Graphic Chatter
LAST UPDATE October 5, 2021
News and information culled from the internet
History
Sorting out the origin of the mysterious Etruscans
The question of where the Etruscans came from has been a perennial question in the study of ancient history.
Story at Live Science
Public Domain / Copyright
The expiring copyright on Mickey Mouse & the looming activities of eager artists
The copyright for Walt Disney’s 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie — which introduced the world to Mickey Mouse — is set to expire and enter the public domain in three years. The rights will include the character Mickey Mouse as he appeared in the film. But in 1988, in an effort to avoid this very same issue, Disney successfully lobbied Congress to lengthen the number of years that copyrights can be held. The law is called the Copyright Term Extension Act but has also also been dubbed “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.”
Public Domain / Copyright
Fifty songs in public domain status
"After You Get What You Want, You Don’t Want It" by Irving Berlin
“It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” by Jack Judge, Harry H. Williams
"Entry of the Gladiators" by Julius Fucik
"Charleston" by Cecil Mack, Jimmy Johnson
Story at UK Telegraph
Art
Art theft movie dramatizations
A list at Tovima (use Google Translate to convert to English if needed)
Art
"Invisible sculpture" by Italian artist Salvatore Garau sells for $18K
It is literally invisible. Story at Protothema
Medical Health
Effects of extra virgin olive oil on cognitive decline / Alzheimers
Data indicates olive oil has a positive effect – Greek City Times
Plague
"First genetic evidence from medieval plague victims suggests Black Death reached Southern Italy"
July 9, 2021 – Medical Express
Art
Art Robbery thieves who stole works by Picasso, Henry Moore, Munch, etc – Kathimerini [in Greek, use Google Translate to change to English if needed]
...From the Mona Lisa to 124 Works in Mexico City From Vermeer's Concerto and Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa
Medical Health
Research into links between Covid and Vitamin K
Story at Nutraingredients
BOOKS
E-books still dominated by printed book sales
Story at Protothema
Public Domain / Copyright
Thirty-five movies that made "public domain characters cool again"
United States copyright law is a real beast. There was a time, not so long ago, when any creative work would fall into the public domain—meaning the original rights to the work had lapsed, allowing anyone to make use of the characters and ideas within it—after 42 years. Then, in the 1970s, the Walt Disney company realized it would lose control of some of their chief moneymakers (like, oh, Mickey Mouse), and lobbied congress to change the law. These days, copyrights can be extended more or less in perpetuity, provided you’ve got the right lawyers on your side."
A brief survey of famous characters that are in the public domain that appear in a variety of famous Hollywood movies (and TV shows) such as Dracula, Sherlock Homes, etc.
Story at Lifehacker
Floor of the gift shop, VMFA fine arts museum: Maintain a six foot distance in 2021
Peculiar Brain Functions
The "Doorway Effect" and memory loss
A link between memory and environment.
...you have come across a room several times and realized that you have no idea what you are doing there. As you walked through the door you forgot the reason you went to the room. For example, while watching TV or doing some computer work, you feel like you want to drink or eat something. However, once you get into the kitchen, you wonder why you went there. This is a phenomenon that happens very often and most of us have experienced it at least once. Now, scientists think they may have an explanation for this mystery..."
At the Greek website Skai (use Google Translate to convert to English if needed)
Art
On forgeries and sacred relics of the secular – Hyperallergic
Charging objects with meaning that change them from tools into "types" or "symbols" is a particular human action. Otherwise worthless novelty items are sentimental keepsakes; insignias represent groups or even nations; and just about anything can be transformed into an idol by adding a worshipper.
What mattered before the Renaissance was the meaning of an image, not the ineffable singularity of the image-maker’s touch. Painters were craftsmen, not creators aspiring to genius, and one medieval painting of the Madonna could be exchanged for another without raising any questions about origins. Sacred relics were another matter. A fragment of the true cross was worthy of worship only if the worshipper believed that it did, in fact, come from the cross upon which Christ was crucified. Belief of this kind endows bits of wood and human bones — the supposed remains of saints — with transcendent value.
