The Chinese language has tens of thousands of characters, and many have considered it nearly impossible to fit these characters onto a single workable typewriter. But that hasn’t stopped inventors from trying … and, to a certain degree, succeeding. Stanford historian Thomas Mullaney is now writing the first history of the Chinese typewriter, and he has found evidence for numerous patents and prototypes that incorporate the most commonly used characters. In addition to making a political impact in China, these machines have also potentially influenced innovations in modern computing. You can read more about Mullaney’s work on Stanford’s Human Experience website, and also watch him discuss his work in this YouTube clip.
The History of the Seemingly Impossible Chinese Typewriter
Jared Diamond Explains Haiti’s Enduring Poverty
Jared Diamond, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs & Steel (and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed), offers some timely thoughts on why Haiti, once a fairly prosperous country, has sunk into enduring poverty — a condition not comparatively shared by its neighbor on the same island, the Dominican Republic. According to Diamond, Haiti’s environmental conditions offer a partial explanation. But you will also find clues in the country’s language, and in the legacy of slavery that has shaped Haiti’s economic relationship with Europe and the US. This interview — quite a good one — aired this morning in San Francisco. You can listen to it below, or access it via MP3, iTunes or RSS Feed.
I Have a Dream
For MLK’s birthday, we bring back the full “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at The Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Seventeen eloquent and brave minutes that changed the world and made it a better place.
What Would MLK Say About the USA Today?
What would Martin Luther King Jr. think about America in 2010? Few would know better than Clayborne Carson, the Stanford historian who directs the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. In this talk, Carson describes MLK’s likely thoughts about America during the Great Recession. King cared deeply about economic justice, and it’s clear that King wouldn’t have looked unambivalently upon the inequalities that the financial meltdown made so glaringly obvious. Next week, the U.S. will celebrate King’s birthday and bankers will collect their record-setting bonuses …
Note: Clayborne Carson is currently holding Open Office Hours on Stanford’s Facebook Page. Be sure to visit. Also, Professor Carson has taught an online course that you can freely download. It’s called African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle, and you can find it on YouTube and iTunes. It’s also the first course that appears in our collection of Free Courses.
Talking American History with Joseph Ellis
Let me quickly call your attention to an interview with Joseph Ellis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling historian, who most recently published American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic. In this casual, wide-ranging conversation (listen below or here) with Russ Roberts, the host of EconTalk, Ellis talks through the founding years of the United States — the break with England, the Revolutionary War, the drafting of the constitution and the forging of the nation. A good conversation for history buffs, and an informative talk for those less familiar with America’s beginnings. You can generally find EconTalk (which typically focuses on economics) here: iTunes – RSS Feed – Web Site.
Google to Provide Virtual Tours of 19 World Heritage Sites
On Friday, I mentioned that you can now visit the Roman ruins at Pompeii, Stonehenge and Versailles via Google Street View. What I didn’t realize is that this looks to be part of a larger initiative, a larger attempt to provide digital tours of important world heritage sites. According to this UNESCO announcement, 19 historical sites will be included, and I’ve listed them below. The video above offers more details.
“Spain: Santiago de Compostela (Old Town); Old Town of Cáceres; Historic Walled Town of Cuenca; Old City of Salamanca; Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches; Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct; Historic City of Toledo France: Palace and Park of Versailles; Paris, Banks of the Seine Italy: Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata; Historic Centre of Siena; Historic Centre of Urbino; Historic Centre of San Gimignano Netherlands: Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout Czech Republic: Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc; Historic Centre of Český Krumlov; Historic Centre of Prague United Kingdom: Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew”
Visit Pompeii (also Stonehenge & Versailles) with Google Street View
The story of Pompeii is well known. Back in 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the neighboring Roman city with 60 feet of ash over the course of two days. The city was wiped out and then entombed for centuries, until archaeologists started unearthing the ruins in the 18th and 19th centuries, offering the modern world an amazing window into the finer details of ancient Roman life. (Just for the record, digging continues there today, and I even got to do some this past summer.) Today, Google is helping deepen the modern connection to the ancient world. Using Google Street view, you can tour Pompeii in 3D from the comfort of your own home. To begin walking through the ancient city, just click here.
As a side note, this isn’t the first time Google has used Street View in such a way. You can also find tours of Stonehenge and Louis XIV’s Versailles. Plus, you can also use Google Earth, another Google program, to tour the ancient city of Rome.
Finally, to dig deeper into ancient history, I’d recommend looking through our previous post, Learning Ancient History for Free. This will point you to some of the best free courses available on the web.
via Mashable and the National Post
The Velvet Revolution Revisited: Havel at Columbia
20 years ago, the dominoes fell in Eastern Europe. Not long after the Wall fell in Berlin, a non-violent revolution got underway in Czechoslovakia. The Velvet Revolution took just a matter of six weeks (November 17 — December 29, 1989) to unfold. It was fast and bloodless, and it put on the world stage Václav Havel — the playwright, turned anti-Soviet dissident, and soon democratic president of Czechoslovakia (and later the Czech Republic).
In 2006, Havel arrived in New York City, to spend 8 weeks at Columbia University. To mark the occasion, the university built a web site called Havel at Columbia that reconsidered Havel and the Velvet Revolution. Along with some intriguing historical footage, the site features video interviews with George H.W. Bush, David Remnick (the New Yorker editor and author of Lenin’s Tomb), Milos Forman (the great movie director of Czech heritage), Edward Albee (the playwright best known for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), George Soros, and Lou Reed. Collectively, these conversations give you a very good feel for the man, the artist, and his historical contributions. You will also then find a conversation between Presidents Bill Clinton and Václav Havel, and a reading of Havel’s play, The Garden Party, directed by Israel Horvitz featuring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Klein. Podcasts of many of these wonderful events can be found on iTunes.
Note: The media-packed website, Havel at Columbia, was created by the Columbia Center for New Media for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) and the Columbia University Arts Initiative (CUArts). Great work here, and I want to thank John F. for helping us put this post together.
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