Monthly Archives: May 2009

Move over, Robert Langdon: Iraqi Teen Solves 300-Year-Old Math Puzzle in Four Months!!!!

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

I’m in awe of this story, because my mathematical skills are so deficient. In just four months, Mohamed Altoumaimi has found a formula to explain and simplify the so-called Bernoulli numbers, a sequence of calculations named after the 17th century … Continue reading →

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We are all synaesthetes (or synesthetes).

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

A couple of months ago I pointed out some interesting facts about a-newly-discovered-condition-for-me, “synesthesia”. I had learnt about it reading one of the most informative blogs around, Instapundit. Today, I find this from the BBC: Synaesthesia itself is a rare … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Men are better off in a matriarchy.

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Men live better where women are in charge: you are responsible for almost nothing, you work much less and you spend the whole day with your friends. You’re with a different woman every night. And on top of that, you … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Germans, The Holocaust, Poles: raw wounds.

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Der Spiegel online had this lede last week: Polish media and politicians have sharply criticized this week’s SPIEGEL cover story about Hitler’s European helpers outside of Germany. They believe the article is part of an attempt by Germans to foist … Continue reading →

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The power of media.

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Thanks to Houston’s Clear Thinkers.

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Global health and wealth.

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Statistics with a twist. Thanks to Tigerhawk.

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Buenos Aires made the cover of Smithsonian Magazine:

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

“a place where people come to figure their lives out.”    The full article is here.

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Blessing Memorial Day

Posted on May 25, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

In Flanders Field by John McCrae In Flanders Fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky, The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are … Continue reading →

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60th Anniversary of biggest airlift in history.

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

The  60th anniversary of the ending of the West Berlin blockade by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is being celebrated in Berlin.  The BBC reports, and has a neat video. In 1948, Stalin cut off all land links into West Berlin in an … Continue reading →

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A miracle and General Petraeus.

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

A soldier comes out of a coma. Continue reading →

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The dung beetle: the “green” insect.

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

NPR has a special program on my favorite insect.

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City slicker.

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Sheep dipping in Iraq. Continue reading →

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The Children of Iraq – Continued

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Iraqi children’s drawings. Continue reading →

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Government regulations and yard sales.

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Beware of holding a yard sale… Continue reading →

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Phobia.

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Spiders, one of the few phobias I have.

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