My name is Edward Tanguay.
I have a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, a Masters in Education, and am currently working as a web developer in Berlin, Germany.

I watch over 200 college-level MOOC lectures per year in subjects such as history , psychology, science, religion, art, philosophy, and IT development in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, and record my notes here.
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influential people of the past.
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Contact Me via E-Mail:
edward [at] tanguay.info

Learning Activity by Month:


The primary goal of this Learn Tracker project is to build a web site which serves as one place to record the notes of everything that I am learning from MOOC classes, to foreign languages, to useful code examples and technical how-to notes, so that I not only have an overview of what I have learned, but can search and recall these notes at any time.

The secondary goal of this Learn Tracker project is to work together with companies, universities, and MOOC providers to build software that allows employees, students, and learners to record what they are learning in an efficient way so that it serves not only as (1) a record of what they have learned, but also (2) a place for them to review and search what they have learned.

Since January 2013, I have watched and recorded notes on over 300 MOOC lectures from over 30 different courses in both English and French, and have watched and recorded notes and flashcards on over 50 foreign language videos in Italian, French and Spanish. (I am curently still adding notes I took from 2013 and plan to be caught up by the end of January 2014.

January 2014 Learn Certificate
Watched and took notes on 27 college lectures:
Watched and recorded flashcards on 12 language videos:
Learned 18 vocabulary words:
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Corrected 5 misspelling:
marshmellow, masonary, hyroglyphics, quintisentially, panarama
Recorded 25 Flashcards from MOOC lectures:
  • Iranian/Levant empire 312 BC - 63 BC
                        
  • a volcanic substance used in architecture
                        
  • difference between Parthenon and Pantheon
                        
  • empire 626 BC - 539 BC in present day Iraq to Levant
                        
  • first to translate Rosetta Stone
                        
  • in what town south of Rome was there a former temple on a hill overlooking seas
                        
  • nocturnal monkeys in Africa
                        
  • protected the concrete with small stones
                        
  • squirrel-sized monkeys in Brazil
                        
  • street in Rome from Colosseum to Piazza Venezia where marathon starts, built by of Mussolini from 1924-1932
                        
  • the use of concrete in Roman architecture
                        
  • what is the process of making walls out of concrete then attaching stones to the outside
                        
  • where is there a Temple of Hercules east of Rome?
                        
  • who commanded at the final siege and destruction of Carthage
                        
  • who created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?
                        
  • who made up the Capitoline Triad
                        
  • who was Rome's first emperor?
                        
  • who wrote "The Histories" around 120 BC?
                        
  • woman who studies chimpanzees in African savanna and where
                        
  • as much as possible (FRENCH)
                        
  • my point was to teach (FRENCH)
                        
  • that awakens human freedom (FRENCH)
                        
  • the masterpiece (FRENCH)
                        
  • were instructed in godliness (FRENCH)
                        
  • which leads him into a kind of danse (FRENCH)
                        
