Far beyond museums in Washington, President Donald Trump's review at the Smithsonian could influence how history is taught in classrooms around the country. The institution is a leading provider of curriculum and other educational materials, which are subject to the sweeping new assessment of all its public-facing content. - NBC News
Over the past few months, I’ve discovered more than 15.8 million videos from more than 2 million channels that tech companies have, without permission, downloaded to train AI products. Nearly 1 million of them, by my count, are how-to videos. - The Atlantic
Sometimes called “the Devil’s Bible,” it’s 3-feet-by-1⅔-feet and 165 pounds and contains the complete Bible, writings by historian Flavius Josephus and theologian Isidore of Seville, Cosmas of Prague’s history of Bohemia, a medical textbook, and lists of incantations and spells. And there are lots of freaky stories told about it. - Artnet
Thanks to the image obtained, the researchers were able to confirm an already theorized architecture of thought: that there is no single region exclusively in charge of decision-making and instead it is a coordinated process among multiple brain areas. - Wired
“Either the ‘Black Men’ or the pictures of the children, I just didn’t see that it should be so big a deal. I’m acclimated now to the cultural gestalt, whatever the word is. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. Whereas before I didn’t even get it.” - The New York Times
Traditionally, the ombudsman at a news organization looks into complaints from the public. Yet Kenneth Weinstein will have no public-facing role. Formerly president of conservative think thank the Hudson Institute, Weinstein is to investigate claims of bias and report his findings directly to the president of parent company Paramount. - AP
“Chemical dyes are often toxic for the environment and bad for human health, so the costume designers at the theatre are experimenting with using flowers including indigo, dahlias, hollyhocks, chamomile and wild fennel to create the vivid colours used in their productions.” - The Guardian
The Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia filed the suit after a promised $750,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services was canceled by Trump officials. Just a week before the first scheduled court hearing, the Woodmere received notice that the grant was being reinstated. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Patricia Kadgien, daughter of an advisor to Gestapo founder Hermann Goering, and her husband were charged with deliberately concealing numerous artworks, including 22 Matisses, which Goering and her father had taken from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam. One of those works was spotted in a photo in a real estate listing. - Artnet
“The east, long snubbed by the bourgeoisie of western Paris, has risen, turning the banlieue from Pantin to Romainville into cool, desirable areas. Tourists troop to the Louvre, but the action is no longer on the Seine River — it is on a 200-year-old canal, the Ourcq.’ - The New York Times
“Reservoir Media has acquired a majority interest in the Miles Davis publishing catalog, as well as other rights associated with the late jazz icon’s estate, including a partnership in name and likeness opportunities and certain rights to his recorded music, the company announced early Tuesday.” - Variety
The first jukebox was made in, believe it or not, 1889; it played wax cylinders and people listened through stethoscope-like earphones. In 1927, the Automatic Musical Instrument Company unveiled the first amplified, multi-record coin phonograph. Jukeboxes … introduced the world to music on demand, for far less than buying a record.” - Smithsonian Magazine
Confronting the historic trauma of forced assimilation, a wave of artists are rejuvenating hyper-diverse Indigenous cultures in the kinds of festivals that were once forbidden. - The Guardian
The NFT market has crashed and never recovered. In 2022, Christie’s reported $5.9 million in NFT sales, a 96 percent decline from 2021. And in August 2024, one report found that 95 percent of NFTs were effectively “dead,” with the average owner facing a 44.5 percent loss on their investment. - ARTnews
Six of the greatest works of modern literature were repeatedly and humiliatingly rejected by publishers and their distinguished advisors, who were blind to their merits. - The Critic
