“For example, the TSO introduced online chat functionality to its website, enabling patrons to receive real-time customer support in both official languages as well as other languages including Mandarin. Its first week in operation produced more than 200 chat sessions.”
Tag: 05.04.16
The Weird, Brilliant Names Charles Dickens Invented For His Minor Characters
“Allow me to introduce Mr Plornishmaroontigoonter. Lord Podsnap, Count Smorltork, and Sir Clupkins Clogwog. Not to mention the dowager Lady Snuphanuph. As for Serjeant Buzfuz, Miss Snevellicci, Mrs. Wrymug, and the Porkenhams … They are the best of names, they are the worst of names, from an age of onomastic wisdom and hypocoristic foolishness, an epoch of … well you get the picture.”
Iranian Cartoonist Freed After More Than A Year In Prison
“Atena Farghadani, who was sentenced to 12 years and nine months in prison last June for … depicting Iranian parliamentarians as monkeys and goats in protest against two bills that will outlaw voluntary sterilisation and restrict access to contraception,” was released on May 3.
Seems We Just Can’t Get Enough Of The Tudors – Why Is That?
Charlotte Higgins: “When speaking to historians, novelists and curators of the period, I found that they would, at some point in the conversation, reach for a pop-cultural analogy. The Tudors are like the Kardashians, said one. They are like the Caesars, or the Kennedys, said another. They are like Game of Thrones, said one. They are like House of Cards, said another. They are like Dallas, they are like Dynasty, said another.”
Why Friendship Is Not A Moral Good
Humanities scholar Alexander Nehamas: “The major point is that morality is supposed to be impartial and universal. … Contrary to morality, friendship is a kind of value that is absolutely partial and preferential. In other words, it’s essential that I treat my friends differently from the way I treat everyone else. I will do favors for you and I will help you in ways that I will feel absolutely no obligation to do for someone else. And that doesn’t fit with our conception of morality, which says you should treat everyone the same.”
The Hottest Thing In ‘Slow Radio’ Is Orchestra Musicians Playing Outside, With Birds
“A group of musicians will venture into the Sussex woods to make music with nightingales, while Radio 3 breakfast show listeners will be introduced to a new bird’s song each weekend, paired with a piece of music.”
How He Does It: Watch An MRI Of This Opera Singer Singing Wagner
While performing with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, German baritone Michael Volle impressively sang the Wagner aria “Song to the Evening Star” from Tannhäuser while undergoing a MRI scan.
“They” As The New All-Purpose Sexless Pronoun. How About It?
I think “they” is the way to proceed as a default, until English is spoken in a world where the inherent power disparity between the “hes” and “shes” is eradicated. I know it won’t happen in my lifetime, but as long as we continue to use a language that is inherently sexist, we will be forever perpetuating sexist ideology, even without intending to. I still do not know how to talk about this without inspiring fights – but it is an important one.
Even Europe’s Most August Theatre Is Joining The Cinemacasters
No less than the home of Molière, Racine, and Voltaire, the Comédie-Française will be transmitting its performances to moviegoers, beginning in October, with three productions presented in 300 cinemas in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The broadcasts will subsequently be offered to the rest of the world in subtitled versions. (in French; Google Translate version here)
The Artist’s Way In The Swamp Of Corporate Creativity
When Julia Cameron published “The Artist’s Way,” in 1991, she probably could not have foreseen exactly how the very idea of creativity would collide with the marketplace. “Creative” sits right above “innovation” and “disruption” in the glossary of terms that have been co-opted by corporate America and retooled to signify an increasingly nebulous set of qualities.