“Between the eighth and the 13th centuries, while Europe stumbled through the dark ages, science thrived in Muslim lands.” Yet despite a centuries-long stagnation and the violently reactionary views of some radical groups, “a Muslim scientific awakening is under way. And the roots of scientific backwardness lie not with religious leaders, but with secular rulers, who are as stingy with cash as they are lavish with controls over independent thought.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Is This The Number One Suspect In The Bolshoi Acid Attack?
Journalist Natalia Krainova gives an overview of some of the backstage rancor at the Bolshoi, including a closer look at the difficult relationship between ballet director Sergei Filin, victim of the attack, and his chief (or at least loudest) rival, star dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze.
Vladimir Malakhov To Leave Helm Of Berlin State Ballet
The Russian-born former ABT star will step down as the company’s director in summer 2014. In a Q&A, he indicates that the city’s culture secretary, André Schmitz, would not renew his contract and wants to replace him with someone more oriented toward contemporary dance. (At least, Malakhov observes, he gets to leave with his face intact.)
Philip Glass’s New Disney Bio-Opera To Be Streamed Online
“Can’t get to Madrid for the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Walt Disney opera? The Perfect American, a fictionalized account of Disney’s final days, will be broadcast live online on Wednesday, with the video available for free up to three months after.”
Nabokov Museum In St. Petersburg Vandalized
“Vandals spray-painted the word ‘pedophile’ on the wall of a museum dedicated to famous writer Vladimir Nabokov in St. Petersburg … The wall was spray-painted by the same group of self-styled ‘St. Petersburg Cossacks’ who … have been sending ominous letters to the museum, accusing the writer of propagating pedophilia and threatening ‘God’s wrath’.”
Salman Rushdie Has Yet Another Event Cancelled, This Time In Calcutta
“A visit by controversial author Salman Rushdie here to promote Deepa Mehta’s film Midnight’s Children, based on his award-winning novel, was called off at the last minute over security concerns today, evoking strong reactions from cultural and literary circles. Rushdie [had] travelled to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai without any problem in the last few days.”
An Anti-Jargon Widget That Could Make Academics Write Clearly
“Into this fray comes the Up-Goer Five text editor, a widget created by geneticist Theo Sanderson, which restricts writers to the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language.”
Cursive Writing Is Disappearing From School Curricula
“The common core state standards, a set of math and English goals agreed upon by 45 states and now being implemented, sends cursive the way of the quill pen, while requiring instead that students be proficient in keyboarding by fourth grade. Cursive is optional – and, so far, few schools have opted for it.”
Well, At Least One Country Is Tiring Of Really Stupid Television
Wetten, Dass …? is “a variety show with some 10 million viewers often referred to as the biggest television program in Europe. In more than three decades it has anchored itself in the German consciousness even as viewership has declined and criticism has risen, not just about the show but also about what it represents.”
Vienna’s Male Nude Art Exhibition Holds Special Hours For Nudists
“A spokesman for the Leopold Museum in Vienna [said] that there was a request by an association from Germany for a nude guided tour: ‘We thought about it, and decided it would be a good idea to have a special nude viewing open to the public’.”