The Futures Company

Some good things we’ve seen #5

14 December 2009 at 7:57 pm Oliver Wright Leave a comment

• Since another decade is drawing to a close, here’s complete list of ‘best of the noughties’ lists (via Marginal Revolution).

• A startling look at some London locations, now and in the 1870s. You can catch the full exhibition for free at the British Library until March.

• In the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate summit, come these not so good things we’ve seen; this map starkly shows the globe if countries are resized to represent their fossil-fuel based emmisions:

Whilst this one shows the countries sized proportionately in terms of the predicted distribution of climate-sensitve diseases, such as malaria, malnutrition, and diarrhea:

The maps are from the UN’s State of the World Population 2009 report (Via Global Dashboard).

• The world’s first supercomputer – Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine -  has been rebuilt in California. It’s essentially a very large calculator, but it’s quite spectacular to watch in action.

• Shereen El Feki, an academic from Cairo, talks about the potential for pop culture in the Arab world. And on a similar, but slightly more provocative note, here’s more anecdotal evidence of Western cultural influence in Afghanistan.

• Google Chrome’s new advert shows the latest features for its browser with an ironic twist.

• And finally – on a completely frivolous note -  Bruce Lee plays Table Tennis with Nunchucks, taken from Gawker’s Top 100 viral Youtube videos of 2009. All are shorter than 3 minutes!

Entry filed under: good things, just for fun, trends. Tags: Charles Babbage, Google Chrome, noughties, Shereen El Feki, youtube.