AI Is Getting Scary Good at Making Predictions. “From this point on, for as long as we exist, we might be asking AIs what comes next. We won’t always understand how they arrived at their predictions.”
When we think of terms like “flowing” or “fluid,” we could be referring to the nature of water, but we can also just as easily apply these concepts to our understanding of art and craft. Fabrics “pool” and different mediums converge. The nature of creativity is often referred to in terms of an “ebb and flow.” Ecologically speaking, bodies of water are metaphorically woven into the fabric of our planet. Rivers and lakes sustain an abundance of life, shape cultures, and course through history. Amid the ongoing climate crisis, how do artists express concerns about water and the environment?
Water | Craft, a group exhibition at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, dives into this question. The museum itself is situated on the banks of the Mississippi River and often directly engages with its expansive biological and cultural reach. Works by seven artists, whose practices incorporate weaving, pottery, basketry, glass, and textile arts, directly interface with contemporary issues of water access and cultural preservation amid climate change.
Colossal readers may be familiar with the mixed-media pieces of Tali Weinberg and Nicole McLaughlin, both of whom combine quantities of colorful thread with other materials in meditations on interconnectivity and multi-disciplinarity. Weinberg translates ecological data into tendril-like installations and abstract weavings, such as a series of three pieces from her Climate Datascapes series that visualize information about silt in the Upper Mississippi River. McLaughlin’s dramatically fringed ceramic platters reference Pre-Columbian cultures and the continuum of human history and time.
Water | Craft also includes works by Rowland Ricketts, Sarah Sense, Therman Statom, Kelly Church, and Tanya Aguiñiga. The latter is known for her intricately knotted wall works containing terracotta forms, which cascade gently to the floor. And Ricketts’ large-scale installation, “Bow,” comprises strands of indigo-dyed linen that suspend within a large gallery space, creating the effect of a current or perhaps the silhouette of a boat.
“Just as water flows through bodies, landscapes, and cultural histories, craft knowledge is passed between generations, carrying technical skills alongside cultural values,” the museum says. “The artists in Water | Craft employ traditional methods not as nostalgic gestures, but as living practices that continue to evolve in response to environmental change.”
Water | Craft continues through December 27 in Winona.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Along the Mississippi River, ‘Water | Craft’ Is a Confluence of Art, Culture, and Ecology appeared first on Colossal.
Een belangrijke dag voor vermogenden in Nederland. Na tien jaar gebakkelei stemt de Tweede Kamer vandaag over de opvolger van de vermaledijde Box 3-belasting. Maar nog voordat er een meerderheid met de nieuwe instemt, legt rechts alweer een hypotheek op de toekomst. Wat is de betekenis daarvan?
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Only for three days, though, then it's back to the misery feed
Meta has decided to let Threads users make custom tweaks to its all-important algorithm, but don't expect your preferences to stick and do expect to bring your best manners.…
Electric vehicles accounted for just 1% of new car sales across Africa in 2025, but a study published in Nature Energy by researchers at ETH Zurich finds that EVs paired with solar off-grid charging systems -- solar panels, batteries and an inverter -- could become cheaper to own than gas-powered equivalents across most of the continent by 2040.
The analysis considered total cost of ownership including sticker price, financing and fuel or charging costs, but excluded policy-related factors like taxes and subsidies. Electric two-wheelers could reach cost parity even sooner, by the end of the decade, thanks to smaller battery packs.
Small cars remain the toughest segment. The biggest obstacle is financing: in some African countries, political instability and economic uncertainty push borrowing costs so high that interest on an EV loan can exceed the vehicle's purchase price. South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana are already near the financing conditions needed for cost parity; countries like Sudan and Ghana would need drastic cuts.
The analysis considered total cost of ownership including sticker price, financing and fuel or charging costs, but excluded policy-related factors like taxes and subsidies. Electric two-wheelers could reach cost parity even sooner, by the end of the decade, thanks to smaller battery packs.
