“Are they evil or are they sick? While novelists writing in the years of the War on Drugs were asking this question about serial killers, the general public was asking the same question about drug addicts.” - Literary Hub
The museums’ management acknowledged an attack earlier this year, but denied any major security breach or theft of data. The statement came after Corriere della Sera reported that hackers had infiltrated the galleries’ network, taken control of the photographic server, and sent a ransom demand to the director’s personal phone. - Reuters (Yahoo!)
Shawn and Eisenberg, an author and actress who has been Shawn’s partner for five decades, performed with scripts in the Off-Broadway production of What We Did Before Our Moth Days to fill in for ill co-stars Hope Davis and Maria Dizzia. - Playbill
The 185-acre Baps Swaminarayan Akshardham, completed in 2023 and known for its intricate carvings in white stone, has for years faced allegations of visa fraud and maltreatment of its construction workers and artisans. Now some of those workers says they’ve developed bronchitis and silicosis, with two having died. - The Guardian
Composer Chris Rogerson will lead the summer festival in the Colorado resort town, taking over after the 16-year tenure of pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. Rogerson is the first composer to direct the event: before McDermott were flutist Eugenia Zukerman and violinist Ida Kavafian. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“A month after the terms of two Smithsonian trustees ended, their replacements have yet to be named as the traditional process of filling its governing Board of Regents has slowed in the wake of President Trump’s efforts to gain control of the institution.” - The New York Times
“Nearly half a century on, although performances on period instruments (let alone fortepianos) are hardly the norm, historically informed performance has increasingly moved toward mainstream acceptance, picking up new repertoires, time periods, and styles along the way. The movement’s relative success may seem surprising.” - Early Music America
Two-thirds said they had observed the decline among children who they also said no longer felt the need to spell because of voice-to-text technology. - The Guardian
“When I did it before, nobody was really explicitly saying the opposite of what I was saying. I was attacking implicit assumptions, unthought-through assumptions that people seemed to have. Now I’m attacking open declarations that people are making very publicly.” - Slate (MSN)
The Kindle ecosystem is perhaps the apotheosis of this shift. One Guardian reporter found Amazon had recorded every title, highlight and page turn on her Kindle app (40,000 entries over two years). The company’s dominance sets the terms for everyone in the marketplace. - Washington Post
It’s hard to imagine a more finely tuned machine than the Trump Presidential Library, a glass-walled Miami tower whose video renderings were released by the president’s son Eric on Monday night. The project has a balance sheet that would make a developer blush. - The Atlantic
As a literary critic and scholar, I believe the deeper question isn’t whether or not critics should do more to hide their use of AI – but the ethics of using it at all. - The Conversation
“As of January, the RiNo Art District has split from the business and infrastructure groups it once operated alongside. Now, three separate entities share responsibility for the area. … Each has its own boss, board, budget and mission. Together, the three groups still shape the district with a shared vision.” - Denverite
Despite several previous conservation campaigns, a carefully executed programme of works targeting its roofing, glazing systems, and masonry envelope was necessary. - Dezeen
Bach never knew the modern piano or its flattened-out tuning, so any pianist who plays the Well-Tempered Clavier on a Steinway is making a version of the piece that Bach wouldn’t have even imagined. - The Guardian
