text:
Practice in Context – Module 3 – Masters Degree
Apologies for any horrendous errors in grammar and spelling, this continues to be a work in progress…
MA in Design, Module III – Hull School of Art & Design/Leeds Metropolitan University – May 2012
Practice in Context
Visualising Educational Concepts for Art School Students
G. Sleightholme
…a "wordle" data cloud of the content of this text.
1 – INTRODUCTION
2 – Signs, Symbols, Structuralism and Post-structuralism and the Intangible Painted Pipe.
3 – The Visual Metaphor (not the visualised metaphor)
4 – Infographics, the New Black; and the search for a universal visual language, how and why do we relate to image as we do?.
5 – Chart Junk and the Data-Ink Ratio, telling the truth, holistically.
6 – Conclusions – The Solid Gate and the search for transparent paint (The Identification of a Theoretical and Practice based Context through research).
BIBLIOGRAPHY – (with links where possible)
…for Appendices/Additional Notes not covered by links and embeded illustrations and video – See separate post here:
…a larger/complete version of this image can be found on display at HSAD as part of the Yr 1 MA exhibiton.
"In The Ego and the Id Freud argued that a cogent thought process, to say nothing of conscious intellectual work, could not exist amidst the unruliness of visual experience. Over the last half century in a sequence of landmark books, Rudolf Arnheim [the German born author, art/film theorist and perceptual psychologist] has not only shown us how wrong that is, he has parsed the grammar of form with uncanny acuity and taught us how to read it." (Fineburg 2010)
Historically, "thinking" on the impact of alternate forms of contact perception (seeing, touching, smelling and any understanding based on the various human sensory stimuli), ideas and treatise related to "visual thinking" and the role and relationships of images and imagery in cognition, and particularly in art and design education, including Visual Literacy, Picture Games, "Rich Pictures" and Field Dependency etc, has zig-zagged between a great number of root (and radical) concepts, morphing and evolving from elevated to disputed theory as the theorists that hold to them are confronted with the latest data. From Freud's assumptions of image as the poor relation in cognition through to constructivist concepts of the importance of "student as creator" and learning through the act of design and visual creation being the richer model for learning.
Visual literacy in the classroom has become increasingly important as more and more information is accessed through technology. Students must maintain the ability to think critically and visually about the images presented to them in today's society.
(Gangwer, T, 2009)
Standout and highly visible works on and around this subject include: Rudolf Arnheim's Visual Thinking (1969), Robert McKim's Experiences in Visual Thinking (1971), and Betty Edward's Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (1979). Whilst contemporary works include: In The Minds Eye (1997) by Thomas G. West, Upside Down Brilliance (2002) by Linda Silverman, and The Einstein Factor (2004) by Win Wenger, plus multiple texts on the birth of the "Science of Signs" and the work of Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, Charles Morris, Barthes, Baudrillard, Eco and Gunther Kress in the field of Semiotics (particularly relevant in a age of rapidly evolving signifiers and the societal will to open interpretations of the signified).
There are, then, many, who in the recent past and currently, are investigating the science of perception itself and its relationship to the creative arts and audience, the effectiveness of visuals and image on the ability to access, decode and memorise the content of that image, dissecting the thinking of other educators that touch upon this field, and attempting to sort and box those myths and hangovers of previous theories that continue to hinder or sidetrack the development of higher functioning artifacts of Information Transference, all causing an upsurge in interest in this field.
The Visual Teaching Alliance (VTA) suggest that approximately sixty-five percent of the population are what Coffield might sneering recognise as "visual learners"; that learners who are listed as twice exceptional (2e) are often catagorised as "visual learners" and that visual imagery in the classroom can improve learning by up to four-hundred percent.
Looking to the science of visual perception the VTA also suggest the brain processes visual information sixty-thousand times faster than text (no citation for this), and that the highest percentage (numbers vary from 75-90%) of information that is processed by the brain is visual; with something like just under half of the nerve fibers connected to the brain being linked to the retina (corroborative data for these figures can be found in – Jessell, 2000).
The impact of these discussions on visual literacy and education in practice is not always obvious however.
Many educationalists (pick up any book on teaching and learning) despite the information they present to the world in words on this subject still use image only as a "back up" to reinforce a written idea, which is of course its traditional role (illustration > to illustrate > to show), but shy away from using image as a primary resource of teaching and learning (not all it has to be said), and they are followed doggedly by institutions.
Can image be used ahead of the written discussion, or is image wholly subservient to the written word? And is the current hierarchy based on tested precepts?
Well yes, image can lead and often does. It is traditionally our first interface with the alphabet, books of all age markets lead with a cover. Some of the most important scientific tracts of the early modern era lead with frontispieces (some created by their authors). Medieval and renaissance patrons commissioned works of complex meaning that where purely expressed visually in order to strike deep into the consciousness of the literate and illiterate alike. While graphic designers and Ad' agencies use considered and tested imagery, both subtle and not-so-subtle, to sway our opinions and decision-making on a day-to-day basis. More pointedly, the powers that be seem to believe that an image may be interpreted more efficiently (or quickly perhaps) and thus preserve the safety of our social groups when providing instruction to that time constrained and unevenly tempered denizen of our cities, the motorist.
Scott McCloud provided a self-referential, almost deconstructionist inverted critical lens approach to his book on sequential art, Understanding Comics, by producing the entire work in the form of a comic book or graphic novel; the antithesis of those works of art criticism that I remember picking up with near enraged incredulity at art school, being a books on art without a single image in it, or those with tiny black and white "reproductions" crushed into the margin to make room for the authors more (self) important (and Barthes approved) words.
It would seem then in education, particularly in the arts that image is now to be considered and accepted beyond the confines of the subject specifically being taught.
Yet course information, briefs and student centric documentation is increasingly "wordy" and still "cripplingly" image free.
Academic standards it seems demand a shewing of image in favour of pure text, just as we are asked to leave behind picture books and comics when moving up into high school.
Not all images of course.
Maps, illustration's forgotten brothers, so long evolved into their own specialist species that we forget they are really just picture based information. Those highly decorative, illustrated medieval and Tudor maps further adding to this severance; the one image (that which shows the way or the world) becoming somehow different and moving up through the visual hierarchy to a place above the renderings of ships at sail or the curiously mouthed whales a-spouting (which are of course frivolous fictions in comparison to the scientific and "reason bound" cartography) within the same paper border; this in spite of their clear subversion of actual "truth", an acceptance that allows their creators, and more over, their commissioners to show us the world through a skewed and bloating lens that they are paying for; the (psychological, sociological as well as geographic) Lie of Mercator if you will.
So, why is one type of illustration (maps) deemed bona fide and the other not? And (metaphors of journeys aside) could we learn something from maps as a now separate species and "science", to guide a student through their world or specialist subject? Here we seem to have such a rich vein of metaphors attached to a fixed and accepted system of well-developed signs (Harmon/Clemans 2009), to lead them not to a hall of residence or to the muster point during fire drill, but perhaps to guide them through three years, showing them the journey we hope they take; and perhaps the journeys we hope they don't.
…early visuals from "the game of drawing" installation.
With subjects such as CATS – or Critical & Theoretical Studies – those students, who have hoped to escape the (to them) exhausting formal linguistic rigor and difficulties with comprehension of written (all the seemingly alien vocabulary and dense tracts of analytical language) and researched information by simply turning tail and throwing themselves into visually creative subjects can be sent into apoplectic fits through the simple act of asking for a paraphrased sentence or two on a dead, or out of (current) fashion, creative; even one in their own field.
In the realm of education this is obviously an issue; and one that needs addressing or at least softening, that is part of the reasoning behind this research in practice. My response is that within art schools the students have, or at least have recognised within themselves, an intrinsic desire or need to interact with image.
This leads me to suggest that in this special case (learners at art school) that image, in a somewhat more active role than "illustrative supporter of text", or "explainagram", might just be "the doorway" that could lead them toward deeper investigative tools such as critical theory, self-actualisation, and broader interests.
Through this investigation I hope to fully explore this "Visualisation of Educational Concepts for Art & Design Students"; experimenting with these potential visual "Gateways" to ease the students access to the (to them) seemingly inaccessible, diss-engagingly alien and unrelated.
Part of this deals with the discussion touched on above i.e., Text versus Image versus Text & Image, but also an exploration of image AS text, and further… IS text image?
It is not without a sense of irony however that a subject that proposes the potential of a number of visual solutions is being tackled here in essentially the inverse manner i.e. via academic text and dense language.
It should, as always, be stated clearly at this point, that in no way do my proposed ideas hope to reduce the amount of written content that a student should engage with (the opposite in fact), nor replace even one sentence; but instead simply to provide a clear and engaging gateway that allows the student to first engage with the idea of a subject or broad concept, then gently usher them towards a self-motivated investigation into the richer written material on their own.
Jeremy Rifkin (political advisor and author on social and ethical concerns) has examined our innate capacity for empathy, something which he suggests is one of the defining traits of the human race (though a shared trait with a few other species, in fact), and that our progressively expanding "spheres of empathy", have aided our survival as a species. He posits that our continued survival depends on expanding this empathic nature even further, as opposed to the all-too-easy closed-minded retreat into tribalism (Building an empathetic Global Civilisation – RSA Animate)
The relationship between textual information (even that of fiction reading) and the empathy of understanding is clearly only developed through the experiential immersive conditions brought about during the state of Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988) of deep reading. Psychologists and neuroscientists at the Dynamic Cognition Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis (Everding G, 2009) are increasingly coming to the conclusion that when we read a story and really understand it, we create a mental simulation of the events described by the story, activating brain regions used to process similar experiences in real life allowing us to "walk that mile in another's shoes", and thus building the same pathways that develop empathy.
