Peter Kubicek makes correction to New York Times obit headlined "Avigdor Arikha, Artist of Everyday, Is Dead at 81"

The New York Times
Dear Editor:

re the recent obituary: "Avigdor Arikha, Artist of Everyday, Is Dead at 81"

I refer to the above obituary which you published on May 1, 2010. Mr. Arikha was an artist whose work I admired. But the article contains a reference to the Holocaust which I consider implausible, to say the least. Here is the quotation.

"In 1941, at 12, he was deported by the Nazis to a Ukranian labor camp.
In 1944, he and his sister were rescued by the International Red Cross and transported to Palestine. Their mother was able to follow them there.”

This asks readers of the Times to believe that the International Red Cross was capable of gaining entry to a labor camp in the Ukraine run by Nazi Germany and pluck two Jewish children out of it. The further reference that their mother was able to follow them is totally unclear and ambiguous. As a Holocaust survivor and a careful student of the Holocaust, I find these sentences wholly incredible.

There is, of course, the possibility that this rescue occurred in late 1944 when this camp had already been liberated by the Soviet Army. That would put an entirely different complexion on the matter. In such a case the Times obituary should have made that clear.

Sincerely yours,

Peter Kubicek
NY

There's a disconnect in America......

Example: There's the oil spill in Louisiana and the Times Square bomb attempt....and the media goes to a humor dinner at the White House Correspondents Dinner making jokes at the same time. There is a disconnect in America!

Example 2: Larry King Live CNN show with Jim Morey as host: he is interviewing people about the murder of a college woman by her boyfriend, and the two female talking heads appear on TV wearing low-cut top showing cleavage. Are these PHDs not aware of the topic they are on air to discuss? And they show up wearing cleavage clothes? The male guest wore tie and jacket. There is a disconnect in America.


On same show, as the guests are discussing murder and male violence, the news crawl at bottom of screen shows a news headline for promoting King's CNN blog that reads "Betty White says it's been a long time since she's been manhandled." haha, FUNNY? There is a disconnect in America. Don't editors see these things?

Wow, those Hollywood Walk of Fame "stars" on the sidewalk there are actually PAID PR by the studios: cost US$25,00 per star. Who knew?

So for example, a  recent New York Times obit should have read: "In 2007, Mr. Raabe was on hand when a PAID star -- US$25,000 is the fee the studi paid -- collectively honoring the Munchkins was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."

And all future news stories about this "stars" on the Walk of Fame should mention that the star was paid for by the star or his or her studio. Damn, all these years I thought they were real awards of honor and merit. Sheesh. Is nothing genuine anynore?

Gabriel Sherman uncovered the hoax? By his lonesome? No tipster?

At the New Republic, Gabriel Sherman ..... In December 2008, he wrote a series of articles that uncovered that Herman Rosenblat's Oprah-hyped Holocaust memoir was a hoax. [from Gabe's fancyschmancy website www.)

Rodolphe Topffer (Swiss, 1799-1846)is generally regarded as the "first" cartoonist in the world

Rodolphe Topffer (Swiss, 1799-1846) is generally regarded as the "first" cartoonist.

The concept of modern comics emerged and evolved in the mind and pen of Swiss teacher and part-time artist and writer Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846).



See original manuscript version of his very first picture-story, drawn in 1827 under the title Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois, in 30 pages with 158 panels. It was only published ten years later, completely redrawn in one single row and expanded to 88 pages, i.e. 198 drawings. By that time two more of Töpffer’s stories had already seen print.

Details about the extraordinarily confusing chronology of Rodolphe Töpffer’s picture-stories can be followed in my Synopsis.
The second edition of the published version of Vieux Bois appeared in 1839, now with 92 numbered pages and 220 drawings for the story itself (plus the frontispiece), and is at present available in album format from both Éditions du Seuil and Éditions Pierre Horay in France, together with other stories by Töpffer.



http://leonardodesa.interdinamica.net/comics/lds/vb/VieuxBois00.asp?p=Intro

James Lovelock: 1919 - 2010 : Climate activist tried to warn world of perils ahead if CO2 spigot not stopped and if coal and oil continue to threaten humankind's future; he will be missed

BCB World News Obits Desk: December 31, 2010

The world mourns the passing of British scientist and climate activist James Lovelock who did so much to try to warn Earthlings about the fate that awaits them. Tragically, very few listened to him.

Lovelock was born on July 26, 1919 in Letchworth Garden City in the United Kingdom. He graduated as a chemist from Manchester University in 1941 and in 1948 received a Ph.D. degree in medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1959 he received the D.Sc. degree in biophysics from London University. After graduating from Manchester he started employment with the Medical Research Council at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, but five years between 1946 and 1951 were spent at the Common CoId Research Unit at Harvard Hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

In 1954 he was awarded the Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship in Medicine and chose to spend it at Harvard University Medical School in Boston. In 1958 he visited Yale University for a similar period. He resigned from the National Institute in London in 1961 to take up full time employment as Professor of Chemistry at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he remained until 1964. During his stay in Texas he collaborated with colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California on Lunar and Planetary Research. Since 1964 he has conducted an independent practice in science, although continuing honorary academic associations as a visiting professor, first at the University of Houston and then at the University of Reading in the U.K. Since 1982 he has been associated with the Marine Biological Association at Plymouth, first as a council member, and from 1986 to 1990 as its president.

James Lovelock is the author of approximately 200 scientific papers, distributed almost equally among topics in Medicine, Biology, Instrument Science and Geophysiology. He has filed more than 50 patents, mostly for detectors for use in chemical analysis. One of these, the electron capture detector, was important in the development of environmental awareness. It revealed for the first time the ubiquitous distribution of pesticide residues and other halogen bearing chemicals. This information enabled Rachel Carson to write her book, Silent Spring, often said to have initiated the awareness of environmental disturbance. Later it enabled the discovery of the presence of PCB's in the natural environment. More recently the electron capture detector was responsible for the discovery of the global distribution of nitrous oxide and of the chlorofluorocarbons, both of which are important in the stratospheric chemistry of ozone. Some of his inventions were adopted by NASA in their programme of planetary exploration. He was awarded by NASA three certificates of recognition for these.

He was the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis (now Gaia Theory) and has written four books on the subject: Gaia: a new look at life on Earth, (Oxford University Press, 1979); The Ages of Gaia, (W. W. Norton, 1988); Gaia: the practical science of planetary medicine, (Gaia Books, 1991), and Homage to Gaia (2000).

The world will miss this gifted scientist. It's a pity that so few listened to him while he was alive.

What's wrong with this picture: "Earplugs– they’re not just for airport tarmacs anymore. I’ve started wearing them for New York City walks, the gym, and parenting. So peaceful."

A New York kind of guy blogs:

"Earplugs
– they’re not just for airport tarmacs anymore. I’ve started wearing them for
NY walks, the gym, and parenting. So peaceful."

I TOLD HIM IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS: " Sir? earplugs? to keep the world
OUT? sigh: what is the world coming to, sir? Why not wear blinders as
well, and stay at home and cocoon 24/7/365? Sigh. People are so afraid
of the world they now block out the real world.? This is a sad trend.
you New Yorkers are a weird bunch. SMILE...but i feel your pain!"


But some other responses to this jerk in NYC:

" My son wears them to Bar Mitzvahs and (loud) weddings. & at rock
concerts, and in the convertable! Enjoy the peace!"

" I wear them every day at work for 12 hours at a time. once you get
use to them they are not to uncofortable. id recomend Moldex Spark
Plugs. they are comfortable and PVC free"

"Sounds like you're living inside of a shell. "

"I have even worn them while dining out in NYC."