Using Google as a tool for social reflection, Part 1 “Why are…”
Thanks to Elie who commented on a previous post, I was introduced to Gdumb.com which uses the auto-suggest feature in the search bar as an indicator of some of the most ridiculous search queries you could imagine. Elie’s own post about it explores three partial queries: “Why is Israel…”, “Why are Jews…”, and “Aliyah is… .” The results are very interesting and a transparent* indicator of the attitudes and questions that people have.
* As transparent as Google is.
This being a site about mixed identity, the next obvious extension was to try plugging in queries containing racial identifiers.
Tango violin techniques
I’ve been playing violin in a Piazzolla cover band, Tango Negro (myspace, 無名小站), for just over 2 years now and have had to learn a whole set of new (and unusual) techniques for the violin. For those not familiar with Piazzolla’s music, the violin and other instruments have been assigned to provide atmospheric sound effects and percussion. It is difficult to find English-language literature or resources on these techniques, but some do exist as listed below.