Not All Of Timbuktu’s Ancient Manuscripts Were Burned, It Seems

Researcher Jean-Michel Dijan: “The great majority of the manuscripts, about fifty thousand, are actually housed in the thirty-two family libraries of the ‘City of 333 Saints.’ Those are to this day protected.” Many other documents (though not all) may have been hidden by the families who originally possessed them before the rebels arrived.

The Twisted Tale Of The Art Guys Marry A Plant

“Like many marriages, this peculiar union between two men and the (presumably) polyamorous plant wasn’t meant to be. .,. After scathing reviews, acts of vandalism, angry art patrons, and counter-protest art performances (not to mention an art critic who returned to prostitution after the ordeal), the Menil Collection – the Houston museum that had acquired the tree sculpture in 2011 – decided they had had enough.”

Florida Orchestra’s Cuba Exchange Hits A Snag

“The Florida Orchestra has run into the first real glitch in its cultural exchange with Cuba. On Friday, the orchestra learned it had to postpone plans to send concertmaster Jeffrey Multer to perform on Feb. 10 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in Havana.” The reason: a snafu in the bureaucratic machinery governing the US’s embargo on Cuba.