BC

That hasn't been my experience.

@"Tom Storm" Fortunately we do not have to come up with criteria for good art, bad art, art at all. Culture, I hear, is a collective process, a cooper...

So, what are you going to do about this deficiency?

The quality of porn is easy to measure.

I do not know why some people think it is an upgrade to put a beautiful seashell in a case and hail it as art. Or, for that matter, to give the displa...

Getting back to Mozart. Genius though he was, he still had to do the work, which he had to do under much more difficult circumstances than Haydn worke...

Let's say, "personal judgement". How else would anyone decide? The starting point for von Hagens' corpus (so to speak) are dead bodies, for which he c...

They are not right or wrong about what they like, and what they like is probably what they judge to be better, more artistic. That's altogether unders...

I would say that the music academic probably doesn't like pop music and is a musical snob besides. I can relate to his dislike. Once upon a youthful t...

I am content thinking that shoveling the snow off the sidewalk is not art and that Swan Lake is art. Granted, there is a fringy region between art and...

We may not agree on the definition, but art has been defined and we have a working definition of it in our heads. Defining art again is a pleasant eno...

I sampled the codsmacked video. The visuals supported some sort of story, apparently. The instrumental part didn't interest me much, but it seemed com...

Yes, but it is of interest to everyone except you. At least that's the case if the dead are really dead and not just alive someplace else.

Hrrumph. It would make some people unhappy when the answer is "No! Now go to your room and practice perspective drawing."

I am in favor of a free and open society where people have a right to do what they want to do as long as it doesn't interfere with the rights of other...

The occupying allied army in Iraq was probably as nice as the Babylonian occupying army was.

Duly noted. At least you haven't slung any more dang ding walla walla I Ching at me.

Actually, I find the image pleasant enough to look at. There are many a dismal hallway and dreary tunnel that would benefit from the application of th...

It also conforms to Duchamp's criteria: If the brush holder calls it art, then it IS art. That leads to this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/K6YAAOSw9...

No,no -- you totally missed the point of the piece: the green splotches represent the sacredness of commercial activity in capitalist economies, threa...

I started a thread under Philosophy o Fart about a defaced painting, It won't go anywhere. Maybe if I included a story about the crudely defaced petro...

Because you're not Buddha?

I could start a thread on free will. This is my view: we are compelled to talk about free will 'till the cows come home, about every 12 hours. Paradox...

How long is this Ching thing you've got going to last?

They should probably supply champaign by the truck load for disasters, when fast effective relief is really needed.

Right. Time machine?

@"L'éléphant" You're Screwed If You're Low Income Yes, of course. The screwedness of the poor is what keeps those who are not low income YET working, ...

I'm still amazed that the delivery vehicle was able to descend into the Martian atmosphere, brake close to the surface, hold the position while it low...

I believe we (can, may, often do) have considerable resources to cope with pain and suffering, be it cancer, be it chronic MI, whatever. It's hard to ...

On the one hand, one has severe anxiety and depression and on the other hand one has a crushed femur and torn muscles. On the one hand, psycho-active ...

Get on the design team and next time we'll do it your way,

I'm not enthusiastic about people declaring this or that actual, material location as "sacred" let alone web sites. So the intersection where George F...

What works against cyber space, or particular web sites, being sacred are: a) they are too new (at the present time) b) they are not sufficiently stat...

I'm hoping for wonderful results from James Webb. At the same time, we have great examples of things that should have worked out well that just didn't...

You are correct. It's picking up photons, or something, not signals. What James Webb sends to earth are signals.

Don't look at me, I was just cutting and pasting. But sure, other galaxies have much higher rates of violence--murders, gun shots, axes sunk in skulls...

What you will see depends on how the infra-red image is processed. The same goes for a print from your point and shoot camera. Processing can make a h...

In an unalienated world, the worker would produce the beautiful cabinetry work, would receive full credit as the creator. He might work primarily as a...

There are some very large conditions to be met here. 1) a classless society Not since we were hunter-gatherers, traveling in small bands--probably fam...

Is it the swim suit dryer or the YMCA that you love? (Affection for either one makes sense.) The speedo spinner is nice, and per the Village People. P...

Here's an interesting situation: Before WWII began, the British were making plans for war--as were everybody else. The airplane people in the military...

Oh, yes -- we need this guy very much. Big picture people are needed to decide whether it is WORTH going to Mars. I have decided it is nit economicall...

How I hate having to deal with minutia and minutia mongers. I am strictly a big picture man. "Don't ask me where that little screw went --the question...

Sometimes the lords hold the knowledge (like the precise formula of Coca Cola or the 'kernel" of programs that run computers. Much of what goes into p...

There is no such thing as a "time machine stuck in line" as @"Praxis" explained. You probably have it already, but the manual IS boat off Long Beach. ...

As well it should have.

I see no major problem in not knowing how my cell phone, computer, remote, etc. works. Personally, I find the technology interesting and have limited ...

"Isn't that what happened?" he said, provoking a ZAP from on high.

What about...

Thanks Raymond. Welcome.