Was David scared stiff of Goliath?

One of the most intriguing, if least openly discussed, mysteries in art has been resolved.
Michelangelo's David is meant to be a representation in marble of the perfect male form. So why did his creator not make him - how would one say - a little better endowed?
As every visitor to Florence will know, the modest dimensions of David's "pisello" are a running joke with Italians, and the stuff of irreverent postcards.
But, in a paper to be published at the end of this month, two Florentine doctors offer a scientific explanation: the poor chap was shrivelled by the threat of mortal danger. Michelangelo's intention was to depict David as he confronted Goliath.
What the new study shows is that every anatomical detail - right down to the shaping of the muscles in his forehead - is consistent with the combined effects of fear, tension and aggression.
One of the authors of the paper, Pietro Antonio Bernabei, of the Careggi hospital, Florence, said one such effect would be "a contraction of the reproductive organs".
Last year, he and Professor Massimo Gulisano, of Florence University, conducted a computer-assisted study of the 4.34 metre-high statue, in the Galleria dell'Accademia. They emerged, in Professor Gulisano's words, "stupefied" by Michelangelo's physiological accuracy.
The only mistake is at a point in the centre of David's back that is hollow and ought to be rounded. Michelangelo was aware of the error. But, as he wrote at the time: "Mi manco matera" - "I lacked (enough) material".
Dr Bernabei said allowance had to be made for the conventions of high Renaissance art, which depicted activity in a "much more composed and elegant fashion than today". But, anatomically, everything about Michelangelo's David was consistent with a young man "at the moment immediately preceding the slinging of a stone". His right leg is tensed, while the left one juts forward "like that of a fencer, or even a boxer". Tension is written all over his face. His eyes are wide open. His nostrils are flared. And the muscles between his eyebrows stand out, exactly as they would if they were tightened by concentration and aggression.
David is holding something in his right hand, and it has conventionally been assumed that it is a stone. But Dr Gulisano said it is the handle of the sling.
The full findings are to be given in a paper written for the Dutch Institute for Art History, in Florence.
Michelangelo's masterpiece, completed in 1504, was put back on display last May after cleaning, which allowed its anatomical details to be studied much more easily than before.
Now just one great puzzle remains: why, since David was Jewish, did Michelangelo sculpt him uncircumcised?
John Hooper @'The Age' (2005)
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WI Senate GOP Leader Admits On-Air That His Goal Is To Defund Labor Unions, Hurt Obama’s Reelection Chances

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Where's the economic recovery?

Sen Dale Schultz

I salute you

Can you legally arm Libya's rebels?

As Libya's rebels face off against better armed government troops, several prominent voices have argued that arming the rebels should be part of a more aggressive attempt to unseat the Gaddafi regime. Leave the wisdom of that policy to one side, how about the legality? The Security Council imposed an arms embargo on the country and I don't see much room in the text for sending anyone in Libya arms. Here's the relevant paragraph in the resolution:

Decides that all Member States shall immediately take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, from or through their territories or by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, and technical assistance, training, financial or other assistance, related to military activities or the provision, maintenance or use of any arms and related materiel, including the provision of armed mercenary personnel whether or not originating in their territories...

It's tempting to interpret the "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" as referring to the regime only rather than to the entire Libyan territory. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham argued that recently in response to the administration's insistence that arming the rebels would be illegal. As a matter of textual interpretation, the McCain/Graham position is a very tough one to defend. In several places, the resolution does refer to the "Libyan authorities"; if the Council had wanted to limit the arms embargo to the authorities, presumably it would have just said so.
The resolution does make several exceptions but none of them exempt weapons sent to rebels from the ban. The Council has established a committee to monitor the embargo, and it is empowered to make further exceptions. If the Council members want to create a loophole they can do so easily enough, but I don't see one yet.
David Bosco @'FP'

The Real Military Options in Libya

How long can Gaddafi and his forces hold out?

Map of The Internet

Non-Geek Version – The Map of the Internet is a visual representation of all the networks around the world that are interconnected to form the Internet as we know it today. These include small and large Internet service providers (ISPs), Internet exchange points, university networks, and organization networks such as Facebook and Google. The size of the nodes and the thickness of the lines speak to the size of those particular providers and the network connections in relation to one another.

