Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #233

Posted by

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see”.

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

  • Oath Keepers and the Age of Treason – Mother Jones. Mother Jones isn’t exactly a centrist publication, and I try to steer clear of polarizing topics. But this article was such an eye-opener for me, I had to break that rule. Reading it felt like the prequel to The Handmaid’s Tale or something.” (Alistair for Hugh).
  • David Pescovitz – Just Say Know: A Cyberdelic History of the Future – Lift Conference. David Pescovitsz has been thinking about the future for a long time. In this video for Lift, he talks about the links between psychedelic drug culture, the computer revolution, and where technologies like Oculus Rift are bringing us full circle.” (Alistair for Mitch).
  • Chernobyl’s eerie desolation revealed by camera mounted on drone – The Guardian. “In 1986, reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine exploded, killing 31 people and spewing radioactive materials into the atmosphere. It is still considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. Soon after the accident, an Exclusion Zone with a 30km radius was established by the military, which remains one of the most radioactively contaminated areas on Earth. British film-maker Danny Cook has visited the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and, with the help of Cook’s camera-mounted drone, you too can visit the Zone.” (Hugh for Alistair).
  • Stalker. “If you are intrigued by the footage above, run, don’t walk, to get your hands on a copy of Andrei Tarkovsky‘s Stalker, one of the greatest sci-fi/art movies of all time, about… a tour guide to a radioactive Exclusion Zone. You can find the film free online at the link above (make sure you click CC to get the subtitles).” (Hugh for Mitch).
  • Graphene Armor Would Be Light, Flexible and Far Stronger Than Steel – Singularity Hub. “There are some people who think we have seen all that we’re going to see from technology. I think that we’re just at the beginning. When we’re able to discover new (and incredible) ways to use materials… no, better yet, when we’re able to combined technology and natural resources to develop new materials, things start looking extra cool and freaky. I head out to the TED conference every year, and one of the coolest things that you see there, are demos of amazing new compounds (like this one). It what makes the trip that much more special, because you feel like you’re being exposed to it, long before the mass public sees it. Read this article, and think about the potential of graphene.” (Mitch for Alistair).
  • This 24-year-old author just broke JK Rowling’s sales record. NBD. – Hello Giggles. “In case you needed it, here’s another incredible story about a young person, independent publishing and the ability to use the Internet to connect content to the right people/audience. As Hugh and I both – continually – say, this isn’t the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last. Still, with each one of these incidents, the plot thickens… Special thanks to Scott Stratten for the link.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.