The Science of a Good Beer

Grab a (good) beer, and watch Dave McLean explain how he brews.



I love listening to experts explain their field in their own words, without having to conform to news conventions.

This emotional science

Dacher Keltner talks about the psychology of emotions:



The story he tells about how hardly any American soldiers fired their guns in World War 2 is probably a myth.

How to be happy

Psychiatrist Raj Persaud talks about the secret of happiness:



Or as Lin Yutang wrote in The Importance of Living:

All questions of living in heaven must be brushed aside. Let not the spirit take wings and soar to the abode of the gods and forget the earth. Are we not mortals, condemned to die? The span of life vouchsafed us, threescore and ten, is short enough, if the spirit gets too haughty and wants to live forever, but on the other hand, it is also long enough, if the spirit is a little humble. One can learn such a lot and enjoy such a lot in seventy years, and three generations is a long time to see human follies and acquire human wisdom. Anyone who is wise and has lived long enough to witness the changes of fashion and morals and politics through the rise and fall of three generations should be perfectly satisfied to rise from his seat and go away saying, "It was a good show" when the curtain falls.

For we are of the earth, earth-born and earth-bound. There is nothing to be unhappy about the fact that we are, as it were, delivered upon this beautiful earth as its transient guests. Even if it were a dark dungeon, we still would have to make the best of it; it would be ungrateful of us not to do so when we have, instead of a dungeon, such a beautiful earth to live on for a good part of a century.

Vulcan rubber ears in our pockets

Neal Stephenson, this blog's patron saint, talks about SF culture and mundane culture, and what it means for a book to be genre:



Via Wet Asphalt, who adds that it's pointless to try to define SF as a certain kind of story. SF is a set of shared cultural traditions.

As Neal Stephenson says, the people who read science fiction overlap with the people who read fantasy, despite these being different kinds of stories. Asking what exactly makes a novel SF is to miss the point - it's the culture of the readers that matters. Geek culture.

Stephenson says that in a way we're all geeks now, but that is to water out the word. SF is influential, but geek is still a separate culture. It's not a narrowly defined culture. There's no uniform or canon. Anyone who calls themselves a geek is one, and also many who don't. But there's still a difference.

There are also geek snobs, people so fed up with being looked down on by cultural snobs that they look down in return. I'm more relaxed. But I still think you're the poorer for not knowing who Neal Stephenson is.

That reminds me, I should read his newer novels soon. Some day. (Neal Stephenson fans can be recognized by their ambivalence towards him. Anyone who says they love everything he's ever written is an impostor.)

FORA videos on counterterrorism and the Iraq war

From FORA.tv: Laura Donohue talks about counterterrorism and surveillance in the US after September 11. She argues that 'freedom' vs 'security' is the wrong angle, and that one of the overlooked challenges of counterterrorism is the power it gives to the executive branch.




Peter Galbraith talks about the Iraq war, the prospects of democracy, and why Iran is the victor of the war:

Did he learn nothing in Hanoi?

From FORA.tv: Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris talk about the less-known backstory of the Abu Ghraib scandal. You need to watch this.




An interview with the satirist and former Republican speech writer Christopher Buckley, (author of the delightful Thank You For Smoking):




Richard Rigby explains what's happening in China:




Robert Reich talks about the financial crisis:

A monument to curiosity

Steven LeVine talks about the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist.






Philip Pan talks about freedom and repression in China.






Frank Wilczek explains the Large Hadron Collider. And there's a silly LHC rap. Physics nerds are so awesome.

Today's evening news replacement

New York Times correspondent Dexter Filkins talks about his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq:






Jacob Weisberg talks about the life and character of George W. Bush:






OMG!!1! Two hours of talking! Brain hurts .. must .. find .. funny .. cat .. picture. Aaaah:

Remember when there were smart programs on TV?

FORA.tv is a video site that wants to make you smarter. Without saying anything bad about YouTube and its imitators, this is a rare ambition on the web today. FORA.tv gathers videos of speeches, lectures and panel debates on topics such as politics, science and culture. The videos are long, often boring, and rarely contain even a single TV-worthy soundbite. It's my favourite new website in a long while - this is what's missing from television. In such a gathering of public intellectuals, academics and activists, you'll inevitably suffer many silly and eccentric speakers, and if that is enough to scare you away I recommend you go watch this freaking hilarious dramatic chipmunk on YouTube. For the rest of you, here are some recommendations to start with:

• I already linked to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who is a bad speaker, but has important things to say, (a common combination).
  
• A panel on propaganda. Skip the first speaker, and my favourite part (about the Solidarity movement in Poland) begins at chapter 15.
  
• This second part from the same conference talks about the science of manipulation. My favourite part is with Frank Luntz from chapter 9.
  
• Walt Mossberg talks about cellphones and internet technology.
  
• Sudhir Venkatesh talks about his book Gang Leader For a Day, about what he learned from his friendship with a Chicago gang leader.