Since we're going to be without "Worth a Look" posts for a while maybe I should actually write something... Campus has been downright sleepy this week. I keep going occasionally since it is easy. It must not be easy for most... Today we had our first snag after changing health insurance carriers. The consent decree isn't all that apparently. Looking for a new doc... Although it was spread across two locations I went to the gym five days this week. I think it is unlikely that will happen again... That posit I made in the last post about an additional database and a more efficient query? Gemini says it is possible and a better idea. Maybe I'll try to implement it in the next few weeks... We went to the first of what I am sure will be many many child performing arts shows last night: K though 12 dance recital. It was better than it sounds... We have this plumbing vent in our driveway with a cracked grate I have been meaning to repair maybe since we moved in here. I made an honest effort yesterday - talked to a plumber and everything. It appears that the part I need may not be manufactured anymore. I cloodged what I could find into service, but I would still like to have the real one... Pretty serious rain here today. I used to like rain. Now less so... Purdue Global is a rebranding of Kaplan University. Just in case it comes up in an online search you happen to be doing... I was thinking today how formative my going to Tomcat U turned out to be all those years ago. That trip took us to FTSI Navigator and everywhere we've been down that road. All from one professional development trip... Writing blog posts without really talking about kids or politics is pretty difficult... I am starting a couple of summer lists. Being that one month is gone already I might be behind, even though I am technically off...
Friday, June 06, 2025
Monday, June 02, 2025
Something New
For a while now I have had an idea that the Greenpage could use a display that shows what the top sources are for the page. During the academic year I post 60 articles a week. It seemed like a nice feature would be to have a display that showed where the majority of the posts were coming from - with a link. It also felt a little bit like an informal attribution; an additional plug for the source publications that were filling out the page.
I've probably had this on my to do list for more than a couple of years. It sat there unexecuted because I figured the coding I would need was beyond my ability. I had noodled around with the idea of tasking it to a student assistant with programming chops or maybe looking for someone elsewhere on campus. There had to be someone in the community that could do it.
Today I asked Gemini. I've been thinking about how to integrate AI applications into what I do. I keep seeing stories saying that if you don't come up to speed using AI assistants you will be helping to obsolete yourself. I actually started a few days ago by asking if the assistant could craft some automation around the comments students do for class. Years ago I had student assistants read and correct every comment for spelling and grammar. It proved to be a tedious, repetitive, thankless task (beyond being paid - that's another post). The nature of the thing meant it wasn't too long lived as a student assistant task. I wondered if an AI assistant could give me a way to automate it.
Suffice it to say that the assistant totally thinks it can and it showed me sample code to get it going. The process requires integration of Blogger, RSS, Google Sheets, and Gmail - plus a third party grammar checker. Reading the responses from Gemini made my head hurt and reminded me just how far we've come from 10 PRINT "David "; :GOTO 10. I was going to need a little bit of a ramp.
That lead me to think about the page display I wanted to add. So I started again and took a swing at that.
This one turns out to be a lot less complicated, initially only working with Blogger itself. There was however an initial bump in the road. The Newspage Blog has nearly 60,000 posts since its inception. Doing a gadget in the blogger template doesn't rally come with any memory or storage, it does everything in real time. That meant in a simple application the gadget on the page was going to have to count the instances of each source on the page for all 60k posts on every page view. That felt... stupid. I am sure there is a more complicated solution where I could do a Google Sheet with historical data and a script where every day it updates the count based on that days articles. That way the gadget would just have to look up one set of values on the page load rather than do the actual counting. But that felt like it was leading down the road I had been on before and abandoned to get to here in the first place. So I moved the goalposts.
The new display would show the most commonly used sources in the past 30 days. This is a little more complicated as it requires using the ATOM feed, but that was already set up anyway. You can still see the process thinking, but it doesn't need to chug the way it would have for the original idea. Once the new result set was defined the work was mostly about stripping out the formatting Gemini thought made the output look good. It wasn't wrong, but to get it to show properly in the existing blog template using the very least amount of formatting made the most sense.
