Splash Biography

In this course students will get a chance to learn about how computer use algorithms to operate. To do this students will conduct various hands on activities where they follow the same instructions as a computer.

In this course we will look at the language of one of the world's most fascinating cultures, Tibet. We will explore some of the background of Tibet's unique history and religion. Our main focus will be on the languages of the land of the Dalai Lama. Students will learn the principles of the Tibetan alphabet and by the end of the class will be able to translate simple sentences in transliteration.

Large corporations with tens of thousands of employees play a large role in our lives, but where did they come from? As late as 1830 most businesses had only a handful of employees, and hardly any more than a few hundred. In the class we will look at how today's massive corporations came into existence. Students will get a chance to make their own corporations and try to grow them the same economic landscape that produced the the famous robber barons.

In ancient Mesopotamia everything from the great literary epics to the humblest receipt was written on clay in cuneiform writing. In this class students will get a chance to practice writing their own tablets using real clay and a stylus. We will also explore some of the basics of cuneiform writing so by the end of the class students will be able to make a simple cuneiform tablet which they can take home.

In this class we will study the Malay language, one of the simplest and most intuitive languages on earth. It is the major language of Indonesia and Malaysia, making it one of the most widely spoken non-European languages. This class will allow you to break into studying an area of the world not normally encountered in the United States. We will also discuss how Malay fits into a massive language family stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island.

In this class we will look at how the brain processes information from eyes, ears, and nose. This is not so straightforward as one might think; the brain processes the information it gets using all manner of clever tricks and shortcuts. We will look at some of these techniques and some interesting examples where the brain's shortcuts bring it to the wrong conclusions.

In this class we learn some of the basics of literary Mongolian. The class will include an introduction the beautiful Uyghur script and a brief overview of Mongolian grammar. The class will conclude with reading a few simple passages in Mongolian.

In this class we will look at Classical Chinese poetry, one of the most celebrated literary traditions in the world. We will discuss the poetic principles at work and look at a number of poems in translation. In addition, we will talk about the place of poetry in the culture of Imperial China. We will also look at a few poems in Chinese so show the difficulties translators face in interpreting them (no previous knowledge of the Chinese language will be necessary for this though).

In this class we will discuss the basics of Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Students will learn how to pronounce seemingly difficult Aztec names. Students will also learn basic grammar and will be given a enough vocabulary to understand the meanings of names and Aztec loan words in English. In addition we will briefly discuss some of the other languages spoken in Central America before the arrival of the Spanish.

Under its last king, Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian Empire reached its zenith of power and might. In this class we will investigate the empire under this king. We will discuss the civil war against his brother, his campaigns at the far ends of his kingdom. We will also devote time to his attempt to build a library containing all the knowledge in his kingdom. Finally we will look at how his empire collapsed spectacularly shortly after his death.

This class will give an introduction to the gods of ancient Mesopotamia and how they were worshiped, fed, and entertained.

When the armies of Europe went to war in 1914 they did so with unprecedented numbers of men and technology, posing a host of problems never before encountered. In this class we will investigate some of the often ingenious ways commanders tried to deal with this new style of war. We will encounter such tactics as defense in depth, the rolling artillery barrage, the remarkably ineffectual tank, and the infiltration tactics that nearly won Germany the war.

We will use naive set theory to deduce several interesting properties of infinite numbers. We will show that there "are more" real numbers than natural numbers and that for any given infinite set one can generate an infinitely larger set. We also discuss the difference between a set and a class.

This class will give an overview of the principles of several ancient writing systems, including Egyptian and Mayan Hieroglyphics and Babylonian Cuneiform. It will also explain how the Latin alphabet of today evolved from the original Phoenician alphabet.