June 23, 2012

1st Ever SPACE SHUTTLE Landing - I was there for this one

By a colossal mistake, I turned right when I should have turned left.

Instead of watching this historic flight with the rest of the contractors, I was seated in the VIP section in Mission Control, surrounded by military brass and the families of the astronauts.

If I had to do it over, I'd screw up just the same.

June 2, 2012

Homo Scientificus According to Beckett

One of the truly profound essays I have read in my life.

http://www.ini.uzh.ch/~tobi/fun/max/delbruckHomoScientificusBecket1972.pdf

It has been over 35 years since I first read this essay by Max Delbrück, and it still inspires me and haunts me today.

What is the nature of the scientific mind? What drives a scientist?

Delbrück was a German-American biophysicist. He won the Nobel prize for discovering that bacteria become resistant to viruses (phages) as a result of genetic mutations.

In a recent article in Scientific American; The Right Way to Get It Wrong, it mentions Delbrück, along with Neils Bohr and Enrico Fermi, as scientists who have made spectacular mistakes that have driven science forward. Quote:

"In the 1940s Max Delbrück, the key founder of molecular biology, based his research on a number of incorrect and misleading assumptions. He would go on to win a Nobel Prize."

February 28, 2012

RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism

Not crisis; crises, as in plural of crisis.

Very interesting and entertaining animated video and discourse on the subject.

I would love to see some commentary on the subject, both pro and against.

February 15, 2012

St Valentine Gunned Down...

The suspect who was linked to several high-impact crimes of passion, was killed after an exhaustive man hunt in Matamoros, Mexico, apparently in a territorial dispute.

:large

http://twitter.com/#!/armacdon/status/169445329987584003/photo/1

February 13, 2012

Happy Valentines Day - Funny Video

It's in Spanish, but the story is all visual. I laugh every time I see the kid go after a girl twice his age...

January 11, 2012

James Burke : The Day The Universe Changed: "Worlds Without End"

This series aired in 1985, 20 years before blogs, before Facebook existed, before crowd sourcing, before flash crowds, before social networking...

This video contains the last 6 minutes of the last episode of the series.

Remarkable, and inspiring.

The whole series is worth watching, particularly the complete episode, "worlds Without End"

January 1, 2012

Best New Year's Wish Ever

Before I'm drunk, naked, and lose my cell phone, happy new year!

Aziz

Sent from Pakistan.

December 19, 2011

Tania Libertad - Syndrome of Love. A song still banned on Mexican Radio to this day

Tania Libertad interprets the theme "Síndrome de amor" (Syndrome of Love) by Víctor "El Negro" Heredia for the production "Un mundo una esperanza" (A world of Hope, Dendé Records, México, 1998 produced by Arturo Villegas for the Mexican Foundation for the battle against AIDS)

It has been censured on Mexican radio as "immoral" and still banned to this day.

Video directed by Angélica Rodríguez.