mssv

  • Phone Booth

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    Just watched Phone Booth tonight. Overall, an mildly entertaining movie that is somewhat predictable, but with an interesting use of sets (namely, the phone booth) and a compelling dynamic between the caller and the ‘hero’. Could’ve been much better though; I believe that the original screenplay was far edgier and, unsurprisingly, less ‘Hollywood’.

  • On Time

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    Potter books give Amazon amazing success – Good news! According to this article, Amazon UK wil be sending out copies of Harry Potter 5 in time for the official release of June 21st. This means no agonized wait for me…

  • SARS

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    A lot of people aren’t worried about SARS. They say, well, it’s only killed a few hundred people, that’s a drop in the ocean compared to malaria, AIDS, influenza, car accidents, smoking, etc. etc. So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that you do not measure the threat of a disease merely by…

  • David X Cohen

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    David X Cohen interview – an interview with the executive producer of Futurama. Covers the new Futurama game, his feelings about the Fox network, plans for the future and anecdotes about the show.

  • Smoky

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    Support For New York-Style Smoking Ban – the results of a MORI poll conducted in the UK on whether we should have a smoking ban. One question: is it standard in America to have smoking and non-smoking areas in restaurants, and if so, do they work well? I can’t remember from my previous visits.

  • 4 million

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    4,000,000! – the population of New Zealand reached 4 million today. New Zealand has a very nice statistics website which sets an impressive example for other countries (via MetaFilter).

  • Adrian on Mars, part two

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    Are you going to be in or around Cambridge on the 29th April? If so, what better way to spend the evening than attending a delightful presentation by me on ‘The Human Mission to Mars’. I’ll be talking about why we should send humans to Mars, how we might do it and how much it’d…

  • Dark Side

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    A Note to Parents about our Magic Wands at Alivan’s Wand Makers – “…an Alivan’s wand is only meant to stimulate your child’s growing imagination. Our company does not, in any way, support the dark side of magic. In fact, we completely discourage it.” I love this kind of stuff.

  • About the Matrix

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    This article about the science of the Matrix (from /.) is interesting enough from a fan-fiction ‘well, it could work!’ perspective, but it is way off on some of the hard issues, namely the whole ‘quantum mechanics microtubules’ nonsense. It might be convenient to explain away consciousness because of magical quantum ‘fairy dust’ interactions, but…

  • Stayin’ Alive

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    I generally see myself as being pretty informed when it comes to current events and recent history (I also consider myself very modest). So it’s always a surprise when the occasional gaping hole in my knowledge is revealed, e.g.: Adrian has initiated one of his usual ‘how the future will be so different and how…