Snippets:
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Science: PRISM (Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements). Goal to develop and utilize innovative radar and robotic rovers to measure ice thickness and determine bedrock conditions below the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Good resource of the history of polar exploration.
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Art: Kunstmarkt. Many short biographies
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Art: Gentile Bellini (active about 1460; died 1507): The Sultan Mehmet II, painted in 1480), now at the National Gallery London (not on display), is attributed to Gentile Bellini. The crime novel 'The Bellini Card' by Jason Goodwin, revolves around this painting. Gentile was the son of the painter Jacopo Bellini and the brother of the even more gifted and renowned Giovanni Bellini. In 1479 Gentile was sent to Constantinople by the Venetian government to work for Sultan Mehmet II, where he painted the portrait. He remained there until 1481.
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Mythology: Arimaspi: A legendary one-eyed people of northern Scythia; described in a lost lost archaic poem Arimaspea by Aristeas, reported in Herodotus' Histories
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Music: John Cage's 4'33'' on YouTube.
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Movie: My Afternoons with Marguerite (La tête en friche, 2010). French w/ English subtitles. w/ Gérard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus. Directed by Jean Becker. Middle-aged French country man of low education finds the way to read books through an old lady he meets in the park. Simple story with some good moments. Predictable. Rating: 6 out of 10
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Art: Laurel Nakadate: Photographer and video artist born in Austin, TX. Raised in Ames, IA. Lives in NYC. 10-yr retrospective (Only the Lonely) at the MoMA/PS1 is shown Jan-Aug 2011.
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Movie (Online): M --- Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931). w/ Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Gründgens. Directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Fritz Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. First 'talking' picture by the director. In a city, underworld criminals hunt a child murderer with the help of beggars. Rating 7 out of 10.
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Language: Cum grano salis = with a grain of salt; phrase comes from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia XXIII (Text at the Perseus Digital Library) where he wrote, possibly ironically to doubt the activity, that a certain antidote for snake bites needed to be taken by „addito salis grano“.
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Mythology: Pomona: Roman goddess of fruit. A statue of Pomona is in the fountain before the Plaza Hotel in NYC.
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Photography: Jock Sturges (b. 1947, NYC). Nudes of adolescents.
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Astronomy: Regiomontanus = Johannes Müller von Königsberg (1436-1476): German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and translator from Königsberg, Bavaria (Franconia). Built the first astronomical observatory in Germany, located in Nuremberg. Described the angle maximization problem named after him.
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Poetry: Dichterseiten: German poems. Includes a section with list of used words
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Science:     Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859): Reise in die Aequinoctial-Gegenden des neuen Continents, 3 Bände, available at Project Gutenberg in various formats.
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