Headlights // news

languages - the case of the nordic languages

Headlights // 05.10.10 // Krister Vasshus: Nordic Languages & Lang. Acqu

Indra and Christian talk to Krister Vasshus about Nordic languages. What makes Nordic languages distinct languages despite being so similar? Kirster explains the differences between languages and dialects.

Also, Christian rambles on about language acquisition. The recommended paper here is in a special edition Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (3), which should give you a comprehensive overview about this rather fierce debate.

You have the chance to win a shiny, beautifyl vinyl copy of Electric President's "Violent Blue". If you want to find out how to get it - tune in and write an email to headlights@antipattern.net!

A listener - Jules - pointed out this comic.

Posted at 17:18, 5th October 2010

the reports of our death are greatly exaggerated

We are back on air, not dead like Mark Twain, whose death has been confirmed. We're running on reduced power, since Indra could not make it today, but she will be back next week, when we will hopefully airing the Interview with Jeff Halper.

So, as promised here are the articles I mentioned during the show:

• George Monbiot on vulnerability due to complexity
• Ikea Election Kitchens
• The Daily Mail Song by Dan & Dan

Posted at 10:19, 28th April 2010

bruce lawson on web standards

Headlights // 10.03.10 // Bruce Lawson on Webstandards

In today's episode, Headlights spoke to Bruce Lawson on web standards, accessibility and Microsoft's new browser choice screen.

Bruce Lawson is a web evangelist (That is indeed his official title) at Opera ASA, the company behind the Opera web browser.

Disclosure: Christian is a member of the Opera Campus Crew, for which he published an article on getting the Glasgow University website to validate.

Posted at 13:53, 10th March 2010

headlights :: upcoming shows

As usual we have tons of people on our list of potential interviewees, but whilst not everybody finds the time or the will to talk to us, we have arranged two very interesting interviews for the upcoming shows: We are going to speak to Bruce Lawson from Opera Software | webstandards.org about Web standards and the new browser choice screen adopted by Microsoft in response to to an EU lawsuit. This is for the geeks of you, albeit not exclusively so. Furthermore we are planning to interview Susan Stuart on machine consciousness, and possibly the ontology of digital objects.

As usual, feel free to send in any questions, comments and suggestions regarding these interview to headlights@antipattern.net.

Fingers crossed that everything works out as planned and you'll get an interesting show!

Posted at 02:15, 8th March 2010

elliot bulmer on the iraq war

Headlights // 03.03.10 // Elliot Bulmer on the 2003 Iraq Invasion

We have spoken to Elliot Bulmer about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. During the invasion he was a member of a psy-ops team. He tells us how he got into this position, what he did in Iraq and assesses the prospects for democracy.

This show isn't just a commentary on the Iraq war, but a story that could come right from a movie.

Elliot Bulmer is currently writing his Ph.D. Thesis titled "A Free Scotland? A Critique of the SNP's Draft Constitution". If you're interested in this topic, you should check outan episode of Christian's old show, Jus de Pomme: Elliot Bulmer on constitutions.

Posted at 01:56, 8th March 2010

intelligence and iq with paddy o'donnell

Headlights // 03.02.10 // Intelligence and IQ with Paddy O'Donnell

In this weeks episode Indra and Christian interviewed professor Paddy O'Donnell.

Professor Paddy O'Donnell has been Head of the Psychology Department and previously was Dean of Social Science at University of Glasgow. At present he is Deputy Head of Department and Director of Teaching.

This week, we talked about IQ tests, what they are and how they work and how reliable they are. We also discussed some slightly more controversial topics, such as link between IQ and race and IQ and gender. Are women really better at multitasking, but are no good at reading a map or parking a car? Are men better analysts and more rational?

Tune in for a higly interesting discussion.

Headlighs, every Wednesday 10-11 AM or whenever you want on subcity.org

Unfortunately for an unknown reason only half of the interview is available on listen again.

Posted at 11:45, 3rd February 2010

mike burton on face recognition

Headlights // 25.11.09 // Mike Burton on Face Recognition

This week Christian and Indra interviewed Mike Burton from Glasgow University's psychology department.

Mike Burton is currently the head of psychology in Glasgow and is researching face detection and learning without awareness. In this show we discussed face recognition.

Tune in to hear about how reliable face recognition is, whether we can trust eye witnesses, biometric identification and CCTVs and much more!

Headlights, every Wednesday 10-11am, or whenever you want on subcity.org

Posted at 15:06, 25th November 2009

jamie hillis on cooperative behaviour in humans

Headlights // 11.11.09 // Evolution of Co-operation with Jamie Hillis

This Wednesday Jamie Hillis of Glasgow University's psychology department will be in the studio with me.

I will speak to him about evolutionary approaches towards explaining co-operation in humans. Thus it has been suggested that we owe much of our altruistic and co-operative behaviour to humans' warmongering past. Tune in for details!

Unfortunately Indra is in Latvia at the moment, so she will not be attending this show. But Jamie will be live in the studio and you can send in any questions during the show.

Headlights, every Wednesday 10-11am, or whenever you want on subcity.org

Christian

Posted at 21:58, 10th November 2009

dudley knowles on subcity.org

Headlights // 04.11.09 // Paternalism with Dudley Knowles

Indra and Christian interviewed Dudley Knowles from the Glasgow University Philosophy Department on his views on paternalism. Looking at different cases he explains why he is very critical of the concept. Tune in for a deeply interesting discussion!

Headlights 10-11 on Subcity.org or listen again whenever you want!

Posted at 21:56, 3rd November 2009