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Facebook’s New AI Chatbot Bizarrely Dishes On Its Corporate Overlords

Asked about Mark Zuckerberg, the bot told BuzzFeed’s Max Woolf that “he is a good businessman, but his business practices are not always ethical. It is funny that he has all this money and still wears the same clothes!” - The Guardian

New UK Guidance For Museums On Art Restitution

While cases regarding repatriation may be complex, the authors say, “they often present rich opportunities for enhancing understanding for all involved” by allowing the full histories of certain objects to come to light. - ARTnet

Fan Obsessions Are Changing The Ways TV Is Made

Audiences have begun to more actively engage with what they watch. They analyze, turning ambiguity into clarity, forging connections with fellow fans. As a result, storytellers have to do more than spin a satisfying yarn; they must contend with fans who are so involved, they’re practically racing them to the finish line. - The Atlantic

Archaeologists Rebury Important Ancient Villa

“It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes burying excavated ancient art and architecture is the best way to keep it safe from environmental and human threats,” writes Alexandria Sivak on the Getty Foundation’s website. - Smithsonian

Too Phallic: London Students Are Loudly Objecting To Anthony Gormley’s Planned Sculpture Honoring Alan Turing

The 20-foot-tall memorial, titled ALERT and planned for the South Kensington campus of Imperial College, London, is a stack of rectangular volumes intended by Gormley to represent a person squatting.  Well, that's not what comes to mind for most folks when they see it. - ARTnews

Moral Grandstanding? Virtue Signaling? So…

“Moral grandstanding” and “virtue signaling” are slurs. They are variations on the charge of being “woke”, “politically correct,” etc., going at least as far back as Tom Wolfe’s 1970 essay on “radical chic.” These are all ad hominems, attacking the person, not the argument or cause. - 3 Quarks Daily

Behind The Scenes At Bayreuth’s Other Opera Festival

The Bavarian town has, in fact, two opera houses: Richard Wagner's famous custom-built theater and the Margravial Opera House, an opulent 18th-century venue seating 600. For two weeks every summer, it's home to Bayreuth Baroque, whose director is the countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić. - Bachtrack

Are We All Just Living In An Artificial Simulation?

This idea is surprisingly popular among philosophers and even some scientists. Assume that in the far future, civilisations hugely more technically advanced than ours will be interested in running “ancestor simulations” of the sentient beings in their distant galactic past. - The Guardian

A New Record Label Devoted Solely To Women Composers

"The label, called La Boîte à Pépites (the jewel box), will record compositions that have rarely, if ever, been heard before, yet deserve 'a good position in the standard musical repertoire'."  To make the music available to more musicians, a publishing division will open next year. - The Observer (UK)

Should James Franco Play Fidel Castro In The New Biopic? (Cue Outcries)

On Friday, after the casting of a white U.S. actor in the role of a prominent Latin American political figure had drawn widespread condemnation online (including some very pointed criticism from actor John Leguizamo), one of the film’s producers came forth with an explanation. - Los Angeles Times

How An Indian Film From Beyond Bollywood Became A Hit On U.S. Screens

"The Telugu-language Indian action spectacular RRR, or Rise, Roar, Revolt, ... (is) the rare Indian hit to catch on with American viewers outside the Indian diaspora, thanks to the unusual decision to relaunch the film weeks after it had already played across the country." - The New York Times

Report: A Third Of Seattle’s Arts Workers Are Thinking Of Leaving The Field

Roughly a third of respondents indicated they were thinking about leaving the sector, and 4 in 10 respondents said they were considering a change in job or location within the next year. Younger respondents were more likely to be considering leaving the sector. - Crosscut

To Make Fun Of Politicians Or Not? At This Year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Believe It Or Not, This Is Actually A Question

"Performers are split on how to respond to turbulent times in a way that entertains audiences. After the BBC's cancellation of (a) long-running satirical panel show, the public appetite for political comedy is in question." Several comics say they're now simply too angry about politics to be funny. - The Guardian

Mass-Market Paperbacks Are In Trouble

Over the last five years, sales in the category are down 32% by units sold and 43% by revenue.  Some authors and titles, especially romances and mysteries, have moved to trade paperbacks; a bigger issue is the rise of very cheap self-published ebooks in a highly price-sensitive category. - Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer-Winning Historian David McCullough Is Dead At 89

"(His) lovingly crafted narratives on subjects ranging from the Brooklyn Bridge to Presidents John Adams and Harry Truman made him among the most popular and influential historians of his time." - AP

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