Blog death threats spark debate (BBC)

Prominent blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to combat the culture of abuse online.

It follows a series of death threats which have forced her to cancel a public appearance and suspend her blog.

Ms Sierra described on her blog how she had been subject to a campaign of threats, including a post that featured a picture of her next to a noose.

The police are investigating while the blogosphere has launched its own enquiry.

One of the issues raised is the question of how women bloggers are treated online.

Ms Sierra, author of popular blog Creating Passionate Users, began receiving death threats four weeks ago.

Since going public on the issue, she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received.

"I agonised about making this post but I hoped it would start a dialogue," she told the BBC News website.

"I never thought it would become so big or be this positive," she said.

While blogging feuds are common, she believes the campaign against her is more likely to be because she is a woman in the male-dominated technology world. (more...)

Scientists Study Sacred Sounds (Wired)

By Nicole Martinelli

MILAN, Italy -- Does your church sing? Or does its message fall flat in a mess of reverberation, boomy bass and muffled speech?

Researchers here are investigating the subjective acoustic qualities of church architecture in one of the most extensive scientific inquiries yet.

By studying the best-sounding spaces (and the worst), the researchers hope to assemble practical design criteria for new churches. The data can also provide the clergy with some considerations on what music works best in existing places of worship.

Since 2000, the team has visited 40 churches from Gothic to contemporary in style. They picked nine of the buildings for a five-song test of their acoustics.

When the churches closed to worshippers at dusk, engineers and acoustic experts brought in sound-test dummies outfitted with binaural microphones. By plugging a microphone into each of the dummy's ears, a close approximation of the human listening experience could be recorded. (more...)

New York Times Select: free for students, faculty

Are you a student or faculty member?  You can now get access to the New York Times Select, which is now free to faculty and students with an .edu address.

Registration is free at http://nytimes.com/gst/ts _university_email_verify.html

New York Choral Society concert: A Great British Choral Tradition, St. Bart's, Sat. 3/24

The New York Choral Society presents
A Great English Choral Tradition

Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 3:00pm
New York Choral Society
John Daly Goodwin, conductor
New Jersey Youth Symphony
St. Bartholomew's Church
Park Avenue at 51st Street, NYC

Our program—Elgar's Great is the Lord, Vaughan Williams' Mass in G Minor and Britten's Saint Nicolas—is in the great tradition of British choral music. Elgar's Great is the Lord, written in 1912 and first performed in Westminster Abbey, is the ideal choice for an audience to hear the magnificent St. Bart's organ and the power of the New York Choral Society.

In contrast, Vaughan Williams' Mass in G Minor is a capella, written for double chorus and solo quartet. The Mass was composed for liturgical use and looks back to the style of the Tudor age while still employing 20th century vocabulary. For sheer beauty of sound, the writing for voices is magical. The New York Choral Society's recording of the Mass in G Minor was nominated for a Grammy award in 1985.

Benjamin Britten's Saint Nicolas tells the story of the 4th Century Saint who later became known as Santa Claus. In 1948 Britten was commissioned by Lansing College, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, to write a piece that would include children and students. He was provided with the text written by Eric Crozier (also the librettist of Albert Herring). The text selected eight episodes from the life of Saint Nicolas—his birth, his call to the holy life, his saving of the sailors on his way to Palestine, his election as bishop of Myra, his imprisonment under Diocletian, his restoration to life of the three little boys pickled in brine by a vicious butcher, and finally his tranquil joy in the face of death. Britten wrote the piece for girls, boys and adult choirs with the voice of Nicolas being sung by a tenor soloist (sung by Peter Pears in the original production). The instrumental accompaniment was written for student and professional musicians and consists of piano duet, strings, percussion and organ. We are pleased to be partnering with the fine New Jersey Youth Symphony (with whom we will also be performing Bruckner's Te Deum in June 2007).

St. Bartholomew's Church has been an active participant in the musical life of New York City for many years. Designated a New York City landmark, it is renowned for its superior acoustics and the largest pipe organ in the city.

* Listen to a podcast describing our concert given by our Music Director, John Daly Goodwin
(15mb MP3)

Chinese Village Struggles to Save Dying Language (NYT)

An article in today's Times about the dying out of the Manchu language:

Ms. Meng is one of 18 residents of this isolated village in northeastern China, all over 80 years old, who, according to Chinese linguists and historians, are the last native speakers of Manchu.

