Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Delivering Art: St Swithin’s Day.

“Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.” 
Zig Ziglar


There’s a classic episode of The Simpsons where Bart breaks his leg. It borrows heavily from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and a standout scene involves Bart reciting a play he wrote. He adopts a terrible British accent to talk about kippers and something called St Swithin’s Day. As it turns out, it’s a real thing that falls on July 15. And between vengeful spirits and weather folklore, it’s pretty damn interesting.






Time For A Rethink In How The Arts Are Delivered

Of course, Zoom is not the answer to saving the arts for the digital generation, but it does pose the question: Why don’t we have better alternatives? For many institutions, fear that improving the virtual performance would threaten the health of the physical one has kept them in a state of pseudo-Internet denial. But the international health crisis has forced organizations to confront a generational sea change that has been brewing across the arts since Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. – The American Scholar



These missing years were caused either “by accident, ... in 800 AD, had architecture similarities to chapels constructed over 200 years later


Fast-tracking your smart kid does not make them less happy, either short run or long run.


How to get people to wear masks/condoms.


HIV-positive patients receiving TDF/FTC have a lower risk for COVID-19 and related hospitalization than those receiving other therapies.”  And quick survey on RNA vaccines.

 “Anxieties surrounding Chinese interference also exist at other Canadian universities.


So far deaths are still not spiking.  To be clear, this result still may change, and if so I will report


Defense of Pinker, with input from Pinker himself


 “Think about it: Grey parrot outperforms Harvard undergrads. That’s pretty freaking awesome…


Audubon.org: “Every spring, the judges of the Audubon Photography Awards gather at Audubon’s headquarters in Manhattan to review their favorite images and select the finalists. But as with much of life in 2020, this year’s awards had to be handled differently due to pandemic-related travel, work, and social-distancing restrictions. So, for our 11th annual awards, which saw more than 6,000 submissions, the judges assembled in an epic day-long Zoom meeting to winnow down the remaining pool to just the 10 winners and honorable mentions shown here.


The NBN – ‘complete’ but not finished

With the NBN rollout now ‘complete’ on 30 June, it would seem that this is as good as broadband connectivity is going to get for Australian households. Continue reading 


The fields near Mark di Suvero’s spatially dynamic sculptures largely made from industrial steel beams. At age 86 he still works the cherry picker, installing the many works exhibited here since 1976.
CREDITBRYAN DERBALLA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK

Storm King Reopens for the Art-Starved

The pastoral sculpture park in New York’s Hudson Valley opens its gates, with new works by Mark di Suvero, Kiki Smith and Martha Tuttle — and new precautions.


Bye bye, Mathias. Is Spud next?