“Horses inherently understand people better than most other animals do, displaying tremendous sensitivity to even the most subtle eye and body movements, new research suggests.” While they’re not yet as good as dogs are at deciphering people’s communicative clues, the potential may be there.
Tag: 07.05.10
We Can’t Hide From Space Aliens, And It’s Lucille Ball’s Fault
“Stephen Hawking … [has] suggested that we should be wary of contact with extraterrestrials, citing what happened to Native Americans when Europeans landed on their shores. … [But it’s] manifestly too late. We have been inadvertently betraying our presence for 60 years with our television, radio and radar transmissions. The earliest episodes of I Love Lucy have washed over 6000 or so star systems, and are reaching new audiences at the rate of one solar system a day.”
The British Film Institute’s Wish List Of Lost Movies
Among them: “Sherlock Holmes’s first screen appearance in 1914’s A Study in Scarlet; the first HG Wells science fiction film, The First Men in the Moon (1919); and The Last Post, made by Dinah Shurey…, who sued Film Weekly over a column suggesting the movie made it ‘pathetically obvious’ that women could not direct (she was awarded £500 damages).”
Classical Nerds, Rejoice! BBC Proms Archive Goes Online
“As well as the statistician’s joy in finding how many performances there have been of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony (56), Bruckner’s Ninth (15), of Ligeti’s Requiem (er, one),” the archive provides “a historical cross-section of how tastes have changed over more than a century of Proms-going, and how concert formats have transformed.”
It’s Summer 2010, So The Kids Must Be At Glee Camp
“Inspired by the overwhelming popularity of the musical comedy-drama on the Fox network, dozens of theater groups and arts organizations in Chicago and across the country have created ‘Glee’ summer camps for kids using music and choreography from the hit show. ‘Glee’ camps have formed in North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Indiana and Utah.”
Paperless Tickets Are More Convenient For Whom, Exactly?
“Since a paperless ticket buyer has to show up at the door at the same time as the rest of his or her party, it’s almost impossible for a grandma living at one end of the country to buy a paperless ticket as gift for a grandchild living at the other end.” And groups “can be shut out if the person who bought the tickets on the group’s behalf fails to show up for some reason.”
Edward Albee At His Crotchety Best
Q: Which artists do you most admire?
A: Good ones.
Q: Would you like to give any examples?
A: Nope. They know who they are.
United Tells Musician To Buy First-Class Ticket For Cello
The cellist “said he had already bought a coach ticket for the instrument — which requires its own boarding pass, has a frequent-flier account and has already racked up tens of thousands of miles. But the airline refused to let him board with it when, at the last minute, the gate attendant protested that it wouldn’t fit in the seat.”
Searching For Hopper’s Nighthawks Diner
“Greenwich Village tour guides point to the lot, now owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and tell visitors that Hopper’s diner stood there. But did it?”
America’s New Poet Laureate Is A Traditional Choice
“The appointment last week of 82-year-old William Stanley Merwin as the U.S. poet laureate both honors his 58-year contribution to American arts and letters and returns the largely ceremonial post to the realm of the traditional white male poet at a time when the field is growing more diverse, like the nation.”