Wings of Evolution - India's Siragu Montessori School

Wings of Evolution is a film which revolves around the revolutionary educational system of Siragu Montessori School, a school for homeless and underprivileged children, located in the remote outskirts of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India.

For a long time, the focus of education in India has been one of compulsive learning procedures, rote learning and examination-based evaluation with no emphasis on children’s understanding of concepts, critical thinking and implications in real life.

Siragu Montessori School, in spite of limited resources and unimaginable obstacles has maintained a quality program, free for those who attend.

Moreover, the Documentary film also focuses on bringing together children from around the world, through a world-wide postcard sharing workshop where children from around the world share thoughts, exchange ideas and promote cultural diversity, global peace and understanding towards building a better tomorrow.

Users spend 16 billion minutes on Facebook each day

It’s been over six years since Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook – run on a single server – initially to Harvard students and eventually to the rest of the world. Since then, the incredible growth of the social network’s infrastructure means it now needs about 60,000 servers to support its 400 million users. And those users are sharing more than six billion pieces of content per week, uploading in excess of 3 billion photos each month and spending 16 billion minutes on Facebook every day.

These astounding figures were quoted by Tom Cook from Facebook's systems engineering group at the O"Reilly Velocity conference last week.

Facebook's servers perform over 50 million operations per second, mainly between the caching tier and web servers. Over a million web sites have included features of Facebook Connect and currently users are viewing in excess of one million photos every second.

To cope with the growth, Facebook has started to build a data center in Prineville, Oregon that will be custom-built to support its server and storage infrastructure.

Also notable from Facebook's latest stats:

• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• an average user has 130 friends and creates 70 pieces of content each month
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices, and these people are twice as active
• More than one million websites have integrated with Facebook Platform

At Structure 2010, Facebook Vice President of Technical Operations, Jonathan Heiliger, conceded that the company did not plan its infrastructure effectively for the challenges it now faces, advising other start-ups that it’s never too early to think about scale.

Via Slashdot.

The Virtual Revolution - The World Wide Web 20 years later

Twenty years on from the invention of the World Wide Web, Dr Aleks Krotoski looks at how it is reshaping almost every aspect of our lives.

Joined by some of the web’s biggest names – including the founders of Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, and the web’s inventor – she explores how far the web has lived up to its early promise.

The founding father of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee, believed his invention would remain an open frontier that nobody could own, and that it would take power from the few and give it to the many.

Now, in a provocative, strongly authored argument, presenter Aleks Krotoski will re-assess utopian claims like these, made over many years by the digital revolution’s key innovators – and test them against the hard realities of the emerging Web today, exploring how the possibilities of the pure technology have been constrained, even distorted by the limitations of human nature.

The Great Levelling? In the first in this four-part series, Aleks charts the extraordinary rise of blogs, Wikipedia and YouTube, and traces an ongoing clash between the freedom the technology offers us, and our innate human desire to control and profit.

Enemy of the State? With contributions from Al Gore, Martha Lane Fox, Stephen Fry and Bill Gates, Aleks explores how interactive, unmediated sites like Twitter and YouTube have encouraged direct action and politicised young people in unprecedented numbers.

The Cost of Free. She tells the inside story of the gold rush years of the dotcom bubble and reveals how retailers such as Amazon learned the lessons. She also charts how, out of the ashes, Google forged the business model that has come to dominate today’s web, offering a plethora of highly attractive, overtly free web services, including search, maps and video, that are in fact funded through a sophisticated and highly lucrative advertising system which trades on what we users look for.

Homo Interneticus? Joined by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Al Gore and the neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, Aleks examines the popularity of social networks such as Facebook and asks how they are changing our relationships. And, in a ground-breaking test at University College London, Aleks investigates how the Web may be distracting and overloading our brains.

Rare White Elephant PHOTO: Animal Captured In Myanmar

Filed under Senza categoria

Jun 30

(AP) YANGON, Myanmar — A rare white elephant has been captured in the jungles of northwestern Myanmar, a mostly Buddhist country where the animals are considered good omens, state media reported Tuesday.

Forestry officials found the animal Saturday, acting on a tip, in the jungles of Maungdaw township in northwestern Rakhine state, the New Light of Myanmar reported, describing the elephant as about 38 years old and 7 feet and 4 inches (2.2 meters) tall.

