10 non-work-related items that I found fun or interesting

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
If science is systematic skepticism writ large, doesn't it follow that a scientific cast of mind requires us to be sceptical of science itself?...more

All About Phone Numbers via Stephen’s Lighthouse
10 Fascinating Facts About Phone Numbers
via Mashable! by Amy-Mae Elliott
Fascinating is exactly the right word!

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Roger Bannister proved that athletic barriers are figments of our imagination. Except when they aren’t. Has athletic performance peaked?...more

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
What makes a psychopath? It might in part be a deep, hard-wired inability to recognize the nature of a social contract...more

Do worms that eat books actually exist?
Read Richard Davies's blog post from Abe Books and find out as much as he knows – and why he wanted to find out.

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
“This war is trivial,” said Bertrand Russell in 1918. “No great principle is at stake, no great human purpose is involved.” Jailed, he joined the largest group of political prisoners ever in a Western democracy...more

Get chased by zombies in Google Streetview! via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Mike Lacher’s Streetview Zombie Apocalypse is a great Google Streetview mashup: enter your location and then watch (and flee) as zombies converge upon you from all directions. I managed to get about 10 blocks from my flat before they caught me. It was surprisingly intense! Streetview Zombie Apocalypse (Thanks, Mope, via Submitterator!)

I didn’t even get round the corner let alone 10 blocks away – surprising difficult – and addictive!

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Few tyrannies will be tweeted out of power. But over years and decades, social media will enhance democracy. Be patient, urges Clay Shirky...more

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
“Will language have the same depth and richness in electronic form that it can reach on the printed page?” Don DeLillo asks, “Does poetry need paper?”...more
Does poetry need paper? YES, of course it does. Of all the literary styles I personally think that those black splodges printed on a piece of flattened and bleached wood pulp are needed by poetry the most. I can't begin to think about Wordsworth or Keats on an e-reader.

via Arts and Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
In January, 1917, Lenin described a Communist uprising in the near future as exceedingly unlikely. Let's face it: Revolutions are hard to predict...more

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