The difference is not in case numbers; it's in state government policies. New South Wales (Sydney), governed by the conservative Coalition, has relatively laissez-faire rules (and higher COVID caseloads), while Victoria (Melbourne), governed by Labor, has been unusually strict with lockdowns, masking rules, etc. - The Guardian
The Frank Gehry-designed museum, one of several starchitect-designed brand-name cultural institutions planned for the Emirati capital's Saadiyat Island, is expected to be October of 2026, 16 years after the originally planned opening and a full two decades after the project was announced. - Artnet
One of the finalists for this year's Prix Goncourt, The Children of Cadillac, was written by François Noudelmann, the romantic partner of one of the 10 jurors, Camille Laurens. What's more, Laurens recently savaged a competing book on the shortlist in a review for Le Monde. - The Guardian
The instinct to abuse critics is justified by the idea that it is “punching up” at elitist gatekeepers. But unlike Siskel and Ebert, modern critics are neither famous nor wealthy nor powerful. - Unherd
The Exponential Age is challenging our assumptions about globalization. A car can be designed in Guiyang and assembled in California with remarkable ease. But it also represents an inversion of globalization—a return to the local. Strategy + Business
Governments are limiting or banning applications, content and connectivity itself — and Big Tech companies, rich and powerful as they are, can't or won't fight back. - Axios
The percent that are about news — defined broadly, including sports and entertainment — is now somewhere less than 4%. It’s something of a niche interest for Facebook users. - NiemanLab
In a clip from a meeting aired by CNN, which reported on student protests of the ban, members referred to the list of reading and educational material as “divisive” and “bad ideas.” - Miami Herald
Most female scriptwriters in the 1950s and '60s had to churn out proto-Hallmark-Channel movies, but Kalish thrived in comedy. Her biggest mark was in Norman Lear's sitcoms All in the Family and its spinoff Maude; she co-produced the Maude spinoff Good Times. - The New York Times
Cited widely in science, but often misunderstood, for some it’s invaluable, hinting at profound truths about the nature of knowledge. For others it’s worse than useless. - Prospect
"Big-name Christian authors penned a letter blasting it as 'dangerous,' and more than 900 people signed a petition decrying the decision to print it. The advertised publisher, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, disavowed the book and denied it ever planned to print it in the first place." - Slate
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, "censorship (is) no longer about nudity, gore, or promiscuity. It (has) firmly set its sights on whether (a) narrative matched the right-wing Hindu nationalists' narrative." - Slate
Their original goal was to create a paint that would effectively reflect sunlight away from a building, which required producing an extremely white pigment. - Hyperallergic
Loopers are the equivalent of extras: they're voice actors who provide realistic background chatter for just about any setting or subject. And no, you can't become one: says one insider, "No one gives up their spots. You have to kill someone to get in." - The Hollywood Reporter
