The lost chord

'The Lost Chord' was an experimental performance work, reconfiguring its mode of theatre, and relationship to media, according to the site of its presentation. It decontextualised and reassembled a range of materials, originating in the Victorian creative imagination, not usually experienced in a single performance event or in contemporary theatre. Uses of technology varied, depending on artistic considerations. Resources included 4 male singers, Edison cylinder, tape and original text by me, made in partnership with Opera North, (who hosted an earlier installation work of mine which pointed the way to this.) Grand Theatre, Leeds, Jan 2010 and Riverside Studios, London, Aug 2010 - 1 hr, 6 performances. The Lost Chord is the title of Arthur Sullivan's 1877 song depicting an erotic image of sublime connection through music (the organ) within a hymn-like soundworld. Its success was extended by its compatibility (in 3 min versions) with new cylinder recording technology. This was a jumping-off point for each set of performances, reflecting on the impact of technological change on late 19th-century creativity, enacting tensions between utopian and critical experiences of this. During performances, historic technologies in contemporary theatre modes evoked an atmosphere of exchange between past and present. Media were 'organs' channeling lost presences. The audience were presented with a formal dinner setting they were invited to join. The hosts spoke in emotionally intense fragments, caught in lost controversies and searches for departed loved ones, contesting their perceptions of the past and a technological future, through deconstructions of literary and musical texts by Bulwar-Lytton, Morris, Tennyson, Balfe, Sullivan and Anon

Quasars Are Not Light-Bulbs: Testing Models of Quasar Lifetimes with the Observed Eddington Ratio Distribution

We use the observed distribution of Eddington ratios as a function of supermassive black hole (BH) mass to constrain models of AGN lifetimes and lightcurves. Given the observed AGN luminosity function, a model for AGN lifetimes (time above a given luminosity) translates directly to a predicted Eddington ratio distribution. Models for self-regulated BH growth, in which feedback produces a 'blowout' decay phase after some peak luminosity (shutting down accretion) make specific predictions for the lifetimes distinct from those expected if AGN are simply gas starved (without feedback) and very different from simple phenomenological 'light bulb' models. Present observations of the Eddington ratio distribution, spanning 5 decades in Eddington ratio, 3 in BH mass, and redshifts z=0-1, agree with the predictions of self-regulated models, and rule out 'light-bulb', pure exponential, and gas starvation models at high significance. We compare the Eddington ratio distributions at fixed BH mass and fixed luminosity (both are consistent, but the latter are much less constraining). We present empirical fits to the lifetime distribution and show how the Eddington ratio distributions place tight limits on AGN lifetimes at various luminosities. We use this to constrain the shape of the typical AGN lightcurve, and provide simple analytic fits. Given independent constraints on episodic lifetimes, most local BHs must have gained their mass in no more than a couple of bright episodes, in agreement with merger-driven fueling models.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, accepted to ApJ (revised to match accepted version; modeling and tests of redshift evolution added

Do tablets cure the pedagogy headache?

Tablet devices have made a huge impact in schools and in 2015 they were predicted to outsell personal computers (Gartner, 2014). 70 per cent of UK schools are estimated to be using tablets (BBC, online) and across Europe, “laptops, tablets and net-books are becoming pervasive” (EU schoolnet, 2014). As these devices become established in schools they both support and develop existing practice (Burden, Hopkins, Male, Martin and Trala, 2012; Baran, 2014), but are also starting to challenge some existing models of thinking and pedagogy (Fullan and Langworth, 2014; Kearney, Schuck, Burden and Aubusson, 2012) and also teachers’ attitudes towards learning and teaching (Ertmer, 1999; Burden and Hopkins, 2015). In offering opportunities for learning to become more authentic, personal and collaborative (Kearney et al., 2012) there are opportunities for teachers to start to redesign the ways in which learning is taking place (Puentedura, 2010; McCormick and Scrimshaw, 2001). Traxler defines mobile learning as “an educational process, in which handheld devices or palmtops are the only or dominant used technology tools” (2007: 2) and Kearney et al. (2012) argue that it has the potential to revolutionise the learning process in allowing individuals to determine their own independent paradigms and frameworks of learning. These devices are also sophisticated producers of digital artefacts and children and teachers are capable of being co-producers of learning materials

Is there a lack of science resources and specialists for kaiako at Kura reo o Waikato?

