Twenty Years ago Adam Summers, a biologist at the University of Washington, “began his quest to scan every fish in the sea. What may have been considered eccentric then can only be called essential now: new ways of digitizing and sharing scientific data are sprouting up everywhere, and Summers’ prescient work has spurred other experts to attempt the same.”
Blog
Florida Court Rules That Facebook Friends Aren’t Real Friends
The appellate court said that a “Facebook friendship does not necessarily signify the existence of a close relationship,” noting that some people have “friend” counts in the thousands. Facebook members often cannot recall every person they have accepted as ‘friends’ or who have accepted them as ‘friends.’”
Amazon Using Artificial Intelligence Algorithms To Read, React And Create Fashion
“Researchers at the e-commerce juggernaut are currently working on several machine-learning systems that could help provide an edge when it comes to spotting, reacting to, and perhaps even shaping the latest fashion trends. The effort points to ways in which Amazon and other companies could try to improve the tracking of trends in other areas of retail—making recommendations based on products popping up in social-media posts, for instance. And it could help the company expand its clothing business or even dominate the area.”
Family Damages An 800-Year-Old Coffin After – Get This! – They Put Child In It For A Picture
“Closed-circuit television cameras were recording in the museum, but did not clearly capture what happened, the statement said. The family left without reporting the damage, according to news reports, but it was discovered later.”
Next-Gen Post-New-Age Synth Music And The Tech/Instruments (And Composer) Who Make It
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s “technique of blending synthesizers, acoustic instruments, and electronic-sounding human voices has made the 30-year-old musician a star among the next generation of post–New Age synthesists.”
A Turning Point For The New York Philharmonic?
This season, the orchestra has a new music director and a new chief executive. But some very big challenges – including raising vast amounts of money for hall renovations and financial stabilization. Also – where is the orchestra artistically? Very big questions hang in the air. Brian Wise explores the issues.
Hotel Chain To Run John Cage’s Music On 24-Hour Loop
“On what would have been his 105th birthday, [a] national hotel chain is partnering with the John Cage Trust in what the hotel describes as a ‘listening event’ curated by Mode Records called ‘Untouchable Numbers.’ For 24 hours, Ace Hotel locations across the country … will fill their spaces with music by the late American composer.”
A Fascinating Tale Of How This Book Might Have Bought Its Way Onto The NYT BestSeller List
“Nowadays, you can make the bestseller list with about 5,000 sales. That’s not the heights of publishing’s heyday but it’s still harder to get than you’d think. Some publishers spend thousands of dollars on advertising and blogger outreach to get that number. Everyone’s looking for the next big thing and that costs a lot of cash. For the past 25 weeks, that big book in the YA world has been The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, a searing politically charged drama about a young black girl who sees a police officer kill her friend, and the fallout it causes in her community.”
Brian Aldiss, Novelist Who Helped Turn Science Fiction Into Literary Art, Dead At 92
“Author of the classic Helliconia trilogy, and the story on which Steven Spielberg’s 2001 film AI: Artificial Intelligence was based, … he began publishing his stories in the mid-1950s, a time when SF was heavily dominated by US writers schooled in the markets of commercial magazines. Aldiss’s work came as a breath of fresh air to a genre beginning to suffocate in its own orthodoxies.”
Bern Museum Starts Removing The Cobwebs Off The Gurlitt Art Horde
“The Kunstmuseum Bern has so far received 220 works from the hoard of more than 1,500 pieces that Gurlitt inherited from his father, Hildebrand, an art dealer who worked for the Nazis. Cornelius died in May 2014, unexpectedly bequeathing his collection to the Bern museum. The Swiss institution has said it will only accept works it knows are free from suspicion of Nazi looting, while the rest will remain in Germany until provenance research is complete.”