The Reading List 3

Welcome to my weekly roundup of the some of the more interesting discoveries I’ve made as I wander the digital highways and byways of the Internet. This week we’re examining great train journeys.

The longest rail journey I’ve ever made took place back in the early 1970s when I travelled from Greece to London. To be quite honest, I don’t remember much of the journey now, but when I read Top 10 European Train Trips by Randall H. Duckett on the National Geographic Traveler website, it did trigger some long lost memories of that ride

National Geographic don’t mention rail travel from Athens to London in this feature (I don’t know if it is even possible to take a train from Athens to London anymore), but among their ten suggestions they list Switzerland’s Chocolate Train, the Trans-Siberian Railway (Moscow to Vladivostok), the Orient Express (London to Venice), and the Danube Express (London to Istanbul).

Much of European train travel is about efficiency and comfort—punctually leaving and arriving and having a cozy seat or sleeper compartment in which to devour the latest issue of the Economist. But rail travel in the United Kingdom and on the Continent is also about experience: gaping out the window at Alpine glaciers, savoring gourmet cuisine in a restored last-century dining car. Accordingly, our ten favorite European trains don’t necessarily offer the fastest journeys—just the most memorable. All aboard!

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12 of the Most Scenic Train Rides in the World

Not to be out done by National Geographic Traveler, the Boots n All website have coincidentally compiled their own list of the 12 of the Most Scenic Train Rides in the World.

In her article, Zoë Smith mentions Norway’s Flåm Railway, whose “…20km descent is amongst the steepest in the world, twisting through yawning ravines, cascading waterfalls, remote Nordic farmhouses and snow-dusted mountain peaks.”

While this 20km trip last barely an hour, Russia’s Trans-Siberian, journey takes a good week to traverse the 9,000km (6,000 miles) of track that snakes its way from Moscow to Vladivostok. And that’s without getting out along the route to explore some of the cities the Trans-Siberian passes through.

Like the Trans-Siberian, Norway’s Flåm Railway also gets a gong in the National Geographic roundup of great journeys.

Other rail journeys that rate a mention in Zoë Smith’s piece include the Canadian Rockies Railway, the Cusco to Machu Picchu (Peru), The Palace on Wheels (India), and The Ghan (Australia), which departs from my home town, Adelaide. If you are considering a train journey, both these articles are a great place to begin your researches.

More Information

National Geographic Traveler: Top 10 European Train Trips…

Boots n All: 12 of the Most Scenic Train Rides in the World...

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Maeklong Market, Bangkok

Here’s one train journey that has to be seen to be believed, as a train passes through Bangkok’s Maeklong Market. On the surface this seems like a rather unremarkable event until you actually see how the stall holders and the train have found a way to coexist together.

Friday Fotos – Moon Lantern Festival

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The Moon Lantern Festival is held as part of the annual OzAsia Festival which takes place every spring in Adelaide, Australia under the direction of the Adelaide Festival Centre. The OzAsia Festival celebrates the diversity of Asian life – from the Indian subcontinent, to Japan, China and Korea, and South-East Asia and Indonesia (and a multitude of places in between).

The OzAsia Festival and the Moon Lantern Festival are great examples of how our communities are exploring the links between Australia and our neighbours in the Asian region.

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The Moon Lantern Festival takes place each year when the moon shines brightest – at the time of the full moon on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This festival celebrates the South-East Asian belief that the moon provides positive influences over the earth during this time of the year.

The Festival brings together families to enjoy the beauty of the moon, eat moon cakes, sing songs about the moon and take pleasure in each other’s company to celebrate this special event.

For Australia, the countries of the Asian region are of critical importance. They are our closest neighbours and major trading partners. Their rich traditional and contemporary cultures provide opportunities for our social, creative and intellectual development.

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The Moon Lantern Festival is celebrated by many Asian cultures including Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotians, Cambodians, Koreans, Japanese, Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans. For many Asian cultures, the Moon Lantern Festival is the most important date in the second half of the lunar calendar and has been celebrated for thousands of years.

