October 26, 2011 at 7:48 am
In view of Prof. Fred Kleiner’s lecture this Tuesday on the art and politics of the Greek Acropolis, this week’s analects all concern the Athenian Parthenon. Yesterday I went out at about twelve, and visited the British Museum; an exceedingly tiresome affair. It quite crushes a person to see so much at once; and I [...]
October 5, 2011 at 4:16 pm
“Reason and heart will give you words, Telemakhos; and a spirit will counsel others. I should say the gods were never indifferent to your life.” – Homer, from The Odyssey Book III, lines 31-33. Translation by Robert Fitzgerald.
October 3, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Lectures this week CC101: Stephanie Nelson on The Culture & Religion of Ancient Greece (10/4) CC105, Tuesday: Scott Whitaker on atoms (10/4) CC105, Thursday: Midterm 1 (10/6) CC201: Victor Coelho on Claudio Monteverdi (10/4) CC203: Judith Swanson on Inequality, Property & Social Contract (10/6) General announcements A reminder to alumni — if you will be [...]
September 23, 2011 at 11:24 am
From scrolls, to the codex, to e-books, like the Amazon Kindle, the format of the book is changing in our new technological age. A recent New York Times article describes this ever-changing phenomenon and what we should expect to sacrifice in giving up the good-ole paperback. In the classical world, the scroll was the book [...]
September 19, 2011 at 9:00 am
Un jour, Cunégonde, en se promenant auprès du château, dans le petit bois qu’on appelait parc, vit entre des broussailles le docteur Pangloss qui donnait une leçon de physique expérimentale à la femme de chambre de sa mère, petite brune très jolie et très docile. Comme Mlle Cunégonde avait beaucoup de dispositions pour les sciences, [...]
August 12, 2011 at 10:40 am
From the Museum of Science website: The Museum welcomes students back to the city in style by offering free admission to a night in our Exhibit Halls, Monday, September 19, 2011, beginning at 5 PM. This exclusive evening features Omni and 3-D Digital Cinema films, Theater of Electricity shows, Boston Duck Tours, mini Segway tours, [...]
The CC106 Ecosystem Challenge has come to a conclusion and the much-coveted grand prize, an Ecosphere — which has been residing happily and without complaint on Dr. Hudon’s desk, as per the images below — is now moving to a new home. Prof. Hudon writes: Congratulations to Sloane Williams and Caroline Smith who concocted the [...]
Core took a trip to Walden Pond this past Saturday, April 30th. After stopping for lunch at the famous Concord Cheese Shop, the group took a walk around the pond and pondered Thoreau’s literary and philosophical legacy. It was a fine spring day for it. L-R: Nora Spalholz, Julia Sinitsky, Sarah Schneider, Cara Papakyrikos, Prof. [...]
March 10, 2011 at 12:17 pm
It’s hard to believe that extinction is happening right before our eyes. There are five primary causes: habitat fragmentation, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overexploitation and climate change. Here is a list of ten species that have been declared extinct so far this century. These are masterpieces of nature that we can no longer enjoy. [...]
February 25, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Woody Allen gives a comical and tongue-in-cheek summary, complete with excerpt, of Nietzsche’s alleged lost book on dieting to The New Yorker: No philosopher came close to solving the problem of guilt and weight until Descartes divided mind and body in two, so that the body could gorge itself while the mind thought, Who cares, [...]
