One of the Internet’s great promises is that it’s the ultimate democratizer. It’s open to everyone and allows all people to communicate.
Tag Archives: language
Bio: Hilary Mantel, Booker Prize Winner for ‘Wolf Hall’
British novelist Hilary Mantel snapped up the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction on Oct. 6 for her novel Wolf Hall, a fictionalization of the life of Thomas Cromwell, adviser to Henry VIII, during the King’s attempts to produce a male heir to his throne
Columnist William Safire dies at 79
William Safire, a onetime speechwriter for President Nixon who became a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, has died at age 79, the newspaper announced Sunday. Safire joined the Times as a columnist in 1973.
Brazil asks for emergency U.N. meeting on Honduras, report says
Brazil wants an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the situation at its embassy in Honduras, where the ousted Honduran president has been holed up since returning to his country, the official Brazilian news agency reported
Oldest Medal of Honor recipient, 100, downplays ‘hero’ talk
Dozens of America’s greatest military heroes are gathered in Chicago, Illinois, possibly the last large gathering of living Medal of Honor recipients.
Muslim Women Demand an End to Oppressive Family Laws
While Western governments have been worrying about bearded men with bombs in caves, a new jihad has quietly gained strength in the Muslim world: Islamic feminism. Earlier this week, 350 women and men gathered in Malaysia to launch Musawah — “Equality” in Arabic — a movement for justice in the Muslim family. Organized by the Malaysian Muslim feminist group Sisters in Islam, the conference, two years in the planning, is a kick-off to a campaign to enshrine Muslim women’s rights within an Islamic framework.
Going Too Far with Assisted Suicide?
Was there a duet playing in the back of his mind, I wonder, when Sir Edward Downes, the former conductor of Britain’s Royal Opera, held hands with his wife of 54 years and drank the poison with her? Wagner maybe, or Verdi’s Aida, one lover condemned to die, the other choosing to follow rather than live half a life, all alone
Combatting Extremism in Casablanca
Entering the Ben M’Sik caves on the outskirts of Casablanca, a visitor goes through a hole in a crumbling concrete wall and down a flight of stairs covered in a slippery layer of mold. At the bottom lies a dimly lit room that houses roughly 100 people. The walls are splintered, the floor damp, and thick blue tarpaulins, pregnant with leaking water, hang from the ceiling
Can Language Skills Ward Off Alzheimer’s Disease?
Adding to the deep body of research associating mental acuity with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a study published online on July 8 by the journal Neurology suggests that people who possess sophisticated linguistic skills early in life may be protected from developing dementia in old age — even when their brains show the physical signs, like lesions and plaques, of memory disorders.
Peru’s pregnant women dying at ‘scandalous’ rates
Pregnant women in Peru are dying at scandalous rates, according to the author of an Amnesty International report into maternal mortality in the South American country.