Books and other things

I just found a Harvard Course on Justice.

Interesting discussion of the cabin boy's being killed and eaten. Nobody in the discussion knows enough medicine to understand that thirst was the problem, not being hungry. People last 30 days without food, 7 - 9 without water. The cabin boy, having drunk sea water, would soon die, the others a day or so later. Thus, their life-expectancy was very short, barring rain or a ship. Puts an entirely different perspective on their actions.

Also, quoting one of their diaries ("Had breakfast") 4 days after they killed the cabin boy to indicate lack of remorse is quite unfair. What would their note have been in that situation?

So, overall, the professor and students all displayed a lack of ability to fully understand the context. "Justice" is all about context.

I finished CJ Cherryh's 'Cyteen' a few days ago. Re-read that after her new 'Regenesis'. These are, IMHO, her best work. I have read all of her 'hard scifi' except the last in the 'Foreigner' series.

I am now reading Varley's "Steel Beach'. Interesting takes on sex, suicide, ... I am about half-way through, definitely worth reading.

I am re-reading a lot of SciFi, partly for my own pleasure, partly to select good books for my son.

I have been watching TED talks, TEDMED. Just saw Craig Ventner's latest talk on engineering a new species. Also, hplusMagazine, Singularity Hub , and Wired Magazine . Lots of interesting articles in all of these.

I am installing Skype today, with the webcam. Linux x86_64, Kubuntu 9.10. Skype promises to open source some of its code, will make installing and using the tool much easier.