But this wider-awareness only comes upon passing boundaries within and beyond those acts of study/investigation/immersion leading towards a higher functioning analytical sense, a recognition of interconnectedness of influence, resonance, and precedents (deep reading/travel/experiential learning all contribute to this), perhaps allowing this awareness to be brought fourth later during moments of visual stimulus and thus creating a context for action.
How to then do we get the reluctant to step on to the pathway and begin their own walk or journey? Especially those who have long chosen image as their favoured or sole experiential route and flinched at every turn from the written and the read.
And how do we communicate to the learner/student that a relationship with this deeper learning experience brings its own rewards in adding depth and colour to their worldview.
All of which is readily corroborated by taking a look at the "fringe subject" reading list of someone like Carl Sagan, or in the advice/opinions presented in the book an Anatomy of Inspiration by music historian R.E.M. Harding:
Originality depends on new and striking combinations of ideas. It is obvious therefore that the more a man knows the greater scope he has for arriving at striking combinations. And not only the more he knows about his own subject but the more he knows beyond it of other subjects. It is a fact that has not yet been sufficiently stressed that those persons who have risen to eminence in arts, letters or sciences have frequently possessed considerable knowledge of subjects outside their own sphere of activity…
…[M]any ideas outside the subject become associated with it by a kind of interest association and acquire a similar tone. Thus they tend to become available at the same time as the ideas directly connected with the subject itself. The variety of interests tends to increase the richness of these extra ideas — 'fringe-ideas' — associated with the subject and thus to increase the possibilities of new and original combinations of thought.
– (Harding R.E.M. , 1942)
When compiling their 1980 Dictionary of Visual Language, collaborators Phillip Thompson and Peter Davenport suggested one of their criteria for inclusion was "the imaginative use of [visual] cliche".
Cliché, something that George Lois, controversial US art director in the foreword to the same book, describes as "a derogatory word in literary circles", the visual cliché is essential in the world of graphic communicators.
"Without it there is little communication"
(Thompson & Davenport, 1982 p.V)
This adherence to a system of encoded, (readily) interpretable signs that have universal value within a culture reflects a Structuralist world-view that sees all cultural nodes as being linked or having a fixed relationship to or to other cultural artifacts within a/the larger overarching system.
Structuralism tries to make sense of our very human propensity towards using the familiar and similar as a reinforcing tool in learning or comprehension and subsequent dissemination of ideas that we now recognize as being related to "sensory memory" – in which we retain data briefly after the stimulus has ceased – and "top-down visual processing" which uses memories expectations and intentions in order to process it (Malamed 2009).
This is at the heart of the semiotics, the science of signs and those things that we accept as authentic representations, including Baudrillard's simulacra.
It is encoded and echoed in epistemological standpoints such as phenomenology. From thinkers like Foucault and through to comic artists (and theorists) like Scott McCloud, philosophical commentators all variously discuss our capacity to accept the "not real" as "real", or at least "real enough for this moment".
Both look to Magritte's Treachery of Images in order to help explain contemporary notions of abstraction in images.
That we accept the image as "real", to all intents this representation of an object is a suitable stand-in for "a real pipe", when in "reality" it is (in the context in which you are reading this) nothing more than the digital reproduction of embedded code of a scan of a a photograph, of a painting, of a pipe – perhaps not even from observation (Foucalt, 2008), (McCloud, 1993, p24 – 26).
But this is who we are.
For all of our knowledge of the science of things, we are happy to accept an unfixed reality, or to err, if it potentially teaches/reveals to us something else.
As Hawkes notes when discussing Vico's The New Science published in 1725:
The master key [of Vico's book lay in his] decisive perception that so called 'primitive man', when properly assessed, reveals himself not as childishly ignorant and barbaric, but as instinctively and characteristically 'poetic' in his response to the world, in that he possesses an inherent 'poetic wisdom' (sapienza poetica) which informs his responses to his environment and casts them in the form of a 'metaphysics' of metaphor, symbol and myth.
(Hawkes, 2007, p2)
This use of metaphor and simile, analogy, symbolism or signs all rely on the social validity and acceptance of a set of mutually recognised encoded values and their interrelations within a larger system.
This allows us to interpret and compare cultural artifacts and their contents and given meanings with a range of previously experienced and accepted information in order to validate a concept or idea and place it in its right position within our given holistic overview, system or belief structure (it is still amusing to note my colleagues obsession with the height of buses as related to the height of dinosaurs, so frequently encountered in childhood representations, "but how tall is a double-decker bus?" He cries!).
Structuralism, despite being un-encountered as a conscious concept by the student themselves thus becomes essential as they slowly build up a catalogue of experience to help with their own interpretation, comparison, catagorisation and eventual synthesis of data, whether written, visual, auditory or experienced in some other sensory way; building their own system of signs if you will, and seeing how they relate to those of others.
Structuralism's idea of an underlying systems of signs is manifest in any understanding of both the obvious and the subtle sub-textual, historical, and symbolic relationships between works of art and literature (its original stomping ground) and the influences and concepts synthesised within it, for example, the relationship of story forms in storytelling (Lane 2000).
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (based upon earlier plots by Arthur Brooke and William Painter), shares a similar story pattern or structure to West Side Story, despite there being a clear difference in theatrical genre, period and cultural and social identifiers. Similarly Hamlet and the recent TV show Sons of Anarchy share a simplistic narrative. In the contemporary show we follow the revelations of young man (Jax) reading the diaries (the voice from beyond death) of his dead father following his mothers re-marriage to the best friend of his Motorcycle Gang Leader father; thus usurping Jax as the president of the gang (though he is the Vice President, a Princely position ) and standing between the hero and his inheritance and developing a narrative surrounding the circumstances of his fathers death.
The animation The Lion King explores the same story pattern, again through an extreme reinterpretation, overlaying the framework with different or new (perhaps more contemporarily relevant) cultural mores whilst retaining character archetypes an underlying story structure.
Whilst further possibilities of pattern recognition and reworking of comparative content can be found in a series like Sherlock, a modern day interpretation of the classic Conan Doyle penned detective stories; or possibly more interestingly, House, in which two characters, a detective and a doctor (with a limp) are rolled into one and shifted from period detective fiction into contemporary medicine. Even the name House and its relationship to the word Home and its phonic if meaning-free mirror "Holmes" reflects the whole shows premise becoming a self-exemplary, post-modern example of structuralist inheritance and influence in creativity, in this case with a self deceiving structuralist pattern seeking thinker as its protagonist.
This belief in a system of patterns or accepted codes in creative storytelling goes beyond the early exponents of comparative mythology and folk tale "types" (and their links with psychology) into the critics understanding of film criticism and screenwriting.
Early in my creative career I had heard a mentor suggest that "there are only seven films, and five of those are Westerns". A "truism" that can be expanded upon or adhered to depending on whether you are discussing "stories" or "plot", looking at Jungian archetypes that we are able to recognise in culturally contemporary stories, whether Beowulf, Journey to The West or Star Wars and our internalisation and exploration of our relationships to myth such as Campbell's Journey of the Hero, and their relationship to our own personal development and search for maturity, identity and meaning through such storytelling and the cultural (and now cross-cultural) sharing of these stories (Moyers & Campbell, 1989).
But this Structuralist expectation of meaning and pattern can also result in apparent aberrations of true meaning through phenomena such as Apophenia and Pareidolia, in which structuralism has led one to believe there is a model and so allows one to overlay that model over data where there is no previous relationship between data.
Again in criticism this can lead to an over-thinking and misinterpretation of intent*, for example when watching the film A Very Long Engagement it is possible to pick up on visual echoes in which strands, strings, ropes, cables and even hair is severed or cut, perhaps symbolising the "giving up of ties" or links to previous lives and notions, or simply the protagonists slow severance from their childhood sweetheart. This would seem likely, but for the dearth of corroboration in any discussion with Pierre Jeunette the director of the film leads one to see the corruption of intent through a reliance or expectation of a system of signs. The seemingly related images are not casually related at all, in fact if you where to look for links between the film and cutting ropes and hair symbolism in a simple internet search the highest rated article you would find would be this one.
*This ambiguity in intended meaning and it multiple interpretation can however be purposefully used of course, poetry and artists as well as comedy all use the inversion or the purposeful misunderstanding of relationships between concepts and language. But depending on our experience we know this and thus this seeming inversion, falls straight back into accepted order and so becomes structuralist again.
Does this potential for error of interpretation make the comparisons any less valid? Well in the light of Structuralist thought perhaps, as it suggests that differing interpretations being valid an overarching agreed system is too rigid. So thought the Post-Structuralists who suggested that texts or any "read" cultural artifact (whether linguistic or visual) can be interpreted as fitting not just to one fixed model of reality, but many. That reality is a an extension of the neurobiological, survival conditions that place an importance on "the self" in humans, and so any criticism/analysis comes to rely on the individual and their personal experience (and their comparissons) for validity.
Any work should be thus interpreted through the widest and most varied range of possible lenses (much like Brookfields educationalist theory) of interpretation, phenomenalogical, scientific, mythological, gender based etc. in order to even approach concensus; "Truth" as a fixed shared model of reality being improbable.
