Mona Lisa’s Last Visit

Crowd inside the Metropolitan Museum views the “Mona Lisa.” Photo: Margaret Leslie Davis

I remember it was difficult to get close enough to see.  I wasn’t that old, and I didn’t have enough size to muscle my way through the crowd.  She was high up on a wall, higher than you’d expect to see a painting in a museum.  And she was in a bullet proof case.  But somehow, her sly smile shown through the thick glass. It was unmistakable, it was the Mona Lisa.

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How a dark and incomprehensible Game of Thrones episode exposed the limits of streaming technology

​How did one of the most anticipated television events of the year turn into an incoherent anti-climax for viewers? What went wrong with the latest Game of Thrones episode? Did the creators of the show make a grave technical error or is this an illustration of the limits to streaming technology?

Source: newatlas.com

Stealing Gold from the Old Don of Rancho El Conejo (via Museum of Ventura County)

By Andy Ludlum, Museum Volunteer

Don José De la Guerra y Noriega was known to everyone as “El Capitán.” He was already one of the richest men in California in 1822 when he petitioned the last Spanish governor to grant him one half of Rancho El Conejo.

Source: Museum of Ventura County

Update: Sick of those long paper receipts? California lawmakers are weighing a bill to ban them

4 1/2 foot CVS receipt received in December.

California lawmakers are mulling a bill that would require retailers and other businesses to give customers e-receipts by default, replacing the paper printouts that consume resources and are difficult to recycle. The bill will have its first hearing on Monday at 2 p.m.

Source: latimes.com

Rolling Stones’ ‘Circus,’ once lost and unfinished, will receive a theatrical release

John Lennon and Mick Jagger in “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.” (ABKCO Films)

For over two decades, “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus” was a lost film, unfinished and unseen, more rumor than pop culture memory. Now, in time for the North American leg of the Stones’ ongoing No Filter Tour, “Circus” has been remastered for a limited U.S. theatrical run.

Source: latimes.com

Clean House to Survive? Museums Confront Their Crowded Basements

The Berkshire Museum drew protests when it announced a plan to sell art from its collection in 2017. Gillian Jones/The Berkshire Eagle, via Associated Press

With storage spaces filled with works that may never be shown, some museums are rethinking the way they collect art, and at least one is ranking what it owns.

Source: New York Times

Women’s Long Road to the Vote in Ventura County (via Museum of Ventura County)

Written by Andy Ludlum, Library Volunteer

In the 1896 statewide general election, national leaders saw California as a turning point, a chance to prove their movement could succeed beyond…

Source: Museum of Ventura County

Clustered stem cells become working insulin producers in potential cure for diabetes

Medical scientists have made a promising breakthrough in diabetes research, describing a novel technology that converts stem cells into insulin-secreting beta cells by harnessing an often overlooked step in their maturation.

Source: newatlas.com