Emily Dickinson thought that words start a new, discrete cycle of life the moment they are uttered. While American English can be perceived as a threat to the survival of other cultures around the world, in our country it is a force that helps to bind us together. - The New York Times
In the budget proposal he submitted to the legislature, Gov. Tony Evers has called for $100 million from the state's general fund to be placed in an Artistic Endowment Fund, with the interest from that money distributed annually in grants to arts organizations across Wisconsin. - WXPR (Rhinelander, WI)
ChatGPT, the popular bot released to the public by OpenAI late last year, is obsessed with clichés and uses them all the time. Perhaps it is no coincidence that use of the chatbot has already become common in areas of life where people write formulaically and blandly. - The Atlantic
The Evergreen State forbids the sale of alcohol in strip clubs; without that revenue source, club owners instead charge the talent for access to the stage and take a big cut of tips. A proposed law will allow the sale of liquor and institute legal protections for the dancers. - Crosscut (Seattle)
We dug into several proposed methods and tools for recognising AI-generated text. None of them are foolproof, all of them are vulnerable to workarounds, and it’s unlikely they will ever be as reliable as we’d like. - The Conversation
The native New Yorker's term as chief conductor will now run through the 2028-29 season. A former music director of the New York Philharmonic (2009-2017) and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gilbert is also music director at the Royal Swedish Opera and principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. - AP
Salonen’s ambitious plans for San Francisco, conversely, have gotten off to a rocky start because of COVID-19. There’s still plenty of time to get things moving on their anticipated course, but there might also be something attractive about relocating to a more familiar environment. - San Francisco Chronicle
There's a hit podcast, three primetime TV specials, three documentary series, and the livestream of the trial. (Scripted dramas are coming, no doubt.) Says one local reporter, "It's a point of critical mass for a storyteller. You'll live your whole life and never get another one like this." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The distinction between hard and soft products helps explain the controversy about changes Netflix is making to its streaming service—along with many other changes in the internet-enabled service economy. - The Atlantic
Jesse Green: "Their harm is political, epochal, even as the songs they sing, encouraging empathy that may not otherwise be earned, invite us to give them a pass. ... (The danger isn't) that we risk forgiving (them). It's that we risk enjoying too much what we can't forgive." - The New York Times
Following a legal victory for the actor — prosecutors had to downgrade the involuntary manslaughter charge because the enhanced charge they sought was not yet law when the shooting occurred — observers believe that Baldwin will reject any plea deal or bench trial (i.e., judge but no jury). - The Hollywood Reporter
"Gallimard, ... the French publishers of Roald Dahl, have ruled out any changes to the late British author's translated books after it emerged that ... the UK publisher Puffin hired sensitivity readers to remove language deemed inappropriate." - The Guardian
"In the ancient Turkish city of Antakya" — known in the early years of Christianity as Antioch — "the domes and walls of the 1st-century Antioch Orthodox Church, known as Antakya Church, and the 7th-century Habib-i-Nejjar Mosque have almost completely collapsed." - Euronews
"In January, the State Department and the Yemeni Embassy approached the National Museum of Asian Art with an unusual query: Would the Smithsonian museum be able to house 77 cultural objects that the United States had retrieved during smuggling attempts?" - MSN (The Washington Post)
"Scott, who has reviewed more than 2,200 films for the Times over the last 23 years, will shift to The New York Times Book Review, where he will 'write critical essays, notebooks and reviews that grapple with literature, ideas and intellectual life.'" - The Hollywood Reporter