Related to this interpretation issue is the work of Derrida one of the proponents of Post-Structuralism (along with Foucalt) who discusses the inherent ambiguity of language as problematic to the ideas in Structuralism.
This flaw can be exemplified in the illustration below of the area for misinterpretation inherent in a conversation between two individuals discussing a chair (Sausure's "the signified") which only one of the speakers has seen.
*This ambiguity can however be purposefully used of course, poetry and artists as well as comedy all use the inversion or the purposeful misunderstanding of relationships between concepts and language. But depending on our experience we know this and thus this seeming inversion, falls straight back into accepted order and so becomes structuralist again.
Ultimately, Structuralism only makes sense if the experience of the individual affords room for comparative analysis. Those students who shy away from wider reading and deep study will not have the experience in place to be able to cross-compare and identify and appreciate the patterns and accepted codes used in both creative criticism as well as the creation of subtle, multi-layered cultural artifacts, whether that be the juxtaposition of political concepts and selected imagery in fine art, and literature or pop-culture and politics as seen in animated shows a such as Family Guy and The Simpsons.
This limited world-view does not wholly limit creative output. Chance and Circumstance added to the Synthesis of limited data can still produce interesting and universally acclaimed works, it does however not create an environment conducive to repeatable creative output (without self-derivative content) due to not having a wider pool from which to synthesise and the compare patterns from which structures and valid codes can be extrapolated.
It is like the child who presses his face against the wallpaper and imagines a map of a pirate island surrounded with smaller islands with inlets and river heads, only to discover the islands coast is part of a larger floral repeating pattern as they step back from the wall.
Full comprehension cannot be achieved without enough data to recognise the codes and patterns underlying the initial interpretation or stimulus.
"Visual Imagery can also be made without a picture"
– George Lois. Designer/Creative
Even those who suggest that the image should remain subservient to the cold reality and un-frivolous theoretical gravity of the written word, cannot ignore that these tiny micro-composite illustrations (letters and type) that in combination form concepts in varying complexity, still rely on the visual when explanation is required; part of the dichotomy of saying and showing as Wittgenstein-ians might have it.
The irony is not lost to some of us in the extensive use of imagery in essays such as that of Architect and TED founder Richard Saul Wurman, and How I strive to understand what it is like not to understand which opens:
There is a Tsunami of data that is crashing on to the beaches of the civilised world. This is a tidal wave of unrelated, growing data formed in bits and bytes, coming in an unorganised, uncontrolled, incoherent cacophony of foam. It's filled with flotsam and jetsam. It's filled with the sticks and bones and shells of inanimate and animate life."
(Rendgen, 2012. p.39 )
The contemporary priority of type/writing over image could be seen as a lie, based on a lack of understanding or an obfuscation through selective memory or interpretation, by those who cannot wield the original purest language, that of the image.
Design and Visual Language author Phillip Thompson seems to agree.
…a few art directors, aware that their craft depended on a passionate intimacy with the myths and symbols of man's fumblings and triumphs throughout history, remained loyal to the idea that visual imagery was the language of humanity. (Thompson & Davenport 1982)
Yet it is clearly not a fixed system, visual language and sign has evolved just as written language has, the difference between Shakespeare's language and modern conversational speech is not one of hierarchy with assigned values and levels of purity, but the illustration of the evolution of context effecting what symbols, signs, sets and systems we are willing to support and identify as relevant to our contemporary selves.
The same is true of the visual.
Just what are we to interpret from those thickened thighs on the hunters of Lascaux? Was there a common agreement in the importance in powerful thews in the successful hunt and their sympathetic representation in image or is it of some significance that is lost to us through the evolution and subtle change in our use of sign, or simply the use of a different tool that resulted in their form.
But how curious the return to a similar form in the pictogram based work of Otto Neurath, Rudolf Modley and the mathematic and science based Logicians who sought it out for their own reasons, the once sought after grail of a concept of a Universal Visual Language.
But images clearly mean different things to different people, the simple crossing of a countries border can reverse or colour meaning of the familiar. Time, and the widening borders of history cause even greater problematic differences.
The Alchemical diagrams that accompany impenetrable texts of occult books of previous centuries can still be recognized as aesthetically pleasing, despite their contextual, and fantastical symbolic references. We can admire the penmanship or the composition relating/comparing it to its contemporary equivalent. But when it comes to making sense of the images and reading what is there as we might a magazine cover or the gig poster, the visual language being used is ultimately lost on us; just as Gulliver's Travels now appears just as an interesting fantasy novel, rather than a biting socio-political diatribe we know it to have been.
4 – Infographics the New Black; and the search for a universal visual language, how and why do we relate to image as we do?.
Ultimately this relates to the holistic standpoint of infographics proponents like Tufte and McCandless. The latter shows in his piece on comparative International Budget Spending (The Billion Dollar-O-gram, McCandless, 2001) how the mathematically factual aesthetic proportioning of the visuals adds to our (human) inherent propensity to deal with patterns and structuralist relationships even in the visual.
It also relates to the use of this willingness to assume or believe in a relationship or underlying pattern in data, and how this can be subverted when skewed to support an agenda. For example the purposeful abuse of our understanding of proportional scale in the development of political world maps.
This is clearly the underlying argument for students to explore, experiment and read around their subject and the subjects of their subjects associated content more widely than is currently understood by the majority. Too limited an experience and exposure to related data places the student in a disadvantaged position regarding analysis relevant to others in the close and broader peer groups from a common experiential standpoint. Taking them from the most optimistic, pattern-conscious and interpretation competent position of the Structuralist ideal to the most self-absorbed, dismissive, nihilistic standpoint leveled at the Post-Structuralists, all without being aware of either philosophy.
The recognition of Post-structuralist freedom (if you will) of intellectual thought and interpretation as tool to use and sought for in the assignments of art school students being wholly unidentifiable by the student yet to discover the relative thinking of Freud and Jung let alone the Structuralists and their roots in existential phenomenology and subsequent detractors.
That many contemporary art students harbor a mistrust of theory in favour of surface detail gleaned from accessible and brief sources is evident when working with then and testing their understanding of the interrelationships of seemingly obvious pop-culture artifacts. This unwillingness to engage with deeper and wider meaning in imagery and "texts" of the world around them lulls these civilized modern thinkers into a trap that Semioticians and Structuralists are keen to avoid in their definitions and descriptions of this language or system of signs; that of mistaking the sign for the signifier. Resulting in a lack of the sapienza poetica of Vico's early man; to the extreme of finding the idea of watching the rare sight of meteors blazing across the evening sky as we pass through the tail of a comet on our tiny blue planet as something that is simply "boring" in favour of watching reruns of openly scripted "reality" shows on TV; Baudrillard's acceptance of the 'hyperreal' over the real.
Of course much of this debate stemmed from the ideas surrounding the interpretation of written language, it is no surprise to find that the nomenclature discussing the artifacts to be interpreted refers to them as "Texts" regardless of their written or visual nature, despite the historical and anthropological errors inherent in this.
It is possible, without too much of a conceptual stretch to imagine a scenario in which an early ancestor of our verbal, literary selves drew a basic representation of the concept of a want or need to communicate this to another, before the formal verbalisation of the same (visual).
We know that the Pictograms developed to tally and record early trade, tribute, and even the lineage of kings and their conquests stem from an abstraction of representational symbols and imagery.
Archaeologist and retired Art Professor Denise Schmanddt-Besserat concurs with this suggesting that this systematic set of function-led information graphics was at the root of some of the early success in building and managing the building of the early cities and their economies, leading to the rise of the first empires in middle eastern city states (2007). Ancient Egyptian tombs where covered in information that in the form of extensive and elaborate hieroglyphs which fall somewhere between image and what would pass for modern literature.
Even eschewing these obvious historical precedents and flashing forward to the mid point of the last century, the graphical representation of data and information (as opposed to its interpretation through art or conventional illustration) has been obvious to those who where looking for it.
Sandra Rendgen in her introduction to Information Graphics discusses the prevalence of the infographic and its less fashionable precursors in Newspapers and magazines; businesses, using charts and graphics to support the communication of statistics, projections and economic forecasts via Flip Charts and PowerPoint presentations.
Safety manuals, user guides and instructional pamphlets all using schematic drawings to support their primary written content. Illustration by its very nomenclature and definition therein seems purely a supportive addition, there only to illustrate further the point already made in text or numeric form.
But here as in many areas of the commercial visual arts it is this relegation to the role of support that surprises the visual creative. Especially (as mentioned earlier) by those that have worked with or in the field of Graphic design and Advertising.
Our inherent abilities and predisposition as a species (not to mention a physicality that points toward the exploitation of vergence and stereopsis) to willingly explore and manipulate (and be manipulated by) imagery can be seen in the elaborate juxtaposition of sometimes highly incongruous images in advertising and film including the experiments of film makers such as Kuleshov.
Though of late this appears to have begun to change. The fashion for the decoration of information, its juxtaposition within design with imagery simply designed to attach false or purposefully misleading meaning has in some areas begun to wane in favour of a new image/data "truth" based on the application of a similar rigor and stylistic approach to scientific data visualisation.
This in itself brings new tensions – Such as those discussed by theorists in the field of data visualisation such as Edward Tufte.
Tufte's analysis of a range of infographics, historical and contemporary, scientific and recreational, looks at the relative scales of imagery associated with specific data and how these visual techniques for depicting quantities can be subverted in the process of trying to make the information appealing. Ideas and terms such as Chart Junk – the obfuscation of information through counter-productive or attention diverting additions – are coined in the process of trying to encourage accurate representation whilst still making the image readable and appealing to the audience.
