“The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage fears that Picasso’s first monumental concrete murals, which were made between the late 1950s and the early 1970s for two government buildings in Oslo, may be destroyed. The buildings were severely damaged during the deadly terrorist attack in the Norwegian capital in July 2011.”
Category: today’s top story
Just How Much Faster Does Information Travel Since The 1800’s?
“Let’s say a fresh, well-trained postal horse could run at 20 MPH, which means that’s how fast one page of information (say, a one-kilobyte letter) could travel. A one kilobyte email travels at, oh, the speed of light, basically, so that’s close to 670 million MPH.”
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s CEO Resigns After Nine Days
Dare, whose history as a sex offender was under investigation, wrote that he thought “media attention to my family’s personal life will harm the organization and musicians I cherish, as well as needlessly embarrass my wife.”
Simon Rattle To Leave Berlin Philharmonic – After Another Five Years
“Sir Simon Rattle has announced he is to leave the Berlin Philharmonic when his contract as chief conductor expires in five years’ time. … It is the beginning of the end of a relationship that has earned Rattle almost pop-star status in the German capital.”
Houston Picasso Vandal Turns Himself In At US-Mexico Border
“A Houston man accused of vandalizing a Picasso painting … last year surrendered to authorities Tuesday at the U.S.-Mexico border, his attorney said. Uriel Landeros has been on the run since Picasso’s Woman in a Red Armchair was spray-painted June 13 at the Menil Collection.”
Hungary’s Right-Wing Government Cracks Down On Culture
“The current Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, has rebranded Fidesz, once a liberal youth party … as a right-wing Christian nationalist organization. … The new constitution ‘recognizes the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood,’ and art that is deemed blasphemous or ‘anti-national’ is now the target of a full-blown campaign of suppression.”
Ada Louise Huxtable, 91, Dean Of Architecture Critics
She virtually created the modern profession of architecture critic, at The New York Times (where, in 1970, she won the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for criticism) and subsequently at The Wall Street Journal, which published her final column last month.
The Foreign-Film Oscars: Perennially Flawed?
“I think ultimately it’s a bit unfair. … The category is called best foreign language film, not best foreign language film as selected by an overly politicized committee in every nation of the world.”
Do We Really Understand How Revolutionary The Internet Is?
“As the network of networks–the “inter-network”–the Internet is a revolution of revolutions.”
Patti Page, 85
“[Her] gossamer voice on ‘The Tennessee Waltz,’ ‘The Doggie in the Window’ and other 1950s hits offered a soothing counterpart to the revolutionary new sound of rock ‘n’ roll.”