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Google’s AI Summaries Of Recipes Are Going Away

Food writers were losing revenue at a terrible clip - but also, were the summaries any good? - Nieman Lab

Stravinsky’s Arrangement Of The Star-Spangled Banner Alarmed The Boston Police

They “issued Stravinsky a warning, claiming there was a law against tampering with the national anthem. (They were misreading the statute.) Grudgingly, Stravinsky pulled it from the bill.” - Open Culture

What Human Audiobook Narrators Think About The Rise Of AI

They’re not fans. One: “'I’ve narrated really raunchy sex scenes – AI doesn’t know what an orgasm sounds like,’ she says. ‘Birth scenes as well – I’d love to know how they plan on getting around that.’” - The Guardian (UK)

What The Paramount Capitulation Means For Freedom Of The Press

“What’s clear, in any case, is that big corporations undoubtedly threaten journalistic independence.”- Salon

Carla Maxwell, Who Figured Out How To Keep Modern Dance Companies Going, Has Died At 79

Maxwell took over the José Limón Dance Company after he died, but no one expected her to keep it going - much less for almost four decades. - The New York Times

The TikTok ‘Ban’ Will Morph Into A Sale And A New App

“The Trump administration says it’s close to working out a sale to a group of ‘non-Chinese' investors, including Oracle, with current majority owner ByteDance maintaining a minority stake.” - The Verge

Reading Aloud To Each Other Isn’t Just For Little Kids

It’s all a win for families (and sometimes adults as well): “Reading aloud engages kids in the story rather than their getting tangled up in the mechanics of reading. As a result, they can have deep discussions, build on current reading levels, and later have conversations with peers.” - Slate

We Have To Trick Our Brains To Align Short-Term Fun With Long-Term Achievements

Basically? Only connect. "Our brains are equipped with a social processing system that is engaged in thinking about other people’s minds and helps us understand and connect with them — including people who have labored on similar causes before us.” - The New York Times

Chaco Canyon Is Under Serious Threat From The Federal Government

“Chaco Culture, which includes Chaco Canyon National Historical Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The network of archaeological sites once operated as a major center of the Chacoan culture ... between the years 850 and 1250.” - Hyperallergic

Is Hollywood Inspired By The CIA, Or Is The CIA Inspired By Hollywood?

Wow, OK: “The agency is targeting professionals at the intersection of arts and technology for recruitment, CIA officers told The Times, and continues to cooperate with entertainment giants to inspire the next generation of creative spies.” - Los Angeles Times (AOL)

Summer Reading, By NPR

There’s Prose to the People, "a kind of fun celebration of how bookstores in general operate as more than just, like, a place where you go and pay money for a book. They are something bigger, and they mean something more to a community.” - NPR

Brad Pitt Is Fooling You

“The cumulative effect of F1 and its press tour have been a carefully tuned charm offensive meant to obscure, if not outright bury, the alleged violent particulars of his behavior toward ex-wife Angelina Jolie.” - Vulture (Internet Archive)

Not A Huge Surprise, But That One AI-Generated ‘Band’ Was An Elaborate Hoax

"A Canadian who duped journalists in an elaborate AI music hoax says he apologizes to anyone hurt by his experiment but that it's been ‘too fascinating’ to turn away from.” - CBC

A Strad That Disappeared At The End Of WWII May Have Resurfaced

“The case of the Mendelssohn Stradivarius highlights the opaque trade for rare instruments, in which details about provenance, or the history of previous ownership, are often not well documented or, in some cases, intentionally obscured.” - The New York Times

Netflix’s Animated K-Pop Band Is Beating Flesh And Blood Bands On Spotify

Perhaps this is not a surprise in a time of AI slop, but at least the villainous, fictional Saja Boys’s songs are performed by real-life musicians on the high-debuting soundtrack. - Vulture

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