The death of language?

"6% of the worlds languages are spoken by 94% of the world's population / The remaining 94% of languages are spoken by only 6% of the population / The largest single language by population is Mandarin (845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329 million speakers) and English (328 million speakers). / 133 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm

"We would spend an awful lot of money to preserve a very old building, because it is part of our heritage. These languages and cultures are equally part of our heritage and merit preservation."

Zen cannot be taught via the Internet or on a blog ...

"Zen cannot be taught via the Internet or on a blog. Same as you couldn't teach someone how to play basketball via the Internet or on a blog.

Sure you could teach a lot about basketball via the Internet, its history, its major players, statistics, descriptions of playing techniques. You could even put up some helpful videos or give advice to people who emailed questions. But you couldn't really teach basketball that way. You would need to be face-to-face in the same gymnasium. No two ways about it.

People imagine you could teach Zen via the Internet because they imagine that Zen is an intellectual philosophy, they imagine that the words are the philosophy. But they aren't, not anymore than the words in a blog about basketball are the real act of playing basketball."

http://hardcorezen.blogspot.com/2009/10/comments_16.html

Fry's Twitter lift for singer, 16

"A schoolgirl singer-songwriter has seen the online interest in her work soar after actor, writer and comedian Stephen Fry praised it on Twitter.

Nia Roberts, 16, from Llandudno, Conwy, has seen plays of her songs on her MySpace site jump from 900 to 18,000. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8306827.stm

http://www.myspace.com/sunrisesunsetacoustic

Fashion photographer embraces Buddhism

"Fashion photographer Clive Arrowsmith has all the qualities that professional photographers share – he is passionate about his job, he is creative and sensitive, and he has a seemingly endless energy supply. The minute you begin talking with him, you will instantly feel those qualities.

But Arrowsmith is no easy match, in terms of both professional career and love life stories.

The North Wales-born celebrity snapper has taken pictures of everyone from David Bowie to the Dalai Lama. He shared a flat with Paul McCartney when the Beatles were still called The Quarrymen."

http://preciousmetal.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/fashion-photographer-embraces-buddhism/

"For the 67-year-old Arrowsmith, Buddhism is the most wonderful thing. But there is another very important thing for the senior photographer – work, he said.

“Work is everything. It’s like meditation. When I take a picture, it’s the focus, the concentration. I do costume, make up, hair, for the models, then I copy it with beautiful light. I with a camera, to copy the moment.”

Arrowsmith said he does not do landscape photography, because the view is already there. He’s also less interested in going to war zones to take photographs. When asked what the most fascinating thing is in being a fashion photographer, he does not hesitate for a second but answers, “it’s new every time.” "