DuBalle says the legislators behind a new law criminalizing public drag shows don't understand the art: "They think that every drag performer is doing something hypersexual or obscene."
The IBM PC Music Feature is one of the rarest, most collectible sound cards for DOS PCs. Sure, you can get a Yamaha FB-01 FM synthesizer that does practically the same thing, but the IMFC! It's a legend! Is it worth nearly $3,000 for one complete in box? Let's unbox and set this one up to find out.
00:00 The First Sound Card! Sort of 00:37 $3,000? Is it worth it? 01:12 Pre-IMFC sound devices 01:56 Music Feature vs AdLib 04:04 A sound card for composers 05:33 Unboxing the thing 07:51 FM synth sound chips, card features 09:11 Installing & setup in an IBM PC AT 10:13 In-store demo music 11:37 Yamaha Compose & Playrec software 13:38 The games! Sierra On-Line games 15:21 Yamaha FB-01 MIDI tone generator 16:45 Summary & Outroduction
Tomorrow, March 18, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) and adidas Basketball will debut CAMH COURT, which the institution says is the first-ever playable basketball court installed in an art museum.
Installation view, “Trenton Doyle Hancock, Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass,” MASS MoCA, North Adams, March 9–November 3, 2019. Photo by Tony Luong. Image courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York.
In celebration of the NCAA Men’s Final Four®, which will be hosted in Houston in early April, CAMH commissioned Houston-based artist Trenton Doyle Hancock to design an installation that transforms the museum’s upstairs Brown Foundation Gallery into a regulation size court featuring the artist’s fantastical characters and designs on the court floor and the backboards. Adding to the whimsy of the design is that the typically rectangular court has been skewed into a parallelogram.
Trenton Doyle Hancock, “Becoming the Toymaker: Phase 14 of 41, or Common Phenomenon or Simply Commonenon,” 2017, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 16 x 16 x 1 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York.
CAMH COURT expands on the organization’s relationship with Mr. Hancock, and on its affiliations with basketball. In 2001, CAMH presented Hancock’s first solo museum exhibition, Trenton Doyle Hancock: The Life and Death of #1. In the years since then, the museum featured Hancock’s work in the group show Splat, Boom Pow! The Influence of Comics in Contemporary Art (2003) and held a retrospective of his work titled Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing (2014). And just last year, the museum, in collaboration with the Houston Rockets, commissioned Houston artists to create commemorative posters commemorating iconic Rockets players.
The project also builds on the history of artist-designed sports environments. In 1977, painter and sculptor Robert Indiana, perhaps best known for his “LOVE” sculpture, painted the Milwaukee Bucks’ basketball court floor. In 2000, Steven Badgett and Matt Lynch, as the collaborative duo Simparch, constructed a full-scale skatebowl shaped like a kidney swimming pool that was accessible to skateboarders during gallery hours. More recently, Project Backboard, a nonprofit organization established in 2015, has worked with artists to beautify and revitalize basketball courts across the United States.
In a press release announcing the installation, CAMH Executive Director Hesse McGraw stated, “We’re always aiming to have new and unexpected experiences at CAMH. Through one of the first playable basketball courts in an arts institution, we can continue to present varied experiences for anyone who walks through the door.”
Trenton Doyle Hancock’s design for CAMH COURT’s backboard. Image courtesy of CAMH.
CAMH COURT will be open to all ages, though players must sign a waiver to play and wear rubber-soled shoes when on the court. Slipover shoe covers will be provided to visitors who are not wearing rubber-soled shoes. Basketballs can be checked out from the front desk with any form of ID. Players under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian present.
CAMH plans to work with community partners to activate the court with programming and events throughout the duration of the exhibition. A final event, the CAMH Ball, will take place on Saturday, April 29, and will be a sneakers-only iteration of the organization’s annual gala and auction.
CAMH COURT will be on view from March 18 through April 27, 2023.
The closing keynote at the SCaLE 20x conference was delivered by 80-year-old Ken Thompson (co-creator of Unix, Plan9, UTF8, and the Go programming language).
Slashdot reader motang shared Thompson answer to a question at the end about what operating system he uses today:
I have, for most of my life — because I was sort of born into it — run Apple.
Now recently, meaning within the last five years, I've become more and more depressed, and what Apple is doing to something that should allow you to work is just atrocious. But they are taking a lot of space and time to do it, so it's okay.
And I have come, within the last month or two, to say, even though I've invested, you know, a zillion years in Apple — I'm throwing it away.
And I'm going to Linux. To Raspbian in particular.
