06.03.12

Review: A Cat in Paris

"Children watching “A Cat In Paris” may experience a few moments of fright and sorrow — there is gunfire, and Dino’s murder of innocent lizards is celebrated rather than condemned — but they are also likely to be captivated by its elegant mixture of gravity and mischief.

"As are adults, since there is very little of the noisy, sentimental pandering that is too often a feature of kid-targeted entertainment nowadays. This movie is graceful, subtle and sure-footed, much as its English title implies.

" “A Cat in Paris” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). Some scary, sad stuff."

Accessed @ NY Times

Digital Afterlife: 
What happens to your online accounts when you die?
Fri Jun 1, 2012 10:53 AM EDT  By Jessica Hopper

"Only five states currently have estate laws that include digital assets -- Connecticut, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Indiana and Idaho – and the laws vary among them. Some states’ statutes, for instance, just relate to email, with only Oklahoma and Idaho clearly including social networking and blogging as part of an estate.

“Legally it is unclear exactly what you can do in the 45 states -- and Washington, D.C. -- that do not have these laws that address this situation,” Cahn said. “Even in those states where there are laws, we’re still in the process of testing how those laws operate. They don’t cover all Internet accounts and the laws are new enough that they’re just in the process of being worked out....

"The growing murkiness over digital assets recently prompted the federal government to post a blog  (How and Why You Should Write a Social Media Will) encouraging people to create social media wills. "

Accessed at:  http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com

Where's My Bailout? Artistist Rescue Funds
By Caitlin Kelly Published: June 2, 2012

"Self-employed artists, whatever their specific field or previous level of financial success, cannot collect unemployment benefits and often face restricted access to traditional forms of capital, like bank loans or lines of credit. And their contributions to the nation’s economic life are sometimes dismissed.

Yet a 2008 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, called “Artists in the Workplace,” found that artists, athletes and museums contributed $70.9 billion to the economy annually. Artists are twice as likely as other American workers to be college-educated and 3.5 times as likely to be self-employed. No matter how successful they’ve been, many creative people can run into financial trouble if their work falls out of favor, if they lose clients, if arts budgets wither or if they have a health crisis."

Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/business

Crackdown on Chinese Bloggers Who Fight the Censors With Puns

By Michael Wines  Published: May 28, 2012

"BEIJING — One of China’s largest hosts of Twitter-like microblogs decreed new punishments on Monday for users who post comments that its editors — and by extension, China’s government censors — deem inappropriate.

The service, Sina Weibo, imposed “user contracts” that award each of its 300 million microbloggers a starting score of 80 points.

Points can be deducted for online comments that are judged to be offensive. When a blogger reaches zero, the service stated, a user’s account will be canceled. Users who suffer lesser penalties can restore their 80 points by avoiding violations for two months."

Accessed at NY Times


Judge revokes bail for George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin case

By NBC's Jamie Novogrod

"A Florida judge on Friday revoked the bail for George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case, saying he had misled the court about his finances, and ordered him to present himself to the court within 48 hours.

"Prosecutors alleged in a court filing that Zimmerman, 28, hid from the court the fact that he had raised $135,000 on a website he set up before he was granted $150,000 bail on April 20. Zimmerman is facing second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Martin, 17, in February.

"In a hearing in Sanford, Fla., that Zimmerman did not attend, Judge Kenneth Lester said Zimmerman engaged in a "material falsehood" about his finances.

"Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda  said Zimmerman's wife, Shelly, led the court to believe they were penniless, which he called a “blatant lie.

"De la Rionda said the Zimmermans spoke in "code" about moving finances around during telephone calls while George Zimmerman was in custody.

Accessed at usnews.msnbc.msn.com


U.N. Rights Body Condemns Syria Over Houla Massacre

"The U.N.’s top human rights body voted overwhelmingly Friday to condemn Syria over the slaughter of more than 100 civilians last week, but Damascus appeared impervious to the crescendo of global condemnation following a string of horrific massacres."

Accessed @ Washington Times


Go Google! Google Adds Feature to Help China Searchers


"BEIJING (AP) - Google has fired a new salvo in a censorship battle with Beijing by adding a feature that warns users in China who enter search keywords that might produce blocked results and suggests they try other terms.