Descendants of seminomadic tribesmen who conquered China in the 17th century, they are the last living link to a language that for more than two and a half centuries was the official voice of the Qing dynasty, the final imperial house to rule from Beijing and one of the richest and most powerful empires the world has known.

With the passing of these villagers, Manchu will also die, experts say. All that will be left will be millions of documents and files — about 60 tons of Manchu-language documents are in the provincial archive in Harbin alone — along with inscriptions on monuments and important buildings in China, unintelligible to all but a handful of specialists.

“I think it is inevitable,” said Zhao Jinchun, an ethnic Manchu born in Sanjiazi who taught at the village primary school for more than two decades before becoming a government official in Qiqihar, a city about 30 miles to the south. “It is just a matter of time. The Manchu language will face the same fate as some other ethnic minority languages in China and be overwhelmed by the Chinese language and culture.”

High School Choirs Perform at Carnegie Hall (NPR)

The Bentonville High School Chamber Choir is gearing up to play their first concert at Carnegie Hall.

The choir, based in northwest Arkansas, was one of four chosen to perform in the prestigious Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival.

The other selected groups are Chandler High School Chorale from Chandler, Ariz., Highland High School Concert Choir from Gilbert, Ariz., and Madison High School Bel Canto Choir from Rexburg, Idaho.

All participants will travel to New York City for four days of rehearsals and a final concert at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by Craig Jessop of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths (Gothamist)

A Canadian company that produces cat and dog food is recalling over 80 brands. Some pet owners have noted that their cats and dogs have been vomiting and suffered kidney failure.

Ten of the pets have died, and while manufacturer Menu Foods is not sure what happened, but they are saying that the recall is limited to the "cuts and gravy" style foods. 1010WINS says that products all used wheat gluten from a new supplier. Hmm.

Menu Foods sells food to stores like Safeway, Wal-Mart and PetSmart (some of whom sell it under a private label); you can see a list of the products and product codes at Menu Foods' website. It also makes food for Proctor & Gamble, who announced a recall of Iams and Eukanuba canned and foil pouch foods.

Thinking about Professor Kingsfield again. (Althouse)

...Osborn wants to empower students to "reclaim" their "personal narrative" in class, but you've got to picture that in practice. Just because the opportunity is offered doesn't mean the students will respond in proportion to their need for personal empowerment or the value of their personal narrative to the classroom experience.

Most likely, the students who bring the most empowerment to class will do the most talking. These may be the extroverts or the students who came from families or great schools that got them comfortable with exposing their minds. Having to listen to these already-empowered students may very well disempower the students who are more introverted or whose families did not debate politics at the dinner table or whose high schools were substandard holding pens. It may strengthen some students over others -- perhaps males over females or white students over minorities students.

If we care about diversity, we need to worry about a teaching method that activates some and not others. Even if you rankle at "diversity" talk like that and prefer to think in terms of individuals, you should care about systematically empowering some individuals over others. Well, if you rankle at "diversity," you probably hate "empowering" too, but the point remains! If you're going to have a classroom where students do some of the talking, it's best to get the full range of students talking, especially if the students are going into a field like law, where speaking is going to be part of the work. (more...)

Bluebook Pet Peeves (Conglomerate)

Christine Hunt writes about a problem she has with the new version of the Blue Book:

I do however, have a new Bluebook pet peeve that is particular to the 18th edition. (I've more thoroughly covered the 18th edition in my paper "The Bluebook at Eighteen: Reflecting and Ratifying Current Trends in Legal Scholarship.") The 18th edition contains a revised rule 18.2.4, which provides guidance and examples on citing to blog entries, among other things. If I were to conjure up a citation for a blog post, I would be concerned with (1) the author; (2) the title of the post; (3) the title of the blog; (4) the URL and (5) the date. I would conjure up a citation that was similar to a journal, magazine or newspaper article, with the author's name, then title of post, then title of blog, then location (URL), then date. However, this is not what the 18th edition does.

