Cheese curds are a typical Wisconsin food.(Photo: Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Inc.)

A true cheesehead knows more than how to identify fresh curds.Any cheese amateurcan squeak the squeak if the cheese curd is fresh.

The path to full cheesehead enlightenment begins with knowledge beyond the curd. Here are 10 Wisconsin cheese facts to begin your journey.

Curd color:Most cheese fanatics know cheese curds are fresh globs of cheddar and should squeak when eaten. True cheeseheads know the difference between white and orange-yellow curds is the addition of a dye made fromannatto seed.

Best fried curds: Two recent efforts declared two different Wisconsin restaurants the deep-fried cheese curd champion. One reportsthe best curds are at Stone Arch Brewpub in Appleton; the other says head to The Old Fashioned in Madison. If you scoffat any list that doesn't begin with "your" cheese curd destination, add a stamp to your cheesehead passport.

True Sconnie cheeses: Curds are undeniably a Wisconsin cheese specialty. It doesn't take a cheese detective to connect Colby to its origins in Colby, Wisconsin. The cheese history buff knows that in 1877 John Jossi started using bricks to press a new cheese known today as, well, brick. Working in Limburger cheese plants led Jossi to use acurd for brick cheese that was drier than Limburger with lower levels of the bacterium linens used to rub the outer rind to develop the flavor.

Limburger loner:Speaking of Limburger, every hunk of thischeesemadein the United States comes from Wisconsin. We can all thank the Chalet Cheese Cooperative near Monroe for keeping stores stocked with this formerly popular but still odorous cheese.

String perfection:Baker Cheese produces nearly 3 million string cheese sticks per day. The St. Cloud-based cheesemaker is a specialist tapped by companies to make string cheese wrapped in their brand name. Almost 90% of the string cheese produced here is private label shipping out to all50 states, Mexico, South Korea and other countries.

Cheddar by age:You don't have to be a cheese genius to know cheddar gets sharper as it ages. Memorize this chart to earn a stamp on your true cheesehead card.

Lots of mozz: Cheddar and curds get lots of love but neither is the big cheese when it comes to Wisconsin production. One third of all Wisconsin cheese made in 2018 was mozzarella. Cheddar was a close second at 20.9%.

U.S. quantity champs:Wisconsin cheesemakers produced 3.36 billion pounds in 2019, which is 26% of the nations cheese.

U.S. quality champs:Wisconsin cheesemakers won the most medals at the 2019 United States Championship Cheese Contest, including 57 best of class awards.

Level up your status:If you want to improve your cheesehead status, stock your fridge with the best Wisconsin made cheeses. Here are the top scored Wisconsin made cheeses at each of the biannualUnited States Championship Cheese Contest. (* indicates overall champion)

Grand master cheeseheads maybegrudgingly offer a tip of theircheese wedge foam hats to anyone whoseexpertise is limited by the knowledge put forth here. Be patient young curdsqueaker, the journey of the full cheese enlightenment begins with a single bite.

Contact Daniel at (920) 996-7214or dphiggin@gannett.com. Follow himon Twitter and Instagram at @HigginsEats.

More: This recipe found on a can of Del Monte corn makes a super easy and surprisingly tasty taco pizza

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10 slices of Wisconsin cheese wisdom a true cheesehead should know - Green Bay Press Gazette

Elle Fanning in The Great, Hailee Steinfeld in Dickinson and Elisabeth Moss in Shirley. Composite: Hulu/Apple TV+/Sundance/AP

It is a point in favor of TVs sprawling proliferation that one gets, in the course of a year, both a lush, serious historical drama starring Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great on HBO, and its tonal opposite, Hulus raucous, gleefully brutal The Great, which puts an asterisk right on the title card: An Occasionally True Story. The Great, developed by Tony McNamara, the writer of absurd court send-up The Favourite,cares little for the historical accuracy of the 18th-century Russian monarch. Its Catherine (Elle Fanning) arrives in the backward, hedonistic Russian court as a naive 19-year-old bride in 1761. The real Catherine was 35 and a mother by then, but thats fine free from the constraints of biography or pedantic seriousness, The Greats occasional truth delivers, ironically, a more lasting impression of a real, flesh and blood princess one slowly but determinedly amassing power, enlightened but ambitious to rule.

Its a counterintuitive and refreshing insight the show shares not only with its clear predecessors The Favourite and Sofia Coppolas 2006 film Marie Antoinette but with other recent historical-ish content such as Apple TVs Dickinson, or the new film Shirley. In these absurd, anachronistic or downright fictional depictions of oft-biographied historical figures women frequently defined against the restrictions of their period it turns out that the farther one strays from the record, the more clear and accessible the window into their character.

Take, for example, one of the most effective highlights of The Great: 19-year-old Catherine, cinched in a corset and petticoat, silk shoes squelching in mud, arrives on a battlefield intending to cheer the soldiers with a flushed smile and a box of pastel macaroons. But the bloodied man she meets has lost his fingers and cant grasp the cookie. Ill just pop it in your mouth, Catherine attempts, baffled and floundering. Its pistachio, if thats helpful.

The scene is comically rich for its obscene clash of opulence and suffering the ludicrous macaroon box, the farce that is Catherines sincere scheme to appear helpful. Never mind that the real Catherine was a palace veteran by then, or that cream macaroons were invented in the 1930s. The historical record is absolutely beside the point; the shows razor-sharp reveal is in Catherines laughable naivety, in the archly callous disregard of life, the clash of aloof power with Enlightenment ideals. The real Catherine was, indeed, absorbed by Enlightenment thinkers and a voracious reader who nonetheless consolidated power, a point conveyed with a highly anachronistic FUCK!!!! as she tosses the silly macaroons out of her carriage window on the ride home. Russia cannot continue on this path! she exclaims, a one-stop line of self-serving earnestness.

The Great, like The Favourite, relishes the timeless comedy of bodily messes (the macaroon episode is called Blood and Vomit). A splotchy rash which blooms across Catherines chest becomes its own punchline; Fannings flushes as she errs or storms off feel like characters of their own. The performance draws viewers in; its easy to recall your own storms of emotion in watching Catherine traverse disappointment and ambition even if her naivety is a fiction within an absurd court farce.

Theres a similar drive for relatability underscoring Dickinson, Apple TVs riff on the life of American poet Emily Dickinson, which fills a loose sketch of her biography with half-ironic #feminism one-liners, swearing and a death fantasy starring rapper Wiz Khalifa. The series, developed by Alena Smith, takes some inspiration from the show Drunk History, in which the past becomes sweetly, hilariously companionable through boozy retellings dubbed over celebrity actors. The real Emily Dickinson was an introvert who rarely published in her lifetime; privately, her poetry experimented with form, the better to capture waves in the storm of ones mind. TV Dickinson manifests that creative radicalism externally, dispensing with the poets longstanding public persona shy, reclusive in favor of candid, barbed ambition.

As played by the excellent Hailee Steinfeld, to varying effect (I didnt initially love the show, which felt half-baked in parts, but have warmed to it in later episodes), this Dickinson maintains an affair with her brothers fiancee, calls bullshit on doing chores and manipulates a crush into publishing her poetry. Confronted with a no-girls-allowed rule for science demonstrations at the local college, Emily translates the eras subtext plainly: Maybe theyre so scared that if they teach us how the world works well figure out a way how to take over. Its a weirdly entertaining send-up of the real societal limitations facing Dickinson, giving real talent and ambition, however unarticulated or thwarted or quiet, room to breathe and flaunt.

Dispensing with the facts entirely can be more evocative of said talent, as demonstrated by Shirley, released on-demand this week in the US (its theatrical run scrapped by Covid), a film which rejects the biopic entirely for a fiction mirroring the work of its protagonist, the mid-century horror writer Shirley Jackson. The film, directed by Josephine Decker and based on the novel by Susan Scarf Merrell, takes real-life inspirations for Jacksons work her agoraphobia, her emotionally abusive but co-dependent marriage, her imposing house in Vermont as material for a psychodrama in which a younger couple staying as guests, and the womens hold on reality, combusts under the Jackson roof. The film aims not for accuracy but instead to drop the viewer into a Jackson story, which does far more to dig into the truth of her genius, and to honor her work excavating the ghoulish, terrifying depths of womens insecurities and mental prisons, than any by-the-numbers portrait ever could.

Though in an entirely different register than the two comic series, Shirley presents perhaps the best example of liberated fictions potential as the most effective female biopic. A lifes recounting bound to fact would necessarily focus on constraint, struggle or the negotiation of image and ambition in a mans world. Instead, Shirley centers the authors artistic brilliance, Dickinson revels in the poets real creative confidence, The Great trickily extricates the contradictions of the Enlightened despots position. Its not fact, per se, but whos to say thats not closer to the truth?

Dickinson is now available on Apple TV+, The Great is on Hulu in the US with a UK date to follow and Shirley is released on 5 June digitally and on Hulu in the US with a UK date also to follow

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History remixed: the rise of the anachronistic female lead - The Guardian

Siddhivinayak Temple Mumbai live Tuesday darshan details

The Siddhinivayak temple in Mumbai's Prabhadevi region is one of the most famous shrines in the country. Those who visit the city for the first time, do pay obeisance to Siddhivinayak, the 'lord who fulfills wishes' or the 'lord of enlightenment' or the 'enlightened one.'

Tuesdays or mangalvar are generally meant for worshipping Mangal Moorti Ganpati Bappa. He is called Sukh Karta (giver of happiness) and Dukh Harta (remover of sorrow). Therefore, he is Mangal, meaning auspicious. Devotees usually walk barefoot from their homes on Tuesdays to take the first darshan of Bappa in the morning. It is believed that people's wishes get fulfilled, and therefore, Siddhivinayak is considered as the one who grants people's desires. Devotees pay a visit to Bappa before asking for a wish and after it gets fulfilled too.

