The Education Department said on Friday that it would no longer investigate schools that remove books from their libraries, emphasizing its new stance by dismissing 11 pending civil rights complaints related to book bans in public schools. - The New York Times
The idea of there being something fundamentally stable about an artist, independent of outside forces, makes sense. It’s what allows them to experiment with style and genre and persona and still be legible to their audiences. - The New York Times
Instead of functioning as a means of top-down compliance and control, A.I. can help us understand ourselves, act on our preferences and realize our aspirations. In this way, perfect recall isn’t just a tool for remembering the past. It’s also a compass that provides a clearer understanding of our goals and improves our decision-making. - The New York Times
Included in the losses are more than 30 notable buildings whose pedigrees span the 20th century and a who’s who of domestic architecture—from Arts & Crafts pioneer Henry Mather Greene to modernist icon Richard Neutra—representing an incredible repository of American home-design history. - The Wall Street Journal
Lion dances for Lunar New Year are part of “an art that dates back to the Han Dynasty and is said to bring good fortune and ward off evil spirits, but it is hard to pull off.” - NPR
“One of the prevailing narratives of this year’s awards season leading up to the Oscars has been that of the return to the limelight of beloved veteran actors who the public thought had disappeared for good.” - El País
The deal, which supposedly ameliorates some of the damage from last year’s audiobook-music bundling plan by the streaming giant, “also marks the first direct license between Spotify and a major publisher in several years.” - Variety
“At stake is the future of a defining industry that helps make Los Angeles a vibrant creative capital, employing tens of thousands of workers in a wide variety of fields.” - The New York Times
Or maybe holds up even better, more than two decades later: Azar Nafisi’s memoir “isn’t just about reading and teaching literature under a repressive regime, but about how literature in and of itself could serve as an antidote to all that the regime stood for.” - The Atlantic
What the actual artist-hating hell, UK? “The government is considering an overhaul of law that would allow AI developers to use creators' content on the internet to help develop their models, unless the rights holders opt out.” - BBC
“Anne’s iconicity requires her story to achieve a difficult balancing act. It warns powerfully against all persecution, but must remain true to its character as a Jewish work — as the complicated story of its publication and reception helps us to see.” - The New York Times
What did Octavia Butler, who died nearly two decades ago, know “about the future that the Fonz now finds himself in after many, many happy days? That the second law of thermodynamics is real. - The Stranger (Seattle)
