Classical music over the centuries INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindus tradition, the Vedas. Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music at length. Indian classical music has its origins as a meditation tool for attaining self realization. All different …
The development of the silk industry Silk, a natural fibre produced by a particular worm called a silkworm, has been used in clothing for many centuries. When silk was first discovered in China over 4,500 years ago, it was reserved exclusively for the use of the emperor, his close relations and the very highest of …
The discovery of a baby mammoth A near-perfect frozen mammoth offers clues to a great vanished species A On a May morning in 2007, on the Yamal Peninsula in northwestern Siberia, a Nenets reindeer herder named Yuri Khudi stood on a sandbar on the Yuribey River, looking carefully at a diminutive corpse. Although he’d never seen …
What makes a musical expert? How does someone become expert in music? And IS it really possible to have a ‘talent’ for music? Does that class of people acknowledged to be musical experts just have more of the same basic skills we are all endowed with, or do they have a set of abilities – or …
The Clipper Races: an era of competition between cargo ships During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British East India Company had the monopoly on trade with China and India. This meant that because no rival could legally import tea or other goods from these countries at this time, the company was rarely in a …
Orientation of birds A For many of US, the way birds are able to orientate is both astounding and difficult to appreciate fully. For instance, the annual migration of tire golden plover of the Pacific takes it from Alaska to Hawaii on a flight of well over 3000 kilometres, and if it were to deviate by …
The role of accidents in business In 1894 Dr John Kellogg and his brother. Will, were supervising a hospital and health spa in Michigan. The patients were on a restricted diet. One day, the brothers left cooked wheat untended for more than 24 hours. When they returned, they saw what they had done. It was …
An important language development Cuneiform, the world’s first known system of handwriting, originated some 6.000 years ago in Summer in what is now southern Iraq. It was most often inscribed on palmsized, rectangular clay tablets measuring several centimetres across, although occasionally, larger tablets or cylinders were used. Clay was an excellent medium for writing. Other …
Why good ideas fail As part of a marketing course, two marketing experts comment on a hypothetical case study involving TF, a fiction retail giant specializing in home furnishing. The experts give concrete solutions and advice to assist students. Hypothetical case study: TF became a retail success in the 1970s when it succeeded in spotting …
A New Voyage Round the World A very old travel hook that holds an unusual place in English literature Part travelogue, part historical record of the Caribbean pirates, part scientific treatise, A New Voyage Round the World was William Dampier’s account of his twelve-year series of journeys around the globe from 1679 to 1691. The wealth and …