Google’s announcement Thursday described the change as a technical improvement and made no mention of Beijing’s extensive Internet controls. But it comes after filters were tightened so severely in recent weeks that searches fail for some restaurants, universities or tourist information. Authorities were trying to stamp out talk about an embarrassing scandal over the fall of a rising Communist Party star."  Accessed at: Washington Times

Thai Message Board Manager Is Given Suspended Prison Sentence

By Thomas Fuller & Kevin Drew

"BANGKOK — A Thai court sentenced the manager of an Internet message board to a one-year suspended prison term on Wednesday for comments posted by users that insulted the Thai royal family. The sentence was immediately condemned by Google and human rights groups....

"The manager of the site, Prachatai, a popular forum for discussions about politics and culture, was convicted of lèse-majesté, as royal insults are known, under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act. Courts in Thailand have jailed people convicted of lèse-majesté with increasing frequency in recent years, but the verdict on Wednesday was unusual in that the defendant, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, was not the author of the offending comments; she was just the Web master of the site that hosted them.

"Taj Meadows, a spokesman for Google, said in an e-mailed statement that the verdict was “a serious threat to the future of the Internet in Thailand...

”The Computer Crimes Act is controversial in Thailand partly because it was enacted by an un-elected government installed after the military coup in 2006."

Accessed at NY Times



Sometimes Less is Just Less
By Kim R. Holmes

"Economic austerity has hit the armed forces of the U.S. and Europe, and military leaders are trying to make the best of tight budgets.

"Unfortunately a misleading narrative has crept into their explanations: The claim that more, somehow, can be done with less. 

"The poster boy of this narrative is NATO’s Smart Defense Initiative highlighted at its summit last week in Chicago. The approach is to pool and share military resources through a series of multinational projects. The idea, as NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says, is to “enable allies to do more together than each can afford to do on their own.”


"A laudable idea on its face. And it has some good plans. It makes sense, for example, to more efficiently use resources to improve access to munitions, use of ground and air surveillance, and airlift capability. There are 20 approved projects in NATO’s Smart Defense Initiative, and they are certainly well intended.


"But any time the word “smart” is formally attached to a government initiative, my skeptical antennae go up.


"...here’s the most salient fact: Europe is slashing its defense capabilities from an already very low level....Second, this initiative actually “nationalizes” certain kinds of military capability in the name of collectivizing them in pools...


"But there is a hitch in this approach. As the Heritage Foundation’s Luke Coffey argues, a “shared” capability which belongs largely to a single NATO member may not be shared when it is needed....


"So beware of “smart” claims that less is more. Less usually is what it is — less."
Read Complete Article @ Washington Post


A climate of hypocrisy:
Liberals live it up while preaching austerity



"There’s nothing so profitable as being among the concerned climate experts who preach austerity. These enlightened few hector ordinary Americans into sacrificing their functional light bulbs, toilets and sport utility vehicles so the planet can be preserved. According to them, failure to give up these luxuries will overheat the globe and provoke devastating floods and hurricanes.


"The peddlers of such apocalyptic tales rarely practice austerity themselves. Earlier this month, Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, asked Michael J. Ahearn, chairman of the board for First Solar Inc., to come and testify before a congressional oversight panel about his solar-panel business....


"An impious Mr. Issa, however, couldn’t help but inquire about how Mr. Ahearn made the journey from Tempe, Ariz., to Washington. According to liberals, carbon dioxide - the odorless gas that makes respiration possible - is destroying the Earth itself. So instead of driving an SUV, we’re all supposed to take the bus, ride a bicycle or even walk. Mr. Ahearn did none of these. “I flew in yesterday on a Challenger,” he explained. “A 300,” referring to the model.


"According to data from Bombardier, the manufacturer of the $20 million luxury jet, the round trip would have produced about 21.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s equal to five years’ worth of per-person emissions from the average household, by the Environmental Protection Agency’s reckoning. There’s no telling how many thousands of households would have to turn down the thermostat to offset the emissions from the annual travel of just one green-energy CEO."


Accessed @ Washington Times

Google's World Wonders Project

From the archaeological areas of Pompeii to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Google’s World Wonders Project aims to bring to life the wonders of the modern and ancient world.
      
