It's Pi Day!

Octopuses

Octopus slips out of aquarium tank, crawls across floor, escapes down pipe to ocean

Swarms of Octopus Are Taking Over the Oceans

Octopuses may indeed be your new overlords

Deep Intellect

Blacklisted: The Secret Government Rulebook For Labeling You a Terrorist

The Obama administration has quietly approved a substantial expansion of the terrorist watchlist system, authorizing a secret process that requires neither “concrete facts” nor “irrefutable evidence” to designate an American or foreigner as a terrorist, according to a key government document obtained by The Intercept. The “March 2013 Watchlisting Guidance,” a 166-page document issued last Read more

Now it feels like Christmas is coming

Visit to the MET 12/27/18

Going to the MET with a friend tomorrow, my list of things to check out...

SPECIFIC ITEMS

Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children by Bernini (sculpture)

Viewpoint:  “The action unfolds as you encircle the piece.”  Very cool, one of the things that I like about his sculpture of Daphne and Apollo is that as you walk around the sculpture story is brought to life, action is given form.  

I’m excited that I’m going to get a chance to see one of his works in NYC. 

Aside from Daphne and Apollo at Villa Borghese, my other favorite Bernini pieces I saw in Rome:  Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi nella Piazza Navona, St. Peter's colonade, the angels on the Ponte Sant'Angelo, Ecstasy of St Teresa in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria

The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio (painting)

I am also excited that I will be able to see one of Caravaggio’s works at the Met.  Caravaggio is best known for his technique of chiaroscuro.  I saw many of his paintings in Italy:  the works in Cappella Contarelli in the church San Luigi dei Francesi on the theme of St. Matthew, David with the Head of Goliath and Saint Jerome Writing in Villa Borghese

If there’s time, I’d like to see paintings by Velázquez, Goya (or this one) and El Greco and some works by Rodin (or the Hand of Rodin, Study for Obsession, Pygmalion and Galatea or The Hand of God)

EXHIBITS

Dutch Masterpieces

- The Disillusioned Medea - Curiosity - Young Woman with a Water Pitcher

Everything is Connected:  Art and Conspiracy

And then depending on what my guide is interested in viewing, perhaps something from one of these exhibits?

Dangerous Beauty:  Medusa in Classical Art Relative Values:  The Cost of Art in the Northern Renaissance Celebrating Tintoretto:  Portrait Paintings and Studio Drawings The Poetry of Nature:  Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection Children to Immortals:  Figural Representations in Chinese Art Streams and Mountains without End:  Landscape Traditions of China Epic Abstraction

Links to exhibits on the Met website with information and digital resources

The World Wide Web, AR, VR, and MR

 “Technologies like Magic Leap’s will enable us to generate, transmit, quantify, refine, personalize, magnify, discover, share, reshare, and overshare experiences. This shift from the creation, transmission, and consumption of information to the creation, transmission, and consumption of experience defines this new platform. As Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz puts it, “Ours is a journey of inner space. We are building the internet of presence and experience.”

We haven’t yet fully absorbed the enormous benefit that the internet of information has brought to the world. And yet we are about to recapitulate this accomplishment with the advent of synthetic realities."

The Untold Story of Magic leap, the World’s Most Secretive Startup by Kevin Kelly via Wired. This is a looooong article, but a must read.  

On a side note, Kevin Kelly (founding editor of Wired) is one of my favorite futurists.... check out some of his other stuff:

We Are the Web (Wired timeline/feature)

The Next 5,000 Days of the Internet (TED talk)  

One more must read from today’s surfing (much, much shorter!) is a piece from the NYT:  The Web’s Creator Looks to Reinvent It.  

See also The Internet Part II from my wiki for related info and articles as well as my page on Privacy.

Education Hashtags Poster

Since the time I was in elementary school I wanted to become a marine biologist to study and swim with sharks.  Next summer I’m planning a trip to Australia and for my 40th birthday, *this* is what I plan on doing....  Check out the video here.  #dreamvacation

Great Whites circling the “ghost cage” video.  This was pretty amazing and would totally love to do this, but with a door that stayed closed!

Love is Love

May the 4th Be With You

My Star Wars Flipboard

July 4th