The idol of Siddhivinayak is unlike the other Ganesha idols. Here, Bappa looks resplendent in red, has the third eye on the forehead, four hands and the trunk titled towards the right. This is a rare sight because most of the idols elsewhere have his trunk inclined towards the left. Siddhivinayak Bappa holds a lotus, an axe, ajapmala(garland of sacred beads) and a modak in the upper right, upper left hands, lower right hand, and lower left hand respectively. Goddesses Riddhi and Siddhi are seen seated on either side.

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The Siddhivinayak shrine is one of the most visited temples in the country. Thousands flock the temple throughout the week, but Tuesdays are considered more special. The temple is presently not open to the public owing to the lockdown implemented to contain the spread of coronavirus. However, you can take a virtual Darshan of Ganpati Bappa.

You may click this link for the LIVE darshan. http://www.siddhivinayak.org/virtual_darshan.asp

Tuesday's special (early morning Shree Darshan) - 3.15 AM to 4.45 AM

Kakad Aarti and early morning puja- 5.00 AM to 5.30 AM

Shree Darshan - 5.30 AM to 12.15 PM

Naivedhya -12.15 PM to 12.30 PM

Shree Darshan - 12.30 PM to 8.45 PM

Aarti - 9.30 PM to 10.00 PM

Shejaarti (final aarti of the day) - 12.00 AM

Ganpati Bappa Morya, Mangal Moorti Morya.

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Siddhivinayak Temple Mumbai yet to open; check out aarti timings, other details and where to watch it live - Times Now

Mahershala Ali and Ramy Youssef in Ramy season two. Photograph: Hulu

Ramy, a sharp, POV-based comedy by Muslim-American Ramy Youssef, was one of 2019s most original and promising new shows. The joint Hulu/A24 production spent most of its 10-episode first season upending, with a wink and plenty of heart, both the audience expectations of idiosyncrasies within a Muslim family in New Jersey, and the protagonists bumbling attempts to live a more spiritually enlightened life.

The first season was a boon for critics an underrepresented perspective, daring, underseen, worthy of a major Golden Globe win but its second season, which premiered last week, lifts it to a must-see: an ambitious, contradictory and refractive exploration of one mans sisyphean trek toward meaning and spirituality in a deeply profane, messy and sometimes wondrous world. And, more pointedly for viewers in the fractious summer of 2020: a portrait of the many ways self-improvement turns self-serving, apologies mask as empty pleas for absolution, and enlightenment serves as exploitation of another.

Ramy is a contradictory character, a spiritual jester attuned to both Friday prayers and Friday night Im like at both. I wanna pray, I wanna go to the party, and Im breaking some rules, Im following others, he tells his cousin in Egypt in one of his many attempts to justify spinning his wheels.In the first seasons final two transfixing episodes, Ramy travels to Egypt, a country he has romanticized but not visited in years, in search of a magic clarity pill on who to be, but instead of a Muslim panacea finds a real country of complicated people naively Trump-supporting relatives, alcohol. His one moment of communal release and transcendence, at a Sufi center in Cairo, manifests as an attraction to his cousin.

For its second season, Ramy recruits two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali to play a Sufi sheikh leading a mixed congregation at an adapted church picketed by Islamophobic locals. Reeling from his problematic tryst in Egypt, called out by his friends for skipping prayers and masturbating too much, Ramy seeks the sheikhs mentorship with the energy of a skittish puppy dog. I feel like I have this hole inside of me thats always been there, this kind of emptiness, and Im always trying to fill it with something, he unspools to the sheikh. His comedy lies in small justifications and mundane excuses he had sex with a married woman during Ramadan, but I just want you to know, he reassures, that it was during eating hours. Ramys intent seems straightforward enough: to kill the ego. But the application proves harder, the glitch of the whole season. Ramy commits to honesty, then dodges the truth on the last time he masturbated with a technicality.

Ramys enduring at times, too enduring passivity in the face of consequences defines the whole second season, which like the first contains several side-character capsules in which he disappears entirely (Hiam Abbass, as his brittle yet deeply sympathetic mother Maysa, once again delivers a standout turn). The sophomore outings 10 episodes are darker and more damning of Ramys self-justifying antics each thrust into the journey of enlightenment, leavened by good intentions and his flirtatious charm, only digs deeper into a mountain of self-obfuscating deflection and deception. (Im sorry, I feel like this is all my fault, is one of his fallbacks, guilt relief masked as a probing apology). His recruitment of an Iraq war veteran struggling with PTSD to the Sufi center models being a good Muslim, but ultimately serves more to impress the sheikh; likewise with his attempt to amend for his disastrous outreach with a fever-dream fundraising trip to a rich Emiratis Connecticut estate.

