The fanfare from the Bayreuth Festival, opening on July 25, summons an audience ranging from prominent politicians to die-hard Wagnerians. Composer Richard Wagner's legacy has magnetic power. Apart from political and show business celebrities, the Bayreuth Festival audience includes many for whom simply being there means that a dream has come true. Christian Thielemann, the conductor of the current production of the four-opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung," told Deutsche Welle that this enthusiasm is shared by the artists as well. "They are completely focused on these works by Wagner, and they sacrifice their summer vacations just for the privilege of being here," said Thielemann, "Nobody comes to Bayreuth who doesn't truly want to." Held this year for the 99th time, the Bayreuth Festival continues to fascinate and intrigue: It is the high point of the festival summer in Germany, the world's most prestigious opera festival, a Mecca for Wagnerians, a mega-event.
Apart from political and show business celebrities, the Bayreuth Festival audience includes many for whom simply being there means that a dream has come true. Christian Thielemann, the conductor of the current production of the four-opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung," told Deutsche Welle that this enthusiasm is shared by the artists as well.
"They are completely focused on these works by Wagner, and they sacrifice their summer vacations just for the privilege of being here," said Thielemann, "Nobody comes to Bayreuth who doesn't truly want to."
Held this year for the 99th time, the Bayreuth Festival continues to fascinate and intrigue: It is the high point of the festival summer in Germany, the world's most prestigious opera festival, a Mecca for Wagnerians, a mega-event.
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NEW ORLEANS -- Ships were getting back in place Sunday at the Gulf of Mexico site of BP's leaky oil well as crews raced to resume work on plugging the gusher before another big storm stops work again. Now that Tropical Storm Bonnie has fizzled on Louisiana's coast, engineers are hoping clear weather lasts long enough for them to finish their work on relief wells. But as peak hurricane season approaches, the potential for another storm-related delay is high. "We're going to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for the remainder of the hurricane season," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Saturday. Sure enough, another disturbance already was brewing in the Caribbean, although forecasters said it wasn't likely to strengthen into a tropical storm. Meanwhile, British media reported that BP chief executive Tony Hayward was negotiating the terms of his departure ahead of the company's half-year results announcement Tuesday. Citing unidentified sources, the BBC and Sunday Telegraph reported detailed talks regarding Hayward's future took place over the weekend. A formal announcement was expected in the next 24 hours, the BBC reported.
Now that Tropical Storm Bonnie has fizzled on Louisiana's coast, engineers are hoping clear weather lasts long enough for them to finish their work on relief wells. But as peak hurricane season approaches, the potential for another storm-related delay is high.
"We're going to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for the remainder of the hurricane season," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Saturday. Sure enough, another disturbance already was brewing in the Caribbean, although forecasters said it wasn't likely to strengthen into a tropical storm.
Meanwhile, British media reported that BP chief executive Tony Hayward was negotiating the terms of his departure ahead of the company's half-year results announcement Tuesday.
Citing unidentified sources, the BBC and Sunday Telegraph reported detailed talks regarding Hayward's future took place over the weekend. A formal announcement was expected in the next 24 hours, the BBC reported.
The retail giant Wal-Mart will place radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on underwear, jeans and other consumer items, according to several news reports, including one today from the Wall Street Journal. Companies have long used such "smart tags" to keep track of the inventory of goods going through the supply chain, but the move by Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, to put them on individual consumer items marks a (not unexpected) shift toward something that privacy advocates have long feared. That's because RFID tags, which can be read at a distance and hence surreptiously, can provide a lot of personal information even if it does not carry it per se. Katherine Albrecht, a privacy and RFID expert who has been following the issue for years, described in a special privacy issue of Scientific American just how the tags pose new security risks to those who carry them, often unwittingly. Here's an excerpt: If the idea that corporations might want to use RFID tags to spy on individuals sounds far-fetched, it is worth considering an IBM patent filed in 2001 and granted in 2006. The patent describes exactly how the cards can be used for tracking and profiling even if access to official databases is unavailable or strictly limited. Entitled "Identification and Tracking of Persons Using RFID-Tagged Items in Store Environ ments," it chillingly details RFID's potential for surveillance in a world where networked RFID readers called "person tracking units" would be incorporated virtually everywhere people go--in "shopping malls, airports, train stations, bus stations, elevators, trains, airplanes, restrooms, sports arenas, libraries, theaters, [and] museums"--to closely monitor people's movements.
