Sasha just called me and told me a package had arrived for me. I was very curious so I went home.

It's a Christmas present from Jonathan, Irena and Ilana!

It's a book written by Nigel Harris: Thinking the Unthinkable, the Immigration Myth Exposed. It has been on my wishlist for a long time since I read a review in Foreign Affairs about the book. It deals -obviously- with immigration but in a refreshing way:

"According to Harris, immigration considerably enriches the host nation both scientifically and culturally. Immigrants do the jobs that most native workers do not want or cannot do. Without immigration our economies would dissolve.

Nigel Harris shows exactly why and how immigration is the lifeline of the developed world's economy, using examples from all over the world to prove how immigration makes both the rich and the poor richer and acts as the final safeguard against such ugly world phenomena as racism, nationalism, and intolerance." (source: this review)

Thanks a lot guys!

The day before Christmas I received another Christmas present by mail, this time from Bulgaria. Nadia sent me a beautiful shawl. It's handmade and really nice, especially in this weather.

My father pointed me out to 'Pioneers of Computing'.

Atanasoff -the Bulgarian inventor of the computer- is 3rd on the list.

Found this on the website of a Pvda local council member in Leiden: Marije van den Berg.

Just like on Friday I took a couple of pictures when I was helping Saturday with painting.


They are ready now.

On Bieslog there's a link to an interesting moving face.

Yesterday morning it was snowing: the first time since we're living in Haarlem.

Click on 'Read More' for yesterday's view from the window.

In a few days Tamara Burton will visit Bulgaria. She is the granddaugther of John Vincent Atanasoff, one of the most famous Bulgarians ever.

In this newspaper article (in English)
he is referred to as the person who invented the world's first electronic digital computer.

He worked an the Iowa State College, USA and designed a machine that could solve lineair equations electronically. He worked on this project with an assistant, Clifford Berry but in 1942 they were forced to abandon their project due to the war.

In 1947 a patent was requested for the ENIAC, which was called the first all-purpose digital computer ever. In 1964 this patent was granted and the owner of the patent started to sue other companies building digital computers. However, these companies convinced the judge that Atanasoff's machine was designed before the ENIAC, and had in fact influenced the ENIAC's design. The judge agreed and cancelled the patent.

At that time this judgement which implied that Atanasoff was the real inventor of the electronic digital computer, was called controversial. However in 1984 Arthur Burks, on of the early designers of the ENIAC acknowledged that Atanosoff had designed the first electronic computer.

Bulgaria is very proud of this man and in 1970 he was awarded Bulgaria's highest science award.

For me it's one of the most interesting stories in the history of computer science. Here's more on mr. Atanasoff.

Comment on CNN:

"The plane looks not so heavy. Crashing it [in the ECB building] will do a fairly modest amount of damage to the building and a fairly extensive amount of damage to his plane and himself".