Small cars remain the toughest segment. The biggest obstacle is financing: in some African countries, political instability and economic uncertainty push borrowing costs so high that interest on an EV loan can exceed the vehicle's purchase price. South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana are already near the financing conditions needed for cost parity; countries like Sudan and Ghana would need drastic cuts.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
WILLEMSTAD (ANP) - Curaçao bevindt zich in een 'diabetesnoodsituatie', meldt het nationale ziekenhuis CMC woensdag. Volgens het instituut heeft dit steeds grotere gevolgen voor de volksgezondheid en de overheidsfinanciën. Eén op de vijf volwassenen op Curaçao leeft met diabetes.
Curaçao behoort, naar verhouding van het aantal inwoners, tot de landen met het op één na hoogste aantal patiënten ter wereld met nierfalen die dialyse nodig hebben. Dat kost ongeveer 100.000 Caribische gulden per patiënt, ofwel zo'n 47.000 euro.
Het gaat vooral om diabetes type 2, die vaak samenhangt met een ongezonde leefstijl: overgewicht, veel fastfood en weinig beweging. Tegelijkertijd kampt Curaçao met een zeer kwetsbare groep van ongeveer 180 personen met diabetes type 1, onder wie kinderen.
Volgens CMC is er een tekort aan gespecialiseerd personeel, onvoldoende vergoeding voor huisartsen om diabeteszorg te leveren en lange wachttijden voor essentiële diensten, zoals oogzorg. Dit leidt tot blindheid, amputaties en nierfalen. Ernstige complicaties doen zich op steeds jongere leeftijd voor.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - Een ruime Kamermeerderheid wil dat het kabinet de overname van het bedrijf achter DigiD tegenhoudt. Het Amerikaanse Kyndryl wil Solvinity kopen. Demissionair staatssecretaris Eddie van Marum (digitalisering, BBB) zei in reactie hierop dat hij eerst onderzoeken naar de overname wil afwachten.
Vanuit de Tweede Kamer was alleen JA21 een tegenstander van overheidsingrijpen om te voorkomen dat belangrijke digitale infrastructuur in Amerikaanse handen komt.
DigiD is eigendom van Logius, dat bij de overheid hoort. Solvinity zorgt ervoor dat DigiD kan draaien, maar is geen eigenaar.
Onenigheid
De zorgen komen doordat de Amerikaanse overheid direct kan ingrijpen bij Amerikaanse bedrijven, ook als die in Nederland zijn gevestigd, zoals het deel van Kyndryl dat Solvinity wil overnemen.
De Kamerleden zijn het niet eens over de manier waarop moet worden ingegrepen. Zo wil de SP dat DigiD wordt genationaliseerd, terwijl de VVD een oplossing vanuit de Nederlandse of Europese markt wil.
Ontevredenheid
SGP-leider Chris Stoffer opperde een situatie als bij Rijkswaterstaat, waar de overheid eigenaar is, maar onderhoud wordt gedaan door bedrijven. Freek Jansen (FVD) vroeg zich af of het mogelijk is dat alle overheidsdiensten die Solvinity verleent uit de overname worden gehouden. Het grootste deel van de werkzaamheden van het techbedrijf is voor Nederlandse overheden.
Van Marum herhaalde dat hij de onderzoeken wil afwachten, al zei hij wel dat nationalisatie geen optie is. Meerdere Kamerleden waren niet tevreden met de antwoorden van de staatssecretaris, omdat hij inhoudelijk weinig antwoorden gaf.
Kyndryl wordt in de VS onderzocht om mogelijke manipulatie van cijfers. De financiële en juridische topmannen stapten op.
The one thing the longevity-vampire community has not yet learned from Dracula is operational security.
Dracula operated in silence for centuries. He didn't have a podcast. He didn't track his erection quality on a public dashboard. He didn't appear on Netflix. He understood that the fundamental rule of being a vampire is: don't talk about being a vampire.
Johnson, Thiel, and their cohort have broken this rule comprehensively. Whether this represents a new era of transparency or a catastrophic strategic miscalculation remains to be seen.