After the arrival of connoisseurship, a variant of this faith migrated to works of art. For half a millennium, paintings judged to be masterpieces have had the glow of the sacred, for they are imbued, many believe, with the human spirit at its most exalted. Here, in this “Annunciation” by Raphael or that drip painting by Jackson Pollock, we encounter the power, the authority, of a profoundly creative self. And that’s not all. Because great artworks became objects of secular worship at roughly the same time that modern markets emerged, these masterpieces also serve as commodities. Buyers with sufficient means can acquire an embodiment of genius, but only if supply meets demand — and there have long been forgers to ensure that it does.
Public Domain / Copyright
21 famous pieces now in Public Domain
New Year's Day isn't just the start of 2021, it's the first day that thousands upon thousands of pieces of artwork, music and literature from 1925 history enter the world of public domain – from 'The Great Gatsby' to Ma Rainey: 21 notable creative pieces headed to public domain...
Story at ksl.com
No reading required
In a different setting, one would have to be able to read the song titles by Bob Mould and Grant Hart.
Public Domain / Copyright
Public Domain Changes
The change over of the year from 2020 to 2021 means a whole new flood of copyrighted works are now legally public domain which came out originally in the year 1925.
Our list of Public Domain sources
News about the 2021 public domain changes:
"More Works Of Art Enter The Public Domain On New Year's Day" - NHPR
"Party like it’s 1925 on Public Domain Day" - opb.org
"The Great Gatsby, Mrs Dalloway and Duke Ellington works hit public domain in 2021" - UK Independent
Medical Health
Histamine intolerance / Mast Cell Activation Disorder
Histamine problems seems to be afflicting more and more people and is connected with a number of health problems.
"Histamine intolerance has become a popular term in the natural health community. Characterized by symptoms that appear to worsen with the intake of foods that are high in histamine or that stimulate the release of histamine, histamine intolerance is not really a diagnosis as much as it is a description of symptoms... Most clinicians, including myself, now believe that Mast Cell Activation Disorder is a more accurate description of what patients with so-called “histamine intolerance” are suffering from."
Story at Chris Kresser
Tech
The millions (and millions) paid to use the most expensive domain name
Story at Tech Spot
Public Domain / Copyright
Debate over the royalty free "National Emergency Lending Library"
APRIL 1, 2020
"Why the National Emergency Library Is So Controversial - The Internet Archive describes the downloadable collection of more than one million books as a library, but critics call it piracy." Story at Smithsonian Magazine
Medical Health
Pandemic stats
Statistical graphs showing data on coronavirus - Statistica
Medical Health
Health: Vascular health related to sleep durations
Info about long snoozing and thus better arterial health at News Medical
Art
Raphael tapestries at 500 years
Raphael, working for Pope Leo X, produced the work for the tapestries which are now (temporarily) reinstalled at the Sistine Chapel, recreating the appearance of the chapel 500 years ago (the only difference being Michelangelo's The Last Judgement, installed on one of the walls, which was painted after Raphael's tapestries).
Story at La Repubblica [in Italian]
In Washington DC
Medical Health
In the gut
Scientists examine how a gut infection may produce chronic symptoms
Article examines how the immune system "must strike a careful balance" between squashing attacks happening in the gut and doing too much that could lead to damage.
"Inflammation helps the gut ward off an infection, but too much of it can cause lasting harm," says Daniel Mucida, an associate professor and head of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology. "Our work explores the complex mechanisms that prevent inflammatory responses from destroying neurons."
To understand the effects of an infection on the nervous system, Mucida and his colleagues gave mice a weakened form of Salmonella, a bacterium that causes food poisoning, and analyzed neurons within the intestine. They found that infection induced a long-lasting reduction of neurons, an effect they attributed to the fact these cells express two genes, Nlrp6 and Caspase 11, which can contribute to a specific type of inflammatory response. "
Story at Medical Xpress
Contact me at erik @ erikweems.com