In response to the placement of a Nativity scene in the Iowa capitol, the Temple (per its usual practice) claimed equal representation and installed a display of the occult figure Baphomet there. Former Congressional candidate Michael Cassidy drove from Mississippi to Des Moines and ripped Baphomet's head off. - Business Insider
"There was a time in my life when it was trivial to sign up to a new social network and pick up its patterns and mores on the fly. Now, I feel exhausted by the prospect." - The New York Times
Macron said that the 74-year-old star — facing multiple rape accusations and having been caught on camera sexually harassing a translator and making lewd remarks about a 10-year-old — is "a great actor … (who) makes France proud" and should not be stripped of the Legion of Honor. Predictable outrage has ensued. - BBC
The six performers sacked by the company — a week after going on strike over the board's refusal to address unsafe working conditions — have formed the Central New York Ballet. They made their debut at a sold-out holiday performance in Syracuse this week. - CNY Central (Syracuse)
"Attorney general (Letitia James) filed suit Wednesday against SiriusXM, accusing the satellite radio and streaming service of making it intentionally difficult for its customers to cancel their subscriptions." - AP
"Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish (for several hours) on Tuesday in New York City to discuss a possible merger, Axios has learned from multiple sources." - Axios
Less than a decade ago, readers, authors, and publishers put a lot of faith in the site and the ability of its user-written reviews to launch a book into bestseller territory. But with the repeated "dumpster fires" (as one author called them) of recent years, the site's authority is waning. - The Guardian
"Equity said its members in the ENO chorus would vote in early January on whether to launch industrial action. The union said it was fighting plans to cut chorus salaries by 40% under moves to shorten their contracts" with ENO's reduced season in London and headquarters move to Manchester. - The Guardian
Joanna Smith pled guilty to injuring museum property, punishable by up to five years' imprisonment; Tim Martin wants to see what a jury will say about his act and the "end-of-the-world climate emergency." The two splashed paint on the case of a Degas at the National Gallery. - The Washington Post (MSN)
"What should Wagner look like in the age of the Wagner Group? How can the hammer of the Norse god Thor appear on stage, after the Russian mercenary army used a sledgehammer to shatter a captive’s skull, his face bound with clingfilm, in a video broadcast to the world?" - The New European
The very idea of popularity is up for debate: Is that trend really viral? Did everyone see that post, or is it just my little corner of the internet? More than before, it feels like we’re holding a fun-house mirror up to the internet and struggling to make sense of the distorted picture. - The Atlantic (MSN)
Researchers such as Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge have shown that various measures of student well-being began a sharp decline around 2012 throughout the West, just as smartphones and social media emerged as the attentional centerpiece of teenage life. Some have even suggested that smartphone use is so corrosive, it’s systematically reducing student achievement. - The Atlantic
There is a significant audience for arts and culture: 96% of adults in Aotearoa New Zealand participated in arts and cultural events in the past three years. As we argue in the report, strengthening arts and culture media leads to better public conversations, more engaged arts consumers, and a healthier arts and culture sector. - IJNet
Children start to distinguish fantasy from reality around preschool, but a belief in Santa Claus or Father Christmas usually lasts longer, to around seven or eight years old, according to research conducted in the United States in the 1980s and ’90s. - Psyche
In total, the BBC has now spoken to more than 100 former dancers who attended UK schools from the 1990s through to the present day, and who all claim they experienced a "damaging" culture. - BBC
