| Bryan Appleyard on art on the web
Go to town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio and click on Wallace Stevens. Click on the first file. You will hear the voice of Stevens in old age reading The Idea of Order at Key West, one of the most perfect poems of our time – no, of any time. A shiver ran down my spine when I first did this. I’d never heard Stevens’s voice before. Not into poetry? Okay, go to YouTube and put "Picasso" in the search box. Click on the video entitled "Picasso is painting . . ." You will see a scene from a French documentary, showing a wry, half-naked Picasso dashing off a very odd picture. You prefer the history of ideas? Input "Foucault Chomsky". The first video shows Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky debating on Dutch television – well, not so much debating as conducting competing monologues.
How smart are these phones?
It's no wonder why they're referred to as smart phones as today's wireless handsets are basically pocket-sized computers capable of messaging, music, GPS navigation, photography, 3-D gaming, web surfing and, oh yeah, making phone calls, too. Often these smart phones are referred to all-in-ones or PDAs (personal digital assistants). Considering many cellphones are shipping with these added features - such as full keyboards, high-speed connectivity and integrated cameras and music players - perhaps in a few years they'll drop the "smart" from smart phones since there will be less of a distinction between these and regular phones. That said, it can be hard to keep up with what's new and interesting, so the following is a look at three brand new smart phones worth considering - and no, the Apple iPhone is still not officially available here.
Thursday, January 3
.icoVid{background:url(http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/SITEWIDE/Icons/iVideo.gif) no-repeat center;padding-left:14px;text-decoration:none;position:static;} .icoVid:hover,.icoVid:visited:hover{text-decoration:none} .icoSli{background:url(http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/SITEWIDE/Icons/iSlides.gif) no-repeat center;padding-left:14px;text-decoration:none;position:static;} .icoSli:hover,.icoSli:visited:hover{text-decoration:none} .icoDis{background:url(http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/SITEWIDE/Icons/iDiscuss.gif) no-repeat center;padding-left:14px;text-decoration:none;position:static;} .icoDis:hover,.icoDis:visited:hover{text-decoration:none} .icoNew{background:url(http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/SITEWIDE/Icons/flag_new.gif) no-repeat center;padding-left:23px;text-decoration:none;position:static;} .icoNew:hover,.icoNew:visited:hover{text-decoration:none} .icoUpd{background:url(http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/SITEWIDE/Icons/flag_updated.gif) no-repeat center;padding-left:40px;text-decoration:none;position:static;} .icoUpd:hover,.icoUpd:visited:hover{text-decoration:none;} Skip navigation .
Death draws a crowd
The day is not June 11, 2001 and the man awaiting execution is not Timothy McVeigh. It is April 2, 1936. At Trenton State Prison in New Jersey, Bruno Hauptmann is electrocuted for the kidnapping and murder of the child of Charles Lindbergh. These events, 65 years ago, rival the crime and death sentence of McVeigh in their hold on the public imagination. But then, executions have always possessed a power of morbid attraction, no matter what a person's view of capital punishment might be. Why? Because an execution touches our most basic human emotions-life and the taking of life. Because an execution is the only time and place -- outside of war -- where the taking of a life is legalized. The law has given us moral permission to follow (if not see) a killing.
Korean Telco's Earnings Plunge
SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile carrier, reported a sharper-than-expected 76% fall in quarterly net profit as marketing costs to attract users for new services wiped out revenue growth, a Reuters report said. The Reuters report said losses at its affiliates such as US wireless joint venture Helio and mobile TV company TU Media also hit its results. SK is battling with No. 2 operator KTF over more profitable 3G mobile services, such as video calls and wireless internet, the report said. 3G-linked investment and marketing costs may fall in the coming quarters, while SK could benefit from a broader range of services once it finalises a deal to take control of hanarotelecom, the country's No. 2 broadband company, analysts said. The Reuters report further said SK, which controls 50.5% of the country's mobile market, posted 66.05 billion won ($65 million) in net profit in the quarter to December 31, well below an average forecast of a 259.6 billion won ($258 million) profit from Reuters Estimates.
A chance to run away with the circus
Our work force is very specialized. We can't afford any longer to wait around for people to come to us. We realize that there's a lot of talent in every city we (go to)." The rolling job fair, started this year, is one solution. Not every Cirque job involves traveling the world. "We have administrative offices in Las Vegas, Montreal, Macau and Amsterdam," Page said. "You could work 52 weeks in one location." Cirque wasn't encouraging anybody to mount the high wire on Tuesday. Its greatest need is for support staff to keep all aspects of the circus's massive universe humming. Cirque employs small armies of nuts-and-bolts theater techies: riggers, sound board operators, stage managers, costumers and the like. Cirque also needs teachers (many people travel with their families) as well as barbers, physiotherapists and gourmet chefs.
Thinking Right
Oh, please. What we have here is God hating heathen judging the whole entire United States based upon her inner bigotry. Speak for yourself, Cynthia, or are you? Maybe if you degenerate liberals didnt view other women as a slab of meat put solely on this Earth for your selfish pleasure, maybe if you libs didnt use race baiting as a substitute for honest effort, maybe if you libs didnt run a news paper that employs hate speech against the opinions of the people you disagree with, maybe if you didnt protect every scumbag that does bring discredit to their race, maybe then you could get past your bigotry, get past the stereotypes and politically correct language that you created, and you could start seeing the human being that lives in every one of us, regardless of our outward appearance.
Page 2
You can't write a weekly NBA playoffs column if the league decides to stretch out the playoffs like Mary Tyler Moore's face. Guess how many games have been played since last Friday's column. Seriously, take a guess. (Think about it.) (Keep thinking.) .
|
