To go where no one has gone before, the limit of the universe
22 March 2024
German animation and design studio Kurzgesagt have been producing excellent informative and educational videos for what seems like half the lifespan of the universe. Let’s hope Peak-Kurzgesagt is a situation that never comes to pass.
Their latest video, the Paradox of an Infinite Universe, covers some heady ground; the concept of a physical edge, or boundary, to the universe. If we could somehow reach such a region, could we press our hand against it, as we can a garden wall? Hmm…
RELATED CONTENT
Stalkerware users should be watching themselves, not others
21 March 2024
Sydney based Australian author Kerri Sackville, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, on the subject of stalkerware, insidious apps that track the activities of a person you want to keep tabs on:
But I had nothing to gain from spying on him because I already knew what to do. In intimate partnerships, the desire to spy can only mean one of two things: that something is terribly wrong in your relationship, or that something is terribly wrong with you. If it’s the former, the solution is not to dig up answers; the solution is to get out of the relationship.
But trust, or lack thereof, isn’t necessarily why people use stalkerware apps. They sometimes also seek to control and coerce those they are monitoring. To them, it has little to do with trust. It’s more about rampant entitlement. They somehow feel as if they have every right to spy on someone, and as such are completely oblivious to the wrong they are doing.
Something is indeed terribly wrong with such people.
RELATED CONTENT
privacy, security, smartphones, technology
Weather forecasting has improved, sadly weather apps remain oddly deficient
20 March 2024
Four day weather forecasts are now as accurate as one day forecasts from thirty years ago. That’s good news. Access to accurate weather information is perhaps more vital than many of us can appreciate.
Weather forecasting has come a long way. In 650 B.C. the Babylonians would try to predict weather patterns based on cloud patterns and movements. Three centuries later, Aristotle wrote Meteorologica, discussing how phenomena such as rain, hail, hurricanes, and lightning formed. Much of it turned out to be wrong, but it represents one of the first attempts to explain how the weather works in detail.
But more of this data needs to be ported through to the weather apps on our smartphones. I don’t know if it’s me, but the number of times I’m caught outside somewhere, in what I call “off-app” rain — that is, where no rain whatsoever is predicted for hours, if not days — seems to be increasing.
RELATED CONTENT
Apple cans electric car project, steps up focus on AI
29 February 2024
Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is canceling a decadelong effort to build an electric car, according to people with knowledge of the matter, abandoning one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the company.
Apple workers involved in the EV project will move to the artificial intelligence division (AI). I’m no expert in matters Apple, but the electric car project never seemed to feel quite right for the company.
RELATED CONTENT
artificial intelligence, technology, trends
The time may be now for you, but not someone else
31 January 2024
Well, here we are, the first month of 2024 is at an end. Time is certainly passing by. Or is it? Does time even really exist? In their latest video, Kurzgesagt takes a closer at the idea of time. Spoiler: time may not quite be what you think…
When you move through space, you are also moving through the block. This means time passes differently for different people, depending on how they move through space relative to each other. And this also means that what someone perceives as “now” is a certain cut along the block — a cut that will depend on how fast they are moving. So what you think is “now” is really only your now — there are many different “nows” in the universe and all of them are equally real. This also means there is no universal past or future.
This is heavy…
RELATED CONTENT
So Close to Home, debut novel of Mick Cummins, has been published
6 December 2023
Mick Cummins, the Melbourne based former social worker and screenwriter, who won the unpublished manuscript award in the 2023 Victorian Premiers Literary Awards, has had his debut work, So Close to Home, published by Affirm Press.
The manuscript was originally titled One Divine Night. Cummins said a number of publishers contacted him after winning the unpublished manuscript prize earlier this year.
RELATED CONTENT
Australian literature, literary prizes, Mick Cummins
Question 7, a memoir by Richard Flanagan
3 November 2023
Question 7 is the latest title from Tasmania based Australian author Richard Flanagan. Although Question 7 is a memoir, it sounds more like an action/thriller title:
By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West’s affair through 1930s nuclear physics to Flanagan’s father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima when the atom bomb is dropped, this genre-defying daisy chain of events reaches fission when Flanagan as a young man finds himself trapped in a rapid on a wild river not knowing if he is to live or to die.
Flanagan won numerous literary awards for his work, including the Booker Prize, and the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Prize.
RELATED CONTENT
Australian literature, books, Richard Flanagan
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a film by Wes Anderson
9 October 2023
Are we at peak Wes Anderson yet? With Asteroid City still showing in some cinemas, maybe some film-goers would welcome a break from the American filmmaker. If that’s not you though, then check out The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, trailer, a short film made by Anderson, based on the 1977 book of the same name, written by Roald Dahl.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar tells of a man, Henry Sugar, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch, who learns meditation techniques that let him see through things. Things such as playing cards for instance, something that could be advantageous at say a casino. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar had a limited theatrical run in September, but can be streamed on Netflix.
RELATED CONTENT
Benedict Cumberbatch, film, Roald Dahl, trailer, video, Wes Anderson
Life getting in the way at disassociated
9 October 2023
Regulars will have noticed the slowdown in posting at disassociated recently. It’s a tad busy at the day job, but more excitingly I’ve also been working on a large (think novel size) writing project in recent weeks. It’s the same one I’ve been chipping away at for years mind you, but something I’m looking at again. Busy times, but I’ll do my best to keep things ticking over here.
RELATED CONTENT
September temperatures gobsmackingly bananas say climate scientist
6 October 2023
American climate scientist Zeke Hausfather has described global temperatures in September 2023 as gobsmackingly bananas.
This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist — absolutely gobsmackingly bananas. JRA-55 beat the prior monthly record by over 0.5C, and was around 1.8C warmer than preindustrial levels.
See also the daily temperature anomalies heatmap for 2023, where September, to use Hausfather’s words again, “stands out like a sore thumb.”
RELATED CONTENT