Aaron Swartz, Dead at 26

NYTimes

Gawker

 ”The Nation’s Rick Perlstein:

I remember always thinking that he always seemed too sensitive for this world we happen to live in, and I remember him working so mightily, so heroically, to try to bend the world into a place more hospitable to people like him, which also means hospitable to people like us. I like what the blogger Lambert Strether wrote on my Facebook page (in Aaron’s memory, friend me!): “Our society should be selecting for the Aaron Swartz’s of this world. Instead, generous and ethical behavior, especially when combined with technical brilliance, turns out to be maladaptive, indeed lethal. If Swartz had been Wall Street’s youngest investment banker, he would be alive today.””

Jstor’s Statement: 

Aaron Swartz

The Great American Signature Fades Away

NPR Link

Walt Disney

Salvador Dali

Neil Armstrong

“Nearly Useless

Stephen Mason, author of Electronic Signatures in Law, writes that “the function a signature performs remains as valid in the electronic age as when the use of an impression of a seal was considered to be the best means of authentication before the advent of widespread literacy.”

But critics, such as Chris Hawkins, founder of SignNow — a company that focuses on digital authentication — believe that the Age of the Handwritten Signature may have run its cursive course. “The signature has traditionally been a scribble on a page to indicate you agree,” says Hawkins. But that scribble “is nearly useless for identifying a person or proving something later.”

Nowadays, Hawkins says, “We already don’t need to sign anything on paper. I signed my marriage license electronically — on an iPad — and my company does electronic mortgage notarizations every day. Our most emotional life events are already electronic.”

Still, Hawkins admits, “people do have a deeper emotional attachment to a signature than an ‘I Agree’ button.”

But the question comes up: As we wrap ourselves more and more in the digital life, what will happen to the once-essential signature?”

whothefuckisboas

Darwin Was Wrong About Dating

NYTimes - Darwin Was Wrong About Dating 

“…the fact that some gender differences can be manipulated, if not eliminated, by controlling for cultural norms suggests that the explanatory power of evolution can’t sustain itself when applied to mating behavior. This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve pushed these theories too far. How many stereotypical racial and ethnic differences, once declared evolutionarily determined under the banner of science, have been revealed instead as vestiges of power dynamics from earlier societies?”

sfmoma:

SUBMISSION:

stefcook:

Noah, Stef Cook

watercolor

stefcook.com

I honestly don’t understand the flack this painting is getting. Kate Middleton (art history major) personally sought Paul Emsley out and likely anticipated that he would produce a portrait consistent with his previous work. 

On a personal note, I find his work to be powerful because he is able to capture spatial depth in a totally unique and almost ghostly manner. I’m sure the painting is 1000x more amazing in person than it is as a digital image. 

Also, Lord of the Rings anyone? 

hyperallergic:

Kate Middleton Portrait Buzz: Art Criticism, Sexism, or Something Else?

Has art criticism become too fawning? →

nycartscene:

hyperallergic:

57-year-old Mississippi native Mark Landis is a quirky man with a big secret he’s been able to hide for almost three decades. Landis is a “master art forger.”

Beginning in 1987, Landis donated his forgeries, which he passed off as the real thing, to dozens of U.S. museums in 20 states. 

Though Landis’ deceit was finally uncovered in 2010, he never financially profited from his ruse, which often involved his dressing up as a Jesuit priest, since all the works were donated in the memory of relatives.

Why did he do it? It’s not exactly clear, but he offers us a peek at his psyche when he says, “I’d been hearing about great families giving away pictures in memory of their loved ones. I wanted mother to be proud of me … sure I had done something in dad’s memory.”

The life and journey of Mark Landis is one of the stranger tales that The Avant/Garde Diaries has profiled, but you have to admit it’s a fascinating story.

hifas:

Revenge of the Goldfish - The Cocktail Party - Breathing Glass by Sandy Skoglund

When Ignorance Kills

“A 31-year-old woman was arrested on Saturday and charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in connection with the death of a man who was pushed onto the tracks of an elevated subway station in Queens and crushed by an oncoming train.

The woman, Erika Menendez, selected her victim because she believed him to be a Muslim or a Hindu, Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, said.

“The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter’s nightmare: Being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train,” Mr. Brown said in an interview.

In a statement, Mr. Brown quoted Ms. Menendez, “in sum and substance,” as having told the police: “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.””

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/nyregion/woman-is-held-in-death-of-man-pushed-onto-subway-tracks-in-queens.html?hp

WHEN SOMEONE TELLS ME BENEDICT ANDERSON IS OVERRATED

socialsciencegradschool:

Yayoi Kusama also leaves Gagosian →

“The Japanese artist joins Damien Hirst as another high-profile departure from the dealer’s stable”

!!!

PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

thinkmexican:

Origins of the 2012 Mayan Prophecy Hoax

Gerardo Aldana, Ph.D., Chicano Studies professor at UC Santa Barbara, discusses the origins of the so-called ‘2012 Mayan Prophecy.’

It turns out there was never a prophecy and that December 21, 2012, widely accepted as the Gregorian date corresponding to the end of the 13th B’ak’tun, may be off by years.

In other words, the 13th B’ak’tun, as originally counted by the Maya, likely already happened.

A B’ak’tun is approximately 394 solar years and is part of a system called the Long Count still in use in many parts of Guatemala and Mexico.

Professor Aldana credits “The Maya,” a book written in 1966 by American anthropologist Michael D. Coe, with first introducing the notion of the end of the 13th B’ak’tun as the “end of the world as we know it.” From there, the misconceptions were born.

Of course, the Mayan Calendar does not end with the 13th B’ak’tun, it simply marks the end of one time period - similar to a Christian 100-year century - and the beginning of a new one.

It also does not mark a “new era” of human consciousness, as many suggest.

What it does mark is the commodification of Indigenous culture and science by New Agers and, unfortunately, even the government of Mexico that has shamelessly sought to cash-in on all the hype.

For more information, visit: Ce-Akatl @ UCSB

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