In Marrakech how can I forget "A is for ..."!

The Arabian world gave us algebra and algorithm and much more besides, as star gazers quickly find. There are many beautiful Arabic names for stars. At the UM6P Conference venue there were some wall displays, highlighting the major contribution of Al Khawarizmi:

Earlier this month I picked up The New York Review of Books, spotting a review of four books (2009-2025) on mathematics, including algebra by Paul Lockhart.

Dan Rockmore. In Defence of Algebra, The New York Review of Books. April 9th, 2026, Vol. LXXIII, No. 6. pp.28-30.
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/04/09/in-defense-of-algebra-paul-lockhart/

Scholarship in Arnold Wesker's 'The Friends'

... n'just t'lethee know that's, scholrship up int North ...

'MANFRED. Our trouble, Crispin, us lot, the once-upon-a-time bright lads from up north, is that we've no scholarship. Bits and pieces of information, a charming earthiness intelligence and cheek, but-not scholarship. Look at these books here. (He picks up a pile and throws them round him.) Renan, Taine, Kirkegaarde, Wittgenstein, Spengler, Plato, Jung, Homer, Vico, Adorno, Lukacs, Heine, Bloch-you've not heard of half of them, have you? And half of them, two-thirds, I'll never read. Do you know, new knowledge disrupts me. Because there's no solid rock of learning in this thin, undernourished brain of mine, so each fresh discovery of a fact or an idea doesn't replace, it undermines the last; it's got no measurement by which to judge itself, no perspective by which to evaluate its truth or its worth; it can take no proper place in that lovely long view of history scalloped out by bloody scholarship, because each new concern renders the last one unimportant. No bloody scholarship, us. And when I sometimes get a feeling that two people in love or one man afraid of death might be a supreme consideration, along comes this man with his 'we are moving into phases of creative disorder' and his 'everywhere the lines are blurred' and I've no defence. He sounds so right, I think, and besides-he's got scholarship. What's 'silly loving' and 'banal dying' in all that? Evil? You want me to confess to the knowledge of evil? I confess it. I say it-evil! So? And what  shall I do with that bit of knowledge?' p.18.

 WESKER, Arnold. The Friends. London: Jonathan Cape, (1970). Hardcover. First edition.

Curation of posts on W2tQ

     Curation: Quote(s) to follow?

Several years ago I reviewed the blog's posts starting from post #1 in April 2006. Some posts, such as, journal calls for papers, conference announcements ... were clearly of time-limited value, even as to the degree they may document the history of ideas. The exercise also highlighted my adopted role of curator, which had not occurred to me before. 

Previously, tentatively, I tried to weigh the value of content. The value to scholarship of Hodges' model, and not wishing to sound grandiose - nursing theory (someone should - given the vacuum over the past 20-30 years?). There are person-centred items, with some that make me cringe (the personal ones, the ones premature and not quite 'fully-formed'), while others stand the test of time (I think). 

Eighteen years is not long and yet the change in several dynamic histories is very obvious, across society, politics, ecosystems, policy, education, nursing and of course technology. Many posts were deleted, others with:

• too many links (for which you can be penalised?)
• broken links;
• missing images / videos;
• typos ...

- where updated accordingly.

Revision #2 beckons in the near future, an effort to rationalise the wheat from the chaff.

It is - same old, same old regards the elephant in the room: that is, the missing new 'platform' - as it keeps reminding me.

W2tQ - "Welcome the the QUAD" - this blog.
Book image: Waterstones.