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The Holidays for Computer Scientists
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45 million people died…
… in Mao’s Great Leap to Famine
This reminds me of Stalin’s terror, especially in the Ukraine, which I recently read about in Bloodlands, but on a vastly greater scale.
…the archives show that coercion, terror and violence were the foundation of the Great Leap Forward.
Mao was sent many reports about what was happening in the countryside, some of them scribbled in longhand. He knew about the horror, but pushed for even greater extractions of food.
At a secret meeting in Shanghai on March 25, 1959, he ordered the party to procure up to one-third of all the available grain — much more than ever before. The minutes of the meeting reveal a chairman insensitive to human loss: “When there is not enough to eat people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill.”
Via Ann Althouse.
Website Lets You Smash Asteroid into Earth, See Aftermath
From Space.com
Read any good books lately?
From marccarlson.
Boring history
Book Find
After being snowbound for 40 hours we were finally able to get out late Sunday morning. The first event: A family trip to a bookstore. There I found and bought a copy of The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man. I had read it decades ago, back in college or even high school. The author, David W. Maurer was a long time friend and colleague of my parents. When I saw The Sting a few years later I immediately noticed how closely it followed Maurer’s book and mentioned that to my father. Dad agreed, but that was done with without Maurer’s permission or any acknowledgement of his work. As noted here, a lawsuit followed.
After all these years, The Big Con still finds new fans, such as Cory Doctorow.
Recent reading
Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist. The author is brotherguy.
All are recommended to those interested in the respective subjects.
Xmas v Christmas
From Merriam-Webster ‘Ask the Editors’
As the son of two lexicographers I enjoyed this.
Also see Why Is There an X in Xmas?
Venus Has a Moon?
How the anti-vaccination groups work
Blogger Who Fought Against Anti-Vaccine Group is Under Attack
Some of you may have met Elyse: She has been to Convergence the last two years.
As most of you you know, mia_mcdavid and I have two autistic sons. Both received all the usual childhood vaccinations. mia_mcdavid and I are certain that this was the right thing to do and have no regrets about it.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 