While not a fan of the members of the Bloomsbury writers and artists, I find literary groups fascinating.
Category: history (Page 1 of 4)
Fascinating story about the potential real gold ring source for J.R.R. Tolkien’s one ring from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Sounds almost too good to be true, but what’s a neat story if true. Shows how something simple and physical can inspire a tale of fantasy. A cursed ring, indeed.
Does Google Glass render privacy obsolete? The whole Glass issue reminds me of Charles Stross’s novel Accelerando. This may just be the beginning of a very interesting future.
Dance crazes aren’t new, but the Harlem Shake appears to go beyond the twist, the conga, and the Gangnam, inspiring freedom in the Middle East. Like the horrified townspeople in Footloose, but with the ability to kill, certain self-declared authority figures are horrified that young people want to express themselves.
How much of Truman Capote’s non-fiction classic, In Cold Blood, is not true? A recent Wall Street Journal article brings to light material that contradicts certain aspects of the story in terms of the timeline.
Recently several classic works of non-fiction have been exposed as containing small or very large amounts of fiction. First, John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley was examined with a critical investigative eye and found to contain vastly fictionalized accounts. The recent re-publication acknowledge this, and the book really ca be seen more as a work of fiction. Then, recently an investigation into the famous Kitty Genovese slaying in New York uncovered potential errors. This time the published made no changes or disclaimers. There are other similar incidents of non-fiction accounts later debunked, but few as memorable as these.
If the Kansas material become available to scholars, will it result in changes to future editions of In Cold Blood, possibly a mention in an introduction? The book is compellingly written, a masterpiece in prose and style. The movie, stark and brutal. The story? Maybe not exactly 100% true. The truth is, every work of non-fiction contains choices made for dramatic reasons. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but sometimes the narrative doesn’t always flow as quickly and smoothly downhill as the writer wants, and small or big changes are made. In Steinbeck’s case no one questioned his story, possibly because he was driving solo across the country and no one bothered to verify his facts. In Capote’s case, other motives were at play. And the Kitty Genovese story made for powerful copy about callous New Yorkers, emblematic of the cold city.
Awesome news for literarists: the British Library has digitized old manuscripts like Beowulf and others. While not every net reader will flock to add this to their Kindle, having that text available may spur interest in learning to read olde English.
Maybe there is hope, when finally a large paper like the L.A. Times starts to wonder about the drone war. How sad and tragic:
It is certainly not what he hoped or intended, but one of President Obama’s biggest legacies in foreign affairs may prove to be the proliferation of drones as tools of war, assassination and terror.
Meanwhile, nary a peep from the so-called anti-war left who protested the previous regime. Unlike those of us who oppose war from both left and right as the health of the state, some “liberals” remain silent because it’s their president. All of a sudden we must obey because he’s the boss, the dad, the commander in chief. He has now launched six times the number of drones as the previous occupant in the White House. And how long before those drones come back to haunt us, as the times presciently observes?
A wise president would also anticipate the day when this technologically marvelous weapon is turned against us. A decade ago, the United States had a near monopoly on drones; now they are in the hands of dozens of countries. It is likely that some enterprising terrorist is, even now, thinking there is no reason to pack a bomb in the underpants of some aspiring martyr when it would be simpler to get hold of a cheap hobbyist’s drone, wire it up with explosives and send it on a short flight to the nearest airport.
A few years ago (1993) Neal Stephenson wrote a long article for Wired magazine on the undersea cables that power phone and internet, called “Mother Earth, Mother Board”. This article appeared in his 2012 collection, Some Remarks, which I reviewed for reason magazine. Now you can view these cables in a nice infographic, showing just our worldwide communications web is bound to the earth.
Stunning news that US newspapers knew of a secret US drone base and said nothing, because the current administration asked them and they agreed. Whatever happened to the press being a watchdog? Is the worm finally turning on the killer drone methodology? What does it take, when only recently can a (British) paper write that a current nominee has
brought into focus the quasi-official lethal drone programme, which has killed an estimated 3,000 militants and civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.
From The Foreigner, an English web site with news and more about Norway, an all-too-brief article on Norway’s protectionism. This time Norway’s in the spotlight for violations of EU trade agreements, ranging from tariffs on Danish flowers to a variety of other infractions. Norway’s always been highly protectionist, driving up prices to save native producers, hurting consumers who seem not to care. The various taxes on foreign goods and excuses could fill several books.
