Aaron Swartz has a couple of recent posts on good and bad lecturers. Among the good, Edward Tufte, Scott McCloud and Lawrence Lessig. As I commented there, I’ve not seen Tufte, McCloud or Lessig in the flesh, although I have read them.

But the lecturer who really blew me away was Leroy Hood. T...

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Interesting times on the atheism front. Martin Amis is on top form in a wonderful essay called The Age of Horrorism. I can't possibly do it justice, and wouldn’t dare to précis, so just go and read. (Part two and Part three.) Then there's Richard Dawkins' new book The God Delusion. I have not...

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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a gem of a film. The entire cast give stellar performances and the gentle poke at Cousteau, which to begin with I thought might wear thin, sustains beautifully. Killing off Owen Wilson -- unthinkable in a mainstream movie -- works too. As for Jeff Goldblum, cou...

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That old joke about oral sex and lobster thermidor? Simply not funny any more. Tim Harford explains why giving head is now the dish de jour among certain groups of teenage girls. It seems to have little to do with the reasons advanced by a slightly overwrought Caitlin Flanagan in The Atlantic M...

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Start: 95.4 Last week: ??.? This week: 87.0

Tuesday 2 October: Got back last Saturday morning after an overnight flight and hopped on the scales, just for fun. 89.4. Not so good, but maybe better than it could have been. Appetite suppression stayed good. The problem was twofold; boredom, and del...

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