White elephants, actually albinos, have for centuries been revered in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and other Asian nations. They were normally kept and pampered by monarchs and considered a symbol of royal power and prosperity.

The elephants are not necessarily white. They can look similar to other elephants except for certain features like fair eyelashes and toenails, light-colored hair or a reddish hue to the skin.

AP photo made off MRTV video footage.

The newspaper did not say where the elephant would be housed. It will be the fourth white elephant held in captivity in Myanmar. The three others are at the Mindhamma Hill park, in suburban Yangon, where they live in an enclosure with spiraled pavilions, a manmade waterfall, ponds, trees and vegetation.

Soraida Salwala, of the Thailand-based Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation, said the group normally objects to placing elephants in captivity but stopped short of criticizing the capture of white elephants. In Thailand, all white elephants are traditionally handed over to the country's revered king.

"The white elephant is a sign of great blessings and fortune for the land," she said, adding that traditional Myanmar and Thai beliefs are similar on the subject.

Previous white elephants transported from the jungles have been heralded in lavish ceremonies where the Myanmar's military leaders sprinkle them with scented water laced with gold, silver and precious gems.

A war was fought in the 16th century between Thailand and Myanmar, then Siam and Burma respectively, over disputed ownership of four white elephants.

More on Burma

Off the Beaten Path: Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Travelers touring Thailand tend to hop from major city to major city, paying very little attention to the villages that exist in between. This is, especially in the case of Kanchanaburi, a huge mistake.

The town of Kanchanaburi is small, and is located a few hours west of the city of Bangkok. Travelers tend to pass Kanchanaburi when they leave Bangkok to visit either the northern city of Chaing Mai or the islands.

Kanchanaburi may be small, but it’s incredibly inexpensive and relaxing. Anyone looking to spend a few days in a quiet atmosphere while experiencing true Thai culture will really appreciate the time they spend here.

When to Visit Kanchanaburi

The western section of Thailand, where Kanchanaburi is located, tends to be relatively warm throughout the entire year. There is almost no winter season, with the coldest temperatures hovering around 70F (21.1C). During the hottest months, temperatures can soar into the hundreds.

Because the temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the year, most travelers plan to visit Kanchanaburi when they know it won’t be as rainy. The rainy season begins in April and lasts through October, with the heaviest rainy periods occurring between September and October. The month of April experiences about 8 inches of rain, while the month of May experiences about 15. During the months of September and October, on the other hand, you might see up to 60 inches of rain.

Transportation throughout Kanchanaburi

As noted, the town of Kanchanaburi is pretty small, but it isn’t small enough to say that walking is the only reasonable mode of transportation you’ll need. While most attractions and sites are within walking distance, you’ll probably find it necessary to at least rent a bicycle to get to a couple of the sights that are further away from your hotel. Bicycles are easy to rent at just about any hotel.

If you’re not into walking or bicycle riding, especially during the hottest months, you can easily rent a car, rent a motorcycle, pay for a motorcycle-taxi ride, or take the bus. Locals recommend motorcycles over rental cars because parking is so difficult to find.

Visiting the Tiger Temple

The Tiger Temple is one of the most popular and well known attractions in Kanchanaburi. The Tiger Temple is a safe area in which orphaned tigers are taken care of. Visitors to the temple can interact with the unchained tigers, which have rarely ever attacked. The hot sun keeps them docile and they are well fed by the people caring for them in the temple.

The cost to enter the temple is about $10, which may not seem expensive to western travelers but is a significant amount of money for locals. Don’t bother paying anyone for a tour of the temple. You are better off buying a map and finding your own back to and from the temple. The temple grounds are very hot (they’re located in an area equivalent to a quarry), so make sure you take a hat and plenty of fresh drinking water on your journey.

The Kawi River Bridge

The bridge that stands over the Kawi River is one that major history buffs won’t want to miss. It was featured in a movie about World War 2 POWs, most of which was only partially accurate. The bridge was built by POWs, who were forced by the Japanese to work under extremely harsh conditions. The bridge is considered a historic landmark and there is a nearby memorial cemetery dedicated to those who lost their lives during the bridge’s construction.