Which leaves us with:
TADA!
Which I guess is current and will update here as the page updates as well. I will have to monitor it as the posting numbers go up in the fall and as the queries go up with the increased page views but based on the tools involved I don't think it should develop any problems. I guess we'll see.
It isn't exactly what I was looking for. But I guess it is a nice improvement and a decent first step.
Sunday, May 04, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
TCG’s New Survey of Nonprofit Governing Boards Is First in 10 Years
AMERICAN THEATRE: Today Theatre Communications Group (TCG) released In Whom We Trust VI: Governing Boards Survey 2024, the organization’s sixth comprehensive study of nonprofit theatre governance, and their first in over 10 years. Since 1998, TCG (which is also the publisher of American Theatre) has periodically conducted a survey exploring theatre governing boards in depth. In Whom We Trust provides a wide range of comparative data broken down by budget size to inform the evaluation of giving levels, give/get requirements, board demographics, meeting practices, recruitment policies, and more.
New accessibility options at Ensemble Arts open…
Broad Street Review: Jaci Brown, who is Deaf and lives in Trenton, used to schlep to Broadway for ASL-interpreted performances, making plans months in advance, if she wanted to truly enjoy a musical show. When she attended shows closer to home with her hearing friends, she knew she wasn’t getting the whole story.
Why Hollywood Productions Are Moving to Hungary
www.indiewire.com: In one of the most ambitious scenes of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” the musical score comes to life with a grandeur that only a large orchestra can provide. What few viewers know is that this soundtrack was not recorded in Los Angeles or London, but in Budapest.
Another Day, Another Project Breaks Ground in Downtown Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Magazine: If it seems like a big chunk of Downtown is under construction, that’s not an exaggeration. And there’s more coming as the official groundbreaking of the 4-acre Arts Landing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 29. Demolition of the Goodyear Auto Service store on a corner of the Cultural Trust-owned property is making way for construction to begin on the $31 million Eighth Street civic space.
Ted Sarandos: 'Not a Single Episode' Cleared China's Censorship Board
www.indiewire.com: If you think there’s seemingly no one who doesn’t have a Netflix account or who hasn’t seen “Squid Game,” there’s about 1.4 billion people in China who haven’t signed up, and the streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos is just fine with that.
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
When the Arts Are Attacked, Democracy Is at Risk
Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council: I’m deeply concerned that our democracy is eroding—slowly, but deliberately—under the current federal administration. And if that’s true, we must ask ourselves: What are the warning signs we’ll wish we had paid more attention to? How many red flags will we overlook—or worse, comply with—before resistance is no longer possible?
Why Storytelling Is Key to Success in Musical Theater
Dance Magazine: A few decades ago, the choreography seen across Broadway stages looked remarkably similar. Dancers vying to be in musical theater studied the same movement techniques and perfected the same stylistic nuances—outstretched fingers, isolations, and clean, long lines. In recent years, the landscape has shifted and choreographers from all different genres of dance are bringing their unique styles to Broadway musicals and plays.
Television wasn’t the death knell for cinema – and that holds lessons for the creative industries and AI
theconversation.com: As television grew rapidly in popularity in the second half of the 20th century, many people assumed it would cause a knock-on crisis for the film industry. After all, it meant that viewers no longer had to leave their sofas to enjoy onscreen entertainment.
New App StagePlay Will Bring Live Performances to Mixed Reality Headsets
www.broadwayworld.com: A new app is coming to mixed reality headsets which will allow fans to be immersed into live stage performances. Scene Partners, an experiential entertainment venture builder, has announced StagePlay, a virtual platform and production process that will aim to extend the reach of live entertainment beyond physical venues, bringing performances to audiences worldwide. The app will launch with a performance from Blue Man Group.
To Kennedy Center or not to Kennedy Center? For DC audiences, that is now the question.
