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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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.

September 2014 Learn Certificate
Watched and took notes on 15 college lectures:
Learned 7 vocabulary words:
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Learned about 15 people:
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Corrected 8 misspelling:
perfectable, parlament, focusses, travelling, monestaries, dieties, comparitive, resistence
Recorded 41 Flashcards from MOOC lectures:
  • And for this it is important that (SPANISH)
                        
  • As I said before (SPANISH)
                        
  • But let's say that (SPANISH)
                        
  • I specified that (SPANISH)
                        
  • Notice that a little south of (SPANISH)
                        
  • Remember that the (SPANISH)
                        
  • Then we already have number three (SPANISH)
                        
  • These two branches of the Nile (SPANISH)
                        
  • Thus (SPANISH)
                        
  • Thus it is important that (SPANISH)
                        
  • a relief (SPANISH)
                        
  • because what counts is the altitude (SPANISH)
                        
  • before emptying (SPANISH)
                        
  • but perhaps some do not (SPANISH)
                        
  • come together in what is now (SPANISH)
                        
  • for the purposes of ancient Egyptian culture (SPANISH)
                        
  • if the Nile had not existed (SPANISH)
                        
  • just so you could see (SPANISH)
                        
  • makes that stretch of river impossible to navigate (SPANISH)
                        
  • moves to the east and then back west (SPANISH)
                        
  • since as you all know (SPANISH)
                        
  • that dot the course of the river (SPANISH)
                        
  • that is currently in the temple (SPANISH)
                        
  • that leads to the formation (SPANISH)
                        
  • that we know call Middle Egypt (SPANISH)
                        
  • the Nile widens (SPANISH)
                        
  • the cave (SPANISH)
                        
  • the delta had many more arms (SPANISH)
                        
  • the name (SPANISH)
                        
  • the sources (SPANISH)
                        
  • there we have the lack Nasser (SPANISH)
                        
  • they have forgotten (SPANISH)
                        
  • throughout the course (SPANISH)
                        
  • throughout the history of Egypt (SPANISH)
                        
  • to what extent (SPANISH)
                        
  • we already have the first of the six (SPANISH)
                        
  • we find (SPANISH)
                        
  • where the island lies (SPANISH)
                        
  • which is more focused, as you can see (SPANISH)
                        
  • who settled right here (SPANISH)
                        
  • whose names, without doubt (SPANISH)
                        
