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collecting ・ connoisseurship ・ climate
Tag: collections
Posted on July 7, 2020 July 11, 2020
Museums preserve clues that can help scientists predict and analyze future pandemics
Pamela Soltis
Distinguished Professor and Curator, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Joseph Cook
Professor of Biology and Curator, Division of Mammals, Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico
Richard Yanagihara
Professor of Pediatrics and Principal Investigator, Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, University of Hawaii
24 June 2020 8.17am EDT
In less than 20 years, communities around the globe have been hit by a string of major disease outbreaks: SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika and now, COVID-19. Nearly all emerging infectious diseases in humans originate from microorganisms that are harbored by wildlife and subsequently "jump," either directly or indirectly – for example, through mosquitoes or ticks – to humans.
One factor driving the increase in zoonotic disease outbreaks is that human activities – including population growth, migration and consumption of wild animals – are leading to increased encounters with wildlife. At the same time, genetic mutations in viruses and other microbes are creating new opportunities for disease emergence.
But humans remain largely ignorant of our planet's biodiversity and its natural ecosystems. Only two million species – about 20% of all the estimated species on Earth – have even been named. In our view, this fundamental ignorance of nearly all aspects of biodiversity has resulted in an inefficient, poorly coordinated and minimally science-based response to key aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have diverse backgrounds in plant and mammal evolution and emerging infectious diseases. In a newly published commentary that we wrote with colleagues from across the U.S. and in six other countries, we identify a largely untapped resource for predicting future pandemics: natural history collections in museums around the world.
These collections preserve specimens of animals, plants and other organisms that illustrate the diversity of life on Earth. They are reservoirs of information and samples that can help scientists identify likely pathogen sources, hosts and transmission pathways. We believe that leveraging collections in this way will require more resources and more collaboration between biodiversity scientists and disease outbreak sleuths.
Sir David Attenborough explains how museum collections contribute to our understanding of the natural world.
Archives of life on Earth
Research shows that zoonotic diseases have increased due to human intrusion into animal habitats. In particular, destruction of tropical rain forests throughout the world has brought us face to face with microbes that occur naturally in wild animals and can cause disease in our own species.
Earth's biodiversity is connected through a family tree. Viruses, bacteria and other microbes have evolved with their hosts for millions of years. As a result, a virus that resides in a wild animal host such as a bat without causing disease can be highly pathogenic when transmitted to humans. This is the case with zoonotic diseases.
Unfortunately, national responses to disease outbreaks are often based on very limited knowledge of the basic biology, or even the identity, of the pathogen and its wild host. As scientists, we believe that harnessing centuries of biological knowledge and resources from natural history collections can provide an informed road map to identify the origin and transmission of disease outbreaks.
These collections of animals, plants and fungi date back centuries and are the richest sources of information available about life on Earth. They are housed in museums ranging from the Smithsonian Institution to small colleges.
Together, the world's natural history collections are estimated to contain more than three billion specimens, including preserved specimens of possible hosts of the coronaviruses that have led to SARS, MERS and COVID-19. They provide a powerful distribution map of our planet's biodiversity over space and through time.
Preserved pathogens
How can researchers channel these collections toward disease discovery? Each specimen – say, a species of pitcher plant from Florida or a deer mouse from arid New Mexico – is catalogued with a scientific name, a collection date and the place where it was collected, and often with other relevant information. These records underpin scientists' understanding of where host species and their associated pathogens are found and when they occurred there.
Connecting the site of a disease outbreak to potential pathogen hosts that occur in that area can help to pinpoint likely hosts, sources of pathogens, and pathways of transmission from hosts to humans and from one human to another. These natural history collections are connected worldwide through massive online databases, so a researcher anywhere in the world can find information on potential hosts in far-off regions.
But that's just the beginning. A preserved specimen of a rodent, a bat or any other potential host animal in a collection also carries preserved pathogens, such as coronaviruses. This means that researchers can quickly survey microbes using specimens that were collected decades or more before for an entirely different purpose. They can use this information to quickly identify a pathogen, associate it with particular wild hosts, and then reconstruct the past distributions and evolution of disease-causing microbes and hosts across geographic space.
Many collections contain frozen samples of animal specimens stored in special low-temperature freezers. These materials can be quickly surveyed for microbes and possible human pathogens using genetic analysis. Scientists can compare DNA sequences of the pathogens found in animal specimens with the disease-causing agent to identify and track pathways of transmission.
Nitrogen freezers for cryo-preserving specimens in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Biorepository. Donald E. Hurlbert/Smithsonian, CC BY-ND
For example, museum specimens of deer mice at the University of New Mexico were key to the rapid identification of a newly discovered species of hantavirus that caused 13 deaths in the southwest United States in 1993. Subsequent studies of preserved specimens have revealed many new species and variants of hantaviruses in other rodents, shrews, moles and, recently, bats worldwide.
Equipping museums and connecting scientists
Natural history collections have the potential to help revolutionize studies of epidemics and pandemics. But to do this, they will need more support.
Even though they play a foundational role in biology, collections are generally underfunded and understaffed. Many of them lack recent specimens or associated frozen tissues for genetic analyses. Many regions of our planet have been poorly sampled, especially the most biodiverse countries near the tropics.
To leverage biodiversity science for biomedical research and public health, museums will need more field sampling; new facilities to house collections, especially in biodiverse countries; and expanded databases for scientists who collect the samples, analyze DNA sequences and track transmission routes. These investments will require increased funding and innovations in biomedical and biodiversity sciences.
Another challenge is that natural history curators and pathobiologists who study the mechanisms of disease work in separate scientific communities and are only vaguely aware of each other's resources, despite clear benefits for both basic and clinical research. We believe now is the time to reflect on how to leverage diverse resources and build stronger ties between natural history museums, pathobiologists and public health institutions. Collaboration will be key to our ability to predict, and perhaps forestall, future pandemics.
Pamela Soltis, Joseph Cook, Richard Yanagihara
first published in "The Conversation" under a Creative Commons license
intentionality & the post-covid cultural landscape
"Individually we are no match for nature. Together we are."
Stewart Simonsen, Assistant Director-General, World Health Organization; in conversation with Fareed Zakaria, GPS, 24 May 2020
"Congress will have to think with knowledge that we will have another crisis."
Gary Cohn, Former Director, National Economic Council, Former President & Chief Operating Officer, Goldman Sachs, in conversation with Fareed Zakaria, GPS, 24 May 2020
Given the health, governance, and legal risks posed by the coronavirus and the covid-19 response, a primary issue affecting us all, including galleries, museums, and cultural organizations around the world, has been how to limit its spread. As a prophylactic vaccine has not yet been developed, decisions were made to limit possible exposure and contagion by distancing people from one another. In many countries all organizations and enterprises except those providing what have been considered "essential" services were closed, museums included.
Museums are public spaces that welcome people through their doors into shared spaces to look at art together. They have had to grapple with the questions of whether or not and how to engage their audiences while closed. They grapple now with the question of how best to re-open while continuing to mitigate the risk of contagion and spread.
The learning curve has been steep and rapid. Marc Spiegler, Global Director of Art Basel, and museum leaders from Asia, Europe, and the United States addressed the learning curve and responses of the museum sector during a webinar discussion that took place on 21 May, "How will the pandemic change institutions?"
Dr. Zoé Whitley, director of the Chisenhale Gallery, London, Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, New York City, Phlip Tinari, director and CEO of the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, and Dr. András Szántó, author and cultural strategy advisor, New York City, shared their thoughts and perspectives on the missions, priorities, and activities of their organizations, how they were managing during the pandemic and concomitant shut-down, risks, risk management, and ways to make it possible to be back in physical spaces looking at art with other people.
"What roles should institutions play in the post-covid cultural landscape, assuming you can even guess what the landscape is going to be?"
Acknowledging that "we have a responsibility to re-think how we remain relevant to our audiences," Dr. Whitley asked, "how do you start charting a new path under these incredibly strange circumstances?"
"I think that's precisely the question," she continues. "What might rank as the world's worst hypothetical interview question: how would you lead an organization remotely in the midst of a global pandemic? And you would think it was so absurd as to be not really be able to entertain it. And yet here we are."
While understanding that the pandemic and the global response caught many off guard, knowing what we now know, we may need to revisit underlying assumptions of absurdity and re-map our thinking. The pathogen and pandemic did not come out of nowhere. See: "Q&A: Could climate change and biodiversity loss raise the risk of pandemics?".
Pathogens such as the coronavirus that is causing the covid-19 response occur abundantly in nature. As we, through our many behaviors, draw closer to wild animals, for instance, and draw them closer to us, and unless we work consistently and with intention to acknowledge, manage, and mitigate risk, we may expect ever more such pandemics.
The UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing may serve as a case study. Having closed its doors on 24 January, the UCCA re-opened to the public on 21 May.
Philip Tinari reflected on the disappearance of everyday routine during the closure, the mood of solemnity of everyday existence, the poignancy of being back in physical space looking at art with people, and the freedom to enter into a public space and look at art.
He observed that while "it's poignant and it's just wonderful to be back in physical space looking at art with people, … that can only happen because of larger dynamics in the society."
"The freedom to enter into a public space and look at art," the freedom to enter the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, and Beijing's 798 Art District in which it is located, is afforded by measures taken to control the contagion and spread.
"To even enter into 798, one needs to have one's temperature taken and one needs to show a kind of virtual pass which is generated by a government app that, you know, tracks your data and proves that you have not been in any high-risk areas for the last 14 days or 21 days, and even, in some cases, synchs to facial-recognition thermometers that are around town. So, there's a complete panopticon, and we're the indirect beneficiaries of it.
"And at our door, there's another temperature check as there is at the entrance of any restaurant or store. And masking here is completely mandatory and universal. And so then it just becomes a question of how to be responsible and keep things disinfected and use our guards to keep people distanced.
From "How technology is safeguarding health and livelihoods in Asia," Oliver Tonby, Jonathan Woetzel, Noshir Kaka, Wonsik Choi, Jeongmin Seong, Brant Carson, and Lily Ma,McKinsey & Company, 12 May 2020
"I guess all to say that we're all kind of working inside the contexts where we find ourselves. And this one, for the draconian nature of certain measures, they paradoxically allow for the freedom to enter into a public space and look at art."
As risks abound, continue, and even, arguably, increase, it is crucial to plan and conduct business smartly, in a forward-looking manner, clearly articulating desired outcomes, on the one had, and negative externalities, that are increasingly no longer external, on the other.
UCCA has postponed shows that were on the calendar for this year, "many of which involved intense overseas collaborations and were not going to happen as scheduled." Yet, learning as early as early March that the museum re-opening would take place on 21 May, the first date also of the re-scheduled Beijing Gallery Week-end, Mr. Tinari and the museum curators realized "that there was no way we could get to May 21 and not have something to show everyone."
"And so I sat in a room with my curators for about a week. And we came up with an exhibition that we titled "Meditations in an Emergency" after the Frank O'Hara anthology which kind of looks at the post-covid world from five different angles. Everything from the disappearance of everyday routine to the relationship between humans and animals to the proliferation of a sort of de-centered polyphonic or contradictory narrative around news and information.
"It's a 26-artist group show that's actually, I don't mean to brag or anything, but it's really beautifully installed. And it's poignant and it's just wonderful to be back in physical space looking at art with people."
Zhang Hui, "Just Line in the Mirror 2" (2018, oil on canvas).
Credit: Zhang Hui and UCCA, Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing: "Meditations in an Emergency," 21 May – 30 August 2020
Thinking forward, Mr. Tinari observes "a certain solemnity to just everyday existence now. People are ready to come. And in a way that's a very not the worst frame of mind with which to enter into an exhibition."
What he's been calling "the new intentionality," engaging in activities "with a very specific purpose and for a limited duration," applies, he says, to programming as well. "It's not that we won't continue to do big international shows but we'll do them for specific reasons with kind of very measurable goals in more measured ways."
Art Basel, "How will the pandemic change institutions?", YouTube, 22 May 2020
Oliver Tonby, Jonathan Woetzel, Noshir Kaka, Wonsik Choi, Jeongmin Seong, Brant Carson, and Lily Ma, "How technology is safeguarding health and livelihoods in Asia," McKinsey & Company, 12 May 2020
"Zoé Whitley, Star Curator Behind Acclaimed 'Soul of a Nation' Show, Named Director of London's Chisenhale Gallery," ARTnews, 17 January 2020
UCCA, Center for Contemporary Art, Meditations in an Emergency, 21 May 2020 – 30 August 2020
inflection point? · oil major tears up the industry's financial playbook
In August 2014 Simon Evans of Carbon Brief, reporting on a white paper, "Fossil fuel divestment: a $5 trillion challenge," published days earlier by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, noted that "'fossil fuels are investor favourites for a reason'….fossil fuel investments have a history of strong performance.
"BNEF looked at seven alternative trillion-dollar sectors and found that only shares in real estate firms have paid higher dividends in recent years than fossil fuel firms."
(Simon Evans, "Why fossil fuel divestment won't be easy," Carbon Brief, 27 August 2014)
Fast forward to today. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, global energy demand in the first quarter of 2020 was 3.8% lower than in the same quarter of 2019. The IEA expects global energy demand for 2020 to decline by 6% year-on-year, a decline not seen for decades.
Annual rate of change in primary energy demand, %, since 1900, with key events impacting demand highlighted. Source: Josh Gabbatiss, "IEA: Coronavirus impact on CO2 emissions six times larger than 2008 financial crisis," Carbon Brief, 30 April 2020; IEA Global Energy Review
The fossil fuel sector, consistently a source of large dividends over the years, is suddenly under market stress and scrutiny from investors.
While "most analysts expected the world's largest Western super majors … to defend their dividend at almost any cost given how important the payouts are to North American investors" (Kevin Crowley, Exxon Freezes Dividend for First Time in 13 years Amid Crash, Bloomberg, 29 April 2020), Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, shocked the investing world.
Shell both reduced its dividend, the first time it has done so since World War II, for Q1 2020 and, observing that it would be neither "wise" nor "prudent" nor "responsible" to do so, announced it will not follow industry practice of borrowing against its balance sheet to finance the dividend payment.
"The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc ("RDS" or the "Company") today announced an interim dividend in respect of the first quarter of 2020 of US$ 0.16 per A ordinary share ("A Share") and B ordinary share ("B Share"), reduced from the US$ 0.47 dividend for the same quarter last year."
"The pace and scale of the societal impact of COVID 19 and the resulting deterioration in the macroeconomic and commodity price outlook is unprecedented. The duration of these impacts remains unclear with the expectation that the weaker conditions will likely extend beyond 2020.
"In response, Shell has taken decisive actions to reduce our spending and position our businesses to compete in the current lower commodity price environment and uncertain demand outlook.
"The Board of Royal Dutch Shell has taken the decision to reset its dividend to provide financial resilience and further flexibility to manage the uncertainty. Shell is taking the steps necessary to ensure that we are well-positioned for the eventual economic recovery."
("Royal Dutch Shell plc first quarter 2020 interim dividend," 30 April 2020)
Not only did the dividend reduction, coupled with CEO Ben van Beurden's further announcement that Shell would not take on debt to fund its dividend payment, shock investors, it also "tore up the industry's playbook."
"When the boss of Royal Dutch Shell Plc slashed his dividend on Thursday, he didn't just shock investors," Laura Hurst of Bloomberg commented, "he tore up the industry's financial playbook.
"For decades Big Oil has used the strength of a large balance sheet to borrow money when the going gets tough and keeps investors sweet until the next upward cycle.
"As the coronavirus pandemic potentially causes lasting damage to energy demand, Europe's largest oil company asked whether this strategy is sustainable.
"'I would say no,' said Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden. 'It's also not wise and prudent, nor even responsible, to pay out a dividend if you know for sure you have to borrow for it.'"
(Laura Hurst, "Shell's Dividend Cut Shows This Time is Different for Big Oil," Bloomberg, 30 April 2020)
Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor (OSE:EQNR,NYSE:EQNR; formerly Statoil) announced on 23 April a cash dividend of US$ 0.09 per share for the first quarter 2020, a reduction of 67% compared to the dividend proposed for the fourth quarter 2019.
On 28 April, BP announced an interim dividend of 10.50 cents per ordinary share for the first quarter of 2020.
Gaurav Sharma, Senior Contributor at Forbes, observing that whilst first quarter profits at BP have decreased by 67% on lack of oil demand and the crude oil price crash, the company "sprung a surprise for the market by maintaining the company's 10.5 U.S. cents per share dividend payment, hiked by 2.4% as recently as February."
"The move," Mr. Sharma noted, "will come as a relief to beleaguered U.K. income funds that have seen over $18.6 billion in payouts cancelled or suspended over the last six weeks.
"Collectively, HSBC, GSK, Royal Dutch Shell, British American Tobacco and BP accounted for 40% of FTSE 100 dividend payouts in 2019. With BP promising to payout, HSBC holding back following regulatory pressure, GSK, BAT and Shell, which hasn't failed to pay a dividend since the Second World War II, appear to be in the bag."
(Gaurav Sharma, "Profits Slump 67% At BP But Oil Major Maintains Dividend Despite Coronavirus Downturn," Forbes, 28 April 2020)
On 29 April, Exxon Mobil Corp., based in Irving, Texas and the largest oil company in the Western Hemisphere, announced that for the second quarter 2020 it will pay a dividend of 87 cents per share. This is the same amount that was paid per share for the first quarter of 2020.
For the first time in 13 years, ExxonMobil "froze" its second quarter dividend to the amount paid in the first quarter.
Kevin Crowley of Bloomberg notes "Before now, Exxon had an uninterrupted streak of April increases going back to 2007."
"Most analysts expected the world's largest Western super majors, including Exxon, to defend their dividend at almost any cost given how important the payouts are to North American investors. Before today, Exxon was the third-largest dividend payer in the S&P 500 Index behind Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg."
"The freeze may not derail Exxon's multi decade streak of annual increases," Mr. Crowley continues. "Even if the company maintains quarterly payouts at the current level for the rest of 2020, the annual outlay will be $3.48 a share, or 1.5% above 2019.
"'It's definitely a sign of the times and to be expected given the price environment,' said Jennifer Rowland, an analyst at Edward D. Jones &Co. The payout is "secure" because the company has capacity to take on debt to fund it, she said. On an annualized basis, the dividend will cost Exxon almost $15 billion this year."
(Kevin Crowley, Exxon Freezes Dividend for First Time in 13 years Amid Crash, Bloomberg, 29 April 2020)
Josh Gabbatiss, "IEA: Coronavirus impact on CO2 emissions six times larger than 2008 financial crisis," Carbon Brief, 30 April 2020
"First Quarter 2020 Interim Dividend," Royal Dutch Shell Plc, 30 April 2020
Laura Hurst, "Shell's Dividend Cut Shows This Time is Different for Big Oil, " Bloomberg, 30 April 2020
"Dividend Information, ExxonMobil dividends per common share," Exxon Mobil, 29 April 2020
Kevin Crowley, "Exxon Freezes Dividend for First Time in 13 years Amid Crash," Bloomberg, 29 April 2020
"BPp.l.c. Group results, First quarter 2020", 28 April 2020
Gaurav Sharma, "Profits Slump 67% At BP But Oil Major Maintains DividendDespite Coronavirus Downturn," Forbes, 28 April 2020
"Equinor reducing quarterly cash dividend for first quarter 2020 by 67%," Equinor, 23 April 2020
Mikael Holter, "Norway Oil Giant Slashes Dividend to Weather Oil-Market Crash," Bloomberg, 23 April 2020
Financial Times, "Shell dividend cut puts Big Oil investment case in focus"
Simon Evans, "Why fossil fuel divestment won't be easy," Carbon Brief, 27 August 2014
Nathaniel Bullard, "Fossil fuel divestment: a $5 trillion challenge," White Paper, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 25 August 2014
Vermeer's "The Milkmaid"
"So also Vermeer creates a story. A story of everyday life. And it's amazing, I think, how he's able to make this everyday scene into a monumental painting."
Taco Dibbits, General Director of the Rijksmuseum
Put up for sale (for tax purposes) by the Six family in the early 20th century, "The Milkmaid" attracted the attention of American financier J. Pierpont Morgan who would have brought the painting out of the Netherlands.
"The Milkmaid" was, however, not sold to Mr. Morgan nor did it leave the Netherlands.
