Random Articles (Page 4)

Have a deep view into what people are curious about.

πŸ”— Colorless green ideas sleep furiously

πŸ”— Philosophy πŸ”— Philosophy/Logic πŸ”— Linguistics πŸ”— Philosophy/Philosophy of language πŸ”— Linguistics/Philosophy of language

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously is a sentence composed by Noam Chomsky in his 1957 book Syntactic Structures as an example of a sentence that is grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical. The sentence was originally used in his 1955 thesis The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory and in his 1956 paper "Three Models for the Description of Language". Although the sentence is grammatically correct, no obvious understandable meaning can be derived from it, and thus it demonstrates the distinction between syntax and semantics. As an example of a category mistake, it was used to show the inadequacy of certain probabilistic models of grammar, and the need for more structured models.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Simulations and games in economics education

πŸ”— Economics πŸ”— Education πŸ”— Game theory πŸ”— Games

A simulation game is "a game that contains a mixture of skill, chance, and strategy to simulate an aspect of reality, such as a stock exchange". Similarly, Finnish author Virpi RuohomΓ€ki states that "a simulation game combines the features of a game (competition, cooperation, rules, participants, roles) with those of a simulation (incorporation of critical features of reality). A game is a simulation game if its rules refer to an empirical model of reality". A properly built simulation game used to teach or learn economics would closely follow the assumptions and rules of the theoretical models within this discipline.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Wikipedia: Are you evil?

Congratulations, you have discovered Wikipedia, one of the most popular sites on the Internet and probably the leading informational resource in the world today.

Unfortunately some people are evil and have to be banned. In order to save time, we have compiled this easy questionnaire. It's multiple choice, one answer only.

Q: You have discovered a website which has enormous reach and is used by millions of people every day. You think:

  1. Wow, this is awesome! How can I help?
  2. Wow, this is awesome! How can I use this to my advantage?

Scoring:

  1. 1 point
  2. 0 points

Marking: 0 points: Fail. Please die in a fire. 1 point: Pass. Welcome!


It seems like the authors of this 'test' are evil, willing people to die and in a most horrible manner.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Pyrrhonism

πŸ”— Philosophy πŸ”— Classical Greece and Rome πŸ”— Greece πŸ”— Philosophy/Ancient philosophy πŸ”— Philosophy/Epistemology

Pyrrhonism is an Ancient Greek school of philosophical skepticism which rejects dogma and advocates the suspension of judgement over the truth of all beliefs. It was founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE, and said to have been inspired by the teachings of Pyrrho and Timon of Phlius in the fourth century BCE. Pyrrhonism is best known today through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE. The publication of Sextus' works in the Renaissance ignited a revival of interest in Skepticism and played a major role in Reformation thought and the development of early modern philosophy.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Firehose of Falsehood

πŸ”— Russia πŸ”— Russia/mass media in Russia πŸ”— Politics πŸ”— Media πŸ”— Russia/politics and law of Russia

The firehose of falsehood, or firehosing, is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (such as news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency. Since 2014, when it was successfully used by Russia during its annexation of Crimea, this model has been adopted by other governments and political movements around the world.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Zellige

πŸ”— Visual arts πŸ”— Morocco

Zellige (Arabic:Β [zˈliΚ‘]; Arabic: Ψ§Ω„Ψ²Ω„ΩŠΨ¬β€Ž; also zelige or zellij or zileej) is mosaic tilework made from individually chiseled geometric tiles set into a plaster base. This form of Islamic art is one of the main characteristics of Moroccan architecture. It consists of geometrically patterned mosaics, used to ornament walls, ceilings, fountains, floors, pools and tables. The Moroccan traditional patterns and styles are found inside famous buildings such as Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakech, and the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, which adds a new color palette with traditional designs.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Logo of the X Window System ca. 1990?

πŸ”— Computing πŸ”— Computing/Software πŸ”— Computing/Free and open-source software πŸ”— Linux

The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.

X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting with a mouse and keyboard. X does not mandate the user interface – this is handled by individual programs. As such, the visual styling of X-based environments varies greatly; different programs may present radically different interfaces.

X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at version 11 (hence "X11") since September 1987. The X.Org Foundation leads the X project, with the current reference implementation, X.Org Server, available as free and open-source software under the MIT License and similar permissive licenses.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Norton Commander

πŸ”— Computing πŸ”— Computing/Software

Norton Commander (NC) is a discontinued prototypical orthodox file manager (OFM), written by John Socha and released by Peter Norton Computing (later acquired in 1990 by the Symantec corporation). NC provides a text-based user interface for managing files on top of MS-DOS. It was officially produced between 1986 and 1998. The last MS-DOS version of Norton Commander, 5.51, was released on July 1, 1998.

A related product, Norton Desktop, a graphical shell for MS-DOS and Windows, succeeded Norton Commander. It came in two variants, Norton Desktop for DOS and Norton Desktop for Windows.

Discussed on

πŸ”— Hoxne Hoard

πŸ”— London πŸ”— British Museum πŸ”— BBC πŸ”— Classical Greece and Rome πŸ”— Archaeology πŸ”— Rome πŸ”— East Anglia πŸ”— East Anglia/Suffolk

The Hoxne Hoard ( HOK-sΙ™n) is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth centuries found anywhere within the former Roman Empire. It was found by Eric Lawes, a metal detectorist in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England in 1992. The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver, and bronze coins and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery. The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at Β£1.75 million (about Β£3.79Β million in 2021).

The hoard was buried in an oak box or small chest filled with items in precious metal, sorted mostly by type, with some in smaller wooden boxes and others in bags or wrapped in fabric. Remnants of the chest and fittings, such as hinges and locks, were recovered in the excavation. The coins of the hoard date it after AD 407, which coincides with the end of Britain as a Roman province. The owners and reasons for burial of the hoard are unknown, but it was carefully packed and the contents appear consistent with what a single very wealthy family might have owned. It is likely that the hoard represents only a part of the wealth of its owner, given the lack of large silver serving vessels and of some of the most common types of jewellery.

The Hoxne Hoard contains several rare and important objects, such as a gold body-chain and silver-gilt pepper-pots (piperatoria), including the Empress pepper pot. The hoard is also of particular archaeological significance because it was excavated by professional archaeologists with the items largely undisturbed and intact. The find helped to improve the relationship between metal detectorists and archaeologists, and influenced a change in English law regarding finds of treasure.

Discussed on