DC Theater Arts: Like many arts lovers in Washington, DC, I’ve been grappling with an existential question since February: Whether to attend the Kennedy Center or not. On February 12, just three weeks into his second term in office, Trump fired all 18 Democratic board appointees at the traditionally bipartisan institution and replaced them with his own political cronies, who immediately elected him chairman of the board. Because, as the new leader of the free world, a top item on his political agenda was deciding whether DC audiences will get to see Legally Blonde next year?
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai opens to the world
InPark Magazine: The first visitors to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai arrived on the 155-hectare (383-acre) site on Yumeshima Island on the morning of April 13 following a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony. The opening of the World Expo marks the beginning of six months of global exchange and dialogue centered around the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”
Federal Court Denies Preliminary Injunction Against NEA's Gender Ideology Funding Ban
www.broadwayworld.com: The U.S. District Court in Rhode Island has denied a motion for preliminary injunctive relief filed by arts organizations seeking National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding. The court ruled that the NEA’s February 6 decision to disqualify projects that “promote” what the government defines as “gender ideology” likely violated the First Amendment and exceeded its statutory authority.
Show Us How to Live
HowlRound Theatre Commons: Thank you for the introduction, legend Carmelita. Bold and fearless, in all the terror of a life in art making, Carmelita. I keep thinking about the last moment of your last show. The way you remembered those we have lost and their legacy. Thank you for your legacy. We just celebrated the legacy of Morgan Jenness and Philip Arnoult, who both tangibly and spiritually changed my life. We are breathing together here in Mark Russell’s legacy which will also be Meropi Peponides and Kaneza Schaal’s legacy.
Tariffs and Other Taxes in Broadway Shows
New York Theater: The president of the United States puts a fifty percent tariff on all imported cheese, which leads to war…with Switzerland. That’s the premise of “Strike Up the Band,” the first of a trio of Broadway musicals in the early 1930s with songs by George and Ira Gershwin that were intended as lighthearted political satires.
greenloop 2025: top speakers & hot topics
Blooloop: greenloop, the original sustainability conference focused on the global visitor attractions industry, has another fantastic line-up of speakers in 2025. Now in its fifth year, this is a must-attend event for anyone interested in visitor attraction sustainability.
Sunday, April 13, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
ACLU-Led Lawsuit for NEA Funding Relief Denied
AMERICAN THEATRE: Yesterday the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island denied a request for preliminary relief in the American Civil Liberties Union-led lawsuit challenging the National Endowment for the Arts’ funding restriction tied to “gender ideology.” The court maintained that the NEA’s decision on Feb. 6—to make any project that “promotes” what the government deems to be “gender ideology” ineligible for funds—likely violated the First Amendment and exceeded its statutory authority. But the court concluded that since the NEA is in the process of determining whether to reimpose that ban, the court could not get in the way of the agency’s decision-making.
Equity Report: More Contracts for People of Color, Less for Women
AMERICAN THEATRE: On April 9, Actors’ Equity Association published its fifth Hiring Bias and Wage Gap in Theatre Report, documenting employment opportunities and average salaries for actors and stage managers working on Equity contracts across the country in 2022 and 2023. As with previous years, the report found that the industry is making gradual progress towards diversity and equity in union jobs for stage managers and actors. It is available in standard and higher accessibility editions.
US Film Ban Among Tariff Responses Considered by China
www.thewrap.com: The global trade war sparked by Donald Trump’s tariffs may hit the box office soon, as two public figures in China released a list of countermeasures reportedly being measured by the country’s government that includes a possible ban on American-produced films.
SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike: Sides Far Apart, Union Says
www.hollywoodreporter.com: SAG-AFTRA has been on strike against major video game studios for more than seven months, and the two sides don’t seem to be particularly close to making a deal.
