A team of Israeli researchers found “that a pea plant subjected to drought conditions communicated its stress to other such plants, with which it shared its soil” – and those plants responded. “Is it morally permissible to submit to total instrumentalization living beings that, though they do not have a central nervous system, are capable of basic learning and communication?”
Month: May 2012
Adjusting Israel’s National Anthem To Not Exclude Israeli Arabs
The first line of “HaTikva” reads (in English translation), “As long as deep within him a Jew’s soul stirs …” In the wake of a silent protest by an Israeli Arab justice of the country’s Supreme Court, The Forward teamed up with singer Neshama Carlebach (daughter of the late Rabbi Shlomo) to offer – with just a few tweaks of the lyrics – a version of the anthem that doesn’t exclude 20% of Israel’s population.
Egypt’s All-Blind-Female Chamber Orchestra
The Cairo-based Al Nour Wal Amal Blind Girls Chamber Orchestra … is composed of sightless women from all walks of life who study the notes in Braille and learn the musical pieces by heart. … The women, who play both Western and Oriental classical music, are also singers and the orchestra doubles as a choir.”
Stephen King To US Government: Raise My &***#! Taxes Already!
“What charitable 1 percenters can’t do is assume responsibility – America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. … That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, ‘OK, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS’.”
Where Modern Dance Meets Drag
“Trajal Harrell is a thinking choreographer. Ten years ago, he asked a question: What would have happened if, in the early sixties, drag queens from Harlem had brought their voguing downtown, to Washington Square, to perform with the pathbreaking postmoderns of the Judson Dance Theatre?”
The Source Of The New York State Reading Exam’s Notorious Pineapple Question
Last month, the eighth-graders of the Empire State were presented with a reading comprehension question about a hare who was challenged to a race by – not a tortoise, but a pineapple. (The hare won.) The originator of the tale, children’s author Daniel Pinkwater speaks out on the controversy. (He thinks the story works better with an eggplant.)
Laying Conceptual Art Bare At Sydney’s MoCA
Last Friday, the Museum of Contemporary Art hosted “a tour of museum works that was itself billed as an artwork and had this as its title: ‘Preceded by a tour of the show by artist Stuart Ringholt, 6-8pm (the artist will be naked. Those who wish to join the tour must also be naked. Adults only)’.”
Canadian Documentary Industry In Trouble
“Because of the cutbacks to CBC and National Film Board, we are witnessing the beginning of maybe the disappearance of Canadian documentary.”
Canada’s Gemini And Genie Awards To Consolidate
“Established in 1979, the Canadian academy is the non-profit industry group that administers the Genies, Canada’s annual film award honouring both French- and English-language productions. The academy also hosts the Gemini Awards and Prix Gémeaux — which honour English- and French-language TV and digital programming, respectively.”
This Year’s Turner Prize Shortlist
“Artists Spartacus Chetwynd, Elizabeth Price, Luke Fowler and Paul Noble will compete for this year’s £25,000 prize, set to return to London for its 28th year”