Links - 7th May 2019 (1)

CNN Wrote Over 20 Articles On Covington Catholic Students, Ignores Philly Muslim Children Chanting About Chopping Off Heads - "Video from last month of kids at the Philadelphia Muslim American Society (MAS) Islamic Center showed them reading about chopping off heads and subjecting the enemies of Allah to “eternal torture.”"

This M’sian Celeb Plans to Open a “Halal Pub”, Immediately Gets Bashed by Netizens - " “I want to establish a place where everyone can just chill, have a drink and listen to some music.”He added that the “pub” will only serve halal food and drinks. Some people pointed out that that might just mean it’s a ‘normal cafe’ then
Meanwhile Singapore has an "authentic" Halal izakaya...

How Kanye's Vocabulary Stacks Up to Shakespeare's - "one of the most obvious takeaways from Daniels' comparison is the 15 artists whose vocabularies, according to Daniels' metrics, rank higher than that of Shakespeare"

New Classical Tracks: Rachel Barton Pine makes her violin sing | Classical MPR (extended) - "'Well, let's talk about [Paganini's] image a little bit. I mean, he was really an astonishing figure on many counts, I mean, his physical appearance alone, he dressed in black, he had long black hair, he was very thin, kind of gangly. So he really looked like what we might call a modern rock star. And then he lived that lifestyle too'...
'Well, you know, some of the largest constituency of customers for any given album of the Paganini caprices are electric guitarists, because from [???] to you know Van Halen, and all those guys, you know, they they say if you practice the caprices, you can get better on your instrument, which is absolutely true...
There's a beautiful story where he gets into town to play that concert that night. And as he's, you know, making his way to the concert hall, he sees a young boy, standing out on the sidewalk, essentially busking. You know, playing his instrument in a rather poor manner, mediocre style, and his instrument case is open and he's, you know, obviously trying to help his family by getting a few coins and Paganini stops the carriage, gets out, takes the violin from the boy's hand, and proceeds to play for an hour. Of course, he attracts a huge crowd, and the violin case is overflowing with money. He hands the violin back to the boy and continues on his way. And apparently, those spontaneous acts of generosity were just as much a part of Paganini's character as his seductions and all the rest.'"

Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital visits Twin Cities for concert with guitar duo | Classical MPR (extended) - "I told him, when I have the music in front of me, I cannot do mistakes. I mean, you have the music and if you played the note at the right time, you cannot do mistakes. And he was like, thinking for a couple of seconds, saying no, it's exactly the opposite for me. I'm panicking when I have to read for music. Because every note that is printed there is an opportunity to make a mistake. And when I'm improvising I simply cannot make mistakes."

New Classical Tracks: Danish String Quartet is fine with folk music | Classical MPR - "Did you know that at one time there was a big war going on in Norway, where people would destroy one another's violins over whether or not they were writing more complicated folk music versus, well, more purist traditional folk music?"

New Classical Tracks: Rachel Barton Pine finds unlikely partners in Bruch, Elgar | Classical MPR (extended) - "'You had mentioned that he wanted to have inscribed on his gravestone one of the themes from this second movement, and then there's a quote in there that is found on the final page. 'This is where two souls merge and melt into one another.' Tell me a little bit more about that, because as you talked about how this may have been intended for another woman. That kind of makes one wonder'
'Yeah, apparently he was, he was never unaffectionate towards his wife. He cared deeply for his wife. And she kind of put up with these infatuations because they inspired his creativity and you know she liked it when he had successful compositions. I don't know, it's a weird situation and you can never get inside somebody else's relationship truly. But, but yeah, sadly, he wasn't talking about his actual spouse when he made that statement.'"

New Classical Tracks: Boston Baroque takes deep dive into Biber's 'Mystery Sonatas' | Classical MPR - "Interestingly, at the very end, the violin drops out right before the end leaves just the continuo to finish. And it's a very strange thing. And people sometimes wonder why. And one story that has been suggested, and it's quite possible, is that this is the Assumption of the Virgin and as she's going up into heaven, she disappears, leaving us here on earth with the bass line.'"

