March 28, 2011
Red Hot Organization (RHO) is an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise donations totaling more than 10 million dollars for HIV / AIDS relief and awareness around the world.
First founded as King Cole, Inc. by Leigh Blake and John Carlin, Red Hot was established in response to the devastation wrought by AIDS on a generation of New York artists and intellectuals. Carlin had an ‘improbable dream: to create an AIDS charity album with pop stars singing Cole Porter songs.’ In 1990 the dream was realized when ‘Red Hot + Blue’ was released, featuring David Byrne, Annie Lennox, Tom Waits, U2, and Erasure.
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March 28, 2011
Keith Haring [hah-ring] (1958 – 1990) was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, at age 19 he moved to NYC, where he was inspired by graffiti art, and studied at the School of Visual Arts. Haring achieved his first public attention with chalk drawings in the subways. The exhibitions were filmed by the photographer Tseng Kwong Chi. Around this time, ‘The Radiant baby’ became his symbol. His bold lines, vivid colors, and active figures carry strong messages of life and unity. Starting in 1980, he organized exhibitions in Club 57, a performance venue.
He participated in the Times Square Exhibition and drew, for the first time, animals and human faces. In 1981 he sketched his first chalk drawings on black paper and painted plastic, metal and found objects. Haring died of AIDS-related complications. By expressing concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war, his imagery has become a widely recognized visual language of the 20th century. His work was featured in several of the Red Hot Organization’s efforts to raise money for AIDS and AIDS awareness. Specifically, its first two albums, ‘Red Hot + Blue’ and ‘Red Hot + Dance’ — the latter of which used Haring’s work on its cover.
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March 28, 2011
Nadia Plesner is a Danish/Dutch painter who works and lives in the Netherlands. Plesner is working on issues that lie between the editorial and advertising and often with political undertones. She trained at the Graphic Arts Institute, Copenhagen and at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. In 2010 Plesner was sued by Louis Vuitton for showing her controversial painting ‘Darfurnica.’ The painting shows a little hungry boy holding a handbag resembling one made by Louis Vuitton. The little boy is standing in the conflict-ridden region of Darfur in Sudan. The fashion giant thought that the legal rules about logo products were broken and the case was taken to court.
A Dutch court imposed daily fines for approximately 6000 US dollars. The trial attracted much international attention and several artists and celebrities supported Plesner as they believed that the case also referred to artistic expression and the right to make the world aware of international issues in an artistic way. Plesner and Louis Vuitton were also involved in a prior dispute about an artistic campaign called Simple Living in 2008. In 2011 the Dutch court reversed its decision and acquitted Nadia Plesner. ‘Darfurnica’ was sold in 2011 for approximately 45.000 US dollars.
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March 28, 2011
The deadlift is a weight training exercise where one lifts a loaded barbell off the ground from a stabilized bent-over position. It is one of the three gauges of powerlifting, and is an exercise for overall body development. The deadlift is a compound movement that works grip strength with the erector spinae, gluteus maximus, adductor magnus, hamstrings, and quadriceps serving as the primary muscles. The remaining muscles are involved in stability control. It is, in a sense, the purest test of strength because it is one of the few lifts of dead weight (weight lying on the ground).
In most other lifts there is an eccentric phase (lowering) followed by the concentric phase (lifting). The eccentric phase essentially stores some amount of energy in the stretched muscles and tendons, making the concentric phase somewhat easier. the deadlift, however, is solely a concentric movement. The lift begins at its most difficult point, with no inertia or stored energy. The record for a raw deadlift (a deadlift performed without the aid of a deadlift suit where only a belt is allowed) is 1015 lbs by Benedikt Magnússon of Iceland.
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March 28, 2011
Polymer banknotes were developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and The University of Melbourne and were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988. These banknotes are made from the polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene which greatly enhances durability. They also incorporate many security features not available to paper banknotes, making counterfeiting much more difficult. As of 2010, eight countries have converted fully to polymer banknotes: Australia, Bermuda, Brunei, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Romania, and Vietnam.
An alternative polymer of polyethylene fibres marketed as Tyvek by DuPont was developed for use as currency by the American Bank Note Company in the early 1980s. Tyvek did not perform well in trials; smudging of ink and fragility were reported as problems. Only Costa Rica and Haiti issued Tyvek banknotes. Additionally, English printers Bradbury Wilkinson produced a version on Tyvek but marketed as Bradvek for the Isle of Man in 1983; however, they are no longer produced and have become collectors’ items.