But the most egregious deception is his earnestly enacted delusion that hes in love with the sheikhs daughter, Zainab (MaameYaa Boafo), a wary, if underwritten, spitfire deeply committed to her faith, including saving oneself for marriage. The relationship goes (stop here to avoid spoilers) foreseeably awry, and when Ramy wakes to an empty marriage bed, hes greeted with the sheikhs death stare. The scene is a masterclass in flailing appeals to likability filling a bottomless hole of deferred personal responsibility; swaddled in a sheet as if an overgrown, diapered toddler, Ramy pleads before the sheikh for unearned forgiveness, for an explanation, for opportunity as a place to grow from. Under pressure, guilt-ridden and exposed, Ramy mistakes using someone as reciprocity. The rest of the world exists so you can reflect on it and perfect yourself, is that it? responds the barely composed shiekh. Fuck you, Ramy you little fuck, you little fucking boy. You hurt people.

Ramys second season dropped on 29 May, as protests over the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and of racist police brutality in the United States erupted across the country. Obviously, the show was not made in that context and, of course, it is a show firmly rooted in one mans perspective of Islam and his self-serving attempts to adhere to it but, as a white person, its hard not to view the characters unworked attempts at introspection and their resulting damage in the second season as depressingly timely. In the past week, white people across the country belatedly woke up to systemic racism with a series of, often, performative posts, barrages to black people asking for educational resources and well-meaning but silent black tiles crowding out critical space on the Black Lives Matter hashtag (I am not exempt from this).

To be clear, Ramy is a brilliant show for many reasons, especially the space devoted to its female and middle-aged characters; nor is the new season unimpeachable (see: acapsule episode for his sister Dena (May Calamawy), which does little to expand her character beyond the first season). But perhaps the most potent insight in this second season is the leads amenable but pathological defiance of personal responsibility, his well-meaning and winsome brew of good intentions and self-obsession. Ramys perspective might be hyperspecific, but that complex is not.

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Ramy: the smartest, darkest TV comedy that you're not watching - The Guardian

Ravangla in South Sikkim is dotted with pretty villages surrounded by alpine trees, and jaw-dropping views of the Himalayas. Khanchengdzonga, Pandim, Siniolchu, and Kabru are the major peaks that are visible from various points in the area. It is also home to some of the most stunning monasteries and Buddhist temples in Sikkim. Here are some that you must not miss on your next visit.

Buddha ParkThis vast complex with manicured gardens features a 130ft statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha. It was consecrated by the Dalai Lama to mark the 2550th birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha. The imposing figure is depicted in the Dharmachakra mudra symbolising the Wheel of Dharma which was set in motion when the Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnaths Deer Park after attaining enlightenment. Hence, this park is also called Tathagata Tsal or place of enlightenment. About 60 tonnes of copper, and some 4kgs of gold, was used for this statue built in the repouss technique (one of the oldest metal-working practices in the world). You must check it out after sunset, when it is lit up and visible for miles around.

The climb up to the statue is quite strenuous, but the remarkable murals and paintings inside the temple beneath the statue are worth the effort. You can get battery-powered vehicles (for a fee) to go around. Ask for one at the ticket counter. Inside the temple is a spiral gallery of stunning artworks which showcases scenes from the Buddhas life. A glass-encased cylinder in the middle has murals containing holy relics from different countries. Look out for the hundreds of miniature Buddha statues in various mudras scattered around the periphery. Outside the temple are water fountains which function much like wishing wells. At the Tongchoe Lhakhang, you can light butter lamps in memory of your loved ones for a nominal fee.The site is within the complex of the centuries-old Rabong monastery, an interesting piece of traditional Buddhist architecture.

Close by is Ralang Monastery, another key religious place for Tibetan Buddhism. You can also walk to the Cho Djo Lake located within the complex. The park is about a kilometer from Ravangla town, so you can make this into a day outing. Make sure you are wearing sensible walking shoes when you visit because you will be doing a lot of walking and climbing. After all that walking (the complex is really huge), you can recharge at the eateries located inside the complex. You can also catch up on your gift buying list at the shops here.

Bon Monastery, KewzingContinue the Buddhism trail with a visit to one of the two Bon monasteries in India the only other one is in Himachal Pradesh. Until the advent of Buddhism, Bon was the religion of Tibet. The founder, Lord Tonpa Shenrab, holds a prominent position in Bon culture. The monastery at Kewzing is built in an Indo-Tibetan style, and is decorated with paintings of deities, and the Bon Buddha. Its around 6km from Ravangla along the Ravangla-Legship route.

Mangbrue MonasteryAbout 2kms from Kewzing Bazaar is Mangbrue Gompa which follows the Nyingmapa sect of Buddhism. Look out for the ruins of bunkers and outposts from the 19th century, when an invading Bhutanese army had used this as a strategic location.