New Classical Tracks: Mark McKenzie and the bittersweet story of 'Max and Me' | Classical MPR - "Maximilian Kolbe, he was a Catholic priest, and he helped the Jews and resisted the Nazi oppression, which of course, just continued to get worse. He finally was thrown into Auschwitz because he was defying the Nazi rules and the darkness, the level of darkness, the great atrocities and the inhumanity, he he - this is what made him distinctive. He pleaded with his fellow prisoners that rather than become angry and hateful, to continue to love those that were hurting them and he used words only love is creative which, you know, it almost seems apropos for today in a way, doesn't it? Nazis ended up punishing 11 men, condemning them to the starvation bunker because one man had escaped, and there was a man who particularly wanted to live and you said, you know, I've got kids at home. And, Colby just stepped up and said, you know, I will take this man's place. So he ended up dying in the starvation bunker. And that very man that he saved, ended up surviving. And he was president when Pope John Paul II canonized him a saint. Unfortunately, that man's two children were exterminated, so it's bitter, bittersweet."

New Classical Tracks: Amit Peled finds inspiration in Casals' cello | Classical MPR - "There's a very beautiful story that Greenhouse used to tell me, that in the Sonata where it says poco forte, which is a bit forte, he played it and then Casals stopped and told him: no no no, that's too loud already already. And Greenhouse played it again, and he stopped him again. He said, no, no, no, it's too loud. Eventually, it was all sort of the piano. Very soft. And Mr. Greenhouse said Maestro, I'm sorry to say. But it says poco forte. How do you know that it's supposed to be so soft? And Casals looked at him and said, well, Brahms told me. So what can you say about that?"

People Who Constantly Point Out Grammar Mistakes Are Pretty Much Jerks, Scientists Find - "Scientists have found that people who constantly get bothered by grammatical errors online have "less agreeable" personalities than those who just let them slide. And those friends who are super-sensitive to typos on your Facebook page? Psychological testing reveals they're generally less open, and are also more likely to be judging you for your mistakes than everyone else."

Jordan Peterson: Controversial philosopher claims Cambridge University buckled to 'political correctness types' - "Jordan Peterson, the Canadian academic whose fellowship with the University of Cambridge has been abruptly withdrawn, claims he has fallen foul of the “diversity, equity and inclusivity mob”.The 56-year-old author and professor of psychology, who has styled himself as an opponent of so-called political correctness, had been due to take up the fellowship later this year to do research on religion... “Cambridge University Students' Union says “his work and views are not representative of the student body”. Isn’t that the point, you numbskulls?”"

High School Debate Team Disqualified for Quoting ‘White Supremacist’ Jordan Peterson - "A Utah high school debate team lost a competitive round for quoting conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and clinical psychologist-turned self-help guru Jordan Peterson. The thinkers quoted, the judge explained, are “racist.”... That the discussion was not to be your standard Oxford debate became clear at the outset. Moreno told The Daily Wire (Shapiro’s own right-leaning outlet) that the opposing team had opted to argue their case in the form of a “slam poem.” The poem, according to Moreno, didn’t present a case in favor of loosening immigration laws so much as it seek to disqualify the perspective of Moreno and his partner, both being white males, from debating matters of “fairness.”... The judge elaborated that to suggest that identity is immaterial to evidentiary discussions is a “white supremacist” line, as is the anti-identitarian position expressed in the quotes.Moreno objected to judge’s statements (while secretly taping the back-and-forth). “They say we can’t talk about ‘fairness’… because we’re white. Again, don’t misunderstand what we’re saying — all we’re saying is, don’t identify me as what my group did in the past,” Moreno said, as the discussion turned into a three-way verbal spat between the two teams and judge. Moreno repeated several times that he and his partner consider racism to be “horrible,” but took issue with collective blame being attached to them just because of their skin color.“This argument is like saying, ‘identity politics is inherently bad,'” the judge summed up. “How is that OK?”The judge declared that Moreno’s team lost the round... The incident exhibits what Shapiro once described as the left’s continuous effort to shrink the Overton Window of legitimate conversation, ousting to the realms of “the unacceptable” any thinker who breaks even slightly from progressive orthodoxy. While Shapiro is an unapologetic conservative, Peterson is a much more centrist thinker who offers a philosophy that could, on its merits, appeal to some the left, too. But the Canadian’s refusal to espouse postmodernism and identity politics has rendered him in the minds of progressives unacceptable (if not downright Hitler-esque).And with the circle of acceptability ever shrinking on the left, the case of the Utah pair seems like a perfect synecdoche to the disappearance of real debate."

