cardano was a 16th-century italian doctor, an eccentric, and a genius mathematician, famous for his skills in solving algebraic equations. cardano was also a compulsive gambler. the combination of a keen mathematical mind and a taste for the gaming tables made probability a natural interest. and his book, liber de ludo, contains many of the basic ideas of probability. almost a century later, blaise pascal and pierre de fermat expanded on cardano's thinking, and they came up with a method to actually calculate probabilities. fermat is probably best known for the famous "fermat's last theorem," a simple-to-state problem about a generalization of the pythagorean theorem that took the world of mathematics 350 years to solve. his day job was as a lawyer, but his passion was mathematics and physics. pascal was the son of a tax collector, and to help his father, he invented the first digital calculator. his deep interests were in both philosophy and mathematics. together, fermat and pascal were widely regarded as two of the most powerful mathematical intellects of their time. although they never

an eccentric, he looked wistfully back to the family's glorious past.phonse had married his first cousin adele, a common practice in a class anxious to preserve the purity of its bloodlines. but the results of inbreeding for henri were uncommonly cruel. his legs were short and weak. he broke each of them in early adolescence and stopped growing when he was 14. he was just under five feet tall. his head, hands and torso continued to develop. but his stunted legs made walking painful for the rest of his life. denied the aristocratic pleasures of riding and hunting, henri turned to sketching and painting rural scenes. he had a flair for it and in 1882, at the age of 18, he moved to paris to study painting. it was a move that would change the direction of his art and his life. paris in the 1880s was becoming the modern city. baron haussmann's legacy, the great boulevards that define modern paris had sliced through the heart of the city, displacing anyone in the way. the poor and the working class moved out of the city's center. many went to montmartre. anne

was biggest and most stable economy but now some rather eccentric government investments are calling this reputation to question off his roof an option it takes a look at where this money is going do you know where tax money goes tax the tea party in this country not really precisely not really. well i know it's going in the projects i would hope that they will invest money into schools and they will give it to disadvantaged families would you be willing to sponsor a study on the educational benefits of comics or invest in virtual reality three d. software for yachts or how about buying into the production of purple carrots most wouldn't but these people are and most of them don't even know it i tech space rights group in germany has revealed a number of controversial projects some costing millions of euros a coming straight from the federal budget. the biggest problem we have is clearly our national debt we have to pay twenty three billion euros per year just on the interest the government should be wise with its money does not sponsor these bizarre projects the bundestag affection for cinema has cost the country some ten mil

and then there was quite an odd book but a great book if you're interested in eccentric trees published in the 19th by roger fisher which is both a book about nixon and a book about thomas nast. so you can imagine that, go ahead. it's not the usual book, but it is really an interesting book when you get around to that mentally. then there are a few very good articles. so it seemed like a good idea to write about them as a dissertation topic. and as a way to bring his life back and provide him with the historical legacy which i think he deserves which he has not enjoyed. it has been a fascinating way to spend a decade, and it's made me a tiny bit evangelical on the subject of his value to american history, which i think has been neglected. i will introduce you to them briefly so you have a sense. he was born in 1840 and landau, which at the time was part of bulgaria. he emigrated to the u.s. in 1846 with his mother arriving in new york city. he was not a great student because he arrived precisely at the moment that you would become literate, except that he was expected to perform a human

>> for decades gadhafi was one of the world's most eccentric leaders, known for his flamboyant outfits and his all-female bodyguards. but he was also anpporter of international terrorism, with links to the lockerbie bombers, the i.r.a., and other militant groups. >> he kept libya under very, very tight wraps. he would disappear people. there was no freedom of any kind. massacres in prison. so he was a horrendous, horrible, brutal dictator. >> anyone who spoke out against him at all would be arrested immediately, sometimes tortured, sometimes killed. >> tracy shelton is a 34-year-old freelance journalist from australia who heads to libya to cover the conflict. >> it began with protests, as in many of the arab countries, inspired by egypt and tunisia. people started protesting for more freedom. but the reaction from the gadhafi regime was to shoot protesters, to try and stop these protests with violence. >> the violence that gadhafi unleashed on them was a violence of another order altogether. we're not talking now mubarak's security forces. we're talking about mercenaries. we're talking about jets. we're talking about tanks. so with th

