“Instead of having to go build a prototype physically or a model room, you can take people on this journey and then make the decisions on what to tap left or tack right on before investing heavily in physical architecture. It also changes the role of the architect and the designer in the process. - Fortune
Of the symphony’s 20 classical subscription concerts, only two of them feature American works in those all-important, major-work slots. Both of those concerts will take place in June of next year. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In 2010, to boost an economy still reeling from a 2008 banking crisis, Iceland’s government took advantage of the global attention brought by a volcanic eruption (which disrupted air traffic for days) to start a major advertising campaign for tourism. That campaign worked all too well. - The New York Times
The 12th edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary comes 22 years after the book’s last hard-copy update. To make room for the new words (including “hard pass,” “beast mode,” and “adulting”), publishers removed sections which listed and defined places (“Kalamazoo”) and people (“Rimsky-Korsakov”) which people no longer use dictionaries to find. - AP
Early this month, moviegoers who saw preview screenings of the horror movie Together, starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, posted on Chinese social media that one of a male couple shown getting married in the film was digitally altered into a woman. - NBC News
“The bronze-painted installation, titled Best Friends Forever, depicts the two men smiling at each other, each with an arm and leg raised as if in mid-frolic. 'In Honor of Friendship Month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his 'closest friend,' Jeffrey Epstein,' reads the plaque.” - NPR
The 49-year-old Slovak conductor, previously chief conductor of Italy’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, took up the position in Houston in 2022. This latest agreement extends his term through the 2027-28 season. - OperaWire
The contract between the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority and New York City PBS station WNET — which has operated NJ PBS since 2011, when then-Gov. Chris Christie eliminated funding to state-run NJN — expires on June 30, and the two parties have been unable to agree on an extension. - Inside Radio
“Alexander Loxton, who played the ‘older Billy’ in the West End musical Billy Elliot as well as dancing with the Royal Ballet …, says he suffered a career-wrecking ankle ligament injury during an unjustified stop-and-search by Met Police in September 2016.” He is suing for £600,000 (roughly $800,000) in damages. - The Independent (UK)
In addition to prizes presented in ten categories, the 35th first annual award ceremony — the theme: digestion — featured appearances by actual Nobel laureates, a mini-opera titled The Plight of the Gastroenterologist, and the secret to preventing lumps in your cacio e pepe sauce (which won the Physics Prize). - AP
“Some clubs are charging £5 for a ticket, you get to the bar and it’s £12 for a double,” meaning cash-strapped students will stay in or pre-drink heavily to spend less later. By raising ticket prices to £10-£15 but allowing BYOB, students come out, knowing they can then drink at supermarket prices. - The Guardian
“The owner of a popular YouTube channel has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that organizers of the Burning Man festival prevented filmmakers from recording cleanup efforts in 2024 by using public law enforcement as private security.” - Las Vegas Review-Journal (MSN)
Left as it is, the nation’s not-for-profit performing arts sector will not survive. The whole system is teetering on the edge of artistic and financial viability. - The Guardian
The shortlist includes Indian-born author Kiran Desai, 19 years after she won the prize, as well as past nominees Andrew Miller and David Szalay. A trio of US writers - Susan Choi, Katie Kitamura and Ben Markovits - will also be up for the prize when the winner is announced in November. - BBC
If the university exists only to warehouse knowledge and to transmit tradition, then it is doomed. But the university’s inability to claim a near monopoly on knowledge doesn’t make it obsolete. The focus must now shift to critique. The university needs to replace the question of access to information with judgment and interpretation. - The Walrus
