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  • Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection

    Kay Nielsen image

    More than a century ago, Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen (1886–1957) created exquisite interpretations of classic fairy tales that remain some of the most memorable visions of enchantment and fantasy ever to appear in print.

    The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is celebrating the artist with Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection, featuring nearly 50 of his luminous and often haunting watercolors and drawings —including many of his remarkable illustrations for East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Old Tales from the North.

    The exhibition marks the first time that such a large group of Nielsen’s original works, both published and unpublished, has been on public display in the US in more than six decades. These highlights of Nielsen’s career — promised gifts to the MFA from collectors Kendra and Allan Daniel — give visitors a rare opportunity to study and appreciate the work of this visionary artist. Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision is on view from July 20, 2019 through January 20, 2020 in the Clementine Brown Gallery. 

    “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, was illustrated by Kay Nielsen for In Powder and Crinoline, published in 1913; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

    “Nielsen’s illustrations are mesmerizing when seen in print, but this exhibition provides an exceptionally rare opportunity to see his original works of art, which are breathtaking with their powerful imagery and extraordinary detail,” said Meghan Melvin, Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Curator of Design, who organized the exhibition. “I’m delighted to present our visitors with a chance to experience firsthand the beautiful and enchanted worlds born from Nielsen’s mind.”

    The son of a prominent theater director and actress, Nielsen was deeply immersed in the performing arts during his childhood in Copenhagen, a formative experience that influenced him throughout his life. He quickly gained international recognition as an artist and theater designer in his younger years, with original illustrations exhibited and sold to collectors in London and New York.

    During the final years of his career, he worked as an art director for Disney on the landmark animation film Fantasia and completed a handful of public art commissions. While his published output was relatively small, Nielsen is consistently cited as a luminary among European illustrators of the 20th century, and his work continues to inspire generations of artists across disciplines.

    “We’ve always felt that Kay Nielsen was an artist whose art demanded attention, and now he’s receiving it through this exhibition. It is a complete joy to share our collection with MFA visitors,” said Kendra Daniel.3 princesses of whiteland

    Among the highlights of the exhibition are 10 illustrations from a compilation of Norse tales poetically titled East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Old Tales from the North (published 1914), which are considered the bedrock of Nielsen’s legacy.

    These works reflect the artist’s broad cultural and historical interests, revealing his love of Norse mythology as well as his knowledge of Japanese woodblock prints and Persian miniatures. Filled with moments of high drama and intricate detail, his illustrations are much more than visual aids to propel the narration. They also reflect Nielsen’s immersion in theater, with many of the compositions creating an impression of a stage set with figures in carefully designed costumes.

    In the exhibition, the illustrations are complemented by a Fendi gown and evening bag designed by Karl Lagerfeld for his Fall/Winter 2016 “Legends and Fairy Tales” couture collection, which drew inspiration from Nielsen’s watercolors for East of the Sun and West of the Moon. These dazzling contemporary additions, shown directly alongside their source material, demonstrate how Nielsen’s work continues to resonate today.

    The exhibition is representative of all major phases and projects of Nielsen’s career, including eight drawings from the Book of Death series (1910), made while he was an art student in Paris. The stark black-and-white compositions demonstrate his experimentation with technique and presentation format, working at the forefront of avant-garde illustration in Europe. This pictorial essay contributed to the success of Nielsen’s first exhibition in London in 1912 that led to his first book illustration commission: In Powder and Crinoline (published in 1913 and released under the title The Twelve Dancing Princesses in the US), a compilation of French fairy tales selected and edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. The exhibition includes four of the works from this significant publication that launched Nielsen’s career in illustration.

    Illustration of the collection of fairy tales “East of the sun West of the moon”; Kay Nielsen, 1914, 19.8×15 cm

  • Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Swans and Duck Together; Life Ripens and Robin’s Beautiful Eggs

     Swans and Ducks Together

    Swans and Duck Together

     
    We recently discovered a lake off the main road at a New Jersey shore town. Geese were relaxing under the shade of the few trees on the edge of the lake while swans were enjoying a respite from the hot weather as they swam around on the cool water.  
     
    Then a small duck appeared. It was alone, no other ducks were obvious nearby, and seemed to be a young one. It swam toward the flock, its dark feathers a contrast to the white of the swans. I wondered if they would accept the little bird into their group but they didn’t look at all disturbed by its presence. The duck became part of the flock as it moved further out on the lake. It seemed as if the duck was identifying with the swans. So different and yet it belonged. They all seemed comfortable together.
     