Erawan National Park

Also located within Kanchanaburi is the stunning Erawan National Park. This is another site you can see without the aid of a formal tour group. Simply hop on a local bus and head towards the park, where you’ll find plenty of jungle pools and water pools, perfect for rinsing away the heat of the day. You will find plenty of food vendors within the park, but they charge quite a bit for food, so make sure you pack a few snacks of your own if you are on a budget or simply want to save money.

The town of Kanchanaburi is an enchanting place well worth taking the time to visit. Make sure you include a stop in this town on your itinerary. You won’t be sorry.

The Adventure of English:3 Of 8-The Battle for the Language of the Bible(1/5)

In the early to mid 1300s, English fought to be the language of the Christian Bible through the efforts of theologian John Wycliffe, who opposed the church's use of a Latin scripture because it prevented most of the population from reading the bible for themselves. Though Wycliffe died before English became the official language of the bible, Bragg discusses how his translation eventually led to the transition of various Latin words into the English language, including "emperor," "justice,""profession," "suddenly" or "angel."

Eventually, Henry V of England would use his power in order to create this English language bible in the early 1400s. However, the difficulty of creating a common language for all the English dialects in the United Kingdom had to be addressed since there was such an array of spellings and pronunciations. Bragg explains, "The '-ing' participle, as in 'running,' was said as '-and' in the North, '-end' in the East Midlands, and '-ind' in the West Midlands. So 'running' could also be said as 'runnand,' 'runnind,' and 'runnend.'" The number of spellings was even greater, Bragg offers sixteen different ways in which the word meaning "church" had been spelt at the time, including "kerke," "kirc," "chirche," "cherge" and "schyrche."

The Chancery had the duty of creating an official spelling for each spoken word, much of which is still used in modern English. Still, the spelling was confusing because of the debates that went on during this period, for example many words wound up being spelt as to their roots like the words "debt" and "doubt" which came from the French language. The word "rhyme" was given an "h" simply because the word "rhythm" already had one. Around this time the Great Vowel Shift also took place, which altered spoken English from the Old English pronunciation to a more modern sounding form.

The possession of an English bible had become illegal once more and William Tyndale left the country to write his translation of the bible from the original Hebrew and Greek version, which he published in 1526. Many of his sayings are still used today, including, "scapegoat," "the apple of mine eye," "eat, drink and be merry," and words such as "beautiful" and "zealous."
Eventually, Henry VIII of England wished for the creation of an English bible and a new Church of England so that he could divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. In time, King James I would create an official version of the bible which had become wide spread with various versions. This bible deliberately used words like "ye" and "thou," which were no longer in common use, to create the sense that the words written would appear to be ancient, to have authority.

The Adventure of English

Video 1 - The modern Frisian language is the closest sounding language to the English used approximately 2000 years ago, when the people from what is now the north of the Netherlands travelled to what would be the United Kingdom and pushed the Celts to the western side of the island. Words like "blue" can be recognized in the Frisian language.
Bragg then discusses how English dialects in certain areas of the United Kingdom were heavily influenced by historical events such as the invasion of the Vikings in the east, contributing words such as "sky" to the English language.

The Adventure of English is a British television series (ITV) on the history of the English language presented by Melvyn Bragg as well as a companion book, also written by Bragg.

The series and the book are cast as an adventure story, or the biography of English as if it were a living being, covering the history of the language from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor Germanic dialect to its rise as a truly established global language.

In the television series, Bragg explains the origins and spelling of many words based on the times in which they were introduced into the growing language that would eventually become modern English.

1. Birth of a Language. The modern Frisian language is the closest sounding language to the English used approximately 2000 years ago, when the people from what is now the north of the Netherlands travelled to what would be the United Kingdom and pushed the Celts to the western side of the island. Words like “blue” can be recognized in the Frisian language.

2. English Goes Underground. Bragg discusses how class also affected the use of English, especially in the time of William the Conquerer and for approximately 300 years after his reign; during this period, only the French language and Latin were used in state affairs and by the aristocracy, while English remained in use with the lower peasant classes.

3. The Battle for the Language of the Bible. In the early to mid 1300s, English fought to be the language of the Christian Bible through the efforts of theologian John Wycliffe, who opposed the church’s use of a Latin scripture because it prevented most of the population from reading the bible for themselves.