Geek Version – You’re looking at all the autonomous systems that make up the Internet. Each autonomous system is a network operated by a single organization, and has routing connections to some number of neighboring autonomous systems. The image depicts a graph of 19,869 autonomous system nodes, joined by 44,344 connections. The sizing and layout of the autonomous systems are based on their eigenvector centrality, which is a measure of how central to the network each autonomous system is: an autonomous system is central if it is connected to other autonomous systems that are central. This is the same graph-theoretical concept that forms the basis of Google’s PageRank algorithm.
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Interactive version
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Buk - Hollywood Tour

♪♫ Die Antwoord - Rich Bitch

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Disappears @ La Route du Rock 2/18/11

Carving out a space somewhere in the middle of garage-punk snarl, shoegaze haze, and Krautrock grooves, Chicago’s Disappears features Brian Case (also of the Ponys and 90 Day Men), Boas members Graeme Gibson and Jonathan van Herik, and Damon Carruesco. The band started when Case’s other groups were on hiatus and he was recording demos with Gibson; Gibson brought van Herik into the project, and in turn, van Herik brought Carruesco into the fold. Soon after forming, the band self-released a series of 7" singles with artwork based on Can’s album Delay 1968, and made their material available for free on the Internet. Disappears began recording their debut studio album and signed to Touch & Go, appearing at the label’s showcase at 2009’s South by Southwest Festival, and also playing dates with Tortoise, Deerhunter, and Times New Viking. The band released 100 CD-Rs of Live Over the Rainbo, a live album from the Deerhunter/Times New Viking tour, that was eventually distributed by Plus Tapes and Rococco Records later in 2009. Disappears continued to play more high-profile Chicago shows, including a gig at the Pitchfork Music Festival and a 2009 New Year’s Eve show with the Jesus Lizard. Late in the year, the band moved to Kranky Records, who released their official debut album Lux in 2010. The band also recorded a single with Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and the noise duo White/Light. Disappears took a sleeker, more psychedelic approach on 2011's Guider (Heather Phares)

Artists: Graeme Gibson, Jonathan van Herik, Brian Case, Damon Carruesco, Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth)

http://www.myspace.com/disappearsmusic

directlink

Two and a Half Drugs

Lucinda Williams - Blessed (2011 - Albumstream)

From its cover in, Lucinda Williams' Blessed stands out. It title is readily visible in color photographs of anonymous citizens holding handmade signs, yet her name appears nowhere but the spine. The songs on Blessed are equally jarring: they offer sophisticated changes in her lyric oeuvre, extending their reach beyond first-person narratives of unrequited love and loss. She adorns these new tomes with roots rock and blues melodies dynamically illustrated by Don Was' sure-handed production (with assistance from Eric Liljestrand and husband Tom Overby. Her voice is front and center, but Was pushes an edgy, tight backing band -- fueled by Greg Leisz's and Val McAllum's guitars and Rami Jaffee's B-3 -- to frame it in greasy, easy grooves. Some guests who appeared on 2008's Little Honey -- notably Matthew Sweet and Elvis Costello -- return here. Set opener "Buttercup" is a rollicking kiss-off to a former boyfriend in which Williams simply lays out the truth as she sees it amid a strident rock & roll cadence. The guitars swell and fade while the B-3 swirls around her voice and the low-end drums hammer her vocal accents home. On the overdriven "Seeing Black," written for the late Vic Chesnutt, Williams, buoyed by an uncharacteristically scorching guitar break from Costello, offers no judgment; she simply questions his spirit as she struggles to accept the loss. Acceptance is a key theme on Blessed; it's voiced in the languid country rock of "I Don't Know How You're Living," with its pledge of unconditional love and support, and in the rumbling, explosive "Awakening." (An extension of "Atonement" from World Without Tears). But there's a militancy that's insisted upon here: it testifies to the willingness and resilience of the human heart. "Soldier's Song," written from a serviceman's point of view in a war zone, juxtaposes home and the new place he finds himself standing. In the late-night blues of "Born to Be Loved" and in the garagey title track, Williams employs repetitive, poetic lyrics that could be chanted as well as sung; in her honeyed Louisiana drawl, however, they become as sensual as a sunset in late summer. The two love songs near the record's end alternately express raw need and abundance. The unabashed humility in pleading on "Convince Me" is signified by a Southern R&B groove. "Kiss Like Your Kiss" closes the set two cuts later -- in waltz time -- by expressing gratitude for the abundant romantic love her protagonist experiences. It's painted by washes of lilting guitars, strings, and vibes. Blessed is Williams' most focused recording since World Without Tears; it stands with it and her 1988 self-titled Rough Trade as one of her finest recordings to date. Its shift in lyric focus is amplified by the care and detail in the album's production and crackling energy. By deliberately shifting to a harder-edged roots rock sonic palette, Blessed moves Williams music down the road from the dead-end Americana ghetto without compromising her qualities as a songwriter or performer.
(Thom Jurek - allmusic; 4/5)

