An extravagant but cleverly planned burlesque that works as a condemnation of Chivalry, one of Twain's chief aversions.
The evidence for a human influence on climate is clear and for a warming world “unequivocal” with many changes in Earth systems since the 1950s that are “unprecedented” (IPCC, 2013a; Reid et al., 2016). This opening chapter provides an introduction to the major role of the ocean in global warming and the Earth’s energy budget as a background to the changes in sea temperature that are …
This book is about storytellers and their oral performances of folktales in Mayotte, an island lying in the Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles east of the African coast. The book is built on a constraint: I have not witnessed the performances I discuss; in fact I have never been to Mayotte. Within that constraint, I indulge a whim. I use books by three French ethnographers …
For many centuries humanity had dreamt of flight, of the wonders of a speedy and expansive mobility above land and sea. This feat was finally accomplished during the early years of the twentieth century, when the Wright brothers and Louis Bleriot took to the air in powered flight. But celebration was soon tarnished by the onset of aerial warfare and its frightening…
On a mild summer day in 2005, Aku Wuwu and I traveled by jeep into a narrow valley in Xide County, in the Liangshan Mountains of southern Sichuan.1 Our mission was to find a folk version of The Book of Origins, which relates the origins of the life-forms of earth and sky, including the early human lineages. The epic is key to the ritual life of…
In it’s broadest possible sense, music is defined as “organized sound.” This openended and safe definition is coherent regardless of era, style, culture, or the mechanics of musical organization. Each successive historical era produces musically artistic expressions of its own time, its own musical aura. The study of Music Theory is the means by which we investigate this. Among the commu…
Understanding the embedded and disembedded, material and immaterial, territorialized and deterritorialized natures of digital work. Many jobs today can be done from anywhere. Digital technology and widespread internet connectivity allow almost anyone, anywhere, to connect to anyone else to communicate and exchange files, data, video, and audio. In other words, work can be deterritorialized at a…
Renaissance Fun is about the technology of Renaissance entertainments in stage machinery and theatrical special effects; in gardens and fountains; and in the automata and self-playing musical instruments that were installed in garden grottoes. How did the machines behind these shows work? How exactly were chariots filled with singers let down onto the stage? How were flaming dragons made to fly…
High-quality work is central for a productive and thriving society. Ensuring a sufficient quality of work – as a policy issue – as opposed the government’s conventional responsibility of ensuring a sufficient quantity of work – reached its zenith in the UK in July 2017 when the government published a review to scope out a new national job quality strategy. The public…
The global Living Planet Index continues to decline. It shows anaverage 68% decrease in population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016. A 94% decline in the LPI for the tropical subregions of the Americas is the largest fall observed in any part of the world. Why does this matter? It matters because biodiversity is fundamental to human life on Earth, and…