Among the USPTO’s arguments is the fact that US patent law repeatedly refers to inventors using humanlike terms such as “whoever” and pronouns like “himself” and “herself.” The group behind the applications had argued that the law’s references to an inventor as an “individual” could be applied to a machine, but the USPTO said this interpretation was too broad. – Verge
Tips For Taking Online Dance Classes
Online platforms are not equally useful, and the class options are dizzying, especially when the “I don’t want to humiliate myself” barrier is gone. (Who’s looking?!) – Dance Enthusiast
Acting Classes On Zoom Are Actually Working Out Kind Of Well
Reacting to a scene partner’s body language and expressions is an integral part of learning how to act. Zoom, clearly, isn’t optimal in that department. But … students were finding ways to make the most of it.” In particular, the app “encourages acting students to be more nuanced, more private and more intimate.” – The New York Times
The Show Must Go On (But It Needs Help)
While much of the future is uncertain, one thing is clear: The industry will be gutted without major federal help. Arts nonprofits have already suffered $4.5 billion in losses as a result of the pandemic, and theaters alone are predicted to lose $500 million more by June, according to a new survey by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), a national service organization with over 700 member theaters. – Forbes
Words Fail: Have You Seen The Literary Magazine “Taco Bell Quarterly”?…
“We are the literary magazine for Taco Bell literature. I also say celebrating the Taco Bell arts and letters. We’re not a gimmick, we’re not a viral sensation. We are real fiction, real essays, real poetry, real art, inspired by Taco Bell.” – Vox
‘Car Talk’ For Word Nerds
“The hosts [of the radio show A Way with Words], Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, are the Click and Clack of word talk. Barnette is a writer who has studied Latin and Greek (her books include A Garden of Words), and Barrett is a linguist and lexicographer with an ear for contemporary slang. They make a perfect duo. The show is modelled after Car Talk, though it is broadcast from San Diego, not Cambridge: the hosts laugh a lot, and when people call in they answer by saying, ‘You have a way with words,’ which is always nice to hear.” – The New Yorker
Drive-Up Dance
Guided by pins on a digital map and a downloaded soundtrack — featuring songs, poetry, a couple of old voicemail messages and mysterious clues — ticketed audience members drive through the city and visit performers at their homes. The dancers perform from porches, sun rooms, front yards, alleys and balconies while the audience, cocooned in 20 cars (one per household), drives up to watch at 10-minute intervals. – Crosscut
Will We Take The Wrong Lessons From The Pandemic?
Will the current pandemic change human attitudes to death? Probably not. Just the opposite. Covid-19 will probably cause us to only double our efforts to protect human lives. For the dominant cultural reaction to Covid-19 isn’t resignation – it is a mixture of outrage and hope. – The Guardian
Formality Is Out Of Fashion – But Ritual Helps Make Things More Democratic
Comfort has won, and most formality is gone. But the freedom of informality comes at a cost. Formality is the bulwark against some of the nastiest human impulses, and acts as a vaccine against our most dangerous tendency: forming in-groups and out-groups. – Aeon
20 Major Film Festivals Will Stream An Online Festival
The 10-day “We Are One: A Global Film Festival” will feature content curated by the Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca film festivals, among others, starting on May 29, organizers Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube said in a statement on Monday. – Reuters
This Company Is Making LPs Using Actual 1960s Technology
The albums released by London-based Electric Recording Co., “assembled by hand and released in editions of 300 or fewer — at a cost of $400 to $600 for each LP — are made with restored vintage equipment down to glowing vacuum-tube amplifiers, and mono tape systems that have not been used in more than half a century. … Even its record jackets, printed one by one on letterpress machines, show a fanatical devotion to age-old craft.” – The New York Times
One Berkshires Theater Is Going Ahead With Its Summer Season — In A Very Careful, Socially Distanced Way
“The Barrington Stage Company, … responding to the coronavirus pandemic, will give up the ambitious musical productions for which it is known (it’s the birthplace of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). Instead, it will concentrate on one-person shows, and stage a play in which the central relationships are so strained that social distancing will not be a stretch.” 70% of the seats will be removed, as will intermissions (no mingling), and audience members must wear masks. – The New York Times
Performers And Presenters Game Out Various Reopening Scenarios (Some Of Them Quite Pricey)
With both the timing and the conditions of the return of live performances uncertain, organizations are considering numerous possibilities, from outdoor shows (free or ticketed) with spectators carefully spaced apart to playing in half-full halls (but what about box office and bathroom lines?) to booking in-high-demand artists in smaller (and half-empty) venues and charging hundreds of dollars for the few tickets. – The Washington Post
Just For This Year, Oscars Will Relax Rule That Contenders Must Be Shown In Theaters
“During a meeting on Tuesday, the [Academy’s] board of governors approved a temporary hold on the requirement that a film needs a seven-day theatrical run in a commercial theater in Los Angeles County to qualify for the Oscars. Instead, films will be allowed to be released digitally without playing in theaters. However, … to be considered, the streamed film must have already had a planned theatrical release.” – Variety
Simone De Beauvoir Has A New Novel Coming Out
Yes, she’s been dead for 34 years. She started writing the book, titled The Inseparables and based on her best friend (who died at 21), in 1954, the year she won the Prix Goncourt for The Mandarins and five years after she published The Second Sex. Jean-Paul Sartre, her partner, was unimpressed with the novel, and de Beauvoir put it aside. Scholars wondered what had happened to it; turns out she had kept the manuscript and typescript in her archives. – The New York Times
Cellist Lynn Harrell, 76
“Over the course of his wide-ranging career, Harrell performed as a soloist with just about every major orchestra in the U.S. and Europe. Within the classical music world, Harrell was also widely beloved as a generous chamber music colleague, a respected teacher and a musician’s musician.” – NPR
James Weaver, Period-Instrument Pioneer And Founder Of Smithsonian Chamber Players, Dead At 82
He was part of the first generation of American musicians to work seriously on the revival of historical keyboard instruments and their repertoire. He used the Institution’s instrument collection for both solo work and to start one of the first professional Baroque-instrument groups in the U.S., the Smithsonian Chamber Players (1976), and expanded into the Classical era with the launch of the Smithson String Quartet and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra. – Early Music America
Texas Governor Says Movie Theatres Can Reopen This Week. Movie Theatres Say… Er, No…
“Opening safely is a very complex project that involves countless new procedures and equipment, all of which require extensive training. This is something we cannot and will not do casually or quickly.” – Los Angeles Times
Discovery At World’s Oldest Temple Suggests Prehistoric Humans Understood Geometry
“[Archaeologists’] study of the three oldest stone enclosures at Göbekli Tepe” — a site in present-day Turkey whose monoliths are thought to be 11,500 years old — “has revealed a hidden geometric pattern, specifically an equilateral triangle, underlying the entire architectural plan of these structures. … Thus, thousands of years before the invention of writing or the wheel, the builders of Göbekli Tepe evidently had some understanding of geometric principles and could apply them to their construction plans.” – Haaretz (Israel)
Jennifer Schantz Is New Director Of The NY Public Library’s Performing Arts Collection
Schantz, 51, currently the executive vice president and chief operating officer at the New-York Historical Society, will take up the position in May. She succeeds Jacqueline Davis, who has led the library for two decades. The performing arts library, located in Lincoln Center, is one of the New York Public Library’s four research divisions, with a collection of some 8 million items that extend far beyond books to include manuscripts, photographs, scores, ephemera, sheet music, stage designs, costume designs, video and film. – The New York Times