deeper topics. Map Your Mind, or Just Save Your Future Self from Boredom Draw out your loose ideas floating around a topic or project on a whiteboard or large paper canvas, and you will almost certainly not feel it was a waste of time. But having a few color markers or pens is a small bit of structure you should pick up. That last bit applies to standard line-by-line note-taking, too, Tipper told Fast Company . Remember Who Said What, and Why Messy notebooks with monotone text make it hard to recall the key points and who-said-what of meetings and project updates.