In Australia ‘mid autumn’ is early spring, so the first full moon of the new season is a important time, when winter is behind us and the energy of summer is on the horizon. People celebrate the beauty of the moon at public celebrations across Australia, as well as in backyards, with lanterns and moon cakes.

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In Vietnam the Moon Lantern Festival is one of the most popular family holidays, while in Korea the festival occurs during the harvest season when Korean families thank their ancestors for providing them with rice and fruits. The Japanese too celebrate the full moon in September, admiring the moons beauty and praying for a good rice harvest.

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And yes, despite a day of clouds and overcast skies, the full moon did make an appearance right on queue, soon after the sun set in the west and the Moon Lantern Festival got underway.

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Things You Discover Walking - Vertical Carpet

Vertical Carpet, Stephen Killick, 1990

Stephen Killick's 1990 work, Vertical Carpet (hardwood, industrial resin, 230 x 440 x 20 cm), graces the exterior wall of the Adelaide Festival Centre close to the main entrance.

Close up of Vertical Carpet, Stephen Killick, 1990

A plaque attached to the wall close to the work states: The three central figures in this allegorical relief sculpture are intended to symbolise technology, money and innocence, which the artist regards as the controlling influences in contemporary society. Killick stated that the wider meaning of the tableau is deliberately enigmatic and open to individual interpretation, intended to have infinite readings. The figures assume attitudes that are readily identifiable, but their relationship to each other and the scene as a whole is affected and determined by the course of history.

The work was commissioned by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust in 1990. Assisted by the Art for Public Places Program of the South Australian Government.

Close up of Vertical Carpet, Stephen Killick, 1990

Stephen Killick was born in London in 1947, and came to Australia in 1952.

This post is another in an occasional series of entries under the general theme: Things You Discover Walking. The premise behind the series is that you never know what might be just around the corner from your home, place of work, or favourite attraction, and the only way you might discover them is if you get out of your car and start walking.

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Rabindranath Tagore Exhibition, NYC

The Asia Society Museum in New York City is presenting an exhibition of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s paintings and drawings.

Titled, Rabindranath Tagore: The Last Harvest, the exhibition marks the 150th anniversary of Tagore’s birth, and is the first U.S. museum exhibition devoted to his artistic legacy. The exhibition comprises more than 60 works on paper, drawn from three collections in India.

The exhibition runs September 9 through December 31, 2011.

While I have a large volume of the collected works of Tagore’s poetry, which includes many illustrations, I must admit to being pretty much in the dark about his career as an artist. In deed, Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) is lauded around the world as a poet and writer, yet few outside India (including myself) know that he was also a highly regarded visual artist.

A transformative figure in the modern cultural history of India, Tagore began painting in 1924 at the age of 63 (there’s hope for me yet!). He had no formal training, but his artistic practice grew from his habits as a writer and poet, with revision marks and scratched out words on his manuscripts becoming free-form doodles.

He was encouraged to pursue art by his friend Victoria Ocampo, an Argentinian socialite and poet. With Ocampo’s help, Tagore mounted the first exhibition of his artwork in Paris in May 1930. The show then travelled to Europe, Russia and the United States, earning him much critical acclaim. He continued to paint until his death at the age of 80 in 1941.

Exhibition organization
The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections. A section titled The Beginning looks at the origins and development of his drawing and painting. Beyond the Pages explores Tagore’s landscape paintings. Discovery of Rhythm considers how his creative work in other fields, particularly music and dance, enabled Tagore to project movement and gestures into pattern, forms and fields of color in his drawings and paintings. The Faces of the World section explores Tagore’s representation of the human face, the most frequently recurring form in his painting.

About Tagore’s lifeBorn in 1861 to a wealthy and prominent Bengali family, Rabindranath Tagore published his first poetry collection at the age of 17. He attended school at the University College of London in 1878, but soon returned to India to manage his father’s agricultural estates. As Tagore’s fame grew in the West, he remained devoted to political and social progress in his home state of Bengal.

Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913—the first non-European to win the prize—for the English translation of his work Gitanjali. In 1915 he was knighted by the British government, but later renounced this title in protest of British involvement in the massacre of civilians in Punjab.

Rabindranath Tagore was a passionate advocate for the abolition of the caste system and for Indian independence, and he became good friends with Mohandas Gandhi, whom he was first to dub Mahatma (“great soul”). He wrote the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh. He died in 1941 without seeing an independent India.

Unfortunately, I won’t be anywhere near New York for the remainder of 2011, so I won’t be able to visit this exhibition, or take part in other events planned around the exhibition. However, if you are lucky enough to live in New York City, or are planning a visit between now and the end of the year, why not take the time to check out this exhibition during its four month run.

For more information about programs visit Asia Society…

About Asia Society Museum
Asia Society Museum is located at 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York City. The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. and Friday from 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays and major holidays. General admission is $10, seniors $7, students $5 and free for members and persons under 16. Free admission Friday evenings, 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. The Museum is closed Fridays after 6:00 p.m. from July 1 through September 15.

More Information
Rabindranath Tagore Exhibition…
Asia Society website…
Wikipedia…

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Below you will find a selection of the many books by and about Tagore on Amazon.Com. Click on the images to go directly to the Amazon page to explore further.

Project Gutenberg



Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg

I don’t remember exactly when I first discovered the wonderful Project Gutenberg website, but it must have been several years ago, now. However, I do remember the sense of wonder and excitement a had exploring this treasure trove of public domain books. This online repository of eBooks, now consists of tens of thousands of titles, all of which are available for free.

I write about this today, because I have recently learned of the death of Michael Stern Hart, the founder and driving force behind Project Gutenberg. In memory of his passing, below I am reproducing in full an obituary written by Dr. Gregory B. Newby. 

Michael Stern Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 8, 1947. He died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 64. His is survived by his mother, Alice, and brother, Bennett. Michael was an Eagle Scout (Urbana Troop 6 and Explorer Post 12), and served in the Army in Korea during the Vietnam era.

Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects. He often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart's life's work, spanning over 40 years.

Hart was an ardent technologist and futurist. A lifetime tinkerer, he acquired hands-on expertise with the technologies of the day: radio, hi-fi stereo, video equipment, and of course computers. He constantly looked into the future, to anticipate technological advances. One of his favorite speculations was that someday, everyone would be able to have their own copy of the Project Gutenberg collection or whatever subset desired. This vision came true, thanks to the advent of large inexpensive computer disk drives, and to the ubiquity of portable mobile devices, such as cell phones.

Hart also predicted the enhancement of automatic translation, which would provide all of the world's literature in over a hundred languages. While this goal has not yet been reached, by the time of his death Project Gutenberg hosted eBooks in 60 different languages, and was frequently highlighted as one of the best Internet-based resources.

A lifetime intellectual, Hart was inspired by his parents, both professors at the University of Illinois, to seek truth and to question authority. One of his favorite recent quotes, credited to George Bernard Shaw, is characteristic of his approach to life:

"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable

people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,

therefore, depends on unreasonable people." 

Michael prided himself on being unreasonable, and only in the later years of life did he mellow sufficiently to occasionally refrain from debate. Yet, his passion for life, and all the things in it, never abated. 

Frugal to a fault, Michael glided through life with many possessions and friends, but very few expenses. He used home remedies rather than seeing doctors. He fixed his own house and car. He built many computers, stereos, and other gear, often from discarded components. 

Michael S. Hart left a major mark on the world. The invention of eBooks was not simply a technological innovation or precursor to the modern information environment. A more correct understanding is that eBooks are an efficient and effective way of unlimited free distribution of literature. Access to eBooks can thus provide opportunity for increased literacy. Literacy, and the ideas contained in literature, creates opportunity. 

In July 2011, Michael wrote these words, which summarize his goals and his lasting legacy: “One thing about eBooks that most people haven't thought much is that eBooks are the very first thing that we're all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job." He had this advice for those seeking to make literature available to all people, especially children: 

"Learning is its own reward. Nothing I can say is better than that." 

