Shells and Pebbles

Category: Other

  • The case of the cat in court

    The case of the cat in court

    By Noortje Jacobs and Steven van der Laan Do animals carry legal obligations? To the twenty-first century reader of Shells & Pebbles this question might appear to be odd. Surely, only in fables pigs are summoned to appear before a judge to be held accountable for any misdemeanour. Not quite. In past centuries, animal trials…

  • Bell Rock lighthouse

    Bell Rock lighthouse

    Door Daan Haalboom De Inchcape, of Bell Rock, een rots voor de kust van Schotland, is eeuwenlang het toneel geweest van talloze scheepsrampen. Het bij laagtij nét boven de waterspiegel uitstekende rif werd zo gevreesd door zeelieden dat zij vaak de zekerheid van een razende Noordzee en het gevaar van een stranding op de nabije…

  • A short introduction to the history of Teylers museums online collection

    A short introduction to the history of Teylers museums online collection

    By Fransje Pansters Teylers Museum is the best preserved public institute for art and science of the 18th century world. The founders wanted to bring together all available knowledge about arts and sciences, as a microcosm of the world. It opened its doors to the public in 1784. People could come to the museum to…

  • The (forgotten) Dutch attempt to stimulate IT education

    The (forgotten) Dutch attempt to stimulate IT education

    By Katrin Geske In January 1984, three ministries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry for Science and Education, and the Ministry for Agriculture and Fishery[1] established a policy for stimulating information technology (IT) made in the Netherlands: the Information Technology Incentive Plan (the Dutch name was INformatica StimuleringsPlan, hereafter INSP). In this program, the…

  • De krant over wetenschap: 15 jaar later

    Door Jeroen Bouterse ‘Apenvaccin mogelijk basis voor hiv-medicijn’; ‘Kleine vleermuis onthult geheim van een lang leven’. Vraagt u zich bij dit soort kopjes, en de bijbehorende artikelen, ook wel eens af wat er later van wordt? Ik heb het alvast uitgezocht.

  • The Power of Technology: Computing Equality in the 1980s (and How it Failed)

    By Katrin Geske Realizing the demands of a modern state – think for instance of complex social security or tax systems – takes more than just a good idea and the intention to make it happen. The role of fully automated systems has increased immensely over the past 50 years and their importance was (and…

  • Joints of meat or delicate dishes: diverging paths in English and French cuisine

    By Rosa Runhardt It’s become a platitude that the French live to eat, whereas the English eat to live. Visitors to both regions certainly remark on the French cuisine’s joie de vivre and the English’s plain fare. A look at the history of food, particularly of the aesthetic matters of taste and preference, shows that…

  • The Tale of the Four Foot Phallus

    The Tale of the Four Foot Phallus

    By Hans Schouwenburg Until its renovation in 2010, the former Arts and Humanities Library of Utrecht University (Letterenbibliotheek) housed a rather unusual treasure. It was not a rare book, incunabulum, or any other peculiar curiosity from the special collections. Nor was it proudly displayed in a cabinet or carefully stored on a bookshelf. In fact,…

  • There is something about fern

    There is something about fern

    By Constance Sommerey I like fern. I like the way fern unfolds itself, its elegance and its seemingly everlasting greenness. I really never gave this character trait of mine much thought. After all, it’s just fern. Yet, two years ago, something changed.