What is the World Wonders Project?


The Google World Wonders Project is a platform which brings world heritage sites of the modern and ancient world online. Using Street View, 3D modeling and other Google technologies, we have made these amazing sites accessible to everyone across the globe. With videos, photos and in-depth information, you can now explore the world wonders from your armchair just as if you were there.


Why is Google doing this?


Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. With this project we want to make the world heritage sites available to everyone and to digitally preserve them for future generations. We believe that the World Wonders Project can be especially useful for students, scholars and teachers to engage in an innovative and interactive way of learning.


Who is involved?


We are working with partners including UNESCO and World Monuments Fund to support us in providing valuable information to our users.


How do I get started?


Start exploring world heritage sites by either flicking through the picture carousel on the homepage or play with the globe to discover random sites from all over the world. You can also find places by themes or locations chosen over the drop-down panel on the top of the homepage. For more guidance, please watch the website demo that can be found when you click on the “i”-icon on the homepage.

92 Theses of Business:

Point-By-Point Takedown Of AOL Management

Starboard Value, a fund that owns 5.3% of AOL, wants other shareholders to vote out several board members at the company's upcoming June annual meeting.

To make the case, it has released a brutal, point-by-point takedown of AOL management.

The document is highly critical and its getting coverage all over.

Accessed @ www.businessinsider.com

Before Working @ Microsoft....

The 10 Most Important Companies In Cloud Computing

Accessed @ Business Insider

Successfactors Alumni

Accessed @ All Things D

04.24.12

Obama Targets Technology In Human Rights Abuses

"Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama announced Monday that he has signed an executive order allowing new sanctions against companies that enable Syria and Iran to use technology such as cell phone monitoring to carry out human rights abuses.

"The order is part of a broader strategy intended to strengthen the administration's ability to prevent atrocities, including creation of an Atrocities Prevention Board, Obama said in somber remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

" "These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them," Obama said of the measure, which targets the Syrian and Iranian governments, as well as companies that provide them with high-tech equipment to use against their own people."

Mexican Immigration Is Actually Moving Backwards

"A new study says that for the first time since the Great Depression, there may be fewer Mexican immigrants coming into the United States than there are moving from the United States back to Mexico. According to the Pew Research Center, the net migration between the U.S. and Mexico over the last five years was essentially zero, and the downward trend suggests that flow of both legal and illegal immigrants may have actually reversed back toward Mexico.

"There are many possible reasons to explain the decline, but the most obvious one would seem to be the struggling U.S. economy, which has cost millions of available jobs, particularly in construction and in the South, where recent immigrants generally thrive. There have also been big increases in enforcement, deportations, and border security, although the report also says that arrests of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border has actually plummeted by nearly 75%. Whether that's because fewer people want to come here or they just don't think it's worth the risk is hard to pin down, but the number of folks willing to take the chance is definitely declining.

"Given the continued hysteria over illegal immigrants and how demographic shifts might change the country in the future, many Americans might be shocked to learn that the shift is actually heading in the other direction. There have been several state laws just within the last couple of years that were passed on the premise that illegal immigration was out of control, even as the population of Mexican immigrants is apparently lower than it has been in decades. (Some might argue that the news laws are responsible for that, but the trend was clearly in place even before they were passed.) The Supreme Court will actually hear arguments this week about the harsh Arizona law that has been at the center of the debate for the last couple years, but this new evidence may put the crackdown in a new light, since the problem it was intended to resolve may not actually exist."  from Dashiell Bennett @ The Atlantic Wire

Stress Rises on Social Security

"Social Security and Medicare, the government-run health plan for senior citizens, are together the largest U.S. public benefit programs and account for one-third of the federal budget. The programs' costs are projected to grow rapidly because of the aging U.S. population and, in Medicare's case, the rising cost of health care....

"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration would seek to work with Congress to come up with a long-term solution to repair the solvency of the disability trust fund but didn't offer specifics. "The best thing to do is a long-term solution," he said....

"Social Security's worsening outlook comes from a combination of higher cost-of-living adjustments pushing benefits up and lagging wage growth holding down tax revenue.

