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05/28/2020 06:01 PM
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Cruise Ships Have Gone Away. And Port Cities Are Reconsidering…
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 In ports of call known for their cruise appeal, the disappearance of boat-borne tourism has been greeted with mixed feelings. Many towns and cities depend in part on revenue from these vacationers. But the boats bring problems, too: Critics often cite the industry’s environmental record and dubious economic impact — study after study show that […]
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05/28/2020 05:28 PM
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Italian Book Buying Habits Have Changed. Will They Change Back?
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 In a shift of consumer patterns, in the first 16 weeks of the year, 47 percent of Italy’s trade book sales, both in fiction and nonfiction, took place online. In the same period of 2019, only 26.7 percent of those sales were made online. Like France, Italy is a market that buys its books in […]
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05/28/2020 05:01 PM
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How Coffee Has Powered (And Destroyed) Societies
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 There have been times that coffee as a commodity was more valuable than most currencies. Cultures have been built around the bean, and destroyed others who have been exploited for it. – Times Literary Supplement
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05/28/2020 04:32 PM
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Loneliness As Punishment And Inspiration
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 In 2018, the first British Minister for Loneliness was appointed and the government published A Connected Society. In the preface, the country’s then prime minister Theresa May referred to research that “shows that loneliness is as damaging to our physical health as smoking”. – Times Literary Supplement
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05/28/2020 04:01 PM
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The Thought Experiment Problem
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 While thought experiments are as old as philosophy itself, the weight placed on them in recent philosophy is distinctive. Even when scenarios are highly unrealistic, judgments about them are thought to have wide-ranging implications for what should be done in the real world. – Aeon
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05/28/2020 03:28 PM
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How To Fence That Van Gogh You Stole
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 Arthur Brand estimates that a work of art in the criminal underworld is worth about 10 percent of its value in the legitimate art market — so if a painting might sell for $10 million at auction, it can be traded among criminals for a value of about $1 million. Octave Durham said the value […]
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05/28/2020 03:04 PM
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Instagram May Have Influencers, But TikTok Has Cult Leaders
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 “Much like the ‘stans’ of pop figures and franchises, members of TikTok cults stream songs, buy merch, create news update accounts and fervently defend their leaders in the comment sections of posts. The biggest difference is that TikTok’s cult leaders are not independently famous. They’re upstart creators building a fan base on social media.” And […]
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05/28/2020 02:31 PM
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How The Blanton Museum Repurposed Its Staff And Avoided Layoffs
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 The maintenance man stopped worrying about paint touchups and HVAC repair and started assisting the development department by drafting thank you notes for donors, making use of his beautiful handwriting. Security guards were redeployed to add “alt text,” or descriptions for the visually impaired, to images on the museum website. Art handlers and event planners have […]
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05/28/2020 02:03 PM
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Broadway Folks Talk About How They Envision Going Back To Work
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 “As part of our ongoing coverage about the crisis theater faces, and the possible ways out of it, [Tim Teeman] spoke to a range of theater professionals, enduring unemployment and hoping one day to create once more: a producer, choreographer, stage manager, lighting designer, and union chief.” – The Daily Beast
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05/28/2020 01:31 PM
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The Last Of Paul Allen’s Arts Projects (Museums, A Theatre, Etc) To Lose Support
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 Many of the projects under Vulcan’s Arts + Entertainment division stemmed from Vulcan co-founder Paul Allen’s personal interests, and served as showplaces for his collections: his movie costumes and memorabilia at Cinerama; his vintage computer collection at the Living Computers: Museum + Labs; and his military aircraft, vehicles and artifacts at the Flying Heritage & […]
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05/28/2020 01:01 PM
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How Natalia Makarova Made ‘La Bayadère’ Into A Worldwide Audience Favorite
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 “An icon of the stage, Makarova was beloved for her grandeur and spontaneity, the same qualities that led her, in 1970, to become the first Russian ballerina to escape the Soviets. But she had never put together a full-length ballet. The one she chose — an overhaul of the 1877 original by the great Marius […]
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05/28/2020 12:29 PM
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How To Reopen Your Museum? Here’s What To Think About
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 The prospect of reopening under the current circumstances also raises vexing strategic dilemmas. In recent years, museums have developed a sophisticated understanding of the many barriers to entry they inadvertently create, and how to overcome them, in order to pursue agendas informed by equity and social justice. No one wishes to raise additional barriers now. […]
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05/28/2020 12:04 PM
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English Is Everywhere In Japan, Everyone There Studies It In School — Why Can So Few Japanese Actually Speak It?
