“Take Sam Shoeman, who was diagnosed with end-stage liver cancer in the 1970s and given just months to live. Shoeman duly died in the allotted time frame – yet the autopsy revealed that his doctors had got it wrong. The tumour was tiny and had not spread. ‘He didn’t die from cancer, but from believing he was dying of cancer,'” said a researcher.
Tag: 05.13.09
Meanwhile, Admission To The Art Institute Is Reduced
“Following public pressure from the City Council, the Chicago Park District late this afternoon agreed to cut entry fees to the Art Institute of Chicago that were scheduled to take effect May 23. Instead of paying $18, adult art admirers will have to pay $16 – a $2 decrease, according to a park district spokeswoman.”
Woodruff Board Fails To Approve New Site For Atlanta Symphony
An extensive 25-year master plan for the orchestra – which calls for a new concert hall but jettisons the widely-publicized design commissioned from starchitect Santiago Calatrava – was presented to the board on Wednesday. But members trickled out steadily through the 2½-hour presentation, and by the time of the vote there was no longer a quorum.
Bringing Dance To The Hasidim
“One of [Rivka Nahari’s] goals this past November, when she opened her studio in the basement of her Flatbush home, was to increase the level of dance training available to frum women. Nahari hopes to find a few gifted and dedicated female dancers and create a professional company so that the girls won’t have to go outside the community for an artistic education.”
Twitter-An-Opera-Plot Contest: The Winners Revealed!
“Danielle De Niese took her judging duties quite seriously and returned quarter final, semi final, top 25 results before paring the list down to the seven best ones. Amazing.”
Help! This Board Is A Disaster! Is There Any Hope?
Ask Amy probably doesn’t get letters like this: “I am on a pro-bono consulting project with a local nonprofit. Unfortunately, I’m simply not sure this organization can make it. There’s a gung-ho executive director but a total turkey of a board. … Do you have a view on whether a dud board can be rehabilitated? How scary should I be with these deadbeats to prompt some action?”
Tony Nominations Fail At Their Task: Goosing Sales
“The Tony Award nominations on May 5 generated mixed results in Broadway ticket sales: most of the honored musicals and plays did normal business for the week — sluggish, compared with many nominees in years past — while several producers said their advance ticket sales were unusually strong.”
Kimbell Coup: An Easel Painting By Michelangelo (Maybe)
“The image is of St. Anthony being tormented by eight flying demons. The painting is on a wooden panel, 18 inches tall. And some scholars are now convinced that Michelangelo Buonarotti completed it in 1487-88 — when he was 12 or 13 years old. … It’s rare because it’s only one of four easel paintings the artist made, and now the only one in an American museum.”
Failed Radio Ad Initiative A Misstep By Sure-Footed Google
“Google Inc.’s foray into selling radio ads was supposed to show how its online-advertising brainpower could revolutionize an old-fashioned people business. … Instead, radio tripped up Google. The company is pulling the plug on its attempt to automate radio-ad sales on May 31, exposing how far Google is from its goal of grabbing a big chunk of the multibillion-dollar business of off-line ad sales.”
NYC’s New Public-Building Policy Yields Artful Architecture
In the revamped process, “architects compete on the quality of their portfolios and their construction records. Building projects are grouped by cost, from high to low, encouraging smaller and younger firms to apply at the lower end; eligible architects are selected by a panel that reviews and updates the list periodically. Realistic fees are negotiated…. This makes the process more open, more rational, and more fiscally controllable. It also delivers infinitely better buildings.”