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797 search results for: MG Turner

769

400 Years Later, More Room for Books at Oxford University

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Memories came flooding back this morning when I found online an article originating in the Oxford Times, headlined “Bodleian Library Gets an Upgrade.” Andrew Ffrench reports,
“Just over a year ago, library staff began transporting books to the South Marston site from Oxford, from its store in Nuneham Courtenay, and from a Cheshire salt mine, which was also being used to store part of its vast collection. The book move, the biggest since the library opened in 1602, was completed on schedule. One milestone was December 23, when the seventh million volume was shelved. The library, one of the oldest in Europe, and known to scholars as the ‘Bodley’ or ‘the Bod’, has 11 million volumes and is only second in size to the British Library. It is one of a handful of legal deposit libraries, which are required to keep a copy of every new book published. The completion of the move is part of the Bodleian’s plan to free up space and make its treasures more accessible for the public by providing larger display areas. Earlier this year, a collection of Franz Kafka’s letters to his sister went on display. The Treasures of the Bodleian exhibition included part of Jane Austen’s first draft of her unpublished novel The Watsons, which went on show for the first time since it was bought at auction earlier this year. Marco Polo’s travel manuscript from the 14th century, the Codex Mendoza, and a handwritten draft of war poet Wilfred Owen’s ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth’ also went on display. ” // more . . .

770

The 99% at the NY Times

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Since I’m an optimist, I’ll offer a hopeful observation that this labor conflict at the Times ought to make the paper’s coverage of the #OWS Movement more respectful and less dismissive, as so much of their reporting has been over the past few months, like this snarky article by Ginia Bellafante from last September. I’ll be watching for any change of tone, even as I realize my optimism is probably unwarranted. // more. . .

771

George W. Bush, Skunk at the Party

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Though Repub officials and candidates would clearly prefer to see the rest of the country forget about George W. Bush, all current polling shows that much of the country continues to hold him responsible for our economic troubles. Meanwhile, Repubs, hoping to fumigate the bad odor of Bush from the midst of voters are quick to claim that any mention by President Obama of the Bush years is sour grapes or somehow offensive. That’s crap, and the president should not refrain from mentioning the preceding administration when necessary, but it can be handled well by national DEMs and articulate surrogates. All supporters of the president should make sure the country remembers the twisted, ideological partisanship of the Bush administration, the nightmare at the beginning of this century, lest the country saddle itself with a replay of Republican extremism in the White House.

772

Media Organizations Inadvertently Pranking Themselves

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Carl Franzen of TPM’s IdeaLab reports that for several hours today News Corp. was erroneously corroborating that the Twitter handle of @wendi_deng was in Twitter-speak a ‘verified account’. Turns out they were wrong, as was Twitter. . . . I detest seeing errors in books I’ve published–I get sick to my stomach the first time I see an error in a book I’ve edited–so my outlook here is informed by that. And yet, I know that I am fallible, along with other people, and that we’re all probably more mistake-prone in our screen-dominated age than in eras past. Mistakes will continue to occur in communications. But what’s inexcusable is to make errors on top of errors. Both companies here failed as organizations to correctly assess the matter at hand. I guess you might say they’re simply too complex to be simple when they need to be. // more. . .

773

Time for a Laugh

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This is pretty funny–Matthew Yglesias considers what would’ve happened had the government tried to create time zones and enact daylight savings time in the current political climate. This is the brief piece from Slate.com.
“The Big Government Takeover Of Time: A Parable by Matthew Yglesias
As I watched the entire Eastern Time Zone engage in a chorus of syncronized “Happy New Year!!!!!”-ing last night, I couldn’t help but think that a modern-day version of the 1918 Standard Time Act would probably prompt no end of hysteria on Fox News about the big government takeover of time. Newt Gingrich would note that God put the sun where he wanted it, and that having congress monkey with it is the height of secular socialism. Rick Perry would cite the 10th Amendment. Ezra Klein would try to explain that this is an industry-backed proposal developed by railroad executives with a long history of Republican support. Tim Carney would retort that this just goes to show how far the big government so-called “progressive” agenda is entwined with corrupt crony capitalism. John Boehner would probably try to put some sunset provision into the proposal so that time itself comes to a grinding halt unless the Keystone XL pipeline gets regulatory approval.”

774

Greg Sargent Nails the GOP Plan to Unseat Pres. Obama

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Now, according to Sargent’s cogent analysis, those same Repubs plan to channel the electorate into blaming President Obama for supposedly falling short of what he’d pledged to accomplish–and which a clear majority of the country was, and may well still be, eager for him to achieve. Apart from the transparent sabotage of the president and the economy that’s been the undeniable plan of the Repubs, it was never likely that Barack Obama could in four years repair what had been in broken over the previous eight years. This among many reasons is why I will work for the president to give him, and the country, the second term he needs to really do the job. Meantime, I’ll be reading Greg Sargent for lucid analysis of the shifting political tides. Thank you, Greg! // more . . .

775

#Fridayreads/12-30, ‘Field Gray’ by Philip Kerr, a Bernie Gunther Novel

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#Fridayreads Philip Kerr’s Field Gray, a Bernie Gunther novel featuring the detective who’s navigated the amoral world of Berlin before, during and after WWII in seven magnificent books. The latest has especially brilliant plotting, w/the narrative taking Gunther and his memory through all the war years as he endures harsh interrogation from Yanks who arrest him in Cuba in 1954. I find inflections of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib in the book. Kerr is a master. If you’ve never read a Bernie Gunther novel, I urge you to begin the series. March Violets is the first, and I do recommend you read them in order, though one could also just start with Field Gray.

776

The Broken Bones of Mona Eltahawy

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As Mona Eltahawy points out in this essay for the Guardian, her first extended article since the beating she suffered on Nov. 23, “Bashar al-Assad’s henchmen stomped on the hands of famed Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat. Our dictators tailor wounds to suit their victims’ occupations.” In one of her first tweets after Mona was freed she wrote, “The whole time I was thinking about article I would write; just you fuckers wait”. Here it is then. I urge you to read Ms. Eltahawy’s essay and follow her on Twitter. Hers is a brilliant, brave voice. // more . . .