Albumstream

Why is vinyl special to you?

Interviews of people at a record fair in Eugene, Oregon. They discuss why vinyl records are important to them.
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Lykke Li - Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW) 3/8/11

read the interview with Jason Bentley

Was al-Qaeda’s obituary written in Tahrir Square?

In Libya, volunteers flock to join the rebels' drive-in war

Listen to new Fever Ray track 'The Wolf'

HERE

Faust to play Melbourne

http://www.melbournejazz.com/v2011/webpages/event.php?cID=27
Melbourne International Jazz Festival
The Forum
Fri 10 June at 8.30pm
Arguably the most significant of all Krautrock groups, legendary German band Faust's influence continues to reverberate across the generations. 2011 is the fortieth anniversary of the band's formation and they continue to perform around the world, resisting easy categorisation and demonstrating the same curiosity and cacophony that so entranced audiences upon their debut.
As a founding member noted in 1973, "The idea was not to copy anything going on in the Anglo-Saxon rock scene – and it worked." They weren't just empty words – the band's '71 debut, Faust, was issued on clear vinyl in a transparent sleeve. It set the tone for their career of uncompromising innovation. They are unselfconsciously avant-garde, wrestling tone and rhythm to create astounding noise.
An enduring influence on countless artists from the British punk and new wave scene onward, don't miss this night of divine sensory overload. Faust make their Australian debut as guests of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

DrPetra Dr Petra Boynton

Facebook a top cause of relationship trouble, say US lawyers gu.com/p/2njv6/tw ho hum, makes a change from spreading syphilis I suppose 

Infographic of the Day: 18 Years of Radiohead's Genre-Busting Experiments

(Click to enlarge)

HERE

For football fans in Grozny, it's just like watching Brazil. No, really

Kadyrov (centre), taking on Brazilians Ronaldao and Andre Cruz, enjoys a flourishing reputation in Chechnya. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