According to Rule 18.2.4, if the blog is a solo author blog, then you do not include the author's name. So, if I want to cite to a post by my colleague Larry Solum on Legal Theory Blog, the cite will not contain his name. In addition, the citation will not contain the title of the post although almost all blog posts have titles, and the titles have very interesting information in them.

Toward a Better Digg (TechCrunch)

Digg revolutionized social news when it launched in 2004. Since then, it has become the undisputed champ of news link ranking sites. They just recently crossed the million mark. And their influence goes far beyond those user registration numbers.

Tangible evidence of Digg’s importance: the raw number of clones and Digg gaming schemes out there. We’ve seen rigging, vote buying, profile sales, and accusations of thug rule. The dozens of clones include a not-bad SourceForge project called Pligg, which lets users “build their own Digg”.

But Digg’s ubiquity and influence doesn’t mean it’s perfect. A number of startups are tackling the same problem as Digg - sharing of good content via link submission and some form of voting. One of them, stumbleupon, actually has more registered users than Digg. For the most part, though, these sites won’t be able to do much damage to Digg’s steady growth. But many of them are worth looking at, and they all have individual features that could, if incorporated into Digg, make it a better overall service. (more...)

[via CARR-L]

Google Tightens Privacy Measures

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. is adopting new privacy measures to make it more difficult to connect online search requests with the people making them - a thorny issue that provoked a showdown with the U.S. government last year.

Under revisions announced late Wednesday, Google promised to wrap a cloak of anonymity around the vast amounts of information that the Mountain View-based company regularly collects about its millions of users around the world.

Google believes it can provide more assurances of privacy by removing key pieces of identifying information from its system every 18 to 24 months. The timetable is designed to comply with a hodgepodge of laws around the world that dictate how long search engines are supposed to retain user information. (more...)

A Chat Site for Law Students Draws Fire for Allowing Personal Attacks

from Wired Campus:

A law-students' chat site whose operators have refused to remove derogatory, sexist, and racist postings about individual students has sparked a furor and prompted public rebukes by two law-school deans — one from the school where a co-founder of the site is currently enrolled, and the other from a school in which students have been personally targeted.

The Internet discussion board for current and prospective law students is one of several boards hosted by AutoAdmit, which was co-founded by Anthony Ciolli, a third-year law student at the University of Pennsylvania, and Jarret Cohen, a 23-year-old insurance salesman. It bills itself as "the most prestigious law-school discussion board in the world." But it also contains postings that degrade individual students, with offensive comments that include sexual references and racist jabs.

For more on the controversial chat site, read the full story from The Chronicle.

Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design

When one of world's best-known usability experts, Jakob Nielsen, conducts eyetracking research to test what his usability work has shown, the results generate some beneficial tips for online editors. This is what happened in late 2005, when Nielsen and Tara Pernice Coyne, the Nielsen/Norman Group's director of research, conducted an eyetracking test with 255 people in New York City.

With a little more than half of the participants (63 percent) ages 30 to 49, the test generated results applicable to the target audience for most news sites. Additionally, 20 percent were 18-29 and 16 percent were 50-64. Fifty-eight percent were female, 42 percent were male. Every test subject was given 50 tasks to complete. Sessions with each test subject lasted about one to two hours.

Coyne (who we interviewed for this column) stresses that crucial to understanding the testing results is an awareness of the user's motivation or goal behind each task. Some of the testing scenarios included asking the user to "read the news" or "read/learn", making a number these results particularly helpful to journalists. She said eyetracking is valuable in these cases because it indicates not only where our users look, but where key usability problems exist.

"[With eyetracking] we can see that a user may navigate the page of an interface that houses the info she wants," she said, "but if the text is poorly presented, or the navigation is cluttered, or there are too many superfluous images so she cannot easily find what she needs. This is a lost opportunity."

We've featured three of the more interesting journalistic study results below. (more... )

The Sopranos Final 9 Deaths Promo (YouTube)

Music: Nick Cave's "Lay Me Low"

Smith Death a Case Study at Law Schools

By JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Anna Nicole Smith never finished high school, but the strange twists of the model's life - and now her death - are helping teach lessons at law schools around the country.

Even before her death last month, Smith was a case study for students of estate law. Her lengthy, widely publicized court feud with the family of her late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, over his estate landed them in at least one widely used textbook, "Wills, Trusts and Estates."

