Women are a major driving force of photography. No sooner had French pioneer Louis Daguerre introduced the media to the public in 1839 than it began to be used as a method to portray female beauty. It was American chemist John W. Draper who ushered women into photography with a portrait of his sister Dorothy. And ever since, the suspicion has been that a wooing Orpheus lurks behind the cold technology of the camera - an artist whose intentions are to captivate and seduce women with photographs.?
But women have not only left their mark on photography as models and backdrops. They have contributed stylistically behind the camera itself as well. On the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March 2013, the exhibition "Women" explores the feminine side of photography. Fifteen photographic approaches document aesthetic and temporal characteristics in images and depictions of femininity.
? stefan moses 'Stra?enbahnschaffnerinnen K?ln, 1963
?
The exhibition begins with the complex light montages from the pre-war work of Heinz Hajek-Halke. The Berlin-based photographer exemplifies the staged embodiment of femininity during the avant-garde movement. Hajek-Halke?s experimental techniques did not simply display women's bodies, the photographer rendered pygmalionesque recreations of light on silver gelatin paper.?
The approach of many photojournalists in the postwar era -Robert Lebeck, Stefan Moses, Hannes Kilian and Max Scheler ? was quite different. Their names stand for a new international image of the German woman. Portraits of American divas such as Eartha Kitt and Elizabeth Taylor document the return of glamor to the Adenauer Republic. But women at work also garnered the attention of this generation of photographers. Among others, Robert Lebeck?s 1964 photograph of Sicilian washerwomen in Cullera exemplifies journalistic art, and ties in with so-called "life photography". The dancing workers in this photo illustrate far more than playful flirtation with the camera ? the photo represents a photographic search for dignity and grace.
? Isa Marcelli, Serie 'Parfums' 2012/agence r?v?lateur
Nintendo's European arm worked out a deal with Germany's video game regulation body, USK, and its 18+ eShop games are now available at any hour on the 3DS and Wii U. In a missive issued to European Nintendo console users, the company said "adults can browse and buy all games at any time of day" from now on. Said agreement was only reached after "analysis of the Parental Controls system on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS" by USK, which found the parental control systems "in practice" with standards.
The bizarre restriction, which originally allowed sales of 18+ games through the European eShop only between 11PM and 3AM, was caused by USK's decency and violence standards. As Nintendo's European branch is based out of Germany, the German laws impacted the entire region's eShop access. But no longer! Assassin's Creed 3 at 10AM? You bet! ZombiU at 2:13PM? Why not! Of course, with download / install times topping four hours, you may wanna get started sooner than later on downloading the bigger games.
by Marc Lichtenfeld, Investment U Senior Analyst Wednesday, March 20, 2013: Issue #1993
In case you haven?t noticed, the market has been on a tear. Since mid-November, the S&P 500 is up 16%. It has gone practically straight up since February 26. It?s gone up 10 of the last 13 trading sessions.
So it?s no surprise that bears and skeptics are looking for reasons for the market to turn south.
And last week they got a good one. Actress Mila Kunis told CNBC she?s started investing in stocks.
That got wannabe contrarians in a lather, calling a market top. It must be, they suggest, when a 29-year-old who is better known for playing opposite Ashton Kutcher in That 70?s Show rather than for her financial acumen starts spouting off about the stock market.
I?m guessing, however, that most of those calling a top didn?t watch the interview. Kunis was asked what she does with her money. She mentioned she?s very conservative and likes to keep it in the bank, but is being ?pushed? to invest in stocks. So it sounds like she?s getting some good guidance from her financial adviser.
There is no reason why someone with decades before retirement should be in all cash. It?s not like Kunis is pretending to be a financial expert, because she?s made a few good trades.
Which brings us to Rachel Fox. The 16-year-old actress has been making the rounds on financial television, advocating the benefits of day trading. The Desperate Housewives star is apparently a successful day trader and blogs about her thoughts on the market and individual stocks.
Fox doesn?t use fundamental or technical analysis, she just claims to have a feel for stocks and can tell when they?re overbought or oversold.
That got the contrarians going. When a 16-year-old actress trades stocks based on feel and then goes on TV to talk about it, the bull market must surely be near its end.
Or when a wrong-way Corrigan ex-Fed chairman, Allan Greenspan, says stocks are not overvalued, surely they must be. Right?
Signs of a top?
Just because a beautiful woman who doesn?t know much about the markets, a kid who thinks she does, or an octogenarian with a lousy track record, say that stocks are a good investment, doesn?t mean they aren?t.