Michael is remembered as a dear friend, who sacrificed personal luxury to fight for literacy, and for preservation of public domain rights and resources, towards the greater good. 

This obituary is granted to the public domain by its author, Dr. Gregory B. Newby. 

Sitting on my iPhone as I write this are over 50 books, all of which have been downloaded via Project Gutenberg. Many other eBooks have been deleted from this device once read, and many more wait to be downloaded and added to my growing reading list. 

The book titles are as diverse as my interests are. The five ‘Deerslayer ‘novels of James Fenimore Cooper; seven books written by Willa Cather; another seven books written by the great naturalist and environmentalist, John Muir; Henry David Thoreau’s Walden; and Life on The Mississippi and Roughing It by Mark Twain. 

Maybe if Michael S. Hart had not created the first eBook and Project Gutenberg, someone else would have. Then again, rather than provide these books for free – someone else may have decided to profit by the idea, and found a way to monetize the concept (as others are trying to do now). 

It is a credit to Michael S. Hart that he did not choose this path, and because of this, he leaves a monumental legacy behind him. A legacy, I for one, am forever grateful for.

The Viewing List 2

Another selection of slide shows and video’s that have caught our attention and interest while trawling across the far reaches of the Internet over the past week. Enjoy…

George Harrison Documentary Premieres at Telluride
Charley Rogulewski, writing for Rolling Stone magazine reports on the new Martin Scorsese documentary on George Harrison called George Harrison: Living In a Material World.

If it is anything like Scorsese’s brilliant 2005 doco, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, the 210 minute (3 1/2 hour) two-part documentary will be pretty much everything a George Harrison fan could wish for.

The film, which was five-years-in-the-making, premiered over American Labor Day weekend at the Telluride Film Festival, and coincides with the 10-year anniversary of Harrison's death in 2001 from lung cancer. The documentary, which will begin airing on HBO starting October 5th, was made with the full support and cooperation of Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and son Dhani, and includes interviews with her, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Klaus Voormann, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Eric Clapton, among others.

Below you can see the official trailer for George Harrison: Living in the Material World.

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Read the full Rolling Stone article here…

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Highlights of Harlem (slide show)
Starting with the City College of New York, and ending with the Harlem Market, the Travel Channel has put together a 17 stop slide show of the some of the best landmarks that Harlem has to offer. In between you get the iconic Apollo Theater, the Hue-Man Bookstore (said to be the largest African-American bookstore in the country), a selection of restaurants and eating establishments (Make My Cake, Chill Berry, and Food for Life Supreme), and arts and cultural institutions (the Studio Museum in Harlem, Lenox Lounge, and the Maysles Cinema).

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The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
Recently I wrote about the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on Staten Island, New York. Although the video below was broadcast on the Time Warner Cable program On The Beat, and talks in part about a now concluded 60th anniversary exhibition, it provides a great introduction to the museum.

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World Trade Center in Figures

I love this infographic on the History website, about the new World Trade Center. It provides much essential information about the building and site. For example:

 

It is estimated that when it is completed, the complex will attract 3 million annual visitors

Once completed the WTC complex will consist of six office buildings

The memorial itself will include a plaza and museum

The site will also include a performing arts center

And it will include a new state-or-the-art transit hub

The World Trade Center in Figures:

1 full office floor per week is built at peak construction

2 Private developers

16 acres (6.4 hectares) - the size of the WTC site

19 Public agencies involved in construction

33 designers, architects and consulting firms are involved in construction

45 seconds - the time it takes to rise to the top of 1 WTC

71 elevators (five high-speed lifts moving at 2,000 ft per minute)

101 contractors and sub-contractors are involved in the construction

104 floors

400+ swamp white oak trees have been planted on the the new plaza

408 foot antenna (a rotating beacon flashes the letter 'N' in morse code)

1,362 feet (observation deck at the height of former WTC Tower 2)

1,368 feet (glass enclosure at the height of former WTC Tower 1)

1,776 feet (the height of 1 WTC represents the year of American independence)

