“Short-form video habituates the brain to rapid stimuli, reducing its capacity to stay focused on the slower and more demanding. There’s a popular term for it that’s pretty self-explanatory: ‘brainrot.’” - Boston Globe
An AI-generated LEGO movie mocking Trump as a pedophile “is the work of Iran-based propagandists called the ‘Explosive News Team’ and is just the latest in a long line of AI-generated LEGO videos aimed at mocking Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.” - 404 Media
Maybe it was this: “The platform’s operational costs proved unsustainable, with each 10-second video costing OpenAI approximately $130 in compute expenses. With millions of users creating content daily, these costs escalated to $15 million per day.” - Geeky Gadgets
Ignoring cultural property protections runs counter to a lesson many military forces, including the United States, have come to recognize: that safeguarding cultural heritage is not only a legal obligation, but also strategically smart. - The Conversation
One thing that has really struck me is that ordinary Americans are far less interested in fighting about history than it might seem. - The New York Times
Amid a projected $48 million deficit largely attributed to enrollment decline, the New School’s upcoming layoffs come as the newest development in the university’s sprawling workforce reduction saga, which the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) called the “largest attempted firing of faculty currently taking place in the nation.” - Hyperallergic
Jennifer Schuessler: “Ordinary Americans are far less interested in fighting about history than it might seem. People who work at historical sites, whether government-run or private, report that most visitors, whatever their politics, show up open-minded and curious and hungry for fact-based, nonpartisan history.” - The New York Times
Multiple departments were affected — including programming, development, advertising, marketing and the office of the president — according to multiple people at the center. - Washington Post
This is how I came to understand that the relationship between what we see and what we know—the art of noticing— is a sophisticated act of interpretation, not just passive observation... “By the time you get to New York, this won’t be a thing,” he hissed, and I withered. He wasn't wrong. - Talk Scratch
“Analysis by the Autonomy Institute shows spending has dropped from £1.19 billion in 2010 to £539 million in 2024 to 25. The data covers local authority budgets for arts and entertainment, including theatres, live performance, museums and galleries.” - WhatsOnStage (UK)
The Azrieli Foundation, a charitable organisation with ties to Israel’s largest real estate company, will cease its support of the Toronto Arts Foundation following a protest campaign by Canadian artists and arts workers. - The Art Newspaper
In another market, the building might fetch $100 million. Today, in a downtown cultural district still recovering from the pandemic - with depressed real estate values, weakened foot traffic and strained arts funding - the buyer pool shrinks to a narrow question: Who can take on a large, vacant cultural space and make it work? - San Francisco Chronicle...
In a city still somewhat in thrall to its heritage, from the Haçienda to Oasis, many in the Strange Quarter say the area has redefined Manchester’s cultural life. - The Guardian
“The AI companies are claiming fair use, but this argument is bogus,. It’s bogus because while they claim it’s fair to use the work of creators as training data, they do multimillion-dollar deals with rights holders and publishers like Disney, and Condé Nast, and Vox, and Warner Music.” - Fortune
“Tacoma Arts Live has filed for receivership, a court process similar to bankruptcy. ... TAL announced earlier this year that it would close for good this summer and sell the historic Tacoma Armory, its sole remaining building, citing debts incurred in part due to declining ticket sales following the pandemic.” - The Seattle Times
