Call Me Stormy

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Archive for the tag “Ted Talks”

Just Who Is John Brockman?

Amazing Polly does another of her deep-dives. This time, she sheds some light on John Brockman, the literary agent specializing in scientific research who served as one of the major links between Jeffrey Epstein and the many scientists he befriended in the world of academia.

Brockman was the “intellectual enabler” of Epstein, who kept Brockman’s Edge Foundation on a retainer fee. Brockman’s famous literary dinners—held during the Ted Conference—allowed Epstein to mingle with scientists, startup icons and other tech billionaires.

Polly says this post is part-free form, part-dig. “I’m researching John Brockman’s wife (Katinka Matson) and I have to share what I’m finding because my mind is blown! I haven’t put the pieces together yet but maybe you have some ideas.”

Cheetah, the fearsome feline antagonist of Wonder Woman, first appeared in Wonder Woman vol. 2 # 9, published in October 1987, as Barbara Ann Minerva. Scenes shown here come from: Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Wonder Woman, Superman / Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: Doom, JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. Cliff Richard sings “Devil Woman.”

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Katinka Matson and John Brockman

 

Shape-Shifting Dinosaurs

In a spellbinding presentation, Vancouver paleontologist Jack Horner explains what many perceive as shape-shifting dinosaurs are actually growth spurts in juveniles. The shocking secret, Horner says, was revealed by slicing into the fossilized skulls of these baby dinosaurs and comparing them to the adults. He explains further in this episode of Ted Talks.

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Did Language Evolve in Caves?

Written language, the hallmark of human civilization, didn’t just suddenly appear one day. Thousands of years before the first fully developed writing systems, our ancestors scrawled geometric signs across the walls of the caves they sheltered in. Paleoanthropologist and rock art researcher Genevieve von Petzinger has studied and codified these ancient markings in caves across Europe. The uniformity of her findings suggest that graphic communication, and the ability to preserve and transmit messages beyond a single moment in time, may be much older than we think. Von Petzinger shares her research in a Ted Talk.

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