Ralang Monastery

About 13km below Ravangla, is the new Ralang Gompa, also known as the Palchen Choeling Monastic Institute. Set up in the mid-90s, the gompa is home to about 200 monks of the Kagyu order. It is famous for elaborate sculptures. Inside the main hall is a 30-ft statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha. About 1.5km downhill, on the same road, is the smaller Old Ralang Gompa. Established in 1768, it is one of the most important monasteries in Sikkim following the Kagyu tradition. The old monastery was built in 1768 AD and legend has it that the 9th Karmapa, head of the Kagyupa sect, blessed the site of the monastery with grains of rice thrown from Tibet. It hosts festivals like Pang Lhabsol and Kagyed Chaam (generally around AugustSeptember and December). The famous Mahakala Dance takes place every year in the month of November.

If you feel up to it, hike to the monastery it takes approximately two-and-a-half hours from Ravangla market. Look out for Titanic Point after Ralang its a rock that juts out, shaped somewhat like a ship. You can get a good views of the valley, and West Sikkim.

Doling MonasteryAround 6m from Ravangala is the Doling monastery the old one and the new one are opposite each other. The old Doling monastery is a haunting and peaceful place, with faded prayer flags and a sacred lake with fish bobbing up and down in it. The fish (it is one of the eight lucky signs in Buddhism) are released into the pond as a form of worship. The monastery follows the Nyingmapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. What draws people here are the footprints on stone one of the deity Khanchengdzonas horse and another of Lama Dorjelingpa.

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On The Monastery Trail In Ravangla - Outlook India

One of the images shared by Mumbai Police on Instagram. (Instagram/Mumbai Police)

If you are a fan of The Simpsons, then you need no introduction to Barts blackboard scene. For those who are yet to catch up, it is an animated American sitcom. Credit scenes of most of the episodes of this show open with Bart, the character of the son in the show, writing something on a backboard at school presumably as punishment for his antics. What he writes changes from episode to episode, and now Mumbai Police has used that scene to put forth some important messages on cyber safety.

Doh! The Simpsons are going to follow these guidelines on cyber safety. You should too, the department wrote and shared four images. They show Bart writing that how he will verify facts before sharing WhatsApp forwards or wont share OTP or password with anyone.

Check the entire post to know what else Bart has in store for you:

Great work. Enlightenment is key, wrote an Instagram user, and we cant agree more. As for the other people, they shared all sorts of comments on the post. While some praised the Mumbai Police for their creativity, others expressed that theyll follow the rules diligently.

Brilliant idea! wrote an Instagram user. To do list! expressed another. Looks like I need to hear the Simpsons and change my passwords now, wrote a third.

What do you think of Mumbai Polices post?

Also Read | Can you solve Bengaluru Polices riddle tweet? It has an important message

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Mumbai Police uses Barts blackboard scene from The Simpsons to put forth important messages on cyber... - Hindustan Times

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Heres what you need to know on this Friday, June 5.

The UK Art World Sues Insurers UK art organizations are preparing to file a class-action lawsuit against insurers for failure to pay out as the lockdown era continues to decimate their bottom lines. The group of more than 50 claimantsall of whom remain unnamed for nowincludes art galleries, museums, and individual proprietors who claim losses ranging from50,000 ($63,498) to 35 million ($45 million). The dispute may come down to whether the public-health situation and the resulting shutdown are covered by the wording of specific policies for business interruption insurance. (The Art Newspaper)

Steve McQueen Dedicates Films to George Floyd The artist and Oscar-winning filmmaker has dedicated his two films selected for the Cannes Film Festival to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the US, UK, and elsewhere. The films, Mangrove and Lovers Rock, were scheduled to be shown at the prestigious festival before its cancellation due to the public-health situation. The films are both part of McQueens Small Axe anthology, named after a quote from the protest singer and reggae artist Bob Marley: If you are the big tree, we are the small axe. (BBC)

Brooklyn Museum Opens Its Bathrooms to Protesters The Brooklyn Museum is the first major art museum to join a group of New York institutions and theaters in opening up their lobbies and bathrooms to protesters. The museumwhich is located near a frequent gathering site for protests in the boroughwill make itself available between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. A representative for the Brooklyn Museum told Artnet News that staff will be on hand to direct protesters to the bathrooms and help maintain social distancing. Over the past week, demonstrators have been bottlenecked by police and trapped without access to water or bathrooms; public rest points also give people the important chance to charge their phones. The Twitter account Open Your Lobby is recording theaters around the country that are opening up their spaces to demonstrators. (Instagram)

V&A Curator on the Role Enlightenment Thinkers Played in Creating Racism In a must-read post on the V&As blog, Gus Casely-Hayford, the British curator and director of V&A East, ruminates on a work by Yinka Shonibare illustrating a black Victorian dandy in the context of the protests sweeping the United States and beyond. These men who defined the Enlightenment, constructed its hierarchies and categories, these intellectuals who laid out the framework of modern law, morality, and its identified metaphysicslooked upon Africa, a well-populated and varied-cultured continent, and saw in its peoples nothinga void, a cultural tabula rasasilence, Casely-Hayford writes. It made colonialism, and the imposition of Western cultural norms, seem like a kindness. Shonibares image challenges the hierarchy, and, Casely-Hayford writes, we must do the same. (V&A)

