http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1681384,00.html
"The fact that absolute pitch — the ability to name any isolated musical tone — shows up on the scanner as an exaggerated asymmetry between the size of certain structures in the right and left sides of the brain falls far short of explaining how it's acquired. What gets closer are the observations that 50% of people born blind or blind from a young age have absolute pitch, and that it's four times more common among first-year music students in Beijing than those in New York — a reflection of the fact that the Chinese are more attuned to pitch, having had to master the precise tones used in spoken Mandarin.
The son of a musical family who still plays his father's Bechstein, Sacks has a strong empathy for the loss suffered by the many neurally damaged musicians who have found their way to him. Most touching of all is his tale of Clive Wearing, an English musician stricken in 1985 with a post-brain-infection amnesia so devastating that from one minute to the next he does not know who, where or what he is. At 69, just two things are unscathed in his inner life: a profound love for his wife and the ability to sing or play on the piano any piece of music set in front of him. Sacks describes Wearing's music as a rope let down from heaven: "Without performance, the thread is broken, and he is thrown back once again into the abyss."
Love for music is a simple joy of life, but even that can be overwhelming, as Sacks found with Tony Cicoria, a surgeon who survived being struck by lightning only to find himself possessed by an all-consuming, life-disrupting passion for listening to, playing and composing piano music. After grappling with Cicoria's musicophilia for 12 years, Sacks decided to let things be — to acknowledge that some of music's eternal riddles are better left unsolved. "His was a lucky strike," writes Sacks, "and the music, however it had come, was a blessing, a grace — not to be questioned."
11/10/2007
Thomas Middleton
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/globeeducation/research/researchevents/middletonlaunch/
Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works
The eagerly anticipated Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works brings together for the first time in a single volume all the works currently attributed to Thomas Middleton. It is the first edition of Middleton's works since 1886. This is a major event for those who are interested in early modern theatre.
To celebrate this publication Globe Education and Oxford University Press are hosting a lecture and reception:
Our Other Shakespeare: Thomas Middleton's Boys (and Girls) Able to Ravish a Man
Professor Gary Taylor (Florida State University)
Wednesday 21st November6pmNancy W. Knowles Lecture Theatre
In addition to the lecture there will be a short reading/performance of a scene from a Middleton play.
This event is by invitation only. For more information please contactDr Farah Karim-Cooper.
Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works
The eagerly anticipated Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works brings together for the first time in a single volume all the works currently attributed to Thomas Middleton. It is the first edition of Middleton's works since 1886. This is a major event for those who are interested in early modern theatre.
To celebrate this publication Globe Education and Oxford University Press are hosting a lecture and reception:
Our Other Shakespeare: Thomas Middleton's Boys (and Girls) Able to Ravish a Man
Professor Gary Taylor (Florida State University)
Wednesday 21st November6pmNancy W. Knowles Lecture Theatre
In addition to the lecture there will be a short reading/performance of a scene from a Middleton play.
This event is by invitation only. For more information please contactDr Farah Karim-Cooper.
Technological matriarchy
From a Time article by Belinda Luscombe:
"The crazy thing is, we already have the technology. Only this year a bunch of Hong Kong researchers published a paper in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics—a publication that I imagine is on your bedside table right now—that used 3-D anthropometric measuring equipment to take a very close look at 456 young Chinese women's breasts. (I know, can you imagine writing the grant proposal for that?) Their conclusions make for some tough reading. They note that 70% of British women are wearing the wrong size bra, and that among bigger-breasted women the sizing is particularly inappropriate.
Instead of taking two measurements (under the bust and over the bust) to find a bra size, the Hong Kong researchers took 98. The key to building a better bra, they concluded, is to use a depth-width ratio rather than just volume to figure out the cup size. Warren, can you see what's happening here? Are you going to let Chinese women have better-fitting bras than we do? Where is your sense of patriotism? First it's superior bras, then it's superior weapons, and before long the fat lady in her too-snug undergarment has sung, and it's over.
As you know, W.B., bras carry a lot more freight than just the bosomy kind. When women stand in front of the mirror, they don't see a bra that doesn't fit. They see a woman who doesn't fit—whose cup runneth over, who is insufficiently endowed, who is goat-shaped.
About half the adult population wears bras. The other half strategizes about them. Building a better-fitting one is not just good for female self-esteem, it's good for business. And you are the guy to do it. Can't you see the ad campaigns? "The Buffett Bustier: because one size does not fit all." Or "Get yourself into a neBRAska. We've got room for everyone."
Warren, I beseech you, just spare one moment today to think about breasts. I know you can."
"The crazy thing is, we already have the technology. Only this year a bunch of Hong Kong researchers published a paper in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics—a publication that I imagine is on your bedside table right now—that used 3-D anthropometric measuring equipment to take a very close look at 456 young Chinese women's breasts. (I know, can you imagine writing the grant proposal for that?) Their conclusions make for some tough reading. They note that 70% of British women are wearing the wrong size bra, and that among bigger-breasted women the sizing is particularly inappropriate.
Instead of taking two measurements (under the bust and over the bust) to find a bra size, the Hong Kong researchers took 98. The key to building a better bra, they concluded, is to use a depth-width ratio rather than just volume to figure out the cup size. Warren, can you see what's happening here? Are you going to let Chinese women have better-fitting bras than we do? Where is your sense of patriotism? First it's superior bras, then it's superior weapons, and before long the fat lady in her too-snug undergarment has sung, and it's over.