The retail giant Wal-Mart will place radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on underwear, jeans and other consumer items, according to several news reports, including one today from the Wall Street Journal. Companies have long used such "smart tags" to keep track of the inventory of goods going through the supply chain, but the move by Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, to put them on individual consumer items marks a (not unexpected) shift toward something that privacy advocates have long feared. That's because RFID tags, which can be read at a distance and hence surreptiously, can provide a lot of personal information even if it does not carry it per se. Katherine Albrecht, a privacy and RFID expert who has been following the issue for years, described in a special privacy issue of Scientific American just how the tags pose new security risks to those who carry them, often unwittingly. Here's an excerpt:
If the idea that corporations might want to use RFID tags to spy on individuals sounds far-fetched, it is worth considering an IBM patent filed in 2001 and granted in 2006. The patent describes exactly how the cards can be used for tracking and profiling even if access to official databases is unavailable or strictly limited. Entitled "Identification and Tracking of Persons Using RFID-Tagged Items in Store Environ ments," it chillingly details RFID's potential for surveillance in a world where networked RFID readers called "person tracking units" would be incorporated virtually everywhere people go--in "shopping malls, airports, train stations, bus stations, elevators, trains, airplanes, restrooms, sports arenas, libraries, theaters, [and] museums"--to closely monitor people's movements.
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2010) -- Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as "buckyballs," in space for the first time. Buckyballs are soccer-ball-shaped molecules that were first observed in a laboratory 25 years ago. They are named for their resemblance to architect Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes, which have interlocking circles on the surface of a partial sphere. Buckyballs were thought to float around in space, but had escaped detection until now. "We found what are now the largest molecules known to exist in space," said astronomer Jan Cami of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "We are particularly excited because they have unique properties that make them important players for all sorts of physical and chemical processes going on in space." Cami has authored a paper about the discovery that appears online in the journal Science. Buckyballs are made of 60 carbon atoms arranged in three-dimensional, spherical structures. Their alternating patterns of hexagons and pentagons match a typical black-and-white soccer ball. The research team also found the more elongated relative of buckyballs, known as C70, for the first time in space. These molecules consist of 70 carbon atoms and are shaped more like an oval rugby ball. Both types of molecules belong to a class known officially as buckminsterfullerenes, or fullerenes. The Cami team unexpectedly found the carbon balls in a planetary nebula named Tc 1. Planetary nebulas are the remains of stars, like the sun, that shed their outer layers of gas and dust as they age. A compact, hot star, or white dwarf, at the center of the nebula illuminates and heats these clouds of material that has been shed.
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2010) -- Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as "buckyballs," in space for the first time. Buckyballs are soccer-ball-shaped molecules that were first observed in a laboratory 25 years ago.
They are named for their resemblance to architect Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes, which have interlocking circles on the surface of a partial sphere. Buckyballs were thought to float around in space, but had escaped detection until now.
"We found what are now the largest molecules known to exist in space," said astronomer Jan Cami of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "We are particularly excited because they have unique properties that make them important players for all sorts of physical and chemical processes going on in space." Cami has authored a paper about the discovery that appears online in the journal Science.
Buckyballs are made of 60 carbon atoms arranged in three-dimensional, spherical structures. Their alternating patterns of hexagons and pentagons match a typical black-and-white soccer ball. The research team also found the more elongated relative of buckyballs, known as C70, for the first time in space. These molecules consist of 70 carbon atoms and are shaped more like an oval rugby ball. Both types of molecules belong to a class known officially as buckminsterfullerenes, or fullerenes.
The Cami team unexpectedly found the carbon balls in a planetary nebula named Tc 1. Planetary nebulas are the remains of stars, like the sun, that shed their outer layers of gas and dust as they age. A compact, hot star, or white dwarf, at the center of the nebula illuminates and heats these clouds of material that has been shed.
They see life as a game. They enjoy nothing more than outsmarting the system. They don't trust politicians, medias, nor brands. They see corporations as inefficient and plagued by an outmoded hierarchy. Even if they harbor little hope of doing better than their parents, they don't see themselves as unhappy. They belong to a group -- several, actually -- they trust and rely upon. "They", are the Digital Natives.
They see life as a game. They enjoy nothing more than outsmarting the system. They don't trust politicians, medias, nor brands. They see corporations as inefficient and plagued by an outmoded hierarchy. Even if they harbor little hope of doing better than their parents, they don't see themselves as unhappy. They belong to a group -- several, actually -- they trust and rely upon.
"They", are the Digital Natives.