4. This Earth, This Realm, This England. In Queen Elizabeth I’s time, English began to expand to even greater depths. Overseas trade brought new words from France, as well as the now popular swearwords “fokkinge,” (fucking) “krappe,” (crap) and “bugger” from Dutch, in the 16th century.

5. English in America. Upon landing in North America, settlers encountered Squanto, a native man who had been captured and brought to England to learn English and become a guide. After escaping, Squanto returned to his tribe, which happened to live near the place that the English settlers had created their small village.

6. Speaking Proper. The Age of Reason began, and English scholars of mathematics and science like Isaac Newton started publishing their books in English instead of Latin. Jonathan Swift would attempt to save the English language from perpetual change, followed by Samuel Johnson who would write the A Dictionary of the English Language, made up of 43000 words and definitions, written in seven years and published in 1755.

7. The Language of Empire. British trade and colonization spread the English language. In India, scholar William Jones finds some English words already present in Sanskrit. Convicts land in Australia, blending London criminal slang and Aboriginal words into a new dialect. Jamaicans reclaim patois.

8. Many Tongues Called English, One World Language. The globalisation of the English language in the 20th century owes most to the United States. Here we look at the predominance of American Black street talk, how the Second World War and American movies threatened to “infect” the mother tongue in Britain and how some nations are attempting to stamp in the invasion of English out – for example franglais in France and Singlish in Singapore.

The True History of the Internet

Recounts the epic battle between Americas mightiest corporation and a small group of computer geeks who created revolutionary technology.

NOVA: Cracking the Maya Code

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ - The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind a riddle: an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on stone monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. Because the invading Spanish suppressed nearly all knowledge of how the script worked, unlocking its meaning posed one of archaeology's fiercest challenges. Until now.

2012 and End Times part 1/12 'The Omega Point'

WHAT IS THE SUMMER SOLSTICE?

Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Mon Jun 21, 2010 09:53 AM ET
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Today is a very special day: It's the longest day of the year, or the "summer solstice." Often the day just drifts by without even being noticed, but for me, growing up in southwest England, I always associated solstice with Stonehenge and Druids.

Since studying astronomy at school, I soon realized that the summer solstice -- which occurs on June 20 or 21 each year -- was more than just a date to worship the sun; it's a subtle astronomical phenomenon that underpins all life on Earth.

ANALYSIS: Bones Hint at Stonehenge Solstice Feast

WATCH VIDEO: Parts of our Christmas celebrations have roots in Pagan Roman festivals. Discovery News' James Williams unwraps the details.

The science is fairly straightforward: The Earth's axis is tilted by about 23.5 degrees from its orbital plane. In other words, our planet spins around its axis like a spinning top, but the North Pole is always "off vertical" by 23.5 degrees.

As the Earth orbits the sun, the North Pole is pointing preferentially toward the sun during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere (now), but points away six months later on Dec. 20 or 21. For the northern hemisphere, when the North Pole is tilted toward the sun, it's the summer solstice; when pointing away, it's the winter solstice. For the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true (i.e. when it's the summer solstice in Canada, it is the winter solstice in Australia).

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, while the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year.

Also, the summer solstice is the day that the sun can be seen at the highest, northernmost point in the sky. At the summer solstice, the sun will be directly above the Tropic of Cancer (Northern Hemisphere) or the Tropic of Capricorn (Southern hemisphere). If you are located between the Tropics, the sun will pass overhead (i.e. the zenith) in the run-up to summer solstice. At these latitudes, the sun will be directly overhead at different times of the year, depending where you are.

The tilt of the Earth relative to the sun's rays during the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice. Note that the Tropic of Cancer sees the sun directly overhead (Przemyslaw "Blueshade" Idzkiewicz).

Summer solstice is also a reminder about how lucky we are to be living on a planet with a tilt.

If the Earth spun vertically -- with no tilt relative to its orbital plane around the sun -- the equator would always have the sun directly overhead and the poles would be in perpetual twilight.

Every day would be a summer solstice for the equator and winter solstice for the poles. There would be no seasons, and the world as we know it would be a very different place: a lifeless desert around the equator and frozen poles equally as hostile to life.

I suspect there would be some pretty nasty weather in between; hot and cold air forming a huge cell of violent circulating air dominating the hemispheres.