Instead the painting was acquired in 1908, together with 38 others also offered by the Six family, for 750,000 guilders by a consortium comprised of the Rijksmuseum, the government of the Netherlands, and the Rembrandt Society.
Successfully retained at home, "The Milkmaid" entered the protective custody of the Rijksmuseum where it has remained since.
Johannes Vermeer, "The Milkmaid" (c. 1660, oil on canvas)
"The Milkmaid," painted in oil on canvas by Delft painter Johannes Vermeer in about 1660, describes a maid standing in the dairy kitchen of a Delft household making a bread pudding.
Bread, protected from the mice in a chest hanging by the window up on the wall, is readied in a basket on the table. A blue porcelain pitcher holds beer to be used as yeast. The milkmaid pours milk, delivered to the door from the countryside, from an earthenware pitcher.
Taco Dibbits spoke engagingly of "The Milkmaid" during his presentation of 26 January 2018 at the Yale University Art Gallery: "Understanding the Rijksmuseum: The History of a National Museum".
"And then there is the first big intervention of the State. "The Milkmaid" by Vermeer, she was about to be sold to the US, and the Dutch said, 'no, this cannot happen,' and a committee was formed, in the Netherlands everything goes by committee, a committee was formed, consensus was reached, it was brought into Parliament, and it was unanimously decided that this painting should be acquired for the country, and it has been in the Rijksmuseum since the the beginning of the 20thcentury.
"For Vermeer, it is incredible to see how well preserved it is. And it's a large part of its magic.
"You really feel his brushstroke and the way he indicates the brittleness of the bread and the breadcrumbs
Johannes Vermeer, "The Milkmaid" (c. 1660, oil on canvas, detail)
"and the way he with little dots, you can still see them on the paint surface, and the way he depicts the dark blue skin of the milkmaid, she's been cleaning, probably in cold water, the way he does that, and contrasts it with the dark blue behind it, it is an amazing painting.
"And it's a painting that tells a story, a story of a lady, or a maid in this case, standing in the dairy kitchen, a kitchen on the north. There is a window, but you see the mold. I always say it is the most beautiful plaster wall ever painted, you see the mold here. And the windows on the north, a small hole in the window to show that it's really glass.
"Bread is in the chest, hanging up against mice.
"You know it's cold because there's a stove here, with a little piece of pottery, within it hot coals.
"And here is the milk. The milk would be delivered at the door from the country, delivered at the door in large buckets.
"And there is a pitcher with beer which is used as yeast."
Taco Dibbits, "Understanding the Rijksmuseum: The Story of a National Museum," Yale University Art Gallery, 26 January 2018
"The Milkmaid" was "probably purchased from the artist by his Delft patron Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624-1674), who at his death appears to have owned twenty-one works by Vermeer."
The twenty-one paintings were sold in 1696 from the estate of van Ruijven's son-in-law, Jacob Dissius.
At this sale, "The Milkmaid" was described as "exceptionally good" and brought the second-highest price. (Vermeer's "View of Delft,"c. 1660-1552, now in the collection of the Mauritshaus, The Hague, fetched the highest price, 200 guilders).
Auctioned in 1719, the painting belonged to at least five Amsterdam collections before it was acquired by one of the great collectors of Dutch art, Lucretia Johanna van Winter (1785 – 1845) who in 1822 married into the Six family of collectors.
Years later, in the early 20thcentury, heirs of the two sons of Lucretia Johanna van Winter intended to auction off "The Milkmaid" together with 38 other paintings in their collection. American financier, J. Pierpont Morgan, expressed interest in acquiring the painting.
In order to keep "The Milkmaid" in the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum, with support from the Dutch government and the Rembrandt Society, purchased "The Milkmaid," together with the other 38 paintings, in 1908 for 750,000 guilders.
"The So-Called Dissius Auction (1696 sale of 124 paintings by the artmerchant Gerard Hoet)", Essential Vermeer
"The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer," Walter A. Liedtke, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009, p. 22
"The Milkmaid," The Rijksmuseum
TacoDibbits, "Understanding the Rijksmuseum: The Story of a National Museum,"Yale University Art Gallery, 26 January 2018
Trio of gallery greats commence sales of works from the Donald B. Marron Family Collection
Good contemporary art reflects the society, and great contemporary art anticipates.
Donald B. Marron (quoted by Pace Gallery, "Acquavella Galleries, Gagosian and Pace to Handle Sale of Donald B. MarronFamily Collection")
Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal has reported that two works by Pablo Picasso, "Femme au beret et la collerette" (Woman with Beret and Collar," 1937) and "Seated Woman (Jacqueline)" (1962) have been sold from the Donald B. Marron Family Collection to collector Stephen Wynn. It is reported that Mr. Wynn paid approximately $105 million for the two paintings.
Sales of works from the family collection are being conducted by a collaboration of gallery greats – Pace Gallery, Gagosian, and Acquavella Galleries. Bill Acquavella (son of Acquavella Galleries founder Nicholas Acquavella), Larry Gagosian (founder of Gagosian), and Arne Glimcher (founder of Pace Gallery) each worked with Mr. Marron in the development of the collection.
The collaboration, "the first of its kind, signals a new way for families to handle the sales of their collections" (Gagosian).
Under the terms of the collaboration, the galleries are charged to work jointly and privately to place and sell the works in the market. They are charged, further, neither to disclose publicly what is or is not available for sale nor to disclose an estimate for the collection.
The collaboration appears to have been the brainchild of Marc Glimcher, son of Arne Glimcher and president of Pace Gallery.
Eileen Kinsella of Artnet News, reporting that the plan came together quickly, quotes Mr. Glimcher:
"'I heard that [the Marron family] were considering going to auction and I just picked up the phone and called Larry [Gagosian] and said, 'We should really present an alternative to the family. It's tragic for this collection to go to auction,'" Glimcher recalled.
"After reaching out to Bill Acquavella, who also had a longstanding relationship with Marron, "'we all came and presented an idea to the family of how we would do it" around a month ago.'"
The Acquavella family – sister, brothers, and father – came on board. Eleanor Acquavella, Bill Acquavella's daughter, reports that they"' liked the idea of competing with the auctions on a great estate.'" They acknowledged, however, that "it would be hard to pull off.'" The galleries would be required to "'compete financially,'" and otherwise, to win to the business.
Indeed. Financial guarantees for the collection, in the amount of $300 million, had been offered by auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips.
Especially in the face of those guarantees, "'"the key,'" observed Gagosian's COO Andrew Fabricant, "'was to meet the fiduciary requirements of an estate, which is complicated.
"'We had to convince the family and the lawyers. The challenge was to be in line and competitive and still have some daylight for running with an exhibition and sales."
A joint New York exhibition of May and June, is being organized by the three galleries. Including works from the family collection together with loans from institutions, the exhibition "will chronicle Marron's collecting activities, including his early acquisitions in the 1960s and 1970s, his museum stewardship, and his pioneering work reinventing how corporations build art collections around a singular vision."
Kelly Crow, "Steve Wynn Pays $105 Million for Pair of Picassos," The Wall Street Journal, 24 February 2020
Eileen Kinsella, "The $450 Million Marron Collection Is the Art Market's Ultimate Prize. Now, Three of the World's Top Rival Galleries Are Joining Forces to Sell It," Artnet, 19 February 2020
"Acquavella Galleries, Gagosian, and Pace to Handle Sale of Donald B. MarronFamily Collection," Gagosian
"Acquavella Galleries, Gagosian and Pace to Handle Sale of Donald B. Marron Family Collection," Pace Gallery
Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894): "La Rue Halévy, vue du sixième étage"
Offered at the Sotheby's New York Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale of 14 May 2019 with an estimate of US $6 – $8 million, Gustave Caillebotte's "La Rue Halévy, vue du sixième étage" (oil on canvas, 1878) sold for US $13,932,000 (with fees).
Hasso Plattner, co-founder of the German software company SAP, SE, is said by The Canvas to have purchased the painting. Mr. Platter founded the Barberini Museum that opened in Potsdam in 2017. A member of "The Giving Pledge" established by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, per Forbes magazine he is the 94th richest person in the world.
Gustave Caillebotte, "La Rue Halévy, vue du sixième étage" (oil on canvas, 1878)
Hasso Plattner's collecting focus is the art both of the Impressionists and of the German Democratic Republic. He is said to be the buyer also of Monet's "Meules" of 1890. "Meules" remained in the collection of Bertha Honoré Palmer and her family for nearly a century, also selling at Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale of 14 May 2019 for $97 million (hammer) / $110,747,000 (with fees).
Caillebotte (1848 – 1884) exhibited "La Rue Halévy, vue du sixième étage" in the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition of 1879.
Napoleon III had introduced ambitious reforms during the 1860s, charging Georges-Eugène Haussmann with a radical reconfiguration of the then medieval city.
Space was created by razing many parts of Paris, developing a grid of straight roads, avenues, boulevards, and modern apartment buildings with grand balconies and large windows that faced the street, offering views of the boulevards below.
Caillebotte – lawyer and engineer by training as well as artist – explored the modern Paris in his work, adopting viewpoints high above the busy city streets.
The elevated vantage point of "La Rue Halévy, vue du sixième étage" afforded Caillebotte the freedom to view and manipulate perspective, tilting the ground of the picture plane in a manner that has been considered characteristic of his work and one of his greatest contributions in the move towards Modernism.
"Art Industry News: Did a German Software Billionaire Buy Monet's $111 Million Haystacks? + Other Stories," Artnet News, 16 May 2019
Gustave Caillebotte, "La Rue Halévy, vue du sixième étage," Lot 17, Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, 14 May 2019, Sotheby's New York, Catalogue Note
Kelly Crow,"Monet Sells for $110.7 Million, Setting Artist and Impressionist Records," Wall Street Journal, 14 May 2019
Kelly Crow, @KellyCrow, Tweet, 14 May 2019;
Kelly Crow, @KellyCrowWSJ, Tweet, 15 May 2019
Katya Kazakina, @theartdetective, Tweet, 14 May 2019
Catherine Hickley, "Software billionaire plans to turn decaying Potsdam restaurant into museum for East German art," The Art Newspaper, 2 April 2019
Posted on December 25, 2018 February 9, 2020
your money, your life, your choice ・ the painting that did not sell
The painting that did not sell.
While there may be a well-established "cartel of taste" (see Anna Louie Sussman's article "Why You Can't Always Buy a Work of Art Just Because You Have the Cash," @artsy, 12 December 2018), market stakeholders can and sometimes do display independent judgment.
Gerhard Richter's "Schädel" (oil on canvas), the first of a series of eight skull paintings painted in 1983, was held in the same collection for 30 years after a last public exhibition in 1988.
Based on a photograph taken by Richter himself, the painting demonstrates a "dialogue between painterly abstraction and photo-realist representation that had been simmering across separate stands of Richter's practice for nearly two decades."
This painting led the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale held at Christie's London on 4 October 2018.
With an unpublished estimate, the painting was expected to sell for between £12 and £18 million (US$15 – US$23 million).
Bidding reached £11.5 million. The painting was not allowed to change hands.
Note also the instance of Edward Hopper's 1972 painting, "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" that sold at Christie's in New York on 15 November. It closed narrowly, at what may have been a precisely agreed threshold of $80 million – with what appeared to be Christie's bidding against itself to reach the sales price.
"Why You Can't Always Buy a Work of Art Just Because You Have the Cash," Anna Louie Sussman, Artsy, 12 December 2018
"Seen for the first time in 30 years: Gerhard Richter's 'Schädel' ('Skull')," Christie's
"Gerhard Richter 'Skull' to Headline Christie's Sale in London," Fang Block, Barron's, 4 September 2018
"Rare Richter's a Bust, but Christie's Moves $25.9 M. Bacon, $21 M. Fontana at London Sales," Judd Tully, Artnews, 4 October 2018
collections care & engineered resilience
As the markets for works of art, collections care, and engineered resilience in the built environment (private collections, museums – public and private, galleries, fairs, corporate and university collections, etc.) converge, renewable energy will be a factor.
"Underlying property increases in value by virtue of the fact that positive externalities associated with the performance of the resilience investments represents a superior outcome to the status quo – even when netted out by any costs." (Keenan et.al.)
Companies have signed long-term contracts to purchase solar and wind energy in 28 markets.
Cost declines and efficiency improvements are making renewables cost-competitive with wholesale power prices of more traditional sources of electricity.
While larger corporations are entering into corporate power purchase agreements (PPA),
smaller companies are increasingly pooling electricity demand together to access economies of scale achieved through solar and wind projects.
This is called "aggregation."
"Aggregation" might be a workable model for entities in the art market concerned about the long-term resilience of structures and care and value of works and collections.
See: 1) Jesse M. Keenan, Thomas Hill, Anurag Gumber, "Climate Gentrification: From Theory to Empiricism in Miami-Dade County," IOPScience, 23 April 2018; 2) "Corporations Already Purchased Record Clean Energy Volumes in 2018, and It's Not an Anomaly," Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 9 August 2018
#art #artmarket #museum #privatemuseum #collection #contemporaryart #energy #co2 #wind #solar #renewableenergy #resilience #resilienceengineering #architecture #design #engineering #NewYork #Miami #LosAngeles #London #Paris #Amsterdam #Stockholm #Oslo #Berlin #Vienna #Dubai #HongKong #Shanghai #Beijing #Tokyo #Delhi #realestate
Dan Colen's "TBT" (chewing gum and gum wrappers on canvas, in artist's frame, 2008) sold at the Phillips Auction New York Contemporary Art Day sale of 17 May 2013 for $305,000.
Born in Leonia, New Jersey in 1979 and a 2001 BFA graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Dan Colen has long questioned the "editorial decisions artists have to make when creating a scene from scratch on canvas."
Stepping away from paint as a medium in 2006, Colen started using chewing gum. In 2008 he wrote, "When I first started, the canvases were very sparse … It slowly developed into a more elaborate and involved process. I started adding a lot more gum to each canvas; I would put pieces down, pick them up again, move 'em around, stretch them out, mush 'em together, and mix flavors to create new colors".
Dan Colen creates his work in a variety of media – painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and installation – from a variety of materials including gum, dirt, grass, tar, feathers, and street trash from the street.
He examines cultural mythologies and archetypes, the boundaries between "high" and "low" art, and the artist's measure of "control" over the behavior of a given material.
Dan Colen's recent "Purgatory" (2017) is a work of strong imagination and probing. On view at New York's Lévy Gorvy Gallery, that now collaborates with Gagosian and Massimo De Carlo to represent Mr. Colen, stylistically it is as if by another artist entirely. Oil on canvas in deep reds and black, the painting draws the viewer frighteningly in along a diagonal through a tunnel of dark clouds back towards a receding glow.
Mr. Colen's works are in a number of public and private collections including New York's Whitney Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.'s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery, LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oslo's Astrup Fearnley Museet, Stockholm's Moderna Museet, the Dakis Joannou Collection in Athens, Miami's de la Cruz Collection, and Puerto Rico's Jiménez-Colón Collection.
Dan Colen, "TBT," 2008, Phillips Contemporary Art Day, New York, 17 May 2013, Lot 125
Dan Colen, Gagosian
Dan Colen, Lévy Gorvy
"Lévy Gorvy to Represent Dan Colen in Collaboration with Gagosian, Massimo De Carlo," Sarah Douglas, ArtNews, 31 May 2017
R8 Property's energy positive Powerhouse Telemark
Powerhouse Telemark, an energy positive (producing more energy than it consumes) 6,500-square-meter (70,000-square-foot), 11-story office building, has been commissioned by real estate developer Emil Eriksrød for the Norwegian town of Porsgrunn.
Eriksrød has commissioned the American-Norwegian architecture and design firm Snøhetta to design the building. Powerhouse Telemark is set to be completed in February of 2019.
"The future is all about thinking big, bold, and long term," says Snøhetta founding partner Kjetil Trædal Thorson, "and we need someone to pave the way. With its innovative solutions and design, we believe this building will inspire commercial real estate developers worldwide to push the limits of what buildings can accomplish".
"The world needs a lot of energy-positive buildings," observes the developer, Emil Eriksrød, CEO of R8 Property. "I hope we will be plagiarized and copied, replicated in all seven continents."
"This building should do wonders in lowering the bar for daring to do both spectacular and environmentally forward buildings, hopefully in a combination".
"Snøhetta Designs World's Northernmost Energy Positive Building in Norway," Patrick Lynch, ArchDaily, 18 January 2017
"Snøhetta designs 'potentially world-changing office building' for small Norwegian town," Amy Frearson, Dezeen, 19 January 2017
#powerhousetelemark #emileriksrød #r8property # snøhetta #porsgrunn #norway #design #architecture #engineering #realestatedevelopment #realestate #commercialrealestate #energy #energypositive #solar #solarenergy #co2 #resilience #luxury #art #artmarket #collections #collectionsmanagement #museums #newyork #berlin #milan #beijing #shanghai #hongkong #seoul #taipei #jakarta #singapore
private museums
smart luxury
urbanluxury
Archive Select Month July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 May 2019 December 2018 November 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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About six months ago, Eye-Fi released their firmware which included a very nice feature called 'Direct Mode'. What this mode does is it allows the card to create its own ad-hoc network so that other devices can easily connect to, thus transferring photos and videos anywhere from your camera to your iDevices. As an early adopter, I went and bought the Eye-Fi Pro X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC right after they announced the feature. Little did I know, their iPad app was very buggy at the time. I ran into quite a few problems that made me very disappointed, and I had to opt for a third-party app called ShutterSnitch. I posted an entry explaining all the pain I had to go through a few days after the purchase.
If you read that entry's comments on the bottom, you'll notice that Eye-Fi's Cofounder, Ziv Gillat, had taken his time to reply to my post and was willing to work with me to figure out the bugs. Fortunately, with their latest firmware and latest version of the app, everything seems to be working fine now. I'm not saying the initial setup is any easier than it was, but the biggest bug I was having is now gone. Before, the app would transfer both the JPEGs and the thumbnails of the RAWs from my camera, with the thumbnail being very… well, thumbnail-like. Now, the setting actually works, and I can disable RAW transferring.
The setup process is still somewhat like what I wrote back then.
Unless you're going to be in your home studio most of the time, disable all other networks from the card as it wants to use normal Wifi instead of DM when possible.
Pair your card in app. I don't know the purpose of this, but they really need to work on this angle. What if Eye-Fi servers are down? Or what if I'm out in the field without any internet?
Start the camera and take one pic. Wait 5-15 seconds. Card won't initialize Direct Mode unless there is something to do.
Eye-Fi iOS app no longer downloads both RAW thumbnails and JPEGs. This is a massive plus. Also, transferring speed is a bit faster than ShutterSnitch. Wheee!
RAW files aren't geo-tagged if your iPad doesn't know where it is. The GPS data is based on your iPad and not the card. Meh, not that big of a deal.
The status bar on the bottom is nice; it lets you know what it's doing without intruding the screen too much.
App is now very responsive and stable; no more random crash.
Images look a tad blurry on the iOS app compared to when you view the images on Photos app; however, this is only meant for versatility and quick gratification. If you want nice quality, look at the pictures on your computer.
There's no quick way to select multiple photos, nor to delete them. You'll have to go to your iOS Photos app, select them one by one, and then delete them.
Wishlist: the ability to create an album in-app; the ability to delete albums/photos; no more need to access Eye-Fi account during initial setup.
Overall, I think Eye-Fi has done a great job on improving both the iOS app and the firmware. I think I will be using their native app from now on, since it feels snappier. I know they are hiring too, so we can hope that there will be a lot of improvements in the near future.
Here's the video explaining "How To Tether Your Camera To An Ipad Without Jailbreaking" by Lee from FStoppers.
Your # (8) is slightly off. Direct mode is no ad-hoc based. It's Infrastructure based. Our Pro X2 cards DO support ad-hoc, but that's entirely different than Direct mode. In Direct mode, the card is creating a normal Infrastructure based network, and other devices and PC's see it as a typical Wi-Fi secured hotspot.
Geolocation will improve with iOS 5. We're just limited by what iOS 4 can do.
Again, thanks so much for your reply, along with the useful insights. I very much appreciate you do this.
I will un-register my card from my account, re-register it to check out the new process. I'm fine with losing the history, as I only use the card to quickly show my clients the photos when we're on-location. Once I'm done with the photoshoot, I remove all the photos anyway. No need to keep low-res JPEGs.
As far as creating photos and/or albums is concerned, I believe it's possible to have the app store all the photos in its local storage. The caveat of this route is iOS Photos app wouldn't see those photos unless you export them from the app's local storage. Apple wouldn't like us to have the cake and eat it too haha!
Ya, that's exactly right. We chose to not have our own app storage, so that everything will go into the native photo gallery in iOS. So due to that fact — we're limited by what we can do. But it was the right decision, for the mass market.
The reason that you can't have more than 1 card talking to the iPad, in Direct mode, is that the iPad can only connect to 1 Wi-Fi connection, at a time.
But, you can have a router, and have as many cards as you'd like, upload to the iPad, at once. All the cards & the iPad will be on the same router-based network, and will all upload to the iPad.
I've had nothing, but frustration marked with the occasional moment of functionality with this card. If only it worked more than 5% of the time this would be a game changer.
My original reader was defective and they sent me a new one, which for whatever reason, constantly ejects itself from all of my three computers I've tried it on. The software they force you to use is rudimentary and for whatever reason refuses to play with any of my computers. I'm honestly surprised I haven't tossed the damn thing in the trash. All I want is the direct mode. Direct to phone and direct to computer. All of the other features are so unnecessary. Just work. That's all I ask.