"In recent years, the Social Security disability rolls have soared, as many Americans with mental and physical health problems sought to enter the program and others with less severe issues applied because of a scarcity of work."  from Damian Paletta @ The WSJ

Call for Growth to Counter German Push for Austerity

BERLIN — "With political allies weakened or ousted, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s seat at the head of the European table has become much less comfortable, as a reckoning with Germany’s insistence on lock-step austerity appears to have begun.


" “The formula is not working, and everyone is now talking about whether austerity is the only solution,” said Jordi Vaquer i Fanés, a political scientist and director of the Barcelona Center for International Affairs in Spain....


"From trading floors to polling stations to the streets of cities across Europe, the message appears increasingly to be that countries cannot cut their way to fiscal health. They need growth, too. In recent months, powerful voices have joined the chorus, including those of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, and Italy’s prime minister, Mario Monti. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has called repeatedly for Europe to defer budget cutting in favor of some form of stimulus spending.

Pressured by the presidential campaign, even Mr. Sarkozy, once Ms. Merkel’s most prominent ally, has begun to talk of the need for growth."  from Nicholas Kulish @ NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/world/europe/call-for-growth-puts-pressure-on-german-led-austerity.html

Review: 'History of Space Photography'

"The gallery at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena is also on hand — albeit it coincidentally — to mark the passage of government near-exclusivity in space exploration. A large exhibition chronicles "The History of Space Photography" through May 6....

"Guest curator Jay Belloli worked with several consultants from the nearby Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL, founded at Caltech and affiliated with NASA, has 23 spacecraft and 10 instruments conducting active missions, according to its website.) Belloli and his team selected 150 noteworthy images, most from the last 50 years of space exploration, and added three video projections that feature various celestial animations....

"The show includes classics, such as Edward Hubble's 1923 telescopic photograph verifying the existence of galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Astronaut John Glenn's 1962 color photograph taken from the window of his orbital spacecraft is a kind of drive-by tourist snapshot on steroids (it shows the Georgia coastline). "The History of Space Photography" offers total visual fictions too, since images made from cameras performing digital scans gathered over time (sometimes many minutes) are composites; color is also always malleable and print size is arbitrary...."  from Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times Art Critic

View Slide Show

Bright purple crab discovered in Philippines

Four new species of crab that sport some wild colors have been discovered near the Philippine island of Palawan. 

From Our Amazing Planet: link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47158113/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T5bQh6tYvdU

04.04.12

iBrain: A Mind Reading Machine

The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism.


The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism. Invented by a team led by Philip Low, a 32-year-old neuroscientist who is chief executive of NeuroVigil, a company based in San Diego, the iBrain is gaining attention as a possible alternative to expensive sleep labs that use rubber and plastic caps riddled with dozens of electrodes and usually require a patient to stay overnight.

“The iBrain can collect data in real time in a person’s own bed, or when they’re watching TV, or doing just about anything,” Dr. Low said.

Why the Coming Patent Crisis is Inevitable



 "At some point in the future, a company is going to skip the settlement and use the courts to shut down a popular and universal feature on the Web's top domains, simply because it has a patent that says it came up with the notion first. It will be a shock that reverberates all the way to the U.S. government and the World Trade Organization.

I suspect a patent crisis is both necessary and inevitable. The reason is simple: there isn't enough political will or pressure to institute massive patent reform without a crisis to rally around."




GSA chief gone: fallout continues in wake of lavish expense

"Tangherlini said in a letter of introduction to GSA employees that the agency was taking some immediate action "to ensure that our customers maintain their faith in our services." Those measure include a review of planned conferences and meetings that involve travel or substantial expenditures of public funds and the cancellation of a number of conferences that only or primarily involved staff, he said in the letter."

Groupon Sued by Shareholder over Financial Revisions

" "Groupon's internal controls were so poor and inadequate that Groupon's reported results were not reliable," shareholder Fan Zhang alleged, according to Bloomberg review of the complaint filed in federal court in Chicago....The lawsuit comes a day after reports that Groupon's revision of its first set of financial results as a public company had attracted the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, although the commission has reportedly not yet elected to launch a formal investigation of the company."

Big Society Fund Launches with £600m to Invest

"Big Society Capital has £600m, of which the majority comes from unused cash in bank accounts that had been dormant for more than 15 years.  The fund will back social enterprises that prove they can repay an investment through the income they generate.  "This is about supplying capital to help society expand," said Prime Minister David Cameron."