So, if I were inclined to celebrate any time of the year, summer solstice would probably be it. But I wouldn't necessarily worship the sun; I'd be giving thanks for our "tilted world."

Leading image: The sun over the U.K. at precisely 11:28 Universal Time or 12:28 p.m. British Summer Time on June 21, 2010, the moment when the sun reached its most northerly point in the sky (Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).

Vocabulary tool by Berlitz uses Twitter for social learning

For those who want to learn a new language—or even brush up on a current one—there's already Popling for instruction one small bite at a time. Now a new alternative from Berlitz takes a similar approach but adds a social element with multimedia instruction and Twitter-like capabilities.

With support for 15 different languages, Vocabu offers a social way to build vocabulary. Users begin by entering the words they want to master—input can be done manually, or via the “Vocabu Wordclipper,” which lets them highlight any word on a page and drag it to their browser for automatic inclusion. A series of preset libraries are also available. Users can set goals as well in terms of the number of words they'd like to master each week, with badges to look forward to when they do. From there, Vocabu helps users learn the words from their “wordstreams” by trawling the web for visual references using sites like Flickr or for examples of the words used in sentences from real-time tweets on Twitter. Users of Vocabu can form groups for mutual learning and inspiration, and a “follow me” function mimics the one on Twitter for sharing and comparing the wordstreams being studied. Vocabu will soon be available as a desktop application, with an added word trainer function. Apps for iPhone and Android are on the way, too. Currently free and in beta, Vocabu will operate on a business model that offers both freemium and premium services.

When we wrote about Popling early last year, we were impressed by its bite-sized approach to educational instruction; now, Vocabu's addition of social elements makes just as much sense. Purveyors of other educational material—time to bring a social element to your own instructional offerings?

Website: www.getvocabu.com
Contact: vocabu@berlitz.dk

Farmer's fury as crop circle appears next to heart-shaped wood on Summer Solstice

By SOPHIE FREEMAN

Last updated at 4:35 PM on 22nd June 2010

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The summer solstice is traditionally a time of peace and love.

So it was particularly fitting that this crop circle should appear in a field in Wiltshire yesterday - right next to a heart-shaped wood.

But the sentiment wasn't exactly shared by the farmer whose land the circle appeared on. He blasted the design an 'act of vandalism'.

Unusual: The 200-foot crop circle appeared alongside a heart-shaped wood on the Summer Solstice

A man claiming to be Gavin Davies, the farm's manager, posted an angry message on a website run by crop circle enthusiasts, urging them not to encourage people to visit the field.

He said: 'I have this morning noticed the circle on land that I manage.

'I do not support this vandalism, and demand that this circle, and the location are not reported on your website.

'We will be posting notices on the field stating we do not allow access to the circle, and will regularly monitor the field to ensure this is obeyed.'

Mr Davies said he was concerned visitors could trample on his crops, destroying them in the process.

More...

• UFO Festival Wiltshire

He said: 'At this stage, the crop remains harvestable, and as a result, we will leave the circle intact.

'If visitors to the site ignore our notices, and continue to walk into the crop, we will mow out the circle.

'I will be taking advice from the local police, and legal advice from our solicitors to counter this act of vandalism.

'Please let the teams behind the circles know they are not welcome here. If we get anymore, we will be forced to mow them out to avoid the hassle. I thank you for your assistance.'

Detailed: The design is striking - but it has angered the farm manager, who branded the crop circle an 'act of vandalism'

Crop circle fans were earlier trying to de-code the 200 foot design which sprung up in a field near Marlborough on the longest day of the year.

Crop circle expert Karen Alexander said: 'It appears to be a complicated mathematical formula and there have been several circles in the area over the years that represent Pi.

'The fact it has appeared next to a heart-shaped wood suggests there is something more significant to the message, especially as it appeared on the Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288462/2010-Summer-Solstice-Crop-circle-appears-heart-shaped-wood.html#ixzz0rdAReYnY

Buried ancient Egyptian city revealed by radar imaging

The 3,500-year-old capital of Egypt's foreign occupiers has been revealed by archaeologists using radar imaging.

Published: 10:44PM BST 20 Jun 2010

Satellite image with radar imaging offering an overview of the outlines of a city with streets, buildings and temples underneath the green farm fields and modern town of Tel al-Dabaa, Northeast of Cairo, Egypt Photo: EPA

Egypt was ruled for a century from 1664-1569 BC by the Hyksos, a warrior people from Asia, possibly Semitic in origin, whose summer capital was in the northern Delta area.

