In updated recommendations, the federal health agency said both domestic and international travel was low risk for fully vaccinated Americans. But travel remains far from simple.
Umberto Eco’s 36 Rules for Writing Well (in English or Italian)
Creative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland Umberto Eco knew a great many things. Indeed too many things, at least according to his critics: “Eco knows everything there is to know and spews it in your face in the most blasé manner,” declared Pier Paolo Pasolini, “as if you were listening to …
The Horrors of Bull Island, “the Worst Music Festival of All Time” (1972)
It’s maybe a little unfair to compare 1972’s “Bull Island” Festival to Fyre Fest, the music festival scam so egregious it warranted dueling documentaries on Hulu and Netflix. But “Bull Island” — or what was originally called the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival — was an epic catastrophe, maybe the worst in music festival history, …
Brian Eno Launches His Own Radio Station with Hundreds of Unreleased Tracks: Hear Two Programs
Creative Commons image via Wikimedia Commons Back in 2013, Brian Eno gave a talk at the Red Bull Academy, the lecture series that has hosted fellow musicians like Tony Visconti, Debbie Harry, and Nile Rogers. Asked when he knew a piece of music was finished, Eno let drop that he currently had 200,809 works of …
What Makes Leonardo’s Mona Lisa a Great Painting?: An Explanation in 15 Minutes
The Mona Lisa may be on display at the Louvre, but best of luck appreciating it there. The first obstacle, quite literally, is the crowd that’s always massed around it (or, in the time before social-distancing policies, was always massed around it). Even if you maneuver your way to the front of the camera-phoned throng, the …
Hear an Excerpt from the Newly-Released, First Unabridged Audiobook of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake
Need one go so far in digging out strata of meaning? Only if one wishes to; Finnegans Wake is a puzzle, just as a dream is a puzzle, but the puzzle element is less important than the thrust of the narrative and the shadowy majesty of the characters… and when our eyes grow bewildered with …
Watch Franz Liszt’s “Un Sospiro” Played with the Mesmerizing “Three-Hand Technique”
“Piano education is important for teaching polyphony, improving sight-reading, consolidating the knowledge of harmony and gaining much more musical abilities,” write Turkish researchers in the behavioral sciences journal Procedia. The student of the piano can advance solo or with another player in duets, playing what are called “four-hand pieces.” But learning “to gain the attitudes …
Copa America moves ahead despite backlash
The Copa America, South America’s premier football competition, due to kick off June 13 in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia, is triggering a wave of strong reactions for a sporting event.
China’s Zhurong rover snaps a selfie on the surface of Mars
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has shared new images of its Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars.
Austin Shooting: 13 People Are Hurt, Police Say
It was unclear how many people opened fire or what led to the shooting, the police said.