BCG-K@W Procurement Report: Part 8: Peformance-based Logistics
These days, when the U.S. Department of Defense buys a fighter jet from Lockheed Martin, it doesn't simply pay Lockheed for the physical product. Instead, the government has a "performance-based contract" with the defense supplier, according to Serguei Netessine, professor of operations and information management at Wharton. This contract says, in effect, that the government's reimbursement to Lockheed hinges on the jets' performance -- that is, how often the planes are able to fly. In this inte
The Honey Badger-Perhaps The Most Fearless Animal on Earth
The Guinness Book of World Records have named this species the most fearless animal on earth. Watch this video to see why. Is there anything that this animal does not eat? (03:20) Some scenes may be disturbing for younger viewers.
Decomposers
We've all been victimized by decomposers: Lettuce rots; bread becomes moldy. Bacteria and fungi often consume our food before we have a chance to. However, if we stop to consider the important work that decomposers do, we may be a little less disgruntled by their presence. This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" describes the role of decomposers in the living world. Run time 03:06.
Changing Times at The Washington Post: Engaging Readers, Enhancing Content
At the Wharton-sponsored Future of Publishing conference held on April 30 in New York, one of the panels looked at the changing nature of content, specifically the increasing popularity of user-generated content spilling forth from an ever-growing variety of sources. The panel included Katharine Zaleski, executive producer and head of digital news products for The Washington Post and before that, senior editor in charge of special projects at The Huffington Post. Following her participation in t
Improving Our Financial IQs: Why Managing Money Should Be a Lifetime Skill
It's no secret that many Americans are financially illiterate, or unable to understand basic principles of money management. To address this situation, Wharton, Dartmouth and the Rand Corporation have established the new Financial Literacy Center, which will develop "educational materials and programs that help foster saving and retirement strategies over the life cycle." Annamaria Lusardi, an economics professor at Dartmouth who will help lead the new Center, and Michelle Greene, deputy assista
"The Definition of Love" by Andrew Marvell (poetry reading)
"L'Amour et Psyche, enfants", by William Bouguereau (1825-1905)
"Two Lovers", 1906, by Marcus Stone (1840-1921) Two Lovers 1906,
MY Love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis, for object, strange and high ;
It was begotten by Despair,
Upon Impossibility.
Magnanimous Despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing,
Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown,
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed ;
But Fate does iron wedges drive,
And alwa
"Yesterday" by W S Merwin (poetry reading)
"Yesterday" is a word more often used in a figurative rather than a literal sense. My three-year-old daughter avoids ambiguity with her own word "lasterday" which means any day from the past.
There are few things that we cherish more than the neologisms of our children, their comic misapprehensions and their astonishing insights. My son when three years old came in from playing outside and said " Hey Dad, there's a great big catalogue in the garage" I thought maybe the postman had left it an
"Her Dilemma" by Thomas Hardy (poetry reading)
Hardy did put his heroines in difficult situations and inflict cruel and unusual punishments on them. Fundamentalists have to face the moral dilemma of whether lying is ever justified. This wouldn't be a controversial topic now but it was in Hardy's day. His novel Jude the Obscure met such public outrage that he never wrote another book. After that he put his creative energy into poetry instead.
Recently I saw a question put to those who say that lying is fundamentally wrong and never just
"A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed" by Jonathan Swift (poetry reading)
Cosmetic treatments in the 18th century were less permanent than they are today. Apart from that, there's not much difference. There was a Victorian story told to me by a wonderful old geezer who had a wealth of such stories. A man married a famous opera singer. On the wedding night she removed her clothes and all her curves came off with them. Then she took out her false teeth and her glass eye. As she was unscrewing her wooden leg he could contain himself no longer and shouted "Sing! F
Introduction to Binary Math
An introduction to binary math. Geared towards students preparing for Network+ exams.
Magna Carta
This video provides information on the Magna Carta. This document was written in England in 1215 and serves as an inspiration for the US Constitution. This video provides some background as to its causes and some effects. Good detail.
Documentary: The Adolf Hitler Schools (Part 5 of 6)
This part of the documentary talks about how the children at the school were brought up to hate Jewish people and how the Jewish people were treated. This video show how propaganda and people who didn't question authority resulted in the death of six million Jews. Interviews with German citizens and their views of what happened and why.
Story of the World- Ancient Times -Rome's War with Carthage
This spirited reading of author Susan Wise Bauer's Story of
the World history series brings to life the stories and records of the
peoples of ancient times. This chapter is about Rome's war with Carthage - the Punic Wars.
President Clinton's Remarks on Nuclear Proliferation
President Bill Clinton reflects on his administrations efforts to stop nuclear proliferation and his hope that world leaders will work together to create a more comprehensive non-proliferation treaty. The taped remarks were prepared for "The Presidency in the Nuclear Age" conference held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on October 12, 2009.
Story of the World- The Middle Ages-The Islamic Invasion
This spirited reading of author Susan Wise Bauer's Story of
the World history series brings to life the stories and records of the
peoples of ancient times. This chapter is about the Islamic invasion.
Robert Taylor: Network Visionary
[Recorded May 13, 2010]
Bob Taylor planned to be a Methodist minister like his father. Instead, he became an evangelist for an idea that changed the world: easy-to-use computers that talk to each other. "I was never interested in the computer as a mathematical device, but as a communication device," Taylor said. Taylor's interests -- and his genius for getting them funded -- helped develop computer networking, the personal computer, and many of the other technologies that drove the global comput
PLATO Computer Learning System 50th Anniversary
[Recorded: June 2, 2010]
Science fiction writer William Gibson once famously said, "The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed." Such was the case in the early 1970s, when the fourth generation of the PLATO system, evolving since 1960 at the University of Illinois, made its debut. Viewed from today, it is hard to believe that the PLATO IV system could have existed when it did: Terminals with touch-sensitive, gas-plasma flat-panel displays, random-access audio, built-in color mi
PLATO - A Culture of Innovation
On June 3, 2010, the Computer History Museum hosted a 6-session conference on the PLATO learning system. Session 1 was entitled "A Culture of Innovation: What Don Bitzer Wrought."
Session 1 Description:
The Computer-based Education Research Lab, where the PLATO system was invented, was a caldron of innovation. Out of that environment, new technologies grew and lives were changed. What was it about the environment that stimulated innovation? Bob Sutton, management guru and scholar of innovation,
PLATO Learning System Software
On June 3, 2010, the Computer History Museum hosted a 6-session conference on the PLATO learning system. Session 3 was entitled "PLATO Software: Driven by a Clear, Compelling Challenge."
Session 3 Description:
The software architecture of the PLATO Learning System permitted high interactivity with hundreds of users and a TUTOR programming language that enabled faculty (and gamers) to write their own interactive graphics programs. These capabilities required close management of scarce system res
PLATO - An Early Community of Multiplayer Games
On June 3, 2010, the Computer History Museum hosted a 6-session conference on the PLATO learning system. Session 5 was entitled "PLATO Games: An Early, Robust Community of Multiplayer, Online Games."
Session 5 Description:
Social gaming is the fusion of computer games and digital communities. Some of the earliest instances of this occurred on the PLATO system, and were made possible by the PLATO system's technological innovations as well as a sufficiently open environment to allow the developme