Irene Mueller, the head of the Austrian archaeological team, said the main purpose of the project was to determine how far the underground city extended.

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The radar imaging showed the outlines of streets, houses and temples underneath the green farm fields and modern town of Tel al-Dabaa.

Such non-invasive techniques are the best way define the extent of the site, the team said in a statement. Egypt's Delta is densely populated and heavily farmed, making extensive excavation difficult, unlike in southern Egypt with its more famous desert tombs and temples.

The Austrian team of archaelogists has been working on the site since 1975.

CAMBODIA: Key role for universities in healing society

Vicheth Sen*

20 June 2010
Issue: 129
University World News

Universities need to move beyond their traditional roles of teaching, learning and research towards another core function - linking campuses to communities. They can play a key role in organising programmes in which students have the opportunity to be engaged in civic activities. This is particularly important in countries like Cambodia, which have been damaged by severe societal breakdowns in the past.

The erosion of trust in Cambodia - both interpersonal and institutional - caused by the Khmer Rouge regime, has weakened people's ability to work together for a common goal. It has crippled Cambodia's ability to recover from the devastation caused by prolonged civil conflicts. The Khmer Rouge regime left a psychological legacy - in this case, trauma - which has yet to be treated or healed.

As someone born after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, I believe that many young Cambodians have been affected by their parents' bad experiences. This trauma has become inter-generational.

Although young Cambodians' experiences are not as bad as those of their parents, parents' traumatic experiences of the genocidal regime and the chronic civil wars have been passed on to their children through the ways they were brought up.

The bad experiences affected the ways people viewed the world around them and how they related to other people. The erosion of trust continues into present Cambodian society.

It is noticeable that the ability to work together among (young) Cambodians tends to be limited to within families and small intimate groups of close friends. People don't seem to have enough confidence to extend cooperation beyond close networks, which really affects their ability to work together as well as the productivity of their work.

Promoting civic engagement at universities allows students to interact with one another beyond their small groups, to communicate with one another, to work together to achieve a common purpose, and to learn about one another, which leads to a better understanding of each other.

This process is critical for confidence and trust building, which is the first step to encouraging people to work together productively.

However, because of limited budget and lack of understanding of the importance of civic engagement, most Cambodian universities focus only on their traditional roles of teaching, learning and research.

Although some students mention having been involved in community service or volunteerism, the primary reason they stated was egoistic rather than altruistic, self-centered rather than compassionate. For instance, the most cited reason for doing community service or volunteerism was to gain some experience so that it was easier to secure a job in future.

I believe being civically engaged means learning to give back to the community, to help one another, to share, to take responsibilities, to understand the working and systems of the government and the processes of choosing a leader, and learning to be a good leader, to be accountable and to understand the principles and practices of democracy, to mention a few.

In this sense, civic engagement at university makes young people build or connect the missing link between the academic world and the real world. Civic engagement makes the students understand the importance of being civically engaged because of the benefits they will gain by doing so.

It also helps them to learn to trust fellow Cambodians through working together and helping those in need of support. At the same time, they learn to be good citizens and good leaders.

What's also important is that civic education programmes help students to understand the importance of their role in a democratic country. This is vital not only in the present but also in the future. I believe that a healthy democratic country has a huge population with high levels of civic mindedness and engagement.

For this reason, in this critical stage of democratising Cambodia, it is important to promote civic engagement among young Cambodians. This will provide a good opportunity for them not only to be well prepared for future careers but also to contribute to a healthy democracy in this newly democratised country.

* Vicheth Sen, a lecturer at the Royal Phnom Penh University, is the author of Higher Education and Civic Engagement In Cambodia: A Case Study at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Ancient ocean maps

Link to Piri reis map. Full screen.

THE CART OF
PHILIPPE BUACHE

Link to site.
There is a lot of info with this map at the sit and they say this is used by Graham Hancock .

Link to the full screen size of Piri's map that shows a piece of Antarctica.

This one is also weird and a lot of text explaining why.
Mysterious Mapmakers: Exploring the Impossibly Accurate 16th Century Maps of Antarctica and Greenland
Must read.