CBC's long-form/big think radio program Ideas recently featured a lecture called "Feeding Ten Billion" from Raj Patel, an Africa development scholar formerly with the World Bank, and author of The Value of Nothing. Patel's perspective on global agriculture and social justice is incisive and contrarian. I've never heard anyone talk about the demerits of the "Green Revolution" in agriculture like this, and it was an eye-opener. A perfect hour-long listen for the weekend's chores. MP3 link
Skeptical take on the Green Revolution
Listen to the evolution of speech synthesizers from 1939-1985
From Homer Dudley 1939 VODER device through Dennis Klatt's 1983 Klattalk that later became the DEC voice of Steven Hawking, this is an impressive evolution of human speech synthesis by machines. Posted by Brian Roemmele from and LP record that came with Dennis Klatt's "Review of text-to-speech conversion for English" J. Acous. Soc. Amer. 82,… READ THE REST
How the oil industry accidentally created autotune
Autotune gets a bad rep. Sure, it's been abused by plenty of artists, notably T-Pain and Cher's "Believe" single. But used as a mild assistive, it can be a great way to punch up a piece of music. Like anything involving computers, it's junk-in, junk-out; with a decent base take, it can elevate a good… READ THE REST
MIT physicists capture audio of a "perfect fluid", people put it on their Soundcloud playlists
In the realm of physics, a "perfect" fluid is one that flows with the smallest amount viscosity possible under quantum mechanics. It's predicted that you'd find them occurring naturally in the core of neutron stars. A group of MIT scientists recently created one artificially, and they blasted it with sound waves to see how it… READ THE REST
This Linksys router makes sure none of your WiFi signal goes to waste
Remember the classic SNL skit, Wake Up and Smile? You know, the one where the teleprompter stops during a TV morning show? Within minutes, the absence of a script devolves Will Ferrell into Lord of the Flies-style insanity. It's hilariously silly…but it's actually an oh-so-subtle reminder that when technology breaks down, it doesn't take long… READ THE REST
Save over 70% on a three-year subscription to Windscribe's highly-rated VPN pro plan
We all know that having the protection of a virtual private network (VPN) to cloak your online activities is basically like adding oil to a car or wearing a warm jacket in the dead of winter. It's optional…but not really. If you don't take the precautions that come with cloaking your identity online, it's not… READ THE REST
Get hassle-free, exam-free life insurance coverage in minutes with Bestow
There's a decent chance that if you're under 40, you've never seriously considered life insurance. With everything happening in your day-to-day life, not to mention, the big wide world at large, that isn't a huge surprise. It is, however, a mistake. The average lifespan of an American today is about 78 years old. Of course, averages are averages,… READ THE REST