Friday, February 14
Jeff Koons Artist
Jeffrey Lynn Koons (/kuːnz/; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. His works have sold for substantial sums, including at least two record auction prices for a work by a living artist: US$58.4 million for Balloon Dog (Orange) in 2013[2] and US$91.1 million for Rabbit in 2019.
Critics come sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch, crass, and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings or critiques in his works.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Mariah Carey, Oasis, and Outkast headline the list of 14 nominees for the 2025 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (More) | Super Bowl LIX pulls in record $800M in ad revenue for Fox Corp. (More)
> Sean "Diddy" Combs files $100M defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal, claiming false allegations against Combs in a documentary that premiered in January on Peacock (More)
> President Donald Trump named chair of Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in unanimous vote by newly appointed board of trustees; vote comes one week after Trump removed Democratic members of the board (More)
Science & Technology
> Underwater observatory detects the most energetic neutrino to date; known as the "ghost particle," an estimated 10 trillion neutrinos pass through your body every second (More) | Neutrinos 101 (More)
> Sea turtles create mental maps of Earth's magnetic field to help guide them to foraging areas, study finds; the animals also "dance" when sensing food-related magnetic fields (More)
> Engineers develop functioning, fully 3D-printed spray engine at much lower cost than existing technology; devices are used to propel crafts like small satellites through space (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq +0.0%) as US 10-year Treasury yield rises above 4.6% after hotter-than-expected inflation data (More) | Core consumer price index rose 0.4% month over month and 3.3% year over year in January (More) | The history of inflation in the US (1440 Topics)
> Chevron to lay off between 15% and 20% of its global workforce, or as many as 9,000 people, by end of 2026; move is part of efforts to cut costs by between $2B and $3B and comes amid pending $53B acquisition of Hess Corp. (More)
> Olipop prebiotic soda valued at $1.85B after raising $50M in latest funding round (More) | NYSE Chicago to reincorporate in Texas, rebrand as NYSE Texas (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Eight inspectors general sue the Trump administration for allegedly violating federal law by terminating a group of government watchdogs last month without notifying Congress (More) | Judge allows federal worker buyout plan to proceed (More)
> More than 90 million people under winter weather advisories or warnings as snowstorms sweep across US Midwest and East Coast; Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City, Missouri, among places to be hit with largest snowfall (More)
> US Coast Guard releases recording thought to be the sound of 2023 Titanic submersible implosion (More) | See previous write-up (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Valentines
We celebrate Valentines once a year on this day... by giving our sweetheart, a card, candy, and roses (or some kind of bouquet of flowers). We do not really know where the tradition started or why and don't really care, because we observe it nonetheless.
Ever since graduating from high school, I have been of the opinion that I could not only write my own valentine's poem better than any card that I could find, but it would also save me money in the process, because a poem would substitute for card, candy, and roses.
During my two marriages (the second one is still active), I have written a poem for Valentines. The one below is the one I gave my second wife this year.
VALENTINES 2025
A gift of greeting this day represents
for old and young alike they say,
A sweetheart chosen by many
others just an infatuation perhaps...
Those of us who have lived a while
see not the gift or greeting or sweetheart
but the person with whom we have spent
over one third of our lives and with
whom we have loved and continue to love,
With whom we have disagreed and with
whom we have shared the best of life
and the negative side of life as well...
We see the partner with whom we have
built our life and future and with whom
we see at first light when we awake,
We see the person with whom we share
our soul, our hopes, fears and happiness,
valentines are perpetual for us or not at all...
Quantum Machine Simulaton
Physicists have performed a simulation they say sheds new light on an elusive phenomenon that could determine the ultimate fate of the universe.
Pioneering research in quantum field theory around 50 years ago proposed that the universe may be trapped in a false vacuum—meaning it appears stable but in fact could be on the verge of transitioning to an even more stable, true vacuum state.
While this process could trigger a catastrophic change in the universe's structure, experts agree that predicting the timeline is challenging, but it is likely to occur over an astronomically long period, potentially spanning millions of years.
In an international collaboration between three research institutions, the team reports gaining valuable insights into false vacuum decay—a process linked to the origins of the cosmos and the behavior of particles at the smallest scales. The collaboration was led by Professor Zlatko Papic, from the University of Leeds, and Dr. Jaka Vodeb, from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. READ MORE...
Thursday, February 13
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)