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Threads, Mark Zuckerberg’s New Twitter Competitor, Makes Its Debut

"Threads is billed as a text-based version of Meta's photo-sharing app Instagram that the company says provides 'a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations.' It went live late Wednesday in Apple and Google Android app stores." - AP

One Of The World’s Oldest Newspapers Ends Its Print Edition After 320 Years

"The Wiener Zeitung, which is owned by the Austrian government but editorially independent, suffered a sharp decrease in revenue after a recent law dropped a requirement for companies to pay to publish changes to the commercial registry in the print edition." (It will continue publishing online.) - AP

Study: Drumming Helps Those With Autism

"What we see is children who learn how to play the drums aren't afraid of making mistakes. When they stop and make a mistake in their drumming they simply pause, reset, and off they go, and it's no big deal." - BBC

Grammys: Music Created With AI Is Eligible For Awards

“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason told The Associated Press. - Toronto Star (AP)

Checking In On Ireland’s Basic Income For Artists Scheme

Grant recipients, including visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, actors and dancers, were chosen at random from a pool of more than 8,000 eligible applicants, the government said in a news release; 13 circus artists and 10 architects were also selected for the income grants. - NBC

Robot Conductor Debuts With Korean Orchestra

The two-armed robot, designed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, made its debut at the National Theater of Korea, leading musicians in the country’s national orchestra. - CNN

Why “Living In The Present” Might Be Overrated

The identification of the present, not as a hectic shimmer of zeptoseconds but a series of temporal clearings where one might deeply linger, originates in the Buddhist concept of “sati”, understood as “moment to moment awareness of present events”.  - The Guardian

Why Archaeologists Rebury Their Excavations

It will help preserve the site for future archaeologists who might have more modern methods and can study the evidence better or ask new questions. - The Conversation

About Two Million Muslims Make The Pilgrimage To Mecca Every Year. What About The Folks Who Live There Year-Round?

About two million people call Mecca home, and while there are concessions to the city's sacredness — no movie theaters, no loud music at celebrations, and the malls are small by Gulf standards — Meccans live much like other Saudis. - AP

Our Culture Is Obsessed With Stories. But What If Stories Are A Trap?

When did the so-called narrative turn—the doctrine of narrative supremacy—go mainstream? “At a certain point in history, people started saying, ‘We are born storytellers,’ ” the novelist Amit Chaudhuri said at a 2018 symposium he convened called “Against Storytelling.” - The New Yorker

The Jackass Who Carved Graffiti On Rome’s Colosseum Says He Had No Idea How Old It Was

"Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor living in Bristol, wrote a letter of apology to the Rome mayor after allegedly engraving his and his girlfriend's names into an internal wall of the 2,000-year-old landmark with a key." (Actually, he probably didn't write it himself. Read it and see.) - The Guardian

Why Must The Worth Of Canada’s Culture Be Measured Primarily By Economics?

The value of culture is hard to measure - everyone's experience is different. But governments' obsession with justifying cultural worth economically gets in the way of its real value. - The Globe & Mail (Canada)

What’s Happening With, And To, The Russian Language In Ukraine

Ten years ago, almost half of Ukrainians said Russian was their first language; now, 21% say so (or, at least, admit to it). These days, anger at the language of the war criminals is hardly surprising. Ukraine's government wants to make Ukrainian-ness civic, not linguistic. Can that work? - Prospect (UK)

Just How To Stop Russians From Plundering Ukrainian Culture?

As Ukraine launches its summer counteroffensive, historians fear that Ukrainian cultural objects from Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine might be moved to Russia if the Russians have to retreat again. - The Wall Street Journal

George Benjamin’s New Opera Is About, Believe It Or Not, Happiness

Not that it's cheerful, mind you: Picture a Day Like This is about a mother whose child has died. Yet, after Benjamin's brilliant-but grim operas Into the Little Hill, Written on Skin, and Lessons in Love and Violence, this new piece is definitely a departure. - The New York Times

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