Category: today’s top story

Seriously. “Facebook was successful in trademarking ‘Face,’ but might have a tougher time gaining rights to the word ‘book.'”

“When we be­gan our annual sur­vey of the best at­tended exhibitions in 1996, to make the top ten a show needed to attract around 3,000 visitors a day. In our survey of 2011 shows, to make the top ten required almost 7,000 visitors a day.”

“The 22,000-word novella, Basic Training, was rejected by the Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s, long before Mr. Vonnegut had become famous through works such as Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat’s Cradle.“

“Consider that what all of these – performance, writing, teaching, etc. – have in common is the structure of detachment. Pupils sit and listen to a teacher. Audiences pay to watch and scrutinize, but they must keep quiet and sit in the dark. Visitors to the gallery can look, and think, but not touch. These events are structured by detachment. That’s where they begin. And so, from the very start, they are always on the verge of boredom.”

“A still life once thought to be by Vincent van Gogh but later downgraded to the work of an anonymous artist because of doubts about its authenticity is indeed by the tormented Dutch impressionist, researchers said Tuesday.”

David Carr: “Is it O.K. to lie on the way to telling a greater truth? The short answer is also the right one. No. It’s worth examining that question now that we have learned about the lies perforating the excerpt of Mike Daisey’s one-man show on Apple’s manufacturing processes in China, broadcast in January on the weekly public radio show This American Life.“

“Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It’s a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it. New research is shedding light on what allows people to develop world-changing products and to solve the toughest problems. A surprisingly concrete set of lessons has emerged about what creativity is and how to spark it in ourselves and our work.”

After This American Life aired an episode in which playwright and performer Mike Daisey’s monologue about Apple and the Foxconn factory in China featured prominently, the show discovered some inconsistencies – and then discovered that during fact-checking, Daisey had lied to them. Here’s the detailed retraction (transcript also available in a link at the top of the page).

“Art, film, literature and television all appear to be backward-looking, if not reactionary – as epitomised by the success of Downton Abbey. But perhaps there is a more subtle narrative at work here.”

All the reporter wanted to do was learn how to code. Then she discovered the subculture of Ruby programmers, and the man who tried to open that world up to the world – before he disappeared.