Facebook Counters Yahoo's Legal Action with a Lawsuit

"In its lawsuit, Yahoo claimed that Mark Zuckerberg's company's "entire social network model" was based on its technology, and infringed its rights to innovations involved in messaging, privacy controls, advertising, customisation and social networking.

Facebook is preparing for initial public offering on a stock market that could value Facebook at $100bn (£64bn).  Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years against competition from both Facebook and Google, has a market value of $18.3bn.  On Wall Street, Yahoo shares fell 28 cents on Tuesday to close at $15.18."

FSA Fines JP Morgan Banker Ian Hannam for Market Abuse

"One of the City's top bankers, Ian Hannam, has been fined £450,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for providing inside information to a prospective client.  Mr Hannam has resigned as chairman of Capital Markets at JP Morgan Cazenove, and is appealing against the decision.  A former captain in the territorial SAS, he said the FSA's conclusion was wrong and he had acted with integrity.

The FSA said that while Mr Hannam had not deliberately set out to commit market abuse, his failings were serious because of his experience and senior position at JP Morgan.  It claims he disclosed inside information in two emails sent to a prospective client towards the end of 2008."

Europe Opens Patent Investigations Into Motorola Mobility

"BRUSSELS — The European Union’s competition office on Tuesday opened two antitrust cases against Motorola Mobility for possibly abusing its patents following complaints by two rivals, Microsoft and Apple.

The cases are the latest stage in what has become a full-blown battle over the ownership of essential technologies that help power mobile and gaming devices, a fight that has engulfed Google and virtually all the other major players in the industry."

The Met, the ‘Ring’ and the Rage Against the Machine

"Peter Gelb has both raised expectations and invited criticism by calling Robert Lepage’s $16 million production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle for the Metropolitan Opera revolutionary. He used the word again in a recent interview at his office, as he spoke of the “trials and tribulations” of executing Mr. Lepage’s “superhuman,” technically daunting concept in a repertory theater “against amazing odds.”

"...But Mr. Gelb, the Met’s general manager since 2006, has been living it, attending every stage rehearsal and “complaining bitterly,” he said, about the persistent clankiness of the so-called machine, the 45-ton set of movable planks that dominate the production.He could be right....But for many people, making the set a character is the problem. The machine imposes itself and distracts us from Wagner’s music drama."

Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 production of “Die Walküre,” on the machine, the 45-ton set of movable planks.



So, is this statistical debate over whether the poverty line is too high or too low missing the real issue?

What Does India’s Poverty Line Actually Measure?

Jean Drèze, an economist and former member of the National Advisory Council, certainly thinks so. “What is really shocking is not that the official poverty line is abysmally low, but that even with that abysmal benchmark, so many people are below it,” he told us. “The belated discovery that it is impossible to have a dignified life on the official poverty line draws our attention to the appalling living conditions of the Indian poor.” Taking a position diametrically opposed to Mr. Bhalla and Mr. Panagariya, Mr. Drèze argues, “The message about the terrifying nature of ‘hidden poverty’ in India has been somewhat lost in the din of the recent debate.”

NEW ORLEANS — Rarely has a national title seemed to yield so little to celebrate. The starting five for the champion Kentucky Wildcats — a mix of freshmen and sophomores — are expected to enter the N.B.A. draft, and never again play for the college they ever so briefly attended....

"Mark Emmert, the president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, had already expressed regret that the N.B.A.’s so-called “one-and-done” rule allows universities to recruit athletes who show little interest in getting an education.

Arizona Law to Censor the Internet

"...The rule is actually enforced by the N.B.A., which has no plans to change it. It was put in place in 2005 as part of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, after teams spent years investing in athletic but unproven teenagers who were jumping straight to the N.B.A. from high school. Some, like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, turned into stars. Others flopped.

"Technically, the rule does not force talented players like Kentucky’s Anthony Davis to go to college, but it states that they must be one year removed from their graduating high school class to be eligible for the N.B.A. draft. Academics have criticized the rule and the N.C.A.A. has complained, but neither had the power to make any changes. Even a former Kentucky president, Lee T. Todd Jr., has expressed uneasiness with the situation, one which can give players little incentive to attend class, let alone excel academically, after a certain point in the season."

