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15 01, 2017

Mocking the humanities (George Will, Pittsburgh Tribune)

By |2017-01-14T14:22:20-05:00January 15th, 2017|2017, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Everything Else, January, Language, Literature, News, Philosophy, science, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Mocking the humanities: a pundit recounts how a scientist used parody -- a classic literary mode of expression -- to mock  academic practices in the humanities. From the commentary: Alan Sokal's point ... was that intellectual inquiry in the humanities often is not open. The humanities, he today tells The Chronicle, had become a “subculture” [...]

31 12, 2016

The English we thought we knew (Lennox Morrison, BBC Capital)

By |2016-12-30T17:06:59-05:00December 31st, 2016|2016, business, Debate / dialogue, December, Economics, education, Europe, Everything Else, Language, News, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

The English we thought we knew: now that the majority of English speakers is non-native, how is that changing the language, our prime means of communication? Is the English-speaking world getting larger, or more fragmented: more coherent, or more incoherent? And what does this portend for the learning of other languages? From the article: With non-native English speakers [...]

26 12, 2016

Daydreaming and neuroscience (Alison Gopnik, Wall Street Journal)

By |2016-12-26T08:04:27-05:00December 26th, 2016|2016, Everything Else, News, psychology, science, STEM, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Daydreaming and neuroscience: how brain imaging may track the creative process fostered by the wandering mind. From the article: Dr. Christoff and colleagues suggest that creative thought involves a special interaction between these control systems and mind-wandering. In this activity, the control system holds a particular problem in mind but permits the brain to wander [...]

23 12, 2016

Do the humanities provide nothing?

By |2016-12-23T08:31:09-05:00December 23rd, 2016|2016, Asia, December, Everything Else, Literature, Philosophy, poetry, Quotes, Religion, science, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Do the humanities provide nothing? And if so, does this "nothingness" reveal more than does science or other fields of knowledge? The Yellow Emperor went wandering To the north of the Red Water To the Kwan Lun mountain. He looked around Over the edge of the world. On the way home He lost his night-colored pearl. [...]

13 12, 2016

The breath of memory: the science of our historical lives (ScienceDaily)

By |2016-12-13T06:59:57-05:00December 13th, 2016|2016, Academia, December, Everything Else, History, News, science, STEM, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

The breath of memory: the science of our historical lives. How we breathe, and when we breathe, affects the way we recognize and recall what lies before us. A new study has wide implications for our reading and understanding the world's many forms of expression. From the study:  The rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the [...]

5 12, 2016

Science and the music of history

By |2016-12-15T07:22:37-05:00December 5th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, December, Everything Else, History, Language, Observations, Philosophy, science, STEM, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Science and the music of history: is this a new age of knowledge? A scientist and an historian discuss the value of the past, and the promise of the future. Scientist: Hey there, Scrupulus, what have you been up to this morning? Historian: Oh hello, Speculus. Just listening to music. Scientist: I like to do that, [...]

3 12, 2016

History and the contingency of knowledge (Willard Dix, Forbes)

By |2016-12-02T09:09:12-05:00December 3rd, 2016|2016, Academia, business, Debate / dialogue, December, Everything Else, History, News, U.S. / Canada, Writing|0 Comments

History and contingency of knowledge: the ways that studying the past can teach us how we can better understand one another today. From the editorial: My introduction to the power of the liberal arts came in an undergraduate course studying the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.... Until then, I had assumed (as most high school students [...]

18 11, 2016

Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston (September 2016 – January 2017)

By |2016-11-18T21:30:10-05:00November 18th, 2016|2016, Academia, Arts, Europe, Exhibits, Libraries, Literature, Other Sites, Recommendations, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston: three venues showcase the rich store of imagination in Europe before modernity. From the description: The exhibition presents more than 260 outstanding manuscripts and printed books from nineteen Boston-area collections, dating from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries. h/t Roberta Morosini

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