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Articles with tag 'history'

Can you steal fire? 2012-05-27

I can’t seem to remember this analogy ever been used: digital information as fire.

Imagine our ancestors: before flint was discovered, humans were dependent on lightning, lava and spontaneous ignition to initiate fire. Then when flint was discovered, it wasn’t discovered by everyone: some groups of humans had …

Annoying allegations of terrorism 2009-12-26

Fact: Yesterday, a 23 yo Nigerian man attempted to ignite a flammable substance aboard flight DL253, a short time before landing in Detroit. Other passengers saw a bright light and a sound of fireworks before the man was stopped and the device extinguished.

The plane departed from Amsterdam. The first …

“It’s just common sense” 2009-07-23

The recent months have kept me more busy than usual with work, but meanwhile my position in a University has altogether increased my consumption of news items, both on paper and in bit arrangements. One would assume that the flurry of world events would call for a steady stream of …

Contrasts 2009-05-02

Looking at the world since 2001, according to WHO & other reports:

  • >2,500,000,000 humans living with less than $2 per day (decreasing);
  • 50,000,000-70,000,000 deaths per year, of which:
    • >7,000,000 deaths per year due to cancer (increasing)
    • >2,500,000 deaths per year …
Wisdom of the Elders 2007-12-15

Quote:

Only inertia and prejudice, not economics nor the lack of good educational ideas, stand in the way of providing every child in the world with the kind of experience of which we have tried to give you some glimpse.

Seymour Papert (also on wikipedia) & Cynthia Solomon, Twenty things to …

Meet the new French language 2007-03-19

The following is a quote from a semi-official Usenet newsgroup for the French institution EPITECH where current and soon-to-be students can meet and discuss their past and future education in computer science:

moi chui pa un intelektuel mer g ete pri fo just avoir la motiv couz. moi jveu savoir …
Wisdom of the Elders 2007-02-17

During the proceedings of the Nuremberg Trials, the psychologist Gustave Gilbert visited Hermann Göring in his cell. He later reports the conversation in his book Nuremberg Diary published in 1947:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not …

Love the attention, please! 2006-12-26

The main reason behind my receiving my mother and brother at home for the two Christmas days was to take a point across to myself (first) and to my family (next).

It has to do, of course, with emancipation. I needed to make a statement, make it clear that the …