Of international scientific importance, the Harrison Clock is only one of only three precision pendulum clocks made by John Harrison and instrumental in solving the Longitude problem. The clock was made in 1727 with an amazing fully working wooden mechanism. Plans are in place to display it as part of an interpretive display at Leeds…
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A Q&A with geostrategist and Pentagon guru Edward Luttwak By David Samuels Being an enfant terrible at the age of 79 is not a task that can be undertaken lightly. Most men are simple conformists from childhood on. For those with more adventuresome temperaments, a flurry of rebellion in their teens or 20s is usually…
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Smartest Person on Earth Amsterdam, May 4, 2022 — One day Albert Einstein wrote on the blackboard: 9 x 1 = 099 x 2 = 189 x 3 = 279 x 4 = 369 x 5 = 459 x 6 = 549 x 7 = 639 x 8 = 729 x 9 = 819 x…
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On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hairWarm smell of colitas, rising up through the airUp ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering lightMy head grew heavy and my sight grew dimI had to stop for the nightThere she stood in the doorway;I heard the mission bellAnd I was thinking to myself,‘This could…
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On Thursday, March 24, Karwan Fatah-Black, associate professor of colonial history, Alicia Schrikker, associate professor of general history, and Carl Haarnack, founder of Buku – Bibliotheca Surinamica, will be guests in the online book salon of University Libraries Leiden (UBL). Chief Curator Garrelt Verhoeven will talk to them about the books ‘Slavernij en beschaving Kleine…
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The struggle of Albert Camus Niek Pas / antonfoek.com Amsterdam, March 7, 2022– In the lockdown of 2020, many people reached for The Plague. This classic from the oeuvre of Albert Camus (1913-1960), about a plague outbreak in Oran, is at the same time a poignant questioning of solidarity. They also apply to the recently published…
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Economics Hans Stegeman Amsterdam, February 12, 2022– Progressive thinking is pretty much the mainstream – the most important – belief of our time. The main symbol of this in the economy is economic progress, translated flat into economic growth. Always more and more and better. And preferably also more expensive. Economic laws are largely based…
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The Silk Road was the ultimate route for messengers, merchants, and explorers alike. The roads were used in a few manners, with the main being for commercial trade. China and The Roman Empire It’s because of this network that Han China and the Roman Empire were aware of each other’s existence. Still, the distance and…
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Or How Not to be Angry Amsterdam, 26 December 2021– The police called at my student apartment one early evening, but I didn’t answer as I thought they’d come to evict me. I hadn’t paid my rent in months. But then I got to thinking: my mum hadn’t been too good and what if it was…
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Interestingly, the parable about the exponentially increasing grains of rice Stephen mentions is also there in Bengali Literature (major Eastern Indian language). It was written by one of our greatest writers, Sukumar Ray, in the form of a children’s story called “Daaner Hisheb” (literally- the calculations/records kept of charity). An extremely miserly king is tricked…
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