Tag: 05.22.04

All In A Name

“The “mutation rate” in names is higher for girls than for boys. Parents, in other words, are more liable to be inventive when choosing a name for a baby girl. The researchers have found that for every 10,000 daughters born in America there is an average of 2.3 new names. For sons, the figure is 1.6. One possibility is that in a society where family names are inherited patrilineally, parents feel constrained by tradition when it comes to choosing first names for their sons. As a result, boys often end up with the names of their ancestors. But when those same parents come to choose names for their daughters, they feel less constrained and more able to choose based on style and beauty.”

Building A New NPR (That’s What Money Can Do)

“At meetings last week in Arlington, Va., a vision of NPR’s strategic plans for the future was presented to 100 local station managers from around the country. So far, the unexpected funding has allowed NPR to give an unusual bonus to its 700-member staff (roughly 1 percent of each employee’s annual salary), return $2.4 million to member stations to offset rising expenses, and plan for a flurry of hires. The interest income alone will pay for 45 additional reporters over the next three years.”

So Why Is Making A Buck Off Your Work Wrong?

So Michael Moore is a relentless promoter of his movies. And Dick Clarke had a book he was trying to sell. Why does that diminish what they’re selling? “Most people who create things — films, TV shows, books — naturally hope to have their creations experienced by as many people as possible. Second, the essence of capitalism is to come up with goods or services that one can sell and, by selling, generate a profit. Since when did the desire to be rewarded for one’s work become a grubby, back-alley enterprise for which one must be publicly scolded?”

Tutoring For Advantage

“Years ago, with a very few exceptions, tutoring was for students who were floundering or failing. Today it is a booming industry, fueled by parental angst over the college admissions process, that helps not only children who are struggling, but also gilds the lily, moving “B+” students to “A” students, giving extra support to students enrolled in honors and Advanced Placement courses and propelling children with high test scores into the very top percentiles.”

Jansons Exits Pittsburgh

America is a tough place to be a music director, and even some of the world’s greatest conductors eventually decide that the constant strain is just more work than it’s worth. Case in point: Mariss Jansons, who this weekend conducted his final performances at the helm of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. “Many things didn’t work out the way he would have liked or else Jansons wouldn’t be leaving so soon — after only seven years. But he is a class act, a committed servant of the music and above all a good person.” Jansons leaves the PSO an ensemble transformed, but with an uncertain artistic future.

Structural Holes and the Origins of Ideas

So you’ve got a great idea. Where did it come from? Did you come up with it all on your own, right out of thin air? Probably not, says sociologist Ronald Burt. In fact, most ideas are not entirely original, but are merely examples of people finding a use for thoughts and facts, the significance of which may have eluded other individuals. In other words, a mundane fact which has no real use to one set of people may spark great creativity in another social or professional setting. According to Burt, this is all evidence that social structure can stifle creative thinking, and has become known as the study of “structural holes.”

Is The Saudi Royal Family Exploiting UK Libel Law?

“House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties, Craig Unger’s book about the tangled connections between President Bush and his circle and Saudi Arabia’s royal family, became a best seller in the United States this spring, and is now being published in Germany, Spain and Brazil, among other places. But it is not for sale in Britain… British publishing has long been notoriously hamstrung by the country’s libel laws, which place the burden of proof on the defendant… But what is causing particular consternation in publishing and legal circles now is that Mr. Unger’s case may be yet another example of how wealthy Saudis are increasingly using British laws to intimidate critics.”

Is Acoustic Science Killing the Concert Hall

Acoustical engineering is an especially tricky business. Just ask anyone who has been in charge of designing the sound of a major concert hall over the last half-century. “Over the last 50 years, more computing power has been applied to acoustic data than ever before, but most big halls have turned out to be dry and pale frames for music.” In fact, as acoustic science has advanced, concert halls have arguably regressed, sounding more like glorified loudspeakers or hi-fi sets than chambers of orchestral sound. Perhaps the problem is the desire to build a hall that can be all things to all people, or the corruption of our ears and minds by recorded sound. But whatever the problem, one thing seems clear: they just don’t build ’em like they used to.

What Really Happened To The Amber Room

“For two centuries, the Amber Room – a chamber entirely panelled in amber – adorned the summer palace of the tsars near St Petersburg until in 1941, when the Germans invaded, it was stolen. Since the war, thousands of treasure hunters have pursued ever wilder theories in search of ‘the eighth wonder of the world’. Yet it is still missing.” Now, an exhaustive three-year investigation into the fate of the Amber Room has revealed the truth: the room was indeed taken by the Nazis and stored in Germany for a time. But a fire at the castle being used for the storage destroyed the room completely in 1945.