    I thought of the immigrants who come to our country. There are differences, yes, but traditionally we have accepted them. Are we changing our generosity for politics? Have we forgotten that we were all immigrants at one time? Swans and ducks are all birds. Americans and immigrants are all people. If they can accept each other, surely we can do the same.   
     
    Life Ripens

     Life Ripens

     
    A friend of mine gave me a tomato bought at a farm stand near her house. I was flabbergasted by its size. I hoped, since the farm was small and local, that it was organic but I accepted it with gratitude and served it for dinner. It tasted good, not a doubt, but there was something missing — it wasn’t eaten fresh-picked. That, I discovered, was the secret to taste.
     
    I planted some heirlooms this season and had an incredible Jubilee tomato. It wasn’t nearly as large as my friend’s gift and it was orange, not red, but oh, what flavor. It went from plant to plate to mouth. I had to close my eyes to savor its flavor as the juice dribbled down my throat. I’m eagerly waiting for the others to ripen so I can enjoy the experience again.
     
    But the original tomato gift had something to offer besides just its taste. It was offered with kindness and enthusiasm. As I ate each bite, I remembered our friendship and valued all that we have shared over the years. It was as much a treat in its own way as the heirloom tomato was. I think if we pay attention to the wholeness of what we experience, life ripens in our hearts as well as in our gardens.
     

  • National Hurricane Research Division: Why don’t we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them?

    Editor’s Note: Axios reported that “Trump suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them from hitting US”NOAANOAAUnited States Department of Commerce

    NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and
    CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER
     


    Back to Tropical Cyclones Myths Page | Back to Main FAQ Page

    Subject: C5c) Why don’t we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them ?

    Contributed by Chris Landsea (NHC)

    During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms. Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea.

    Now for a more rigorous scientific explanation of why this would not be an effective hurricane modification technique. The main difficulty with using explosives to modify hurricanes is the amount of energy required. A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20×1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.

    If we think about mechanical energy, the energy at humanity’s disposal is closer to the storm’s, but the task of focusing even half of the energy on a spot in the middle of a remote ocean would still be formidable. Brute force interference with hurricanes doesn’t seem promising.

    In addition, an explosive, even a nuclear explosive, produces a shock wave, or pulse of high pressure, that propagates away from the site of the explosion somewhat faster than the speed of sound. Such an event doesn’t raise the barometric pressure after the shock has passed because barometric pressure in the atmosphere reflects the weight of the air above the ground. For normal atmospheric pressure, there are about ten metric tons (1000 kilograms per ton) of air bearing down on each square meter of surface. In the strongest hurricanes there are nine. To change a Category 5 hurricane into a Category 2 hurricane you would have to add about a half ton of air for each square meter inside the eye, or a total of a bit more than half a billion (500,000,000) tons for a 20 km radius eye. It’s difficult to envision a practical way of moving that much air around.

    Attacking weak tropical waves or depressions before they have a chance to grow into hurricanes isn’t promising either. About 80 of these disturbances form every year in the Atlantic basin, but only about 5 become hurricanes in a typical year. There is no way to tell in advance which ones will develop. If the energy released in a tropical disturbance were only 10% of that released in a hurricane, it’s still a lot of power, so that the hurricane police would need to dim the whole world’s lights many times a year. 

    Back to Tropical Cyclones Myths Page | Back to Main FAQ Page

    HRD Research supports NOAA Research’s Strategic Plan:

    1.        Advance the understanding and prediction of changes in the environment through world class science and observations
    2. Improve preparedness, response, and recovery from weather and water events by building a Weather-Ready Nation

  • GAO** Reports: Electronic Cigarettes – US Imports and the Value of US E-cigarette Imports was $2.4 billion; CDC and FDA Campaigns

    *An e-cigarette device typically contains a battery, a heating element, and a cartridge or tank that may be empty or filled with liquid. Major e-cigarette parts include heating elements and cartridges, which can be imported separately from devices. E-cigarette liquid —which may contain nicotine in different concentrations or no nicotine — can also be imported separately from both devices and cartridges. 
     
