It seems odd to state that Michelangelo is declining, since it is relative to the ascent of Caravaggio, at least according to this article in the NYTmes.com. It’s also not true that Caravaggio has suddenly come out of nowhere. But it is interesting to see how a certain fatigue has likely set in when it comes to Michelangelo and how likely it is that Caravaggio is the beneficiary of that.

I have always thought it fascinating how the reputation and interest in artists waxes and wanes over time. This is an opportunity to see one develop.

(A photo of one of Caravaggio’s works from Virginia Della Rosa’s photostream on flickr.com)

I like how this story in Advertising Age starts:

“Last week, a client told me that they don’t allow employees to access YouTube at work. “Do your employees carry cellphones?” I asked. The answer was yes, of course. Well then, most of them already have access to YouTube – right in their pockets.”

Very true. And so I would add this additional reason to the five very good reasons listed in the article:

• Providing social networks to employees can be a competitive advantage to employers. You can attractive people more easily if they know you allow employees to use social networks and your employees will spend less time accessing them on things like their cell phones and therefore be more productive.

Check out the article in Advertising Age, especially if you are blocking or considering block social networks at your work location.

This clonal mojave yucca:

According to wikipedia, such plants originate from one single ancestor, so one plant can essentially clone itself and live on and on. (Clonal colonies are fascinating in themselves.)

Rachel Sussman has a portfolio of the oldest living things, such as the yucca pictured here and may other things, including 2000 year old trees and much more. Well worth checking out. (Found via Swiss Miss).

That President Obama has appointed Edward Tufte “to the independent panel that advises the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (i.e., the team of inspectors general who track how stimulus funds are spent)” may not seem like a big deal. But if they listen to him, it could make a big difference in how organizations communicate in general. That may seem like hyperbole, but many companies and organizations looked at how Obama ran his election campaign in 2008 and the tools and technologies and approaches he used, and made that a model for how they themselves should use these things. With any luck, the work Tufte does could be another model for people to use. Here’s hoping!

For more on this, see this good post: How Legendary Information Designer Edward Tufte Can Help Obama Govern from The Gaggle Blog at Newsweek.com.

There are a few artists: Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello, among others, who can write and sing love songs that someone other than teens can associate with. There’s a complexity to their music and the relationships that they sing about. I think of them as love songs for grownups. There’s nothing wrong with love songs aimed at teens: it’s just not something I can relate to. But songs like this, Sheryl Crow’ s My Favorite Mistake, I can relate to. Here it is:

Can be seen here:

It’s an automated dashboard displayed on a Sumsung 460UXN-2 for the team at Panic to glance at for the latest and greatest info on their work and things related to it (like transit information!). This post describes all the information on the screen, as well as how they went about building it. Anyone who works on IT projects should consider building one of these.