"First Amendment rights group Media Coalition, which represents the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association of American Publishers and other related groups, says the bill is not only a violation of the First Amendment, but is so far-ranging as to be preposterous.


In a letter to the governor, the coalition said while government can criminalize speech "that rises to the level of harassment, and many states have laws that do so," Arizona's legislation:


... takes a law meant to address irritating phone calls and applies it to communication on web sites, blogs, listserves and other Internet communication. H.B. 2549 is not limited to a one to one conversation between two specific people. The communication does not need to be repetitive or even unwanted. There is no requirement that the recipient or subject of the speech actually feel offended, annoyed or scared. Nor does the legislation make clear that the communication must be intended to offend or annoy the reader, the subject or even any specific person."

Failing to provide Facebook password gets teacher's aide fired

“(Superintendent Colby) asked me three times if he could view my Facebook and I repeatedly said I was not OK with that,” Hester told WSBT.


In a letter to Hester from the Lewis Cass ISD Special Education Director, he wrote “…in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly.


Hester is currently on unpaid leave, collecting workman's compensation while legally battling the school district. "I stand by it," Hester told WSTB News. "I did nothing wrong. And I would not, still to this day, let them in my Facebook.  And I don’t think it’s OK for an employer to ask you.”

Getting Personal About Aung San Suu Kyi

Art & Art Education

Researchers say long-lost Leonardo may have been found

At the start of the 16th century, Florence's leaders commissioned Leonardo, then at the height of his career, to paint a massive fresco celebrating the Florentine Republic's victory over the Milanese in a battle on the plains of Anghiari that took place on June 29, 1440.

Leonardo, who loathed war as "a most beastly madness," depicted a group of horses and riders furiously fighting.

He abandoned the project a year after he started, probably because a new experimental technique for frescoes failed. But some of his preparatory studies remain, as well as other artists' copies of the original fresco.

All traces of the original were lost more than 50 years later when Giorgio Vasari renovated the great Sala dei Cinquecento in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio and was ordered to paint a new fresco, "The Battle of Marciano," to accommodate the higher walls.

Read original article @ Reuters

See more photos @ Washington Post's The Style Blog

Are video games art? Draw your own conclusions

Are video games worthy of being counted, like movies and paintings, among accepted art forms?

The 120,000 Americans who work at creating games probably would argue yes. And many of the 100-million-plus who spend upward of $20 billion a year to play them would concur — if they ever looked up from their screens and joysticks long enough to think about it.

On the other side fall writers such as film critic Roger Ebert, who famously said several years ago that video games weren't comparable to great paintings, poetry, films and novels and could never be considered art.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, which houses such masters as Georgia O'Keeffe and John Singer Sargent, steps right into the middle of the argument with a new exhibit, The Art of Video Games. It begins a six-month stay at the Washington museum Friday before going on a national tour.  Read original article @ USA Today Life Section

Photos of Exhibit 

 

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has the details:

"The Art of Video Games is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. It features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. The exhibition focuses on the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3. Eighty games, selected with the help of the public, demonstrate the evolution of the medium. The games are presented through still images and video footage. In addition, the galleries will include video interviews with twenty developers and artists, large prints of in-game screen shots, and historic game consoles. Chris Melissinos, founder of Past Pixels and collector of video games and gaming systems, is the curator of the exhibition."

                                         Smithsonian Museums and Zoo Website




Academy of Art University and NASA Announce Design Partnership


This semester, Academy of Art University Industrial Design students will collaborate with the NASA Ames Research Center (Moffett Field, California) to design a user interface that will allow future astronauts in space to remotely operate a robot on Earth. A number of thesis level students have been chosen and will use a variety of design skills to complete the project, including storyboarding, task analysis, ideation, brainstorming, sketching and rendering. The students' work will be used to create the user interface elements, including icons wireframes and glyphs. Simultaneously the team is identifying opportunities for additional design disciplines to be integrated into the experience. Already the team is starting conceptual work on interior architecture, product design, and apparel.

