“In June, ICANN, the organization that wrangles Internet addresses, announced that almost 2,000 applications for new top-level domains – like .com, .edu, and .gov – had been filed.” (For instance, the BBC asked for .bbc.) “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia … has now argued that 31 applications should be rejected – specifically, those that are related sex, alcohol, gambling, and Islam.”
Tag: 08.16.12
What Beasts Of The Southern Wild Does And Doesn’t Say
“Some critics say the indie sensation glorifies poverty and recklessness, but it’s actually a nuanced look at how peoples’ worldviews are tied to where they came from.”
The 19th Century’s Most Influential Novelists (According To Google PageRank)
“[A]ccording to a new method of analysing texts using a customised version of Google’s PageRank algorithm … the era’s most influential authors [writing in English] are Jane Austen and Walter Scott.”
Down With Reductionism! (It Flattens Reality)
“Every thinking person tries to reduce some things to others; if you attribute your cousin’s political outburst to his indigestion, you’ve reduced the rant to the reflux. But the reductionism that’s at stake here is a much broader habit of thinking that tries to flatten reality down and allow only certain kinds of explanations.”
Music Streaming Revenues Up 40 Percent (But… And It’s A Big But…)
“Total spending on music will fall by £190m, or 16%, in the UK this year it predicted, compared to 2.6% globally.”
One-Handed Man Builds Career As Pianist
Nicholas McCarthy, “who was born with no right hand, now finds himself on the brink of a career as an international performer after astounding professionals and wowing audiences with his ability to play so seamlessly.”
London’s Royal Opera House To Shut Its Contemporary Opera Program
“The arm of the Royal Opera House dedicated to commissioning and producing contemporary opera and dance is to close.”
What Pronouns Say About The Progress Of Women
“Using the Google Books database, the researchers examined the ratio of male pronouns (he, him, his, himself) to female ones (she, her, hers, herself) in the texts of 1.2 million books published in the U.S. between 1900 and 2008.”
5,000 Years Of History In Aleppo Endangered By Syria’s Civil War
“Preservationists and archaeologists are warning that fighting in Syria’s commercial capital, Aleppo – considered the world’s oldest continuously inhabited human settlement – threatens to damage irreparably the stunning architectural and cultural legacy left by 5,000 years of civilizations.”
Indianapolis Museum of Art Names New CEO
“Charles Venable, the current director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky., was introduced Wednesday as the Melvin & Bren Simon director and CEO of the IMA.”