Zeph’s pop culture quiz #62 In the spectacles of a gentleman—who is sporting a quite ↵distinctive tie knot, by the way—two people fighting are reflected. Who are they? Simply leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask … Continue reading →
zeph’s pop culture quiz #61 A warplane in camouflage flies over snowy mountains. But who is inside? What I am asking for are the names of the two leading actors … identifying from which movie the screencap stems helps, naturally … Continue reading →
zeph’s pop culture quiz #60 A man is sitting in the cinema. Which movie is he watching? Mind, I am not asking from which film the screenshot is taken, who the man is, what he has done, or not done … Continue reading →
Artist and composer ↑Ben[jamin] Grosser, currently teaching at the School of Art & Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, two days ago has published his fine article “↓What do metrics want? How quantification prescribes social interaction on Facebook.” Here’s the … Continue reading →
In addition to his substantial contributions to science (see Bogolyubov, Mikhailov & Yushkevich 2007) the eminent swiss mathematician and physicist ↑Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) also wrote texts accessible to the general public. Eulers didactics are absolutely admirable because you can dive … Continue reading →
Back in August 2006 here at xirdalium I wrote ↵an entry [worthwhile, lots of associations] on Gareth Branwyn’s and Peter Sugarman’s 1991 HyperCard classic ‘↑Beyond cyberpunk‘ [← that’s a link to the complete web version]. Now Gareth has published his … Continue reading →
Well, here it is—to my knowledge the first ↑English-language review of my book ‘Cyberanthropology’ (2011) [which is in German]. ↑Annika Pissin of Lunds Universitet’s project ↑Digital China was so kind as to write a fine review in ↑the project’s blog … Continue reading →
Here is a passage from chapter two of ↑Glenn Greenwald‘s excellent newest book “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State” (2014), which I’ve recently read: Finally, Snowden gave me an answer that felt vibrant … Continue reading →
Why do animals play? Well, why shouldn’t they? The real question is: Why does the existence of action carried out for the sheer pleasure of acting, the exertion of powers for the sheer pleasure of exerting them, strike us as … Continue reading →
Remember, remember the fifth of … June June 1 should have been D-day, but General Eisenhower needed three subsequent days of fine weather to get enough men and materials across the channel in order to resist the inevitable counter-attack. In … Continue reading →