Stories

Former Facebook Exec Sues Meta For Trying To Suppress Her Memoir

Sarah Wynn-Williams, who was director of global public policy at Facebook from 2011 until her firing in 2017, argues in her suit that the non-disparagement clause in her severance agreement and the arbitration order barring her from promoting her book, Careless People, are invalid. - AP

Philadelphia Orchestra Appoints New Assistant Conductor: Sara Aldana

A native of Colombia and a student of Marin Alsop, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal guest conductor, Aldana was most recently cover conductor at the Detroit Symphony. - Moto Perpetuo

David Sedaris Confesses His Duolingo Addiction

“My problem arose when I discovered Duolingo’s competitive aspect, when I learned that it is essentially a game. ... This means forgoing any real learning, and earning easy points by simply reading sentences out loud.” An excerpt from his latest book, The Land and Its People. - The Guardian

What Makes A Rhythm Propulsive

What makes a rhythm distinctive or catchy? The answer lies in the pattern that underlies the structure. Much of human creativity beyond rhythm and music is also shaped by the math underneath the patterns. - The Conversation

Ballet Costumes Are Shockingly Labor-Intensive

“Beading and sequins, silk bodices and boning, plus 10 layers of pleated net, all painstakingly cut and dyed by hand before being sewn together. ... ‘If you break it down to five days a week, 40 hours, it’s usually about two weeks. To make one tutu.’” - The i Paper

It’s Expensive To Enter Australia’s Art Prize Competitions. But Hard To Give Them Up

In today’s landscape, prizes are no longer a nice little extra, or a back pat that arrives at the end of a long and successful career. They’re a serious part of the machinery. - ArtsHub

Do We Have A Facts Problem Or An Interpretation-Of-Facts Problem?

Citizens can agree on verifiable facts and still inhabit different worlds, because facts do not interpret themselves. To see why, we need to look beyond narrow factual disagreements to the competing systems of interpretation through which people select, categorize, frame, connect, explain, and narrate facts. - Persuasion

DePaul Museum Just Closed. But Its Collection Will Stay On Campus

The DePaul Art Museum announcement came two months after the university laid off 114 full-time and part-time staff. Administrators referenced financial troubles due to a significant drop in international graduate student enrollment, increased demand for financial aid and the rising costs of benefits. - WBEZ

Zelenskyy Suggests A Replacement For The Long-Toppled Lenin Monument In Kyiv

The statue of the father of the USSR was pulled down by demonstrators during the Euromaidan demonstrations in 2013; the pedestal has stood empty ever since. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has officially proposed that a bust of Ivan Mazepa, who led the Cossack state from 1687 to 1709, should go in that spot. - ARTnews

Stratford Festival Artistic Director Retires After 40 Years

Antoni Cimolino, whose gentle stewardship of this juggernaut of a theater, especially during that existential COVID crisis, was as sure as it was self-effacing, leaves a great deal more. - Chicago Tribune (Yahoo)

Arena-Sized Aida Canceled

Said a spokesperson for TEG (Ticketek Entertainment Group): “Unfortunately, the ongoing conflict and instability in the Middle East has resulted in massive increases in international freight and airfares, making it impossible to bring the large scale production to Adelaide.” - Limelight

The Think Tank Leading Trump’s War On Education

The think tank has crafted model legislation to remake colleges and universities as race-blind institutions, fueled the campaign to oust Claudine Gay as president of Harvard, and turned City Journal, its quarterly magazine, into a platform for attacking diversity programs, grade inflation, and university presidents’ capitulation to the demands of left-leaning students and faculty. - Chronicle of Higher Education

As Many Traditional Museums Struggle, The Museum Of Ice Cream And Museum Of Balloons Are Raking The Visitor Dollars In

“When audience levels have plateaued at many traditional museums, the ability of entertainment companies styled as arts institutions to siphon away visitors poses a new challenge to the industry.” As one think-tank director said, “The culture has diverged, and museums could have done more to seem relevant to people.” - The New York Times

LA’s Dance Scene Is Contracting. Now It’s Just Survival

“A lot of the challenges that are happening right now are of the times. They’re reflecting what’s going on in our country, and I think it’s important that we all try to stick together through it and keep dancing.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

A Hacker Used Claude To Score Free Tickets To Every Free Music Festival

Security researcher Ian Carroll used the AI tool Claude Opus 4.7 in April to discover a technique that allowed him full access to the systems of Front Gate Tickets, which handles ticketing for practically every major US music festival, from Lollapalooza and South by Southwest to Austin City Limits.  - Wired

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss