Body & Mind

A Spotlight on the ‘Loner Genius’

- Vanessa King


The British National Gallery has opened a new exhibition called ‘Rebels and Martyrs’ and it is taking a deeper look inside the mind of the tortured artist throughout history. From Van Gogh to Kurt Cobain, artists from every genre have struggled to carve out a creative niche for themselves while engaging in regular social behaviour. Many ended their careers by ending their lives. The pieces in the show explore the psychcology behind the artist mind and look into the history of the bohemian.

The shows co-curator Alexander Sturgis commented that “it is the fierce individuality of the artists that is the wellspring of art” and that the cause of struggle is also economic, being that the growing middle class replaced state and church as the main buyers of art “artists became much less secure. The poor, struggling artist was an economic reality.”

Other subjects touched on are the increase in science and more rational theories of enlightenment which led artists to seek out something more internal, intuitive and spiritual. By exploring the mind of the ‘rebel artist’ the show sheds light on a somewhat dismal subject and gives appreciation to those who have suffered in order to share a part of themselves through their creativity.

Mad Cow Test for Humans

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

A new test has been created to test for the human form of mad cow disease, CJD. The new test for CJD is predicted to be a great step forward for finding a cure!

“Screening the population could energise the search for vCJD treatments, since drug companies are reluctant to carry out research on treating a disease that has caused about 150 deaths, with the numbers of cases declining from a peak in 2000.”

Student Swap

- Adam Clare

A new website has been launched by two mothers as a reaction to increasing tuition fees in the UK that allows parents to swap children. Student Swaps is exactly as it sounds. The idea is that for two families to save money they can have one child trade bedrooms with another – for free.

“The principle behind Student Swaps is to enable students to literally swap family homes. The website will hold a database of students who would like to swap and link them with suitable matches. So those from one town/city could swap with those from a different town/city. ”

This a great idea! It will allow for students and their families to save money and broaden their horizons.

Urban Etiquette Handbook

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Being proper in an urban setting is not that hard, but it’s always fun to have a guide to see if you are doing it “right.” The New York Metro has released an Urban Etiquette Handbook. What better city than New York to write a guide like this considering they are the most polite?

The basics of the list:
(1) No raking women with your eyes; glance quickly and respectfully.
(2) Offer to share a taxi rather than fight over it.
(3) Babies in strollers get right-of-way—until they abuse it.
(4) Still no ogling girls—c’mon!
(5) And skateboarding, are you kidding me?
(6) Not everybody loves your dog as much as you do.
(7) No bicycling on the sidewalk unless under the age of 6.
(8) Pedestrians can die of secondhand smoke, too”

Microsoft and Creative Commons

- Adam Clare

Microsoft has announced that they will release a tool for Microsoft Office applications that allows for people to easily publish things they create using a creative commons license. This is a great step for the CC movement, something that ThingsAreGood is part of.

“The goal of Creative Commons is to provide authors and artists with simple tools to mark their creative work with the freedom they intend it to carry,” said Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of Creative Commons. “We’re incredibly excited to work with Microsoft to make that ability easily available to the hundreds of millions of users of Microsoft Office.”

“It’s thrilling to see big companies like Microsoft working with nonprofits to make it easier for artists and creators to distribute their works,” said Gilberto Gil, cultural minister of Brazil, host nation for the Creative Commons iSummit in Rio de Janeiro June 23 through 25, where the copyright licensing tool will be featured. Gil, who will keynote at the iSummit, has released one of the first documents using the Creative Commons add-in for Microsoft Office.

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