Emeritus Professor Barton J. Bernstein will present a lecture on the U.S.'s decision to use the A-bomb on Japan this Friday night, March 1st, at 6:00 p.m., Building 200 (second floor), Room 205. The hour-long lecture will be followed by a Q&A segment. It is free and open to the public. Prof. Bernstein, a widely published expert on A-bomb history, will present a planned resonse--partly in agreement and partly in disagreement--to the noted film maker Oliver Stone's documentary, "The Bomb." The documentary and a panel featuring Oliver Stone and Daniel Berrigan, was presented last Friday night.
Writer Jeffrey Eugenides will be reading this evening at the Knight Management Center's Cemex Auditorium. Eugenides—who received an MA in English and Creative Writing from Stanford in 1986—is the author of 1993's The Virgin Suicides and of 2003's Pulitzer Prize–winning Middlesex. The event takes place at 8:00 pm.
Take a look at SearchWorks for titles by Jeffrey Eugenides available in the libraries.
Tomorrow evening filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick will be participating in a panel discussion and showing their new documentary about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In the film — entitled The Bomb— Stone and Kuznick suggest that the bombing of Hiroshima was not necessary to end World War II. The panel discussion will be moderated by History Professor Emeritus Barton Bernstein, and will also include Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 provided the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.
The Bomb is an episode of Stone's Showtime series The Untold History of the United States, based on the book of the same name by Stone and Kuznick.
The event takes place Friday, February 22, at 6:00 p.m. in the Lane History Corner, Room 02.
Bernstein will be giving a follow-up lecture on Friday, March 1, at 6:00 p.m. in the Lane History Corner, Room 205.
A new software and hardware product by Leonar3do allows users to design, manipulate and analyze 3D objects from within a virtual 3D environment. The system utilizes a software application, 3D monitor and glasses and a spatial input tool called a bird. The bird is used to move, rotate, sculpt and mold objects that appear to float in front of the monitor, and the 3D glasses assist with head-tracking for viewing objects from different visual angles. A brief explanation of various design tools found in the menu is all it takes to begin molding and sculpting a sphere into something resembling a head with contoured facial features. Leonar3do succeeds with input and visualization tools that mimic the way many people analyze and manipulate objects in the real world. With a few hours of practice with some of the more advanced design menu tools, some interesting objects could be ready for export and 3D printing.
Leonar3do is currently available at the Terman Engineering Library.
Mendeley is scheduling a database software upgrade on Monday, February 18, 2013 between 1 AM and 10 AM Pacific Time (9 AM and 6 PM GMT). The software upgrade will improve the performance and the stability of the Mendeley platform. However, during the upgrade, a large part of the Mendeley platform will be unavailable, including:
- www.mendeley.com
- csl.mendeley.com
- OAPI
- Desktop syncing
Users will still be able to use the desktop software in offline mode to manage citations, insert citations into word processing programs, read and annotate pdfs, etc. Access to support.mendeley.com will still be available, but users will not be able to log in to submit reports.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Helen Josephine.
Scripting the Sacred, an exhibition of Western European manuscripts and fragments, showcases the medieval experience of reading. The exhibition is on display in the Peterson Gallery and Munger Rotunda of Green Library through March 17, 2013.
Studying these texts involved not only the absorption of knowledge, but also practices of interpretation, identification, and devotion. By focusing on the exercise of reading, this exhibition explores "scripting" in diverse forms: scribal activity, scripted performances, and inscribed divine things (res divinae).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Bible remained the paradigmatic text for reading and studying. The exhibited biblical items highlight different preferences pertaining to legibility. Indeed, scribes designed manuscripts to guide, assist, and sometimes challenge readers, as medieval versions of biblical commentary and patristic works exemplify. The liturgical genres on display contain written and visual markers that instruct readers in the proper performance of the Mass, music, and specific feast days. The text portion of the liturgy helped stage the clergy's ceremonial duties. Liturgical fragments with musical notation assisted ritual actors in the memorization of stylized speech. Both components show how customized manuscripts promoted reading aloud. Miniature prayer books and books of hours demonstrate a late medieval trend toward privatized and personalized lay devotion.
Additional materials on exhibition include fine facsimiles from the Art & Architecture Library portraying the national origins of late antique and medieval scripts and illustration, fragments of ancient Egyptian papyri highlighting the gradual transition from papyrus to parchment and from scroll to codex, and a selection of codices and fragments–mainly recovered from the bindings of early printed books–from Stanford's paleography collections.
Far from being a static process, reading in the Middle Ages necessitated a dynamic relationship between manuscripts and their readers, at a much more deliberate and contemplative pace than most modern reading. As we encounter radical changes in our own digital age, this exhibit encourages us to think critically about how we interact with the text, and how these interactions condition the way we acquire knowledge.
Scripting the Sacred is curated by Kathryn Dickason, Ph.D. candidate in Religious Studies and David A. Jordan, assistant director for library development and associate curator for paleographical materials.
Exhibit cases are illuminated Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. The gallery is accessible whenever Green Library is open; hours vary with the academic schedule. To confirm library hours, call 650-723-0931 or go to http://library.stanford.edu/libraries_collections/hours_locations.html
For a map of campus and transportation information, go to http://www.stanford.edu/dept/visitorinfo/plan/maps.html
NOTE: The exhibition is free and open to the public; first-time visitors and those without Stanford ID must register at the entrance to Green Library before entering the building.
New arrival in the Music Library:
Schönberg, Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, op. 19 [facsimile]
Published by the Arnold Schönberg Center, Vienna.
Schönberg's Sechs kleine Klavierstücke (Six little piano pieces), op. 19, were composed during a very creative period in Schönberg's life, around the years 1910-1912. In addition to musical composition, Schönberg exhibited his paintings and kept a lively correspondence with his friend, the expressionist painter Kandinsky, and was also at work completing his orchestration for the Gurre-Lieder, and writing his Theory of Harmony. Five of the Six little piano pieces were composed in a single day, February 19, 1911. After the revered composer Gustav Mahler's death on May 18, 1911, Schönberg painted his impression of the event, the Begrabnis von Gustav Mahler (Burial of Gustav Mahler), and then composed the sixth piece in the op. 19 set, on June 17, 1911.
Pope Benedict XVI announced today that as of 28 February 2013, he would be resigning from his position as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. This is the first papal resignation since 1415, when Gregory XII stepped down to bring about an end to the Western Schism.
Take a look at SearchWorks for material about Benedict XVI and the papacy.