text:
Nonprofit Newswire | Campaign Finance Watchdogs File Complaint Against Nonprofit
Aaron Lester
October 6, 2010; Source: Washington Post | Two campaign-finance watchdogs, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center' asked the IRS yesterday to investigate Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit supported by Karl Rove, for allegedly violating U.S. tax laws limiting the political activities of nonprofit groups.
The complaint filed with the IRS says the group is using its nonprofit status to shield the identities of its wealthy donors.
"This is a baseless complaint, filed by a partisan group that files baseless complaints for its living," Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for American Crossroads and Crossroads GP, told the Washington Post.
Crossroads GPS is organized as a nonprofit "social welfare" organization under section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code, which effectively means the group can raise and spend as much as it wants with minimal public disclosure. But U.S. tax laws also say the primary purpose of such nonprofit groups cannot be political, including the "participation or intervention in political campaigns."
501(c)(3)'s are prohibited from participating in any partisan political activity.
Crossroads GPS is an arm of American Crossroads, which is organized as a so-called "super PAC,"—it can raise and spend as much as it wants on direct advocacy but must reveal donors. According to The Post, records show that a handful of billionaires and their companies have contributed nearly all of American Crossroads' money. And the two Crossroads groups together have spent nearly $10 million so far in support of Republican candidates, part of a stated goal of more than $50 million by the midterm elections.
Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which found that corporations can spend as much as they want for or against political candidates has helped unleash a frenzy of spending by groups outside the party system this year, most of it by donors who do not have to be publicly identified.
As midterms approach and 2012 just around the corner there will be much more money flowing. There promises to be many more complaints as well, leading to a vigorous legal scrum over election and campaign-finance rules for 2012.—Aaron Lester
Share a little biographical information to fill out your profile. This may be shown publicly.
Michigan's Hidden School Reform Agenda
Wikipedia UK and Charges of Conflicts of Interest
By Aaron Lester and Ruth McCambridge
New GMail Tool Allows you to Track Political Influence...
By Aaron Lester
Great Philanthropy: Baseball Card Windfall for Nuns
By Ruth McCambridge and Aaron Lester


