According to an article in yesterday’s Independent, the weather in Britain, especially England, has been so lousy that the UK is set to go from a wheat exporter to a wheat importer […]
Climate and agriculture: Wheatless in Hampstead
wufnik
Traveling to Istanbul (III)–In the heart of the country?
Thursday started out in a bit of frustration, but turned out okay after all. The plan was to head out by tram to the Naval Museum, then double back to one of […]
Traveling to Istanbul (II)–the Harem and other delights
Whenever I want to learn about a place, or a different time, I usually go the mystery route—find some good mysteries about whatever I want to know about, and read them. Sometimes […]
Traveling to Istanbul (I)
This is farther east and still in Europe than I’ve ever been, outside of Moscow—farther than Bucharest, farther than Athens. A lot like both, though—even though the place has been Islamic for […]
London Underground: Happy birthday to the Tube
After a year in which the celebrations never seemed to end—the Queen’s Jubilee, the Olympics, and lord knows what I’ve already forgotten—the celebrations have barely paused for breath in the new year. […]
Orlando Chamber Choir: Lamenting Lowlands
Here are my program notes for last Thursday’s concert by the good old Orlando Chamber Choir. I have done only minimal editing–enjoy! The need to provide rituals at ceremonies for the dead […]
Unsolicited book review: Spillover, by David Quammen
This is a damn scary book. Quammen is perhaps our best science writer, and his subjects in the past have ranged widely, from island biogeography to large predators to whatever he fancies […]
Recreating Shackleton’s unbelievable voyage
In the annals of polar exploration, there are any number of extraordinary journeys that have reached mythic status. Scott’s failed return from the pole, with its simultaneous overtones of tragedy and inspiration; […]
RT at the BBC
BBC Radio 4 has this neat show–Master Tapes— where they bring in some artist to discuss one of their important albums. It’s a Q&A for the interviewer, John Wilson, and the audience […]
ArtsWeek: The Rest is Noise (5)—Ravel, Vaughan Williams, Bartok, Janacek, Satie and Stravinsky
The first two decades of the 20th century saw a remarkable rise in nationalism in music. As we indicated in our last post, this wasn’t unusual in and of itself—composers such as […]
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 