It seems strange to think of a world where there was not a giant telescope orbiting and sending us fantastic photos day-in-day-out (or should that be night-in-night-out?), but the Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating the 20th anniversary of it’s launch.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/hubble_20/
-- Robert
Ada Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer. She wrote programs to run on Charles Babbage‘s Analytical Engine. Unfortunately, the machine was never built. I first heard of Ada when I started programming in 1996.
Match 24th was “Ada Lovelace day”, an international day of blogging (video logging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.
I missed the day itself, so I don’t know if I’ll create a post of my own, but I suggest you mosey on over to the list of existing posts.
-- Robert
Powers of Ten is a 1977 American documentary short film written and directed by Ray Eames and her husband, Charles Eames. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten.
Wikipedia website
Official website
Since the Age of the Internet, more of these sort of videos have appeared, often with a slider so that you, the viewer, can control the speed and location of the zoom.
Here are two I found recently and really liked:
One problem with them is the fact that they’re un-editable.
I’d like to be able to show my young nephews these, but they are so chock-a-block with items that would need explanation that the wood would be lost for the trees.
Does anyone know of a simple, or editable, Power of Ten clone?
Sometimes the funniest things are the simplest...
My two favorite skits from Sesame Street are when you're being taught the difference between Near/Far and Here/There .
So, for your enjoyment:
Near and Far:
Here and There (in Hebrew).
I apologize to those of you who don't understand Hebrew. Trust me - It's hilarious.
Inspiration for this post came from here and here.
-- Robert
My latest Internet find is Academic Earth; an aggregation of video courses and lectures from various top universities and scholars.
Let's look at this lecture for example...
Donald Kagan, Introduction to Ancient Greek History (Yale University: Open Yale Courses), http://oyc.yale.edu (Accessed April 2, 2009). License: Open Yale Courses Terms of Use
Professor Donald Kagan explains why people should study the ancient Greeks. He argues that the Greeks are worthy of our study not only because of their vast achievements and contributions to Western civilization (such as in the fields of science, law, and politics) but also because they offer a unique perspective on humanity. To the Greeks, man was both simultaneously capable of the greatest achievements and the worst crimes; he was both great and important, but also mortal and fallible. He was a tragic figure, powerful but limited. Therefore, by studying the Greeks, one gains insight into a tension that has gripped and shaped the West and the rest of the world through its influence. In short, to study the Greeks is to study the nature of human experience.
But not only does this site have the video - let's face it, anyone can just video a lecture and pop it onto the net these days - it also has some very nice options, which tell me that some thought was put into this:
I read much faster than I can listen or watch and I'd love to have transcripts of much of what I watch.
The various lectures are on a wide variety of topics, covering what any thinking person could want and more is being added all the time, of course.
In short, this site is very well done and a lot of thought has been put into how people can extract information from it. This is what the "Internet" is all about - easy access to high quality information.
Enjoy!
-- Robert
Yesterday, British tabloids reported the discovery of the Lost Continent of Atlantis! The discovery was made, not by intrepid explorers, but by searching Google Earth's maps:
Can you see the highways on the bottom of the Ocean?
Well, it seems that these highways are simply the paths of the oceanographic ships which mapped the area - Plato can rest easy, his hoax has not been discovered :)
Link to the tabloid "The Sun"
Link to better explanation.
-- Robert
It seems that the great Asterix is in for a big change : Albert Uderzo, illustrator and, since 1977, only begetter of the Asterix series of books, has retired and sold his rights to Hachette Livre.
His daughter Sylvie has accused him of selling out to "those who would negate all the values he taught me: independence, fraternity, conviviality and resistance". I must agree.
In a more optimistic mood - and with more information, I might consider this good news. Perhaps new blood could rejuvenate Asterix, whose last few adventures have not been very good. However, I must admit that few intellectual properties are improved by being managed by others rather than their creators.
Neither James Bond nor Sherlock Holmes have been returned to their original heights. I hope Asterix will prove me wrong.
:(
Link to Asterix in Wikipedia.
-- Robert
I read a lot of things which are written in Portable Document Format, some relevant to my work and some to my studies.
In any case, I often find myself wanting to "do something" with the PDFs - copy specific pages, modify or add something.
The proper way of doing this used to be using Adobe's programs - but these are expensive.
Here's a link to a list of tips relevant to PDF manipulation.
-- Robert
http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2008/12/roman_numerals_and_arithmetic_1.php
But now that I've read about it - it's fascinating...
It's amazing how some things that seem so obvious and second nature are actually really very dependent on the time and culture one comes from.
No wonder it's difficult for different ethnic groups to get along :(
-- Robert
This is one of the best sites I've found in quite some time.
I'd like to be a in the Scientists & Mathematicians in that list, but for now I'll have to make do with being a procrastinator...
-- Robert
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