With attractions by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sonia Delaunay, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and others, the resurrected Luna Luna opens in Los Angeles this month This month, a landmark if quirky project billed as “the world’s first art amusement park” will be resurrected on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. In the summer of 1987, Luna Luna...
Author: sp (sp )
Philadelphia Museum Returns 16th-Century Manuscript to Peru
Federal investigators found that the six-page manuscript at the Rosenbach Museum and Library had been illegally removed from a larger volume The Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia has voluntarily returned a 16th-century manuscript to the government of Peru, following a federal investigation into the provenance of the object. The manuscript, which dates to 1599 and documents...
Aging Societies More Vulnerable to Collapse
Societies and political structures, like the humans they serve, appear to become more fragile as they age, according to an analysis of hundreds of pre-modern societies. A new study, which holds implications for the modern world, provides the first quantitative support for the theory that the resilience of political states decreases over time. Triggers of...
Brazilian City Enacts an Ordinance That Was Secretly Written by ChatGPT
City lawmakers in Brazil have enacted what appears to be the nation’s first legislation written entirely by artificial intelligence — even if they didn’t know it at the time. The experimental ordinance was passed in October in the southern city of Porto Alegre and city councilman Ramiro Rosário revealed this week that it was written...
Intercepted Calls from the Front Lines in Ukraine Show a Growing Number of Russian Soldiers Want Out
In audio intercepts from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian soldiers speak in shorthand of 200s to mean dead, 300s to mean wounded. The urge to flee has become common enough that they also talk of 500s — people who refuse to fight. As the war grinds into its second winter, a growing number...
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year – Authentic – Reflects Growing Concerns Over AI’s Ability to Deceive and Dehumanize
When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game. In a lexicographic form of Christmas creep, Collins English Dictionary announced its 2023 word of the year, “AI,” on...
Music Painted on the Wall of a Venetian Orphanage Will Be Heard Again Nearly 250 Years Later
Imagine Lady Gaga or Elton John teaching at an orphanage or homeless shelter, offering daily music lessons. That’s what took place at Venice’s four Ospedali Grandi, which were charitable institutions that took in the needy – including orphaned and foundling girls – from the 16th century to the turn of the 19th century. Remarkably, all...
From Ancient Greece to Broadway, Music Has Played a Critical Role in Theater
Though anxiety about the fate of live theater performances still lingers, Broadway is celebrating its third season since reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic, with a lineup dominated once again by musicals. The new season includes long-running hits like “Hamilton,” revivals of classics like “Merrily We Roll Along,” new musical adaptations of nonmusical works like “Days...
In Conversation with Tim O’Keefe of the Texas Ballet Theater
The winter holiday season is chock full of tradition, and one of the most beloved traditions this time of year is seeing the beloved ballet The Nutcracker. Except for the sourest curmudgeons, The Nutcracker dances, music, story, and costumes are major fan favorites, for many reasons, and that’s not just the opinion of the average showgoer, but of...
Study Reveals How Shipwrecks Are Providing a Refuge for Marine Life
An estimated 50,000 shipwrecks can be found around the UK’s coastline and have been acting as a hidden refuge for fish, corals and other marine species in areas still open to destructive bottom towed fishing, a new study has shown. Many of these wrecks have been lying on the seabed for well over a century,...