“From testing cycle-safety technology to teaching self-driving vehicles to avoid hazards on the roads, researchers have been jerry-rigging the Grand Theft Auto games into experiments that promise to make accidents and injuries on roads less likely.” - BBC
Inspired by last weekend’s attempt by Chicagoans to move the Anish Kapoor sculpture Cloud Gate seven inches to the left, Londoners will gather on Saturday and try to push John Nash’s 1827 monument seven inches left. The stated reason for these two efforts is the same: to free anyone trapped inside. - Ocula
A blaze apparently caused by a short circuit tore through his Paris apartment last Sunday, destroying his piano as well as a large collection of scores and manuscripts. - ResMusica (via Google Translate)
Pending FCC approval, Central Piedmont Community College, PBS Charlotte’s licensee, will transfer ownership of the station’s broadcast license and equipment to the University of North Carolina system, licensee of the statewide PBS North Carolina network. The Charlotte outlet lost 22% of its budget when federal funding was rescinded. - Current
Though he had an active career spanning four continents, he’s best known for stepping in mid-performance as Radames in Aida at La Scala after Roberto Alagna stormed off the stage because he was booed. Palombi’s body was found during a wellness check after he failed to show up for rehearsal in Mainz, Germany. - OperaWire
People themselves made the choices. They selected the postcards they bought, the people they wrote to, and the images they collected. More than a century before platforms started automating this process, political communities were already creating selective environments of their own. - Eurozine
“Artistic director Alden Ehrenreich turned a historic 1906 Pacific Electric Railway power station into an artistic playground with hipster vibes, alluring music, a younger-than-usual audience and high-end soap in the bathroom.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Such a superhuman magnification of the individual is unsettling to behold at close range. I witnessed the internal mechanics when I followed Radiohead on tour in 2000. Members of the band were variously thrilled, unnerved, and scared by what they were unleashing—a healthily complex reaction. - The New Yorker
Curiosity was seen as a largely vacuous interest in novel or forbidden information. The curious person was thought to reach for what was hidden and secret, beyond their proper purview, and thereby isolate themselves from spiritual and social community. - MIT Reader
The maker of an anthology can’t help being aware of the contemporary reputation of poets. But he knows, too, that this enterprise, this book, will be a chance to amend that reputation. - Hudson Review
In a partnership with Google, immersive media company YB and augmented reality company XREAL, SFB is presenting Nutcracker: The Immersive Experience, a specially recorded performance of the company’s production (choreography by Helgi Tomasson) for home viewing on VR platforms. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
This very obvious fact about the world – that things exist – can shift from seeming mundane and trivial to very surprising, even downright weird. - Aeon
The South Carolina New Play Festival (SCNPF) announced that it will move from a summer-only festival to a year-round festival with a summer and winter season. - Greenville Business Magazine
The $2 million raised after the orchestra was abruptly furloughed last month is only enough, according to the musicians, to keep the Symphony running through the end of 2026. An 11-member commission of musicians, management, and civic leaders is trying to develop a “sustainable” plan to keep the PSO operating. - Phoenix New Times