"What about confusing clutter? Information overload? Doesn't data have to be "boiled down" and "simplified"? These common questions miss the point, for the quantity of detail is an issue completely separate from the difficulty of reading. Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information."
(Tufte 2006)
Tufte worries about the handing over of such valuable data to designers to decorate or presenters to render vacuous through the blind double-clicking of the powerpoint icon on their laptops, he suggests in no uncertain terms that leaving designers and illustrators to assume command of the design and in particular the content of statistical (info)graphics would be akin to "allowing typographers to control the content, style, and editing of prose." (Tufte, 2001)
But he magnanimously suggests that not only can design as decoration obfuscate data, but that:
"Design cannot rescue failed content." (Tufte, 2006)
Graphic design in itself remains a language, and like other contemporary languages it has a vocabulary, if not quite universal, grammar plus its own syntax and rhetoric, even if not cross-culturally ratified and agreed upon. Each cultural divide and layer – religion, psychological, historical, national, social, erotic, civic, heraldic or artistic (Thompson & Davenport,1982) -, brings with it its own symbolic and unique textural visual references that in combination or isolation can be used to deliver a subtle sub-textural idea, or a blatant, jangling shout of a message.
Looking for a style in which to present my ideas has caused issues. The worry over allowing an aesthetic style to interfere with a message or to become the primary focus positively or negatively has caused me to eshew all stylistic development. Instead I will look to the sketch in order to develop my ideas.
As part of this investigative process I will have to breakdown and perhaps even break completely with ideas relating to aesthetics that I have built up over years of professional practice and creative output. Tufte's concept of the "data-ink ratio", "ChartJunk", and the possibility of holistic data truth, and it's relation to Bauhaus's "Form… Follows Function", sitting at odds with my life as an illustrator and occasionally (particularly during my tenure as a Theme Park designer) "aesthetic decorator".
The Sketch is a useful tool when dealing with corporate clients in that it creates the illusion for the client that there is room for maneuver, change and development, for collaboration in moving forward.
The sketch is also reflective of that early stage of thinking whist doodling, the protean, shifting process of early ideation. See Baudrillard's Cool Memories collections; notes and ideas in rough form still fresh and vibrant, free of tethers to a particular arguement or essay, but still valid. Much like the drawings of James Jean in his sketchbook The Hallowed Seam (Process Recess, Vol. 3), the sketch is allied to the process of formative thought in the case of some thinkers and scientists, Edward Tufte lists examples in the foreword of his book Visual Explanations (1997) including (the "left field" diagram work of ) Feynman, and Huygens who like Da Vinci and Newton turned to drawing as part of the process of cognitive thought.
Milton Glaser along with Saul Bass one of the great advocates of drawing as a designer and thinker, believes "that drawing changes the brain… makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy".
Basically the act of drawing has nothing to do with being an illustrator, we draw because it enables us to see.
– (Art is Work 2008)
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6986303″>MILTON GLASER DRAWS & LECTURES</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/employment">Employment</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
It appears my practice appears to touch on several areas of both theoretical and practical concern, and relate both to my personal development (the understanding of my own practice as a designer) and my professional development (the possibility of adding value to my area of work).
Ultimately the focus of my study seems to be narrowing, focusing down, on getting students to understand that developing a broader experience of related learning including the ever baneful presence of "wider reading", far beyond the obvious connections of their specific subject interest, added to "deeper reading" of whatever study they undertake, and the effective comparative analysis of this reading will deliver some of the intangible creative components they try too achieve through late-take-up, mechanical skill acquisition in order to become an effective creative practitioner.
Ironically, this, due to their chosen, not inherent, bias may well be best addressed through the visual.
The worldviews of the structuralists and semioticians and their systems and sets and my exploration therein has begun to directly highlight areas of my search for common reference points within the users of my design solutions.
If A is the wish to achieve in the student, and B is the deep and wide reading and the process of synthesis of the practitioner in "Flow" that high end practitioners recognize and C the goal of becoming a creative who can convey concepts through their practice, then C has to follow B which follows A. B cannot be avoided or sidestepped. Reading, self motivated experiment and developing a wealth of experience of the wider world are as valuable a set of tools to the designer as being able to draw.
As Einstein succinctly put it: "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
As for the use of pure image versus pure text as a means of communication, there will no doubt be compromise.
"The use of strong visual imagery plus a few brilliantly arranged words combines to form a message vastly exceeds the sum of its parts. One plus one can indeed add up to three."
George Lois (Thompson & Davenport, 1982, p.VI)
The combination of strong visualised metaphor and visual metaphor, added to economical but well though out type, may be a basic guide rule for my experiments.
It echoes the historicist/archaeologist work on linguistics presented earlier in this text by Schmandt-Besserat and the thoughts of Baudrillard on the unrepresentable concept and the inexplicable image:
Between them there is, then, insuperable distance. As a result, the image is always nostalgic fo the text and the text nostalgic for the image.
(Baudrillard, 2003)
Looking to designers whose experience has shown them the validity of their aesthetic decision-making and the amassed heritage of efficacious graphic design, all lend grease to my elbow, in order to construct a set of principles (a work in progress) perhaps by which it might be possible to develop design artifacts that convey something along the lines of…
"You understand the message of this poster because I read the work of others who showed me how to make that happen".
…and with such conviction and gravity that the student would immediately get themselves to a library.
Beyond the theoretical contexts there are four further contexts within which my work currently exists:
i – Intrinsic: The personal development of myself as a practitioner. The investigation of an area that, though having had a long-term interest in – the subject of infographic display and Graphic design in general – will hopefully broaden my range as a both a professional practitioner and a creative theorist.
ii – Professional Development as an educator – looking at the development of teaching methods that I can use in my own practice and potentially share as part of both my close and extended educator based community of practice.
Looking primarily at the way information is conveyed to students, particularly in an Art School setting (as that is where my practice as an educator resides) where as discussed the students, though not quite visual learners but without doubt have a bias toward the visually stimulating (evident by their choice of subject).
I am interested in researching methodologies and stylistic considerations that could be taken in order to clearly visualise academic information to art students.
I am interested not so much in looking at the "subject specific" information as the additional, sometimes pastoral and more holistic concepts and other information that students are asked to grasp and understand, from timetables to course content and flow and ultimately there place within the college and how that fits into the wider picture of life beyond academia.
For example how to visualise "Why CATS is important and how does it relate to your studio practice?" or "How do the different modules on the Games design course relate to real world Games Studio practice?
The studies [of Visual Thinking Strategies] have found that VTS builds critical thinking skills that students transfer to other settings and other subjects, including writing, math, social studies, and science. VTS produces measurable academic growth in students with varying ethnicities, income levels, and school achievement, including those with limited English skills and poor prior standardized test performance. Over two to three years, VTS students demonstrate significantly greater academic growth than control groups.
–Visual Thinking Strategies, Research Major Findings
iii – To test some of the work produced through these design outcomes the context will become physical. I will need to put my work up for perusal and critique by my creative peer groups and creative further afield. Communities of practice online and "real world" external creative groups, groups both formal and informal and those known to me (and vice versa) and those that are not.
As part of this I will no doubt need to liaise and share research and prototype designs with:
Educational Institutions – In particular Art & Design Schools
Education Training Departments within Teaching Institutions
And further, looking at how visually augmented, enhanced or solely visual information effects understanding amongst primarily visual and non-visual learners.
I.e. Other Unique User Groups with a Visual Bias, for example:
The users of cosmopolitan multi-lingual cities.
The Deaf.
iv – Finally, as a jumping off point for further research. As an academic educator in a higher education institute it is part of my remit to continue my research in practice or as a further academic qualification.
The act of research not simply being an end in itself or something from which practical benefit can be drawn but as a sign that the institution to which the individual belongs is still vital. Producing research that can act as a link between institutions and as a point of kudos that might draw more students to this place where even the tutors are continuing to study and learn, reflecting the principle of "Lifelong Learning".
Bass, J, Kirkham, P. Saul Bass – A Life in Film & Design, 2011, Laurence King Publishers.
Baudrillard, J. 1990, Cool Memories 1980-1985, Verso, London/NewYork.
Baudrillard, J. 2003, Cool Memories IV, Verso, London/NewYork.
Campbell, J & Moyers ,W. The Power of Myth,Reissue ed. Sep 1989, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.
Fineburg, J. Art since 1940: Strategies of Being, 3 edition, 2010, Prentice Hall. – http://jonathanfineberg.com/
Fisher R., Dream A Little Dream… (article on creativity, and daydreaming), New Scientist, 16th June, 2012. Reed Business Information Ltd. UK.
Foucalt, M. This is not a Pipe, 2008, University of California Press; 2nd Revised edition.
Gangwer, T. Visual Impact, Visual Teaching: Using Images to Strengthen Learning, (2009), Corwin Press, USA
Glaser, M, Art Is Work, 2008, Overlook Duckworth. New York.
Glaser, M, Drawing Is Thinking, 2008, Overlook Duckworth. New York.
Glaser, M. Graphic Design, 1983 (Revised edition), Overlook Duckworth. New York.
Gombrich, E H. Art and Illusion: v. 6: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation, 2002. Phaidon Press Ltd; 6th edition. Hong Kong.
Harmon, K. (with essays by Cleymans, G.), The Map As Art, 2009, Princeton Architectural Press, New York.
