James J. Krupa, biology professor at the University of Kentucky: “Where I live, many believe evolution to be synonymous with atheism, and there are those who strongly feel I am teaching heresy to thousands of students. A local pastor, whom I’ve never met, wrote an article in the University Christian complaining that, not only was I teaching evolution and ignoring creationism, I was teaching it as a non-Christian, alternative religion.”
Jeffrey Deitch Says He Was Persecuted At L.A. MOCA, Just Like Klaus Biesenbach Is Now At MOMA
“‘Some of you may have read the diatribes against one of my favorite colleagues Klaus Biesenbach raging today,” he said … “[It] reminds me of the diatribes that went on against me when I was at MOCA. … So with Klaus, it’s Bjork; with me, it was James Franco, unfortunately.’ This generated much laughter from the audience.” (Deitch also says he wish he’d presented the Björk show.)
When We Read, Our Brains Might Be Seeing All The Words We Know As Images
“According to a new study, our brain sees words we know like a picture, recognizing whole words, rather than strings of letters that require processing. By tuning neurons to respond to complete words that have been seen before, our brain allows us to read quickly.”
Strings Dealer Who ‘Kept Poor Records’ Avoids Jail, Pays Back Nearly $400,000
“Magby continues to operate his Guilford business, and his restoration and repair skills for these types of ultra high-end stringed instruments is world-renowned, Maxwell said.”
People Won’t Listen To Scientists ABout Climate Change? Fine, Then Let’s Dance Them To Undertsanding
“Scientists today believe that such critical information must be disseminated and quickly acted upon to avoid catastrophe. But that is not happening, as indicated by the ‘much talk, little action’ status of climate change. The central need is clearly not for more natural science research (although in many areas it would be very helpful). Rather, the social sciences and humanities need to be reorganized and refocused — ‘rebooted’ — to provide better understanding of human behaviors and how they can be altered.”
On YouTube: A Battle Over Fair Use And Superfans
“If you’re video maker who’s had a video flagged and you want to dispute it, the process is Kafkaesque. The copyright holder alone decides the outcome: It can uphold its claim. It can agree that your video does not infringe its copyright. Or it can do nothing at all for 30 days, during which time all advertising is suspended. Most likely, your video eventually is returned to you—but by that point, the damage is done.”
Report On UK Creative Industries: Here’s What Needs Doing
“The welcome emergence of London as possibly the leading creative industry hub in the world has disguised the lack of equivalent growth outside London, and this situation should be addressed by government as a priority,” it concludes.
The Royal Poet Laureate’s Eulogy For Richard III
Here’s the text of Carol Ann Duffy’s encomium, which was recited at the funeral by Benedict Cumberbatch.
‘Man-Seders’ – Matzoh With Steak And Scotch
“Unlike staid practice sessions of old, these promise flowing alcohol, macho food and male bonding along with some religious instruction, although that last one can get a bit lost at some of the events. … The goal is simple: to teach men about the Passover Seder, including how to run one, and engage them more in the Jewish faith.”
How Irish Step Dancing Left Irish Ethnicity Behind
“When it was whites who made up the majority of U.S. immigrants, it really mattered if you were Irish, Italian, or some other white ethnicity. … Once the distinctions no longer mattered and the stigma of being Irish had faded, then Irish dance could be something anyone did and others would want to do. And, so, now anyone does. The three-time winner of the All-Ireland Dancing Championship in Dublin is a biracial, black, Jewish kid from Ohio.”
Why New TV Comedies Are Choosing Plot Over Jokes
Basically, because they can. Jason Zinoman explains how the huge changes over the past decade in the way television series are distributed and consumed have allowed the creators of comedies to break with what was always a fairly strict template.
Apple Moves To Compete Directly With Spotify
“Almost a year after agreeing to pay $3 billion for Beats, the maker of hip headphones and a streaming music service, Apple is working with Beats engineers and executives to introduce its own subscription streaming service. The company is also planning an enhanced iTunes Radio that may be tailored to listeners in regional markets.”
