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Man admits to Da Vinci chapel rape - Evening Times

wfzimmerman — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Man admits to Da Vinci chapel rape - Evening Times:

Man admits to Da Vinci chapel rape
ed raping a Dutch student near the world-renowned Rosslyn Chapel.
Robert Greens, 28, had previously denied attacking the 19-year-old.
His lawyers had lodged a defence document claiming the attack could have been carried out by his identical twin brother, Richard.
But today he changed his plea.

Technorati tags: Da Vinci Code, The Solomon Key, Dan Brown

A particularly vicious attack against Da Vinci fans.

Keep the Pressure on North Korea’s Food Policy

wfzimmerman — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

A U-turn on reforms could starve North Korea - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune:

While the world focuses on North Korea’s nuclear program and the stalled six-party talks, a second set of negotiations with profound implications for the Korean Peninsula are occurring beyond public view.

The primary participants are the governments of North and South Korea, the United States and the World Food Program, the United Nations food aid agency. At stake is whether the North Korean regime will turn back the clock on economic reforms, strengthen political control over the population and torpedo an ongoing humanitarian aid effort.

Technorati tags: North Korea

Must reading. Marc Noland knows more about the Korean economy than anyone outside North Korea (and probably inside).

Bard College President Supports Demand for Book Ban in Public Library

wfzimmerman — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:33:00 +0000

(PRWEB) December 22, 2005 — Bard College President Leon Botstein, who stands beside banned authors Chinua Achebe and Toni Morrison, advocated in writing for the banning of a book by Bard alumna Charleen Touchette from a public library on December 19, 2005. Botstein wrote the Bard Community to support Bard Professor Kim Touchette Weiss (1977) in her written request to ban a book at the Woonsocket Harris Public Library in Rhode Island.

The banned book, “It Stops with Me”, a memoir by her sister, Charleen Touchette (1975) was removed from library shelves over three months ago in September 2005 after a challenge by their father. President Botstein, who witnessed none of the events described in the book, advocated “restricting its access.”

Leon Botstein wrote, “If members of a family wish to harm one another, those actions should be kept private and should not draw in others by invoking matters of public policy.”

Charleen Touchette wrote that “President Botstein’s statement is a justification for keeping family violence a secret.”
Read more at www.prweb.com/releases/…

What’s up with this? On the face of it, seems like a strange position for any college President to take. I’ve written the Bard PR office asking for comment.

The National Gallery discovers a new Leonardo

wfzimmerman — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

NG London/News & Features: The National Gallery discovers a new Leonardo:

Recent examination of one of the National Gallery’s most popular paintings has unearthed a remarkable discovery.

The Gallery’s team of experts have used infrared reflectography to find two distinct underdrawings beneath the surface of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. Though one drawing corresponds with the final version of the painting, another shows a completely different picture of a kneeling figure. Her downcast gaze and pious gestures suggest that Leonardo’s initial idea was to depict the Virgin in Adoration of the Christ Child. There is no sign of the baby Jesus, but this could be because Leonardo abandoned this idea before he came to include him.

‘It was an extraordinary moment when we pointed the camera on the Madonna’s face – just to get the settings right because the paint was thin there – and instantly we saw a hand which had no place there. We all had to go away and sit quietly for a bit, just to get our thoughts in order.’

Rachel Billinge, Conservator

Technorati tags: Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown