Wikipedia
Oppositional culture
Oppositional culture, also known as the ‘’blocked opportunities framework’’ or the “caste theory of education”, is a term most commonly used in studying the sociology of education to explain racial disparities in educational achievement, particularly between white and black Americans. However, the term refers to any subculture's rejection of conformity to prevailing norms and values, not just nonconformity within the educational system. Thus many criminal gangs and religious cults could also be considered oppositional cultures.
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Mutual assured destruction - John von Neumann
I always tried to be a admirer of von Neumann. His science is absolutely brilliant--I would say way more than most popular scientists, such as Einstein. He and Turing made computers possible, and he contributed to so many fields it is mind boggling just to try to trace his influence. On the other hand he is such a pathetic complete prick when it comes to politics that it makes me wanna cry in despair.
WIKIPEDIA
Devanagari transliteration
There are several methods of transliteration from Devanāgarī to the Roman script, and also of transcription (Romanization).
Wikipedia
Instrumentalism
If ~6 different models (for quantum mechanics) calculate with reasonable precision, and most have their own niche application, to commit to hard realism, of which there is no evidence outside hidden premises, is totally arbitrary.
Wikipedia
Too long; didn't read
Too long; didn't read (abbreviated tl;dr and tldr;) is a shorthand notation added by an editor indicating that a passage appeared to be too long to invest the time to digest.
Wikipedia
Spaghetti alla puttanesca
Spaghetti alla puttanesca (literally “spaghetti of the whore” in Italian) is a tangy, somewhat salty Italian pasta dish invented in the mid-20th century. The ingredients are typical of Southern Italian cuisine... In a 2005 article from Il Golfo—a daily newspaper serving the Italian islands of Ischia and Procida—Annarita Cuomo asserted that sugo alla puttanesca was invented in the 1950s by Sandro Petti, co-owner of Rancio Fellone, a famous Ischian restaurant and nightspot. According to Cuomo, Petti's moment of inspiration came when—near closing one evening—Petti found a group of customers sitting at one of his tables. He was low on ingredients and so told them he didn't have enough to make them a meal. They complained that it was late and they were hungry. “Facci una puttanata qualsiasi,” or “Make any kind of garbage,” they insisted. Petti had nothing more than four tomatoes, two olives and some capers—the basic ingredients for the sugo, “So I used them to make the sauce for the spaghetti,” Petti told Cuomo. Later, Petti included this dish on his menu as spaghetti alla puttanesca.
Wikipedia
Diederik Stapel
Some level of healthy doubt is necessary even when talking about scientific results presented in prestigious publications... // Diederik Alexander Stapel (born 19 October 1966 in Oegstgeest) is a Dutch former professor of social psychology at Tilburg University and before that at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In 2011 Tilburg University suspended Stapel for fabricating and manipulating data for his research publications. This scientific misconduct took place over a number of years and affected at least 55 publications.
Wikipedia
Nicolas Jenson
Nicholas Jenson (c.1420 – 1480) was a French engraver, pioneer, printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice, Italy. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours, and is credited with being the creator of one of the finest early Roman type faces. Nicholas Jenson has been something of an iconic figure among students of early printing since the nineteenth century when the aesthete William Morris praised the beauty and perfection of his roman font. Jenson is an important figure in the early history of printing and a pivotal force in the emergence of Venice as one of the first great centers of the printing press.
Wikipedia
Darwin among the Machines
Darwin among the Machines is the name of an article published in The Press newspaper on 13 June 1863 in Christchurch, New Zealand, which references the work of Charles Darwin in the title. Written by Samuel Butler but signed Cellarius (q.v.), the article raised the possibility that machines were a kind of mechanical life undergoing constant evolution, and that eventually machines might supplant humans as the dominant species.
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Sarah Baartman
Sarah Baartman (also spelled Sara, sometimes in the diminutive form Saartje, and Bartman, Bartmann, or Baartmen, [sɑːrɐ bɑːrtman, sɑːrki]) (before 1790 – 29 December 1815), was the most well known of at least two Khoikhoi women who, due to their large buttocks, were exhibited as freak show attractions in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus—"Hottentot" was the then current name for the Khoi people, now considered an offensive term, and "Venus" referred to the Roman goddess of love.
Wikipedia
Chinese translation theory
Oh, that's why Chinese stuff sounds so different than Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali sources. Even though I completely understand their motivations--they require more than a just skillful translator, a similarly spiritually realized translator. Did they had lots of that or just turned dharma into Chinese thinking? Well, let's hope (and concede) not the latter. Translation is like chewing up rice and feeding it to people (嚼飯與人).
Wikipedia
Acting white
In the United States, acting white is a pejorative term, usually applied to African Americans, which refers to a person's perceived betrayal of their culture by assuming the social expectations of white society.[1][2] Success in education in particular (depending on one's cultural background) can be seen as a form of “selling out” by being disloyal to one's culture.