Now, because of a poorly drafted will and the courtroom fights over her burial and custody of her infant daughter, law professors are finding her troubles can again serve as an example to students.

Professors say that over the past month they have answered questions about court proceedings in the case or have used Smith to illustrate an issue in class. Some have even distributed and discussed copies of her will.

(more...)

Intl. Center of Photography-Bard MFA Thesis Exhibition

MARCH 9–APRIL 22, 2007

Explore a variety of works by the 2007 graduating class of the ICP-Bard MFA program. As always the works are an eclectic mix of photography, performance, installation, and video. Each is a testament to the unique vision and experiences of the students. The content ranges across genres, including elaborately orchestrated floral still lifes, chilling portraits of gun wielding soldiers, philosophical and perceptual puzzles, and elegant, haunted office interiors.

Including works by:
Lara Alcantara
Charles Atherton
Adam Blumberg
Marla Leigh Caplan
Catherine Kunkemuller
Kenric McDowell
David Smith
Davis Thompson-Moss
Brina Thurston

Learn more about the ICP-Bard MFA program.

Opening Reception: Friday, March 9, 7:00 - 9:00pm

The Education Gallery is located in the ICP School at 1114 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street.

Hearing on the "Digital Future of the United States

Testimony of Sir Timothy Berners-Lee
CSAIL Decentralized Information Group
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Before the
United States House of Representatives
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet

Hearing on the "Digital Future of the United States: Part I -- The Future of the World Wide Web"

This document on the Web [http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/03/01-ushouse-future-of-the-web ] [PDF]

Chairman Markey, Ranking Member Upton, and Members of the Committee. It is my honor to appear before you today to discuss the future of the World Wide Web. I would like to offer some of my experience of having designed the original foundations of the Web, what I've learned from watching it grow, and some of the exciting and challenging developments I see in the future of the Web. Though I was privileged to lead the effort that gave rise to the Web in the mid-1990s, it has long passed the point of being something designed by a single person or even a single organization. It has become a public resource upon which many individuals, communities, companies and governments depend. And, from its beginning, it is a medium that has been created and sustained by the cooperative efforts of people all over the world.

To introduce myself, I should mention that I studied Physics at Oxford, but on graduating discovered the new world of microprocessors and joined the electronics and computer science industry for several years. In 1980, I worked on a contract at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, and wrote for my own benefit a simple program for tracking the various parts of the project using linked note cards. In 1984 I returned to CERN for ten years, during which time I found the need for a universal information system, and developed the World Wide Web as a side project in 1990. In 1994, the need for coordination of the Web became paramount, and I left to come to MIT, which became the first of now three international host institutes for the World Wide Consortium (W3C). I have directed W3C since that time. I hold the 3Com Founders chair at MIT where I pursue research on advanced Web technologies with the MIT Decentralized Information Group. The testimony I offer here today is purely my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Wide Web Consortium or any of its Members. ( more...)

[via Susan Mernit]

1st International M-Libraries Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS

The First International M-Libraries Conference:

Information access anywhere, anytime

13^th -14^th November 2007 at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

This conference, hosted by The Open University in partnership with Athabasca University, aims to explore and share work carried out in libraries around the world to deliver services and resources to users 'on the move,' via a growing plethora of mobile devices.

The conference will bring together researchers, technical developers, managers and library practitioners to exchange experience and expertise and generate ideas for future developments.

We are now announcing a call for papers for this conference.
Themes will include:

· service models for mobile library services
· cost and sustainability factors for mobile library service development
· the changing relationships between libraries and users resulting from innovation in mobile and ubiquitous computing
· partnership projects for developing integrated mobile services
· reconfiguring library collection development to enhance mobile and ubiquitous access to resources
· exploring methodologies for evaluating the impact of mobile and ubiquitous computing on library service development

We expect that papers may include research reports, demonstrations of technical developments, practical case studies or reviews. Posters are also welcome.

Please submit your abstracts (up to 300 words) to M-Libraries-Conference@open.ac.uk by April 2^nd. These will be subject to peer review and authors will be notified by May 20th.

