August
23, 2019
We are 235 days into the year, 130 days until next year.
“Research shows that there is only
half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among
classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education
possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher
than to a great school.” – Bill Gates
Eugene
Lanceray (8/23/1875 – 9/13/1945)
Lanceray was born in Pavlovsk,
Russia, a suburb of Saint Petersburg. He came from a prominent Russian artistic
family of French origin. His father, Eugeny Alexandrovich Lanceray, was a
sculptor. His grandfather Nicholas Benois, and his uncle Leon Benois, were
celebrated architects. Another uncle, Alexandre Benois, was a respected artist,
art critic, historian and preservationist. His great-grandfather was the
Venetian-born Russian composer Catterino Cavos. Lanceray's siblings were also
heirs to this artistic tradition. His sister, Zinaida Serebriakova, was a
painter, while his brother Nikolai was an architect.
Lanceray took his
first lessons at the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the
Encouragement of the Arts in St. Petersburg from 1892 to 1896, under Jan
Ciągliński and Ernst Friedrich von Liphart. He then traveled to Paris, where he
continued his studies at the Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian between
1896 and 1899.
After returning to
Russia, Lanceray joined Mir iskusstva, an influential Russian art movement
inspired by an artistic journal of the same name, founded in 1899, in Saint
Petersburg. Other prominent members of Mir iskusstva included Lanceray's uncle
Alexandre Benois, Konstantin Somov, Walter Nouvel, Léon Bakst, and Dmitry
Filosofov.
Like other members
of Mir iskusstva, he was fascinated with the "sparkling dust" of
Rococo art, and often turned to 18th-century Russian history and art for
inspiration.
Lanceray was the
only prominent member of Mir iskusstva to remain in Russia after the Revolution
of 1917. Even his sister found the revolutionary milieu alien to her art and,
in 1924, she fled to Paris.
Lanceray left Saint
Petersburg in 1917, and spent three years living in Dagestan, where he became
infatuated with Oriental themes. His interest increased during journeys made in
the early 1920s to Japan and Ankara, Turkey. In 1920, he moved to Tbilisi,
Georgia. During his stay in Georgia, he lectured at the Tbilisi State Academy
of Arts (1922–1934) and illustrated the Caucasian novellas of Leo Tolstoy.
Amongst his students were Apollon Kutateladze.
Lanceray left
Georgia in 1934, settling in Moscow, where he became involved with decoration
of the Kazan Railway Station and the Hotel Moskva. During this same period,
Lanceray also worked as a theatrical designer. Three years before his death, he
was honored with the Stalin Prize. He died in Moscow at age 71.
World
Wide Web - 1991
Today is the day that the world wide
web was opened to the public! Hooray for
the Internet!!!!!
Thucydides
Trap
As China continues to rise as a
economic and military power we continue to see the USA falling into this
classic trap. “When a rising power
causes fear in an established power, it escalates towards war”. Examples are Athens and Sparta, World War I
with British fears of Germany, Thirty Years war because of Frances concerns
about the Hapsburg empires in Spain and Austria. World War II and the US seeing a threat in
Japan and Russia, UK and France seeing the same threat from Germany. The list is pretty long and it should make
you wonder if the USA is about to end up in a war with China.
David
Koch dies at 79
Love him or hate him this half of the Koch brothers impacted the US political seen. From financing the Citizens United decision to making corporations “legal” persons. His work and financing forwarded many conservative causes. He started life as an elite attending Deerfield Academy prep school, then on to MIT where he played on their basketball team. He earned his bachelors and Masters in chemical engineering so he was no slouch. In 1970 he joined Koch Industries a multi-million dollar company founding by his father. This is a classic example of someone preaching about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, but always having the servant there to help. If you are part of the 1% it might skew your prospective about how things work. He says that he and his brother took big risks, well when you have 100 million dollar backstop it is pretty easy to take a risk. If you gamble and lose, you still have 100 million dollars. Perspective guys.
Tariffs
Surprise, surprise, surprise. China is hitting back at the USA with new
tariffs. Does anyone know a tariff war
winner? Think Pyrrhic victory. There is no winner and the American heartland
is suffering.
Amazon
No,
not the company but the forest. Often
referred to as the lungs of the world there are now over 39,000 fires ripping
though this area. And the world stands
by as Nero fiddles.
Unhinged?
From our leader? “Our great American companies are hereby
ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including
bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” Command economy anyone?
He goes on to say “I am ordering all
carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR
& REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!).” It is already against the law to ship drugs through
the mail. Just enforce the laws on the
books. Oh wait, our government has
scuttled all the US inspection offices and moved the majority of officers to
the southern border. Yeah, don’t think
you can “Order” businesses to do things even when you are President.
The
Sum Up
The trade war escalates and the Dow drops. The instability in government policy is
causing ripples far outside the US borders and will continue for the time
being. On the bright side the University
of Texas kickoff is 8 days away and I am tickled Orange. HOOK’EM horns.
That’s all for
today sports fans.
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