Sofya Kovalevskaya was born #OTD in 1850. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics in modern Europe, be appointed to a university chair, and join the editorial board of a scientific journal. She also won the Prix Bordin from the French Academy of Science.

Sofya, who also went by Sonya, was born in Moscow. Her father was a nobleman who took the family from the city to a country estate.

She has quite an origin story: The family ran out of wallpaper, so they papered her room with calculus notes from her father’s time at university.

"These sheets, spotted over with strange incomprehensible formulae, soon attracted my attention. I passed whole hours before that mysterious wall, trying to decipher even a single phrase, and to discover the order in which the sheets ought to follow each other."

As a child she was given a physics book by a family friend. It required trigonometry, which she figured out on her own. The family friend, amazed by her ability, convinced Sofya’s father to arrange a private tutor.

She excelled at mathematics, but women were barred from Russian universities at the time. So she entered into a marriage of convenience with a young geology student and went with him to Heidelberg. She couldn’t enroll there either, but at least she could attend lectures.

In 1982 I wrote a Report, which I also presented to the House of Commons Parliamentary Committee on 'children in care'. The evidence was highly commended & included in the Children's Act 1989. The excerpts below are #cep history & legacy. And our contribution to the CA 1989.
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The Introduction. (Excerpt only)
Talks about the CA 1980 and the "welfare principle" and how practise falls behind intention.

"The problem is that decision making still lies with the professional and doesn't include the child/young person".

Policies.

The National Association of Young People In Care was the first organisation run for and by YP in or ex care. We started in 1979 in Bradford and London (I was in the London Office). These policies were based on NAYPIC members views at the time.

1) Rules, punishments & discipline (excerpt only):

"Young People should have a say in how the home is run and what form of rues & punishment are alowed"

2) Forms of Control (excerpt):

"Young People should learn their responsibilities and self control by having a greater involvement in the running of their own home and in their own lives. Residential Care workers are indespensible in this".

Playing a bit of Tower of Druaga, in the Namco Museum collection. Splatterhouse is in there too, and it makes a good comparison, because you know how Splatterhouse's only draw is the hyper-detailed violence? Druaga is like that except the only draw is the hyper-obscure secrets.

But the secrets made it a huge hit in Japan in 1984. This is supposedly the game that created the Japanese arcade culture of players sharing notes, because the only path to success was approaching the game as a community.

Tower of Druaga clearly draws inspiration from Pac-Man (it's a maze chase) and Rogue (the maze isn't randomized, but everything *in it* is, plus you bump into enemies to attack them) and Wizardry/D&D (theming and upgrades).

To advance past each floor, you need to find the key and the exit, dodging monsters. You can also find a secret item on each floor. These "optional" items are crucial, some are literally required to proceed, and the processes you need to guess at to unlock them are *ridiculous*.

A sampling:
- Kill 3 slimes.
- Touch the left and right dungeon walls.
- Don't touch the outside walls for 12 seconds.
- Swing your sword while standing on the exit.
- Press 1P start.
- Kill 6 colored slimes in a specific order.
- Step on 3 unmarked tiles in a specific order.

In June, 1965 a monk in Vietnam hoped to convince Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to speak out for the first time against the US war in Vietnam.

So he sent a letter, and a year later in 1966 he sat with Dr. King as he spoke out against the war.

Here’s what Thich Nhat Hanh wrote...

"The self-burning of Vietnamese Buddhist monks in 1963 is somehow difficult for the Western Christian conscience to understand. The Press spoke then of suicide, but in the essence, it is not. It is not even a protest."

"What the monks said in the letters they left before burning themselves aimed only at alarming, at moving the hearts of the oppressors and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured then by the Vietnamese."

"To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance. There is nothing more painful than burning oneself. To say something while experiencing this kind of pain is to say it with the utmost of courage, frankness, determination and sincerity."

"During the ceremony of ordination, as practiced in the Mahayana tradition, the monk-candidate is required to burn one, or more, small spots on his body in taking the vow to observe the 250 rules of a bhikshu..."

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This Day, 1801: John Adams, a lame duck president, nominated John Marshall to be chief justice of the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed him seven days later. Marshall would serve in that role for 34 years

This Day, 1937: Franklin Roosevelt became the first president to be inaugurated on Jan. 20th (they used to be Mar. 4). In his Inaugural address, he said the fight against the Great Depression was far from over: “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”

This Day, 1949: The interlude between World War II and the Korean War was brief, as Harry Truman - a caretaker president since Apr 12, 1945 - was sworn n

This Day, 1953: After receiving permission from Dwight Eisenhower - just sworn in as the 34th President - rodeo star Montie Montana lassoed him. Mamie Eisenhower seems delighted; VP Nixon perplexed. Secret Service wasn't too happy

He was the youngest person ever elected - just 43 years old. John F. Kennedy, sworn in this day in 1961 (youngest POTUS ever, however: Theodore Rosevelt, 42, who took over for the assassinated William McKinley in 1901)

How Black Americans Were Robbed of $66 Million & 14 Million Acres of Land

[History Thread]