Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90

In the swirl of campaign coverage and Iraq War anniversary articles, I missed an important passing: Arthur C. Clarke died on Wednesday at the age of 90.

NY Times obit here SF Gate here,
tributes by fellow authors and scientists here and here, and fan site here.

Press the Button at the Beep

Hey, remember slide reel day in elementary/middle school?

You’d come in to class thinking there would be notes to take, DBQ’s to write, facts to forget. It was usually a hot day, too, and somewhere equidistant on the calendar from the last and next standardized test.

Your teacher knew she didn’t have to start test-prep for another week or so, so she stayed for that extra vodka shot at J.J. Rafferty’s or The Mouse Trap or whatever the non-cop municipal worker bar was called in your town. She needed the rest as much as you, if not more.

Thus, slide reel day. Thirty to forty minutes of grainy audio and barely decipherable pictographs of weather patterns or action shots of Helen Keller interrupted by high-pitched analog beeping. For credit! It’s a shame none of us appreciated those kinds of classroom activities until after we discovered hallucinogens.

Luckily, OMADEON‘s got you covered. Sit back, relax, and take in a handful of videos of Dr. Peter Lloyd’s take on the most important issues facing humanity today. I could do without the background music and “Intro to Powerpoint” segues, but hey, it’s all part of the experience.

You’ll have to insert the beeps yourself.