Vi förutsätter inte att våra studenter ska komma från gymnasiet med perfekta språkkunskaper. Den individuella språkutvecklingen är en process, och alla gör fel ibland. Vi är heller inga bakåtsträvare – som historiker är vi självklart fullt medvetna om att språk förändras. Vad vi önskar är att våra studenter kommer till oss med en svenska som fungerar.

Vi vädjar till landets beslutsfattare att tilldela svenskundervisningen de resurser som behövs. Dagens skolungdomar måste få ett fungerande språk. Vi som undervisar på universitetsnivå har inga möjligheter att täcka upp för de brister som uppstått redan i grund- och gymnasieskolan. Som läget är nu har vi stora svårigheter att ens åstadkomma en acceptabel kunskapsnivå i vårt eget ämne hos våra studenter – alltför många av dem förstår helt enkelt inte vad vi säger.

Suppose I could offer you a choice of two technologies for watching TV online. Behind Door Number One sits a free-to-watch service that uses off-the-shelf technology and that buffers just enough of each show to put the live stream on the Internet. Behind Door Number Two lies a subscription service that requires custom-designed hardware and makes dozens of copies of each show. Which sounds easier to build—and to use? More importantly, which is more likely to be legal?

The Blit (originally named the Jerq!) was an early graphical user interface, connected to a UNIX computer. Inspired by the Xerox Alto from the early 1970s, creators Rob Pike and Bart Locanthi wanted to make a graphics machine for use at Bell Labs that would have the usability of the Xerox, but with the processing power of a 1981 computer. Created using a Motorola microprocessor instead of a Bell one, the machine would be retooled for the commercial market (business market, because it was still expensive) as the AT&T; 5620, which came out in 1984 — using a Western Electric WE32000 microprocessor. The Blit had a vertically-oriented display and an early mouse peripheral; this video explains how it worked.

There are still plenty of ideas out there, ranging from the extremely ambitious — such as Elon Musk’s desire to fly to the Red Planet in the next two decades – to the completely bizarre – like the MarsOne reality-show/one-way-suicide-mission combo.

Here we take a look at historical Mars plans, both crazy and sane, and the few that really stood a good chance at becoming reality.

Did Germany experience rapid industrial expansion in the 19th century due to an absence of copyright law? A German historian argues that the massive proliferation of books, and thus knowledge, laid the foundation for the country's industrial might.

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Uchronia: The Alternate History List is a bibliography of over 3100 novels, stories, essays and other printed material involving the "what ifs" of history.

The genre has a variety of names, but it is best known as alternate history. In an alternate history, one or more past events are changed and the subsequent effects on history somehow described. This description may comprise the entire plotline of a novel, or it may just provide a brief background to a short story. Perhaps the most common themes in alternate history are "What if the Nazis won World War II?" and "What if the Confederacy won the American Civil War?"

In contrast, names these days show that people living in what has become an extremely urbanized society miss their links with nature, Makino says. This can be observed in the proliferation of kanji such as 翔 (shō), meaning "flying," 海 (kai), which means "ocean," and 空 (taka), meaning "sky."

So how do parents decide on names for their babies? Well, there's no shortage of methodologies out there to help with their selection, and many people actually combine two or more of them.

Few people have the chance to watch a shy young man grow into a ruthless dictator -- and live to talk about it. But, for one North Korean professor, Kim Jong Il is much more than the man holding his country hostage. He's a former student.

Massiva bombanfall mot Stockholm, Malmö och Göteborg. En pansarkår mot Sundsvall. Fallskärmsjägare över Östersund. Infanteri mot Karlstad. Intrång vid Haparanda. Landstigning i Örnsköldsvik och på Gotland.

Sverige kunde mycket väl ha råkat ut för en tysk invasion. Historikerna har olika uppgifter, men enligt vissa källor var det bara några timmar före utsatt tid – den 1 juli 1943 kl 02.00 – som Hitlers kontraorder anlände.