"I called a friend with kids and said, 'Have you heard of an author named Raina Telgemeier?' 'Of course,' she said, sounding bemused, as if I’d asked whether she was familiar with the automobile." As one school librarian said, "Children reread those books over and over and over." - The Atlantic (MSN)
Trained on human-generated data, large language models are very adept at noticing patterns in that data. But learning from existing written material – even massive quantities of it – might not be enough for AI to come up with solutions to problems that they’ve never encountered before, something that children can do. - Psyche
"The takeover of state-owned public media companies Educ.Ar, Télam, Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA), and Contenidos Públicos for one year ... was made official on Monday via a decree signed by President Javier Milei and Interior Minister Guillermo Francos." - Buenos Aires Herald
Perhaps no writer has been more clairvoyant about our current technological age than Neal Stephenson. His novels coined the term metaverse, laid the conceptual groundwork for cryptocurrency, and imagined a geoengineered planet. - The Atlantic (MSN)
"Olivia Ansell, current director of the Sydney Festival, is slated to join the Toronto-based cultural organization in 2025 to leads its artistic programming. She succeeds Naomi Campbell, who stepped down as artistic director in 2023 after five years at the helm." - The Toronto Star
The barrier to attempting lyric poetry is so low it’s basically asphalt. Platforms for the stuff are plentiful, and rotten poems, furred with hyperlinks, abound. - The Millions
The 1971 lithograph titled Eve was stolen from a Manhattan gallery last September. Now the NYPD says that two of the three suspects were apprehended in December and the piece was found and returned; the third suspect remains at large. - Artnet
ArtTactic’s report states that the lower end of the market remained “very active, with an 18% increase in the number of artworks sold below $50,000” last year. - The Art Newspaper
About two dozen ballet companies are unionized, but only three contemporary dance companies are: Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, and Ballet Hispánico. There are certainly barriers to unionizing (not least that almost all contemporary dancers in the US are freelancers), but some of those barriers may be falling. - Dance Magazine
"The number of partnerships between an American orchestra and a music director that have been so productive for so long is vanishingly small. … This partnership has officially come to an end. So it’s a good time to outline and celebrate the scope of (Michael Tilson) Thomas’s achievements." - San Francisco Chronicle
The scroll is one of hundreds, all far too fragile to unroll, from Herculaneum that constitute the only intact library from the ancient world to survive, By using machine-learning to decipher scans of the scroll, the students have won the $700,000 prize offered in the Vesuvius Challenge. - Time
"The film gave me an exposure that I could not have imagined, and I had to catch up with my own fame when the floodgates opened to do countless operas," she later said. After a 25-year singing career, she found happiness as a special-ed teacher in Kentucky. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
Along with Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg, and the late Cokie Roberts, Wertheimer, 80, was one of the women who joined the network in its earliest days in 1971. She was the first director of All Things Considered and was host from 1989 to 2002, when she became senior national correspondent. - Deadline
Spano — currently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival and School, principal conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and from 2001 to 2021 music director of the Atlanta Symphony — begins an initial three-year term at the WNO in fall 2025. - The Washington Post (MSN)
An announcement from the Roundabout Theatre Co. says, "Ms. Daly was unexpectedly hospitalized on Friday and unfortunately needs to withdraw from the production while she receives medical care; she is thankfully expected to make a full recovery." Amy Ryan will take over the lead role. - Deadline