INDIANAPOLIS—Beginning this year, college basketball fans will no longer have to miss even a second of the action, sources confirmed Friday, as the new NCAA March Madness Live streaming service lets fans watch up to four Capital One commercials at the same time. “For the first time ever, fans using our web app can…
We’re standing up for the digital rights of all libraries in court! On Monday at 1pm ET, the Southern District of New York will hear oral argument in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the lawsuit against our library and the longstanding library practice of controlled digital lending, brought by 4 of the world’s largest publishers.
Here’s how you can participate in the proceedings:
At 1pm ET, listen to the oral argument. This hearing is happening via telephone. You can join via 1-888-363-4749, with access code 8140049.
During the proceedings, watch the live blog hosted by Library Futures: https://controlleddigitallending.org/2023/03/20/hachette-v-ia-liveblog/ While oral arguments are happening, library and copyright experts Michelle Wu, Kyle K. Courtney, and Dave Hansen will be providing running commentary on the proceedings.
Immediately after the proceedings, join a live discussion with Michelle Wu, Kyle K. Courtney, and Dave Hansen. Register at https://forms.gle/ATuwmiNDNPUBovZm9
Stand with the Internet Archive online:
The internet advocacy group Fight for the Future has launched the Battle for Libraries, an online rally in support of the Internet Archive and digital lending. Visit the action hub to engage with other supporters & share messages with your followers across social media to spread awareness about our fight: https://www.battleforlibraries.com
A 5,000-mile-wide blob of seaweed, known as the great Atlantic Sargassum belt, is drifting in the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, where scientists say it may wash ashore and emit toxic, foul-smelling fumes as it rots. What do you think?
NEW YORK—Calling it a desirable low-risk, high-yield option, financial experts reportedly recommended Thursday that Americans invest in businesses the government will bail out anytime they fuck up. “We strongly encourage people to put their money in a secure corporation whose solvency the government will rush in to…
BELLEVUE, WA—Calling the actor “a perfect fit” for the cell phone carrier’s brand, T-Mobile announced Thursday that they had acquired Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile in an effort to make their company more annoying. “We already consistently drop your calls and deliver some of worst customer service in the country, but we…
LOS ANGELES—As rumors of sales and shutdowns of the popular app continued to spread, panicking TikTok influencers reportedly began frantically gathering as much validation as possible Thursday in case the platform was banned. “Please, Tiktok is my main source of esteem, and if it goes away, I don’t know what I’m going…
NEW YORK—In the wake of recent moves to reduce the size of its library in order to save on residual payments, streaming service HBO Max announced Thursday it would move forward with a plan to destroy all evidence that The Sopranos ever existed. “Once we have finished burning the 35-millimeter film on which the series…
VANCOUVER – Local coworkers are expressing frustration as one member of their fantasy hockey league, Dave Henson in Sales, won’t stop bragging for 10 goddamned seconds about his late-pick drafting of Sabres star Tage Thompson. The Charleston Plastics employee insisted that his selection of the Sabre’s highest scoring player was “no fluke” and that he […]
EDMONTON – Sources in Jason Freeman’s apartment have reported that the 28-year-old accountant is finally finishing up the HelloFresh meal kit that arrived over four weeks ago. “Jason just let the box take up space in the fridge until tonight, when he offered us mushroom risotto with a side of tomato risotto and an appetiser […]
This post containsspoilersfor "Star Trek: Picard," season 3, episode 5, "Imposter."
The third and final season of "Picard" made no secret of the fact that it was bringing back "Star Trek: The Next Generation" characters. Some of the earliest sneak peeks that we saw for it last year (such as this one) put the "Next Generation" crew right out in front. In addition to the requisite Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), we've already seen several familiar faces in the first half of "Picard" season 3, including Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and the one and only Worf (Michael Dorn). We also know that Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) is on the way at some point, and a subsequent teaser trailer confirmed the impending return of Lore (Brent Spiner) and Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis) as well.
There's one other surprise return, however, that the marketing for "Picard" withheld altogether: namely, Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), who hasn't been seen in the canonical "Star Trek" universe since the penultimate episode of "The Next Generation" all the way back in 1994. Ro was a late addition to the "Next Generation" cast; she first appeared in the season 5 episode, "Ensign Ro," immediately establishing herself as an assertive presence who would bring conflict to the starship Enterprise.
Though Ro became a recurring character across seven more episodes, her fate was left dangling somewhat at the end of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Yet as she helps uncover the changeling conspiracy in the latest "Picard" episode, "Imposter," it pays off both her first and last "Star Trek" appearance. And we soon learn that what happened to Ro after "The Next Generation" isn't so different from what happened to her before she joined the Enterprise crew all those years ago.
