The magazine's primary financial backer at its launch was one of founding editor Harold Ross's poker buddies, who was a yeast magnate. A few months in, Ross very nearly lost the magazine after a poker binge; fortunately, the yeast magnate (ahem) rose to the occasion. - The Conversation
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ $32 million line-item vetoes stripped away funding for local theater groups, arts festivals, museums and more, sparking outrage in Florida last year. Now, a House work group is one of several convening to review line-item vetoes from the 2024-25 budget DeSantis signed last year. - Florida Politics
It can be easy to take our maps, images and story of the Moon for granted. But over the past six decades, our cultural and scientific relationship with the Moon has been radically altered. - Aeon
"Last year was the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto, … so it’s unsurprising that we saw such interest in the movement. But it is striking that the centennial prompted a flurry of interest in the women – who were actually excluded from those groups. Why the sudden broadening of the lens?" - The Guardian
One big author and one major publisher announced within weeks of each other that they were through with the practice of blurbs, and the resulting conversation threw publishing into a tizzy. In the process, it provided a new lens on who has access to clout and resources in an increasingly precarious industry. - Vox
You may not agree with Mood Machine that Spotify’s mixes are an existential threat to the way people discover music, but you may marvel at how much effort goes into recommending a song that sounds like a different song you liked three months ago. - The Atlantic
“If you’re spending 10 million on a work of art and you’re paying $1 million or $2 million, or even $2.5 million in tariffs because it was imported, you’d say, ‘No way. Forget it. It’s a write-off of $2.5 million. I can’t do that. I’ll go for real estate, or I’ll go for stocks and shares.’” - ARTnews
"That’s not just because President Donald Trump has repeatedly weaponized the phrase of the title against his own critics. ... It’s also because the 1882 play … seems to express the micro and macro ethical dilemmas that have become a daily fixture of the second Trump term." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Roan gets respect and true appreciation for her artistry and gumption but is far too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today. - The Hollywood Reporter
Like its 2020 predecessor, the new order has little to do with classical architecture in any meaningful way—which itself has been decontextualized from its ideologies, aesthetics, spatial origins, and material conditions and flattened into a kind of “Deus vult” meme for people overly concerned with their haplogroup type. - The Nation
According to Leah Koch, just two things make a romance novel: a central love story and a happy ending. “A criticism I hear a lot is, ‘Well, how is that interesting?’ The whole point to me is how we get from point A to point B,” she said. - The New Yorker
"'The bloom is off the rose of rom-coms,' says Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. 'There was a period in which they couldn’t miss. But then there were a number that were absolutely awful, and streaming changed things. Now you need spectacle to get audiences into theaters.'" - Variety
The new N.E.A. rules require applicants to agree not to operate diversity programs “that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws” and call on grant applicants to pledge not to use federal funds to “promote gender ideology.”
“The data shows a shift in cognitive effort as knowledge workers increasingly move from task execution to oversight when using GenAI,” the researchers wrote. “Surprisingly, while AI can improve efficiency, it may also reduce critical engagement, particularly in routine or lower-stakes tasks in which users simply rely on AI." - 404 Media
In the complaint, Thomson Reuters claimed the AI firm reproduced materials from its legal research firm Westlaw. Today, a judge ruled in Thomson Reuters’ favor, finding that the company’s copyright was indeed infringed by Ross Intelligence’s actions. - Wired
