Listening ideas for 4 August 2011 (2)

Leonard Lopate Show
A Portrait of the Hacker as a Young Man
In 2000, Michael Calce, known as Mafiaboy, brought down the websites of Amazon, CNN, Dell, E-TRADE, eBay, and Yahoo!, inciting panic from Silicon Valley to the White House. He served eight months in open custody for the 56 charges on which he was convicted. In Mafiaboy: A Portrait of the Hacker as a Young Man, written with Craig Silverman, he gives a tour of the fast-evolving 21st-century world of hacking—from disruptions caused by teens like Calce, to organized crime and other efforts with potentially catastrophic results—and explains how to protect yourself online.
(review, feed)

Thinking Allowed
The Mummy's Curse
Roger Luckhurst and Marina Warner discuss the myth of the mummy's curse and Audrey Linkman considers the relationship between photography and death
(review, feed)

Witness
The Kon-Tiki expedition
In 1947 a Norwegian explorer sailed a wooden raft across the Pacific Ocean.
(review, feed)

TED Talks
How language transformed humanity - Mark Pagel
Biologist Mark Pagel shares an intriguing theory about why humans evolved our complex system of language. He suggests that language is a piece of "social technology" that allowed early human tribes to access a powerful new tool: cooperation.
(review, feed)

Listening ideas for 4 August 2011 (1)

Inspired Minds
Erez Kavel - Screenwriter
Recently the Israeli film "Restoration" took out the top award at the Czech Republic's annual Karlovy Vary International Film festival. Prior to this, the film’s screenwriter Erez Kavel was awarded the prize for "Best Screenplay" at the Sundance Film Festival. "Restoration" is a moving portrayal of modern Israeli society through the eyes of an antiques restorer.
(review, feed)

Science & the City
Exploring the Universe with Brian Cox
Physicist Brian Cox talks about his new TV show "Wonders of the Universe" and the future of physics as the search for the Higgs Boson heats up at CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
(review, feed)

Social Innovation Conversations
David Kessler - Food Industry and Global Health
Why have American eating habits changed so drastically for the worse in the last half century? What is the appropriate role of government in mitigating these changes? Who can we hold responsible? In this audio lecture, author and former FDA Commissioner David Kessler discusses the marketing strategies of multinational food companies, the scientific realities behind these current trends, and what we might do to change them.
(review, feed)

Analysis
Keynes vs Hayek - The LSE Debate 3 AUG 2011
John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek are regarded as two of the twentieth century’s greatest economists. Modern day followers came together at the London School of Economics to debate the ideas of their intellectual heroes. The event was chaired by BBC Newsnight Economics Editor, Paul Mason.
(review, feed)

Free course, but a grade? A certificate?

I got it from DIY Scholar and she has it from Lifehacker:

We have been reporting about many courses that great universities offer for free, whether on audio or video. So what is new about Stanford's newest free course Artificial Intelligence: you can sign up, do the course and get a grade and a certificate. Consider the challenge? The professors, Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig, reckon you will have to spend about 10 hours a week to pass, so it may be free, it is not for nothing. Sign up before Sept 10th and you are in.

Apart from the question whether to sign up, I am intrigued by this initiative. Is this where we are going? How many people will sign up? How many will pass? I am sure there will be many more to sign up than Stanford had ever expected. That is how these things go and I am contributing here with the message going viral. But when all is said and done, will it still be more? And how will the average level turn out to be? That may also be more than expected - my hunch.

Either Stanford will find out the bite was way too big to chew, or this is revolution.