Tag: 07.31.03

Does America Need An African-American Museum?

“The U.S. Senate recently authorized the start-up of a national museum of African-American history and culture that would be part of the Smithsonian Institution and located on the Mall. This seems a very good thing for our nation, although no one has mentioned that a separate museum might seem to replicate the very segregation that the museum is meant to decry. Wouldn’t matters be better served in providing a ‘true’ picture of American history and in understanding African-American ‘contributions’ to American culture, as the official cant goes, if the story was fused with the main national narrative?”

The Tally At Iraq’s National Museum

What artwork is actually missing from the Iraq National Museum? “American and Iraqi investigators last week released a ‘most wanted’ list showing 30 priceless antiquities still missing from the museum’s main collection, along with some 13,000 other pieces. (No, they’re not printed up as playing cards.) Over the past couple of months, Iraqi museum staff, experts at the British Museum in London and U.S. investigators, have discussed the thefts in detail with Newsweek reporters. While some of the picture is still vague and the true culprits still can’t quite be identified, the fog is slowly lifting.”

Flash-Mobs – Hard To Take Seriously?

Are the so-called “flash-mobs” springing up in cities around America a serious movement or a quick-to-pass fad? “Whether one views them as part of a serious social movement or a form of quirky entertainment (or both), flash mobs are perfectly appropriate for this town. Historically, San Francisco has been rife with pranking and performance art organizations. Loosely organized groups of merrymakers – including the Amateur Press Association, the Church of the SubGenius, Survival Research Laboratories, Billboard Liberation Front, the edgier Suicide Club, Santarchy, and the still-kickin’ Cacophony Society – have been tugging San Francisco’s pigtails since the turn of the 20th century.”

BBC Radio1 Ratings Down

The latest ratings show that BBC Radio 1 is losing great numbers of listeners. “Radio 1 is now listened to by fewer than 9.9 million people per week – the lowest since a new method of counting was introduced in 1999. Under a previous counting method, it attracted 16.5 million 10 years ago.”

The Software Stuntman

Many movie stunts are dangerous and take days or weeks of set up and planning. But a software company has “developed a simulation system that lets them swiftly generate action sequences that would ordinarily demand the skills of a stuntman. The AI system controlling the bodies of the simulated stuntmen means they fall, run, move and react like real people.”