Having recently visited Pompeii, Huffington muses there are two kinds of warning signs: those recognized while there's still time, and those ignored 'til we're buried.
"In the case of Pompeii, the warning signs included a severe earthquake in 62 A.D., continued tremors over the ensuing years, springs and wells drying up, dogs running away, and birds no longer singing. And then the most obvious warning sign of all: columns of smoke belching out of Mount Vesuvius before the volcano blew its top, burying the city and its inhabitants under 60 feet of ash and volcanic rock."Now, we too are surrounded by economic warning signs that are being rationalized away:
"[T]he . . . tremors were dismissed as 'not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania.' And the billowing smoke was quaintly described as looking like an 'umbrella pine.'"
And the biggest warning sign . . . is how many of the very people responsible for the economic collapse not only are still in power, but are still lining their pockets with outrageous windfalls – courtesy of the American taxpayer.
- Unemployment has hit a level beyond the administration's worst projections [reaching double-digits in many states, up to 15.2 percent.] Meanwhile, over 650,000 workers will run out of unemployment benefits come September.
- Credit card defaults have surpassed 10 percent, and in May hit a record high – the sixth straight month that dubious achievement has been reached.
- Foreclosure numbers continue to shatter records. . . . And more than 15 million homeowners now owe more on their homes than they are worth.
- In the first six months of 2009, 675,351 individuals filed for bankruptcy. In June alone, there were 116,365 bankruptcy filings – a 40 percent increase over June 2008.
- Since the recession began, an estimated 2.4 million workers have lost their health care benefits.
According to last week's earnings reports, Goldman Sachs posted a $3.44 billion second-quarter profit, Citigroup earned $3 billion, and Bank of America earned $2.4 billion. On top of this, Goldman Sachs just announced it was setting aside $11.36 billion for employee compensation through the first half of the year. And AIG – which we bailed out to the tune of $150 billion – is apparently doing so well they're ready to set aside $235 million in bonuses.
After the earthquake that severely damaged Pompeii in 62 A.D., it is said that among the first buildings repaired were Pompeii's famous brothels. The metaphor holds. Only in 2009, we call them Goldman, AIG, Bank of America, and Citi. Though that is probably unfair. To the brothels.
More at HuffPo (rock me, Arianna!)
Meanwhile, the nearby, wealthier Herculaneum, was timely evacuated!
"Both Balls. . . . The Mushrooms Are Coming. . . . Pet the Dog."
Re- the show at and/or, see and/or.
here, consisting of an array of 20 YouTube videos with a variety of audio tracks accompanied by visuals of the people creating the audio or other images, any or all of which you can play in any sequence, combination or simultaneously.
I put up an open call on the website for submissions, with these instructions:
- Sing or play an instrument, in Bb major. Simple, floating textures work best, with no tempo or groove. Leave lots of silence between phrases.
- Record in a quiet environment, with as little background noise as possible.
Wait about 5-10 seconds to start playing.- Total length should be between 1-2 minutes.
- Thick chords or low instruments don't work very well.
- Record at a low volume to match the other videos.
- You can listen to this mix on headphones while you record.
- After you upload to YouTube, play your video along with the other videos on this page to make sure the volume matches.
The Newark Museum is showing a new, commissioned piece by Shonibare (through Jan. 3, 2010; sorry, that's the best image I could get).
And the Brooklyn Museum's showing a mid-career survey (through Sept. 20), including these gals (click on the image for a larger version), who must be related to these guys I shot at the 2007 Venice Biennial.
Headlessness seems so right lately.
Finally, Shonibare's work will also be included in the Dallas Museum of Art's exhibition, Performance/Art, Oct. 8 - Mar. 21.
"Vanish is a research [?] system designed to give users control over [their] . . . personal data stored on the web or in the cloud. Specifically, all copies of Vanish encrypted data — even archived or cached copies — will become permanently unreadable at a specific time, without any action on the part of the user or any third party or centralized service.
"For example, . . . a user can create an email, a Google Doc document, a Facebook message, or a blog comment — specifying that the document or message should "vanish" in 8 hours. . . . after that timer expires, nobody can read that web content — not the user, not Google, not Facebook, not a hacker who breaks into the cloud service, and not even someone who obtains a warrant for that data. That data — regardless of where stored or archived prior to the timeout — simply self-destructs and becomes permanently unreadable.
* * * * *
"An enormous amount of private data is now stored on the web or in the cloud, outside the end-user's control. . . . Web-based email systems may back up the message, potentially forever, even if you delete it. Similarly, when you send a message via Facebook or create a Google Doc, you have no idea where and for how long copies of your data will be stored.
" . . . . There are known examples of data remaining in the cloud long after users explicitly request that data's deletion. Private data could be exposed by accidental misconfigurations on a web service, be compromised by hackers, or be used in legal proceedings.'"
(Emphasis supplied; via boingboing, via Ben – thanks!) More at Vanish.
Of course, this means the gummint can "vanish" its own records, too – but lately there's been little to stop them from doing that the old-fashioned way.
Bourriaud keeps nailing some of the same things I've been seeing.
Near the end, he suggests history is the new, last undiscovered continent, which artists are exploring as if it were a jungle (cf. my posts on Barney, Linzy, and Trends at the 2009 NYC Fairs.)
Find Bourriaud's altermodernist "manifesto" (and another instance of the video) at the Tate. (Interesting to compare the comments there to those on YouTube.)
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For more info about how your tax dollars are allocated, see the National Priorities Project.
Coalition military deaths in Iraq since March, 2003: 4,766 (as of April 22, 2011; click here to update). At least 467 contractors have also died, based on only partial information. Total U.S. military wounded as of as of January 14, 2010: 31,882.
Coalition military deaths in Afghanistan since October, 2001: 2,416 (as of April 22, 2011; click here to update.
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