1. Papers or Presentation
Papers or presentations should last no longer than 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussions.
2. Technical Demonstration
Technical demonstrations should last no longer than 20 minutes, including hands-on activities, plus 10 minutes for discussions.

3. Poster presentation
Posters will be displayed throughout the conference.
Conference proceedings will be published online.
The conference will be held at the Open University campus in Milton Keynes, 50 miles north of London.

Juror Describes Deliberations That Led to Libby Conviction (Law.com)

Denis Collins, the one juror to recount deliberations leading to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction on obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements, said the jury was full of methodical panelists and meticulous note-takers who, despite their decision, had "tremendous sympathy" for Libby. Ultimately, Collins said, the jury came to believe that Libby was a "fall guy" working at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney. "The jurors said: 'What are we doing with Libby? Where's [Karl] Rove?'"

(more...)

Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting: Museum of Art & Design, NYC

January 25 - June 17, 2007

A provocative and timely exhibition of work by international artists using fiber in unexpected and unorthodox ways, the Museum of Art & Design's show, Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting illuminates a field of creative practice that is fresh, surprising, and engaging. Featuring 27 artists from seven countries, this exhibition will exhibit work that ranges from Althea Merback's microknit garments (1:144 scale) to large-scale, site-specific installations. Artists employ a variety of media, from traditional yarns and laces, to found objects and video, and explore contemporary currents in art practice of socially engaged, participatory work.

For a list of participating artists, click here.
For a list of Public Programs in conjunction with the exhibition, click here.
For a list of Weekend Intergenerational Workshops in conjunction with the exhibition, click here.
For the Teachers' Resource Packet, click here.

Harsh Words Die Hard on the Web (WaPo)

Law Students Feel Lasting Effects of Anonymous Attacks

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, has published in top legal journals and completed internships at leading institutions in her field. So when the Yale law student interviewed with 16 firms for a job this summer, she was concerned that she had only four call-backs. She was stunned when she had zero offers.

Though it is difficult to prove a direct link, the woman thinks she is a victim of a new form of reputation-maligning: online postings with offensive content and personal attacks that can be stored forever and are easily accessible through a Google search. ( more...)

[via Althouse]

Digital Fair Use Bill Introduced to US House (Ars Technica)

Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and John Doolittle (R-Ca.) have announced a new House bill that would amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to permit greater "fair use" of copyrighted material. However, the bill does not allow consumers to make personal use copies of encrypted material such as DVDs and online music files. Analysts say the Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007 (FAIR USE Act) is basically a weakened version of Boucher's DMCRA, which failed to pass in two sessions of Congress and was vehemently opposed by the content industry. The DMCRA would have legalized any "fair use" of digital goods, regardless of anti-circumvention laws, but the FAIR USE Act does not provide for this. The FAIR USE Act would add several exemptions to anti-circumvention rules, including allowances for some obsolete technologies and cell phone unlocking. Current exemptions provide for the circumvention of anti-copyright technology for the use of software that requires the original disk or hardware in order to operate and dongle-protected programs, so long as the dongle no longer functions and a replacement cannot be found. The bill would also impose limits on statutory damages resulting from infringement and indirect infringement, laws that would appease technology companies concerned by MGM v. Grokster.

Click Here to View Full Article 

Daylight Saving Time Update for Palm OS Devices (Palm)

What does this update do?

• Replaces the old DST rule with new DST rule on your smartphone or handheld. Then it notifies the Date & Time application that DST rule change occurred.
• Replaces the old DST rule embedded in any Calendar events that occur after March 11, 2007 (when the DST change begins). This allows events within the DST rule change window to remain at their original times.

It is always a good idea to make a backup of your important information. Prior to installing this update, Palm recommends backing up your Calendar events, or printing them out for reference, in the event that Calendar information is lost. To back up your Calendar by exporting it, see Knowledge Library article 28751: Export PIM data.

Preparing for Daylight Saving Time changes in 2007 (Microsoft)

The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by the U.S. Congress July, 2005, extended Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the U.S. by approximately four weeks. As a result, beginning in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier on March 11, 2007, and end one week later on November 4, 2007, resulting in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than previously observed. These four weeks are referred to in this article as the "extended DST period".

Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, it is possible that the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four week period. This depends on where you live and which time zone you have selected. To see the time zone settings on your computer, follow these directions.

Law Students: Master Your Summer Employment

Want to develop practical skills and approaches to master your summer employment?  Attend the March 30, 2007 Bridge the Gap program at the New York City Bar, sponsored by the Law Library Association of Greater New York.  Click here for a PDF version of the program announcement and registration form.

This full-day program will enhance your research skills in a number of specific practice areas (including intellectual property, employment and labor, tax, corporate transactions and securities, criminal law, commercial litigation, statutes and regulations, banking and financial institutions, and legislative history).  The program concludes with a panel discussion about life as a summer associate.  Panel members include Justice Stephen G. Crane, Associate Justice of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, Steven E. Obus, a litigation partner at Proskauer Rose LLP, and Nicole Silvestri, an associate at Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto.

NY PC Users Group: This Week's meetings

Mon., March 5

6:30 at NYPC: TechTips will discuss how to determine whether your computer will run Vista

6:30 at Microsoft: Access SIG will present new Office 2007 interface

Tues., March 6
6:30 at NYPC: Genealogy will show how to incorporate family photos into your family tree

Wed., March 7

6:00 at Microsoft: Visual Basic will talk about Windows Presentation Foundation

6:30 at NYPC: Palm Pilot SIG will talk about maintenance and transitioniing your handheld.

Thurs., March 8

6:30 at NYPC: DeLUGE SIG will demo Konqueror, the powerful web browser/file manager for Linux

For more info, visit http://www.nypc.org

New filings in the Charney/Sullivan & Cromwell litigation (Art Leonard)

The next chapter in the saga of gay attorney Aaron Brett Charney and his former employer, Sullivan & Cromwell, unfolded March 1 with the filing of litigation papers on behalf of Charney in the two law suits, which are both pending before Justice Bernard J. Fried in New York Supreme Court, New York County. In Charney’s discrimination/retaliation case against Sullivan & Cromwell, Charney’s attorneys have filed an opposition to Sullivan & Cromwell’s motion to dismiss Charney’s case. In Sullivan & Cromwell’s case against Charney, the attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss S&C’s case and incidentally to oppose S&C’s demand for a preliminary injunction in case their motion is denied. S&C’s responding papers, if any, are to be filed on March 15, and there will be another hearing before Justice Fried on March 27, according to the schedule agreed on the record during the last hearing in this matter.

(more...)

Wagner - public genius with a private passion for bustles, bows and bodices (Guardian)

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
The Guardian

A previously unpublished letter by Richard Wagner to a firm of Milanese couturiers offers the intriguing possibility that the great composer was, in fact, a cross-dresser.The letter is published for the first time today in the inaugural edition of the Wagner Journal. In it, the composer of the Ring des Nibelungen details the cut of an outfit, ostensibly intended for his wife, Cosima.

Requesting "something graceful for evenings at home" he continues: "The bodice will have a high collar, with a lace jabot and ribbons; close-fitting sleeves; the dress trimmed with puffed flounces - of the same satin material - no basque at the front (the dress must be very wide and have a train) but a rich bustle with a bow at the back, like the one at the front) ..."He concludes: "And so: richness of the material, width, ruches, flounces, bustles, ribbons - all to the good: but none of those basques attached by means of pins etc".

According to Barry Millington, co-editor of the Wagner Journal, the letter, dating from January 1874 and now in a private collection in the US, "adds weight to the theory that the composer exhibited the tendencies of a cross-dresser". At the very least, he suggests, it points to an extremely detailed, if not fetishistic, interest in the minutiae of ladies' apparel.

"He obviously had a very pronounced feminine side," said Mr Millington. "There was this whole business with silks and satin underwear: he had to wear silk next to his skin, ostensibly because he suffered from erypsipelas" - an infection whose symptoms include painful skin-rashes.
Rumours about his proclivities circulated during his lifetime. His disciple, Hans von Wolzogen, who published a guide to the Leitmotifs in the Ring, recalled that Wagner had once appeared dressed in a lady's jacket. Another anecdote recounted that Wagner had escaped from his creditors in Vienna in 1864 dressed in women's clothes. (more...)

Introducing the Book a.k.a the Medieval Helpdesk