“Nothing is simple in India. Although the government had agreed to waive a customs levy on imports, there was still duty and 12.5% sales tax to be paid on anything bought at the fair, with the result that dealers were reserving rather than selling and concluding transactions out of the country. The organisers also had to contend with India’s notoriously obstructive and lackadaisical bureaucracy–for example, the road to the fair was only paved the day before it opened.”
Month: February 2012
Is It Time To Relax Grammar Rules In Digital Communication?
“Seventy-two percent of adult cell phone users send and receive regular text messages, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. The numbers rise to 87 percent for teens, who average 50 text messages a day. We’re not speaking into a microphone, but we’re certainly recording our thoughts in ways that make them both public and possibly eternal. So how careful should we be about our grammar?”
Chicago Mayor Asks City’s Libraries To Help Students
“In the summer months, our children, not just in the city of Chicago but across the country, lose about six months of their educational standards from one grade to the next,” Rahm Emanuel said at a City Hall news conference. “And one of the things I asked him to take on was to find that mission in the summer, how the Chicago Public Library can step into that void.”
Asia Society Expands From New York To Houston And Hong Kong
“Even as cultural organizations around the country contract because of the economic downturn, Asia Society is pushing against the tide with two new multimillion-dollar buildings, one of which opens in Hong Kong next week, the other in Houston this spring.”
Musicians Drop Unfair Claim Against Louisville Orchestra
“The Louisville musicians union has withdrawn its charge of unfair labor practices against the Louisville Orchestra board and management, saying it wants to work on resolving the problems.”
The Puritan Work Ethic And American Attitudes Toward Fiction
Laura Miller writes that there’s a deep-seated prejudice in the collective American mind – especially with respect to educating children – against enjoying fiction purely for pleasure: one should always be able to find in a story some lesson or moral; the goal should always be some sort of self-improvement.
Long Wharf Theater Cancels Stage Version Of Sophie’s Choice
“The Long Wharf Theater in New Haven has replaced what it had billed as the ‘world premiere’ of the play Sophie’s Choice.” The script, by David Rintels, is said to be unready for production.
Frank Gehry Designing, For Free, New L.A. Jazz Venue
“Having designed L.A.’s signature space for classical music, Frank Gehry is on board to do the same for jazz – although his pro bono work on a new Culver City home for the Jazz Bakery would be on a much smaller scale than his downtown Walt Disney Concert Hall.”
Dancer Who Quit Royal Ballet Loses Right To Work In UK
“Ukrainian-born Sergei Polunin, 22, has had his work permit revoked following his surprise walkout last week.” The Royal Ballet “is legally required to alert the UK Border Agency as soon as any of its foreign dancers resign.”