Lectures

I meant to write about this at the time. A few weeks back I went to a couple of lectures at the Gresham College with my mum. The first was titled After 150 years: the topicality of Roget’s Thesaurus and the second The Meaning of verything: The history of the Oxford English Dictionary. Both were quite interesting, though the thesaurus one more so than the other. (The links take you to a page allowing you to download lecture videos, transcripts and notes.

Earlier last week I tried going to 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know (by John Barrow, a name which at least ciphergoth will know). It was for the launch of his book, of the same title. Sadly I was too late to get there on time - it had filled up quickly.

So with yesterday being a national holiday I downloaded the lecture, and then a load more others.

• How to be a Winner: The maths of race fixing and money laundering
  
• It's about time - this one is fantastic. It's all about the history of the second and how it's defined. Surprisingly, the definition (and duration) has altered a number of times this century.
  
• Judges or Legislators: Who should rule? - I haven't yet watched this
  
• How many healthy people can the earth support? - or this
  

Conicidentally, I was reading back over recent LiveJournal entries and saw mention of a talk given recently by figg on Web application security - so watched that too. Quite an exiting day and all done from the comfort of my dining table!

As a closing note, if any of you work near Holborn/Chancery Lane then you may be interested in coming along to these lectures - either during a lunchtime or weekday evening. They're all free. The website has loads listed.