Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand. Clermont-Ferrand is in the Auvergne region of France. It's looks close enough to being smack bang in the middle of France.

Pascal has stuck in my head for years. I have this vision of making a short film in France that would feature Blaise Pascal transporting a barometer over the brow of a rural hill. A few tufts of grass and a worn track of dried light brown mud and two men carrying a glass tube on either side with a third and fourth on hand to help. Pascal carried out an experiment with quicksilver in glass tubes to test his theories on vacuums and air pressure.

It's a nice portrait.  I think he looks like a kindly, happy man, wide open friendly eyes and the hint of smile at the edge of his lips.  I don't know who painted the portrait.

Laptops, digital media gadgets, Adbusters

The Congo River, Democratic Republic of Congo

Apparently the metal tantalum makes great capacitors for compact hi-tech items like mobile phones and laptop computers. I think its also known as tin-ore, cassiterite or coltan. There was a tantalum rush in Africa in the early part of this century. The price of tantalum was very high. One kilogram cost over a hundred dollars. You could sell a handful for around twenty dollars.

This is a link to an article by Greg Queyranne, a Canadian researcher focusing on conflicts in Central Africa. Thanks to Adbusters.

If you want to know more, you can watch this video.

Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Hobnox

Neil Young has a great new album out. So does Bob Dylan. Then there is Hobnox. That's a whole other kettle of fish... I highly recommend checking out the Tone Matrix option and then just click the squares, press play and have fun!

EU Audiovisual Library

is offered free of charge for EU-related information and education purpose

Fibonacci numbers....

No, it's not a type of pasta. I had heard the terms Fibonacci, Fibonacci numbers and Fibonacci Sequence but I didn't know what they referred to. It goes 1 (some people leave the first number 1 out), then 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377 and so on. The sequence is arrived at by adding the result of the first equation with the previous number in the sequence. So it goes 0 + 1 = 1 (some people leave this out) then 1 + 1= 2, the next in the sequence is 2 + 1 = 3 and then 3 +2 = 5, 5 +3 = 8, 8 +5 = 13, 13+ 8 = 21, 21 + 13 = 34, 34 + 21 = 55, etc.

Thanks to Melvyn at the BBC and his mathematical pals for enlightening me!

Sunday lessons

The first international symposium on brain neuron things is being run by the PhD students of UCD beginning next Thursday.