The charismatic Siberian baritone who won critical acclaim and devoted fans around the world for his burnished voice, uncanny breath control and rueful expressivity, died on Wednesday in London. He was 55.
There "have been many beautiful voices," the soprano Renee Fleming said, "but in my opinion none more beautiful than Dmitri's."
In recent years, Mr. Hvorostovsky felt an increasing attachment to his homeland. IN his interview with The New Yorker, he recalled a concert he gave at 22 with fellow singers and instrumentalists in a bread factory in central Siberia in below-freezing weather. The audience, wearing fur hats and warm boots, was overcome.
Those tears, Mr. Hvorostovsky said, "were more precious to me than all the applause I could ever get again."
NYT November 23, 2017
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Trump's NAFTA negotiations
The United States has called for raising that threshold for the automobile industry to 85 percent, up from 62.5 percent previously. And it has asked for a new requirement that half of a car be manufactured solely in the United States--a provision at odds with the wishes of American automakers, who fear it will drive up their costs and make them less competitive globally.
Canadian and Mexican officials did not make specific counterproposals to these requests. Instead, they presented data showinbg the harm the proposition would inflict on the auto sector and pressed the United Stats to explain its reasoning.
That response frustrated the United States.
NYT November 22, 2017
Canadian and Mexican officials did not make specific counterproposals to these requests. Instead, they presented data showinbg the harm the proposition would inflict on the auto sector and pressed the United Stats to explain its reasoning.
That response frustrated the United States.
NYT November 22, 2017
Monday, November 20, 2017
Hurricanes and government flood insurance and disaster funding
"We ought to call federal flood insurance what it actually is," as Phil Bedient, an engineer and colleague of Mr. Blackburn's at Rice, put it. "It is subsidized floodplain development." The Netherlands--the global gold standard for water management--does not offer a national flood insurance program for just this reason.
The problem is that hurricanes and floods, worsened by climate change, do not recognize political borders or county lines Their toll is shared by everyone. The latest estimate from Moody's puts recovery from Harvey at $81 billion, much of which will end up paid by taxpayers across the United States.
Harris county demands that new developments retain enough rainwater on site to neutralize the effects of a 100-year storm. But those 100-year numbers date back years. They are based on mitigating a storm that averages 13.2 inches of rain in 24 hours. Harvey brought 25.9 inches in 24 hours. The Memorial Day flood dropped 11 inches in three hours. The Tax Day flood dumped 17 inches in 12 hours in the Katy Prairie.
"Looking back, should we have spent more to avoid some of the flooding?" Judge Emmett asked, rhetorically, when we met in his office. "Sure. Did taxpayers want to pay more to do those things? No."
" We need a whole new structure of governance," he insisted. "We've built in watersheds, paved roades and highways because we don't have mass transit. Inevitably, it all catches up with us."
NYTimes November 12, 2017, "Houston After Hurricane Harvey"
The problem is that hurricanes and floods, worsened by climate change, do not recognize political borders or county lines Their toll is shared by everyone. The latest estimate from Moody's puts recovery from Harvey at $81 billion, much of which will end up paid by taxpayers across the United States.
Harris county demands that new developments retain enough rainwater on site to neutralize the effects of a 100-year storm. But those 100-year numbers date back years. They are based on mitigating a storm that averages 13.2 inches of rain in 24 hours. Harvey brought 25.9 inches in 24 hours. The Memorial Day flood dropped 11 inches in three hours. The Tax Day flood dumped 17 inches in 12 hours in the Katy Prairie.
"Looking back, should we have spent more to avoid some of the flooding?" Judge Emmett asked, rhetorically, when we met in his office. "Sure. Did taxpayers want to pay more to do those things? No."
" We need a whole new structure of governance," he insisted. "We've built in watersheds, paved roades and highways because we don't have mass transit. Inevitably, it all catches up with us."
NYTimes November 12, 2017, "Houston After Hurricane Harvey"
Redesigning an adobe house in Arizona
Inside the original building, used mainly for sleeping, they designed four movable wardrobes in order to separate each bedroom. These can be reconfigured to create up to five rooms, as needed.
The addition has an all-glass facade with a view of the lush lawn and serves as a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and, separated by a bookshelf wall, a workspace. The two buildings are connected through shaded walkways on either side of the courtyard.
"To us, there's a ritual to it," Matthew said. "Of having to walk in between and experiencing nature. I grew up in a Chinese courtyard house on Maui, where you had to go outside to go between each room. Most of the rooms were not joined. And it's a wonderful experience, because it provides that mental break between one side of the house and the other. And it reconnects you with nature, even if it's just for a few seconds.
Arizona Republic/USA Today, November 10, 2017
The addition has an all-glass facade with a view of the lush lawn and serves as a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and, separated by a bookshelf wall, a workspace. The two buildings are connected through shaded walkways on either side of the courtyard.
"To us, there's a ritual to it," Matthew said. "Of having to walk in between and experiencing nature. I grew up in a Chinese courtyard house on Maui, where you had to go outside to go between each room. Most of the rooms were not joined. And it's a wonderful experience, because it provides that mental break between one side of the house and the other. And it reconnects you with nature, even if it's just for a few seconds.
Arizona Republic/USA Today, November 10, 2017
Alan Bennett on libraries
"Closing libraries is child abuse."
Review of Keeping On Keeping On, by Alan Bennett, NYTimes, November 8, 2017
Review of Keeping On Keeping On, by Alan Bennett, NYTimes, November 8, 2017
Richard Hambleton, conceptual artist
"I was alive when I died, you know. That's the problem."
NYTimes obituary, November 4, 2017
NYTimes obituary, November 4, 2017
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