Peter Marks: “I was curious about how an actor of color might approach entering a world not written for someone who looked like them, but I realized the question was riddled with absurdity. Isn’t musical theater intrinsically make-believe? Why do we sometimes persist in applying the strictures of realism to a platform on which characters interrupt conversations to break out in show tunes? Whose expectations are being served?” – Washington Post
Author: Douglas McLennan
Email Seems Efficient. Science Has Figured Out Why It Isn’t
As e-mail was taking over the modern office, researchers in the theory of distributed systems were also studying the trade-offs between synchrony and asynchrony. As it happens, the conclusion they reached was exactly the opposite of the prevailing consensus. They became convinced that synchrony was superior and that spreading communication out over time hindered work rather than enabling it. – The New Yorker
No, Carpe Diem Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does
For Australian philosopher Roman Krznaric, author of Carpe Diem Regained, the “hijacking [of carpe diem] is an existential crime of the century–and one we have barely noticed.” Krznaric is concerned that the philosophy has come to mean something else, almost the antithesis of what Horace’s words actually meant. – JSTOR
Rotten Tomatoes’ Critic Problem
The movie review aggregation site is only as good as the critics it aggregates. But are the critics representative of the real movie audience? Assuredly not. So there’s a problem. How to fix it? – Columbia Journalism Review
Study: Here Are The Conditions Under Which People Lie
It seems there’s a moral spectrum in play: Scientists found that people would probably lie if they thought a big corporation, like say, Starbucks or Walmart, would foot the bill for the deceit. They told the truth if they felt like an individual proprietor of a business or a specific employee would have to pay for their dishonesty. – Mic
What Artists Studios Tell Us
There are two questions surrounding artists and their archives. Why do artists keep them? And what is worth keeping? – The New York Times
Bank Discovers AI Writes Better Ads Than Their Ad People Do
In tests, JPMorgan Chase found that Persado’s machine-learning tool crafted better ad copy than its own writers could muster, as measured by the higher click rates—more than double in some case—on digital ads for Chase cards and mortgages. – Quartz
Blame Video Games For Violence? Not According To Any Of The Studies
Though researchers have toiled on the subject for many years, none has categorically found that playing video games has harmful effects. Indeed, the absence of conclusive evidence was remarked upon by conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia in 2011 when California attempted to criminalise the sale of violent video games to minors. – Irish Times
In A Time Of Upended Norms, Obits Of Our Heroes Provide Sense Of Normalcy
Phil Kennicott: “Death and remembrance, at least, come with the customs and norms that have been shredded in most of the rest of public life. If nothing else, death still inspires a pause in ordinary life and, in the case of artists, a respectful consideration of their habitually ignored accomplishments.” – Washington Post
Pew: Only 35% Of Public Trust Scientists (But Hey, It’s More Than It Used To Be)
The Pew data makes clear how this happens: some people are just uninformed, while others cling to opposing political values. People with a high degree of familiarity with what nutritional, medical, or environmental science researchers or practitioners are studying are nearly twice as likely to trust them. – Fast Company