Dealer Daniel Katz Makes $2.9 Million at Sothebys The London art dealers collection brought in 2.3 million ($2.9 million) in an online auction at Sothebys, easily surpassing the 1.2 million low estimate. The 144 lots ranged from Egyptian bronze antiquities to Modern British art. But despite the encouraging result, reporter Colin Gleadell writes that, with many objects priced under 40,000 and some offered without reserve, the sale felt more like a backroom clearance. (Art Market Monitor)

Swiss Museum Deaccessions Impressionist Works to Finance Itself The Langmatt Museum in Baden is selling up to three French Impressionist works from its collection in order to raise funds for operations, an extremely controversial move in the museum world. The president of the museums foundation, Lukas Breunig-Hollinger, says that the decision pains the institution but that it is ultimately the only way to save it. (NZZ)

Tunisia Controversy Halts Paris Auction The Paris auction house Coutau-Bgarie has withdrawn 114 19th-century lots belonging to Tunisian royalty from a planned sale after critics said they had been smuggled illegally out of their country of origin. Following an official denouncement from the National Heritage Institute, the auction house has temporarily suspended the sale in order to investigate whether the heirs to the artifacts illegally exported the goods in order to sell them on the international market. (Le Monde)

Brain Dead Collective Calls on Corporations to Support Black and LGBT Organizations The Los Angeles-based creative collective has called on its previous collaborators, including North Face, Converse, and Carhartt, to show their support for black and LGBTQ organizations. Match our donation or work on a project with or without us to raise money or awareness for this cause, they said in a call to action. (Complex)

First New Media Art Museum Will Open in the Netherlands The Nxt Museumthe Netherlands first museum dedicated to media artis opening on August 29 in Amsterdam. The first exhibition will feature large-scale, multi-sensory installations by acclaimed artists and academics including Marshmallow Laser Feast, Lucy McRae, and United Visual Artists. (Press release)

Adam Pendleton on Americas Protests The New York-based artist has penned an essay about how he is processing the trauma brought up by the protests sweeping the US. I realized that I am not safe, and this country is not kind, he writes. The article is illustrated with a new sketch by Pendleton, SEE THE SIN, and his closing statements illuminate that message: I took a breath and then realized that I needed to have a conversation with youthat I needed to reach out but that there is no moving on or next page until we SEE THE SIN. I realized the impossibilityand thus the poeticsof my plea. (ARTnews)

The High Museum Will Open for Summer Art Camp Children from first through eighth grades in Atlanta will be the first visitors to the citys High Museum when it reopens on June 8. The museum is organizing a summer art camp that lets children explore the galleries and create their own art at a time when the fate of such camps for many children across the country is unclear. (TAN)

The Twin Cities Black Arts Organizations Need Your Help The contribution of artists and creatives will be essential to the future of the Twin Cities, whose inhabitants must figure out how to move forward after the police murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day. Here is a list of underfunded and grassroots local arts organizations, including Arts-US, which cultivates young cultural leaders from the African Diaspora, and Juxtaposition Arts, a teen-run art and design center. Beyond the Twin Cities, there is no shortage of arts organizationsto support dedicated to building the careers of aspiring black creatives. (MPRnews,Artnet News)

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Art Industry News: The Brooklyn Museum Has Opened Up Its Lobby to Protesters as a Place for Rest and Relief + Other Stories - artnet News

1 Kazakhstan's Order of the Golden Eagle

The medal shimmers with gold, diamonds, and rubies. The award has been given to more than a dozen foreigners, but only two Kazakh citizens have received it: Nursultan Nazarbaev and Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, the only two presidents of Kazakhstan.

2 Order of the Star of Romania The medal comes with the unusual reward of a free burial site and a military salute when the recipient dies.

3 Hero of Ukraine In 2017, Belarusian Mikhail Zhyzneuski posthumously became the first foreigner awarded the title. Zhyzneuski was shot dead in 2014 during the Euromaidan protests. Many countries' medals come with miniature versions of the honor (seen here on the right) that can be pinned to clothing.

4 The United States' Presidential Medal of Freedom The medal rewards Americans, and occasionally non-Americans, for "exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

5 Hero of the Russian Federation This award is usually bestowed for "heroic feats of valor." Two recent recipients were the Ural Airlines pilots who in 2019 guided their seagull-stricken passenger aircraft into a cornfield. There were no fatalities or serious injuries among the 233 people aboard.

6 Japan's Order of the Rising Sun The handmade medal represents a dawn sun made from a polished garnet stone surrounded by a star made of gold and enamel which is suspended from the leaf of a Paulownia tree.

