“Is it really true that the American idiom ‘say uncle’ emerged from the bullying of a poor parrot – and murder most fowl? Has there been a more beknighted or benighted cut of beef than the ‘sirloin’ – at least when it comes to the word’s origin? … When it comes to the strange history of certain linguistic oddities, Jesus H. Christ (and where did the ‘H’ come from, exactly?), linguists, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!”
Tag: 10.05.16
Why Are Classical Audiences Fascinated By Child Prodigies?
“Is it a sense of magic, or the feeling that perhaps a higher power does exist and bestows talent upon the chosen? Is … Is it the victory of nurture over nature, like a tamed tiger at Siegfried and Roy’s? To be able to juggle, all you need is excellent physical coordination. The spectacle of a child playing a Scarlatti sonata is more than that – it can be seen as a kind of acculturation to a specific, Western tradition. A kid playing adult music is performing adult emotions. She is concentrated and well-dressed, not wild and silly.”
Think You’re A “Visual” Learner? Turns Out Learning Styles Aren’t Really A Thing
“In this study, researchers asked people their preferred way of taking in new information: Would they rather read? Or do images seem to do a better job of helping new facts take root within their brains? The researchers then showed them 30 pairs of words and 30 pairs of images; later, the experimenters tested how well the volunteers remembered those words and images. Their professed favorite learning style made no difference in how well they remembered either the words or the pictures.”
Police Break Up Ring Of Antiquities Smugglers In Greece
“Greek police have busted what they say is a criminal organisation that has been looting antiquities from ancient sites in the country for the past 10 years and smuggling them out to auction houses and private buyers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK.”
Number Of Visitors Literally Overwhelms DC’s New African-American Museum
“More people want to get in than can be accommodated, even though timed passes are being used to manage the crowds. In the museum’s first 10 days, some 103,000 people visited the history, culture and community exhibitions, officials said. It’s unclear how many more were unable to get passes.”
Staring At The Soul Of Painter Alice Neel
“The critics repeatedly return to the intense humanity of Neel’s paintings—not in the sense of a gentle or genteel compassion, but almost its opposite: Neel’s portraits unflinchingly depict the gamut of human vulnerabilities, emotions and attitudes.”
We’re Fundamentally Rethinking The Nature Of Knowledge, But All We Get For It Is Complaints About Common Core Math
“It’s not surprising that ambitious changes like these would be hard to implement. After all, teaching kids to adopt a scientific mindset is a subtler and more complex task than having them memorize the parts of a cell. For one thing, it requires teachers who inhabit that mindset themselves, and they’re harder to find.”
Theatre And Politics In A Time Of Political Theatre
Can theatre serve the political moment? Some recent works on stage in New York all attempt it.
Museum Staffer Assaulted In St. Louis Over Controversial Exhibit
“Amid an ongoing controversy surrounding the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis’s Kelley Walker show, which includes works that some have alleged are racist and offensive, a staff member was verbally, and nearly physically, attacked Monday morning.”
How Donald Trump Is Like Jay Gatsby
Political scientist Amanda Friesen: “[He] is always flying around in his private jet. That must seem like a dream come true for some folks! By jetting off to Vegas, he’s doing things people are familiar with – things they might do if they had the money. In some respects, Donald Trump is Jay Gatsby, throwing the party and drawing people in with his excess and opulence. He’s Gatsby without the earnestness.”