    What GAO Found

    The customs value of e-cigarette devices, parts, and liquid imported into the United States in 2016 through 2018 was $2.4 billion, resulting in $120 million in tariff revenue. E-cigarette devices and parts each accounted for about $1.2 billion (48 percent for each, or 96 percent for both), and e-cigarette liquid accounted for $101.5 million (4 percent) of the total customs value over that period. From 2016 to 2018, the customs value of all US e-cigarette imports increased by 300 percent, with the highest increases associated with imported e-cigarette parts (594 percent) and one type of nicotine-containing e-cigarette liquid (582 percent). Although e-cigarettes were imported from 65 countries during this period, imports from China accounted for 97 percent of the customs value of all e-cigarette imports. US e-cigarette imports cleared customs at 36 ports of entry; the top five ports of entry — Los Angeles, Cleveland, Chicago, Savannah, and Norfolk — accounted for 81 percent of the total customs value of U.S. e-cigarette imports from 2016 through 2018.

    Why GAO Did This Study

    Over the last 15 years, use of electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigarettes, in the United States has grown rapidly as use of traditional cigarettes declined among both adolescents and adults. As GAO reported in 2017, most e-cigarettes sold in the United States are thought to be imported. The US government began collecting data specific to e-cigarette imports in January 2016, after the Committee for Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules established six new statistical reporting numbers for e-cigarette devices, parts, and liquid in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS). The six HTS statistical reporting numbers for US e-cigarette imports cover devices with and without nicotine; parts with and without nicotine; and two types of nicotine-containing e-cigarette liquid. U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects US import data from records submitted by importers, and the US Census Bureau incorporates these data into its official trade statistics.

  • Revisiting Favorite Books: Kristin Lavransdatter, the Trilogy – The Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby and The Cross

    by Julia Sneden: 

    We have been re-reading books that we loved many years ago, and it has occurred to us that you might enjoy seeing them reviewed.

    If you’ve never read them, the reviews may pique your interest. If you have read them already, you might consider dipping back into them as we have.

    We find that it an interesting process, looking back at books we read in our twenties and thirties. The books themselves haven’t changed, but thanks to the varied experiences that another twenty or thirty years have added to our lives, we read them from a different perspective. Herewith, the first review of an old, beloved book (actually, three books):

    Read More: http://www.seniorwomen.com/news/index.php/revisiting-favorite-books-kristin-lavransdatter-the-trilogy-the-wreath-the-mistress-of-husaby-and-the-cross

  • Introducing an Opioid Painkiller into a Home Can Double the Chances Someone Else Seeks Out the Addictive Drugs

      

    a tipped over bottle of pills

    New research from two UC Berkeley professors shows that exposure to opioids in the home can double the chances someone else in the home gets a prescription to the addictive painkillers. (Flickr photo by Michael Chen, shared under CC 2.0)

    Introducing an opioid painkiller into a home can double the chances someone else living in the home seeks out the addictive drugs on his or her own, according to a new paper from two UC Berkeley researchers.

    The study, published in the American Sociological Review, found the chances that a person gets a prescription for opioids climbs between 19% and 100% when a relative living in the same household already uses the drugs, depending on circumstances. (Read more at the research.)

    “Our research finds huge effects on the likelihood that family members who are influenced by other family members will start using opioids,” said Mathijs de Vaan, an assistant professor at the Haas School of Business who studies economic sociology and network analysis.

    De Vann and co-author Toby Stuart, a professor at the business school, examined hundreds of millions of medical claims and roughly 14 million opioid prescriptions created between 2010 and 2015 to come to their conclusions.

    The findings suggest ways opioid addiction, which killed 47,000 Americans in 2017, spreads, the researchers said. Family members can observe the effects the painkiller has on loved ones and may be tempted by excess pills sitting in the family medicine cabinet.

    The exposure to opioids in the home may also cause people to ask their doctors for the drugs by name, de Vann said, further spreading the effects of exposure to the drugs.

    “The actions of one doctor toward one patient affect the requests that that patient then makes of other doctors he or she visits,” de Vaan told the Hass Newsroom. “We find that physicians are not only influencing each other directly when it comes to opioid prescriptions. They’re influencing each other by steering patient demand.”

    The conclusion that family behavior plays a role in spreading the use of opioids suggests ways doctors, researchers and policymakers could attempt to address the spread of the drugs, the researchers said. This could include alertring doctors if a patient’s family members already make use of opioids or paying people to safely dispose of excess drugs sitting in home medicine cabinets.

    From  American Sociological Review: Does Intra-household Contagion Cause an Increase in Prescription Opioid Use?