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March 28, 2011
The Four Chaplains, also sometimes referred to as the ‘Immortal Chaplains,’ were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel during the sinking of the troop ship USAT Dorchester during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own life jackets when the supply ran out. The chaplains joined arms, said prayers, and sang hymns as they went down with the ship.
The four men were relatively new chaplains, who all held the rank of lieutenant. They included Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington and Reformed Church in America Reverend Clark V. Poling. Their backgrounds, personalities, and faiths were different. They met at the Army Chaplains School at Harvard University.
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March 28, 2011
Aloe polyphylla, or Spiral Aloe, is a species in the genus Aloe. Native to Lesotho, in South Africa, this aloe is well known for its strikingly symmetrical, five-pointed spiral growth habit.
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March 28, 2011
Roadside Picnic is a science fiction novella written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky in 1971. The film ‘Stalker’ directed by Andrei Tarkovsky is loosely based on the novel, with a screenplay written by the Strugatskys. The novella was refused publication in the Soviet Union for eight years due to government censorship, numerous delays and sabotage.
The heavily censored different versions published between 1980 and 2000 have little in common with the original version written by the authors. Soviet censors rewrote major plot points, changed names of characters and dialog to better reflect the Marxist ideology (removed language deemed as ‘rude’; heavier emphasis was placed on the exploitation of the Zones for ‘materialistic’ purposes by an elite bourgeois cabal as a means to oppress the proletariat masses, etc.).
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March 28, 2011
Stalker is a 1979 science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, with a screenplay written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, loosely based on their novel ‘Roadside Picnic.’ It depicts an expedition led by the Stalker (guide) to bring his two clients to a site known as the Zone, which has the supposed potential to fulfil a person’s innermost desires. The title of the film, which is the same in Russian and English, is derived from the English word to stalk in the long-standing meaning of approaching furtively, much like a hunter.
The sparseness of exposition leads to ambiguity as to the nature of The Zone. Seven years after the making of the film, the Chernobyl accident led to the depopulation of an area rather like that in the film. Some of those employed to take care of the abandoned nuclear power plant refer to themselves as ‘stalkers’ and to the area around the damaged reactor as ‘The Zone.’
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March 28, 2011
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932 – 1986) was a Russian filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the finest of the 20th century. Tarkovsky’s films include ‘Andrei Rublev,’ ‘Solaris,’ ‘The Mirror,’ and ‘Stalker.’ He directed the first five of his seven feature films in the Soviet Union; his last two films were produced in Italy and Sweden, respectively. They are characterized by spirituality and metaphysical themes, long takes, lack of conventional dramatic structure and plot, and distinctively authored use of cinematography.
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March 28, 2011
A teleidoscope [tel-ahy-duh-skohp] is a kind of kaleidoscope, with a lens and an open view, so it can be used to form kaleidoscopic patterns from objects outside the instrument, rather than from items installed as part of it. The lens at the end of the tube is not an optical requirement, but protects the internals of the teleidoscope. A spherical ball lens is often used. An advantage of using a sphere is that it will not press flat against the object being viewed, which would block all light and result in no image being seen.
The teleidoscope was invented by John Lyon Burnside III (1916 – 2008), and because he was also responsible for the rediscovery of the math behind kaleidoscope optics, for decades, every maker of optically correct kaleidoscopes sold in the US paid him royalties.
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March 28, 2011
A Spinthariscope [spin-thar-uh-skohp] is a device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor (radioluminescence). It was invented by William Crookes in 1903. It consisted of a small screen coated with zinc sulfide affixed to the end of a tube, with a tiny amount of radium salt suspended a short distance from the screen and a lens on the other end of the tube for viewing the screen. Crookes named his device after the Greek word ‘spintharis’, meaning ‘a spark.’
It is said that for a short time after its invention, spinthariscopes were very popular among the social upper classes who gave them as gifts and used them in demonstrations to appear up to date with the most modern scientific advances of the day. Spinthariscopes were quickly replaced with more accurate and quantitative devices for measuring radiation in scientific experiments, but enjoyed a modest revival in the mid 20th century as children’s educational toys. They can still be bought today as instructional novelties, but they now use Americium or Thorium.
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