No More Midnight Sign-Ups: Equity Ends Unofficial Lists at Auditions
www.broadwayworld.com: For the uninitiated, before this week - non-union actors hoping to be seen at an Equity Principal Audition or Equity Chorus Call would have to make their way to Pearl Studios early enough to get their name on an unofficial list. Several actors told BroadwayWorld this would be posted on the door of the building, and it wouldn't be unusual to have people signing up at midnight. Many people would aim to get there at the crack of dawn for their chance to make the list.
Sunday, April 06, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
NOWIE’s new report sheds light on challenges faced by women working in events
Event Industry News: Established in 2013 and recently transitioned to a Community Interest Company, NOWIE exists to create better opportunities for women at all stages of their careers in events – through community, mentorship, networking and advocacy. The launch of the Big Survey marks a new phase in NOWIE’s work to drive structural change, steer future policies and industry-wide conversations.
OpenAI's Miyazaki Move Ushers In New Troubling Era for Hollywood
www.hollywoodreporter.com: At the start of Hayao Miyazaki’s modern classic Spirited Away, the young heroine Chihiro and her parents are exploring a seemingly abandoned theme park when a boy named Haku greets her with a warning: Chihiro must cross back over a dry riverbed and head home before sunset while she still can. She fails to do so, and soon finds the river swollen and her parents turned into pigs, stranded in a new world she doesn’t understand.
IATSE Urges Against Kennedy Center Cancellations, Citing Removal Of “Critical Opportunities” For Crew
www.yahoo.com/news: Amid a string of recent show cancellations at the Kennedy Center, the union that represents its crew is attempting to shine a light on the negative impact such moves can have on those behind-the-scenes workers.
Trump executive order to force changes at Smithsonian Institution, targeting funding for programs with ‘improper ideology
PBS News: President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targets funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” the latest step in a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.
Many Gulf Powers Are Investing in Culture. Don’t View It as a Competition
news.artnet.com: The 16th Sharjah Biennial is curated by five women curators. I have worked with each of them individually in the past and know their strengths well. I wanted to bring them together to create something meaningful for Sharjah at this moment. It’s wonderful to see them unite diverse voices and perspectives in this edition. If you look at our history, we also have consistently collaborated with many women curators.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
At the Oregon Arts Commission, “Sustaining Arts” means asking nonprofits what they need
Oregon ArtsWatch: For nonprofits, “operating support” is a deceptively mundane name for one of the most thrilling envelopes that will ever show up in the mail. Most grants are for project support, where you pitch a funder on the one slice of your overall work that best fits their interests; operating support is what fills the gaps in between.
Performing arts leaders issue copyright warning over UK government’s AI plans
Arts policy | The Guardian: More than 30 performing arts leaders in the UK, including the bosses of the National Theatre, Opera North and the Royal Albert Hall, have joined the chorus of creative industry concern about the government’s plans to let artificial intelligence companies use artists’ work without permission.
The 20 Women Playwrights Who Have Won Pulitzer Prizes
New York Theater: In honor of Women’s History Month, here are the 20 women playwrights who have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an annual award given for “a distinguished play by an American author…dealing with American life” that began in 1917, and will be awarded next on May 5, 2025.
Comedian Nikki Glaser Admits ‘Real Fear’ of Roasting Trump
www.thedailybeast.com: Speaking on the red carpet Sunday for the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which this year went to Conan O’Brien (selected before Trump’s overhaul of the center), Glaser told The Hill that she used to steer clear of politics in her comedy because “I don’t want to alienate anyone.” But that’s changed, she said. “I’m at the point now that if I don’t say something political, it’s because I’m scared to.”
How COVID Changed TV Production Forever
variety.com: Five years ago this week, the television industry rose to the challenge of keeping news, daytime and late-night talk shows and other topical series on the air during the harsh early months of the COVID pandemic.