Introducing Ensign Ro Laren
As it happens, Ro's first appearance in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was also tied to a conspiracy. In "Ensign Ro," some of her backstory is parceled out in dialogue before she ever appears onscreen.
Admiral Kennelly (Cliff Potts) has assigned Ro to the Enterprise without consulting Captain Picard. The first Picard even hears of it is when she's about to beam aboard, at which point Commander Riker orders Ro to remove her Bajoran earring to conform to Starfleet's dress code. Through the back-and-forth between Picard and Kennelly, and later, Picard and Ro herself, we learn that she was court-martialed and spent time in prison before the admiral pulled some strings to get her out and get her reinstated as an officer.
Picard is reluctant to have Ro on board the Enterprise, as it's alluded that she previously disobeyed orders and caused the deaths of eight away team members in an "incident on Garon II." However, Ro provides valuable insight into the Bajoran culture, such as how her people are traditionally addressed by their family names first. She's also a straight shooter who delivers lines like, "I think you're a small man who feels a rush of power in his belly and enjoys it far too much."
Picard eventually warms to Ro after Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) vouches for her and Ro comes clean about her true mission, which is to draw out a Bajoran terrorist for Kennelly. It turns out the admiral has been working with the Cardassians, the very aliens who occupied the Bajoran home world, all along. This goes against Starfleet's whole peacekeeping ideal and shows that it's not a perfect organization, an idea that would come back into play when Ro made her final appearance in "The Next Generation" season 7.
Ro Exits The Franchise In Preemptive Strike
At the very end of "Ensign Ro," after they've exposed Admiral Kennelly, Picard convinces Ro to accept the challenge of remaining in Starfleet. He takes her under his wing and allows her to wear her Bajoran earring again, but in a weird way, Picard almost becomes the new Admiral Kennelly in "Preemptive Strike," which marked Ro's final appearance and the second to last episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
The plot of "Preemptive Strike" involves Picard sending Ro (now, a lieutenant) to infiltrate the Maquis, a group of resistance fighters made up of former Federation colonists and even some ex-Starfleet officers who lost their homes and/or their belief in Starfleet when the Federation ceded territory to the Cardassians. Ro agrees to go undercover, telling Picard, "There's one good reason to take this mission, and that is, to validate your faith in me." However, she begins to have misgivings as she sees the Maquis up close and finds a new father figure in Macias (John Franklyn-Robbins).
Ro's loyalties shift further as she witnesses the Cardassians attack the Maquis, killing Macias before Picard tries to use her to lead the Maquis into a trap (just as Admiral Kennelly once did with her and the Bajorans). At one point, Ro and Picard wind up canoodling in a bar to maintain her cover, and he threatens to court-martial her if she sabotages the mission. This would put her right back where she started.
Ultimately, as oxymoronic as it might sound, Ro chooses to follow her conscience and betray Picard, alerting the Maquis and then leaving to join them. In the end, Riker tells Picard, "She seemed very sure that she was doing the right thing. I think her only regret was that she let you down."
Abandoned Plans For Ro In Deep Space Nine And Voyager
Naren Shankar conceived the story for "Preemptive Strike," and according to him (as quoted in the book "Star Trek: The Next Generation 365"), the "Next Generation" writers' room originally wanted to have Ro Laren cross over into the next — some say, best — "Star Trek" series, "Deep Space Nine." Excerpts from the series bible (via "The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space") show that Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks) would have been as reluctant to have Ro aboard as Picard initially was, until she won Sisko over to become DS9's first officer. She would have also befriended Dax (Terry Farrell) and Odo (René Auberjonois), forming an adversarial relationship with Quark (Armin Shimerman).
Alas, it was not to be. As Michelle Forbes explained at a 2008 "Star Trek" convention in Las Vegas, she wasn't ready to commit to a TV series full-time. "I was too young to get married," she joked. Instead, the future the writers had mapped out for Forbes — the first actress to be fitted for Bajoran nose ridges, per the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Make-Up FX Journal" — was folded into another classic character, Nana Visitor's Kira.
"Deep Space Nine" was a year into its run when "Preemptive Strike" aired, while "Star Trek: Voyager" was on the horizon in 1995. The writers still held out hope that Ro could return in "Voyager." She didn't, but that was why they shifted her involvement from the Bajorans to the Maquis.