Hawkes, T. Structuralism and Semiotics (New Accents), 1977 (2 edition 2003), Routledge, London/NewYork.
Heinrich, R; Nemeth, E; Pichler, W; Wagner, D (Eds.) Image and Imaging in Philosophy, Science and the Arts. Volume 1, 2001, Gazelle Books, Printed in Germany
Jessell, T M.; Kandel, E R.; Schwartz, J H. Central visual pathways. Principles of neural science. 2000, New York: McGraw-Hill. pages. 533–540
Lane, RJ. Jean Baudrillard, 2000, Routledge, London/NewYork.
Malamed, C. Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics That People Understand, 2009, Rockport Publishers, Massachusetts.
McCandless, D, Information is Beautiful. (2012) Collins.
McCloud, S. Understanding Comics. 1994, William Morrow Paperbacks.
Neurath, O, From Hieroglyphics to Isotype: A Visual Autobiography, 2010, Hyphen Press.
Schmandt-Besserat, D. "When Writing Met Art", 2007, University of Texas Press.
Tufte E. R., Visual Explanations (Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative), 1997, Graphic Press LLC, USA.
Tufte E.R.,, Beautiful Evidence. 2006, Graphic Press LLC, USA
Ware, C – Information Visualisation. 2013 (not yet released, pre-launch info & content available online), Morgan Kuafmann, China. Last accessed June 2012.
Csikszentmihalyi, M and Csikszentmihalyi, I (ed). 1988, Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness, Cambridge University Press. UK
Online Articles:
Lupton, E – Modern Design Theory. Essay, 2009, accessed online. http://elupton.com/2009/10/modern-design-theory/
Building an Empathetic Global Civilisation – RSA Animate – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l7AWnfFRc7g
Visual Thinking Strategies, Research Major Findings http://www.vtshome.org/system/resources/0000/0088/vts_research_summaries.pdf
Edby Bhagat D, O'Neill, P. Inclusive Practices, Inclusive Pedagogies Learning from Widening Participation Research in Art and Design Higher Education – http://www.ukadia.ac.uk/en/projects/index.cfm
The Visual Teaching Alliance – Online resource for and by teachers – http://www.visualteachingalliance.com/ABOUT/ABOUT.HTM
On Empathy – "Readers build vivid mental simulations of narrative situations, brain scans suggest. Brain processes stories as though they were real-life situations." – http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/13325.aspx
On Synthesis – http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/07/09/an-anatomy-of-inspiration-rosamond-harding/
On Flow – http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lNt6bdfoyxQC&lpg=PA15&dq=The+flow+experience+and+its+significance+for+human+psychology&pg=PA15&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Internet and articles/essay reading on Arthur Koestler (creativity), Charles Sanders Peirce, Charles Morris and Umberto Eco (semiotics), Jean Baudrillard and Roland Barthes (Philosophy of Images), Saul Bass, Milton Glaser and Rick Poynor et al (the Design Process)
~ by hesir on August 14, 2012.
Posted in creativity, Design, Design Process, Education, Graphic Design, Infographics, Masters Degree, Quotes, Teaching & Learning
Tags: Baudrillard, books, concepts, graphic design, ideas, Inspirational Creatives, methodology, Post-Structuralism, Practice, Semiotics, Structuralism, Theory, Tufte


I wanted a big family, but when it took a while for me to get pregnant at all, I gave up focusing on that idea and started praying for just one child. All I wanted was one child, and after I got her I swore I would never be ungrateful for her, and I don't think I have been. Before Blaise came along I prayed daily for more children "in God's perfect timing" and I meant it. Even if his timing meant never.
However. When we did get the amazing blessing of second child (after only eight cycles, and was I ever shocked) I could admit that it was really important to me to have more than one.
This shouldn't be surprising; I grew up as one of six children and had a blissfully happy childhood. Having sisters and brothers is a vital part of my life as an adult, too. Of course I want that for my own children.
At many moments during my childhood one or another of my siblings was my absolutely least favorite person in the entire world. But for most of the moments - and especially as I got older - they were the people I cared about most, the people I wanted to protect, the people who knew me and loved me better than any of my friends could.
And the only thing better than looking at pictures of us back then is looking at pictures of us now, seeing how far we've come and how much things stay the same even while they change.
The paths of Branwen's and my lives have run the closest together, as the pictures show. But all my siblings and I prop each other up as we go. They are an incredible gift to me.
When I had Camilla I knew that I wanted that gift for her, even as I was resigned to the fact that I didn't have the power to give it to her. That makes me all the more grateful that she got it.
It's been wonderful from the first time Camilla met her baby brother and immediately asked if she could hold him. And it just keeps getting better.
They play together now, which is just about the best thing ever, for obvious reasons. She says, "Blaisey, come look at this ball" and he toddles off after her, happy to obey.
Of course, five minutes later he bites her and she comes wailing to find me. (Unbelievably, she never retaliates, although I don't expect that will last forever.) But once I've administered sympathy and kisses - and occasionally band-aids, because he bites hard - she goes back to playing with her brother, generous with her time and effort and love.
This morning we woke up and the kids were playing on the bed and within about three minutes Blaise was trying to bite Camilla. He's teething like a maniac right now, four molars and two canines, so this is a common occurrence. But instead of freaking out, she pushed him away, laughing, and crawled off the bed. "Blaise, don't bite me! I'll go find you a toy you can chew on."
I know it won't always be this good, that at many times in the future they will fight like crazy and claim to abhor each other. Adding more siblings to the mix, as we hope to do, will only make it that much crazier. But I trust love, and I know that Camilla and Blaise will always have each other, and I believe this is a good thing.
Easter, oh Easter. I love it so.
Back in the pre-Camilla days, which were kind of like a Lent of my own life, I spent a lot of time meditating on the sorrowful mysteries. The liturgical season of Lent meant a lot to me, since I was engaged in a year-round struggle to unite the suffering of our fertility struggles to the suffering of Christ on the cross.
I remember going to adoration on Holy Thursday evening after the Mass, spending an hour there with my Bible and my prayer journal, staring at Jesus and trying to watch with him the way he asked his apostles to do in the garden. The time gave perspective to the struggles of my own life. How much more the apostles - eventually martyred - had to bear! But it also gave meaning to my struggles. I could hear the voice in the silence: you are not alone. I call everyone to watch with me and join me in my prayer.
His prayer in the garden: Let not my will but yours be done.
I try to make it the prayer of every day.
But I have to admit, these days it's not such a painful prayer to say, most of the time. I feel I'm in the Easter of my own life now.
I can't say I want for nothing. I want for many things - patience, perseverance, charity, humility - but those are my own failings. As far as blessings go, mine are nearly uncountable. I have no burdens or trials worth mentioning.
I've done nothing to earn my blessings, and I certainly don't deserve them. I'm well aware of that.
But Jesus' disciples didn't earn and couldn't possibly deserve the Resurrection. None of us can.
That's why Easter can be a season of pure joy: because we don't have to be worthy of it. We just have to seek it.
After years of waiting in the garden with Christ, I remember feeling disconnected during the first couple Triduums I celebrated after becoming a parent. No longer was I bringing any deep sorrow of my own to Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and it felt strange to celebrate Easter without having participated emotionally in the Passion.
Then during my pregnancy with Blaise I went to my parish's women's retreat. While I was there I grappled with the problem of my post-infertility spiritual life and came away with a new understanding of what living my own Easter could mean.
Since God is the source of all true joy, I can draw closer to him through my blessings. In Easter, when we commemorate the glorious gift of his Resurrection, this is especially meaningful to me. Holding the ultimate blessing in my heart through the 50 days of the Easter season makes all the little blessings of my life feel more grace-filled.
And that is why I love Easter so.


You are the type of person who would go to a Pitbull concert. Why Her Past Matters If You Want Unfortunately, as we all know, anyone who has perpetually perfect stubble is either a celebrity, a sociopath, or both. The actor and comedian was approached by Sandra Bullock who was a co-executive producer of George Lopez to produce and star in a Hispanic-oriented sitcom in Who is this model??? Seriously, Only Like Twelve People Can Pull These Off. The best things in the world look effortless, and this is no exception.
Tactical Beard Goatee Styles Beard Barber Beard Fashion Tommy Boy Heisenberg Facial Hair Tom Hardy Shaving Forward. Short Beard Styles Goatee Styles Beard Styles For Men Style For Men Goatee Beard Beard Designs Face Shapes New Age Facial Hair Forward. Log out My guyQ My Stacks Settings.
Leonora. Age: 27. I like to travel to foreign countries, to see new places, to learn about their cultures and experience their lifestyle. Let's enjoy good glass of wine, candle dinner and other delicious moments together.


text:
Q: Shared way of all ORM requests to the database i using dapper in my project and i need to use change tracker for fill automatic property and add that in the query of insert or update .
i decide create a service like change tracker for my selft but i have a question :
Where is the passage of all requests of ORM and where can I add data to request?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 Teaser Reveals A New Premiere Date
by Shania Russell
Get ready for a mic drop — Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is back on stage! After a two-year hiatus,"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" is making her grand return to Amazon Prime Video and she's determined not to share the spotlight.
The Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino-created show took the world by storm when it first arrived in 2017, introducing the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel herself, a Jewish housewife with a secret penchant for comedy. She's come a long way since then — divorcing her husband and kickstarting a career in comedy whilst showing off some of the flashiest '60s fashion money can buy. For...
