If you are visiting a foreign country, you might take along a pocket guide to the language to help you order things in restaurants or explain to the local police what the person who snatched your cell phone looks like. It beats pointing and grunting or shouting in English, and the natives will admire you for making the effort, even if they bring you squid instead of chicken.
Arts funding cuts in the UK have bitten deep. The Arts Council has lost a third of its funds, forcing it to axe some of its projects and scale down others. In this atmosphere of austerity, arts fundraising needs to go into overdrive to save some of Britain’s best cultural assets from extinction.
Shaan Patel is such a driven and high-achieving person that his claim to boost anyone’s SAT score by 200 points or more carries some credibility. From humble beginnings growing up at his parents’ motel in Nowheresville, Nevada and attending the local public school which had a dropout rate of 40%, he graduated from Yale with an MBA and USC with an MD. And his own SAT score on the way there? A perfect 1600, after starting out with only an average score. This lends weight to his claim that he can boost anyone’s SAT score by 200 or more, because he boosted his own by several hundred points.
International luxury goods group Kering owns brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Boucheron, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. Possibly stemming from the company’s origins in the timber industry – or perhaps in spite of them – since 2012 it has been committed to a sustainability plan that aims to minimise its impact on the environment. This includes avoiding PVC in manufacturing operations, sourcing gold from ethical providers, and purchasing its leather from responsible and verified sources.
It’s funny how the contestants on TV baking shows like the Great British Bake Off always seem to have plenty of creative ideas and expert baking skills. The results on the day vary – otherwise there wouldn’t be a show – but they all seem to have been studying, learning and baking like crazy before getting on the show and receiving their first challenge.
With music education facing extinction in UK schools and budget cuts leading one prominent musician to proclaim the situation ‘child abuse’, at least it’s good to know that some of our friends across the pond are getting it right, at least in one major city. Chicago schools are generating high levels of student engagement through allowing them to form their own mariachi bands.
Eat blueberries and you will live for ever. Quinoa gives you superpowers. Being within 100 feet of an egg yolk will kill you instantly. Exaggeration? Yes, but every day we hear dietary messages from the media and food ‘experts’ that aren’t that far from such hyperbole. Social Media use food fads as bait to draw us in and show us ads (thanks, Buzzfeed). There is conflicting advice out there that can make our heads spin. To pick the right things to eat and create a healthy and sustainable diet, the best thing to do is educate ourselves in nutritional science and then make our own choices.
Those involved in the creative process know how hard it can be sometimes to open the floodgates of their creativity when required. If they wait for inspiration, they might find themselves waiting a long time. The old adage about creativity (or was it success?) being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration definitely applies here.
When you turn the key of your Bentley and the engine purrs to life, spare a thought for the minions who designed, manufactured and tested all those moving parts, perfected the aerodynamics, gave it brakes that make it stand on its nose and made the gear changes feel like silk. Minion school is a place called the University of Bolton in England, where they deliver a BSc (Hons) degree in Motorsport Technology.
Stand-up comedy is an interesting instance of the nature vs. nurture debate. Are good comedians just naturally funny people, or have they painstakingly crafted their acts over hundreds of performances so they can push our laughter buttons and get results?
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, studied philosophy at college. Astute viewers will have noted the many references to philosophy in the show – Homer, for one, is so named as a nod to a great thinker (but he thinks it comes from baseball). Critics have noted for a long time that the show does more than merely play with philosophy. Rather than mentioning clever stuff in passing to show its creator’s erudition, the Simpsons actually does philosophy.
