Photograph by J. Star Anisse Gross reads her poem “Last Year’s Snow”. Via KQED
Read MorePolitical prisoners aren’t the only victims of torture; the vast majority of torture happens in ordinary cases and ‘functioning’ legal systems. Social activist Karen Tse shows how we can, and should, stand up and end the use of routine torture. About the Speaker: Karen Tse is a former public defender and social activist. Full bio and more links.
Read MorePeter Orner reads a passage from his latest novel, Love and Shame and Love. Via KQED
Read MoreUsing examples from his improvisational Jazz quartet, Stefon Harris speaks to a profound truth: many actions are perceived as mistakes only because we don’t react to them appropriately. About the Speaker: Stefon Harris plays the vibraphone, and leads a jazz ensemble with a collaborative sound built on collective inspiration. Full bio and more links.
Read MorePulitzer Prize-winning journalist and novelist Hector Tobar reads a passage from his latest, The Barbarian Nurseries. Via KQED
Read MoreCistercian nuns in chapel, detail from frontispiece, Pierre de Blois, La Sainte Abbaye, Central France (possibly Maubuisson) or North Eastern France (Lorraine), ca. 1290. The British Library Board, BL Yates Thompson MS 11, fol. 1v. Reproduced with kind permission by Anne E. Lester To call it a parchment page does not capture what it is. More a…
Read MoreStanmore, 1913 Alan Hollinghurst reads a passage from his latest novel, The Stranger’s Child. Via KQED Read James Warner’s review of A Stranger’s Child here
Read MoreDoes science ruin the magic of life? Robin Ince makes the argument against. The more we learn about the astonishing behaviour of the universe, the more we stand in awe. About the Speaker: The rational-minded Robin Ince conducts live experiments in comedy. Full bio and more links.
Read MoreAnn Joslin Williams reads a passage from Down from Cascom Mountain, her debut novel about how a rural New Hampshire community deals with tragedy. Via KQED
Read MoreBen Kacyra, who invented a groundbreaking 3-D scanning system, uses his invention to scan and preserve the world’s heritage in archival detail. About the Speaker: Ben Kacyra uses state-of-the-art technology to preserve cultural heritage sites and let us in on their secrets in a way never before possible. Full bio and more links
Read MorePitbull Relaxing, Laura Bolle, 2008 Jesmyn Ward reads a passage from Salvage the Bones, her novel that was just announced as a finalist for the National Book Award. Via KQED
Read MoreWe feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust. About the Speaker: In “The Spirit Level,” Richard…
Read MoreBrown University Jeffrey Eugenides, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, reads a passage from his latest, The Marriage Plot. Via KQED
Read MoreFrom Jurassic Park, Universal Pictures, 1993 From Wired: People have told Jack Horner he’s crazy before, but he has always turned out to be right. In 1982, on the strength of seven years of undergraduate study, a stint in the Marines, and a gig as a paleontology researcher at Princeton, Horner got a job at…
Read MoreHow do we search for alien life if it’s nothing like the life that we know? Christoph Adami shows how he uses his research into artificial life — self-replicating computer programs — to find a signature, a ‘biomarker,’ that is free of our preconceptions of what life is. About the Speaker: Christoph Adami works…
Read MoreFrom Braid, Jonathan Blow, 2009 From Chapter 1: Art Are videogames art? It’s a question that’s sparked considerable debate, most notably thanks to the film critic Roger Ebert’s declaration that “the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art.” For the philosopher and game designer Jim Preston, it’s…
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