The post The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 Teaser Reveals a New Premiere Date appeared first on /Film.
See full article at Slash Film »
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)
Resident Alien Season 2 Trailer Teases Return of Nathan Fillion's Octopus and Harry's Wicked Master Plan — Watch
Renewed TV Shows 2022: Find Out Which Series Will Return for Another Season
12 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows We're Looking Forward to in 2022
Jews Don't Count? Helen Mirren 'Jewface' Row Over Golda Meir Portrayal Divides U.K. Entertainment Industry
"Keep Pushing Boundaries": Jennifer Aniston and Selma Blair Honored at The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Event
'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel': Joel Is Main Attraction In Final Season 4 Teaser – Update
Amazon Studios Chief On Season 4 Of 'Mrs. Maisel', Renewal Decisions On 'Modern Love' & 'With Love'
From 'Gilmore Girls' to 'This Is Us,' Milo Ventimiglia Worked for the Walk of Fame
Showrunners No Longer Eligible for Outstanding Music Supervision Emmy as Television Academy Clarifies Rules

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Can I Stop Wearing a Mask if I get COVID-19 Vaccine?
CJ McIntyre
JNemchinova
If you choose to get the vaccine, does that mean no more mask for you?
As we all get ready to choose whether or not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, one question many people are asking is if they get the vaccine will they still be required to wear a mask when out in public?
According to News 10, the answer is NO! Why?
To start, depending on which vaccine is available and which one you choose to take, will have an affect on how soon you will be fully vaccinated. The first of the coronavirus vaccines require two shots, with Pfizer's vaccine, you get the first shot and then the second dose will have to be given three weeks after the first. The Moderna vaccine has the second dose given four weeks after the first.
With most vaccines, the effects aren't normally immediate, so that means you can still be at risk for the virus for some time. University of Washington vaccine expert Deborah Fuller told News 10 that, as of now it's unknown whether either of the vaccines will protect people from infection entirely, or just from symptoms, meaning vaccinated people might still be able to get infected and pass the virus on, although it would likely be at a much lower rate.
Health experts are also saying that anyone who does get vaccinated, should get some level of protection within a couple of weeks after the first shot, but being fully protected from the virus may not happen until a couple weeks after the second shot.
Our best bet is to continue to wear our masks and follow social distancing guidelines for some time, even after people are vaccinated.
How to Stop Your Glasses From Fogging
Filed Under: Coronavirus in New York


text:
Q: ¿Cambiar el tipo de mapa dinámiamente desde FloatingButton en Kotlin? Estoy intentando cambiar dinamicamente el tipo de mapa de mi aplicación por medio de un FloatingButton al presionarlo.
El problema es que sólo he encontrado ejemplos en Java para poderlo cambiar desde el MainActivity.kt
Mi código es el siguiente:
fun ChangeType(view: View) { //Función que vincula al FloatingRadioButton del XML
if(mMap.mapType == GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_NORMAL){
            mMap.setMapStyle(GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_HYBRID)
        }
        else if(mMap.mapType == GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_HYBRID){
            mMap.setMapStyle(GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_HYBRID)
        }
        else if(mMap.mapType == GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_SATELLITE){
            mMap.setMapStyle(GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_SATELLITE)
        }
    }
}

Aquí mi .XML:
<com.google.android.material.floatingactionbutton.FloatingActionButton
            android:id="@+id/fab"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="top|end"
            android:layout_marginTop="70dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="10dp"
            android:backgroundTint="#FFF"
            android:clickable="true"
            android:focusable="true"
            app:fabSize="mini"
            app:srcCompat="@drawable/ic_map_layers"
            android:onClick="ChangeType"/>

Cualquier ayuda será bien recibida. Gracias!

A: Creo que estás un poco confundido, es muy sencillo cambiar el tipo de mapa en kotlin, tu código quedaría de la siguiente manera:
fun ChangeType(view: View) { //Función que vincula al FloatingRadioButton del XML
    if(mMap.mapType == GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_NORMAL){
        mMap.mapType = GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_HYBRID
    }
    else if(mMap.mapType == GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_HYBRID){
        mMap.mapType = GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_HYBRID
    }
    else if(mMap.mapType == GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_SATELLITE){
        mMap.mapType = GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_SATELLITE
    }
}

¿En que estaba mal?
El método GoogleMap.setMapStyle() se utiliza para cambiarle el estilo al mapa, lo que tu quieres hacer es cambiarle el tipo al mapa eso se hace con GoogleMap.setMapType(), son dos conceptos diferentes.
Saludos.


oil painting for sale ,famous artists Achenbqach Andreas artworks ,landscape painting paint on canvas from art gallery .
If you have any request to alter your reproduction of A Fishingboat On The Beach, you must email us after placing your order and we'll have an artist contact you. If you have another image of << Norwegian Coast By Moonlight>> that you would like the artist to work from, please include it as an attachment. Otherwise, we will reproduce the above image for you exactly as it is.


As a painter I feel that things have come full circle of late (or maybe I'm just finishing another lap). I grew up in Rapid City, SD and that tether to the natural surroundings; that foundation found in spaces and places is something I've always known. In so far as I paint, landscape is the primary subject of my work, but in a deeper vein, our (human) imprint on and interaction with the land is a reoccurring, if not consistent, theme.
After graduating from St John's University I was more than content to chase after the intriguing compositions of shape, line, and color that present themselves effortlessly in any urban environment. Such images of opportunity could occupy anyone in possession brushes and canvases (and an eye for that sort of thing) quite happily and quite endlessly. But being an ardent observer of your surroundings eventually leads you to something beneath the veneer. That something may be closer to structure or spirit, meaning or message, but the interconnections between things start to surface and you see both your subject and your work from a new perspective.
For me the consideration and execution of landscape as subject has generally been sans figure yet rife with evidence of human activity. I used to think of that as incidental, but as I create new and more intimate views of the areas that you and I occupy, there is revealed a continuum rather than a coincidence in the absence of humans. Disregard, trivialization, abandonment, and exploitation are all words that describe our relationship with our natural surroundings. The ground on which we stand, however, requires more from us than we let ourselves believe: more in terms of respect and much more in terms of stewardship. The land and water that sustains us must in turn be matched with sustainable, human enterprise. It's a little surprising (or maybe not so surprising at all) that what I am now consciously conceptualizing as the basis for my work going forward appears to have been an integral part of my visual expression for some time now. Full circle? Awakening? Epiphany. Purpose.


text:
Sunny to partly cloudy. High 46F. Winds light and variable..
Additional rain topping 1.5 inches, locally 2+ inches, is expected over the next week in Southwest Virginia.
Weather Prediction Center | NOAA
Two more rounds of rain in the next week
By Kevin Myatt | The Roanoke Times
Kevin Myatt
The widespread soaking 1-2-inch potential was realized, and then some, with Tropical Storm Nestor's remnants Saturday night and early Sunday, with widespread 1.5- to 2.5-inch amounts across our region and a few spots getting closer to 3.
Combined with 1/2 to 2 inches of rain on Wednesday, this has significantly turned surface moisture fortunes that were in moderate to severe drought as of last Tuesday's data. Two more rains this week (and probably at least one more next week, beyond the scope of this post) may well erase even any lingering yellow on the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map by the time we enter November.
The first arrives Tuesday as a cold front sweeps across the region. A generous plume of Gulf of Mexico moisture pulled up ahead of this front will be lifted into showers and possible even a few thunderstorms. The potential will exist for another 1/2 to 1 inch of rain, with locally up to 2 inches, as this occurs on Tuesday.
The second occurs by the weekend, Friday and/or Saturday, possibly into Sunday. The timing, evolution and intensity of this system remains a bit fuzzy, but it may involve a lot of moisture, with a low-pressure trough digging far enough south to tap the Gulf of Mexico. More significant rain is likely, but just how much is still uncertain.
In between, there will be some nice, sunny fall days with changing leaves.
Temperatures will not be extreme either direction this week, generally 60s highs, with 40s lows, dipping into some 30s by Thursday morning. We don't have Arctic air plunging in behind the midweek cold front. That may, however, bulge in across much of the central and eastern U.S. next week or early in November.
Get breaking news delivered straight to your inbox with our email newsletter.
Contact Kevin Myatt at kevin.myatt@roanoke.com. Follow him on Twitter @kevinmyattwx.
Since 2003, Kevin Myatt has penned the weekly Weather Journal column, and since 2006, the Weather Journal blog, which becomes particularly busy with snow. Kevin has edited a book on hurricanes and has helped lead Virginia Tech students on storm chases.
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MACBETH [Within] Who's there? what, ho!
MACBETH But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?
MACBETH Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
There is really no change of scene here. Lady Macbeth enters the courtyard as Macbeth leaves it and waits there for his return from Duncan's chamber. Her soliloquy fills up the time during which the murder is performed and her dialogue with her husband on his return carries us on till the knocking at the gate shows that the day is dawning and the inmates of the castle awaking.
5. the stern'st good-night. The grimmest good-night, or farewell. The owl's cry was then and long afterward considered an omen of death.
6. The doors are open. Lady Macbeth must have unlocked the doors into Duncan's room. Her words in lines [14, 15] show that she had been in this room after the king had gone to sleep.
7. mock their charge, turn their care of the king's person into a mockery.
11. Who's there? Macbeth utters these words as he is returning from Duncan's chamber. As he says in line , he heard a noise, and he probably thought for a moment that some one had surprised him.
