In this post I want to discuss the symbolism found in the painting “Allegory of Arithmetic” by the baroque painter Laurent de La Hyre. This painting belongs to La Hyre’s series of paintings on the liberal arts. Since Martianus Capella ( 5th century AD), the seven liberal arts were divided in trivium (grammar, logic/dialectics and… Continue reading Symbolism: Allegory of Arithmetic by Laurent de La Hyre
Romanian FamilyTreeDNA myOrigins Results
In this post I want to share my FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) myOrigins results. If you want to learn more about the FTDNA ethnicity estimates, you should read this page (the page talks about the update to version 3 of myOrigins) and this page (myOrigins Version 3.0 population clusters). Before I show my ethnic breakdown, I should… Continue reading Romanian FamilyTreeDNA myOrigins Results
Review: Iconologia by Cesare Ripa
Every student of western symbolism should familiarize himself with Iconologia by Cesare Ripa. In the simplest terms, Iconologia can be described as a dictionary of allegorical images. The fist edition was published in 1593 in Perugia. You can find some general info on the Wikipedia page dedicated to Cesare Ripa. The use of allegorical images… Continue reading Review: Iconologia by Cesare Ripa
My Favorite Zooniverse Projects
Zooniverse is probably the largest platform for citizen science projects. They have more than 2 million registered volunteers that contribute to various projects. In my experience, the platform is easy to use. All the projects have useful tutorials and field guides that you can always check. You can check the pdf booklet “Into the Zooniverse:Vol.… Continue reading My Favorite Zooniverse Projects
Language Learning and the Nature Method Institute
In this post I want to talk a little bit about the language learning textbooks developed by the Nature Method Institute (NMI). If you want to learn the story behind this defunct Danish company, go to this link. I am more interested in their “natural method” of teaching languages. The term “natural method” usually refers… Continue reading Language Learning and the Nature Method Institute
Meaning of the name Prisacariu
In this post I want to go over the etymology of the name Prisacariu. If you know Romanian it is pretty easy to find info about the etymology of the name, but I didn’t see any sources in the English language. There are other variations of the name like Prisăcariu, Prisacaru and Prisecaru. You can… Continue reading Meaning of the name Prisacariu
The New Website
I finally decided to turn my website in a WordPress blog. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the WordPress management system, so right now I am trying to learn the mechanics of WordPress. The original website was a math website. The new website will be a more general blog. Besides math, I will also try… Continue reading The New Website