"With Ro," Shankar said, "we'd wanted to create a character to spin off into Deep Space Nine, and give her some history with what they were going to be doing. A lot of the Maquis elements in 'Preemptive Strike' were like that, too. They were going to be laid into Voyager's world."
RIP Ro
Ro's history repeats itself in "Picard" episode 5 when she shows back up in a Starfleet uniform. We learn her backstory through dialogue again as she reveals that she left the Maquis, turned herself in, and was court-martialed and "sent to prison again." Starfleet intelligence then recruited her because of her history with terrorist groups, and she "worked [her] way up slowly again," becoming a commander this time.
Picard mentored Ro and she betrayed him, and now his greatest failure has come back to haunt him. But the tables have turned and he's the one accused of treason. He has a right to be angry, but Ro is also the perfect character foil for him and his own tendency to confuse duty for morality. "Blind faith in any institution does not make one honorable," she says, and we can see her side of the argument right along with his, just as we could with Beverly Crusher.
Despite their differences, Picard and Ro's emotionally charged reunion in "Imposter" helps sell the danger of the changeling conspiracy, as they realize they can only trust each other. Ro leaves her earring with him, and it turns out it holds valuable intel. Unfortunately, her reappearance proves to be a one-and-done, but she and Picard at least form a better understanding before they kill her off, and Michelle Forbes is the clear MVP of this episode.
Unlike the serialized "Picard," "Star Trek: The Next Generation" dealt mostly in self-contained single episodes or two-parters. "Preemptive Strike" always made for a curious penultimate episode in that it brought back Ro, only to send her off with the Maquis and leave her fate unknown. With "Imposter," we now finally have closure for the character, almost 30 years later.
New episodes of "Picard" air Wednesdays on Paramount+.
One of the life’s certainties is that copyright maximalism will continue to encourage absurd rulings by complaisant courts. Here’s a rather spectacular case from Germany. It involves a “photo wallpaper”. For those of you who – like me – aren’t quite sure what that means, it is the name given to wallpapers that are essentially huge, blown-up images based on photographs. In this particular instance, photo wallpaper was used to decorate a holiday flat. As is normal for such situations, the owner took pictures to entice people to rent the property, including images of the room with the photo wallpaper, which was clearly visible in the online marketing materials. Here’s how things went as a result, reported by Pinsent Masons:
The flat owner had purchased the wallpaper in 2013 at a price of €13.50. In 2020, the flat owner received a cease-and-desist letter: the photographer, who held the copyright to the tulip photos used for the wallpaper, considered that his rights to the images had been infringed and demanded the flat owner to stop reproducing the photographs on the internet. The owner of the holiday flat refused to sign the cease-and-desist declaration and the case went to court.
The photographer explained that he had given permission for his photos – of tulips, apparently – to be used for a wallpaper. But he had only given permission for the use of the photo as wallpaper, and claimed that further permission to display his image was required if a photo of it were put online. Unfortunately the Cologne Regional Court agreed with this interpretation. It’s a ruling that could have important ramifications for anyone taking pictures of furnished rooms, as the Pinsent Masons post explains:
the ruling is not only relevant in relation to photo wallpapers, but could also be extended to other furnishing items that create an atmosphere, such as pictures, sculptures or designer furniture.
This case is yet another example of copyright gone mad, with additional authorization being required for perfectly normal and harmless activities that no rational person would regard as requiring permission or payment.
The Briscoe Western Art Museum, a collecting institution located on San Antonio’s River Walk, has announced the details of its 2023 Night of Artists exhibition and art sale. This annual event serves as the museum’s primary fundraiser and this year will feature nearly 300 works by over 80 contemporary Western artists. The museum defines Western art as that which, “shares the stories of the cowboy, the vaquero, Native Americans, and the vast beauty of the Western landscape through drawings, sketches, paintings, and sculptures.”
Caroline Korbell Carrington, “Desert Rose,” 2019, oil on canvas, 47 x 36 inches.
“As the culture shifts,” that explanation of the genre continues, “so does our interpretation of Western art, but the stories remain the same.” To that end, according to a recent press release from the Briscoe, Night of Artists seeks to dispel the notion of Western art as “dusty, historic relics of the past.” An online gallery of works from the exhibition and sale reveals a wide array of familiar Western themes as interpreted by contemporary practitioners. The Briscoe has also published a full list of participating artists with links to their websites.
William Haskell, “Hardscrabble Trail,” 2022, acrylic on panel, 24 x 18 inches (unframed).