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
in the last 500 years, the scientific revolution has almost completely changed the lives of humans
science can only flourish in alliance with an ideology which justifies, guides, and finances scientific research and decides what to do with the new powers scientific research brings
the two most important forces which have shaped scientific revolution
1. European imperialism
2. capitalism... view all notes
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD SINCE 1300, Princeton University
Mughal Empire (1526–1857)
northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell to the superior mobility and firepower of the Mughals
resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices
it's one thing to create a regime as the Mughals did, it's another thing to sustain it, which they accomplished through three basic pillars
1. used marriage to combine households into nuptial alliances to create bonds of loyalty by forging kinship networks... view all notes
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE KENNEDY HALF CENTURY, University of Virginia
1956 National Convention
launched Kennedy onto the national stage
his book Profiles in Courage brought much attention, but his key moment was at the National Democratic Convention in 1956 in Chicago
Adlai Stevenson was being renominated to challenge Eisenhower again
Kennedy had hoped to be picked by Stevenson as his running mate... view all notes
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
LETTERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, Harvard University
authorship
in Paul's letters, other figures begin to emerge as authors
e.g. Silvanus, Timothy, Sosthenes, Tertius
what was going on as these letters were produced and first read aloud among the ekklesia?
in some letters we see that a community begins to emerge... view all notes
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Duke University
in what ways do people lie and cheat yet still think of themselves as good people?
often we have a very simple model of dishonesty: what do we stand to gain and what do we stand to lose
this is not actually a good model, many other aspects are driving us to be honest and dishonesty
we often lie or cheat yet don't think of ourselves as being immoral, this is a commonly shared dilemma that we all have
what was the cause of the collapse of Enron?... view all notes
Monday, January 13, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, University of Pennsylvania
Aeneid
written between 29BC and 19BC
tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans
first half: journey from Troy to Italy (like the Odyssey)
second half: Trojans' victorious war upon the Latins (like the Iliad)... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
LETTERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, Harvard University
epistolography
the study of letter writing
letters were their means of circulating news, requests, and communicating ideas
what kind of letters existed in antiquity
business letters... view all notes
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY, University of Toronto
people often tell us about associations between two variables which seems profound or important
example: on radio, the more cheeseburgers one eats, the lower the chance that you'll dye of cancer
eating a large amount of cheeseburgers increases the likelihood of dying of a heart attack, and if you die of a heart attack, you can't die of cancer.
association in information can be enlightening but its important that the consumer of this information knows the limits
the power of the marshmallow... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
April 21, 753 BC
one could say the day Roman architecture began
according to legend, Romulus founded the city of Rome on the Palatine Hill on this day
on the Palatine Hill
Colosseum... view all notes
Friday, January 17, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, University of Pennsylvania
how Vergil thought about myth
asking this of Homer or the tragedians, we wouldn't get much of an answer, since they didn't have much meta-thought on what myth was to them, they just employed it
with Virgil we have evidence of him using myth as a tool
has large tradition of the interpretation of Homer
Vergil is a scholar poet, an artist... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
Temple of Jupiter OMC
509 BC building of the temple commenced
Etruscans were ascendant (768BC-264BC)
Etruria
area of Italy north of Rome... view all notes
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
very many structures were built after the Temple to Jupiter
however, very little of these survived from this period
fires destroyed them, as many were made out of wood
many buildings became quarries for architects using them as a source of stone
any city that has been inhabited for two and a half millenia is obviously going to lose many of its structures over time... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
CALVIN: HISTOIRE ET RÉCEPTION D'UNE RÉFORME, Université de Genève
L'institution de la religion chrétienne
1536 Calvin le publia d’abord en latin
"Christianae Religionis Institutio"
Calvin avait 27 ans
1541 à Genève, Calvin le traduisit lui-même en français... view all notes
Monday, January 20, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
Temple of Portunus
dates between 120BC and 80BC
near the Tiber river
which "looks nasty as it usually does, it's very green and not the sort of place you would want to take a swim in"
next to Temple of Portunus is round temple called the "Round Temple by the Tiber" for obvious reasons... view all notes
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
Temple of Vesta in Tivoli
beautifully situated
built 80 BC
a round temple and temples of Vesta were round so tended to be called by scholars "Temple of Vesta"
this is as Greek as we have gotten so far... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
early European maps (e.g. 1459) left no part of the world was uncharted and gave you the impression of familiarity with the world
in the 15th century Europeans began to draw maps with many empty spaces, indicating that they were ignorant of large parts of the world
1492 Christopher Columbus' voyage was based his "complete" world maps from the Middle Ages
when the Pinta reached the first island in the Bahamas, Columbus thought he was somewhere in the Indonesian islands or India and so called the people Indians
Columbus never realized or admitted that he discovered a completely unknown continent... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
LETTERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, Harvard University
background
you have to remember that Paul's letters did not originate packaged as a unit, they were individual letters with individual audiences and purposes
intimate and familiar
much as we engage in letter writing today
distant and unfamiliar... view all notes
Vocabulary:
progymnasmata, n. [pro-jim-NAZ-meh-tah] rhetorical exercises gradually leading the Greco-Roman student to familiarity with the elements of rhetoric, in preparation for their own practice speeches and ultimately their own orations: 1. Fable, 2. Narrative, 3. Chreia (anecdote), 4. Proverb, 5. Refutation, 6. Confirmation, 7. Commonplace, 8. Encomium (short speech that praises a person or thing), 9. Vituperation (short speech that criticizes a person or thing), 10. Comparison, 11. Impersonation, 12. Description, 13. Thesis, 14. Defense or Attack of a law  "In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the progymnasmata training exercises in prose composition and public speaking, wherein students would be asked to learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer forensic or deliberative speeches."
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
HUMAN EVOLUTION: PAST AND FUTURE, University of Wisconsin
Cradle of Humankind, South Africa
