At a concert earlier this month at Wolf Trap, Linda Ronstadt also dedicated an encore to Michael Moore: “The biggest excitement of the night, by a long shot, came when Ronstadt then dedicated her encore of “Desperado” to filmmaker Michael Moore, kick-starting a boo-cheer competition throughout the venue that drowned out her singing and left grown-ups in tuxes and evening gowns yelling at each other on their way to the parking lot.”
Tag: 07.02.04
Arts & Science – A Clash Of Cultures
Why are arts people so wary when scientists tread into arts territory? “Humanists are trained to make judgments and support them with a range of qualitative evidence and arguments; scientists are trained to test arguments with empirical, replicable evidence and to use quantification as a tool. Interdisciplinary work will flourish when both sides realize that scientific questions about art do not replace humanistic ones. They are simply different. The disciplines of the sciences and art history ought to trade insights rather than insults.”
The Human Computer
Microsoft, that imperialist of the information-technology world, has actually succeeded in patenting the human body as a computer network. What Microsoft is proposing is to use the skin’s own conductive properties to transmit the data needed to create a network. And the firm does not stop at people. A ‘wide variety of living animals’, it says, could be used to create computer buses, as they are known technically, in this manner.”
Bioterrorism Fumble Against Artist Is Worrisome Sign
So the Steve Kurtz “bioterrorism” case has been resolved, and Kurtz has been cleared of terrorism suspicion. “His case is the latest ‘whoops’ as America tries to regain its legal balance post-9/11. The government is walking the line between prosecution and persecution. In Kurtz’s case, it stumbled. Pre-9/11, that’s where it would have ended. Those days are gone. The FBI was called. Kurtz was arrested, his neighbors evacuated and a hazmat team in spacesuits picked through his trash. With the (Joe) McCarthy era, it was a Communist in every corner. Now it’s a terrorist lurking everywhere.”
Family Sues Liz Taylor Over Van Gogh
“Actress Elizabeth Taylor is seeking a court declaration that she is the rightful owner of a painting by Van Gogh, to which the heirs of a former Jewish resident of Berlin have asserted a claim.”
Bank Customers Sue Billionaire Russian To Claim Faberge Eggs
Only days after nine Faberge Imperial eggs and some of the approximately 180 other Fabergé pieces belonging to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg went on display in the Kremlin, the clients of a failed Russian bank filed a lawsuit asking that the “newly acquired Fabergé imperial eggs be confiscated by the authorities and auctioned to recoup the money they say they lost through their business with the bank.”
Musicians Criticize US Travel Restrictions For Cubans
A group of musicians has criticized new U.S. regulations that will further limit travel to Cuba, urging the United States to build bridges to the island instead of tearing them down.
South African Family Sues Disney Over Song Royalties
A South African family is suing Disney for unpaid royalties from the hit song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, originally a Zulu tune composed by the family’s father, who died broke in 1962
Actors Strike Would Mean High Broadway Attrition
Broadway producers are anxious about the possibility of an actors strike this summer. Many show would close. How many? “Almost a third of the shows running right now probably would cut their losses in the event of a strike and close. That’s partly because of timing. The musicians’ strike occurred in March, so Broadway had plenty of time rebound during the robust spring run-up to the Tony Awards. But the summer is a lot dicier.”
Dreaming Our Digital Future
Intel has a vision: “Consumers will start to use their PCs at home to download, store and manage films, songs and games, in order to transmit all this fun stuff wirelessly to TV screens and stereo speakers throughout the house. The kids could then watch “Shrek 2” in the basement, while mum listens to Brahms in the kitchen and dad browses the holiday pictures on the main TV screen in the living room.”