Night of Artists is not a night, but a six-week event. It kicks off with a two-day collectors summit on March 24 and 25 at the Westin Riverwalk. The summit will be moderated by journalist Michael Clawson and feature artists Don Oelze and Mary Rose Buccholz, collectors Abigail Kampmann and Robert Oliver, and arts professionals Kevin Doyle of Jackson Hole Art Auction and Beau Alexander of Maxwell-Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles.
Kevin Red Star, “‘Magpie’ – Young Crow Indian Girl,” acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 28 x 22 inches.
An exhibition preview and live auction will be held at 5:30 pm on Friday, March 24. There will be cocktails and a seated dinner. The auction, conducted by Troy Black, will feature 35 artworks. The following day, March 25, features an artist award luncheon from 11:30 am to 1 pm (tickets for this luncheon are sold out), and a grand opening reception at 5:30 pm. The reception will feature a “Luck of the Draw” sale where interested parties may enter their names to be drawn for the chance to purchase over 270 works at fixed prices. Live music will be provided by country musician Will Banister, who gained notoriety by performing the opening song to Clint Eastwood’s 2021 neo-Western Cry Macho.
Remaining tickets for all events range in price from $250 for single-event entry to $550 for all-inclusive packages. They may be purchased online or by calling (210) 299-4499.
All works from the sale will be exhibited in the Briscoe’s galleries from March 26 until May 7 and may be visited with standard museum admission of $14 for adults. For information on reduced rates, hours, and more on Night of Artists, visit the museum’s website.
Blindsided: Planet X passes in 2033: Earthchanges!
Hazlewood
(2nd Ed.) 2001
Submitter: This amazing conspiracy rant explains how the media, all the governments (except Putin’s Russia) and society in general suppress the truth that Planet X is coming to destroy civilization in 2003. (Oh wait…). Cited sources include news articles and prophecies by, amongst others, Mother Shipton, Edgar Cayce and various conspiracy theorists. Buy this book so you can survive what was coming in 2003! Small public library in Florida, found shelved in 550 with Space Science.
Cola: a swell tale — … If you are a male mouse who drinks lots of Pepsi or Coca-Cola, and if you mainly enjoy reading manly adventure stories, get yourself a copy of the latest write-up from researcher Z. Gong, pour yourself a tall, cool glass of cola and hunker into your favourite reading chair for a hell of a good time….
Learning to read a bicycle — … A wonder-provoking diagram of a bicycle is parked on page 100 of 21st Century Skills: Learning for life in our times by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel. The book, published in 2009, still gets attention, gaining appreciation in a recent study called “The complex associations between scientific reasoning and advanced theory of mind”….
Head, Brain, Organ et al — … A few months ago, Dr Organ – Dr Jason Organ – was named the new editor-in-chief of the journal Anatomical Sciences Education. This added flesh to the nominative determinism tradition that is occasionally evident in body-parts-centric medical journals, starting (as far as Feedback is aware) with the publication Brain. Henry Head and Russell Brain were each its editor, at different times…
Lots of life in salt — … When people enliven a bland meal by adding salt, they are, in many (and maybe all) cases, adding life to that food. Tiny, maybe tasty, bits of life. Most commercial salt is home to microscopic species. Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Adriel Latorre-Pérez and Manuel Porcar, all at the University of Valencia, Spain, went looking for that life in six different kinds of table salt. They found it, everywhere….
Having high levels of caffeine in your blood may lower the amount of body fat you carry and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, research suggests. From a report: The findings could lead to calorie-free caffeinated drinks being used to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes, though further research is required, the researchers wrote in the BMJ Medicine journal. Dr Katarina Kos, a senior lecturer in diabetes and obesity at the University of Exeter, said the research showed potential health benefits for people with high levels of caffeine their blood, but added: "It does not study or recommend drinking more coffee, which was not the purpose of this research."
She said any caffeinated drinks containing sugar and fat would offset the positive effects. The researchers said their work built on previously published research, which suggested that drinking three to five daily cups of coffee, containing an average 70-150mg of caffeine, was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As those were observational studies, they made it difficult to pinpoint whether the effects were because of caffeine or other compounds, the researchers said. This latest study used a technique known as Mendelian randomisation, which establishes cause and effect through genetic evidence. The team found two common gene variants associated with the speed of caffeine metabolism, and used these to work out genetically predicted blood caffeine levels and whether this was associated with lower BMI and body fat.
The FDIC exists to help the banking system cope with exactly the type of crisis we're now seeing: When it was created in 1933, some 4,000 banks had closed in the first few months alone.
Blindsided: Planet X passes in 2033: Earthchanges!
