Category Archives: Culture

Culture Travel

Syria (Part 2) – More Damascus

July 6, 2010 – 11:12 am

My adventures in Damascus continued with more must-see sights: first of all, the National Museum of Damascus, which contains an important collection of antiquities: Unfortunately, pictures weren’t allowed inside (as is the case in many museums in syria), but there were plenty of replica-monuments in the outer courtyard: Later that day I went back to read more »

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Culture Travel

Syria (Part 1) – Damascus

July 5, 2010 – 11:40 am

This trip was a long time in coming. Last year a research trip I had planned didn’t materialize, so this summer, for various reasons of timing (including baby on the way), I decided to make a trip purely to get a view of the country and to visit many of the sites I have studied read more »

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Culture

super mario beatbox

June 18, 2010 – 4:47 pm

In a continuing effort to broaden everyone’s cultural horizons, here is a video of a guy beatboxing the original super mario bros. theme. Enjoy.

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Culture

off chicago’s beaten path

June 5, 2010 – 4:52 pm

as our time in chicago is (too quickly!) coming to an end, i find it delightful to still come across things i haven’t seen before. i had the opportunity to spend the day in downtown while waiting for our car to be serviced. well okay, first one is not a particularly delightful sight: even the read more »

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Culture

tulip season

May 1, 2010 – 7:30 pm

tulips are out in force on michigan avenue. in front of the water tower.

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Culture

chicago architecture tour

April 30, 2010 – 7:35 pm

yesterday helen and i went on a chicago architecture foundation tour with my friend debra. the tour was on “Historic downtown: the Rise of the Skyscraper” and led us on a walking tour of the south loop. art deco mail slot in the “Field Building” (1934) cantilever staircase in the “Rookery Building” (1888) facade of read more »

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Culture

rainbow war

April 10, 2010 – 4:39 pm

with shanghai expo 2010 just around the corner, i started to reminisce about expo 86 in vancouver. since i was only 7 or 8 years old, my memories are a bit fuzzy, but i remember distinctly watching that film “Rainbow War” at the Canadian Pavilion 10 different times, and thinking it was awesome. after a read more »

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Culture

viral video du jour…

April 7, 2010 – 5:35 pm

…a boy from Taiwan belting out some Whitney Houston on a reality show. CNN called him Taiwan’s very own Susan Boyle. Enjoy.

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Culture

edmonton water usage during the gold medal game

March 9, 2010 – 4:07 pm

The following chart pretty much speaks for itself… it plots water usage in Edmonton two Sundays ago (Feb 28, 2010), during the Canada-U.S. Olympic gold medal hockey game (click image for link to article):

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Culture

filter failure

March 6, 2010 – 11:43 am

Many months ago I posted a video (here) by Clay Shirky, a very perceptive commenter on the social effects of technology. Yesterday I found another talk of his on a different topic: the idea that the challenge we face today is not so much “information overload,” but “filter failure.” That is, the problem that the read more »

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