Zoom fatigue is the feeling of utter hopelessness after your ninth video call of the day, and experts say it’s brought on because the technology overtaxes your brain. Presented with a cropped, often blurry image of a human and a few milliseconds of lag throughout the conversation, your mind splits its attention between what people are saying and what’s happening on the screen, longing for nonverbal cues that just don’t cross over. – Vox
What Happened To The Lost Colony Of Roanoke Island? Researchers Say They Have The Answer
It’s American history’s oldest mystery: in 1587, 100-odd colonists sent by Walter Raleigh settled on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Within a few weeks, their leader had to go back to England for supplies, and he wasn’t able to return for three years. When he finally did, he found the settlement abandoned — with the word “CROATOAN” carved on a post. No Europeans ever found the missing Roanoke settlers, and there’s been speculation ever since about what became of them. Now a writer working with a group of archaeologists says that the solution to this puzzle has been hiding in plain sight all along. – The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)
Two Actors Pursue Berkeley Rep And Their Union For Violating Contracts On Last Day Before COVID Shutdown
On the day in March when the Bay Area got lockdown orders, Berkeley Repertory Theatre called the cast of Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, which was still in rehearsal, to come in on their day off. When the actors arrived, they were told to get into costume and perform the play for video cameras before the company closed for the duration; Berkeley Rep then sold tickets to stream that video in lieu of the cancelled performances. Now two members of the School Girls cast argue that that day constituted a series of contract violations, and they’re pursuing action against both Berkeley Rep for doing what it did and Actors’ Equity for permitting it. – San Francisco Chronicle
Why Rebuilding Beirut’s Arts Ecosystem Will Be So Much Harder Than It Would Be Elsewhere
Artists and institutions in Beirut, large and small, have rebuilt several times since the outbreak of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war in 1975 and through subsequent conflict. But even before the explosion that has wrecked the city, the country’s long-dysfunctional political system was spiraling, taking the currency, the economy and even the electricity grid along with it. Now, say many key figures in Beirut’s cultural life, Lebanon could really become a failed state. – Artnet
Judge Raises Amount Tavis Smiley Must Pay PBS To $2.6 Million
In late 2017, PBS suspended Smiley’s late-night talk show following sexual harassment allegations from staffers. Smiley sued the network, which countersued, and in March 2020, a jury awarded PBS $1.7 million. But PBS argued that Smiley should pay additional money pursuant to his contract’s morals clause. The judge has agreed, and has, in effect, ordered Smiley to pay back the network and the show’s underwriters for the last two seasons. – Variety
Four Indiana Cities Sue Netflix For “Cable-Franchise” Fees
The lawsuit was filed against Netflix, Disney, Hulu, DirecTV, and Dish Network on August 4 in Indiana Commercial Court in Marion County. The cities of Indianapolis, Evansville, Valparaiso, and Fishers want the companies to pay the cable-franchise fees established in Indiana’s Video Service Franchises (VSF) Act, which requires payments of 5 percent of gross revenue in each city. – ArsTechnica
What Pro Wrestling Has To Teach Us
We all know that pro wrestling is not a sport in the sense that boxing is. Pro wrestling presents as a genuine struggle between wrestlers for victory, but it does so with a complicit nod to the audience: we realise that what we’re seeing is people playing characters and working together put on a show. As Barthes puts it, this show is often a spectacle about suffering, defeat and justice – or, more brightly, it tells stories of virtue and vice, heroism and villainy. Here we have a reality – the elaborate pantomime and character development behind the constructed reality of the show – and the superficial appearance of a genuine contest. – Psyche
Libraries (Re)Ponder Their Role Beyond Books
“A lot of libraries are thinking about their civic role a little more, and how they might help people coming out of the pandemic. They’ve always done that stuff, but will need to do it 10 times more at this point.” – Boston Globe
The Untenable Choices In Today’s Music Education
With fewer or no opportunities to perform live at school, can music degrees live up to their mandate to prepare students for a career? In other words, what is the value of a socially distanced degree in music performance? And if the value is significantly reduced, and given the extraordinary financial stress on young music students and their families, what is the best course of action? – Middle Class Artist
Woman Attacks Britto Sculpture – And The Motivation?