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
Trump’s Executive Orders and the NEA: A Detailed Timeline
Oregon ArtsWatch: On March 6, a coalition of theatre companies joined with the American Civil Liberties Union to file a legal action against the National Endowment for the Arts, accusing the organization of overstepping its charter in demanding that grant applicants comply with President Trump’s recent executive order attacking transgender and nonbinary people. On March 7, the District Court of Rhode Island agreed, granting a temporary injunction for the current grant cycle while the litigation is still pending.
Worker Wins: A Huge Step Forward
AFL-CIO: Equity Reaches New Developmental Work Agreement with Broadway League: The National Council of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) voted last week to ratify a new five-year Development Agreement with The Broadway League, ending an eight-month strike against early-stage development work.
IATSE President Speaks Out Against Canceled Kennedy Center Shows
www.hollywoodreporter.com: IATSE International president Matthew D. Loeb cautioned artists and producers against cancelling shows at the Kennedy Center, citing the impact on wages for behind-the-scenes workers.
Randall Miller of 'Midnight Rider' Gets Manslaughter Conviction Cleared
variety.com: Randall Miller, the director of “Midnight Rider,” completed his probation this week, 10 years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of crew member Sarah Jones. Jones, a camera assistant, was struck by a freight train in February 2014 while the crew was setting up a shot on a train bridge without authorization. Miller ultimately served a year in jail in the case.
First Immersive AI Dubbed Movie to Release in U.S.
variety.com: A foreign language sci-fi movie is headed to U.S. movie theaters this spring, but audiences won’t have to groan about subtitles. For the first time, an international feature film will look and sound as if it was made in English thanks to artificial intelligence.
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...
Play Us a Song, 𝝅-ano Man
News - Carnegie Mellon University: How does a piece of pi sound? Inside Carnegie Mellon University’s Vlahakis Recording Studio , Evan O’Dorney plays a peaceful, thoughtful melody on a Steinway B piano. Embellished notes stick out, a code containing the first 97 digits a fundamental constant in mathematics — pi.
Pittsburgh arts groups address ongoing federal turmoil
90.5 WESA: Pittsburgh arts groups have begun formally responding to the turmoil their community has been experiencing under the second Trump administration. On March 3, Pittsburgh Public Theater sent an email reaffirming its community-minded values and promising it “will not pursue or accept funding that compromises our mission or forces us to denounce our dedication to YOU.”
New Report Surveys Critical Landscape for Theatre Journalists of Color
AMERICAN THEATRE: The grantmaking and learning initiative Critical Minded has released a new 159-page report titled Topdogs and Underdogs: Critics of Color and the Theatrical Landscape, an incisive, groundbreaking study of the structural challenges facing American critics of color in the United States, with a specific focus on contemporary theatre critics, which concludes with an urgent call for change. At a time when legislative and institutional support for both diversity initiatives and free speech is being aggressively rolled back, Topdogs and Underdogs makes an impassioned argument for the fundamental value of criticism in a democratic society.
Toolkit on Theatre Practices for AAPI/Asian Artists Released
AMERICAN THEATRE: The Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) has created and released AAPAC Theater Practices Toolkit: Creating an Inclusive Environment for AAPI/Asian Artists. This toolkit was inspired by listening sessions and survey data which revealed that less than 5.5 percent of AAPI/Asian theatre artists nationwide believe that theatres are creating an environment of inclusion for AAPI/Asian people. Intended as a reference guide for theatrical institutions across the country, the toolkit is organized by departments and lists anecdotal and statistical information on challenges specifically shared by the AAPI/Asian theatre community, as well as actionable solutions inclusive of their specific needs and concerns.
AI and Copyright: Expanding Copyright Hurts Everyone—Here’s What to Do Instead
Electronic Frontier Foundation: You shouldn't need a permission slip to read a webpage–whether you do it with your own eyes, or use software to help. AI is a category of general-purpose tools with myriad beneficial uses. Requiring developers to license the materials needed to create this technology threatens the development of more innovative and inclusive AI models, as well as important uses of AI as a tool for expression and scientific research.