Wikipedia
Xenocentrism
Xenocentrism is the preference for the products, styles, or ideas of someone else's culture rather than of one's own. One example is the romanticization of the noble savage in the 18th-century primitivism movement in European art, philosophy and ethnography.
Wikipedia
Anti-Flirt Club
The Anti-Flirt Club was an American club active in Washington, D.C., during the early 1920s. The purpose of the club was to protect young women and girls who received unwelcome attention from men in automobiles and on street corners. The Anti-Flirt Club launched an “Anti-Flirt” week, which began on March 4, 1923.
nautil.us
Wikipedia and the Wisdom of Polarized Crowds
A lesson in how to break out of filter bubbles.
Wikipedia
Teleology in biology
One of the worst hidden bias of modern science. // Teleology in biology is the use of the language of goal-directedness in accounts of evolutionary adaptation, which some biologists and philosophers of science find problematic. The term teleonomy has also been proposed.
Wikipedia
Periya Puranam
The Periya Puranam (Tamil: பெரிய புராணம்), that is, the great purana or epic, sometimes called Tiruttontarpuranam (“Tiru-Thondar-Puranam”, the Purana of the Holy Devotees), is a Tamil poetic account depicting the lives of the sixty-three Nayanars, the canonical poets of Tamil Shaivism. It was compiled during the 12th century by Sekkizhar. It provides evidence of trade with West Asia. The Periya Puranam is part of the corpus of Shaiva canonical works.
Wikipedia
Impossible Color
Impossible colors or forbidden colors are supposed colors that cannot be perceived in normal seeing of light that is a combination of various intensities of the various frequencies of visible light, but are reported to be seen in special circumstances.
Wikipedia
Gaslighting
Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.
Wikipedia
Kitchen sink realism
Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a term coined to describe a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as “angry young men” who were disillusioned with modern society. It used a style of social realism, which depicted the domestic situations of working class Britons, living in cramped rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore controversial social and political issues ranging from abortion to homelessness. The harsh, realistic style contrasted sharply with the escapism of the previous generation's so-called “well-made plays”.
Wikipedia
Starets
A starets (Russian: стáрец, IPA: [ˈstarʲɪt͡s]; fem. стáрица) is an elder of a Russian Orthodox monastery who functions as venerated adviser and teacher. Elders or spiritual fathers are charismatic spiritual leaders whose wisdom stems from God as obtained from ascetic experience. It is believed that through ascetic struggle, prayer and Hesychasm (seclusion or withdrawal), the Holy Spirit bestows special gifts onto the elder including the ability to heal, prophesy, and most importantly, give effective spiritual guidance and direction. Elders are looked upon as being an inspiration to believers and an example of saintly virtue, steadfast faith, and spiritual peace.
Wikipedia
Differences between the film and the book Lolita (1962 film)
There are many differences between Kubrick's film adaptation and Nabokov's novel, including some events that were entirely omitted. Most of the sexually explicit innuendos, references and episodes in the book were taken out of the film due to the strict censorship of the 1960s;
Wikipedia
Illegal number
An illegal number is a number that represents information which is illegal to possess, utter, propagate, or otherwise transmit in some legal jurisdiction. Any piece of digital information is representable as a number.
Wikipedia
Paige Compositor
The Paige Compositor was an invention developed by James W. Paige (1842–1917) between 1872 and 1888. It was designed to replace the human typesetter of a lead type-composed printing form with a mechanical arm. However, the machine was not nearly as precise as it should have been and never turned a profit because of its complexity and continual need for adjustment based upon trial and error.
Wikipedia
Betteridge's law of headlines
Betteridge's law of headlines is one name for an adage that states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”
Wikipedia
Kierkegaard's influence on Bohr
Now, this is a good guy: It is generally accepted that Bohr read the 19th century Danish Christian existentialist philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. Richard Rhodes argues in The Making of the Atomic Bomb that Bohr was influenced by Kierkegaard via the philosopher Harald Høffding, who was strongly influenced by Kierkegaard.
Wikipedia
Wundt's lab and the inverted-glasses experiments
Stratton went on to become a first-generation experimentalist in psychology. Wundt's lab in Leipzig, with experimental programs bringing together the fields of evolutionary biology, sensory physiology and nervous-system studies, was a part of the career…
wikipedia
The tragic tale of a legendary concert taper
Reclusive, genius, paranoid, obsessive, legendary… // Mike Millard earned his “Mike the Mike” nickname by taping now-legendary shows by some of the biggest names in 1970s rock music. For Millard, taping concerts was his life. A perpetual recluse, Mike obsessed over his tapes and their destinies. But in 1990, it all came to a tragic end. The tale of Mike Millard is one that has been whispered in underground circles for decades, perhaps now it’s time for him to receive the recognition he never saw in his lifetime.