NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts from the past week:

A SawStop Killer?

The Wood Whisperer: "A recent article on USA Today’s website states that the Consumer Products Safety Commission is on a mission to prevent debilitating tablesaw injuries. The goal? To require saw-makers to include “flesh-detecting technology” in their tablesaws, much like they are now required to include riving knives. The driving force behind all this is Steve Gass, the patent lawyer and inventor of SawStop. Regardless of how one feels about Sawstop, the company or the technology, it seems that most folks view government intervention as a major negative. As responsible saw owners, most of us know that proper training and safe practices are the best way to prevent accidents.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:08:00 PM <-- Comments Here!

Cirque du Soleil: A Very Different Vision of Teamwork

Fast Company: "The success of Cirque du Soleil, however, is not based on unbridled creativity. The diverse team brings a wealth of creative ideas to the initial development phase, but thereafter it's about discipline and hard work. Taking a production from concept to stage takes years. Kà--showing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas--took four years and cost $165 million to conceive, cast, design, train, and produce.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:06:00 PM <-- Comments Here!

The Super Bowl's bloated, chaotic spectacle

Salon.com: "Every January, the president gives a State of the Union address, and a few weeks later, network TV follows, quite accidentally, with its own equivalent: the Super Bowl. In a culturally and politically fragmented culture, it's the biggest (and maybe only) remaining example of true broadcasting, a televised event whose appeal cuts across geographical, political and class lines and that a solid majority of the country watches, discusses and (most important) participates in emotionally. And if you look at the entire evening -- the game itself, the play-by-play commentary, the network promos, and most important, the ads -- you get what always seems, with hindsight, like a Rorschach of the country's psychological state, even if it looks like just another bloated and chaotic TV event while you're watching it.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:05:00 PM<-- Comments Here!

It’s Not A Contest

American Theatre Wing: "So am I confessing to shocking gaps in my theatre knowledge or boasting of unique and often short-lived opportunities in my theatergoing history? After all, the first list is unquestionably distinguished, loaded with classic, while the latter contains a few obscurities, leans towards the 20th century and cites many famous actors.
I’m really just trying to make a point, which is that unless you treat theatergoing as a chore, with a checklist to be completed, you are perfectly likely to miss some of “the big ones” and equally likely to have some singular experiences along the way.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:02:00 PM <-- Comments Here!

‘Les Miserables’ gets a new take after 25 years

Chicago Sun-Times: "Here is the crucial question when it comes to “Les Miserables”: Why even think of tinkering with the classic original production of the musical? After all, the show has endured in its original form for just over a quarter of a century now. And it has amassed an altogether staggering list of statistics, including the following:

Posted by Dale at 2/07/2011 02:09:00 AM <-- Comments Here!