Ze Frank talks about Free Will.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
Macromantics
Kill Rock Stars
Hey How come nobody signed up for my promotion? You don’t want a free $50 Amazon voucher?
Every year since about 1990 I’ve been hearing rumours that Van Halen would be inducted finally in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And every year the ceremony seems to go by without their name on the roster. So much so that most of us stopped listening to the rumours a long time ago. Well this year they finally brought home the bacon.
But as the article says, the big question is – who will turn up? The band officially at the moment is Eddie, Alex and Wolfie, Eddie’s son. They hate Dave. They hate Sammy. They hate Mike. Gary? Who knows or cares.
Great to see the band finally get the honour of the Hall of Famers but Eddie has run them so far into the ground, like a 6 year old boy killing a spider with a rock on concrete, that it’s probably too late for them to enjoy it.
Ian’s the host of TPN’s Media Center Podcast and he’s currently at CES in Vegas. And he just got to chat with Bill Gates for the first time. I remember meeting Bill for the first time back in the day. It’s a pretty heady experience if you tell yourself you are standing there chatting with the richest guy in the world and arguably the most successful businessman in history.
Mark Hallett, a researcher with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said, “Free will does exist, but it’s a perception, not a power or a driving force. People experience free will. They have the sense they are free.
“The more you scrutinize it, the more you realize you don’t have it,†he said.
That is hardly a new thought. The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, as Einstein paraphrased it, that “a human can very well do what he wants, but cannot will what he wants.â€
From a NYT article entitled “Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t” which I came across via Scott Adams’ blog.
Dave Wallace aka The Lifekludger, co-host of the Extraordinary Everyday Lives podcast on TPN, joined me for a spot of lunch today. He’s visiting from Adelaide. Dave is an amazing bloke. Spent over half his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the shoulders down. And is a serious geek who spend a lot of time in Second Life. Tune in to Dave and The Fang at http://extraordinary.thepodcastnetwork.com.
A short one tonight, talking about some new books I received today. If you don’t know anything about Marcel Proust or Henry Miller, here’s your chance to get yourself educated. I know some of you rely on me to bring you up to speed in the world, so tonight I help you round out your literary world view.
Oh and I announce a new G’Day World promotion – the blog that sends me the most referrals in the month of January will get a $50 Amazon voucher. But you have to register, so I know you are trying. Please use the contact form below with the subject text “Amazon promotion”.
My man Daniel Craig… no I mean Daniel Krause aka Dark Meat aka Ladies Love Dark M joins me on the podcast today to talk about CASINO ROYALE aka James Bond 21.
It’s a long one – an hour and twenty! Almost as long as the film itself and we didn’t spend anywhere NEAR the $150 million they did.
On the show we talk about our reactions to the film, the production costs and current box office returns, the plot, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Caterina Murino, Sir Richard Branson, the producers, the screenwriters, parkour… hell we just don’t know when to quit!
I hope you enjoy it (and live long enough to get to the end).
Oh yeah… I’ve waited a long, long time for this.
My 1Gb micro-SD card for my new Dopod Pocket PC arrived yesterday. And as of tonight I am running Wikipedia on it. Okay, it’s a slightly cut down version of Wikipedia, and it’s not online (which I can do using 3G or wifi if convenient, but let’s face it, offline is ALWAYS more convenient for a mobile device at this stage), but it’s pretty damn impressive.
Get it here.
Wesley Autrey, the gentleman who jumped on the tracks in the face of an oncoming train to save the life of a complete stranger.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4GaStsLadQ]
So what do you think happens with Autrey from here? Released an inspirational rap album? Biopic of the Week starring Eddie Murphy?
Amazing story. I don’t think my first instinct would have been to jump down. Especially with my two young kids standing there with me!! My instinct to survive would have been stronger than my instinct to save the guy in the tracks.
I wonder what it was about this guy, something in his upbringing, something in his genes, that gave him the impetus to risk his life like that in a split second to save someone he didn’t know.
Do you think you would have done the same thing?
And now this story, also from New York, of two guys who caught a three-year old baby when it fell five stories!
What is it about positive news stories of heroes from New York this week?
Either:
a) This is all a stunt to promote the new season of “Hereos” on NBC.
b) Mutant “Hero” genes are spontaneously switching themselves on inside nooyorkers, possible something to do with the drinking water.
c) The stories were all concocted by the industrial-military complex to take people’s attention away from the fact that GWB’s new Iraq plan will look very much like the old Iraq plan with a couple of new faces and some new catchphrases.
This follow up story about the arrest of a man charged with being in possession of one of the stolen rocket launchers claims:
The rocket launcher is believed to be one of seven stolen from the Australian Defence Force (ADF)
So what’s going on? As I said on the show during the week, Brendan Nelson, the Defense Minister, claims they did an audit and nothing was found to be missing. But there were SEVEN stolen? Anyone understand this?