Especially if you're using source control or something that inserts notations. Game Maker will try to parse those notes and throw mad errors. Game Maker will try to parse those notes and throw mad errors.... Once you have your repository created and your SCM solution installed, you need to tell GameMaker: Studio to activate Source Control Management for your projects. When you have prepared your computer with the necessary SCM applications, you have to tell GameMaker: Studio to add your projects into the SCM repository.
When you add the People column to the card, (click the visible/not-visible eye icon on the Form Customisation screen for your column), it automatically provides a dropdown people picker with some default display config, and if you check the advanced options the Default value will probably be "ThisItem." for the card and "Parent.Default" for the actual control. You will need to... Add To Source Control: This will add a resource to the repository. When you see the "Not Versioned" icon showing you will need to use this action. Commit to Source Control : This will commit the selected resource to the source control repository.
Submitting to Source Control. Submitting to Source Control inside of Unreal Engine 4 is a vital part of the Source Control process as if you do not submit anything to Source Control, other users will not be able to see what you have been working on/created.
17/07/2017�� The main toolbar is beneath the main menus; it contains buttons to add objects, sprites, and any other GameMaker resources you'll need. You can also export your project, save your project, and open an old project from here.
Ether is a network library for Game Maker that supports sockets to network communication, buffers to store data, sessions for automated client-server communication, HTTP requests to communicate with Web servers (asynchronous download/upload files and data from/to the server), and XML languages reader (HTML websites).


