“As usual, Google used its backpack-like Street View Trekker, the same hardware it used for its expeditions into Nepal, the Grand Canyon, and the Galapagos Islands, for taking these images. So if you don’t have a trip to Jordan planned anytime soon, you can now take a virtual hike around Petra and explore sites like the Treasury, the Street of Façades, and the Monastery.”
Tag: 11.23.15
Ethical Dispute Or Cultural Difference? Figuring Out ‘Moral Relativism’
“Because the term ‘moral relativism’ is closely associated with this subjectivist picture of morality, it elicits understandable hostility. How can we earnestly hold our moral commitments if we give up on the aspiration to objectivity regarding morals, to getting them right rather than wrong? I think there is another way to understand what moral relativism involves, which does not require us to give up our aspiration to objectivity. Let me use an example.”
The Man Whose Bad Handwriting Gave Us The Dollar Sign
He was, it turns out, a wealthy Irish businessman in New Orleans who went broke financing the American Revolution.
Balanchine Is Getting A Hollywood Biopic
“David K. Israel is adapting Elizabeth Kendall’s acclaimed book Balanchine & the Lost Muse: Revolution & the Making of a Choreographer [for] Gulfstream Pictures … Set against the backdrop of the Russian revolution, the film tells the coming-of-age story of Balanchine, during his tenure at Mariinsky Theater and school where he met his muse, Leda Ivanova.”
Toronto Symphony Reports 57 Percent Increase In Fundraising
“The symphony ended the 2014-15 season with a small surplus of $135,781, its second in a row, on total operating expenses of $27,952,748. This positive report follows earlier surpluses reported for the National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.”
Opera Colorado Comes Back From Austerity With A New Plan For Audiences
“Anything we’re doing outside the opera house is to engage a different audience. It’s not about bringing this audience we have out into the community.”
Denver Wants To Reimagine What Its Performing Arts Center Can Be
“The city believes it has to adapt the site, since audiences for the traditional arts have tapered off. At the same time, people want more informal and engaging cultural experiences.”
Sound Without Barriers: Recording Contemporary Music
“No longer do composers require the endorsement of a large corporation to get their music recorded and released as they did 50 years ago; as a result, the diversity and quality of the recordings that listeners have at their fingertips has never been greater.”
Public Battle Over Leadership Of San Francisco African-American Arts Center
“In San Francisco, a call last week for the dismissal of the executive director of the African American Art and Culture Complex has created a firestorm, adding a public relations challenge to already-existing tensions around mission and finances.”
Dmitri Hvorostovsky Talks About His Brain Cancer Treatment, Recovery, And Return To The Opera Stage
“I’ve turned half-bald. Lost all hair on the back of my head. At a US hospital in Rochester I underwent a mighty biopsy under general anesthesia. … In fact, I had holes drilled in the base of the skull. If you bring your hand close enough to the irradiated area, you will feel it is warmer than others. Occasionally, when blood rushes to this place, I have strong pulsations there. Feel[s] pretty close to hearing music.”