It’s the question asked in frustration by every international traveler with an appliance. The answer, ultimately, goes back to the old rivalry between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.
Tag: 11.02.15
The Worrisome Takeaway From October’s ‘Box Office Bloodbath’
“What’s worrisome is that this is going to be the takeaway from the October Bloodbath: not the equally loud belly-flops of bloated fairy-tale origin story Pan or kitsch cartoon adaptation Jem and the Holograms, but the underperformance of challenging pictures like Steve Jobs and Crimson Peak. It may stand to reason that the grown-up audience Hollywood ignores the rest of the year is a no-show in fall too. And the implications of that are very grim indeed.”
A Tale of 11 Cities: New Data-Driven Assessment Of The Nonprofit Arts Sector
“Last week, the [Greater Philadelphia] Cultural Alliance released 2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities, An Eleven-City Snapshot – a data-driven assessment of the nonprofit arts sector with particular attention to post-recession recovery and persistent fiscal challenges. … The cities represented in the report include: Bay Area (San Francisco and San Jose), Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Twin Cities and Washington, D.C.”
The Hustle Of Publishing Arts News In The Postprint Era: The Case Of The Brooklyn Rail
“The Rail, which reaches about 20,000 readers a month in print and an additional 200,000 online, is among a group of niche publications that have found ways to defy a media industry increasingly preoccupied with greater scale. For these publications, serving small, often highbrow readerships, it is not possible to follow the prevailing model – gathering audiences of millions, or tens of millions, to be sold for pennies to advertisers or converted to subscribers.”
How To Live A Lie: Accepting Morality And Free Will Even If You Don’t Believe They’re Real
“The philosopher Michael Ruse has argued that ‘morality is a collective illusion foisted upon us by our genes.’ If that’s true, why have our genes played such a trick on us?” Philosopher William Irwin considers the options of what he calls fictionalism – religious, moral, or free will – and compatbilism.
We Need To Learn More About Music As Clinical Therapy
“It often feels good to listen to Aretha Franklin to lift our spirits, or croon along with Adele to make sense of a breakup. But is it also possible to listen to music in ways that sabotage our mental health?”
PEN Petition Urges Ayatollah To Pardon Two Condemned Iranian Poets
Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi “were first arrested in 2013, placed in solitary confinement and interrogated … They were released on bail in January 2014, awaiting verdicts on charges that included insulting the sacred in their poems, publishing unauthorized content and spreading anti-state propaganda. The sentences [were] 11 and a half years for Ms. Ekhtesari and nine years for Mr. Mousavi, plus 99 lashes for both.”
Why Twitter Has Become Dangerous (The Medium Really Is The Message)
Robinson Meyer: “On Twitter, people say things that they think of as ephemeral and chatty. Their utterances are then treated as unequivocal political statements by people outside the conversation. Because there’s a kind of sensationalistic value in interpreting someone’s chattiness in partisan terms, tweets ‘are taken up as magnum opi to be leapt upon and eviscerated, not only by ideological opponents or threatened employers but by in-network peers.'”
The Lure Of Luxury: An Online Forum On Why Some People Spend So Much On Stuff
“Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars on a Prada handbag, an Armani suit, or a Rolex watch? If you really need to know the time, buy a cheap Timex or just look at your phone and send the money you have saved to Oxfam. Certain consumer behaviors seem irrational, wasteful, even evil. What drives people to possess so much more than they need?” But then: “Most people own things that they don’t really need. It is worth thinking about why.”
Ear To The Ground: Even South Dakota’s Corn Palace Isn’t Free From Museum Intrigue
“In the past two years, as the city has invested millions of dollars in renovating and refurbishing the building, something strange has been brewing at the Corn Palace. For 13 years, from 2001 to 2014, the arena was run by the same director, Mark Schilling. But in 2014, he was asked to resign” and convicted of petty theft. “Since then, the city has hired two directors, one of whom was asked to step down before even starting the job, and a second who lasted less than a year.”