The New Zealand debates on culture and science education for Maaori are grounded in the concern for the under-achievement of tauira in science. In 1995, a lack of subject experts, specialists and resources to implement the Ministry of Education’s science curriculum was identified. I investigated the concept of a mobile science laboratory to provide subject experts, specialists and resources to Kura Reo o Tainui as a way of improving and enhancing tauira literacy and engagement in puutaiao. This study used a semi-structured survey to elicit the whakaaro and perceptions of kaiako puutaiao from four Wharekura, three Kura Kaupapa Maaori, and three Rumaki Total Immersion classes in Waikato-Tainui, using registered participants in the inaugural Kura Reo o Tainui Waananga in 2008 to select survey participants

Mary Grace and the Warthog from Hell: Violent Redemption in Flannery O’Connor’s “Revelation”

Scholarship on the works of Flannery O’Connor is divided concerning her depiction of divine grace as a violent force. Some scholars worry that her insistence on the violence of grace makes God a violent God or excuses the pain and brokenness of the world. Despite the arguments of those who oppose O’Connor’s view of violent grace, this paper will argue that O’Connor is right to depict violence in her short stories because, although it might be counterintuitive to think of divine grace wounding before it heals, being torn from an old life of sin is painful. While not excusing violence or the perpetrators of violent acts, O’Connor’s theology shows how God uses violence for God’s purpose, making the effects of brokenness in this imperfect world into conduits for divine perfection and wholeness. This paper makes this argument through a close reading of O’Connor’s short story “Revelation,” along with examinations of O’Connor’s essays. O’Connor not only shows violence in her stories, but enacts a mimicry of violence upon the reader through her use of the grotesque. The idea of violence therefore permeates the shape of the narrative and the relationship between writer and reader

Evolution, Consciousness, and the Internality of Mind

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Supreme Court Leaks and Recusals: A Response to Professor Steven Lubet\u27s SCOTUS Ethics in the Wake of NFIB v. Sebelius

As Professor Steven Lubet notes in his article, Stonewalling, Leaks, and Counter-Leaks: SCOTUS Ethics in the Wake of NFIB v. Sebelius, the ethical conduct of Supreme Court Justices has once again gained national attention. This time, however, the context for public outcry is due to actions of an in-house source who released confidential information to a member of the press concerning the voting behavior and the overall sentiments of members of the Court\u27s minority in one of the most significant and controversial rulings of the year: NFIB v. Sebelius (the Affordable Care Act ). Professor Lubet uses this leaking of significant and confidential information regarding the Court\u27s deliberations in the Affordable Care Act case as a segue into what he believes is a much larger group of issues-those concerning Supreme Court ethics and regulation of the conduct of members of the Court, the need for the adoption by the Court of a comprehensive code of judicial conduct to govern the actions of the Justices, and the need for reform of the Court\u27s recusal process and practices. In my response, I briefly evaluate the validity of a few of Professor Lubet\u27s comments and arguments addressing some of these issues, the viability of his suggestion for adopting a comprehensive code of judicial conduct to govern members of the Court, and his ideas for reforming the Court\u27s recusal process. I conclude by sharing a few of my own thoughts and suggestions on these important issues

K+A Galaxies as the Aftermath of Gas-Rich Mergers: Simulating the Evolution of Galaxies as Seen by Spectroscopic Surveys

Models of poststarburst (or "K+A") galaxies are constructed by combining fully three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy mergers with radiative transfer calculations of dust attenuation. Spectral line catalogs are generated automatically from moderate-resolution optical spectra calculated as a function of merger progress in each of a large suite of simulations. The mass, gas fraction, orbital parameters, and mass ratio of the merging galaxies are varied systematically, showing that the lifetime and properties of the K+A phase are strong functions of merger scenario. K+A durations are generally less than ~0.1-0.3 Gyr, significantly shorter than the commonly assumed 1 Gyr, which is obtained only in rare cases, owing to a wide variation in star formation histories resulting from different orbital and progenitor configurations. Combined with empirical merger rates, the model lifetimes predict rapidly-rising K+A fractions as a function of redshift that are consistent with results of large spectroscopic surveys, resolving tension between the observed K+A abundance and that predicted when one assumes the K+A duration is the lifetime of A stars (~1 Gyr). The effects of dust attenuation, viewing angle, and aperture bias on our models are analyzed. In some cases, the K+A features are longer-lived and more pronounced when AGN feedback removes dust from the center, uncovering the young stars formed during the burst. In this picture, the K+A phase begins during or shortly after the bright starburst/AGN phase in violent mergers, and thus offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of quasar and star formation feedback on the gas reservoir and evolution of the remnant. Analytic fitting formulae are provided for the estimates of K+A incidence as a function of merger scenario.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures; ApJ; minor changes to reflect accepted versio