Monday, September 1, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
CONFIGURING THE WORLD, Universiteit Leiden
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
studied in Glasgow and Oxford
1746 returned to Scotland
taught at Edinborough and Glasgow
concept of the Invisible Hand... view all notes
Vocabulary:
collusion, n. secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others  "Lack of knowledge between consumers and producers, entry barriers to markets, and transport and transaction costs generally lead to collusion and cartels."
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, The University of Melbourne
how the world of the Atlantic contributed to the French Revolution
the French Atlantic seaports
Nantes
La Rochelle
Bordeaux... view all notes
People:
Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794)
French lawyer and politician and one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution, nicknamed l'Incorruptible
  • advocated against the death penalty
  • advocated for the abolition of slavery
  • supported universal male suffrage
  • supported establishment of a republic
  • opposed dechristianisation of France
  • opposed war with Austria
  • took control of the Revolution in its most radical and bloody phase
  • used terror as a tool to accomplish his overarching goals for democracy
  • arrested and executed in July 1794
Friday, September 5, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
PENSAMIENTO CIENTÍFICO, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
durante todos estos siglos la ciencia ha generado múltiples conocimientos
han dado muchos beneficios a la humanidad
una red de comunicación global
sólo en el último siglo se ha duplicado la esperanza de vida en todo el planeta
todavía hay muchísimas preguntas que la ciencia no puede responder... view all notes
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE BIBLE'S PREHISTORY, PURPOSE, AND POLITICAL FUTURE, Emory University
Assyrian Empire (911 BC - 612 BC)
between Greece to Persia
from Egypt to the Black Sea
two main cultural centers
in the East: Mesopotamia... view all notes
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD SINCE 1300, Princeton University
people in the 18th and early 19th century had to consider what they wanted to do with all this new information, artifacts, discoveries, and inventions
new information came in from far-flung corners of the world
a challenge of this age was to repackage this information and derive new laws which made sense of it all
new kinds of institutions to organize knowledge
1838: Royal Agricultural Society of England... view all notes
People:
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Eighteenth-century English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights, best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
  • wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book
  • she argued that women were not naturally inferior to men, but appeared to be so only because they lack education
  • she suggested that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason
  • she died at the age of thirty-eight, ten days after giving birth to her second daughter, an accomplished writer herself, as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, The University of Melbourne
two major political events that affected France leading up to the French Revolution
1763: After French and Indian War, French expelled from North America and being reduced to its key colonies in the Caribbean
1776: France aided America in the War of Independence from Britain
its actions in 1781 were crucial to the American colonists because the French navy effectively blockaded Chesapeake Bay where major British forces were and forced their surrender
victory at last against its British rivals has enormous costs... view all notes
People:
Arthur Young (1741-1820)
English writer on agriculture, economics, and social statistics, known mostly for traveling throughout France around the start of the French Revolution describing the condition of the people and the conduct of public affairs
  • campaigner for the rights of agricultural workers
  • 1792: book "Travels in France"
  • 1793: appointed secretary to the Board of Agriculture
  • considered the greatest of English writers on agriculture
Friday, September 12, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
1970s: looking for new ideas to get out of the economic malaise
economic liberalism
instead of larger government control of the economy, retreat from a government role in the economy
Milton Friedman, 1975 interview
he calls himself a liberal as in freedom instead of a conservative as in conserving the current economic practices... view all notes
Vocabulary:
avuncular, adj. regarded as characteristic of an uncle, especially in benevolence or tolerance  "That gentle, avuncular fellow Milton Friedman."
People:
Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
American economist, statistician, and writer, the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century
  • taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades
  • known for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and the complexity of stabilization policy
Yuri Andropov (1914-1984)
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1982-1984
  • 1954: played a key role in crushing the Hungarian Revolution
  • 1967: played key role in crushing of Prague Spring
  • 1979: played dominant role in the decision to invade Afghanistan
Helmut Schmidt (1918-)
West Germany chancellor from 1974-1982, member of the SPD party,
  • 1969-1972: Minister of Defense
  • 1972-1974: Minister of Finance
  • supported policies which gave led to Germany having one of the most stable currencies and economic positions in the world
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE BIBLE'S PREHISTORY, PURPOSE, AND POLITICAL FUTURE, Emory University
Bill Deaver
American archaeologist specializing in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times
1966: Ph.D. from Harvard
1975 to 2002: Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson
People:
Omri (970-873 BC)
The sixth king of Israel after Jeroboam, credited with the construction of Samaria and establishing it as his capital
  • successful military campaigner
  • founder of the House of Omri which which included other monarchs such as Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram, and Athaliah
David (1040-970 BC)
Second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah
  • 1010–1002BC: ruled over Judah
  • 1002–970BC: ruled over United Kingdom
  • a righteous king, not without faults
  • acclaimed warrior, musician, and poet, traditionally credited for composing many of the psalms
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
EGIPTOLOGÍA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Egipto, como escribe Heródoto, es un don del Nilo
Heródoto se refería al Delta, a toda la parte bajo-Egipcia
si el Nilo no hubiera existido, en la actualidad esta parte de la Sierra sería un desierto absolutamente árido
el Nilo
el río más largo del mundo... view all notes
Friday, September 19, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
DESIGNING CITIES, University of Pennsylvania
cities in the per-industrial revolution
