[SIC] Day 502

Vol. 4, No. 82

[SIC] Day is a daily selection of 20x signals from my media landscape, grouped to illustrate potential patterns in the zeitgeist, offered exclusively to paying subscribers of [SIC]. All imagery is mine, except where noted.

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[SIC] Day 502

Picture of a poster by Alex Lukas from his Space 1026 days.

Studies Time

• Astronomers forge new field called “extragalactic archaeology” / Harvard

• Earthly corollary: New York City is rolling out lessons on Jewish and Muslim American history in schools / NYT

• Meantime A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow ‘Organ Sacks’ to Replace Animal Testing / Wired

• While a self-cleaning fabric could make laundry detergent obsolete / Phys.org

The AI-rts

• Why would someone use AI to write a book? Why wouldn’t someone use AI to write a book? / Substack

• So … Is There an Ethical Path for AI Art? / Hyperallergic

• Meantime, Bad AI imagery is replacing the (charmingly) bad graphic design on bodega signage / Hellgate

• But, like… What’s with all those A.I. videos of fruits cheating on each other? / NYT

• And Will A.I. Close or Widen the Gender Gap in the Arts? / Artnet

Playing the Odds

• Apropos of closing the ‘gender gap’: Single? These New Yorkers want you to date their friends, by having them sell their single besties to eager bachelors and bachelorettes / Gothamist

• Also not on the sidelines for long: A 6-foot-7, 295-pound Irish rugby player, is hottest football recruit even though he has never played a game / NYT

• And also not ‘playing’: Polymarket’s Coming-Out Party in Washington Was a Disaster / Wired

Transportations

• From Piers: BMW turns April Fool’s joke into Nürburgring race car / New Atlas

• Not a joke: The Atlantic takes its journalism to sea in three-year partnership with luxury cruise line Seabourn / ADWEEK

• While closer to home: ‘Tastes like the weekend’: Booze will flow again on Staten Island Ferry, ending 7-year dry spell / NY Post

Branded Worlds

• Apropos of 7 year increments: The time Stussy had a lifestyle brand. Remembering the Japan-exclusive Stussy Livin’ GENERAL STORE / Street Night Live

• More store: Prada covered its 5th Ave flagship in functional seafoam-green scaffolding designed to shift visually with changing light and weather during exterior work on the building / Dezeen

• Presentation corollary: Jas Bell on crafting a visual solar system for SZA / It’s Nice That

• More visual: Inside the strangely soothing world of fragrance TikTok / The Guardian

• Coming soon: A Minecraft theme park in the UK / Hollywood Reporter

[SIC] Day 502