Miscellaneous
What price peace and quiet?
More and more companies see silence as a golden business opportunity. Janet Paskin | July 2008 issue In search of silence in midtown Manhattan, I’ve landed myself head down and knees up, horizontal in a “nap pod.” For $18 and 25 minutes, I’ll be covered by a blanket and bathed in low blue Read More...
Soft machines
New technologies can help lessen the sonic impact of generating and consuming energy. Marc van Dinther | July 2008 issue Just name the noise, and chances are someone somewhere has launched a campaign to tone it down. Don't like the sound of lawn mowers? Call in the California firm Goats R Us, Read More...
less than zero
What does silence really sound like? Step inside an anechoic chamber to find out. Marisa Taylor | July 2008 issue The sky is bright and cloudless: another perfect day in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I’m about to spend part of it inside a windowless, soundless room called an anechoic chamber Read More...
Because God whispers
Being silent means more than just holding your tongue. It means listening for the softest, most subtle sound of all - the sound of the soul. Tijn Touber | July 2008 issue I’m not listening. “Hurry up, sir. You have just half an hour to reach the hotel. After that the whole island becomes Read More...
In the land of the hearing
How the deaf have mastered the art of silent communication. Ronald Ligtenberg | July 2008 issue In The Country of The Blind, the classic book by H.G. Wells, a seeing man isn’t accepted by a society of blind people. He makes every effort to prove he can do things the others can’t, but the blind Read More...
Five stories about silence
| July 2008 issueJuly_2008 We need more than multinationals to achieve Read More...
Couscous–shhh...
Learning the art of listening while you cook. Elbrich Fennema | July 2008 issue When we focus on silence, we focus on sound. Becoming silent is a gradual process. When we switch off louder elements, we hear things that are normally drowned out. This applies to life in general, and definitely to Read More...
4'33
4 minutes and 33 seconds of composed silence. Josey Duncan | July 2008 issue On August 29, 1952, at a concert hall in Woodstock, New York, pianist David Tudor sat down to play avant-garde American composer John Cage’s creation, 4’33’’. The piece requires the performer to stay at the piano Read More...
Join my gang
Nelsa Curbelo, a 66-year-old former nun and schoolteacher, took on the toughest young criminals in Ecuador’s most violent city—and won them over with love. Hilary Hart | June 2008 issue In the city of Guayaquil in southern Ecuador, Latin pop music blares through the doorway of a Read More...
Video: Barrio de Paz
Hart,Hilary| June 2008 issue In the barrios of Guayaquil, Ecuador an amazing transformation is taking place. Through the efforts of one woman, rival gangs have formed truces, turned in their weapons and have started working together to rebuild the community. Nelsa Libertad Curbelo Cora is proponent Read More...