7 Order of New Zealand The number of ordinary awardees is limited to 20 living people. After a holder of the medal dies, the badge must be handed in and it is then "passed to another appointee to the order."

8 The United Kingdom's George Cross Among the hundreds of recipients of this award "for acts of the greatest heroism," perhaps the most unusual is the island of Malta, which was awarded the cross in 1942 for heroism and devotion during the Nazi/Italian siege of the British colony in World War II. The cross was later incorporated into the top left corner of independent Maltas flag.

9 Order of Pakistan This award is usually announced each year on August 14, Pakistan's Independence Day. The latest recipient of the award was St. Lucian cricketer Darren Sammy for his "invaluable contribution to Pakistani cricket."

10 Bulgaria's Stara Planina The spiky medal was previously reserved for foreign dignitaries but is now also awarded to Bulgarians who have given "outstanding services" to their country.

11 Jewel of India The platinum-rimmed medal is in the shape of a leaf from the Bodhi tree -- the same type Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment under. The Hindi script says "Bharat Ratna" (Jewel of India). A maximum of three people receive the award each year.

12 Albania's Honor of the Nation This medal is awarded by Albanias president to Albanians or foreign nationals "as a token of gratitude and recognition for those who by their acts and good name contribute to honoring the Albanian nation."

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Our Highest Honor: Top Medals From Countries Around The World - Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty

The original, held by the National Archives, is a large and predictably yellowing sheet of parchment with the inked head Congress of the United States, then, Begun and held at the city of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, 1789 the first Congress.

It is the bill of amendments to the Constitution that James Madison introduced in the House of Representatives that year on June 8.

It has 12 articles. Ten of them, articles three through 12, will, through a laborious process filled with essential debate, become the Bill of Rights when they are added to the Constitution in two years time.

People often speak of constitutional rights today. It is a quintessentially American pastime. Yet the Constitution in its original, unamended form was not meant to do almost any of the things the Bill of Rights does. It was a compact among the states describing how the federal government was to be organized and duties apportioned.

On the matter of rights it was nearly mute. It largely did not contemplate limiting the powers of the federal government, as the Bill of Rights does, because the framers were intent on creating any national government against steep odds. That meant investing the new national government with powers to own land, for example, or assume debts. Yet getting it ratified was a near thing because so many actors in the founding generation such as Patrick Henry look askance at such a beast. They did not want a government that did not come with limits.

What they wanted was an enumeration of rights they maintained were universal, or that at least ought to apply to all free-born white men of property such as themselves. They wanted freedom of conscience, thought, religion, speech, publication. They wanted the specific freedom to assemble and protest. They wanted freedom from arbitrary arrest or seizure; freedom from the state they were asked to make. They wanted autonomy within this collective and they wanted it enshrined and sworn, like the Magna Carta but with every man a baron.

Who had heard of such a thing? It was almost utopian; an enlightenment plan, another grand experiment. Could a people with so many rights even cohere? How was a nation to balance, as Washington put it at his first inaugural, the characteristic rights of free men and a regard for public harmony?

We are still looking for that answer.

Madison was a member of the new House from Virginia, where anti-Federalist feeling ran strong. He won the seat by besting James Monroe, his future presidential successor, and by promising to bring a bill of rights to the new Congress. It was either that, Madison believed, or risk another constitutional convention that could undo the sectional and sectarian compromises of the first Constitution and bring on disunion and everyones bte noire then, anarchy.

He drew on a range of historical sources, including the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which stipulated the right of Protestants to keep and bear arms, as well as the new state constitutions and the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776. He incorporated many requests from the states, although one that was popular and he eschewed was an amendment to make all tax assessments voluntary. It was a compromise.

Madison was clear about his hopes for the amendments he introduced on June 8, that they would acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free government. He was farseeing in that.

He also wished that as the Bill of Rights became incorporated with the national sentiment, it would counteract the impulses of interest and passion and there lies the other great unsettled question.

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Our view: Happy birthday, Bill of Rights - The Durango Herald

Our attention has been drawn to a recent misleading petition, signed by one Mr. Needam Promise Gogorobari, Owner, Prodest Hotel and dated 24th May 2020, to the effect that the convicted Manager of Prodest Hotel, Mr. Bariledum Job Azoroh, who recently tested positive for Covid-19 disease amongst 27 others, in a result released by the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, may have allegedly been infected on the instructions of the Rivers State Government.

Much as we had restrained ourselves from responding to previous similar publications by this same person, since the subject matter was still before a court of competent jurisdiction, we are now compelled to reply this obviously spurious, deliberately misleading and intentionally provocative petition with a proper response, to set the records straight and caution the sponsors of this action from further pedlling such falsehoods in the public space.

