16 May 2011

Think before you condemn

I found this brilliant article on "a Nadder!" about Afghanistan, based on a Foreign Policy photo essay. Most of us tend to think of Afghanistan as a county of bearded mullahs, religious fanatics. terrorists, uneducated people, etc. We also adopt a point of view that the present is always better than the past and so, if Afghanistan is the way it is now, imagine what it was 50 or 100 years ago. Probably people living in caves. But we are wrong. The following photo is from a biology class in a university in Afghanistan:

And this is from the Radio Kabul transmitter. The radio could be heard as far as South Africa.

Is this the image we have about this country? Certainly not. Look at the sources above for more details and more pictures. And, most of all, think and look around before you form an opinion based on what the media tell you or what the person down the road thinks. And think, also, how fragile the current system you live in may be. This is an advice for me too.

1 comment:

  1. I couldn't agree more! We tend to forget that not only our way is the best way,not only (or not always) our point of view is the right one and we should look behind the curtains more often.Okay,I am mostly talking about myself,hopefully others are better than me! Thanks for the article, was interesting.

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T H E B O T T O M L I N E

What measure theory is about

It's about counting, but when things get too large.
Put otherwise, it's about addition of positive numbers, but when these numbers are far too many.

The principle of dynamic programming

max_{x,y} [f(x) + g(x,y)] = max_x [f(x) + max_y g(x,y)]

The bottom line

Nuestras horas son minutos cuando esperamos saber y siglos cuando sabemos lo que se puede aprender.
(Our hours are minutes when we wait to learn and centuries when we know what is to be learnt.) --António Machado

Αγεωμέτρητος μηδείς εισίτω.
(Those who do not know geometry may not enter.) --Plato

Sapere Aude! Habe Muth, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!
(Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!) --Kant