25. Hark! This line is usually accompanied in stage representations by a clap of thunder. This really detracts from the horror of the scene. Macbeth's nerves are so overwrought that he starts at imaginary noises. His next words show that he fancies he has heard a voice.
26. the second chamber, the room next to Duncan's.
30. There's. Macbeth is perhaps referring to the "second chamber." As he descended he heard some people in it talking in their sleep.
33. address'd them, turned themselves.
37. hangman's hands, bloody hands. In Shakespeare's day the hangman not only adjusted the noose and pushed the victims from the ladder, but in cases of treason chopped up the bodies of the criminals. Thus this phrase suggested a vivid picture to Shakespeare's hearers.
38. 'Amen.' The phrase "God bless us" was used as a charm against witchcraft and the devil. Macbeth, who has sold himself to evil, cannot say amen to this prayer.
45. mad. There is a dreadful irony in these words; Macbeth is half mad already; and before the play closes, Lady Macbeth's strong mind breaks down utterly. Cf. v. i.
50, 51. nature's second course, Chief nourisher, etc. In Shakespeare's day the second course of a dinner was the most substantial.
59. witness, evidence; the king's blood which would testify to Macbeth's guilt.
70, 71. gild … guilt. The pun on "gild" and "guilt" was doubtless plainer to Shakespeare's hearers than to us. Gold was regularly spoken of in the old songs as "red." Lady Macbeth's ghastly jest was perhaps intended to rouse her husband to a perception of his cowardice; he is afraid to re-enter the chamber of death, she is ready not only to go there, but even to jest about it.
72. knocking. This knocking is explained by the dialogue of the next scene. De Quincey has a famous essay upon "The Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth," in which he points out that the knocking makes known that the reaction against the world of unnatural horror, which we have been contemplating, has commenced; that the pulses of life are beginning to beat again. The whole essay should, if possible, be read by every student of the play.
84, 85. Your constancy … unattended. Your firmness has deserted you.
87. nightgown. In Shakespeare's day people went to bed naked. The "nightgown" was the garment they threw around them on first rising, corresponding to our dressing-gown. Lady Macbeth wants her husband to undress and put on his "nightgown" so that he may appear, when the alarm is given, just to have sprung from his bed.
87, 88. lest occasion … watchers, lest necessity summon us, and reveal the fact that we have not been in bed.
91. I would thou couldst. This is the first note of genuine remorse that has appeared in Macbeth's speeches in this scene.
How to cite the explanatory notes:Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co., 1904. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth_2_2.html >.


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After breakfast visit the Jama Masjid, Red Fort and local Bazaar. After breakfast visit Jama Masjid, was commissioned to be constructed by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. It holds the distinction of being one of the biggest and the most well known mosque of Old Delhi. The Red Fort is popularly known as the Lal Quila and is representative of the true splendor of the Mughal court. This imposing fort will engulf you with its size and grandeur. Later visit local market. Overnight at Hotel.
After breakfast drive to Agra. Arrive and check in at Hotel. Akbarabad, as Agra was known during the Mughal era, is home to some of the most magnificent Mughal architectures. Situated on the banks of river Yamuna, the monumental beauty of Agra has inspired countless people around the world. This third largest city of the state of Uttar Pradesh is home to three UNESCO world heritage sites. Later Proceed to Visit to the world – famous Taj Mahal – or literally "Crown of Palaces" was built by Shah Jehan to immortalize the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal who died tragically in 1631. After that visit, the Red Fort built by three generations of Mughal Emperors between 1565 and 1573. It housed both the presidential Palaces of the Royal family, and the military quarters. Overnight at Hotel.
After breakfast drive to Jaipur En-route Fatehpur Sikri – the extraordinary city built by Akbar the Great, deserted 14 years later, but which, during its brief span, exceeded London in both grandeur and population. After visit continue drive to Jaipur. Jaipur: Beautiful palaces, forts and colourful bazaars speak of the pink city's glorious regal past. Modernity walks hand-in-hand with history in Jaipur. This largest city of Rajasthan, founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, is famous for its magnanimous hospitality. Later tour of the Pink city visiting the imposing hawa Mahal, Jantar Manter & City Palace now a museum, the ancient Observatory, The exotic Palace of the Winds & the picturesque bazaars of the walled city. Overnight at Hotel.
After Breakfast, Visit Amber – the ancient capital of the Rajput Empire reaching the fort on elephant back. It is a deserted palace surrounded by majestic ramparts & the magnificent public & private room's evidence the splendor of the rulers of 16th & 17th century Rajasthan. Jaigarh Fort– Situated on the majestic Chilh-ka-Tola or the hill of eagles, the lofty walls of the Jaigarh Fort spread over a vast expansion of three kilometers. This impregnable fort of the Rajput was built purely for the defense activities. Nahargarh Fort is located on the sheer rugged ridge of Aravali Hills and it forms an impressive northern backdrop of Jaipur. It looks most classy when floodlit at night. The fort overlooks the city and presents a glittering view of the city lights. It was built in 1734 and extended in 1868. Nahargarh meaning abode of the tigers was built by Jai Singh to bolster the defence of Amber. Evening explore the local bazzar. Overnight at Hotel.
Pushkar Lake – The prime attraction of Pushkar is the Pushkar Lake, water of this lake is considered sacred like the Mansarovar Lake in Tibet. Pushkar has become a place of Hindu pilgrimage because of this holy lake and Legend of Lord Brahma.
Savitri Temple – This temple is located on top of the Ratnagiri hill the highest hill around the Pushkar lake, it is dedicated to Savitri, the enstranged wife of Lord Brahma.
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Why Is the Air Force Sending So Many F-22 and F-35 Fighters to Alaska?
Christopher Woody
A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II, assigned to the 63rd Fighter Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., climbs to a higher altitude Aug. 26, 2019, at the Barry M. Goldwater Range near Gila Bend, Ariz. Pilots use the airspace in Gila Bend to train dropping ordnance and conducting strafing passes. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Aspen Reid)
Why is the U.S. Air Force sending billions of dollars worth of top-tier F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters to Alaska?: With the arrival of the 54th F-35 at Eielson Air Force Base in April, Alaska became home to the world's largest concentration of fifth-generation fighter jets.
After a two-year buildup of the 354th Fighter Wing, there are now two squadrons of F-35s at Eielson in central Alaska. They join two squadrons of F-22s already stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson farther south.
Alaska's sprawling training ranges and its ease of access to Europe and Asia make it ideal for exercises, but working there is a constant test for pilots and crews, two officers with the 354th Wing said this month.
"We have a motto that 'we're ready to go at 50 below,'" and it does get that cold sometimes, Col. David Berkland, the Wing commander, said during an Air Force Association event on August 10.
"Today's a beautiful 78 degree day, but if you come back in February, you'll see that it's a fairly ominous environment to maintain and support and operate airplanes," Berkland added.
The Air Force has long had the US military's largest presence in the Arctic — the first F-22 arrived at Elmendorf-Richardson in August 2007 — and it and other service branches have hastened to expand their footprints there as climate change makes the region more accessible.
Despite changes to the climate, the Arctic can still be inhospitable. Just getting to your plane requires bundling up, said Lt. Col. Ryan Worrell, commander of the 356th Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 354th Wing.
"You're going to wear silk weight thermals. You're going to wear fleece thermals," Worrell said during the event. "Then you're going to put your flight suit on and then your G suit, and then you're going to put snow pants over your G suit, and then you're going to put a snow jacket on, and then put your JSF jacket on, and then you're going to put on Mukluks," which are boots rated for temperatures down to -50 degrees.
"At that point, you're so hot, you just want to get out of the building," Worrell added. "We'll walk to the jets in -30, -40 just because it's easier to stay cool than it is to try and ride in the step-van. You'll get in the jet and the goal is just not to sweat until you get out there and flying."
Other airmen also deal with those conditions, Berkland said. "All of our mission-important people that are out there on the flightline operating, clearing the snow and ice around the clock, they have to operate in those environments. They have to maintain vehicles in that environment, in those conditions, so it is a challenge."
Eielson is home to Arctic Survival School, called "Cool School," which for years has trained airmen to survive long enough to be rescued.
Image: Creative Commons.
"Before our pilots can fly here in the winter months," Berkland said, "they have to go through Arctic survival school that is conducted here at Eielson, which is fantastic training, very sobering — or chilling maybe would be the word — because you're out there for a couple of nights and surviving down to -50."
There have also been some F-35-specific adaptations for the region. In 2019, before the first F-35 arrived at Eielson, airmen tested a new Arctic survival kit for the jet.
"The F-35 seat kit doesn't fit the sleeping bag that our F-16s can fit," Berkland said, adding that the replacement was made thinner to fit and is "almost like a full-body poncho."
"It does keep you warm enough to actually survive that kind of critical 12 hours that we assess we need" to conduct a rescue, Berkland said.
Pilots at Eielson have made other adaptations as well. The F-35 has touchscreens in place of many buttons and switches that other jets have in their cockpits, so pilots will fly "with gloves that are cut off on the thumb and the two fingers because you're constantly up on the glass, and that touchscreen capability is where basically all of your functions reside," Berkland said.
Alongside the weather-related challenges, airmen in Alaska "are kind of at the end of the logistics train for most of our parts and supplies," Worrell said.
Parts may be ready "at time of need" but "not necessarily as a bench stock," Worrell said, pointing to F-35 pilots' custom helmets. Getting a new helmet "may take five or six days, versus just having a couple extras."
