Category: Misc

Bingo is a game of chance. In that regard, it is wonderfully simple. Numbers are drawn blind and matched against a player’s card, and the player(s) whose cards tally with the numbers wins. This simple formula dates back hundreds of years. The game was commercialised to the point where it became a 20th-century phenomenon with dedicated ‘bingo halls’ springing up around the western world. And it continues as an immensely popular 21st-century pass-time, albeit with the internet overtaking, and in some cases replacing, the bingo halls enjoyed by previous generations. The key development that allowed this translation was to consistently and reliably deliver the randomness on which the game depends. It turns out that producing randomness is not as easy as you might imagine. The question of chance In the pre-digital era, the dual reliance on the chance that was integral to the game – the arbitrary configuration and selection of a player’s cards and the random sequence in which numbers were selected – made it reassuringly unpredictable for all concerned.

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Tiananmen Square: a square in the center of Beijing adjacent to the Forbidden City, the largest public open space in the world. Open your Mac. Highlight the words “Tiananmen Square.” Place the cursor over those highlighted words and tap once on the trackpad with three fingers. The above definition should appear regardless of where you are in the world. It is certainly innocent enough and a rather proud claim for China. However, when one does just a bit more digging, even that proudest and innocent description is brought into question. Other sources rank the Square as the fourth largest town square in the world. That seems to be at odds with the claim of being the largest public space. In most sporting events, fourth place doesn’t even get you on the podium.

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Probably many of you have heard about Cisco Systems. It is a large corporation based in America, California. It primarily designs and manufactures networking equipment. Linksys routers are one of the well-known brands. They are known for their great performance, flexibility, and reliability. No doubt Cisco does its job great in this sector. But Cisco is known for a wider variety of products and services. Besides basic consumer routers, they produce other network equipment like VPN, network storage, VOIP conferencing systems. Ccie routing and switching are simple and versatile, which is suitable for any business and computing.

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Letting students participate in science competitions has always been a good way to promote learning. And some institutes have taken the contemporary notion of competition to the next level by bringing in initiatives such as the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition. This year, the version had many projects related to synthetic biology; the concept at this level is to design, build and test genetically engineered organisms. A lot of these have a direct link to biomedical engineering. For instance, one project focused on engineering gene circuits in a model organism of yeast to better understand how cells make their decisions. These circuits may very well be used in future bio-manufacturing. Projects such as these fall in integrative science and students can be reared for such learning through online education. Not only are there a massive number of tools, but hands-on tutorials can also serve as a good guiding template for the student.

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