in older cities, you can see signs of cities of hundreds of years ago just by walking around
but even in newer cities, you can see aspects which have these roots
in the earliest settlements
people simply gathered around the campfire... view all notes
Vocabulary:
bastide, n. a new town built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony and Aquitaine during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, designed in a grid plan  "Montpazier, France is one of the best preserved bastide towns."
wat, n. a Buddhist temple in Thailand or Cambodia  "Bangkok's many wats were the landmarks that defined the city and do to this day."
People:
Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590)
Pope for only five years from 1585 to his death in 1590, he spent immense sums on public works transforming the city of Rome and its surroundings
  • brought water to the waterless hills in the Acqua Felice, feeding twenty-seven new fountains
  • laid out new arteries in Rome, which connected the great basilicas
  • set his engineer-architect Domenico Fontana to replan the Colosseum as a silk-spinning factory housing its workers
  • the completion of the dome of St. Peter's
  • the loggia of Sixtus in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano
  • the erection of four obelisks, including that in Saint Peter's Square
  • the opening of six streets
  • the restoration of the aqueduct of Septimius Severus
  • the integration of the Leonine City in Rome as XIV rione (Borgo)
  • he sweetened the city air by financing the reclamation of the Pontine Marshes, reclaiming 38 square kilometers and opened them to agriculture and manufacture
Monday, September 22, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
DINOSAUR PALEOBIOLOGY, University of Alberta
paleontology
began as an organized study of knowledge in the 19th century
ways of studying dinosaurs
fossils
comes from the Latin fossilis which means "dug up" from fodere or "dig"... view all notes
Vocabulary:
synchrotron, n. a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the guiding magnetic field, or bending of the particles into a closed path, is time-dependent, being synchronized to a particle beam of increasing kinetic energy  "Paleontologists use many tools, from hamers and chisels, to CT scanners and synchrotrons."
backronym, n. a specially constructed acronym created to fit the letters of an existing word  ""The name for the synchrotron facility near Paris SOLEIL is a backronym for 'Source optimisée de lumière d’énergie intermédiaire du LURE', where LURE means 'Laboratoire pour l'utilisation du rayonnement électromagnétique'""
People:
Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892)
English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist who coined the word Dinosauria (meaning "Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile")
  • Owen is also remembered for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, althought agreeing with Darwin that evolution occurred, he thought it was more complex than outlined in Darwin's On the Origin of Species
  • Owen's driving ambition, occasionally vicious temperament, and determination to succeed meant that he was not always popular with his fellow scientists
  • known for his campaign for the natural specimens in the British Museum to be given a new home, by making the Natural History Museum an institution for everyone, Owen transformed our expectations of what museums are for
Gideon Mantall (1790-1852)
English geologist and palaeontologist whose attempts to reconstruct the structure and life of Iguanodon began the scientific study of dinosaurs
  • 1822 he was responsible for the discovery and identification of the first fossil teeth and later the full skeleton of an Iguanodon
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
KEY CONSTITUTIONAL CONCEPTS AND SUPREME COURT CASES, University of Pennsylvania
Independence Hall in Philadelphia
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence
on July 4, 1776 congress met here and approved it
that was the beginning of the American nation
after the Declaration came the Revolutionary War... view all notes
People:
Edmund Randolph (1753-1813)
American attorney, the seventh Governor of Virginia, delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention, Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan as an outline for a new national government
  • the second Secretary of State
  • the first United States Attorney General
  • argued against importation of slaves and in favor of a strong central government
  • advocated a plan for three chief executives from various parts of the country
  • proposed two houses, where in both of them delegates were chosen based on state population
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE BIBLE'S PREHISTORY, PURPOSE, AND POLITICAL FUTURE, Emory University
during the early Iron Age
1200 BC - 1000 BC
kingdoms of Ephraim and Judah experiences the building of many new villages
the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the Tribes of Israel
very small, 15 inhabitants per place... view all notes
People:
King Saul (1082-1010 BC)
First king of a united Kingdom of Israel and Judah
  • he fell on his sword to avoid capture in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa
  • succession to his throne was contested by Ish-bosheth, his only surviving son, and his son-in-law David, who eventually prevailed
King David (1040-970 BC)
Second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah
  • 1010–1002 BC reigned over Judah
  • 1002–970 BC reigned over United Kingdom
  • the only sources of David are the Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles
King Solomon (1011-931 BC)
King of Israel and the son of David
  • the third king of the United Monarchy
  • final king before the rupture into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah
  • the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST, Tel Aviv University
19th century Middle East politics
governments were diverse and minimal
governments recognized the existence of groups and not individuals
each group was governed in different ways and by different laws
Muslims followed the Sharia... view all notes
Vocabulary:
waqf, n. an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically donating a building or plot of land or even cash for Muslim religious or charitable purposes  "A waqf was used to keep money or property together in private hands; a pooling of wealth to maintain private ownership. It is a pious and perpetual endowment that is free from tax."
Monday, September 29, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
BUDDHISM AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY , Princeton University
meditation
comes easily to some people, for others it is rather difficult
often people meditate many times without feeling it is sufficiently rewarding to sustain the practice
people go on mediation retreats to focus on learning how to meditate and learn practices which they carry on in their daily lives later
it is more or less a lot of work to learn how to meditate to a point where it is a rewarding experience over a long period of time... view all notes
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