As you know, W.B., bras carry a lot more freight than just the bosomy kind. When women stand in front of the mirror, they don't see a bra that doesn't fit. They see a woman who doesn't fit—whose cup runneth over, who is insufficiently endowed, who is goat-shaped.
About half the adult population wears bras. The other half strategizes about them. Building a better-fitting one is not just good for female self-esteem, it's good for business. And you are the guy to do it. Can't you see the ad campaigns? "The Buffett Bustier: because one size does not fit all." Or "Get yourself into a neBRAska. We've got room for everyone."
Warren, I beseech you, just spare one moment today to think about breasts. I know you can."
11/08/2007
有意思
最近盖瑞·施耐德说了
"Buddhism challenges the Abrahamic religions with the ethical principle of "non-harming" - ahimsa - as applied to all beings. Buddhism has a clear and impeccable argument with regard to violence and war. Once again, we are reminded of the futility of war in this country."
还有这个
"Human beings everywhere in the world are affected by the global media now. Still, what I have noticed in the east Asia, in the indigenous world (Alaska in particular) and in back country farm and ranch country, is a higher sense of etiquette, and more respectful manners. Urban middle class cosmopolitan world peoples of all races have become speedy and rude. This is a pretty big generalization though."
"Buddhism challenges the Abrahamic religions with the ethical principle of "non-harming" - ahimsa - as applied to all beings. Buddhism has a clear and impeccable argument with regard to violence and war. Once again, we are reminded of the futility of war in this country."
还有这个
"Human beings everywhere in the world are affected by the global media now. Still, what I have noticed in the east Asia, in the indigenous world (Alaska in particular) and in back country farm and ranch country, is a higher sense of etiquette, and more respectful manners. Urban middle class cosmopolitan world peoples of all races have become speedy and rude. This is a pretty big generalization though."
11/03/2007
Some considerations made by Peter Hessler
"The American perception of China tends to be quite negative. Our media generally focuses on human rights and political events, neither of which, in my opinion, is the appropriate lens through which to view China during this period. These are not fundamental issues for the average Chinese, whose interests should set the tone for any responsible coverage of the country. But foreign journalists tend to focus on extremes, just like the Chinese textbook. The motivation is different, of course. That textbook was government-produced propaganda, whereas independent American publications are trying to fulfill a more noble ambition — the great journalistic tradition of exposing problems and inequalities. This plays a critical role in American communities, and it also serves a purpose in foreign countries that can't function on their own or require outside intervention.
A correspondent who writes about a famine in Africa can save lives. But China is a very different place: it's stable, functioning, independent, and increasingly powerful. There's a limit to what Americans can do there, and more importantly, the U.S. doesn't need to do very much. China has been steadily improving the lives of the vast majority of its citizens for twenty years, under its own governance. When Americans look across the Pacific, the central question isn't how they can change China, but how they can understand the people who live there. Again, context is the key. Americans need a better sense of how the average Chinese lives and thinks. I know that this is often frightening to Americans — the sense that they can't do much to help the Chinese. Personally, I find this to be a relief. Given how difficult it's proven to fix up relatively small countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans should be grateful that they aren't responsible for the welfare of 1.3 billion Chinese.
In this sense, China is a unique place, and our media hasn't quite figured out how to respond. There have always been standard ways of covering foreign countries, and foreign correspondents generally bounce from one place to another. It might be time to rethink this strategy. As we learn more about the outside world, we realize that different countries should be covered differently, and it makes sense to find specialists —people who speak the language and are willing to spend more time on the ground.
I want to emphasize that I'm not saying that everything in China is good, and my opinion isn't based on a desire to "help" China or show the country in a strictly positive light. I'm an apolitical person; I see myself as an observer, not an activist. I have no patience for either Chinese or American nationalism, and I believe that both countries have serious trouble understanding and interacting with the rest of the world. My experiences as a teacher showed me how damaging it is to give people a warped view of a faraway place. It disgusted me to see Americans depicted in extreme terms, and I react the same way to inaccurate portraits of Chinese."
Complete Q&A here
A correspondent who writes about a famine in Africa can save lives. But China is a very different place: it's stable, functioning, independent, and increasingly powerful. There's a limit to what Americans can do there, and more importantly, the U.S. doesn't need to do very much. China has been steadily improving the lives of the vast majority of its citizens for twenty years, under its own governance. When Americans look across the Pacific, the central question isn't how they can change China, but how they can understand the people who live there. Again, context is the key. Americans need a better sense of how the average Chinese lives and thinks. I know that this is often frightening to Americans — the sense that they can't do much to help the Chinese. Personally, I find this to be a relief. Given how difficult it's proven to fix up relatively small countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans should be grateful that they aren't responsible for the welfare of 1.3 billion Chinese.
In this sense, China is a unique place, and our media hasn't quite figured out how to respond. There have always been standard ways of covering foreign countries, and foreign correspondents generally bounce from one place to another. It might be time to rethink this strategy. As we learn more about the outside world, we realize that different countries should be covered differently, and it makes sense to find specialists —people who speak the language and are willing to spend more time on the ground.
I want to emphasize that I'm not saying that everything in China is good, and my opinion isn't based on a desire to "help" China or show the country in a strictly positive light. I'm an apolitical person; I see myself as an observer, not an activist. I have no patience for either Chinese or American nationalism, and I believe that both countries have serious trouble understanding and interacting with the rest of the world. My experiences as a teacher showed me how damaging it is to give people a warped view of a faraway place. It disgusted me to see Americans depicted in extreme terms, and I react the same way to inaccurate portraits of Chinese."
Complete Q&A here
訂閱：
文章 (Atom)