A viral video has surfaced of a woman confronting Brazilian artist Romero Britto at a busy gallery and shattering one of his sculptures in front of him as he fumbles to retrieve the work. Shared last week with hashtags such as #moodflip and #karen—a pejorative term used in the US to describe a white woman who uses her privilege to demand her own way at the expense of others—the video has received nearly three million views. Yet some users called the act “well-deserved” and said that they “had no choice but to stan” but the woman. – The Art Newspaper
Disasters Of 2020 Leave The Arts In Regional And Rural Australia Struggling For Survival
Out beyond the big state capitals, people had barely had a chance to take a breath after the catastrophic bushfires of the Australian summer when COVID-19 hit, straining the national economy and choking off the flow of visitors and tourists that artists and festivals depend on. – The Guardian
In The Digital Age What Does It Mean To “Withdraw” Problematic Content?
Rarely discussed is what “pulling” something actually entails in the digital production age, when film or tape hard copies rarely exist, as well as what the risks are of losing some content forever. Then there is the ethical dimension: While it’s natural for creators and corporations to want to distance themselves from offensive episodes, is the best approach really to erase history, rather than put it in context? – The New York Times
Survey: Consumers Are Against Any Bailout For Movie Theatres, Concert Venues, Etc.
According to the survey of over 1,000 people in the U.S. conducted between Aug. 3–10, 70% of consumers believe COVID-19 has had a severe negative impact on movie theaters, and 69% see a severe impact for live music concerts. In comparison, 65% see a severe impact for fairs and festivals and live theater, 61% for airlines, 57% for sit-down restaurants, 50% for hotels and museums, and 44% for independent and non-profit arts organizations. But when asked whether they would support federal relief money being earmarked for those industries, the results are practically reversed. – Variety
Networked Neurology: A Radical Reimagining Of How The Brain Communicates
Some researchers have demonstrated that disorders from schizophrenia to stroke appear to be dependent not on individual brain regions, but on the circuitry among those regions. Outside the realm of disease, other scientists have used brain networks to gain a better understanding of how our personalities and other traits differ. As the field continues to progress, scientists armed with network neuroscience may be able to predict who will develop a particular disease, understand the brain processes underlying its symptoms, and design better treatments for it. – Wired
A Florence Music Festival Reconceives Itself In A Much Bigger Way
The festival has been renamed Re-Generation, and a temporary theatre constructed that, were it at normal capacity, would seat around 1,500, but for the late August event will house only 500. “It’s absolutely enormous. Similar dimensions to the Bolshoi in Moscow,” says Granville. Enormous, too, was the paperwork required. “The permissions stage was about 7,000 pages worth … I’m not exaggerating. Italians love a bit of paperwork. Every single thing has to be submitted and approved.” – The Guardian
Global Warming In Historical Perspective
The past six hundred million years have been mostly a span of relentless heat, during which plants and then animals first climbed up and colonized Earth’s great, empty landmasses. Extreme heat was the backdrop for the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, and equally the setting for the subsequent ascendance of mammals. The heat reached its greatest extremes some fifty million years ago, with carbon-dioxide levels nearing 2,000 ppm (versus ~414 ppm today) around the time when our tiny, early primate ancestors were just starting to spread and diversify through the world’s forest canopies. Those early primates arose in the heat, adapted for the heat; but Earth continued to change, and the climatic conditions that gave rise to Homo sapiens would be very different. – 3 Quarks Daily
Giant Outdoor Mass Art Productions Aren’t That Risky And Shouldn’t Be Banned
Or so says the director of an arts production company in the UK. “It’s a brave new world out there, and we’re all going to have to adapt. There are no limits to what our artists, technicians, actors, creators, musicians, dancers and designers can imagine to bring back live outdoor experiences for audiences stupefied by the isolation of the omnipresent screen.” – The Guardian (UK)
Now Is The Textbook’s Time To Shine
Remote learning isn’t all about what articles and resources teachers can cobble together from the internet – especially when a lot of students can only get online occasionally, or in the parking lot or on the steps at the public library. “A good textbook is clear, appealing, and organized in a predictable way. It’s not just paragraphs of text, but it also includes extratextual features such as reference materials, answer keys, sidebars, and key terms to aid students in their comprehension.” Now to update the racist ones … – Slate