“What if we could, with the push of a button, make microscopic alterations of a few neurons, causing the happy chemicals to ring out in a jackpot celebration, with no side effects? Would we be ready to handle such complete control over our emotional reality?”
Tag: 08.16.15
Adding Classical Music To Your Lawn Mowing Time: An Experiment
“Any Mahler symphony recorded by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will help with ‘long and heavy lifting in the yard.'”
When Architects Revolt For The Common Good
“Much of the credit should go to a quietly heroic generation of architects. These have grown up in the era following the backlash against their profession, when they could take nothing for granted, when they had to prove again and again that their ideas were not the fantasies of arrogant dreamers, but honest efforts to improve the quality of the lives of future residents. They sometimes find themselves among the worst-paid and hardest-working around the tables of consultants who nowadays get buildings built, and the most committed to the social benefits of the final product.”
Bayreuth Festival Starts Loosening Up (A Bit)
Yes, the programming is still restricted to ten operas, the theater seats are still hot and uncomfortable, you can still wait years for the privilege of buying tickets, and a Wagner descendant is still in charge, public funding or no. But the Richard Wagner museum is now far more forthcoming about the unsavory parts of the family history, production styles are about as Regiefied as anywhere in Germany, and (a huge change) about a quarter of the tickets are now available for purchase – by anyone – straight from the box office.
David Simon Talks About His New Miniseries – About Housing Desegregation – With Sen. Cory Booker
“In the edited conversation that follows, Mr. Booker” – former mayor of Newark, now U.S. Senator from New Jersey – “and Mr. Simon traded ideas about cities as America’s future, where not just the economy and creative capital but also equality and justice need to be worked out.”