A New Book by our Co-Editor, David Mayernik
TIMELESS CITIES: An Architect's Reflections on Renaissance Italy (Westview Press: Icon Editions) focuses on the civic mythology, or personas if you will, of five Italian cities (Rome, Venice, Florence, Siena, and Pienza), and how that mythology pre-dated and gave shape to the building fabric we know today. In essence, those cities had a self-image, a mythology, and a set of aspirations/dreams, and these directed and gave shape to their urban development, creating the renowned places tourists flock to visit and residents enjoy. More than a book on historic cities, the book uses these examples as living models, and describes how we can learn to make our cities today speak for our own dreams and aspirations. [More Information]
It is available NOW at online bookstores, such as AMAZON.
Wednesday, 19 November 2003
Three Fountains of Hope
The state funeral for the 19 Italian soldiers killed in Iraq was held yesterday at the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mure in Rome. San Paolo was beheaded at a place near where the church would be erected in his memory. Legend has it that three fountains spouted out of the ground where his head fell. As a piece of architecture, its essential Romanesque form is surrounded by a series of Classical porticos and decorated with Byzantine imagery. Many Italians, moved to great despondency by the horror of it all came out in droves to pay their respects. Some even suggested that these men were martyrs of our time. We can only pray for the same hopes inspired by the miracle of the three fountains.
President Bush has repeatedly called the American and British soldiers fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq 'heroes' who have died in the cause of defending liberty and
democracy. They are comforting words that need to be said but similar praise, one supposes, could be offered for any soldier who dies in war. All nations honour their fallen no matter the rights or wrongs of how they got into conflict. Was the loss of, say, a young German during WWII any less tragic for the fact that he fell fighting for a misguided cause? The invasion of Iraq is now mostly characterised as a liberation from tyranny although the only official pretext was the alleged presence of arms of mass destruction. This seeming policy contradiction has never been adequately explained but the bottom-line now is that Iraq needs to be rebuilt. For some the price has already been too high and for others the anxiety is getting to them. Somehow the situation in the Middle East has become the fulcrum of concerns about the future of humanity itself.
Refer: L'ITALIA SI STRINGE ATTORNO AI SUOI CADUTI NELL'ULTIMO SALUTO - ANSA.it
Monday, 17 November 2003
Checkmate Stalemate!
Garry Kasparov the world chess champion is fighting to keep the sport of chess, Human. He is matching wits with a chess playing computer which actually means that instinct is fighting planning - the computer having the benefit of being programmed beforehand. Thus far Kasparov has learnt that the programmed logic works well to a point but it has problems projecting possible moves when it becomes closed in by the opposing pieces. This is one of the really fascinating things happening to the human intellect at the moment.
Refer: Man, machine fight to be king - CNN
