Put the pigeon among the paintings
Posted by ben on 12 Jul 2009 at 07:06 pm | Tagged as: bird flu, free food, rumors, silliness
I think I figured out how Chad Dawkins is reviewing all those CAM shows:
In this study, I investigated whether pigeons could be trained to discriminate between paintings that had been judged by humans as either “bad” or “good”. To do this, adult human observers first classified several children’s paintings as either “good” (beautiful) or “bad” (ugly). Using operant conditioning procedures, pigeons were then reinforced for pecking at “good” paintings. After the pigeons learned the discrimination task, they were presented with novel pictures of both “good” and “bad” children’s paintings to test whether they had successfully learned to discriminate between these two stimulus categories. The results showed that pigeons could discriminate novel “good” and “bad” paintings.
This study was published recently in Animal Cognition (hat tip).
Does anyone really expect anything in return when doing a Random Act Of Kindness? We do have the chance everyday. *Smile* Make it a habit.
He is working towards a bachelor’s degree in art history at UTSA, Ben.
In a couple of years he will be certified by a fourth-tier institution of undergraduate education.
Underestimate him at your own peril!
ich hab karten fürn harry potter am mittwoch :)
..feels so good, i wish i could.
Kinda harsh.
I applaud Chad for providing another voice in the world of San Antonio art blogs. And I also applaud the adaption of his front page to include a flock of pigeons.
Okay, right: if you blog, you gotta be prepared to take the heat, yes, but still, coming from Emversioning this criticism seems a little petty and territorial. Who cares if Chad’s coverage isn’t on par with your standards? this is a wiki world, a blogger’s world, a place where pretty much anything flies. The beauty and the curse of social media.
Okay, so as disparate as this connection might seem, bear with me: How many people called out Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish out for blogging tweets from Iran during last month’s protests? The criticism was that the information was spotty, inconsistent, unreliable, not always “newsworthy”, dubious…Folks may not have liked the platform and inconsistencies of tweeting but, it’s also how many of us learned-minute by minute-what was happening in Tehran.
Disparate right? well, I bring it up simply because I just don’t think there is any point in calling bloggers like Chad out for the quality of writing. it’s a blog. nada mas. that’s what makes blogs so nice. Neither Emversioning or Publicity Stunted are writing the galleys of San Antonio art history. I hope more people in SA start art blogs. Maybe I’ll start one.
Kendra – sorry if it came across as harsh, but this was just meant as a lighthearted joke, not a criticism. If I didn’t like Publicity Stunted, I would not have devoted an entire post to it, saying he’s “off to a good start.”
I would call Chad out directly if I really had a problem with what he was writing. I think he’s doing a pretty good job considering the task he set for himself.
In fact, I was just taking pleasure in picturing Chad commanding an army of art-critic pigeons. Is that so wrong?
PS. Can’t wait to read your blog!
LOL. If I had time to take on the blog world I would…someday, maybe……
I do think the pigeons add a lot to Publicity Stunted’s front page, BTW. Believe that can be credited to you, Mr. Judson!
Chad is brave. And I know he cares a lot about what he’s doing. I guess at this moment I feel like a cheerleader for his efforts. New things are good for San Antonio.
Well, yes, in the absence of disaster, the future is a high tech information culture. However, there seems a general lack of awareness of just how vulnerable such a culture would be to the breakdown of its information systems. A single EMP bomb could reduce everything to a Neolithic level without killing anybody. Imagine a cash-free society that got a serious virus in the whole system. Concerning Lily’s paradigm, didn’t somebody once say that an ant had once said to him that God was rather like an ant except that it had two stings
it was funny, i know because i laughed.
i second the the call for a kendra blog!
Even if the pigeon comment was a bit mean, it’s merely on par with some of the petty comments on Chad’s blog. Why build yourself up by making fun of La Villita tourist paintings or other more decorative work not informed by an art school education? There are many different art worlds/art audiences and not everyone wants to engage in the contemporary avant-garde or conceptual dialogue. Chad is clearly interested in these issues, but he shouldn’t assume any of these artists consider him a part of their audience.
Example: “Note the blending of diverse textures to create a uniform sense of ineptitude.” If he can write this about someone’s work, I’m sure he can take a little pigeon joke. And is he just as brutally honest face to face?
Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls