The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: Books, Technology, e-books | ≅ 2 Comments
Lawrence Lessig calls Jonathan Zittrain’s book “Absolutely required reading.” Cass Sunstein says it’s “Absolutely essential reading.” And Lawrence Tribe declares that it is “The most compelling book ever written on why a transformative technology’s trajectory threatens to stifle that technology’s greatest promise for society.”
The book is The Future of the Internet–And How to Stop It. [...]
≡ Category: Philosophy, Random | ≅ 1 Comment
What happens when Socrates tries to land a job at a university? It doesn’t go so well. Below, we have the comments returned by the interview committee, as imagined by THE (Times Higher Education). In this piece, you’ll also find Tolstoy, Kafka, Jane Austen and other geniuses coming up short with the search committees. Now to [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ Leave a Comment
I enjoy replaying this vintage gem every now and then – Malcolm X debating at Oxford University in 1964. In this classic video, you get a good feel for Malcolm X’s presence and message, not to mention the social issues that were alive during the day. You’ll hear X’s trademark claim that liberty can be [...]
≡ Category: Life, Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
For good measure, I’m adding Ted Kennedy’s eulogy for his brother, Robert Kennedy, back in 1968. Get the audio here. And, in turn, you can also watch President Obama’s eulogy of Senator Kennedy, plus Ted Kennedy Jr.’s remembrances, from earlier in the day. Some moving words and some ideas to live by…
≡ Category: Philosophy, Science | ≅ 14 Comments
Why did so many find Charles Darwin’s concept of natural selection so subversive and disconcerting straight from the beginning? American philosopher Daniel Dennett explains. To get to the meat of things, you might want to skip to 1:16.
≡ Category: Law, Literature | ≅ Leave a Comment
Crime writer Dominick Dunne passed yesterday today at 83, his death overshadowed by that of Ted Kennedy. Above, we feature Dunne remembering his rather unpleasant relationship with Frank Sinatra. It’s a perverse story, though told in a somewhat humorous way.
Initially, I considered featuring another video, but it’s entirely too sad, especially for any parents among [...]
≡ Category: Music | ≅ 1 Comment
Bob Dylan sings your favorite Christmas songs. “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Must Be Santa.”
It sounds strange. But it’s very real. All money will go to charity. You can pre-order now. And although the album won’t be released until October, it’s already #4 on Amazon.com’s sales chart.
If anyone comes across some [...]
≡ Category: Google, e-books | ≅ Leave a Comment
New from the Google Books Blog:
Try doing a search for [Hamlet] on Google Books. The first few results you’ll get are “Full View” books — which means you can read the full text. And, because the book is in the public domain, you can also download a copy of Hamlet in PDF form.
Starting today, you’ll be [...]
≡ Category: Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
Flashback to 1966. The Beatles hold a press conference in LA, on the eve of their very last live concert. As you’ll see, the questions range from the frivolous (“What do you think of American women’s legs?”) to the more serious (“Do you really think you’re more popular than God?” Or, “What would happen if [...]
≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, e-books | ≅ 5 Comments
If you haven’t heard the news… Sony is releasing a new e-book reader, its answer to Amazon’s Kindle. Retailing at $399, the Sony reader will feature a touch screen (something the Kindle doesn’t have) and the ability to download books wirelessly (something the Kindle does have). It will also provide access to thousands of free [...]
≡ Category: Google, Wikipedia | ≅ 3 Comments
Back in December 2007, I made a bet against Google Knol, the search giant’s answer to Wikipedia. In a fairly involved piece, I listed three reasons why Knol wouldn’t upend Wikipedia. Now fast forward 18+ months: Tech Crunch has reported that Knol’s traffic is trending down. It peaked in February at around 320,000 visitors per [...]
≡ Category: Uncategorized | ≅ Leave a Comment
Between 1968 and 1972, Stewart Brand published The Whole Earth Catalog. For Steve Jobs, it was a “Bible” of his generation, a kind of Google 35 years before Google came along (see the excellent commencement speech where Jobs makes these comments.) More recently, Brand founded The Long Now Foundation, which is all about cultivating “slower/better” thinking instead of the “faster/cheaper” [...]
≡ Category: Education, Online Courses | ≅ Leave a Comment
A quick news break: Time.com has released today a new list, “The 50 Best Web Sites of 2009,” and right alongside some well known brands, you’ll find Academic Earth, a new venture that aggregates high quality university video. Essentially, Academic Earth pulls together videos from top-notch universities and lets users watch them with a very [...]
≡ Category: Comedy, Music | ≅ Leave a Comment
These days, David Sedaris is the thinking person’s favorite funny man. In the past, we have featured his live readings of comic material from When You are Engulfed in Flames. (See “Related Content” below.) Today, we’re highlighting something a little different. On August 19th, Sedaris appeared as a guest DJ on KCRW, a radio station in [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ 2 Comments
You’ve all heard about Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. Now, thanks to this vintage footage from the 1930s, you can see Keller in the flesh and discover how she learned to talk (then eventually became an author, lecturer, and champion of many progressive causes). It’s worth watching, particularly through the stirring finish. We’ve added this [...]
≡ Category: Audio Books, Books, Literature | ≅ 2 Comments
A quick note: Audible has recently launched a series called the Audible Modern Vanguard (more details here) that brings groundbreaking works and authors into unabridged audio for the first time. Here, you’ll find works by Paul Auster (one of my faves), Saul Bellow, John Cheever, John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, and William Kennedy.
There are some good “reads” [...]
≡ Category: Comedy, Music | ≅ 2 Comments
A little piece of classic Americana TV. We take you back to the 1950s and Sid Caesar’s comic work. It’s hard to imagine someone working Beethoven’s 5th into comic material, but Caesar did it. In the meantime, if you want something a little more serious, I give you this rare footage of Herbert von Karajan conducting [...]
≡ Category: Psychology, Yale | ≅ Leave a Comment
Freudianism may no longer be in vogue. But, even so, Sigmund Freud remains one of the most envelope-pushing thinkers of the past century, someone still worth getting to know. In this lecture, Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom offers a primer on Freud and Freudian thought. The lecture is part of a larger free course (20 [...]
≡ Category: Amazon Kindle | ≅ Leave a Comment
Ok, so we’re back to giving the Kindle a hard time. Thanks Scott for the tip!
via the Rumpus.net
Related Content:
Introducing the Hugest Kindle Ever
≡ Category: Amazon Kindle, Audio Books, Books, Podcast Articles and Resources | ≅ 3 Comments
This podcast (get it here) presents the thoughts of Scott Sigler–media maven, NY Times Bestselling Author of INFECTED and CONTAGIOUS (both available free as podcasts), podiobook dynamo, and social networking mastermind–on none other than ”how will people read books in the near future?”
In this repodcast of his keynote speech at this year’s Balticon conference, Scott talks about [...]
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