text:
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var __decorate = (this && this.__decorate) || function (decorators, target, key, desc) {
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    if (typeof Reflect === "object" && typeof Reflect.decorate === "function") r = Reflect.decorate(decorators, target, key, desc);
    else for (var i = decorators.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) if (d = decorators[i]) r = (c < 3 ? d(r) : c > 3 ? d(target, key, r) : d(target, key)) || r;
    return c > 3 && r && Object.defineProperty(target, key, r), r;
};
var plugin_1 = require('./plugin');
/**
 * @name Base64 To Gallery
 * @description This plugin allows you to save base64 data as a png image into the device
 * @usage
 * ```typescript
 * import { Base64ToGallery } from 'ionic-native';
 *
 *
 * Base64ToGallery.base64ToGallery(base64Data, 'img_').then(
 *   res => console.log('Saved image to gallery ', res),
 *   err => console.log('Error saving image to gallery ', err)
 * );
 * ```
 */
var Base64ToGallery = (function () {
    function Base64ToGallery() {
    }
    /**
     * Converts a base64 string to an image file in the device gallery
     * @param {string} data The actual base64 string that you want to save
     * @param {any} options (optional) An object with properties: prefix: string, mediaScanner: boolean. Prefix will be prepended to the filename. If true, mediaScanner runs Media Scanner on Android and saves to Camera Roll on iOS; if false, saves to Library folder on iOS.
     * @returns {Promise} returns a promise that resolves when the image is saved.
     */
    Base64ToGallery.base64ToGallery = function (data, options) {
        return;
    };
    __decorate([
        plugin_1.Cordova({
            successIndex: 2,
            errorIndex: 3
        })
    ], Base64ToGallery, "base64ToGallery", null);
    Base64ToGallery = __decorate([
        plugin_1.Plugin({
            plugin: 'cordova-base64-to-gallery',
            pluginRef: 'cordova',
            repo: 'https://github.com/Nexxa/cordova-base64-to-gallery',
            platforms: ['Android', 'iOS', 'Windows Phone 8']
        })
    ], Base64ToGallery);
    return Base64ToGallery;
}());
exports.Base64ToGallery = Base64ToGallery;
//# sourceMappingURL=base64togallery.js.map

