The Gift

This paper, invoking Mauss, will describe a series of musical gifts given to and by Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961), celebrated one-armed pianist. In 1915, after losing an arm in the war, Wittgenstein was given a remarkable gift: His teacher, the blind organist and composer Josef Labor (1842-1924), presented Wittgenstein with three newly-composed works for a one-armed pianist. Wittgenstein promptly reciprocated Labor’s gift by performing these works near Prague. Far more significantly: Wittgenstein’s response to Labor’s gift was not limited to playing these works. A gift “receives its meaning… from the response it triggers” (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 5), and Wittgenstein answered Labor’s gift by devoting the rest of his life to being a one-armed concert artist. Wittgenstein’s long career can be seen as reciprocation for Labor’s original gift. But Wittgenstein has given us a gift, as well. Wittgenstein was “intrigued with how genius would handle this unusual problem” (Flindell, 1971 p. 114), and between 1923 and 1950, he commissioned works from numerous composers (R. Strauss, Britten, Prokofieff, others), the most important of which was by Ravel. Ravel’s concerto not only demands breath-taking virtuosity from the soloist (most of the Wittgenstein repertoire does this), but also involved structural complexities not found in the standard repertoire (Kingsbury pp. 56-59). However: Ravel rather intensely disliked Wittgenstein’s manner of playing, and in 1936 Ravel assigned his concerto to a two-handed pianist. Nowadays, the “Wittgenstein repertoire” is mainstream repertoire. This repertoire is Wittgenstein’s answer to Labor’s original gift, but it is also Wittgenstein’s gift to us all

Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1799-1892 (Vol.2)

Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1799-1892 - Volume II Editors: Henry D. Kingsbury and Simeon L. Deyo Second bound volume comprises pages 601-1273. Edition Limited to 1600 Prints - Copyrighted 1892. 637 p. : ill. ; 28 cmhttps://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/oml_rare_books/1005/thumbnail.jp

Climatic and geographic predictors of life history variation in Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus): A range-wide synthesis

Elucidating how life history traits vary geographically is important to understanding variation in population dynamics. Because many aspects of ectotherm life history are climate-dependent, geographic variation in climate is expected to have a large impact on population dynamics through effects on annual survival, body size, growth rate, age at first reproduction, size-fecundity relationship, and reproductive frequency. The Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a small, imperiled North American rattlesnake with a distribution centered on the Great Lakes region, where lake effects strongly influence local conditions. To address Eastern Massasauga life history data gaps, we compiled data from 47 study sites representing 38 counties across the range. We used multimodel inference and general linear models with geographic coordinates and annual climate normals as explanatory variables to clarify patterns of variation in life history traits. We found strong evidence for geographic variation in six of nine life history variables. Adult female snout-vent length and neonate mass increased with increasing mean annual precipitation. Litter size decreased with increasing mean temperature, and the size-fecundity relationship and growth prior to first hibernation both increased with increasing latitude. The proportion of gravid females also increased with increasing latitude, but this relationship may be the result of geographically varying detection bias. Our results provide insights into ectotherm life history variation and fill critical data gaps, which will inform Eastern Massasauga conservation efforts by improving biological realism for models of population viability and climate change

Developing an inverted Barrovian sequence; insights from monazite petrochronology

In the Himalayan region of Sikkim, the well-developed inverted metamorphic sequence of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone is folded, thus exposing several transects through the structure that reached similar metamorphic grades at different times. In-situ LA-ICP-MS U–Th–Pb monazite ages, linked to pressure–temperature conditions via trace-element reaction fingerprints, allow key aspects of the evolution of the thrust zone to be understood for the first time. The ages show that peak metamorphic conditions were reached earliest in the structurally highest part of the inverted metamorphic sequence, in the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) in the hanging wall of the MCT. Monazite in this unit grew over a prolonged period between ~37 and 16 Ma in the southerly leading-edge of the thrust zone and between ~37 and 14.5 Ma in the northern rear-edge of the thrust zone, at peak metamorphic conditions of ~790 ◦C and 10 kbar. Monazite ages in Lesser Himalayan Sequence (LHS) footwall rocks show that identical metamorphic conditions were reached ~4–6 Ma apart along the ~60 km separating samples along the MCT transport direction. Upper LHS footwall rocks reached peak metamorphic conditions of ~655 ◦C and 9 kbar between ~21 and 16 Ma in the more southerly-exposed transect and ~14.5–12 Ma in the northern transect. Similarly, lower LHS footwall rocks reached peak metamorphic conditions of ~580 ◦C and 8.5 kbar at ~16 Ma in the south, and 9–10 Ma in the north. In the southern transect, the timing of partial melting in the GHS hanging wall (~23–19.5 Ma) overlaps with the timing of prograde metamorphism (~21 Ma) in the LHS footwall, confirming that the hanging wall may have provided the heat necessary for the metamorphism of the footwall. Overall, the data provide robust evidence for progressively downwards-penetrating deformation and accretion of original LHS footwall material to the GHS hanging wall over a period of ~5 Ma. These processes appear to have occurred several times during the prolonged ductile evolution of the thrust. The preserved inverted metamorphic sequence therefore documents the formation of sequential ‘paleothrusts’ through time, cutting down from the original locus of MCT movement at the LHS–GHS protolith boundary and forming at successively lower pressure and temperature conditions. The petrochronologic methods applied here constrain a complex temporal and thermal deformation history, and demonstrate that inverted metamorphic sequences can preserve a rich record of the duration of progressive ductile thrusting

Ludee, one of the wives of Abba Thulle [picture] /

Oval image.; Plate from: An account of the Pelew Islands / George Keate.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3301221

Abba Thulle, king of Pelew [picture] /

Oval image.; Plate from: An account of the Pelew Islands / George Keate.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an9024483; S3042

Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1799-1892 (Vol.1)

Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1799-1892 - Volume I. Editors: Henry D. Kingsbury and Simeon L. Deyo. First bound volume comprises pages 1-600. Edition Limited to 1600 Prints - Copyrighted 1892. 600 p. : ill. ; 28 cmhttps://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/oml_rare_books/1006/thumbnail.jp