Read original article @ 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/03/12/prweb9267620.DTL#ixzz1p0pR2hhl

Art Education Needs to be Protected

Why invest in arts education at a time when schools seem laser-focused on improving performance in reading and math skills?

Evidence shows that the arts matter. Arts have a positive impact on student achievement, motivation and engagement, critical and creative thinking, collaboration and team work skills.

Read Original Article @ The Boston's Globe: The Podium:  http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_podium/2012/03/arts_education_needs_to_be_pro.html

Here's an Example of Serious Policy Making Procedures

The new politics of Silicon Valley: Revenge of the nerds | Politics and Law - CNET News

"... most technology debates in Washington are dangerously lacking in engineering expertise regardless of the issue being discussed. At the House Judiciary Committee's sole hearing on SOPA, only one witness opposed to the bill was allowed to testify--a lawyer for Google. Yet Congressmen repeatedly prefaced their comments by admitting they didn't understand even the basics of the domain name system, Internet addressing, search engines, social networks, ad networks or online payment processing--all of which would be significantly affected by the legislation. (The committee could start with this letter (PDF) from leading Internet engineers on the dangers of SOPA to cybersecurity and the domain name system.) Critics have urged Chairman Smith to allow testimony from Internet engineers and others who understand how the Internet economy actually works, a plea repeated many times during last month's markup sessions. As it became clearer that committee members didn't understand key technical concepts, congress members on both sides of the issue acknowledged they needed to hear from engineers or, as they were frequently called at the hearing, "the nerds."

January 3, 2012

"I used to point out at art school, you can teach the craft, it’s the poetry you can’t teach. But now they try to teach the poetry and not the craft."    David Hockney
Read more @ The Daily Mail: Mail Online

How The ECB Can Fix Europe Tomorrow

Wyplosz's scheme goes like this:

A much better arrangement is possible without a new treaty. Currently, in its routine refinancing operation, the ECB accepts as collateral a wide range of assets. Most central banks accept only – or mainly – treasury bonds. The unusual arrangement of the Eurozone is an artifact of history – because practices differed considerably among future Eurozone countries, the ECB decided to accept every asset that was previously accepted. The ECB has the authority to decide what collateral it accepts and it could decide to only accept treasury bonds issued by governments that exercise fiscal discipline. It would work as follows.

The ECB would ask an independent body to examine the fiscal policy framework of each member country. The body, call it the Fiscal Discipline Board, would look for arrangements that adequately constrain member governments, for example the German debt brake or the Dutch coalition agreements. The ECB would bind itself to follow the Board’s judgment. A country that has not adopted arrangements deemed adequate, or that does not abide by its own arrangements, would face the consequences: high borrowing costs, possibly loss of market access. The presumption is that the situation would be promptly corrected.

Read Original Article @ Business Insider


Journalists Sending Message to Wall Street


The media is talking to you, Wall Street. 
Consider it a piece of New Year's advice from the editors watching the state of your union.
Their message is this: Like it or not, regulation is coming. 
And the worst thing about it, is what Wall Street looks like trying to stop it.....


It's a new year, it's a new Wall Street. But that doesn't mean everything has to go down in flames: That is, unless Wall Street douses itself in gasoline and lights a match.

Read Original Article @ Business Insider

Russian Art Group Claims Credit for Police Van Attack

MOSCOW — A spokesman for the radical art collective Voina on Monday announced that its members had broken into a St. Petersburg police station on New Year’s Eve and used gasoline bombs to incinerate a police vehicle used to transport prisoners as “a gift to all political prisoners of Russia.”

Hungary Quickly Sliding into Dictatorship

This is a problem for the EU; how will it respond to dictatorships springing up within its borders? The article makes clear that Brussels has concerns. The new Hungarian government is so far unresponsive to them. Read "What a Constitutional Coup Looks Like" @ America Blog

'Bright future' ahead? 
Cuba's economic changes create new entrepreneurs


The new entrepreneurs face towering challenges in getting their enterprises off the ground, including high taxes, a lack of raw materials, an uncertain customer base, labyrinthine bureaucratic rules and limited access to start-up capital. Yet, their success or failure will go a long way in determining the future of Cuba's revolution.

