- Here’s one that really drew my attention: an author has sued a blogger for a negative review of his book.
- Although I’m not familiar with most of the music he discusses, this week’s (if not this month’s) web “must read” is Andrew Waggoner’s thoughts about the loss of silence in modern life. The concluding sentence to one of his most insightful paragraphs: “In losing silence, and the corresponding potential for musical discernment that silence engenders, we lose ourselves, our native sense of our motion through life.” Go. Read. All of it. (Via.)
- Chapter 2 of things to read on the internet: Kudos to Todd Epp for his comments on immigration and diversity.
- Chapter 3: Another instance of agreeing with someone with whom I don’t agree. Greg Belfrage hits the mark in most of his post, Why I Loathe the SD Blogosphere. I do, though, like the concept of SDBWM.
- The Hugo Awards at last have an official site, just in time for this year’s WorldCon, at which the annual awards are announced.
- The Skepchick blog has an interesting discussion regarding a column in the latest Scientific American on “rational atheism.” (Via.)
- Earlier this year, the BBC gave a British science writer a list of what are apparently the most offensive swear words. The study upon which the list is based is available here. (Via.)
- Sam Houston notes a report that dozens of schools in the U.K. “refused to accept 300-book sets of the classics that the Millennium Library Trust has provided them free of charge. Why? Because the books are too boring and unattractive to ‘tempt’ their students.”
For us to be able to enter the world that music creates for us, we need a silence within which to listen.
Andrew Waggoner, “The Colonization of Silence“