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


For He doth instruct him aright. His God teaches him. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cumin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cumin with a rod.
Black cumin, or fitches, (Nigella sativa), is a small plant with feathery leaves and aromatic seeds that ripen on pods and are used as seasoning for cake and other foods. Its peppery flavor adds spice to soups and stews, and cumin oil is used in perfumes and as medicine for stomach disorders. Qetsach in Hebrew, it has been cultivated throughout the Middle East for millennia.
A patch of Nigella is a cheerful addition to the Biblical Garden. An annual plant, it generates drifts of delicate blue and white blossoms and readily self-sows. In the verse from Isaiah above, black cumin is distinguished from a related crop, white cumin, by the method of harvest, whether with a staff or a rod – God instructs us to use the suitable tool for the task at hand.
When Religious School students come out to work in the garden, they immediately go to the tool bucket for gloves and tools. In their eagerness, some claim a trowel, a hand-tiller, or a spade before they are assigned a task. So, in addition to teaching safety in using garden tools, we teach them first to understand the task, then to choose the appropriate tool.
As we approach the High Holiday season, we might consider what tools would be useful in cultivating our spiritual gardens in the coming year. Certainly among them might be deeper engagement in congregational life, patience to maintain a healthy perspective on our personal challenges, openness to opportunities for further growth, as the cycle of life and renewal unfolds once more.


text:
Toronto Film Review
Toronto Film Listings, Reviews and Criticism.
Igor Drljača's Sarajevo Memories
This is the first of three reviews on new Canadian short films. – D. D.
Igor Drljača was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983. He left the country on May 1st 1992 on a military plane due to the violence of the Bosnian war, like so many other families. He recalls the flight out of the country in a military plane that "was not a cool looking MIG I had imagined," where everyone had to sit on the floor. He arrived in Canada in 1993 where he has since completed his Bachelor's and Master's in Film Production from York University. His short films include Rana (05), The Battery-Powered Duckling (06), Mobilni Snovi (08), On a Lonely Drive (09), Woman in Purple (10), The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar (11), and he is currently in post-production on another short film and his first feature-length film (hopefully completed by next year) which will be "about a man that's now in Toronto but was involved in the Bosnian civil war so it deals with themes of immigration, themes of isolation, themes of trauma, war trauma especially. Sort of these universal elements that a lot of people in Toronto can relate to, a lot of refugees." Much of the subject of Drljača work blends the personal with the political, mixing a child-like pleasantness with serious subjects and his approach to filmmaking blends the traditional with the avant-garde and documentary.
An exposition shot of a crater-ridden apartment complex in today's post-war Sarajevo opens Woman in Purple. A young boy Mirza (a sorrowful Haris Begic) lives with his grandmother, who asks him a few questions as he is on his way out: Did you eat yet? How will you buy food later? Remember to visit your mother later. When will you be back home? One thing that sticks out in this scene is the long and heavy silences, as if these questions have been asked hundreds of times before. They also recall the trauma of the war when such things were of grave concern. During these moments of silence the only thing you can hear is the television that is turned on in the background.
Mirza goes to the park to watch some older boys play basketball. He is bored. There is nothing really for him to do. A local drug dealer approaches Mirza asking him to do a few rounds for him. The addresses that Mirza will need to go to are on a note that the dealer gives him. What Mirza will have to do consists of receiving cash and dropping off the packaged drugs (Marijuana? Cocaine?). Mirza goes with it, as he has done before, but this time he makes sure to get paid first. The day goes by smoothly - one of the clients even buys him a wrap - but similarly to the beginning of Cristian Mungiu' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) the suspicion that something might go awry has a looming presence. At the end of the day Mirza meets up with the dealer at the basketball courts where he makes a significant decision in regards to his future, he chooses not to continue doing jobs for the dealer. He does this by hitting the basketball that is in the dealers hand and starts playing all by himself on the opposite side of the court. The hitting of the ball is an act of social protest and an intense moment of everyday heroism worthy of the films of Mike Leigh. The film's score which was full of natural street noises so far breaks out into a storm. The films end with Mirza sitting in a grassy cemetery, surrounded by the Sarajevo hills and mountains, watching a plane fly out of the city. In an astonishing reverse-shot you see that he is sitting beside his mother Hasanovic Sanela tombstone. She died in 1996.
The script of Woman in Purple is by Drljača and Hrvoje Župarić. Drljača in Woman in Purple uses a wide frame (2.35:1) and shoots in long shots as he follows Mirza walking in hand-held shots from behind the head. Mirza's silence emphasizes the films visual storytelling qualities. The Sarajevo City Film Grant helped financed the film. A short note, the fact that Drljača is a Toronto resident and films in a different country has led some commenter's to place him within the context of First Generation directors alongside Nicolás Pereda and Chris Chong Chan Fui. As Kazik Radwanski describes these First Generation filmmakers, "These temporary-residents play a role in Canadian cinema: their films maintain a connection to Toronto, while defining their own territories and landscapes."
***** To contextualize Drljača's short films within contemporary Sarejevo culture I am going to bring up the Serbian-American poet Charles Simić, from his recent article The Bright Side of the Balkans (The New York Review of Books Aug. 18th, 2011). In the articles Simić describes his experiences going to Sarajevo to attend an international poetry festival. He describes many things from his visit there. Like the recent arrest and trial of the general Ratko Mladić, who with Radovan Karadžić led the siege by the Serbian forces that caused extraordinary suffering, which lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. Simić describes the city,
"Since a great deal of what had been blown up has been re-built, the city appeared to be thriving, and given the warm and sunny weather during my visit and the sight of many people strolling in the streets or sitting in cafes chatting amiably, everything that occurred here fifteen years ago seemed inconceivable."
On the themes of their contemporary poetry, Simić notes that much of Bosnian poetry is about the war unlike the poetry of the Serbs and Croats. On the residing emotional and intellectual impact of the war, Simić notes,
"Two survivors of the Sarajevo siege described in a calm, matter-of-fact way what life was like without water and electricity and with constant fear that members of their family might die as they stepped into the streets."
And in regards to the younger generation Simić writes,
"Still, two out of three of them [the young men and women], according to a poll I saw in the papers when I was there, want to leave because there will be nothing for them to do when they finish school. They no longer need visas to travel to other parts of Europe, but since neither they nor their parents have enough money, fleeing the country, as thousands of others had done in the past, is no longer a realistic option."
***** The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar is a personal documentary on the ravages of the war that blends home video with achieves footage from Drljača nineties boyhood in Sarajevo. The film separates the footage and progresses the chronology through black inter-titles with the location, city and date. "It's like an homage sort-of to my childhood," which took about three years to make says Drljača. The Fuse recalls the found-footage documentary by Andrei Ujică, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2010). And Andrew Parker in the Toronto Now writes about The Fuse, "Powerful first-person footage and youthful exuberance add up to a short that's far better than the program [2 in Short Cuts Canada] it's in."
The Fuse opens with Igor as a little boy in his childhood apartment introducing himself and his family to the camera. It proceeds to footage of children standing around the Simon Bolivar bust in his school and then to shots of the students singing and dancing until the camera eventually finds itself on Igor pixilated in the middle of a crowd. Through a voice-over Drljača starts to recollect that week's art assignment "to paint the arrival of spring," but when he was painting "that large tree next to his cottage, that always blooms first" he ran out of pink-paint and it didn't look right. He remembers this experience vividly,
"During our lunch break, Aco, who sits in the first row, said that he saw the teacher marking our paintings. He said that I received a C. But I had never received a C in art. I still hadn't seen my mark, but I was getting more and more nervous. That night, I thought: Dear God, I've never asked for anything before. I am not sure whether to believe in you. Mom and Dad say that you don't exist. Both of my grandmas say that you do exist. And if by chance you do exist, I'd like to ask you for one big favor. I don't want to go back to school; I don't want to see my grade. So if you are able to help me out in any way. I'd be forever grateful."
Cut to a shot of a teacher on television reading off a message: "All schools in region: Sarajevo, Mostar, Doboj, Tuzla… are on strike." And then the military trucks and tanks start to roam through the streets of Sarajevo. His family is watching the news of the outbreak of the Croatian War, March 3rd, 1992. The city is no longer safe and his family is no longer leaving their appartment. Footage of bullets going by close to his apartment window is especially frightening. It's a strange feeling watching the unfolding of a war from the perspective of the residents and how they see it happening on television. There is one especially wrenching shot of a hurt little black dog with his limbs twitching. But still life goes on, the family celebrates Igor's brothers Dado's birthday. And also the kids find ways to have fun, "Along with the other children, I excitedly collected shrapnel and shell casings."
Igor leaves Sarajevo with his mother and brother on May 1st 1992 on a military plane. The last shot of The Fuse is footage of a building burning (is it the school?) in bright red fire and dark black smoke. This is the last footage his father would have filmed and brought with him when he joined the rest of his family in Canada. "After we were able to reach him on the phone. He told me that a few days earlier, my school, Simon Bolivar, had burned down. At that moment I realized that I no longer had to worry about my mark in art," Drljača says in voice-over narration. This child-like optimism and ability to move forward after trauma gives Drljača's work an enduring quality. Drljača cinema is one of perseverance and that of being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. - David Davidson
Posted by David D. at 9:23 AM
Labels: Charles Simić, Croatian War, First Generation Directors, Haris Begic, Igor Drljaca, Sarajevo, Sarajevo City Film Grant, The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar, Woman in Purple
"Along with the other children, I excitedly collected shrapnel and shell casings."
What a different world these children grew up. These sound like very human and insightful films.
For sure, they truly are.
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Squeeze juice from lemons and slice the rind into paper thin strips Boil the sugar and water for 10 minutes, then add the juice and rind, the bananas, ginger and a few cloves (to taste). Cook slowly for 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour. Stir carefully not ot scorch.
Take out ginger. Put in jars and process 10 minutes in water bath covered by 1 inch of water.


