The lethal A(H5N1) bird flu virus has been detected in wild birds in Italy and Greece, European officials announced yesterday, the first time its presence has been detected in the European Union. It was also detected in Bulgaria. NYT View full entry
The inimitable Michael Kimmelman, of the New York Times, briefly looks at fractals and true, or fake, Jackson's...Pollock, that is. Read (With Audio) View full entry
Two great galleries of images appeared on Pruned this weekend, including an "outside-inside ellipsoidal earth" with a "gigantic geodesic interior chamber," and then a series of manmade peninsulas, Archigram's Plug-In City in 3D, and some Antarctic research units. It's Asteromo meets the... View full entry
"When Barney Broom began renovating his cottage he did not expect to be confronted by a pair of black eyes staring from a cloudy jar. But the mysterious discovery of an alien in his attic has spooked the 54-year-old screenwriter and bewildered extraterrestrial experts, who yesterday suggested the... View full entry
All this talk about interception of foreign calls and internet traffic, but how and why did the FBI search five homes and one business in Puerto Rico, alleging the prevention of a domestic terrorist plot by a separatist "militant group"? During the raids yesterday, the FBI used pepper spray on... View full entry
No thanks. But. "A quiet whale meat boom is starting," says the website hakudai.com. and it reads "greenpeace misleads you" on the ship. View full entry
Next time you say more chip, think respect. "Pancho Villa did not like her father, because he was American," said Mario R. Carranza, the first of her two sons. "She had pictures of her father on his horse dashing away from danger." ,and you say"tortilla chip? Pancho Villa?" A true story w/ many... View full entry
Our churches are deserted on Sundays but our galleries are full and, just as we worship hugely expensive canvases, so we bow down before uncomfortable chairs and over-detailed tables, suffer at Ikea and spend on designer labels and heavily styled mobile phones. FT View full entry
Barry Munitz, the J. Paul Getty Trust's controversial leader for the last seven years, resigned suddenly today. In a statement announcing Munitz's resignation, the Getty said the trust's former chief executive will receive no severance package and has agreed ”” while admitting no... View full entry
Balancing environmental, social, economic, and aesthetic concerns, sustainable design has the potential to transform everyday life and is already reshaping the fields of architecture and product design. Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art explores the influence of this design philosophy on an... View full entry
Physics professor uses fractal analysis to deduces the authenticity of recently discovered Pollock paintings. The technique looks for geometric patterns that recur in the paintings despite the apparent chaos of Pollock's technique. Reuters View full entry
Seeking a leader to guide a much-disputed 9/11 museum into existence at ground zero, officials announced yesterday that they had settled on Alice M. Greenwald, an associate director for museum programs at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. NY Times View full entry
They're callous and feeble cartoons, cooked up as a provocation by a conservative newspaper exploiting the general Muslim prohibition on images of the Prophet Muhammad to score cheap points about freedom of expression. But drawings are drawings, so a question arises. Have any modern works of art... View full entry
For over 30 years, the Barefoot College in the small village of Tilonia, in the desert regions of Rajasthan, India has worked to improve the lives of the rural poor by addressing basic needs for water, electricity, housing, health, education and income. The College trains men and women living in... View full entry
Czech model Helena Houdova, who was arrested in Cuba last week while taking photographs of Havana's slums--will display the pictures at an exhibition. CZ l via Butter View full entry