Norman rulers Sicily Muslim Byzantine customs

Norman rulers adopted Sicily’s local customs

After conquering Sicily, many Norman rulers adopted the dress, language, literature and court customs of the Muslim and Byzantine communities they ruled. Political conquest did not simply replace the island’s established cultures.

A Peruvian village still used quipus in 1994

In 1994, people in the Peruvian village of Tupicocha were still using quipus for official local records and government work. Their quipus were built much like examples from before the Spanish conquest, although the villagers did not describe them as Inca objects.

Perfect encryption needs a key as long as the message

Claude Shannon showed that perfect secrecy requires a key containing at least as much information as the message itself. A correctly used one-time pad meets this rule and can provide perfect secrecy.

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Norman rulers Sicily Muslim Byzantine customs

Norman rulers adopted Sicily’s local customs

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