The Cuban state now employs 84 percent of the island's workers and controls 90 percent of the economy in one of the world's last bastions of Soviet-style communism. If the free-market experiment works, the cash-strapped government could shed millions of dollars from its payroll while boosting much-needed tax revenues and creating a new business and consumer class. It could also legalize part of a booming black market that provides everything from sausages to satellite television.  Read original article @ worldnews.msnbc.com

Woman takes unique road to sue Honda over mileage

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) – A woman who expected her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid to be her dream car wants Honda to pay for not delivering the high mileage it promised. But rather than joining other owners in a class-action lawsuit, she is going solo in small claims court, an unusual move that could offer a bigger payout if it doesn't backfire.

Steve Jobs Action Figure

Purpose of the Raspberry Pi

"The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into a TV (or DVI monitor) and a keyboard, and can be used for "many of the things your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games," says the foundation, a registered British charity started with the goal of getting kids thinking about programming — and not just consuming content — on computers. "This is a tiny bit of kit aimed at getting hackable technology into the hands of anyone who can afford" it, noted The Register."

Technolog - Would you buy a $25 computer?

Running A Country? There's (Almost) An App For That

"LONDON (AP) — Britain's government says experts are considering developing a bespoke iPad app that would deliver key data straight to Prime Minister David Cameron's tablet computer.

Officials said Wednesday that the idea is being discussed, though Cameron's Downing Street office declined to comment on the details.

The Times of London newspaper reported the app could include statistics and information from government departments, real time news and Twitter updates."

 Read Complete Article @ Business Insider

Raspberry Pi: Cool!

The Raspberry Pi is a $25 computer that is powerful enough to run Quake 3, a pretty intense 3D video game. It plugs straight into a TV with an HDMI output and it's designed to be cheap enough that anyone can buy.

So why is the Raspberry Pi foundation, the organization behind this charming device, making the computers in the first place?

We spoke with Eben Upton, executive director of the Raspberry Pi foundation to find out why. Here's what we learned:

• It's primarily intended for the education market. The whole idea was conceived as a way to get kids to learn how to manipulate and program computers earlier on.

• The Raspberry Pi foundation wants to open-source the technology so "a company in China can produce a million computers" for developing countries and schools. The foundation expects third parties to start developing Raspberry Pi devices midway through 2012.

• The multimedia performance of the Raspberry Pi is "substantially better" than the Tegra 3, a chip used in many modern smartphones, Upton said. The only smartphone that comes close to the Raspberry Pi's performance is the Galaxy S 2, he said.

• They don't intend to make money off it. While you could easily turn something like this into a fully operational business, the Raspberry Pi foundation will remain a not-for-profit, Upton said.

• Around 10,000 units should be available once or twice a month. There's an upper limit of about 100,000 that the Raspberry Pi foundation can produce in a year, though.

Read more @ Business Insider

SOPA & Preservation of Web Freedoms

""On Thursday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act...The problem is that the bills' legal and technical solutions are very similar to mechanisms that authoritarian regimes use to censor and spy on their citizens...Our organization, Global Voices Online, is an international network for citizen media. We support the protection of intellectual property; many members of our community earn all or part of their living by creating copyrighted work. We worry, though, that the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act will inflict broad unintended damage on digital activists living under repressive regimes as well as restrict speech freedoms at home." "

Online piracy laws must preserve Web freedom - CNN.com

Stand Up and Fight: A Week of Action Against Censorship | Electronic Frontier Foundation

"This legislation, if passed, will wreak havoc on our Internet community, jeopardizing the innovative and creative ecosystem that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, helped countless people access information, and spurred a new generation of artists and creators. But big media groups are willing to sacrifice all of that in a ham-fisted attempt to control how you consume online content. And in the process, they'll undoing long-standing legal protections for websites and endangering the basic infrastructure of the Net. Join us in standing up. Show Congress we’re willing to fight for an uncensored web, & that lobbyists will never drown out the voices of the Internet community. "

A Week of Action Against Censorship

We’ll be adding to this list daily. Check back to see what you can do to join the fight!

Day One:

Toolkit for Anti-SOPA Activism

Action Alert! Call Congress Now

What's Wrong with SOPA (One-page PDF handout)

Stand Up and Fight: A Week of Action Against Censorship | Electronic Frontier Foundation