“Contractor Balfour Beatty Construction and the center’s managers have blamed each other, and now the parties have signed a settlement agreement to avoid legal claims that would likely top $25 million. The agreement settles the dispute by paying Balfour Beatty another $9.5 million.”
The Medium Is Still The Message, Even After 50 Years
“Fifty years ago, Marshall McLuhan published Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Assessing all media that came before television and predicting all that would come after, he argued that we shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” Yet, after half a century, lots of folks who spout the aphorism still know nothing of his work. (audio)
Architect Michael Graves Has Forgiven His Mother For Telling Him He’d Be A Starving Artist
“The books I look at again and again are: my collection on Camille Corot. He can make a sketch that just makes you gasp. What he would do is go out to the site with a piece of cardboard—something stiff, not canvas—and paint a little oil sketch on it, and then take it back to the studio and create a larger painting based off that. He would, as I always say, correct the landscape.”
Living The Dream: Locked In A Bookstore In London (But Tweeting For Help)
“Web developer Tim Archer said: ‘@DWill_ @Waterstones tell them you’ll be randomly moving the books until you are released, that should speed them up a bit.'”
Apparently, Actors Aren’t ‘Workers’ And Thus Don’t Deserve Minimum Wage
“The appeal found that the original tribunal had failed to consider whether or not the actors were in fact self-employed professionals, rather than workers, and therefore not entitled to the minimum wage.”
Sometimes, Adults Read And Enjoy Young Adult Books, And That’s Just Fine
“The books and conversation also serve as a continuation of my education. Not only do I feel an intense connection with my earlier, often more vulnerable and intensely curious self, I also feel that I’ve been given access to a pure form of the complications involved with being young, now filtered through the compassion, perceptions (and barnacles) of my older self.”
How Do You Build A Beer Pipeline Under A Medieval World Heritage Site?
“Even under roads and public parks, there are centuries-old historic sites to avoid. There are more practical obstacles, too, like canals, major traffic crossings, and sites where things like underground garages will be built in the future. … Then there’s the chance the drilling process will stumble across something like the ruins of an unknown ancient castle.”
Keeping The Peking Opera Alive, On Long Island
“More than 200 Peking Opera performers, musicians and artisans live in the New York metropolitan area, according to officials at several local cultural organizations. Like Mr. Fang, the vast majority trained and performed in China. And also like him, they now labor in virtual anonymity—many in nail salons.”
Streaming Is Destroying Everything Good About Music – And Dating
“Now that we all share the same record collection, music snobs have no means to recognize one another. We cannot flip through a binder of CDs and see a new friend, a potential date. By making it perfectly easy to find new music, we’ve made it a little more difficult to find new people.”
Should We Turn To Science Fiction To Spur Science Innovation?
“As Neal Stephenson puts it, science fiction ‘supplies a plausible, fully thought-out picture of an alternate reality in which some sort of compelling innovation has taken place,’ producing icons that serve as ‘hieroglyphs — simple, recognizable symbols on which everyone agrees.'”
Elizabeth Peña, Co-Star Of ‘Lone Star’ And ‘Modern Family,’ Dead At 55
“Peña played everything from love interest to comedic sidekick in movies and on television for 35 years.”
The Right Way (And The Wrong Way) To Complain About The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
“Honestly, I’m not aiming to trick anybody. I’m mostly trying to remind people of how slippery the definition of ‘rock and roll’ has always been.”
Can The UK (Or The US) Replicate Australia’s Success In Theatre Starring People With Developmental Disabilities?
“The next step must be not just applauding intentions, but making a real attempt to evaluate how such work can benefit the participants, and finding ways it can gain greater prominence.”
When A Boy With Autism Started A Friendship With Siri
“For most of us, Siri is merely a momentary diversion. But for some, it’s more. My son’s practice conversation with Siri is translating into more facility with actual humans.”
Yes, Almost All Of Us Procrastinate On Deadline (Try A Labyrinth – For Real)
“When the stakes are high enough (meaning that you are now operating within an extremely limited timeframe) a person can enter into a state of hyper-focus which eases and quickens the process. If you like adrenaline rushes, this might be your explanation of choice.”
The Rough Ways Of Making The Perfect Ballet Shoes [VIDEO]
“Far from the dance studio, craftsmen hammer and form ballet shoes with their own rough grace.”
McSweeney’s Is Going Nonprofit – And That’s *Not* A Disaster For Literature
“Though we’d all like to see independent publishers like McSweeney’s selling more each year, it’s vital that some publishers primarily seek quality and artistic innovation.”
Canadian Literature Has Some Problems With – And For – Women
“While some of these predators have been operating for years without public acknowledgment or punishment, there has long been a shared back channel amongst women in Canadian literature – coded warnings relayed privately, chatter about who can be trusted and who is safe to be around.”
Birmingham Ignites Controversy By Giving – Well, Loaning, Sort Of – Cash To Orchestra
The money is on hold: “If we’re going to make allowances for our favorite groups, then I’ve got a favorite. What’s fair is fair. Either we are in the nonprofit funding business or we’re not.”
The Artist Who Made Art From Bell Labs Machines For Three Decades
“This framing embodies the magic of what was happening with Lillian at Bell Labs: it was science and art, instead of science or art. I heard many more stories from which followed the same pattern: brief conversations over lunch would lead to long collaborations, fruitful for both parties involved.”
This Is How Difficult It Has Become To Measure Who’s Watching What
“As audiences have fragmented, broadcasters are monitoring them in many ways, yet their core business—selling airtime to advertisers—is still tied to traditional ratings. The network or service that can unite all these pieces for a complete view of what everyone’s watching will hold the keys to the kingdom, because the answer determines where the money goes.”
Survey: Arts Degree Graduates Have High Degree Of Job Satisfaction
Disputing the “gloomy myths around the value of an arts degree,” the report finds overall job satisfaction for people who have graduated with an arts degree over the past five years is quite high, at 75 percent. That figure is down only slightly from that of older graduates, 82 percent of whom say they are satisfied with their current job.
Soprano Anita Cerquetti, 83
“[The] gifted Italian soprano … rose to instant fame in 1958 when she was called on to substitute for the mythic and sometimes mystifying Maria Callas in one of opera’s most dramatic episodes, and three years later surprised people again by ending her own career.”