What World Problem Would You Try To Fix With $50 Billion? What would you do if you could spend $50 billion fixing one of the world's great problems? "To answer that question, Bjorn Lomborg, a statistician and environmental iconoclast, brought eight economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, to this harbor city last week to rank the world's 10 worst problems. Forget politics, they were told, just look at how to get the most bang for the buck. After studying all the contenders and running the numbers, the economic "dream team" decided" The New York Times 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 6:18 pm
The Crowd Knows Crowds are more often right than the individual. "The simplest demonstration of this is the jellybean experiment. Ask a group of 50 people how many jellybeans are in a jar, and the group's average answer will be uncannily accurate — within 2% of the right number — and it will be better than the answers of nearly everyone in the group. And though the jellybean experiment is artificial, the truth is that groups demonstrate the exact same intelligence in the face of far more complicated problems." Los Angeles Times 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 5:54 pm
How Boston Invented The World Boston has a long tradition of innovation, and some of America's great inventions have been born there. "There's a continuous thread, stretching across centuries, of powerful new ideas developed and commercialized in Boston. But that thread is always vibrating, at least faintly, with worry: Will there ever come another idea as big as the last? What new industry will create jobs sufficient to replace those lost as older industries fade? And how does the environment for company-creation here compare with other parts of the country, particularly Silicon Valley?" Boston Globe 06/06/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 11:41 am
Lone Inventor Rides Again It used to be that great inventions were the product of odd individuals working in home workshops. But sometime in the past century most of the lone inventors moved inside large corporations where they found resources to work with. Now, some are arguing that being inside large corporate structures inhibits true innovation. So how about a return to the lone inventor?... Boston Globe 06/06/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 11:13 am
Prison Warden Not Guilty In Dali Theft An assistant deputy warden at New York's Ryker's Island jail was found not guilty of masterminding the theft of a Salvador Dali drawing. "The $250,000 drawing, which depicts Christ's crucifixion, was signed and dedicated by the artist to Rikers inmates in 1965, and was displayed in a case near the entrance of the Eric M. Taylor Center. The artwork has not been recovered." The New York Times 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 6:26 pm
Saatchi Fire Brings Out The Hatred A big revelation following the Saatchi art fire: "What was amazing in the days following the fire was the level of sheer hatred shown towards British art from every section of society. A nation united, pissing on the flames. People hilariously offered to crochet a new tent for Tracey Emin with their name all over it. Parents hilariously got their children to scrawl all over a piece of paper and then sent it to Charles Saatchi."
The Guardian (UK) 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 5:51 pm
Scientists Find Atlantis "A scientist says he may have found remains of the lost city of Atlantis. Satellite photos of southern Spain reveal features on the ground appearing to match descriptions made by Greek scholar Plato of the fabled utopia." BBC 06/06/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 12:33 pm
Museum Rats Out Houdini Trick An exhibition in a museum in Wisconsin reveals the secret behind one of Harry Houdini's great magic tricks. Contemporary magicians are not amused... BBC 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 12:10 pm
BritArt Fire Next To Burgled Warehouse The London warehouse stuffed with BritArt that went up in flames last week wwas next to another storage building that had been burgled just before the fire, say police. "One of the smaller units where the fire actually began appears to have suffered a burglary, but it is yet to be established if the fire was deliberately started." BBC 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 11:53 am
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Club Owners Protest Aussie Nightclub Music Fee Australian nightclub owners are angry about an increase in fees for playing music in their clubs. "A proposed increase in licence fees to play music in nightclubs has angered owners who say it could put them out of business. The record industry's proposal would see licence fees soar 14-fold from 7 cents per patron to $1." Sydney Morning Herald 06/06/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 12:18 pm
Next Generation's Most Exciting Poets The Arts Council and the Poetry Book Society have named the 20 most exciting young poets in the UK. "More than one-and-a-half million volumes of poetry were sold in Britain last year, yet nine out of every 10 volumes sold are by dead authors." BBC 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 12:06 pm
- Our Next Poets A list and profiles of the UK's Next Generation poets. The Guardian (UK) 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 12:04 pm
China To Review Online Games Online games are hugely popular around the world. Now China wants to monitor and censor what games its citizens play. "Ministry of Culture officials said all online and wireless games produced outside the country will now be subject to examination first before they can be legally distributed within the country. Foreign producers of online games already in distribution must submit those products to MOC examinations by Sept. 1, or face punishment." Wired 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 6:29 pm
Amazon Gets Into The Movie Business One of the strengths of Amazon.com has been its ability to track customer demand and preferences and meet them. Now Amazon hopes to use some of the information it generates from its site to help create new products. Like movies, perhaps? "Amazon hopes to not just sell movies but also help Hollywood make them by connecting agents, producers and talent using the same sort of data analysis that helps Amazon sell stuff." Los Angeles Times 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 11:43 am
Oakland Ballet Running Out Of Time "The financially troubled Oakland Ballet has given itself another month to raise the $500,000 it needs to keep from going under. And it has laid off two staff members as part of its bare-bones survival plan. In April, the respected company, which has a $250,000 debt, canceled its fall season, didn't renew the contracts of its 22 dancers and announced it would fold if it couldn't raise $500,000 by May 31. So far, the ballet has raised $300,000..." San Francisco Chronicle 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 5:59 pm
Sexual Politics Of Dance "It's remarkable how prevalent is the assumption that dance draws up its skirts in panicked withdrawal from anything resembling real life. In the arena of sexual politics, for instance, there is no art form better equipped to portray the physical dynamics of relationships or to confront the issue of body image. In fact, rewriting the roles of men and women has been one of the major choreographic projects of the past 100 years." The Guardian (UK) 06/05/04
Posted: 06/06/2004 12:24 pm