"So there are a couple of initiatives we're working, particularly flight equipment, to make sure that we have a bench stock available," Worrell said.
Worrell and Berkland emphasized that being in Alaska adds a layer of difficulty to operations, requiring airmen to be conscientious and to think ahead when on the ground and in the air.
"Our team has a sense of discipline and a culture of discipline," Berkland said, "because, frankly, there are no shortcuts other than discipline up here. If you don't follow the tech order, if you don't do all the little things right, if you delay maintenance actions, you are going to pay for it when it's 50 below and dark out all day."
F-35 AF-2 Ferry Flight from Edwards AFB, CA to Eielson AFB, AK. Oct. 11, 2017 Pilot Maj.Eskil "Taz" Amdal, Royal Norwegian Air Force.
'Our night-one team'
Throughout the F-35 buildup, airmen at Eielson have taken advantage of Alaska's unique training environment. The nearby Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex is the size of Indiana, and its "threat replication" capabilities are being upgraded.
The most recent iteration of the Red Flag Alaska exercise took place around JPARC and wrapped up on August 12 after weeks of drills focused on air-to-air combat. "You can ask any of these Red Flag Alaska participants what they think of the JPARC, and they'll tell you that it's the best training airspace in the world," Berkland said.
Eielson's F-35s also use the JPARC for quarterly training with F-22s. "We call the bros down the street and say, 'Hey, let's get the team together that's going to be our night-one team,'" Worrell said, referring to jets that would operate on the first night of a conflict.
Those jets can train together in a single sortie, which Worrell called "a big advantage of being here."
The 354th Wing also exercises across the Pacific, training for agile combat employment and on related skill sets at "austere locations" around the region, Berkland said.
Training across the Pacific expanse tests the F-35's ability to be a command-and-control node, marshaling and distributing information among other aircraft. Agile combat employment drills are also a test of logistical capabilities, Worrell said.
"Our priority now is to basically shift ourselves into full operational capability to conduct agile combat deployment operations" at austere locations in the Pacific, Berkland said. "That means that we need to be able to run hub-and-spoke operations with our full complement of fifth-gen combat airpower, so that's really our focus."
Worrell and Berkland emphasized the advantages the fifth-generation F-35 has over fourth-generation jets like the F-16, pointing to its ability to fuse sensor data — which Berkland said "enables a degree of situational awareness" that fourth-generation jets don't have — and its stealth, which allows it to penetrate "the anti-access/area-denial capability" that adversaries have developed.
Those adversaries continue to improve their weaponry, Berkland said. "One of the biggest challenges that I see looking toward the future is continuing to rapidly evolve the F-35 capabilities to stay in front of what competitors are doing."
Christopher Woody edits and reports on defense and security issues for Insider (where this first appeared). He is based in Washington, DC.
In this article:Alaska, Arctic, F-22, F-35
Written By Christopher Woody
Christopher Woody writes and edits stories on military issues, defense policy, and foreign affairs. He is based in Washington, DC.
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Football Quiz
Ronaldo.com
Home Premier League Report: Fernandes is ready for Man City bow
Report: Fernandes is ready for Man City bow
Obinna Echi
12:00 pm - May 7, 2019
Cristiano Giaretta, the former agent of Bruno Fernandes, believes the Sporting Lisbon midfielder is "ready" for his €50m move to Manchester City.
Reports are rife the 24-year-old is closing in on a deal within the region of €50m to Man City and a direct replacement of Fernandinho who recently clocked 34.
However, former Lecco defender Giaretta scouted the Portuguese player when he was working as sporting director at Novara, and brought him to Italy from Boavista in 2012.
"I went to see him when he was at Boavista," the current CSKA Sofia sporting director told Tuttomercatoweb.com.
"They were playing in the third division because they had gone bankrupt and, in their academy, there was this skinny little kid who stood out from the rest due to his technical ability.
"He was like a twig, looked like he would snap in two and it seemed impossible that he would be able to play football at the top level.
Official: Everton signs Delph from City
Manuel R. Medina - July 16, 2019
The Citizens 29-year-old arrives at the Blues after four years at the club, and he hopes he can make a big impact at his new team.
Manchester City are closing in on a deal to sign Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes, Sky Sports News understands.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 6, 2019
"There was no risk for us to sign him, we paid €20,000 for him and the first day he arrived at Novarello he looked just like a little kid with oversized clothes.
"He turned up with his agent and his parents, and he seemed lost, but he settled in and after just two months he could speak Italian.
"He used to put up post-it notes on everything in his room and that helped him learn the language. He stayed with the Primavera youth team for a year and a half before he was promoted to the first team between the ages of 17-18."
Bruno Fernandes
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Top 10 players who left their clubs in a terrible manner
Tomás Pavel Ibarra Meda - July 16, 2019 - 3:45 am
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Tag: Info Rio de Janeiro
Iolanda Fonseca - July 17, 2019
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo was arrested in the United States on Tuesday morning, July 16th, according to Peru's Prosecutor's Office.The U.S. Department of Justice is complying with a request for Toledo to be...
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - On Tuesday, July 16th, journalist Reinaldo Azevedo released new conversations between former judge Sérgio Moro and prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol on his radio show BandNews.According to the disclosed content, Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Luís...
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - On July 8th, Petrobras signed an agreement with the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) to entirely abandon the natural gas distribution and transportation market by 2021.The commitment paves the way for both the company...
Ricardo Wegrzynovski - July 17, 2019
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Brazil is in a low position in the world ranking, placing 53rd among the 88 countries surveyed in a study on proficiency in the English language. The numbers reflect a deeper problem that may...
Arkady Petrov - July 17, 2019
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ will honor four journalists with the 2019 International Press Freedom Awards amid the erosion of press freedom in democracies around the globe.CPJ says, that these journalists have faced...
Assembly Plant of Counterfeit Luxury Cars is Raided in Santa Catarina
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - A manufacturer of counterfeit Ferrari and Lamborghini cars was raided in the city of Itajaí, the Santa Catarina Civil Police said.On Monday, July 15th, eight replicas which were being assembled were seized and the...
A Jaguar Attacked a Man in Mato Grosso do Sul State
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The victim eventually made it to the hospital eight hours later.He said he was on horseback when he spotted a dead pig in the woods. He dismounted, and the jaguar "jumped" on his back,...
Vaza Jato: Former Odebrecht Director Claims he was Coerced by the Federal Prosecutor
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Another bombshell strikes Lava Jato. In a statement to the São Paulo Court of Justice, executive Carlos Armando Paschoal says he was coerced by the Federal Prosecutor's Office to build a report on the...
Greater Offer of Flights to Lower Airfares in Brazil as of September
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Freitas, said on Monday, July 15th, that he expects a drop in airfares as of September.According to the minister, in addition to the arrival of new companies, those already...
Number of AIDS-Related Deaths Falls by 33 Percent in Almost Ten Years
Richard Mann - July 17, 2019
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The number of AIDS-related deaths fell by a third (33 percent) in almost a decade, according to a United Nations (UN) report released on Tuesday, July 16th. In 2010, 1.2 million people died from...


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Boston feels Hollywood 'Heat'
By: Sara Gaynes
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in a scene from 'The Heat,' which was directed by Paul Feig and shot inside the old Herald building.
The old Boston Herald building on Harrison Avenue gets the Hollywood treatment this week, courtesy of "Bridesmaids" director Paul Feig.
The director of the Sandra Bullock/Melissa McCarthy buddy-cop flick "The Heat" was scouting locations for his Boston-set flick last year when saw the old newspaper HQ and realized it was the perfect place to set up shop.
We go in, and there's this enormous building that's completely empty. I was like 'We can shoot the whole movie here!' " Feig said in a recent interview at the fab Four Seasons. "But what I didn't realize was, it's an old building, there's no air conditioning, and it was one of the hottest summers. And so we had to bring air conditioning units in, and there was almost 60 years worth of dust and old ink in that building, and here comes these giant blowers. Every night you'd blow your nose and it'd be black," he said with a laugh.
"We're convinced we all took 10 years off our lives. Please go see this movie! A lot of people gave their lives for it."
Despite his brush with black lung, Feig said he had an amazing time shooting in the Hub.
"My wife and I fell so in love with Boston," he said. "I was here about a month ago because Esquire TV has a new show called 'The Getaway,' where each person goes to their favorite city and shows people around. They said 'What U.S. city do you want to do?' and I was like 'Boston!' "
Feig said a highlight of his Boston stay was the city's food scene.
"Barbara Lynch is my absolute hero," he said of the Hub kitchen queen. "I would declare Menton the best restaurant in the U.S. And I eat out a lot."
Feig also fell for the city's deep mine of talent — Melissa McCarthy's character in "The Heat" hails from an uber-Boston family and Feig cast all locals, including Jane Curtin and Bill Burr, to play the parts.
"When we knew we were setting it in Boston, I really wanted to make sure we got all the comedy we could out of the city," he said.
So naturally, the director found roles for "Real Housewives of South Boston" alums Jessica Chaffin and Jamie Denbo, after seeing their Funny or Die video "MA Men," which also featured locals Joey McIntyre and Nate Corddry.
"I was watching it and I thought, 'Oh my God, I want all of them in the movie!' " and so McIntyre and Corddry also wound up in McCarthy's on-screen family.
"The Heat" opens Friday.
David O. Russell loves filming around Boston
Melissa McCarthy falls in love with Boston during filming