    Mathijs de Vaan, Toby Stuart; First Published June 18, 2019 Research Article  https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419857797
     

    Abstract: Opioid use claims many thousands of lives each year. This article considers the diffusion of prescription opioid (PO) use within family households as one potential culprit of the proliferation of these medications. In an analysis of hundreds of millions of medical claims and almost 14 million opioid prescriptions in one state between 2010 and 2015, we show that the use of POs spreads within family households. We also show that the treatment effect of exposure to a family member’s PO use is driven by an increase in PO consumption for medical conditions that members of treated and untreated families experience at nearly identical rates. This pattern of results suggests household exposure causes an uptick in patient demand for prescription opioids. We use an instrumental variable estimation strategy to address the well-known challenges to estimating a causal effect of intra-household contagion, such as genotypic similarities among family members, assortative matching in partner selection, and clustering of health conditions within households. The results spotlight the salience of the most ubiquitous social structure, the family household, in accelerating opioid consumption to unprecedented levels. The findings also suggest that rather than direct social influence between physicians, the spread of prescription behavior in physician networks may be driven by shifts in patient demand that propagate through the patient sharing network.

  • Jo Freeman Reviews: American Founders by Christina Proenza-Coles

    American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World

    By Christina Proenza-Coles

    Published by Montgomery AL: NewSouth Books, 2019; 384 pages

    American Founders is not about the United States. It’s about the New World named after Amerigo Vespucci. In chapters covering the Fifteenth Century through the Twentieth, the author identifies the myriad of places Americans with at least some African ancestry were to be found.

    There were Africans in Columbus’ crew. They traveled with the Spanish Conquistadors. They founded Los Angeles. They formed the first free republic in the Americas. They headed Argentina and Mexico. They trekked with Lewis and Clark. They explored the North Pole. And of course they were in every major event in the USA. You only read about a few of them in your history courses; read this book and you will be overwhelmed. 

    Illustrating that descendants of Africa were everywhere in the Americas is one of the book’s major themes. There are lots of names in this book. Lots and lots and lots of names. We can only imagine the years it took the author to compile all these names on 3×5 cards or their digital equivalent before putting them together in rough chronological order.

    It’s common to identify African-Americans with slavery, but that is a modern merger. As the author says repeatedly, not all black people were slaves, or even the descendants of slaves.

    Slavery is as old as civilization; almost every people have been both enslaved and practiced slavery at some point in time. Indeed the word slave comes from slav, dating from a time when Arabs were purchasing peoples from eastern Europe to work on their plantations. It was in the Americas that slavery became identified with race. That identification made it hard to remove the stigma of slavery long after legal slavery was abolished.

    American Founders attacks that stigma by showing that African-Americans were everywhere in American history, on both continents and all the islands. They were key protagonists in all the democratic struggles. They contributed to America history at every level. Most were of mixed race. Americans might talk about racial purity (for a few decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries) but they never practiced it.

    This book is more of a reference book than a sit-down-and-read book. It’s full of facts and people, but doesn’t tell stories longer than a few sentences. It has a point of view, which reference books rarely do. Keep it handy to dip into when you want to expand your knowledge. It’s full of information that you never knew you didn’t know.

    Copyright © 2019 Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com  

  • Although the Summer Travel Season is Drawing to a Close, A Worldwide Caution is Still in Effect From the State Department; Hong Kong Update

    June 16th protest

    State Department Travel Advisory, August 14, 2019

    Hong Kong – Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution; Exercise increased caution in Hong Kong due to civil unrest. 

    Hong Kong unrest in June, 2019; Wikimedia Commons

    Since June 2019, several large scale and smaller political demonstrations have taken place in various areas of Hong Kong, including at Hong Kong International Airport. Most have been peaceful, but some have turned confrontational or resulted in violent clashes. Police have used a variety of crowd control measures, including the deployment of tear gas. The protests and confrontations have spilled over into neighborhoods other than those where the police have permitted marches or rallies. These demonstrations, which can take place with little or no notice, are likely to continue.

    Read the Safety and Security section on the country information page. If you decide to travel to Hong Kong:

    • Monitor local media for updates.
    • Avoid the areas of the demonstrations.
    • Exercise caution if you are in the vicinity of large gatherings or protests.
    • Be aware of your surroundings.
    • Keep a low profile.
    • Review your flight status with your airlines or at the Hong Kong International Airport website.
    • Follow US Consulate General Hong Kong on Facebook and Twitter.
    • Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
    • Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter.
    • Review the Crime and Safety Report for Hong Kong.
    • U.S. citizens who travel abroad should always have a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Traveler’s Checklist.

    Last Update: The Travel Advisory was updated to Level 2 due to civil unrest.

