Babylonian Mathematics

'Babylonian' is a general word to describe the people living in Mesopotamia, a fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (present day Turkey and Syria). The Babylonian civilisation (dating from around 2000-600BC) replaced that of the Sumerians and Akkadians, and so inherited their sexagesimal (i.e. base 60) number system. The Sumerians had created a form of writing based on cuneiform (wedge-shaped) symbols, which the Babylonians also adopted. This is how most of their texts have come down to us: as symbols written on wet clay tablets which were then baked in the hot sun so the clay set and the symbols were permanent. Thousands of these tablets have survived to the present day.

Babylonian mathematics was, in many ways, more advanced than Egyptian maths. They could extract square and cube roots, work with Pythagorean triples 1200 years before Pythagoras, had a knowledge of pi and possibly e (the exponential function), could solve some quadratics and even polynomials of degree 8, solved linear equations and could also deal with circular measurement. Babylonian mathematics was based much more on algebra and less on geometry, in contrast to the Greeks.

Babylonian Mathematics

Save the Whales

Wherever whaling has been practised it has devastated populations of whales. When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed in 1946, its preamble noted that 'the history of whaling has seen overfishing of one area after another and of one species of whale after another to such a degree that it is essential to protect all species of whales from further overfishing'. But despite this clear recognition of the problem the IWC was unable to stop it, instead presiding over the decimation of species after species. It is still not known if some species will ever recover, even after decades of protection.

This devastation happened because the reproductive rate of whales is low and the monetary value of individual whales was high. Given this, it might seem sensible to you and me for whalers to strictly limit their catches in order to secure a future for their industry, but a short-sighted economic reality meant that whalers tended to catch as much as they could, as quickly as they could.

Save the whales

What dose Healthy Cow eat?

Products from grass-fed animals are safer than food from conventionally-raised animals. This is especially reassuring now that a case of mad cow disease, or BSE, has been confirmed in this country. Countries that conduct more rigorous testing for BSE have identified hundreds more cases. Many experts agree that if we were to test every one of our cows for BSE (the protocol in Japan), we, too, would find more diseased animals.

As you will discover by reading the postings below, 100 percent grass-fed animals have an extremely low risk of BSE That is because their diets contain no animal by-products or other unnatural ingredients. They eat what nature intended: grasses and other green plants. You will also see research showing that choosing products from grass-fed animals may lower your risk of two other food borne illnesses, campylobacter and E. coli.

A final note of reassurance is that the producers listed on the eatwild.com website certify that their animal and dairy products are free of feed antibiotics, added hormones, and other growth promoters, making them the "cleanest" animal food you can buy.

Eat Wild

The Rise of Adolf Hitler & The Ugly War

Before embarking on a political career in September 1919 at the age of thirty, Adolf Hitler had been a nonentity. With no formal qualifications, he had become an aimless drifter and failed artist before joining the army on the outbreak of war in August 1914. There he was not considered worthy of promotion because of 'a lack of leadership qualities', although his award of the Iron Cross First Class showed that he did not lack courage.

Yet during the next 26 years he succeeded in gaining and exercising supreme power in Germany and, in the process, arguably had more impact on the history of the world in the 20th century than any other political figure. The explanation for this remarkable transformation lies partly in Hitler himself, in his particular personal qualities and gifts, and partly in the situation in which he found himself, with a nation in deep crisis.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler

World of Money, History of Money

Money has been used in different forms all over the world for over 5,000 years. Uses and forms far in the past and in distant lands may not always be obvious to us. We can define money by seeing how it is used or by looking at all the different forms it has taken.

Lydia and the First Electrum Coins

The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC famously stated that 'the Lydians were the first people we know to have struck and used coinage of silver and gold.' He is almost correct. The earliest coins were in fact made from electrum, an alloy of gold and silver but, on the evidence of their findspots, do seem to belong to this part of the world. These coins had a design on one side only. On the other, simple punches were used.

World of Money, History of Money