Calligraphy, cheese, Cutty Sark, etc.

[jmc_bks]

The most famous Iraqi practitioner of Arabic calligraphy has been killed. Beyond the fact that it is another death in Iraq, it’s of interest to me b/c the article notes it as an attack on culture. According to the seminar I took on calligraphy a couple of weeks ago, until recently there were no schools or classes for calligraphy; one trained under a master. Calligraphers traced their trainers back to the son-in-law of the Prophet, who first drew his teachings into a single document, the Qur’an.

Read about Robert Fisk’s family connection to the Cutty Sark.

Aztec artifacts related to offerings to Tlaloc may have been found at the bottom of a volcanic lake in Mexico.

Check out the Strange History of Cheese.

How should Bhopal’s waste be destroyed? And who should pay for it? Dow (as successor in interest to Union Carbide)? The Indian government? How does one destroy the waste left behind?

On the reading front, I haven't had much to say lately. I've been reading mostly Harry Potter fanfic. I'm just not in a book-reading mood. It isn't a slump really, because I'm not bored by what's on offer and the last few books that I read (No Humans Involved, Sunshine) were good. Can't explain it, really.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Dow! Dow! Damn straight DOW should pay for it. Corporations should be better citizens of the planet. And jeez, they get the assets, they get the debits.

radically,
kate r

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree, should be Dow, though Dow seems to disagree.

I wonder how many (if any) of the docs related to the purchase of Union Carbide I can find online...how was it structured and what is their argument for nonliability.

[dogzzz2002.livejournal.com]

What I don't get is how the guy at the end can say, 'just burn it and forget it' when it's believed the smoke would be hazardous. Crazy!!

And I'm stunned that a man of art and culture would be hunted down and killed. Reading about this shows the immense hatred that other people hold towards each other. They don't just want to kill the people, they want to eradicate them from the planet. Makes me sad.

CindyS