Just saw this awesome TED talk video on the preservation of ethnic diversity … here’s the boingboing link with a good overview.  There’s a great story of an old Inuit dude with hardcore ingenuity … the title of this post says it all.

Check out this link, for a variety of crazy playground images from around the world …

Check out this trailer for the next (indonesian) Rambo … or, is that “Rambu” Booyah!

The demise of the dinosaurs has puzzled scientists for years.  Some say it was a flood; others say, it was an asteroid – or perhaps, that it was global warming.  The trouble with these theories, however, is that they are all merely speculation. What I am about to present, is a clear and rational argument deducing the true cause of this event.

The problem with all previous theories, is that they are based on the premise that the event which caused the death of the dinosaurs occured in the past.  Unfortunately, this is ultimately flawed.

One of the greatest scientific questions of today, is the issue of time travel; and, it is time travel which was (and will be) the main driver of this event.

Let us begin, by asking a series of basic commonsense questions about the social impact of this scientific question.

# 1: If a method of time travel is discovered, who is most likely to hold the technology?

It is most likely that the most scientifically advanced civilisation of our day would discover a solution to one of the most difficult scientific questions.  The most scientifically advanced civilisation of today, is the US.  Therefore, if a method of time travel is discovered, it is most likely to be in the hands of the US government.

# 2 : If the US discovered a method of time travel, how would it be used?

It is likely that, in the first instance, time travel would be used be the US government to ensure their continued dominance; any other sovereign state would be expected to do the same.  However, after their continued dominance was guaranteed, it would only be a matter of time, before time travel would be commercialised.

# 3 : If the US commercialised time travel, how would it be regulated?

If the commercialisation of time travel occured, it would result in a fierce regulatory battle between various lobby groups.  Some would argue that it is the right of any paying individual to travel to any time he or she pleases; others would argue that the potential consequences of mishaps could be disastrous on the present day.

Ultimately, it would be decided that commercial time travel could only occur to times and places where it could be proven that no dire consequences to our modern life could occur.  This would rule out the much talked about “Grandfather paradox” – stopping a person from traveling back in time to kill a direct descendent, thereby preventing their own birth and creating the great time travel paradox. 

 In order to ensure no undue consequences to modern life would occur, a most popular time to travel to would be before any human ancestors existed – “Prehistory” – for instance, the time of the dinosaurs.

# 4 : If the US commericalised time travel to prehistory, who would be most likely to go?

It is likely that Time travel would require vast amounts of energy.  This, coupled with a high market value, would guarantee that the richest americans (many of whom are male) would provide a steady demand.

# 5 : If rich US males were sent back to prehistory, what would they do?

As history shows, rich US males have a tendency towards shooting large things … assuming the continued progress of US weaponry, is it perfectly feasible to suggest that handheld weaponry may be advanced enough to take down a large dinosaur.  And, of the rich US male hunters sent back to prehistory, who wouldn’t want to have the bragging rights associated with a T-Rex on the wall above the fireplace.

# 6 : If Rich US gun-toting males were sent back to prehistory, to shoot dinosaurs, when would they stop?

It is likely that the hunting of dinosaurs would continue as long as there was a market for it.  The US resource of rich gun-toting dinosaur hunters is (unlike natural resources) most definately “renewable”.

Eventually, time travelling would open up to other citizens – nevertheless, the dinosaur numbers would continue to dwindle, until – at last – the dinosaurs would be extinct.

And finally, the second most important scientific question would also be answered.

TED talks are awesome.  Check out this dude.  He presents a lecture describing the 10 most likely ways that humankind will reach extinction.My fav was the Asteroid theory.Apparently, we could be in some massive trouble if a big asteroid (>5 mile diameter) hit earth.  The scary thing is that in 1989, an asteroid of this size passed through earth’s orbit – it went through the same spot that earth had been, 6 hours earlier.So basically, in an infinitely huge universe, the human species was separated from probableextinction, by 6 hours.Awesome!!!Anys … 

Wikipedia has become a default source of information for many; it seems to share the same kind of entrenched usage as google, and facebook …

awesome.

anys – check this site out.  It displays a list of the most highly edited page on wikipedia, in the last 6 hours.  Interesting to see which topics cause the most revisions – whether its vandals, or revisionists …

At the mo, there appears to be a bit of controversy surrounding: pepsi, england, nuclear power, 1989, the lion king, shemale’s, and homosexuality in animals.

good times.

Classic IT Crowd version of the “Downloading Movies is a Crime” trailer at the movies … here.

just watched the restless, a korean action-fantasy film.  pretty crazy.  while the fighting was a bit over the top CG-ed, you have to admit the korean filmmakers know how to squeeze emotion out of everything …awesome. 

If you are into haunting music which reminds you that you are still here, you should definately check out Sigur Ros.  (iTunes link, here.) As well as releasing a number of great albums, they are about to release a film, named “Heima” (Icelandic, for “Home”, I think …).  Check it out on youtube, here. 

Classic post about M$ money v Opensource hippies … here.