There were burly toughs in Russia tracksuits, elders in lambskin hats and thousands of young men in black jeans and coats shouting "Chechnya! Chechnya!"
Grozny's Dynamo stadium was packed to bursting as Ramzan Kadyrov the 34-year-old strongman who is head of Chechnya, led his team on to the pitch for a bizarre match against an all-star team from Brazil.
Kadyrov's side, apparently a motley collection of overweight and greying Chechen bureaucrats spiced up by the presence of Terek Grozny's coach, Ruud Gullit, and a couple of Russian supersubs, took the field against altogether more formidable opponents: a collection of Brazilian World Cup winners from 1994 and 2002, including Romário, Bebeto, Cafu, Dunga and Denílson.
The match was a stunt organised by the attention-hungry Kadyrov, who enjoys a flourishing personality cult in this southern Russian republic, and an attempt to portray Chechnya as stable and safe from insurgent violence that plagues Russia's northern Caucasus region.
The former separatist rebel, who switched sides and became the Kremlin's stooge in the region, has transformed war-torn Grozny into a smart, modern capital, but he is accused of crushing all political dissent and targeting civilians in his fight to quell an Islamist insurgency. Last year, he praised people who fired paintballs at women not wearing Islamic headscarves and called human rights campaigners "enemies of the people".
He now wants Grozny added to Russia's list of 13 host cities for the 2018 World Cup.
Fears of a militant suicide bombing at the stadium were high, and an entire neighbourhood around the ground was cordoned off by military trucks. Spectators had to go through two metal detectors and three bag checks to get into the stadium.
In the stands, support for Kadyrov was predictably high. Ali Geldibayev, 26, who runs his own business selling window blinds, said: "It's only down to Ramzan that this we're seeing this amazing match.
"He is our everything. Take Ramzan away from the Chechens and there is nothing left. I would give my life for him right now, Allah be praised." His friend Khalid Khantemirov, 24, an oil worker, added: "With Ramzan we have unity and pride. He is our leader, our hero."
Brazil, in their traditional yellow and blue, started in style, stroking the ball around and scored within three minutes. However, Grozny, in blood red, struck back, and the game was level at 2-2 after the first-half of 25 minutes.
All attention was on Kadyrov, a well-built figure in tracksuit bottoms, who effected the role of a goal-hanging centre-forward. Both teammates and opponents seemed keen to give him the ball, but his early efforts bore little fruit. He had one penalty saved and put another spot-kick past the post, before scoring his first goal with a tap-in.
The second half started cautiously. Among the spectators was Khamzat Dzhabrailov, 54, a former Soviet middleweight boxing champion who used to spar with Kadyrov when the latter was a teenage pugilist, said: "The Brazilians are afraid to play strongly because Ramzan will break their necks if they win."
The second half progressed with a flurry of goals, one struck by Grozny's undisputed penalty-taker – Kadyrov – from 12 yards. Zetti, who played in goal for Brazil in the early 1990s, artfully dived under the shot. At the final whistle, though, it was 6-4 to the Brazilians who, despite valiant efforts, could not hide their superiority.
Tom Parfitt @'The Guardian'

I know, let's sell weapons to a lunatic

Israeli TV Accuses New Egyptian PM and FM of Anti-Semitism

  
New Egyptian PM Essam Sharaf (PNN Archive)
On Wednesday Israeli media attacked Essam Sharaf, the new Egyptian Prime Minister, calling him “an enemy of Israel” and accused him and Nabil Arabi, the new Egyptian Foreign Minister, of anti-Semitism.
Israeli television channels 10 and 7 and the Israeli newspapers Ma’ariv, Yediot Ahronot, and “The Marker”—a subsidiary of the larger, left-leaning Ha’aretz newspaper—all carried stories about the new Egyptian government to be headed by Sharaf. The new PM’s position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—that there should be no cooperation between Egypt and Israel until it is resolved—led Israeli commentators to describe him and Arabi as anti-Semites.
Commentators on Israeli TV said Sharaf and his government represented “a danger to Israel and reconciliation [with Egypt]” and were “no friend to Israel.” Sharaf was also described as a “revolutionary” man who gained his legitimacy from the Egyptian people.
Sharaf’s intentions toward Israel were certified, according to channels 10 and 7, by his choice of Foreign Minister Nabil Arabi—known for his “deep hatred of Israel and its policies” when he was a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Arabi opposed Israel’s construction of the wall on Palestinian territory and described it as an “apartheid wall” and “a crime that needs to be punished.”
Israeli television recognized a “great degree of fear” in Tel Aviv regarding Sharaf and his new government, saying that Israelis would look anxiously on the next few weeks to see how Egypt would handle its economic agreements with Israel—including the practice of selling Israel cheap natural gas.
@'PNN'

Newt’s Family Values Problem

Black Sabbath: The band of the seventies (May 13 1970)

Flyer for a gig at the Whisky Villa Club, Walsall.
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David Cameron on Donkey Monkey Question Time (Time Trumpet)

Lady Gaga Ends Target Partnership, Reportedly Over LGBT Stance

Libya

Neil Young - In Concert BBC 1971

01. Out On The Weekend
02. Old Man
03. Journey Through The Past
04. Heart Of Gold
05. Don't Let It Bring You Down
06. A Man Needs A Maid
07. Love In MY Mind
08. Dance, Dance, Dance

