Illicit Trade Speeches and Conversations

I generally don't post audio speeches and interviews but I feel like I should make an exception for this case. I first heard the speech on Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy by Moises Naim a while ago. His rhetoric and excitement about the issues are contagious and his mind and speech move so fast one has to hold on for the ride. I almost decided to make an exception and post the audio to this blog right now.

Yet I didn't, and then I forgot about it. But a few weeks later I stumbled across another discussion, this time on Terry Gross's Fresh Air (interview with Moises Naim). And I took this as fate: a sign that I should post.

Interesting Articles: Jan 3rd-9th 2006

* Rejected by the Publishers (New York Times).
* Literary Letters, Lost in Cyberspace (New York Times). A nice connection to the Supreme Court transcript article I posted last week, this article is about authors' electronic correspondences.
* Communicating (Forbes). An intimidatingly large list of articles and interviews on communicating, but most are quite short and some are interesting. Personally, I enjoyed Alan Lightman On Boycotting E-Mail, Milton Glaser On Conveying Information Through Puzzles (*coughTheGamecough*), Lying Is Good For You, How To Talk To Aliens (especially the flash popup diagrams of messages into space -- I'd seen this before, but this was a nice reminder), and the related Frank Drake On Ambiguity . Your particular interests may vary.

Interesting Articles: Dec 27th 2005 - Jan 2nd 2006

On Thinking:
* Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (New York Times). In short, don't think too much. It'll just depress you. Scientifically based.
* Brain Training Puts Big Hurt on Intense Pain (Science News). Basically, think. Mind over matter.

Year-End News:
* While You Were Sleeping. A summary of many interesting news pieces (especially scientific ones) from the last year that didn't get much attention.
* Why I'm Happy I Evolved (New York Times). A bundle of neat trivia. (Oh, and commentary too, but that's not why I'm posting it.)

Fun:
* So, Guy Walks Up to the Bar, and Scalia Says... (New York Times). On entertaining facts you can mine from (Supreme Court) transcripts.
* Cowboys Are My Weakness (New York Times). I can't describe this at risk of spoiling it, but it is a fun read.