(Viral) marketing meets xmas

Xmas is over and the Irn Bru take on The Snowman is now old hat, but it was very popular in our house. Fortunately it didn't spoil our enjoyment of the real thing.

Enlightenment lecture

The University of Edinburgh has podcasts available for its 'Enlightenment Lectures".  This is a series of invited lecture on the theme of "the legacy of the Enlightenment in our troubled times".  I've listened to the most recent one, in which Tom Devine asks why the Scottish Enlightenment came to pass so quickly in what was a strictly Calvanist country.  His 30-minute lecture is followed by a panel discussion about whether the conditions exist now for a similar period of advancement of knowledge.

I found both the lecture and the ensuing discussion interesting, although I don't Prof. Devine makes a solid argument.  I suppose that given the general audience it is difficult to be truly rigorous while still being entertaining.  But if you like the play of ideas, its worth a listen.

Some of the other lectures look interesting too - e.g. The War on Terror”…A War on Liberty? by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, or Globalisation & the 21st Century Enlightenment by Joseph Stiglitz.  I just need to find time to listen to them...