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 Despite the fact that American pop culture and the ability to speak English are considered very cool in Japan, multinational companies want their employees to know the language, and the Japanese government stresses the importance of learning English and constantly rejiggers the curriculum in the subject (which is required), well under a third of the […]
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05/28/2020 11:31 AM
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How To Make A Theatre Season More Flexible? Here’s One Version
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 Exact performance dates will be announced for each offering throughout the year, along with such “details” as venue (Writers has two stages), and the names of the full casts and creative teams. In addition, patrons are advised, according to the theater’s press release, that “some titles and artists may change as the production schedule shifts […]
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05/28/2020 11:02 AM
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Sculptor Peter Alexander Dead At 81
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 “[He] is most commonly associated with the Light and Space movement, which was pioneered by a group of artists working in California during the 1960s. … Alexander wound up producing understated, sleek objects that seemed at times to reinterpret Minimalism with a less chilly aesthetic. Often, the resin works take on semi-translucent cuboidal shapes, with […]
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05/28/2020 10:35 AM
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Philadelphia Orchestra Creates Special In-House Music Channel For UPenn Hospitals
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 “Patients and health-care workers at Penn Medicine’s six sites can now access a service that brings them archived performance videos of the Philadelphia Orchestra. … New performances will be added each week, and orchestra leaders hope to expand the pilot program to other health systems.” Says one hospital’s CEO, “Patients have given us feedback that […]
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05/28/2020 10:03 AM
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Michael Kaiser Has Become Therapist/Life Coach For Pandemic-Panicked Arts Orgs
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 The former CEO of the Kennedy Center and his colleagues at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management are giving pro bono consultations to more than 400 organizations. “In phone calls with groups as varied as Mosaic Theater Company in [D.C.] and the Women’s Museum of California in San Diego, Kaiser tosses out suggestions as each […]
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05/28/2020 09:31 AM
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Walt Disney World In Orlando Sets July Reopening Dates
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 “[The] Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom plan to open again on July 11, while Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will resume business on July 15. SeaWorld, meanwhile, will reopen to the public on June 11. … New requirements include temperature checks upon arrival, physical distancing, enhanced cleaning, hand-washing and sanitizing stations and ‘limited-contact enhancements,’ such […]
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05/28/2020 09:04 AM
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Movie Theaters May Be Reopening In Some States, But Audiences Aren’t Flocking Back
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 In places such as Georgia (the first state to reopen), Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah, independent cinemas are operating again. (The chains are staying closed for now.) Yet attendance is generally around a quarter of what it would be this time of a normal year. Even so, say owners, it’s important to get used to […]
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05/28/2020 08:32 AM
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‘Perfectly Preserved’ Roman Mosaic Floor Uncovered Near Verona
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 “Archaeologists were astonished by the find as it came almost a century after the remains of a villa, believed to date to the 3rd century AD, were unearthed in a hilly area above the town of Negrar di Valpolicella.” – The Guardian
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05/28/2020 08:05 AM
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BBC Proms Plans For This Summer Finally Settled
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 Well, mostly settled. “A virtual first night in July will see more than 350 musicians play together in a Beethoven ‘mash-up’ [of the nine symphonies] having each recorded their part from home. … The Royal Albert Hall will be home to live performances in the final fortnight of the season, starting from August 28,” with […]
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05/27/2020 06:01 PM
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The Power Of Science And The Challenge Of Trust
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 Today, scientists are grappling with the problem of model uncertainty, as seen in areas like climate and medicine. These questions are increasingly challenging the basis of modern scientific knowledge itself, which is defined by a combination of mathematics and observation. – American Affairs Journal
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05/27/2020 05:29 PM
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Playwright And AIDS Activist Larry Kramer, 84
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 An author, essayist and playwright — notably hailed for his autobiographical 1985 play, “The Normal Heart” — Mr. Kramer had feet in both the world of letters and the public sphere. In 1981 he was a founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first service organization for H.I.V.-positive people, though his fellow directors effectively […]
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05/27/2020 05:02 PM
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Do We Need A Different Way Of Categorizing Books?
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 A category only exists in relation to other categories, similarly constituted. You would need to establish a number of other clearly defined hierarchies of value, or centers of interest, generating distinct, or at least recognizable, types of plot and character interaction. For example, stories in which good and evil are absolute, not subordinated to the […]
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05/27/2020 04:29 PM
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COVID Upside: HUGE Increase In Consumption Of Online Arts
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 The huge numbers reported in watching and listening to streaming performances are in stark contrast with “decades of dire warnings and disheartening statistics about shrinking classical audiences — because of aging patrons, changing tastes, and more competition for the entertainment dollar.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
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