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Smart Sci-Fi Movies About First Contact That Make You Think When you spend your days thinking about science, the universe, and how things actually work, you start to appreciate stories where smart people solve massive puzzles. Illustration generated exclusively for Zestrun We are skipping the tired Hollywood tropes of endless space battles. Instead, we are looking at brilliant films where humanity uses science, sound, and pure intellect to reach out into the unknown. These are stories about curiosity, expertly crafted by legendary directors and brought to life by incredible actors. ​Here is an ever-expanding list of first contact movies that will leave you completely fascinated, ranked by release year. ​1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ​ Rotten Tomatoes: 90% | IMDb: 8.3/10 ​ Notable People: Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Written by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. Starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. ​ Watch the trailer here: ​ The Angle: This film is the absolute peak ...

 When it comes to the topic of UFOs, it is incredibly easy to be a skeptic. If you are a rational person who refuses to blindly believe in pseudoscience, the modern landscape of extraterrestrial claims is exhausting. Far too often, the "evidence" is just a blurry piece of drone footage, a documentary featuring a cheap Halloween mask, or a convoluted conspiracy theory that falls apart under five minutes of logical scrutiny. ​But what happens when you strip away the tin-foil hats, ignore the pop culture myths, and look strictly at the declassified, historical data? Illustration generated exclusively for Zestrun From 1947 to 1969, the U.S. Air Force investigated over 12,000 reported sightings. While they successfully debunked the vast majority as hoaxes or misperceptions of natural phenomena, they were left with hundreds of cases classified officially as "Unknown." ​Here is a rational, evidence-based look at the history of these unknowns, and three of the most baffli...

A Night of Rock and Roll Legacy: The Chief Triumphs Again ​The 2026 BRIT Awards just concluded, and while there were massive performances from the world’s biggest pop stars, the night’s most significant moment belonged to rock and roll royalty. ​Noel Gallagher was officially named Songwriter of the Year at the 2026 BRITs. Illustration generated exclusively for Zestrun While he has collected dozens of awards over his illustrious career with both Oasis and High Flying Birds, this specific honor feels profoundly different. It isn’t just about being popular; it is about recognizing the unparalleled craft behind the songs that have defined generations. ​ The Undisputed King of the Chorus ​When Noel took the stage to accept the award, the atmosphere in the arena shifted. Watching the acceptance speech, you could feel the respect from the younger artists in the room. ​This win proves that even decades after Wonderwall ,  Don't Look Back in Anger, Acquiesce, Supersonic, Champagne Sup...

 When you hear the very first few seconds of 'Sultans of Swing', you instantly know exactly who is playing. Dire Straits built a massive legacy in the rock and roll world, and at the absolute center of it is Mark Knopfler and his guitar. Illustration of the fingerpicking sound, Zestrun exclusive  Many guitarists spend years chasing that specific sound. They buy expensive effects pedals, vintage amplifiers, and rare gear. But Knopfler's true secret weapon is not electronic at all. It is entirely physical. He simply threw away the plastic pick. ​By using his bare fingers, he completely changes the physical mechanics of how the instrument works. Here is the simple physics behind why Mark Knopfler sounds like no one else, and why taking away a piece of plastic creates pure magic. ​ The Physics of Plastic vs. Skin ​A standard guitar pick is usually made of hard plastic or nylon. When you strike a steel guitar string with a hard piece of plastic, the initial attack is sharp, a...

Oasis have been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, where they could be inducted alongside The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many other legendary acts. You can register to vote for Oasis here -  https://vote.rockhall.com ​It takes less than a minute to sign up and vote. You can vote evey single day after signing up in less than 10 seconds.  The voting can be done until April the 26th. Every single vote counts, d'you know what I mean?

Benjamin Graham's definition of investing is, "An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return." The pitfalls faced by new investors in the stock market are so many that it's not prudent to walk into it without any basic principles. These basic principles are offered in the book to protect you from speculators and gimmicks in the market as well as saving you a ton of money and keeping away emotional rollercoasters along the way. Image for representational purpose only. Source - Google Images In this second part of the series of blogs on the insights from the intelligent investor (Revised edition, with commentary by Jason Zweig), we look at more key takeaways from the book, that remains relevant to our times. Click here for part one. Thoroughly analyse a company, and the soundness of its underlying businesses, before you buy its stock. Deliberately protect yourself against serious losses. As...

The intelligent investor by Benjamin Graham is considered in high regard when it comes to value investing. As Warren Buffett puts it,  " By far the best book on investing ever written." The intelligent investor is an essential read for anyone starting out on their investment journey. It is not a get rich quick book but rather a book on rational thinking about investment. It helps in critical thinking about your investment choices and asks you to be sceptical about generalizations in the field and helps you avoid the pitfalls of blind investing. Image for representational purpose only. Source - Google Images In this series of articles on the insights from the intelligent investor (Revised edition, with commentary by Jason Zweig), we look at the key takeaways from the book, that remain relevant to our times. Stock price should not be far above the tangible asset value (book value). For a defensive investor - ratio of investment between stocks and bonds - varies fr...

  I went to therapy during a tough phase in my life as we all probably find ourselves in sometimes. I chose by my own accord to try therapy. I already had an interest in psychology since I was a teenager. I also watched, The Sopranos , one of the greatest TV shows of all time which incorporated therapy as one of the main plot lines and I thought, let me give therapy a shot. The point of this article is to help anybody who might find themselves in a place where they need help and want to find the right therapist but don't have the information on the same. I'm writing here my observations, experience and learnings that I wished I knew before I picked my first therapist. Image courtesy - icons8.com She was a good listener and I felt good after talking to her in the sessions most of the time. She was considerate about extending the time limit after each session to maintain continuity and allow me to complete in a flow. She listened patiently, although at times she would provide som...

There are a number of top level domains (TLDs) in the domain name system (DNS) and it's hard to know which one to choose when you're starting out. Different people give different suggestions as to which works best. Although the content, utility, marketing and SEO makes a difference in the long term, it's best to choose a domain extension that is easy to remember for the general customer base that is being targeted. It's all about familiarity for the user which in turn makes it easier to remember and to use the domain name spontaneously when the need arises. This especially true for startups that don't have an app yet or don't need one. What are the commonly used domain names and what do they stand for? .com - commercial .co - company or corporate .io - Input/output .net - network .org - organization .biz - Business .ru - Russia .ir - Iran .in - India .uk - United Kingdom .au - Australia .de - Germany .ua - Ukraine .tk - Tokelau .cn - China .nl - Netherla...

The simplest metrics to get a clear picture of any company's financial performance at a glance is by looking at the market capitalisation, revenue, net profit and net profit margin. Of course, there are other metrics that must be considered in order to invest in them but this is not an article on investing but just an informative article on the largest companies in the world. Here, we take a look at the largest companies in the world in 2022 ranked by their market cap, revenue, net profit and net profit margin. The largest company by market value is Apple with a market cap around of $2.6 trillion. Interestingly, apple's market cap crossed $3 trillion just this year. It was the first company to cross $1 trillion market cap in August 2018 and astonishingly doubled to $2 trillion in just 2 years in August 2020. It took about 1.5 years to reach $3 trillion. Market capitalisation is always varying based on the stock price which is dependent on the financial performance ...