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
A teacher and five students among those killed in attack in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Tuesday
Canadian police have identified the suspect who carried out a school massacre in remote British Columbia as an 18-year old woman with a history of mental health problems.
Six people, including a teacher and five students, were killed in the attack on Tuesday in the town of Tumbler Ridge, in foothills of the Rocky mountains. The victim’s mother and step-brother were later found dead at the family home, police said. The body of the shooter was also found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Continue reading...Israeli leader was expected to advocate for more forceful US intervention during sixth visit to current White House
Donald Trump has said that he is still seeking a deal with Iran to prevent it from seeking a nuclear weapon following a three-hour meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in which the Israeli leader was expected to advocate for a more forceful intervention by the US military.
Netanyahu’s sixth visit to the White House since Trump returned to office ended without any public remarks between the two leaders. The results of the hastily arranged meeting were announced by Trump in an online post.
Continue reading...Matt Murray defends paper’s strategy as ‘demoralized’ staffers ask tough questions in contentious town hall
Top Washington Post editor Matt Murray acknowledged “a widespread sense of loss, of genuine trauma” in a contentious town hall meeting with staff on Wednesday after the company laid off nearly a third of its employees a week ago – though he expressed confidence that the Post was now on a path to success.
“There’s no doubt that just the sheer depth of the cuts – and also, with that, the reality of what we face at the Post – has been a very hard thing to wrap our heads around and to grapple with,” Murray said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by the Guardian.
Continue reading...
Simon Ceulemans is uitgeroepen tot beste raadslid van Rotterdam. Een jury van journalisten van het AD en Rijnmond koos hem als winnaar. Volgens de jury heeft de oud-fractievoorzitter van Leefbaar Rotterdam zijn achterban scherp en overtuigend vertegenwoordigd.
on the water photography has added a photo to the pool:
Introducing the Renovated Uminonakamichi Seaside Park [Light and Wind Square] and the Best Places to Snap a Photo in Shikanoshima!
Located in Fukuoka’s Higashi ward, The Light and Wind Square located in the Uminonakamichi Seaside Park underwent renovations and was finally reopened to the public on March 15th, 2022. The park was reconceptualized as a destination for travelers in and of itself, with “park tourism” as the guiding theme.
As a part of this new concept, the park features stylish accommodation facilities, an enormous athletic exercise tower, and even horse riding and aquatic sports activities! For those who are willing to walk a little bit, there are even rental bike facilities located on the nearby Shikanoshima Island. Enjoy a spot of relaxation in Uminonakamichi Seaside Park prior to heading over to Shikanoshima in search of the perfect photo spot!
INN THE PARK FUKUOKA
Prior to its renewal the park was originally only open during daytime, but together with its new concept the park is now open to guests even at night. The INN THE PARK FUKUOKA accommodation facility was designed with the concept of being “a park where you can spend the night” and is integrated into the park itself, forming the nucleus of the Light and Wind Square. They offer four types of room: from single rooms to couples’ rooms, family, and group sizes.
Upon arrival your eyes will first be drawn to the 13 spherical tents that line the area in front of Kamoike. With a diameter of 6 meters and 2 stories high, you first climb a set of stairs before entering. Upon entering you are greeted with an unusual and relaxing space bathed in light. The facility allows guests to spend the entire day on the premises, with a dining plan that allows one to enjoy breakfast and a French dinner course in the restaurant. When it becomes dark outside the tents are illuminated, turning into glowing orbs that lend an ethereal aura to the area. This magical sight is a privilege reserved for those who spend the night here.
Built in a quiet corner a ways off from the center of the park you will find the suite room. The waters of Hakata Bay form an expansive vista outside of the window, creating an unparalleled sense of openness. With dimensions meant to comfortably fit 2~4 adults the space comes recommended for groups. As for dining, course-style dining will be provided on the terrace, allowing you to eat while gazing out on the sea. Staying in the suite room is a luxurious experience, affording guests with a superb view of the Hakata Bay at night, waking to the gentle sound of the lapping waves outside. In the same area there is a compact cabin nearby meant to be used by up to two people.
Source: Fukuoka City Tour Guide
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