“Like many a random supplement, trigger warnings are probably useless for most people and potentially, though not definitively, a little harmful to some. So, with no clear upside, why risk it?” – Slate
Blog
Can Science Fiction Be Useful In Imagining The Future?
“The answer is one that divides futurists, writers, and academics. Some argue that there is power in narrative stories that can’t be found elsewhere. Others assert that in our quest for imagination and prediction, we’re deluding ourselves into thinking that we can predict what’s coming.” – Wired
Should The Roosevelt Statue In Front Of The American Museum Of Natural History Come Down? The Museum Asks Visitors
“Addressing the Statue,” with an accompanying video and website, examines various aspects of the monument and the president it memorializes. It explores the history of the statue’s design and installation, who the men at the bottom of the statue may represent and Roosevelt’s own racism. The museum examines its own complicity at points, too, with references in the video to its exhibitions on eugenics in the early 20th century. – The New York Times
Star Dancer, Felled By Autoimmune Disease, Gets Back To The Stage
Once a soloist at New York City Ballet with an auspicious future, Kathryn Morgan was forced to leave the company in 2012, felled by an autoimmune disease that saw her hair fall out, her weight rise and her balance disappear. – CNN
25 Works Of Art That Define The Current Age? (A Discussion)
Naturally, when re-evaluating the canon of the last five decades, there were notable omissions. The group failed to name many artists who most certainly had an impact on how we view art today: Bigger names of recent Museum of Modern Art retrospectives, internationally acclaimed artists and high earners on the secondary market were largely excluded. Few paintings were singled out; land art was almost entirely absent, as were, to name just a few more categories, works on paper, sculpture, photography, fiber arts and outsider art. – The New York Times
Spotify Slammed For Its “Dance Like Nobody’s Paying” Ad Campaign
The campaign comes after longstanding complaints about the company’s royalty payments, not to mention its attempts to appeal the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to increase songwriter rates by 44% over the next five years and its recent determination that it had overpaid music publishers by an undisclosed amount in 2018 and is requesting a refund. Predictably, songwriters and music industry pros aren’t happy about the new campaign, which seems to add insult to injury after the above incidents. – Variety
Yes, The Show Must Go On… Even Without Lights
Performers from multiple Broadway shows gave impromptu renditions to crowds along the streets outside the theaters when the power went out in Manhattan Friday night just before shows were about to start. – Washington Post
The Break Out Break-dancing Millennial Counter-Tenor
The singers who performed in operatic works by Handel or Vivaldi in the eighteenth century were the musical celebrities of their day, and Jakub Józef Orliński’s approach is to gleefully inhabit that space of stardom, rather than to handle the repertoire as if he were a reverent museum curator. “I treat Baroque music as, basically, pop music, but in their time.” – The New Yorker
Why It’s Not Good To Invite A Writer Into Your House
Is it a good idea to invite someone into your home whose occupation it is to observe everything? The writer as host might be no better. Even the most thoughtful guest will undoubtedly interfere with the writer’s productivity during the visit. – The New York Times
Wondering How A Neural Network Works?
Grant Sanderson has a video explainer that shows you how machines are learning to learn. – Aeon