50% of women still married after four years said, given the chance to do it all again, they would not marry the same man. (…) By that time, the average couple is down to four minutes of meaningful conversation a day.

{ Erotic Review | Continue reading }

Feminism is generally associated with modern, progressive society. Yet few people know that ancient Sparta - infamous for its militarism - granted women exceptional rights. Spartan women could inherit, own, and bequeath property; they were fed and schooled as much as men; they had complete freedom of movement; they married later and could even get away with adultery. So why would the tough Spartan men allow this to happen? Upon subjugating its neighbors - whose population vastly outnumbered Sparta’s - Sparta needed its males to focus entirely on training for war and its females to focus on managing the subjugated population and estates. To give the women sufficient capability and incentive, especially in the absence of men, the men had to grant the extra rights to women, the authors of a new study argue. However, as in modern times, more autonomy for women was associated with lower fertility, which ultimately led to Sparta being unable to field a large enough army, losing control of its subjugated neighbors, and rescinding the rights of its women.

{ Boston Globe | Continue reading }

Have to solve a problem? Try taking a nap.

But it has to be the right kind of nap — one that includes rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, the kind that includes dreams. (…)

A nap that included REM sleep resulted in nearly a 40 percent improvement over the pre-nap performance.

{ NY Times | Continue reading }

photo { Lane Coder }

The worldwide recession may be nearing bottom or lifting, some data suggests. The rate of job losses has slowed. Financial and credit markets have eased. Ambitious stimulus plans seem to be working.

But these metrics hardly provide a qualitative understanding of what the world faces in the short to medium term — the next six to 24 months. What does the end of the recession really look like? And how will we know when we get there?

Foreign Policy surveyed the latest thinking and contacted top economic experts to get a better picture of the shape of things to come. (…) Their consensus? The end of the recession looks much like the recession itself. We are at the end of the beginning of bad times.

{ Foreign Policy | Continue reading }

Tell me how you got involved with The Standard and this project.
I work as a video artist—the owner of the Standard was familiar with my work from a show in New York. He commissioned a video piece to be featured as a permanent installation at the new Standard hotel in New York.

Was there any type of creative brief given to you?
They were interested in a work which could be installed in the elevators. Other than that there was no brief—the understanding was that I would propose a work and they would either approve it or I would come up with another approach.

How did you come up with the concept for this art installation?
The idea of doing a “video mural” had interested me for quite some time and the journey from hell to heaven depicted in this way seemed to be a good fit. (…)

Tell me how it will be used in The Standard, NY
It will playback on a high-definition monitor which will be seen through a viewing port in each of the elevators at the hotel and move according to the direction of the elevator.

{ Q&A with Marco Brambilla | MotionGrapher | Continue reading | watch the video }

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is one of the most entertaining interviews going right now. 

An interview with the House Financial Services Committee chairman always makes for riveting television; you never know what will happen next. Conflict between the TV host and Frank can emerge at any moment. (…)

A review of TV transcripts of Frank interviews show a pattern — Frank apologizing (not exactly so sincerely) and then lashing out at anyone who is cutting him off.

During a May interview on CNN, while appearing with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Frank said, “I’m sorry, Michele, please don’t interrupt. I know you don’t want to hear this.”

Later in the interview, Frank said, “I’m sorry, Michele, why do you keep interrupting? I’m sorry you don’t like what I’m saying.”

In March on CBS, Frank scolded the TV host: “I’m sorry. Can I finish the sentence?”

A day earlier he’d appeared on PBS with Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), and Frank fired away at his Financial Services colleague: “Excuse me, Scott. Please don’t interrupt.”

Some broadcasters don’t take any crap from Frank.

In a memorable 2007 interview on Fox News, Neil Cavuto asked, “Congressman, is it incumbent upon you to be so condescending, or do you want to answer my question?”

Frank countered, “You’re not going to run this like a junior high school class.”

{ The Hill | Continue reading }

{ Art Fire }

{ A Picasso musketeer from 1969 fetched $11.5 million at Sotheby’s last Wednesday. }

{ Rebecca Horn, Small widow, 1988 | crow’s feathers, brass, engine }

Even as it facilitates our ability to connect, the collective social-networking culture changes our way of thinking about everything from friendship to death. And not in a good way. As a technological medium that fetishises individualism, Facebook invites disaster.

Perhaps this is why Facebook may have finally jumped the shark. The surest indication of Facebook’s impending doom is the enthusiasm of my demographic - Baby Boomer professionals - which is usually the kiss of death. We are joining Facebook in droves, and arriving just in time for the last dance. (…)

To boost your number of friends (and we all know our number), consider boarding a friend-whore train. (…) As ego-gratifying as becoming a “friend whore” may be, keep in mind that your number of ersatz Facebook friends may be in inverse proportion to your number of “real” friends. I have friends I don’t know at all and friends I hate. A Facebook “friend” is not necessarily your friend. And above all, your mother is not your friend. (…)

Sure, Facebook enhances communication. But social-networking websites provide solitary ways to be engaged. As my son puts it, on Facebook we’re posting to the gaze. Since someone may (or may not) be watching, we have the sense that we are in company, even if nobody’s home. Facebook is a double-edged sword that isolates at the same time as it (over)exposes. And the potential for embarrassment is impressive.

{ Times Higher Education | Continue reading }

The growth of social networks indicates a fundamental shift in patterns of human behavior. The unsustainable practice of ever-increasing consumption of physical goods, and expressing oneself through what one purchases and displays, is being replaced by increasing consumption of virtual goods through virtual channels.

Thorstein Veblen, in his groundbreaking work The Theory of the Leisure Class, published in 1899, posited that humans use displays of wealth to broadcast status to society. Veblen argued that, since the beginning of history, once basic needs were met, elites have “conspicuously consumed” to reinforce class. This has not been without consequence. As illustrated in Jared Diamond’s controversial book Collapse, this seemingly inevitable behavior of the ruling classes led to cultural demise.

Throughout the last century conspicuous consumption meant buying cars, boats, larger houses, jewelry, art, and meals in restaurants. Keeping up with the Joneses required a lot of energy—and produced a lot of carbon and waste.

{ Good | Continue reading }

related { Surfing alone: Is digital technology destroying relationships? | Privacy. Protecting an inalienable right in the age of Facebook. }

image { Habbo Hotel console, 2001 }

{ Brock Davis }

A kosher version of Google called Koogle, has been developed in Israel for Hebrew-speaking Orthodox Jews. (…) Nothing can be posted on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, as Jews are banned from all types of work and business activity.

{ Telegraph | Continue reading | Koogle }

People will tell you that starting a business is all about taking that first step—that it’s all about sitting down and hashing out the Big Idea. You know what? That’s a load of crap. Sure, the first step is important, but it’s the next 16,000 steps that actually make things happen. The idea is the easy part; turning the idea into a business takes work. Before I sat down to write this, I made myself a sandwich. Even that took five steps.

{ Joseph Ippolito/Good | Continue reading }

The amount of money raised this year is looking like it will be well below half of last year and maybe as low as a third. My guess is that venture capital will do a little better than buyouts, frankly, on a percent basis because I think people are really scared about buyouts. So my guess is that maybe if the buyout industry is down a third, the venture industry will be down a half. This is a tough year to forecast, but it is certainly the way it feels now.

{ Clinton Harris Interview | Red Herring | Continue reading }

photo { Dash Snow }