When Memory Stops Functioning, Where Does A Person’s Identity Reside?
“Dementia undermines all of our philosophical assumptions about the coherence of the self. … Everyone touched by the disease goes through a crash-course in the philosophy of mind. … If someone cannot remember not just where the milk bottle goes, but what a milk bottle is for, then the shared pre-suppositions on which communication, meaning and identity depend become badly strained.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.26.15
Awakening to truths about ourselves and the world (in the Beauty Class)
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2015-03-26
Guest Columnist: Has Our Inner Child Won?
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2015-03-26
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A More Complicated View Of What Makes Us Intelligent
“Increasingly, it makes less sense to think of genes and environments as independent causes,” writes a research team led by Penn State sociologist David Baker. Its examination of likely reasons for the gradual rise in IQ scores over the 20th century suggest more challenging curriculums, to a significant degree, create smarter students.
Cirque du Soleil To Be Sold?
Renée-Claude Ménard, senior director of public relations for the circus, told CBC News the company is searching for a “strategic partner. This is a very long process and [founder and majority shareholder] Guy Laliberté will take the time necessary to evaluate all available options,” Ménard said.
Princeton Review Gives Taylor Swift An “F” For Bad Grammar (But…)
In a Princeton test paper, a section headed “Grammar in Real Life” told students: “Pop lyrics are a great source of bad grammar. See if you can find the error in each of the following.” Taylor Swift’s song Fifteen was then cited as containing the line “Somebody tells you they love you, you got to believe ’em.” A fan posted her sad reaction online: “I was just having an amazing time studying for the SAT and now I feel attacked.” Then Swift herself responded on Tumblr: “Not the right lyrics at all pssshhhh. You had one job, test people. One job.”
S**t Pierre Boulez Said
“I don’t want my statements to be frozen in time. A date should always be attached to them. Certainly if you take a picture of yourself 30 years ago, that same picture cannot be used as a picture of yourself today.” His incendiary comments, whether directed at his contemporaries (he has described Duchamp as ‘a pompous bore’, Cage as ‘a performing monkey’, and Stockhausen, ‘a hippie’), or more general topics such as culture and history, however, suggest that he enjoys the controversy.
People Are Fighting Over Sand (And There’s A Shortage)
“Though the supply might seem endless, sand is a finite resource like any other. The worldwide construction boom of recent years—all those mushrooming megacities, from Lagos to Beijing—is devouring unprecedented quantities; extracting it is a $70 billion industry. In Dubai enormous land-reclamation projects and breakneck skyscraper-building have exhausted all the nearby sources. Exporters in Australia are literally selling sand to Arabs.”
The Hot New Dance In New York? A Dance From Jane Austen’s Time
“Derived from English country dancing—think of the long paired lines of couples crisscrossing and partner-swapping in all those Jane Austen country-manor balls, now press fast forward—contra offers young urbanites an inclusive atmosphere where they can work up a little sweat away from the gym and touch human beings instead of screens.”
Seriously? Too Much “Ethnic” Casting On TV This Year?
The story prompted lots of reaction, foremost among the tweets was one from Shonda Rhimes: “1st Reaction: HELL NO. Lemme take off my earrings, somebody hold my purse! 2nd Reaction: Article is so ignorant I can’t even be bothered.”
Was Early Civilization Driven By Agriculture Or By Religion?
“Some secularists dislike the idea that spiritual needs drove the rise of civilisation. They fret that it will reinforce or restore religion’s central place in society. But just because spirituality may have led to civilisation, it doesn’t follow that it should lead it now. If religion did have an early founding role, we must acknowledge this, learn from it – and move on.”
At Stanford, Musical Theater About The Birth Of Modern Computing
“In December 1968, the computer scientist Douglas Engelbart … brought together for the first time a mouse, word processing, multimedia communication and networking to demonstrate interactive computing before an audience of a thousand leading computer scientists. His presentation would become known as the Demo.” Ben Neill and Mikel Rouse have now made the Demo into a stage work .