2,500+ workers are involved in construction on an average day

2,983 names etched into the bronze papapets surrounding the pools

7,500 tones - the total weight of all trees

45,000+ tons of structural steel (six times as much as used in the Eiffel Tower)

450,000 gallons of water - the amount of water that can be held in each pool

2.6 million square feet of office space

3.1 Billion - the cost of rebuilding

And one more thing
If every member of the 1 WTC construction crew tried to travel down to the ground for breaks, it would take nearly half a day. To prevent delays, restroom facilities and even a sandwich shop are raised up to each floor by a hydraulic lift as work progresses.

Click here to see the full image...  Thanks to History.Com for this infographic and information.

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The Reading List #2

Welcome to my weekly roundup of the some of the more interesting discoveries I’ve made as I wander the digital highways and byways of the Internet.

(Left) Blog of The Week: Daytonian in Manhattan

Tom Miller, the writer behind this site describes himself as "A transplanted Buckeye.” Tom moved to New York in 1979 and immediately fell in love with it.

“I've never stopped being a tourist, [and] never stopped finding the charm and uniqueness of this city," he says.

Tom has turned his love for New York City and his continuing search for its “…charm and uniqueness” into one of the best online collections of information about hundreds of New York’s unique buildings and architecture. What I particularly love about the site is that for the most part, instead of writing about the tallest and most famous of New York’s buildings, Tom has focussed on hundreds of smaller structures the guide books overlook. In fact, these are buildings that millions of New Yorkers and visitors walk past every day and never give a second thought to – assuming they gave a thought to them in the first place.

While the Daytonian in Manhattan site design could do with a makeover, there is no question that the content is factual, well researched, and fascinating. There is enough content on this site to fill two guide books and I have suggested as much to Tom in an email. At the very least, a little reworking of the content would make an excellent eBook or two, and could even be rejigged into very handy iPhone and iPad applications.

The site would be greatly enhanced if Tom could put together some walking tours utilising his blog posts. At the very least, better label of blog entries would make searching across the site for buildings in say, Greenwich Village much easier, since this seems a bit hit and miss at the moment.

Despite these caveats, Daytonian in Manhattan is a site I return to often. Check it out for yourself…

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Essay: A Portal to 1920s Greenwich Village (by Jennifer Schuessler)

Three years ago, a narrow pine door, edged in bright blue paint and covered with some 242 signatures, resurfaced in a storage space of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The door turned out to be from a popular Greenwich Village bookstore that once operated at 4 Christopher Street. The door was removed by the manager when the shop closed in 1925 and bought by the Ransom Center in 1960, after a dealer spotted an ad in the Saturday Review asking, “Want a door?”

What is so special about this door? It seems that the bookstore was a popular hangout for some of the most famous writers, artists, poets, dancers and actors of the early 1900s. Furthermore, it became somewhat of a tradition for many of these creative figures to scratch their names into the door panels. Among the 242 signatures on the door are the names of Theodore Dreiser and John Dos Passos;  also there is Emily Strunsky, a childhood friend of George Gershwin. Emily is credited with giving Gershwin a copy of DuBose Heyward’s novel “Porgy,” which of course Gershwin later turned into Porgy and Bess.

There are still many signatures on the door for which little or nothing is known about the signers – and this is where you, dear reader, come in. Thanks to the Internet, you may be able to identify one or more of the signatures or signers, and thereby help to fill in the blanks with regard to many of Greenwich Village’s most famous denizens.

Jennifer Schuessler is an editor at the Book Review, and wrote this article for the New York Times. Visit the University of Texas web site and check out the signatures, bios, and play detective.

Note: New York Times articles are eventually only available by subscription. As of this posting, the article referred to above can still be viewed online.

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Photo: © Paul Taggart for The New York Times



Just in case anyone reading this has a spare $2.25 million lying around, this home at 110 Longfellow Road in Staten Island's, Todt Hill is up for grabs. The home was used in the movie "The Godfather."

Thanks to the New York Times for this tip…

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