  • Explore Presidential Papers From Hoover to Obama and Gov.info With Publications Such As 9-11 Report, Post JFK Assassination Audio & Nixon’s Watergate Grand Jury Testimony

    Presidents Obama and Clinton






    President Barack Obama talking with former President William J. Clinton outside the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room… Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States Photographic Portfolio: Barack H. Obama (2010, Book 2);  Date: December 10, 2010

    Editor’s Note: As a bit of a break with current news explore the public papers of previous presidents as well as featured content. 

    About the Public Papers of the Presidents

    The Public Papers of the Presidents, which is compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), began in 1957 in response to a recommendation of the National Historical Publications Commission.

    Noting the lack of uniform compilations of messages and papers of the Presidents before this time, the Commission recommended the establishment of an official series in which Presidential writings, addresses, and remarks of a public nature could be made available.

    Volumes of the Public Papers of the Presidents from 1929 (Herbert Hoover) to 1991 (George H.W. Bush) published by NARA are made available as digital formats through GPO digitization efforts. Publications covering the John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush presidencies are available in multi-book volumes. The Public Papers of the President were not published by the National Archives for the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency; these volumes were published by a private printer before the commencement of the official Public Papers series and are not currently available in govinfo. Read More

    August 12, 2019

  • Elaine Soloway’s Hometown Rookie: Love It!; Doggie Daydream; The Cool Kids Table

    Love It!

    “So, how’s it going?” my daughter asked. Her voice rose with the question, as if anticipating my upbeat answer.

    I didn’t disappoint: “Great!” I said. “I love it — the views, the building’s staff, my mornings at the East Bank Club. Terrific!”

    There was a pause on her end, long enough for me to jump in to blunt a possible reaction to my gush.

    “I know what you’re thinking,” I said. “How long will the euphoria last before Mom doesn’t love it anymore?”

    Silence. I took her non-response as affirmation to my notion, and opportunity to plow ahead.

    After our conversation ended, I thought more about my tendency, and then I realized it extended beyond location — to mates and jobs.

    I’ll pin one reason on my opening mood to a sense of optimism. I always see the glass as half full. When I find a new apartment, get a new job, or meet a new man; I immediately list the positives. And that allows me to move quickly.

    It never occurs to me to pick out the negatives, as if I were lifting lint from a new garment. And, if some downside does manage to crash through my buoyancy, I might take a peek, then toss it aside. Sunny cheer suits me much better.

    Interestingly, my two marriages started with speedy romances, and in both cases, it wasn’t my ardor that leaked. I was in for the long haul.

    In Numero uno, the minute the tall medical student revealed she chose me over her longtime girlfriend, I was ready to dive into a secret romance. (It was under wraps because the girlfriend was also one of my best school chums.) Should I have microscoped the negatives —here’s someone willing to break a heart and love in private — but I buried those clues deep enough to wed within a year. We lasted 30 years, until another woman (it was my spouse herself who could not keep hidden her true identity, and eventually transitioned) broke us apart.

    In marriage Numero dos, Tommy and I had one date. One! And within a few weeks, he had moved his thrift shop wardrobe into my townhouse. Despite our differences — me Jewish, him, not; me with a masters’ degree, he with a high school diploma; me with a luxury lifestyle, him with that thrift shop clothing, a bike instead of a car, and a YMCA membership (I was already an East Bank member back then) — we were happily together and wed for a total of 16 years.  He died in 2012.

    Let’s see, we’ve covered apartments and spouses, now let’s look at jobs. Similar gushy phone calls to friends and family: “I’ve been hired at Bernard Ury Associates,” which I left after a year to start my own P.R. firm. Then, a brief fling at Public Communications Inc. before I went to the press office of Mayor Jane Byrne. The next year, communications head for the Chicago Public Schools, and then to Jasculca/Terman for one year. And, finally back to my own freelance writing and P.R. consulting. (I also tossed in a few months in retail — at The Gap and Apple.)

    True to form, initial bliss turned to an eventual search for the exits. But in my defense, my affection for these assignments was genuine and I’m grateful for the experiences. No regrets; it was just time to turn in the badges.

    So now let’s return to our opening and the question you may have landed, and stuck on, “How long is Elaine going to love her new apartment at Hubbard Place? Will she live out the lease and even perhaps re-up, or will she jump ship and sublet?”

    I can’t promise you anything, but at the age of 78, and a bit weary of the sorting, packing, and schlepping — and genuinely contented with my new home and location — I’m pining for stability. Pine with me, please.