In-person author appearances are back in local bookstores, after a long pandemic absence. And for every standing-room-only reading featuring a massively well-known name, there might be a quiet event, with empty chairs outnumbering occupied ones. - Seattle Times
Do they merely memorize training data and reread it out loud, or are they picking up the rules of English grammar and the syntax of C language? Are they building something like an internal world model—an understandable model of the process producing the sequences? - The Gradient
"The Manatee County School District directed teachers to remove all books that had not yet been approved by a specialist from their classroom libraries. ... Many teachers have chosen to close access altogether, since making unvetted books available could lead to felony prosecution." - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
"Cat Serna-Horn says council members offered her 'political favors' to quietly resign from the board ... was told the board's compromise to keep LGBTQ sections in the library forced her removal." - KERA (Dallas)
"Undine Spragg of The Custom of the Country ... can be conceived of as (a) social media influencer conscious of her brand. For Undine and her creator know that 'the future belonged to the showy and the promiscuous' and that the turn-of-the-century 'world where conspicuousness passed for distinction' foreshadows our own." - Literary Hub
Despite his ongoing recovery from last August's stabbing, which cost him an eye, he's lively and quick-witted, friends say, and is planning future projects. But he probably won't be making public appearances to promote his latest book, a historical fantasy about a mythical poetess titled Victory City. - The New York Times
Even a century ago, "Ferber is not interested in cautionary tales of shrinking violets, favoring instead women who, out of necessity or desire or both, discover that meaningful work and recognition outside the home can unlock the door to a meaningful life." - JSTOR Daily
"More often than not, these books come across as props intended to be on camera — signifiers much like a Birkin bag or expensive watch. While those items can indicate a certain level of status and wealth, an artfully staged bookcase aims to convey something as well, although perhaps more subtly." - Literary Hub
"Long before witty digital comics found a home on your Instagram feed, depicting things from the struggle with Grindr to birth-control access, there were 'Gay Comix' and 'Dykes to Watch Out For.'" - MSN (Washington Post)
"The idea that great novels disclose universal human truths, or contain a purely literary meaning that transcends national politics, wasn’t evenly distributed across the world. I had seen no signs of it in Kyiv." - The New Yorker
"Little Free Library's ... latest initiative, the Indigenous Library Program, which launches this spring, will provide book-sharing boxes for installation on tribal lands, as well as in other Indigenous communities throughout the U.S. and in Canada." - Publishers Weekly
States and districts nationwide have begun to constrain what librarians can order. At least 10 states have passed laws giving parents more power over which books appear in libraries or limiting students’ access to books, a Washington Post analysis found. - Washington Post
I decided to try a combination of tools to see if the AI-assisted work product would outperform my purely original work. Unsurprisingly, the work done in partnership with my AI-coworker outperformed work I did alone. - Shelly Palmer
Some Wikipedia contributors have a hard time trusting Wikimedia Foundation designers. No one on the paid design team was around 12 years ago when the last skin was made, and only some of them were involved with the wiki communities before they were hired. - Slate
