Confessions of a Dibberous Mind

via bigthink.com A brilliant summary of Mandelbrot's Fractals from the man himself. He has left a significant (and possibly self-repeating) hole in the world of science and mathematics. Benoit Mandelbrot (20 November 1924 – 14 October 2010)

http://c2.libsyn.com/media/18828/Joshua_Knobe_on_Experimental_Philosophy.mp3?nvb=20100828212026&nva=20100829213026&sid=4748f07a7c8b7d262735b42bd406fcf6&t=0793a3a33a643f1275fd2 Do you find philosophy too esoteric to be trusted? Well Joshua Knobe et al may just be administering the cure.

via ted.com In lieu of footage from this years UCL Lunch Hour Lectures series (including Steve Jones on Incest and folk dancing) which will appear here as soon as it is available. Here's Susan Blakemore on memes and "temes" from a couple of years ago.

Have you seen A.I.? The really sad but utterly beautiful movie by Steven Speilberg? Well, something disturbing has bumbled its way into my field of vision... See, there's this robotic teddy bear that acts as a sort of Jiminy Cricket to our android hero's Pinocchio. You can't help but feel for the little blighter and you come away wishing that you had one too. For those that haven't seen the movie here is a suitably traumatic scene: Now those crazy kids over at Fujitsu can make your wish come true: Just another reminder that in this life the biggest curse is that you might just get what you wish for.

via youtube.com Within the first 10 seconds of the clip above there is one of the finest site gags committed to celluloid. A comedy legend that will be sadly missed.

via bbc.co.uk Sad days indeed.