NOIBN
aardvarchaeology | February 12, 2008Co-discoverer of DNA and Nobel laureate James Watson is the Seed Media Group's board of directors' scientific advisor. Not a member of some advisory group: the board's single advisor. He has remained so despite a highly publicised racist utterance four months ago.
In October last year Watson was quoted as being "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" as "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really." This is not the first time that Watson lets slip a really bisarre prejudice: he's slurred women,…
aardvarchaeology | September 27, 2007Here's a link page that I used during a talk about internet culture to advertising students at Bergh's on 28 September. This blog entry will move down the page as I write new ones, but I'll leave the link page on-line. Bookmark it in your browser!
If you, Dear Reader, weren't at the talk and still want to hear my comments on the links, I'd be very happy to give more talks on the subject at the venue of your choice.
aardvarchaeology | June 26, 2007Here's some geology for a change.
At Slättemossa in the province of Småland, southern Sweden, are found ice-polished outcrops of orbicular diorite ("Napoleonite"). This rock consists of granite balls covered with hornblende and other minerals and then encased in a granite matrix. When the inland ice ground the rock down, a smooth grey surface covered in darker circles resulted. Pretty striking, as seen in the photographs by Anders Möller! Anders and Inger are badass geocachers, having found nearly 1400 caches and hidden more than 200.
Visit the site at N57° 22.930 E15° 36.100. It's not far…
aardvarchaeology | June 20, 2007You listen to a podcast that you like for months and years and you start feeling like you know the people on the show a little. Their voices are certainly familiar and you know a bit about their personalities. And so you start to wonder what they look like. At least I did. So by various means I've located pix of the people behind my favourite podcasts. Check them out! These guys rule my mp3 player and they should be on yours as well.
The R.U. Sirius show: R.U. Sirius, Jeff Diehl, Diana Brown, Steve Robles.
Escape Pod: Steve Eley, Jonathon Sullivan.
Skepticality: Swoopy, Derek.
Digital Planet…
aardvarchaeology | June 2, 2007Got up at half past seven, spent the morning geocaching around Haninge. Found nine out of ten caches I searched for, listened to music and podcasts, sunshine, happy! Saw some sights:
A hill fort
A huge sun-dial sculpture
The ruin of a bunker (?)
A modern runestone (c. 1900), cemented to a cliff and covered with spray-painted graffitti
A frisbee golf course full of buttercups
Two potholes / giant's cauldrons / jättegrytor
A mid-11th century runic inscription on a cliffside, with a looped and be-runed dragon and a big central cross, commemorating a deceased person and mentioning a bridge built…
aardvarchaeology | May 24, 2007
Dear Reader, I have a confession to make. During the past two years I have invested a lot of time, effort and gasoline into locating 500 plastic jars, most of which were hidden under rocks. Some were in crevices in stone walls, others fastened with magnets behind metal fuseboxes and the like. Many were at scenic spots or among strange ruins. I used the Global Positioning System to find those jars. Sometimes I had to solve riddles and conundrums to get the coordinates. Often I have risen at dawn on weekends and gone out to seek tupperware while my family enjoyed a lazy morning. And you know…
aardvarchaeology | May 4, 2007
First there was Orkut. Then Friendster. Then MySpace (ugleee). Now, lured by my homie Howard Williams and sundry SciBlings, I have registered on yet another social networking site: Facebook. I am currently a sad presence there with hardly any friends. Feel free to befriend my digital representation!
aardvarchaeology | February 25, 2007Should the future Constitution of the European Union make reference to Christian values? The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel among others thinks so. Or should it be founded on secular liberal principles? I among others think so.
To that end, I have just signed the Brussels Declaration on-line.
We, the people of Europe, hereby affirm our common values. They are based not on a single culture or tradition but are founded in all of the cultures that make up modern Europe.We affirm the worth, dignity and autonomy of every individual, and the right of everyone to the greatest possible freedom…