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Everything Else

If it isn’t in another category, it is here.

27 02, 2016

Math and science are liberal arts (Cecilia Gaposchkin, The Conversation)

2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00February 27th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Employment, Everything Else, February, News, Philosophy, STEM, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

The liberal arts include the sciences, and the sciences make use of the approaches the humanities bring to observation and inquiry.  The author writes: The idea that STEM is something separate and different than the liberal arts is damaging to both the sciences and their sister disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The value of a liberal [...]

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23 02, 2016

How books lengthen our lives

2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00February 23rd, 2016|2016, Europe, Everything Else, History, Language, Literature, Philosophy, Quotes, Writing|0 Comments

Umberto Eco explains how books, as our familial elders, deepen our emotional lives across generations. Valentino Bompiani once circulated a saying: “one person who reads is worth two.” It was said by a publisher probably as a clever slogan, but I think it means that writing (and in general language) lengthen one’s life. From the time when [...]

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19 02, 2016

History and nemesis, the natural and moral sciences

2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00February 19th, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Everything Else, February, History, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, U.S. / Canada, Writing|0 Comments

Thoughts of Frederick Douglass on finding the trajectory of moral and social justice in the course of history. There is, in the world's government, a force which has in all ages been recognized, sometimes as Nemesis, sometimes as the judgment of God and sometimes as retributive justice; but under whatever name, all history attests the [...]

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15 02, 2016

George Washington summons the meaning of the moment (1783)

2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00February 15th, 2016|2016, Arts, Everything Else, February, History, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

George Washington, at the close of the Revolution, imagines the nation in concert with philosophers and lawgivers, who foster letters, commerce, and well-being. The Citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole Lords and Proprietors of a vast Tract of Continent, comprehending all the various soils and climates of the World, [...]

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6 02, 2016

Mathematical and intuitive minds

2016-02-06T15:45:44-05:00February 6th, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Europe, Everything Else, February, Philosophy, Quotes, STEM|0 Comments

Thus the reason why certain intuitive minds are not mathematical is that they are quite unable to apply themselves to the principles of mathematics, but the reason why mathematicians are not intuitive is that they cannot see what is in front of them: for, being accustomed to the clearcut, obvious principles of mathematics and to [...]

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2 02, 2016

A Dream of Cicero

2016-02-03T13:14:43-05:00February 2nd, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Europe, Everything Else, February, History, Language, Literature, Observations|0 Comments

A Dream of Cicero   Marbles: What’s wrong, Swan? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Swan: I have! I had a crazy dream last night I met Cicero. Marbles: You’re kidding. You’ve been reading your books too much. Swan: As little as I can, in fact, with all my teaching. I don’t have time [...]

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25 01, 2016

The Two Cultures of Scientists and Non-Scientists

2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00January 25th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Employment, Europe, Everything Else, January, Quotes, STEM|0 Comments

In fact, the separation between the scientists and non-scientists is much less bridgeable among the young than it was even thirty years ago. Thirty years ago the cultures had long ceased to speak to each other: but at least they managed a kind of frozen smile across the gulf. Now the politeness has gone, and [...]

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