“Researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, or Pear, have been attempting to measure the effect of human consciousness on machines since 1979. Using random event generators — computers that spew random output — they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines’ output. Out of several million trials, they’ve detected small but “statistically significant” signs that minds may be able to interact with machines. However, researchers are careful not to claim that minds cause an effect or that they know the nature of the communication.”
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Burning Man Revolt Charges Artistic Batteries
The annual Burning Man festival is 20 years old this summer. Last year a number of artists were upset about what they perceived as a decline in artistic merit of the event. So they staged a revolt. “BORG2, made up of artists and others upset by the lack of art at last year’s Burning Man, did not meet the $250,000 fund-raising goal set at the beginning of the revolt, but did manage to start a nonprofit, elect an art council, raise more than $20,000 and hold an election to decide which artists would get the cash.”
Does New York’s Arts Funding Make Sense?
New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs “gives more money for the arts, officials there say, than any other government agency in the United States, including the National Endowment for the Arts. The way they do it, however, doesn’t have everybody cheering. ‘It’s inequitable, it’s irrational, it doesn’t satisfy anybody,” says Norma Munn, who has been following the city’s arts budget since she helped found the New York City Arts Coalition two decades ago. ‘The bulk of the organizations that get the money use it extremely well. But as a city policy, the way it’s distributed just doesn’t make much sense’.”
Baltimore Symphony Board Offers Music Director Job To Alsop
“Despite pleas by its musicians that it consider other candidates, the board of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Tuesday formally offered the post of music director to Marin Alsop, the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, who will become the first woman to head a major American orchestra.” The orchestra’s musicians responded: “The musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra are disappointed in the premature conclusion of the music director search process. However, this will not dampen our enthusiasm and zest for music-making. We will work together with Marin Alsop and every other conductor to present the inspiring performances our audience has come to expect.”
Marin On The Merits?
Marin Alsop would seem to be an excellent choice to lead the Baltimore Symphony, but one shouldn’t dismiss the objections of the orchestra’s musicians. “The voices were too numerous and too strident to be dismissed as typical grumbling of jaded union musicians. What to make of it? Ms. Alsop’s debut with the Baltimore Symphony in May 2002 was well received by critics and audiences. Though I have not heard her conduct the orchestra, her performances with it since her debut have seemingly been successful.”
Arlington Symphony Files Bankruptcy
The Washington DC-area Arlington Symphony has shut down and filed for bankruptcy. The 60-year-old ensemble was one of the older orchestras in the Washington area. “The professional symphony had struggled financially for years. Its debt now is about $140,000, with an annual operating budget of $300,000 to $400,000.”
Public Broadcasting Bias? Polls Say No
What’s behind charges that American public broadcasting is biased towards the left? “Indeed, poll after poll shows that Americans consider PBS to be one of their most trusted and valued institutions… A poll of 6,000 Americans last month revealed 66 per cent believe PBS has no bias, while 21 per cent say it leans to the left and 13 per cent see a tilt to the right. So where do all the charges of liberal bias come from?”
Why Is Cable Programming Gaining On Broadcast Fare?
“Cable’s programming system is more viewer-friendly. Rarely does a cable network introduce a series and then yank it off the schedule after a few weeks because of low audience ratings. Normally, 13 episodes are produced, aired and repeated. If a series doesn’t find an audience, it will go out of production. But at least viewers know they can make a 13-week investment. Contrast this to network television’s operations.”
80 Years After Mein Kampf
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the publishing of Mein Kampf. But discussion of the book is still complicated. “It remains a unique artifact – loathed yet collected, mocked yet feared, ignored by many but a best-seller in some Muslim societies.”
At The Movies – Reporters As Boobs (Or Worse)
Journalists are having a bad time in the movies these days. “The media’s image has taken a long downward slide from the 1976 film “All the President’s Men,” which (even more than the book) lionized Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and, by extension, all of journalism. The heroic reporters that followed, in movies like “The Killing Fields” (1984), now seem quaint. If a film depicts a serious reporter today, he is likely to be as ineffectual as the cameraman played by Joaquin Phoenix in “Hotel Rwanda,” desolate about his inability to draw attention to the genocide. It isn’t hard to spot what’s behind this erosion of the journalist’s image.”