Jordan Peterson the muppet show edit (phenomena) - YouTube

Is Iran really ‘the world’s leading state sponsor of terror’? - "President Trump has claimed that Iran is the world’s “leading state sponsor of terror”.But is that fair?Before he became president, Trump said the “world’s biggest funder of terrorism” was Saudi Arabia – not Iran. So is his latest claim is just political rhetoric?There are no “right” or “wrong” answers here, because it depends how we interpret Trump’s claim. For instance, does “leading sponsor” mean the country that channels the most cash to terrorist groups? Or does it refer to the biggest strategic threat to America?... There is no doubt that Iran has strong links to Hezbollah, which is both a political and military organisation in Lebanon. Like Iran’s regime, the group are Shia Muslims.The group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has admitted it recieves “political and material support in all possible forms from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1982”... Like with Hezbollah, Hamas’s leader has publicly acknowledged that it is supported by Iran... Trump is right to say that Iran supports certain organisations which many Western governments deem to be terrorist groups."
A Shia claimed to me that there was no proof Iran supported Hezbollah
Unfortunately the article doesn't really delve into the differences between state support for terror and support for terror coming from within a state

Sweden's 'man-free' feminist music festival is found guilty of discrimination by authorities - "The event, called Statement, was held in Gothenburg in August this year having been billed as 'the world's first major music festival for women, non-binary and transgender only'.But describing the festival as 'male-free' was a violation of anti-discrimination legislation, Sweden's Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) has ruled. Men were not prevented from buying a ticket or entering the festival grounds but male members of artists' entourages and the likes of technicians and managers were reportedly restricted to a so-called 'man-pen' in a backstage area."

Killer Rabbits in Medieval Manuscripts: Why So Many Drawings in the Margins Depict Bunnies Going Bad - "we have the bunnies making their attacks while mounted on snails, snail combats being "another popular staple of Drolleries, with groups of peasants seen fighting snails with sticks, or saddling them and attempting to ride them."

Rutger Bregman: historian in the news - History Extra - "There's now a debate going on about top marginal tax rates, whether they should go up. Lots of people would say that 70% top marginal tax rate for the very rich would be crazy, would destroy our economies. But then the historian could point out well, we actually did this. In the 50s and the 60s under the Republican President Eisenhower, the US had a top marginal tax rate of 90%. And the same is true if you, if you look at the history of inequality...
Quite a few journalists asked me, why is this Dutch guy explaining to us or teaching us about this history of Richard Nixon almost implementing a basic income? Why is he explaining to us that at the end of the 60s, almost all experts believe that some kind of guaranteed basic income was going to be implemented in the US. Why don't we know this?...
The great leveler, this book in which he explains, you know, the major role that wars have always played in reducing inequality. I mean, that is fascinating. It's also quite depressing. If you think about it, is that throughout history, you know, wars have been the way to massively reduce inequality. And then in peacetime, it's incredibly hard. So now, we face this, this challenge of climate change, and we almost need to move into some kind of war economy to to make the appropriate changes, right, we need to completely reinvent our economic model"