For sentiment to be at extremes, we need everyone talking about stocks, not just a few people who make us snicker. Remember during the dot-com boom when taxi drivers were giving stock tips? When doctors and lawyers were day trading from their offices, or even giving up their practices entirely?
Or how about during the housing boom when instead of trading eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), those same doctors and lawyers were flipping houses? When everyone was seemingly investing in real estate because ?it?s the only way to make money.? That?s when sentiment is at an extreme.
We?re not there yet.
And valuation is certainly not at an extreme level.
The S&P 500 is currently trading at 15.3 times earnings. Over the past six years, the average has been 15.4. Since 1871, the average has been 15.5. So stocks are hardly overvalued.
But let?s give the naysayers the benefit of the doubt for a moment. Let?s call this the Kunis top. (I prefer the image of a Kunis top rather than a Greenspan top.)
The market has always come back to hit new highs after a bear market. If you?re invested for the long term, you should have nothing to worry about. For those of you with a short time horizon, go ahead and sell your stocks to Mila Kunis. Maybe it is the top. Or maybe we have another 100% to go before this bull has run its course. I don?t try to time the market, so I?m not too worried about it. Rather, what I do is invest in great companies that pay rising dividends.
Those stocks tend to outperform no matter what the broad market is doing. And if the market goes against me, I get paid 4% to 6% to wait it out ? reinvesting those dividends at lower prices if we do in fact experience a bear market.
So let people mock Kunis, Fox and Greenspan. Maybe those who are looking at this trio as a contrarian indicator will get lucky and will time this thing right ? although few people ever do. You should just stick to your plan and not worry about what others are saying about the market ? or even worse, what others are saying about what others are saying about the market. Even if those others are A-list Hollywood starlets.
Good Investing,
Marc
Editor?s Note: Marc outlined his 10-11-12 System for building significant wealth with dividends in his best-selling book, Get Rich With Dividends. And now he?s launching a special monthly newsletter ? along with three exclusive portfolios ? based on his system and how to generate superior income in any market.
It?s called The Oxford Income Letter, and the timing couldn?t be any better. Marc has spotted what he thinks will be a make-or-break event for our retirement goals. And it could hit as soon as April 4. In his brand new report ? over $100,000 and 17 months in the making ? Marc lays the groundwork for his current investment thesis. To learn more, click here.
Is This the Mila Kunis Top?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating
Stone ships show signs of maritime network in Baltic Sea region 3,000 years agoPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joakim Wehlin joakim.wehlin@archaeology.gu.se 46-070-346-9776 University of Gothenburg
In the middle of the Bronze Age, around 1000 BC, the amount of metal objects increased dramatically in the Baltic Sea region. Around the same time, a new type of stone monument, arranged in the form of ships, started to appear along the coasts. New research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden shows that the stone ships were built by maritime groups.
The maritime groups were part of a network that extended across large parts of northern Europe. The network was maintained largely because of the strong dependence on bronze.
Archaeologists have long assumed that bronze was imported to Scandinavia from the south, and recent analyses have been able to confirm this notion. The distribution of bronze objects has been discussed frequently, with most analyses focusing on the links in the networks. The people behind the networks, however, are only rarely addressed, not to mention their meeting places.
'One reason why the meeting places of the Bronze Age are not discussed very often is that we haven't been able to find them. This is in strong contrast to the trading places of the Viking Age, which have been easy to locate as they left behind such rich archaeological material,' says the author of the thesis Joakim Wehlin from the University of Gothenburg and Gotland University.
In his thesis, Wehlin has analysed the archaeological material from the Bronze Age stone ships and their placement in the landscape. The stone ships can be found across the entire Baltic Sea region and especially on the larger islands, with a significant cluster on the Swedish island of Gotland. The ships have long been thought to have served as graves for one or several individuals, and have for this reason often been viewed as death ships intended to take the deceased to the afterlife.
'My study shows a different picture. It seems like the whole body was typically not buried in the ship, and some stone ships don't even have graves in them. Instead, they sometimes show remains of other types of activities. So with the absence of the dead, the traces of the survivors tend to appear.'
One of Wehlin's conclusions is that the stone ships and the activities that took place there point to people who were strongly focused on maritime practice. Details in the ships indicate that they were built to represent real ships. Wehlin says that the stone ships give clues about the ship-building techniques of the time and therefore about the ships that sailed on the Baltic Sea during the Bronze Age.
By studying the landscape, Wehlin has managed to locate a number of meeting places, or early ports.
