On Thursday March 4, 2004, Dr. George Saliba Professor of Arabic and Islamic Science at Columbia University in New York City gave a lecture at the University of Waterloo titled "Reception of Islamic Sciences in Europe".The main points of the lecture were:

Jacobus Golius (1596-1667), Dutch Orientalist.

Thomas van Erpe (1584-1624), also known by his Latin name Erpenius, was a famous Dutch orientalist who studied Arabic works, published them, and taught Arabic.

Joseph Barbatus was an Egyptian Copt named Yusuf ibn Abu Daqn يوسف بن ابو دقن who lived in early 17th century Paris, France, and taught Arabic there.

He is also known as Josephus Barbatus, Abudacnus, which is a latinized version of the Arabic أبو دقن "Abu Dakn" (one with a beard).

Estimated Installed Base of Internet Users / Middle East

In order to teach kids how to program, you need first to get them interested in something that is computer related. One of the best ways to get them interested in computers is games. They may want to write their own games, and that could be their entry into programming.

Well, this week, we saw the first day with above freezing temperature in more than month. Last Tuesday, there was a bit of a thaw, and slush formed. Overnight, it froze again, making for a lot of slippery ice.We also had some freezing rain, which forms when a relatively shallow layer of cold air is above the ground, and rain falling through it is still in the liquid state, but as soon as it hits a surface, it freezes, causing a layer of ice on everything. This can be very tricky driving on.Ice pellets have also occurred twice in the last week or so.

Puffer fish are somewhat strange looking fish, with two large teeth in each jaw, forming a beak. They have slimy sandpaper like skin with small nodules on it. If the fish is disturbed, it gulps water rapidly, increasing its size enormously, and causing the nodules on the skin to protrude giving it a coarse feeling.

This page is sort of a chronicle on my adventures in photography over the decades.Currently, I do not do much in photography, apart from the usual family stuff, and some interesting things I find, such as flowers, nature scenes, and the like.The first camera I owned was a 35mm Minolta Uniomat II from around 1960, which I inherited from my late father. It was a range finder type, with a match needle exposure meter built in, and of course nothing automatic.

This is quite an interesting and a bit long winded story of how I got into the computing field.It was the late 1970s when I was deciding which university I should go to. I had a passion for science and academia, and an aversion to humanities and math. At various points since middle school, I was into chemistry, biology, astronomy and botany.