text:
Evidence is everything.
Our greatest strength is your satisfaction and when you recommend us to your friends.
In this way a chain of customers' satisfaction is created,making people speak highly of us, as in these articles.
If you want to always be informed about the news of our community, follow this section. We will publish updates on events, exhibitions and much more.
Since ever Rosalinda has been mentioned by many local newspapers. She has always participated in many exhibitions and events with high profile figures of the artistic scenario, all this was an inspiration for her persona. Below you will find old articles and brochures kept by Rosalinda.
Fair in Japan
Rosalinda has always participated to international fairs outside of Italy. The most relevant to be mentioned is the Japan one. This allowed the exports of her products and of the beloved Made in Italy even in the East, where some retailers are located. The picture below represents the preview of the Fair she has been […]READ MORE
Art, high craftsmanship and research: the Pop Gallery of the Capri Palace is renewed
A pottery collection exclusively designed for the Capri palace by the painter Rosalinda; the oneiric sculptures by Paolo Sandulli that tell the stories of sea and mermaids; the sea urchins and the artist ceramics of Rosario Renino; the photographs "Capri a metà" by the Caprese Alessandro Catuogno: these are just some of the proposals of […]READ MORE
Story of a trip to Italy
Italy week comes to a close today, and what perfect timing, a very special package arrived at my doorstep from Sorrento, Italy this afternoon, and I can't help but gush about the sender.I fell in love with the artwork of a local Sorrentine artist on my last visit to Italy. Her name is Rosalinda Acampora and I first […]READ MORE
Art on the table: Rosalinda Acampora's dishes
The Italian painter Rosalinda Acampora lives and works in Sorrento, the land that inspires all her works. In her studio flowers, seafood and land fruits come to life. The artist creates several works including paintings and she expresses the best of herself in the decoration of ceramics. Among her most beautiful works, there are ceramics […]READ MORE
The rooms of Maison Lauren
Halfway between a modern style and respect for tradition, the rooms of the Maison Lauren have been furnished with a selection of the best hand-painted Vietri ceramics. An ecstasy of colors and sensations that will make your stay even more enjoyable. The rooms available to customers are treated in every detail. Starting with the color-varnished […]READ MORE
Space for art
In the medieval heart of CAPRI, an eighteenth-century building with multiple vocations, where architecture and nature interact. A place where the colors and shapes of the island's tradition echo, but also suggestions of distant cultures. On the Faraglioni of Capri lives a rare blue lizard that camouflages itself with the sky and the sea: it […]READ MORE
Maisons Côté Sud – Juillet/Août 2020 (No. 184)
Maisons Côté Sud is a magazine that helps rediscovering the spirit of the Mediterranean and the colors of the South, opening the doors to the most beautiful residences with photo reports, furnishing ideas, lifestyles and cooking recipes … On the July/August 2020 release La Maison – The Conservatory is mentioned; you can find the portfolio […]READ MORE
From Sorrento to Milan: a journey on the Amalfi Coast between variations of pizza and handcrafted ceramics
When typing "pizza" on Google you get about one and a half million results, stories and anecdotes that try to reconstruct the story. The most impressed one in the Italian collective imagination tells the story of the Neapolitan pizza maker Raffaele Esposito. In the late 1800s, Esposito submitted to Queen Margherita of Savoy a pizza […]READ MORE
New Wellness Center for Capo La Gala in Vico Equense
The brand new Wellness Center of the Romantik Hotel Capo La Gala in Vico Equense opens in the Sorrento coast. The spa is inspired by a marine nymphaeum, a kaleidoscope of green and blue enriched by corals, floating algae, jellyfish, shrimp, dolphins, octopuses, shells, hedgehogs, anemones and white bream. Behind a small sea inlet there […]READ MORE


text:
Avesnes-les-Aubert is een gemeente in het Franse Noorderdepartement (regio Hauts-de-France) en telt 3592 inwoners (1999). De plaats maakt deel uit van het arrondissement Cambrai.

Geografie
De oppervlakte van Avesnes-les-Aubert bedraagt 9,0 km², de bevolkingsdichtheid is 399,1 inwoners per km².

Demografie
Onderstaande figuur toont het verloop van het inwonertal (bron: INSEE-tellingen).

Externe links

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Cot Leupong Jerat är en kulle i Indonesien.   Den ligger i provinsen Aceh, i den västra delen av landet,  km nordväst om huvudstaden Jakarta. Toppen på Cot Leupong Jerat är  meter över havet.

Terrängen runt Cot Leupong Jerat är kuperad söderut, men norrut är den platt. Den högsta punkten i närheten är Gle Raya,  meter över havet,  km väster om Cot Leupong Jerat. Runt Cot Leupong Jerat är det ganska glesbefolkat, med  invånare per kvadratkilometer. Trakten runt Cot Leupong Jerat består till största delen av jordbruksmark.

Tropiskt regnskogsklimat råder i trakten. Årsmedeltemperaturen i trakten är  °C. Den varmaste månaden är augusti, då medeltemperaturen är  °C, och den kallaste är januari, med  °C. Genomsnittlig årsnederbörd är  millimeter. Den regnigaste månaden är november, med i genomsnitt  mm nederbörd, och den torraste är juli, med  mm nederbörd.

Kommentarer

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Kullar i Aceh


I installed mythtv 0.26 on ubuntu 12.10 distibution for 3 weeks. entire installation is successful, setup and daily use ditto.
None of those are MythTV problems.
Search google on how to recover the db. Make sure you back up what you have left.


Bhopal : January 8, 2019 (Muslim Saleem): Minister for Public Relations, Law and Legislative Affairs, Science and Technology, Aviation, Religious Trusts and Endowment Shri P.C. Sharma said that implementation of Journalist Protection Act in the state will be taken into consideration shortly. This Act will help journalists in feeling safe while working in their areas.
Shri Sharma was addressing the programme of the 10th State Level Working Committee of Madhya Pradesh Shramjivi Patrakaar Sangh held at Patrakaar Bhavan today. Office Bearers of the Sangh handed over 14 points memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the Public Relations Minister in the programme.
Regional President of Madhya Pradesh Shramjivi Patrakaar Sangh Shri Shalabh Bhadoriya, Executive President Shri Suresh Tomar, Shri Mohammad Ali, Shri Sharad Joshi, Shri Dilip Singh Bhadoriya, other office bearers and journalists in large number were present in the programme.