'These consist of areas that resemble hill forts and are located near easily accessible points in the landscape that is, near well-known waterways leading inland. While these areas have previously been thought to be much younger, recent age determinations have dated them to the Bronze Age.'
The thesis offers a very extensive account of the stone ships. It also suggests that the importance of the Baltic Sea during the Scandinavian Bronze Age, not least as a waterway, has been underestimated in previous research.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Stone ships show signs of maritime network in Baltic Sea region 3,000 years agoPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joakim Wehlin joakim.wehlin@archaeology.gu.se 46-070-346-9776 University of Gothenburg
In the middle of the Bronze Age, around 1000 BC, the amount of metal objects increased dramatically in the Baltic Sea region. Around the same time, a new type of stone monument, arranged in the form of ships, started to appear along the coasts. New research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden shows that the stone ships were built by maritime groups.
The maritime groups were part of a network that extended across large parts of northern Europe. The network was maintained largely because of the strong dependence on bronze.
Archaeologists have long assumed that bronze was imported to Scandinavia from the south, and recent analyses have been able to confirm this notion. The distribution of bronze objects has been discussed frequently, with most analyses focusing on the links in the networks. The people behind the networks, however, are only rarely addressed, not to mention their meeting places.
'One reason why the meeting places of the Bronze Age are not discussed very often is that we haven't been able to find them. This is in strong contrast to the trading places of the Viking Age, which have been easy to locate as they left behind such rich archaeological material,' says the author of the thesis Joakim Wehlin from the University of Gothenburg and Gotland University.
In his thesis, Wehlin has analysed the archaeological material from the Bronze Age stone ships and their placement in the landscape. The stone ships can be found across the entire Baltic Sea region and especially on the larger islands, with a significant cluster on the Swedish island of Gotland. The ships have long been thought to have served as graves for one or several individuals, and have for this reason often been viewed as death ships intended to take the deceased to the afterlife.
'My study shows a different picture. It seems like the whole body was typically not buried in the ship, and some stone ships don't even have graves in them. Instead, they sometimes show remains of other types of activities. So with the absence of the dead, the traces of the survivors tend to appear.'
One of Wehlin's conclusions is that the stone ships and the activities that took place there point to people who were strongly focused on maritime practice. Details in the ships indicate that they were built to represent real ships. Wehlin says that the stone ships give clues about the ship-building techniques of the time and therefore about the ships that sailed on the Baltic Sea during the Bronze Age.
By studying the landscape, Wehlin has managed to locate a number of meeting places, or early ports.
'These consist of areas that resemble hill forts and are located near easily accessible points in the landscape that is, near well-known waterways leading inland. While these areas have previously been thought to be much younger, recent age determinations have dated them to the Bronze Age.'
The thesis offers a very extensive account of the stone ships. It also suggests that the importance of the Baltic Sea during the Scandinavian Bronze Age, not least as a waterway, has been underestimated in previous research.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.
The iPhone 5 already has its share of cases with extended batteries, but how about one with a backup plan for your backup plan? Taking to Crowd Supply for funding, Gridcase's Reactor features an internal 400mAh battery and a crank-powered 500mAh generator that allows users to manually distribute power to their phone's fading cell. Aside from being an on the go smartphone defibrillator, the Reactor adds a micro USB port to your iPhone 5, freeing it from being locked into using Apple's proprietary Lightning connector. If Gridcase's $350,000 crowdfunding campaign is successful and product development goes according to plan, the company will start sending out its first batch of orders in mid-November. As for pricing, the project's first 10,000 backers can score the Reactor for $99 while late adopters will have to pay a premium of $129. So, if you like what you're hearing and you're not afraid of a little manual labor, head on over to the source link below to make a pledge. For those of you who are still on the fence, check out the Reactor's demo video after the break.
Experts said new press regulations could mean that within three years having to defend your opinions will seem as outmoded as basing your opinions on some form of evidence.
Julian Cook, an opinions analyst, said: ?The statutory royal charter on who can say what will make the settling of arguments an awful lot more efficient.?
Tom Logan, from Hatfield, said: ?Freedom of speech is very important to me because I?m always right.
?I?m relieved that we now have a fair and reasonable way of regulating people who are wrong.?
Cook added: ?Initially, the extent to which people will be able to disagree with you will depend on what your opinions are and who is in power at the time.
?Though once this thing really beds in you won?t see power changing hands all that often.
?It does mean that if you have the wrong opinions you will end up being disagreed with a lot. At which point we think it would be easier to just change your opinions to the right ones.
?And once everyone has the same opinion about everything we will all live happily ever after.
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Public release date: 21-Mar-2013
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