an ally. melissa: talk about going out with a bang. the now ex-coupon ceo andrew mason. is known for being quirky and eccentric. but was his groupon for a while just a little too funny for his own good? bruce, you know a thing or two about being creative. to what you think ofhis resignation? >> i think that it was great. i have to tell you that i read it, and i thought it was a piece of genius. i wonder if he actually wrote it or a whole team of marketing people wrote it. melissa: oh, come on. i love the way that he said that i'm leaving to spend more time with my family, no, just kidding, i was fired. melissa: that was funny, i thought it was on a spare nothing is more irritating than when people say that they want to spend more time with her family and you know it's bs. but he says if you're wondering why, you haven't been paying attention. it says a stock price has hovered around a quarter of the price and the in the event of last year speak for themselves. he laid out the abysmal failure and the dubious is at best the description. that is what he will be remembered for. he put it right there in the letter.

people with a community an enormous wealth but they wanted more and they said to yeltsin we'll get you reelected which have to give me shares in state institutions and barrel flot eccentric cetera and he did it he gave the economy away so he ruled over very little had no power and because off he was at the top of the hill so this is how he generated his wealth ok he didn't earn it but now you talk about a wealthy man you've met and there's yes ome arrogant he was full of themself ok but a lot of security around him an enormous amount of security he was paranoid for good reason there were attempts on his life and he left because he was worried for his life ok he took his money with him or at least a good part of it it's all the self-imposed exile in learned it was what i saw it asleep it was an escape he left it was he would have been charged with all kinds of criminal offenses all the reservation self-preservation not going to get out of and then revenge ok what about what about one of the you know one of the high profile cases was how did we mustn't let it then go the polonium poisoning work for a bit of skin so listening to words with. in what capacity to look for dirt

eccentric lives. what was it like when these people were born in that generation of americans, he wondered? at that point i came across this. do you know this book, in the hands of an angry god? it is described as day going over the mouth of hell. the nation does not slumber. the pit is prepared, the flames raging glow. it wasn't so cute in the yesteryear. [inaudible] thinking about that sermon and the notion that human beings are arachnids that god is about to flip into a fire helps him understand that the ways of the oneida community in which heaven is already here is like this incredible shot of oxygen. because we are not so evil. that is behind us. god doesn't have to be angry. it's interesting because i have this recurring nightmare in which i asked to move back in with my old college roommate. that is what i was expecting to find at oneida. the 19th century equivalent of sharing a house with a friend who brought the thought that the local car dealership was nursing the earth grid i have that kosovo victory mcgann, but i had to move back in with a girl who claimed to enjoy baking, always promising that i would be muffin day. it was about and it maybe once. i w

even for eccentric basketball star dennis rodman it was an unusual play. >> my first time.hink it's most of these guys' first time here. >> reporter: traveling to north korea last week with three members of the harlem globetrotter. >> we're going to show them what we do, a lot of magic with the basketball. >> reporter: the 51-year-old hall of famer spoke for the first time about his basketball diplomacy, including his new relationship with kim jong un. >> he is my friend. i don't condone what he does. as far as person to person, he is my friend. >> the trip was planned and filmed by vice media for an upcoming hbo series. the group toured pyongyang and unexpectedly hung out with the young leader, seen courtside during the exhibition game and later sharing dinner and drinks. kim, reported to be a big fan of the chicago bulls during their h heyday. >> one thing he asked me to give obama something to say. he wants obama to do one thing. call him. he said, if you can, dennis, i don't want to do war. he said that to me. >> a request that's getting the attention of the state depar