Scholar And Author George Steiner Dead At 90

“An essayist, fiction writer, teacher, scholar and literary critic … Mr. Steiner both dazzled and dismayed his readers with the range and occasional obscurity of his literary references.” As one New York Times critic wrote, “His bracing virtue has been his ability to move from Pythagoras, through Aristotle and Dante, to Nietzsche and Tolstoy in a single paragraph. His irritating vice has been that he can move from Pythagoras, through Aristotle and Dante, to Nietzsche and Tolstoy in a single paragraph.” – The New York Times

YouTube Earned More Than $15 Billion From Ads Last Year

For the first time, Google and its corporate parent, Alphabet, broke out from overall revenue reports the income from its video platform — and that income is enormous. What’s more, YouTube ad revenues have almost doubled over just the past two years, and the platform is bringing in another $3 billion annually from its 20 million paid subscribers. – The Hollywood Reporter

We Think Poverty And Opportunity Are In Cities. Here’s Another Way Of Looking At It

Newly released Index of Deep Disadvantage looks at poverty and disadvantage across all the nation’s counties and 500 of the largest US cities. The index was based on three categories of data: income, health, and social mobility. While the most advantaged communities in the U.S. rank alongside the most developed parts of the world, those struggling the hardest measure up with countries like North Korea and Bangladesh. From among the list of 100 most disadvantaged communities, 80 are rural. – Daily Yonder

The Freelance Theatre Designer Life Isn’t For The Faint Of Heart

Joanna Scotcher trained as a sculptor, but when she started trying to sculpt doorways between spaces and the human interactions in those spaces, one of her professors hinted that she might consider the theatre. But, she notes, “a career in design ‘isn’t financially viable’ for most people, and the opportunities on offer – unpaid work, training schemes, assistant designing – ‘remain the preserve of the privileged few.’ It’s something she is passionate about changing.” – The Stage (UK)