For the avoidance of doubt and for the information of the general public, let us state categorically here that the FACTS of this matter are very clear, viz:

1. A Port Harcourt Senior Magistrates Court on May 18th, 2020 CONVICTED Mr. Bariledum Azoro, Manager of Prodest Hotel, Eleme and sentenced him to a fine of N50,000 for contravening paragraphs 3 and 4 of Executive Order RVSG 07 2020 on closure of hotels, guest houses and related outfits and provision of manifests in the state.

2. The Senior Magistrates Court also ordered that th convict,Mr. Azoroh should be quarantined at the Isolation Centre in Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Elekahia for 14 days to ascertain his coronavirus status.

3. That while in the Court Ordered Quarantine, competent health officials carried out mandatory tests on all suspected Coronavirus individuals at the centre, including Mr.Bariledum Job Azoroh, to ascertain their Covid-19 status. It is important to state here that COVID-19 tests undergo World Health Organization, (WHO) and NCDC guidelines and are conducted under strict established medical protocols.

4. That prior to the publication of the test results, the owner of PRODEST Hotel Eleme, Mr. Gogorobari Needam had published one of his misleading petitions in an attempt to preempt the outcome of the test and the question we want to ask is: Why did the hotel owner try to preempt the outcome of the test. Was he trying to cover up something?

5. That on Sunday, 24th May, 2020, the NCDC announced that Rivers State had 27 recorded positive cases including Mr.Bariledum Job Azoroh, from tests carried out in the state.

6. That following the official announcement of the result and confirmation of his Managers Covid-19 positive status, the PRODEST Hotel owner has once again released another statement and this time is now calling for a state of emergency in Rivers State because his manager tested positive for Covid-19.

7. Rivers people will recall that on May 19, 2020, we raised an alarm intimating the world of a clandestine plot by some Abuja politicians hiding under the cover of Covid-19 to instigate a State of Emergency in the state. Today, a hotel owner in Eleme, who lives in Lagos is also now calling for a State of Emergency. Is there any wonder therefore as to who is beating the drum for him?

8. Indeed there seems to be more to this than meets the ordinary eye and we are calling on all well-meaning people to see the need to interrogate this man and know that he is acting out a script. Infact, the entire petition sounds and reads like something lifted directly from the copy book of those who have been desperately trying to run down the Rivers State Government. This is desperation taken too far.

9. We even recall vividly that Mr. Needam Promise Gogorobari had, in an interview published in the Punch Newspaper of May 15, 2020 titled: No ill feeling towards Wike for demolishing my hotel Gogorobari, actually stated categorically that he holds no grudge against Governor Wike for demolishing the hotel. His words: Who am I not to forgive him? I dont hold any grudge against him. I just feel that Godwanted it to happen that way. So what happened to make him change his mind? Is it not obvious that the agents of evil and those who do not mean well for Rivers State have reached him and are now beating this drum of dissent for him?

10. Again, We want to state categorically here that Government doesnt conduct Covid-19 tests. Trained Health professionals follow the relevant medical protocols set down by WHO, the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, to conduct these tests.

11. The claim therefore that the PRODEST Hotel manager, Mr. Bariledum Job Azoroh, was infected while in detention is not only laughable and preposterous, but sadly and dangerously exposes the amazing ignorance and naivety of Mr. Needam Promise Gogorobari and those sponsoring him about the deadly nature of the Covid-19 disease. How does one even carry such a deadly virus around and infect people with it?

12. Rather than commend the Rivers State Government for stemming the tide of infection that would have arisen if the Hotel used forclandestine parties was not demolished and the Manager arrested, the owner is crying wolf where there is none.

13. We also want to caution Mr. Needam Promise Gogorobari to be very mindful of his claims that his hotel Manager has been framed up by an unorthodox hired medical officers recruited by Governor Wike with a report that he has tested positive to COVID-19 whilst in detention with the Rivers State Government. This is a clear accusation and indictment of the reputation and authority of the NCDC.

14 We also want to call the attention of Mr. Needam Gogorobari that we take exception to his description of the Isolation Centre in Port Harcourt, as an illegal detention facility in Stadium, Elekahia, Port Harcourt and to inform him and his sponsors that the Director General of NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu and a team from the World Health Organization, were in Rivers State on a working visit in April this year and not only praised Governor Nyesom Wike for his leadership and handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. but also applauded his medical health team and all the facilities put in place in response to the Coronavirus.

We will therefore be keen to know how the NCDC will react, when they read your description of a facility they approved, as a detention centre.

15. Finally, we want to assure the good people of the state that the Rivers State Government remains resolute in its fight to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the state and we will not be deterred by cheap blackmail and misleading propaganda.

16 Governor Wike is determined to employ and deploy appropriate strategies to keep Rivers State safe.

17. We call on all residents to work together with the Governor to defeat Covid-19 in Rivers State and by the Grace of God we will be victorious.

Paulinus Nsirim Commissioner for Information and Communications May 26, 2020

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COVID-19: Wike Committed To Saving Lives Of Rivers People Nsirim As 2nd Phase Of Street To Street Enlightenment Campaign Begins - The Tide