randomosity

Those clever folks at the IATH at the University of Virginia are receiving much deserved accolades for their truly breathtaking digital model of ancient Rome. Rome Reborn 1.0 (and accompanying website) are visually stunning and the mainstream media are covering this with great detail. Billed as the largest digital model of an historic city ever undertaken, it provides researchers with the opportunity to virtually walk the streets in real time and in many cases wander inside and look around. The model was constructed by hand and then digitized over the past decade. This is a massive undertaking and what, aside for the scale of the undertaking, makes this of great import is the attention to making this a fluid work in progress.
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I just noted that Massimo Marcone (one the nicest and most brilliant guys at the University of Guelph) has published his new book - In Bad Taste? This one is definitely going on my must read list. Massimo Marcone is a food scientist at Guelph who is internationally known and respected for his studies of coffee. Although this book is about food apparently it is not one to consume when you are actually eating or having anything to do with food.
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So…why would anyone voluntarily attend a seminar on Administration and Book-keeping in Renaissance and Early Modern Italy? Even the lecturer was surprised by the turnout. Standing room only at Victoria University. The workshop was very fascinating and a useful look at the origins of the double entry system of book-keeping. Dr. Mauro Carboni gave an enthusiastic and extremely step-by-step and logical look at the financial records of the Monte di Peita of Bologna. As it turns out when you say business terms in Italian they sound much more exotic. Partitorum (Minute Book), Vademecum (Administrator), Priore (Chairman), Economo (Chief Administrator), Compioneri (Chief Bookkeeper), Quaderni di cassa (Daybook). Aren’t these great? Seriously, the rationale for development of the elabourate system of financial records that we are so familiar with today wasn’t always so common. This short workshop provided some remarkable insight on the need to stem rampant embezzlement and provide businessmen with the ability to immediately be able to determine the financial health of their enterprises.