World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa
a site that in the past has produced a large number and some of the oldest hominid fossils ever found, some dating back as far as 3.5 million years ago
Rising Star expedition
end of 2013... view all notes
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
concrete (Opus Caementicum [kigh-MENT-tee-kum]) changed the concept of architecture for the Romans
a shift from tradition architecture to innovative
tradition Roman architecture
Temple of Portunus
derivative that looked back at Greek and Etruscan religious architecture... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
what united science and European imperialism was the urge to discover and conquer
at first the empires supported science mainly in terms of geographical explorations
however, soon followed medicine, botany, history, linguistics studies
even studies that seemed useless were supported by the European empires because you could never really know what might be useful
19th century, botanists who studied the folk medicines and witch doctors of South American tribes, discovered a treatment for malaria from the tree of Cinchona, which was later used in treating malaria when exploring Africa... view all notes
Friday, January 24, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
in the age of Augustus (63BC-14AD), Rome began to colonize cities around it
Porticus Aemilia
large warehouse on banks of Tiber
193 BC, restored in 174 BC
only small fragment survives... view all notes
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
LETTERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, Harvard University
we often read Paul's letters in the context of the Bible
HarperCollins Study Bible
used to understand the ancient, historical context of the writing of the Bible
all historical writings have biographies
where they originated... view all notes
Vocabulary:
topos (pl. topoi), n. a traditional theme or motif; a literary convention  "A slightly different kind of topos is the invocation of nature (sky, seas, animals, etc.) for various rhetorical purposes, such as witnessing to an oath, rejoicing or praising God, or sharing in the mourning of the speaker."
vellum, n. a parchment made from calf skin, as opposed to that from other animals  "The writing was washed from parchment or vellum using milk and oat bran."
codex (pl. codices), n. [COH-dee-seez] a historical book made up of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar, with hand-written content  "The Codex Vaticanus is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Greek Bible (Old and New Testament), one of the four great uncial (style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters) codices."
palimpsest, n. [PAL-imp-sest] a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped or washed off and which can be used again(added)  "It contained fragments of Fronto's correspondence with Verus, which overlapped the Milan palimpsest."
Monday, January 27, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
Temple of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina
100 BC to 70 BC
spectacularly sited
accentuated the buildings from a distance
gave those in the buildings amazing views... view all notes
Vocabulary:
columnar, adj. having the shape of a column  "Basalt is used in making cobblestones from columnar basalt and in making statues."
cryptoporticus, n. underground passageway, e.g. under a Roman temple  "There are many archaeological structures which date back to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, such as its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus."
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
HUMAN EVOLUTION: PAST AND FUTURE, University of Wisconsin
if we want to understand early hominids, we have to compare ourselves to our closest living relatives today: the chimpanzees and bonobos
Jill Preutz
primatologist and professor at Iowa State University
has been working with chimpanzees for over a dozen years years in Fongoli, Senegal
living in a unique environment, a Savanna context... view all notes
Vocabulary:
Hominidae, n. [haw-MIN-i-dee] A taxonomic family of primates, including four extant genera: (1) chimpanzees of genus Pan, (2) gorillas of genus Gorilla, (3) humans of genus Homo, (4) orangutans of genus Pongo. A member of the Hominidae family is often called a "hominid" although another popular meaning of hominid is the more restricted sense as "hominids" or "humans and relatives of humans closer than chimpanzees", e.g. Homo Neanderthalensis, Homo Soloensis, Homo Floresiensis, and Homo Erectus.  "The most recent common ancestor of the Hominidae lived roughly 14 million years ago, when the ancestors of the orangutans speciated from the ancestors of the other three genera"
tamarin, n. squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Callitrichidae in the genus Saguinus, lives in Central and South America in tropical rain forests  "In some cases, such as in the cotton-top tamarin, males, particularly those that are paternal, will even show a greater involvement in caregiving than females."
galago, n. a small, nocturnal primate native to Africa, commonly known as "bush babies", they evolved 40–50 million years ago from slow-moving prosimians that could not compete with larger, faster primates in Africa, the competition was much less at night, so they evolved into the bush babies they are today, and in both variety and abundance, bush babies are the most successful primitive primates in Africa  "With one possible exception, in the suborder Strepsirrhini, which includes lemurs, galagos and lorises, the grooming claw is on the second toe."
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Yale University
Tabularium
78 BC
used to house the state archives at that time
by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (120BC–77BC)
situated on the north side the Roman Forum, on the south side of the Capitoline Hill... view all notes
Vocabulary:
travertine, n. [TRAV-er-teen] a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs, exists in white, tan, and cream-colored varieties  "This stone, called travertine or tufa, is a product of permanent natural activities created by natural dissolution and sedimentation of calcium."
capital, n. in architecture, the top part of a pillar or column  "The capitals are done in travertine."
appurtenance, n. [ah-PER-ten-ants] something added to another, more important thing  "spandrals and other necessary appurtenances of the arcade can be seen"
spandrel, n. the space between an arch and its rectangular enclosure  "Between the spandrels is the keystone, on which there stands a female on the East side and a male on the West side."
domical, adj. shaped like a dome  "domical ceilings"
annular, adj. shaped like or forming a ring  "an annular vault is sometimes called a ring vault"
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
LETTERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, Harvard University
strategies of talking about their place in history
often ancient histories gave reasons for the succession of empires
Polybius (200BC-118BC)
Greek historian
noted for his work: The Histories, which covered 264 BC to 146 BC... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
21ST CENTURY AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, Duke University
a sampling of the foreign policy debate within the U.S.
videos:
President Barack Obama
2004-2008 senator from Illinois
Senator John McCain... view all notes
Vocabulary:
synoptic, adj. presenting a summary of the principal parts or a general view of the whole  "Polybuis' history offers a synoptic view, i.e. he says that he puts together all of the world and explains it."
magus (pl. magi), n. [MAY-guhs, MAY-gee] a magician or sorcerer of ancient times  "In the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and Daniel is the magus who can interpret it."
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