WikiLeaks cables are America's worst security breach, says John McCain

The leaking of secret cables to the WikiLeaks website run by Australian Julian Assange was the most damaging breach of US security ever, senior American political figure Senator John McCain says. Security issues featured in talks between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the former Republican presidential candidate and ranking member on the US Senate's armed services committee during her visit to Washington.
The US Government is considering its legal options in relation to Mr Assange, which could include a treason charge, and the alleged instigators of the leaking of 250,000 diplomatic cables.
Intelligence analyst Private First Class Bradley Manning is being held in the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia, pending his appearance on a raft of charges over the alleged leaking of the Government files to WikiLeaks a year ago.
Senator McCain said after the meeting with the Prime Minister the WikiLeaks issue had serious implications for all aspects of global security.
"It is the greatest, most damaging security breach in the history of this country," he said.
What was most concerning were the revelations of people in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan who were cooperating with intelligence services, he said.
"It literally puts their lives in danger," Senator McCain said.
He said those responsible for giving Private Manning access to such high-security documents also needed to be brought to account.
"He couldn't have done all of that by himself," he said.
Asked whether Australia would help in any future extradition of Mr Assange, the Prime Minister said she would not speculate.
"The only legal matter affecting Mr Assange are matters stemming out of proceedings in Sweden," she said, referring to the sex charge against the internet whistleblower.
"At every stage Mr Assange has received consular assistance, just as any other Australian would receive." Mr Assange is appealing against his extradition to Sweden.
@'news.com'

Understanding the Psychology of Twitter

ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald

GOP wants to empower military to detain people without involvement of AG - uh, that's called "military dictatorship": http://is.gd/JC8oei

Internet and cell phones the ‘best weapons against dictatorships’

Decentralized communication technologies, such as cell phones and the Internet, are the best way to ensure the spread of democracy around the globe, according to an study published in the International Journal of Human Rights.
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have become an important tool for democracy and human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa, where it has played a pivotal role in helping organize protests against repressive governments.
"TV is especially bad for human rights, because the government can feed propaganda to the population," said the study's author, Indra de Soysa, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). "The Internet and mobile phones have the opposite effect. And social media is different because it gives people free access to a channel of communication."
"In Egypt, Google's marketing manager would have never managed to mobilize so many demonstrations without social media," he added. "The authorities cannot monitor what people read on the Internet, and society becomes more transparent."
"The authorities can no longer get away with attacking their own people," de Soysa continued. "In Burma the authorities can still shoot a man in the street, and get away with it. But there are beginning to be fewer and fewer countries where that is still the case."
While communication technologies such as cell phones and the Internet have helped to organize some pro-democracy movements, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin warned in an article published at Politico on Monday that U.S. technology companies have not done enough to ensure their products and services do not aid repressive governments.
"With a few notable exceptions, the technology industry is failing to address serious human rights challenges," he wrote. "Filtering software produced by U.S. companies like McAfee — recently acquired by Intel — has been used by repressive governments to censor political content on the Internet. Cisco routers are part of the architecture of China’s Great Firewall. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo censor political content."

Despite Sen. Durbin's warnings, de Soysa's study found that access to the Internet and cell phones was associated with better human rights while access to televisions and fixed phone lines were associated with worse human rights.

"It seems that the new [communication technologies] are qualitatively better for human rights than the old ones," the study concluded.
Eric W. Dolan @'Raw Story'

How Social Media Changed Arab Resistance

'Whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.'

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Rare glimpse inside Guantanamo Bay

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - From The Stairwell (Albumstream)

1. All is One
2. Giallo
3. White Eyes
4. Cocaine
5. Celladoor
6. Cotard Delusion
7. Les Étoiles Mutantes
8. Past Midnight

THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE are a project which has always been tied to films. Films are luxurious because they dispose of all these boring, unimportant, and trivial parts of our lives. This allows them to fully control our sensations, to put us in a very specific mood. Joy and sadness are occasionally OK, endless joy or endless sadness are clinical. But there is one sensation which can be persistent and unconditionally bearable at the same time. In the absence of a better alternative, let's call it "the mood". The mood is what TKDE are aiming at. The mood. (read on)

ALBUMSTREAM

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UNKLE feat. Nick Cave - Money And Run

 The song is one of five tracks on the new Only The Lonely EP released on April 4
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