Are you tired of your drab looking garage? Do you feel like your garage door is outdated? You may want to consider getting a new garage door. When you are looking for dependable and distinct garage door installation, look to Coastal Bend Garage Doors. Customer satisfaction is important to us, so we go the extra mile to make sure that every job is done right. You can check out our reviews and see what other customers are saying about us.
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Most of Australia is a desert. So get used to having sand in your shoes.
There's this thing called vegemite. Australians think it's delicious. Americans… Well, let's just say you should think twice before taking a huge bite of it.
One thing we know from our travels is where to find BIG Headquarters. We've spent a lot of time at BIG Headquarters and this weekend at BIG we learned God's Word is more than just a book we read, it gives us an example to follow and the Bible is filled with examples of how we should live.
Who do you like to read about in the Bible?
How do you put God's word into action in your life?
Do you think that the Bible is just a bunch of rules to follow?
Main Point: I Will Give to God!
Quest kids have been enjoying our summer vacation at Animal Adventureland as we learn what it looks like to live for God! This past weekend, we joined our Park Guides Zaney Laney and Silly Willie to open the Black Bear Ball Toss, a basketball game everyone can play!
Park owner Rosie Rider created the Black Bear Ball Toss for people to practice giving their best while having a great time playing basketball. After hearing a Bible story about a poor woman who gave her best to God, we learned we can have the most fun when we give our best, too. We learned "I Will Give to God!" and learned when we give our best to God, it shows Him we love him!
Monthly Focus: I Can Pray to Jesus!
Dear God, thank you that we can pray to you. Amen.
Dear God, thank your for the Bible. Amen.
Dear God, thank your for our friends. Amen.
Dear God, thank you for our moms and dads. Amen.
Dear God, thank you for our snack. Amen.
God says jump and down (encourage your toddler to jump up and down) . . . God says touch your nose (encourage your toddler to touch his or her nose) . . . God says PRAY (encourage your toddler to bow his or her head, close their eyes, and fold their hands, then pray) … Dear God, thank you that you help me when I am scared. Amen.


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In most businesses, the sales and marketing teams share the credit when profits increase and the blame when profits decrease. In the day to day we're busy with awesome digital strategies, operations, and getting our message out there so we stay on the good side. Oftentimes though, the view of the customer becomes lost, something that can quickly break your business. Consider the following statistics that demonstrate how negative customer experiences can damage a customer's loyalty to your company or brand.
Wondering how to become truly customer-centric. Let's explore some options.
Think about every step that your customers must follow to find and purchase or create a lead for your products. Consider the emotions they might be feeling. For example, if your representatives haven't actually held your products in their hand or your website is slow & lacking images, they may feel annoyed and frustrated. Try to identify your customers' pain points and what they believe are the hallmarks of a good experience. Empathy rules. So does actually observing your audience. Consider this story about veterans trying to apply for benefits on a website requiring an out of date version of Internet Explorer plus a very specific version of Adobe Acrobat.
Creating a customer-centric culture will not happen instantly. At first, you may feel you are eroding your profits to satisfy a relatively small group of customers, especially since you are unlikely to see your sales increase immediately. You have to think about your long-term success and plan accordingly. Keep in mind that you are building long-term relationships rather than trying to make a quick sale. We've all seen the growth of Zappos, Amazon and USAA who have always focused on service, occasionally at the expense of growth. We've all also seen companies who have lost that focus.
Becoming customer-centric must involve all employees in all departments. It is not enough to simply train your reps to deal with complaints. From your maintenance staff to members of upper management, everyone needs to remember the importance of treating every customer with gratitude. Ignoring questions posted on your Facebook page, placing callers on hold for extended periods and failing to respond to inquiries are all ways of conveying you do not value the individual over your company goals.
Competition is fierce, you need to demonstrate your company is different. Having a customer-centric focus can be an excellent differentiator and makes for super-positive converations at the water cooler. Go the extra mile to look for ways to give your customers something unexpected. You do not need to make costly or grand gestures. It is the small, personalthings that resonate the most. For example, if the customer is on the fence about buying your product casually mention your happiness guarantee or thank a customer who called with a negative issue for taking the time reach out to you instead of trying to get off the phone as fast as possible. Even a sincere tweet thanking your valued customers can help you set yourself apart.
Shifting your company culture to be infectiously customer-centric may take time to propagate but if you keep your focus you'll reap the benefits for many years to come.


It's all right if we do nothing tonight.
The ant moves on his tiny Sephardic feet.
The flute is always glad to repeat the same note.
The ocean rejoices in its dusky mansion.
Often bears are piled up close to each other.
In their world it's just one hump after another.
It's like looking at piles of many melons.
You and I have spent so many hours working.
We have paid dearly for the life we have.
That I don't bother to look for violinists.
The aging peepers satisfy me for hours.
And the singer urging the low notes to come.
I saw her trying to keep the dawn from breaking.
You and I have worked hard for the life we have.
Over and over into the lonely heavens.
I don't always read the poetry in The Atlantic; the poems are kind of oddly smushed into the rest, so if I skip them while focused on the articles it's likely that I'll forget to go back. I'm so glad I caught this poem in last year's July issue. The third and sixth stanzas have become talismans, unnecessary, but oh-so-necessary, reminders that regardless of the looming work, sometimes it is more important to spend half an hour watching the squirrels with the dog.
I think this poem is just beautiful– the introductory acceptance of the vastly differing forms of existence, the acknowledgement of the necessity of work, the underlying pride in the jobs well-done, the recognition that work, however well-completed, is not the purpose of life.
eta: There is so much more here, in this poem, that I haven't quite grasped–which, I suppose, is the beauty of poetry. There is so much striving in the 5th and 6th stanzas–the singer (inevitably ineffectually) trying to keep the dawn from breaking… but (that pivotal conjunction) we remember (it doesn't happen now) the way the soul leaps (and keeps returning to earth) to the lonely (love that) heavens. The triumph is qualified, but real: the striving, not the achievement. Matched with the theme of the entire, the necessity of rest, this is such a perfect image of the tension, the necessity of balance, in life. In my (as it is my blog) very humble (well, I'm posting it, so clearly not that humble) opinion.
Next Post I've been to the Willie Wonka Factory. Be jealous.


text:
Q: Does spring LDAP requires initial username and password? I am trying to connect to Active Directory using Spring LDAP, but I don't have available information about the username and password.
My question is: Is there a way to connect using spring ldap without initial username and password, and only get these credentials from user at run time
I already tried to connect to ldap with java without initial credentials and it works fine, so is this available in spring as well?
Thanks in advance

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Invoking shell script from a python script using root privileges I'm trying to invoke a shell script shell_script.sh from a python script (python_script.py) using the call command. The shell_script.sh invokes a executable that requires root access to execute.
The python_script.py invokes shell_script.sh using subprocess.call().
See below:
subprocess.call(['/complete_path/shell_script.sh', 'param1', 'param2',
'param3'], shell=True)
When I try to execute the python script python_script.py it gives me permission denied.
I've tried different ways.
a) Invoke python with sudo - sudo python python_script.py
b) Invoke sudo into inside the call method - subprocess.call(['sudo' '/complete_path/shell_script.sh', 'param1', 'param2',
'param3'], shell=True)
What's the best way to resolve this.
Thanks.

A: I'd put logic in the python_script.py to check its UID and fail if is not executed as root.  if os.getuid() != 0:.  That will ensure it only runs as root, ether by a root login, or sudo.
If you're getting permission denied when trying to execute the python_script.py, you need to set the execute bit on it. chmod +x python_script.py


text:
Lumia Brand is Disappearing
whats new in windows : Microsoft is consolidating its global Lumia Facebook and Twitter accounts
Microsoft is making some changes to its official Lumia accounts on the Facebook and Twitter social networks. The changes are likely another part of the company's continued retrenching of its smartphone operations.
The Lumia US Twitter account looks like it will be consolidated into the main Lumia Twitter page,
The same situation applies to the Microsoft Lumia Facebook page. A recent post states:
This Facebook page will shortly be renamed. Don't worry, you don't need to do anything and you'll still be able to get all the latest news, updates and insights right here. This is all to make it easier for you to be part of our international, larger, Microsoft family.
Taking a closer look at Microsoft's other Twitter accounts and Lumia Spain, Russia, UK, India and more all fell silent on June 30 (or earlier, for India). June 30 coincides with the end of the fiscal quarter and the time when business usually change employment status or reduce the workforce. It seems clear that Microsoft is bringing together all its Lumia help channels on social networks under one @Lumia banner.
The decision to merge all the accounts makes sense as there are no more Lumia models expected in 2016 as Microsoft retires the brand. With no new phones, shrinking market share, and a general pullback the Lumia era appears to be winding down.
News Source/Via : WindowsCentral
WhatsNewInWindows_cellphone