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☆ How to explore Greece's lesser-known islands like a local
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | Morgan Awyong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

But now it wants tourists to get to know lesser-known locations across its thousands of sprawling islands. Currently, Germany and the U.K. represent Greece's largest inbound tourism markets by revenue, followed by the United States, France and Italy. An eco-paradise surrounded by 24 islets, Lipsi forms part of the Dodecanese island collection in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Alonissos, SporadesDivers' delight Alonissos, part of the Sporades group of islands, is a diver's paradise and the site of Greece's first underwater museum. Alonissos, part of the Sporades archipelago in the northwest Aegean Sea, is known for its diving spots, including Greece's first underwater museum, the "Parthenon of the Wrecks."

☆ Review: After 55 Years, the Helsinki Philharmonic Returns to Carnegie Hall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Until Tuesday, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra hadn’t been to Carnegie Hall since 1968. Its chief conductor at the time was Jorma Panula, who was at the podium for that visit. Now, 55 years later, the group is led by one of his former students: Susanna Mälkki. Her tenure in Helsinki, where she has been the chief conductor since 2016, ends this season. In Los Angeles, Mälkki’s repertoire has been varied: a lot of well-shepherded contemporary music, but also insightfully transparent interpretations of the classics.

☆ How much 2 professional dancers who create content for TikTok on the side have earned from brand deals — and how the app has opened doors for them into TV and film
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dance trends helped TikTok gain traction when the app first exploded in early 2020. TikTok has also helped several trained dancers earn income through brand deals and land jobs. From January to March, she made $1,500 in paid brand deals, according to documentation viewed by Insider. TikTok has also helped Mahale get more opportunities as a professional dancer. Tay Marquise, who has 606,800 followers on TikTok, said he's also landed multiple brand deals and part-time opportunities because of his dance videos on the app.

Prince William honored his father with a few words during Sunday night's concert - the first ever to be staged at Windsor Castle, home to monarchs for almost 1,000 years. Royals dance the night awaySeveral members of the royal family got their groove on throughout the concert. Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesMesmerizing drone displayA fabulous drone display lit up the sky over the coronation concert, earning audible gasps from the crowd below. Crowds watch illuminated drones creating a light display above Windsor Castle. But when Miss Piggy, dressed in a cerise pink evening dress and glittering necklace, recognized “Downton Abbey” star Bonneville she had other things in mind, thinking he was a real lord.

☆ America Hits Bottom With Trump and Biden in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Joseph Epstein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

What about Joe Biden? How has it come about that the more-than-likely presidential candidates of our two political parties in 2024 turn out to be Donald Trump and Joe Biden? One can of course be a good man and a poor president. But no one would argue that either Mr. Trump or Mr. Biden is a notably good man. Each has been ethically challenged and found wanting: Mr. Trump by his long experience in the New York real-estate world, Mr. Biden by his 36 years in the Senate.

Stephanie Joyce and Isaac Jones , Pat McCusker , Sonia Herrero andRepublican-led legislatures have recently made it clear what they don’t want taught in public school classrooms: sexuality, gender identity, structural racism. But when it comes to what they do want, one approach frequently arises: classical education. The central tenet of classical education is that students should focus on the Western canon, usually starting with the ancient Greeks. In 2015, he founded a company that developed the Classic Learning Test, or CLT, as an alternative to the College Board’s SAT. (A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)

☆ A King Who Actually Likes the Arts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

With these varied interests, Charles is the most culturally attuned monarch for well over a century. In the 17th century, Charles I, a patron of painters including Rubens and Van Dyck, built one of Europe’s most important art collections. But where previous monarchs were known for their passions, Charles has often been defined by the things he doesn’t like. In a phone interview, O’Regan said that once you “delved into Charles’s likes and dislikes,” a picture emerged of a man whose interests were “obviously nuanced.”“He’s someone who is clearly very affected by music and other arts,” O’Regan said. “I remember being so completely transfixed by the magic of it,” Charles said during a 2018 radio interview.

☆ 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Herbie Hancock
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Marcus J. Moore | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Now, we’re turning to Herbie Hancock, the groundbreaking pianist and composer who emerged in jazz as something of a prodigy. His career took off after the trumpeter Donald Byrd asked Hancock to play in his quintet. By the early ’70s, Hancock had all but abandoned jazz for funk and ambient textures, and released challenging music that didn’t fit one box in particular. In 1973, he released his biggest album, “Head Hunters,” a propulsive funk odyssey that went platinum and led to Hancock playing to huge crowds. Below, we asked 11 musicians, writers and critics to share their favorite Hancock songs.

☆ How a Classical Music Power Couple Spend Their Sundays
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Tammy La Gorce | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Married for 18 years, Keri-Lynn Wilson and Peter Gelb spend a lot of time apart because of their high-profile careers. Ms. Wilson, 55, is a conductor with gigs all over the world. Mr. Gelb, 69, is the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Wilson, who will conduct, had the idea for the performances after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. SOPHISTICATED AND LUXURIOUS Mr. Gelb: I get up between 6 and 6:30.

☆ Ding Liren becomes world chess champion after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in enthralling finale
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Aimee Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

CNN —The final day of the World Chess Championship was always going to be a nervy affair, but few could have predicted just how tense the battle would be. After the classical section of the tournament ended 7-7 after 14 games, the championship between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren went to tiebreaks. In the fourth and final rapid tiebreak game Sunday, it was Ding who was victorious. More to follow.

☆ Chess-China's Ding Liren defies odds to become world champion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Alessandro Parodi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 30 (Reuters) - China's Ding Liren was crowned on Sunday as the 17th world chess champion in a tense match against Russian-born Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the last chapter of an odds-defying sequence of events. "One Ding to rule em all," fellow grandmaster Anish Giri wrote on Twitter in honour of the new champion. Ding's triumph means China holds both the men's and women's world titles, with current women's champion Ju Wenjun set to defend her title against compatriot Lei Tingjie in July. "The moment Ian resigned the game was a very emotional moment, I cannot control my feelings," the new world champion said in a press conference. Carlsen said he was not motivated to play shortly after Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates tournament, the prestigious qualifier to the match.

☆ Pretty Yende, South African opera star will perform at King Charles' coronation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Gertrude Kitongo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —“Pretty, are you sitting down?” South African soprano Pretty Yende was performing in Vienna last December when she received a call from her manager. She had just been booked for the biggest gig of her life: a performance at the coronation of King Charles III. As one of three soloists at the ceremony, it’s thought that Yende is the first African to be invited to perform solo at a British coronation. The coronation will not be the first time King Charles has watched Yende perform; he saw the soprano sing at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th anniversary gala, held at Windsor Castle in April 2022. Pretty Yende performs in "Lucia Di Lammermoor" at the Bastille Opera House in Paris in October 2016.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ How to put your best travel foot forward for Earth Day 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Forrest Brown | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

But you don’t have to totally cut out travel or stay super close to home to be a good planetary citizen. You need a city that’s dedicated to getting it right to best enjoy an urban biking vacation. Here, we've curated 30 of our favorite corners, including the Thu Bon River, which flows through central Vietnam. A maze of rivers and caves, the UNESCO World Centre is defined by its craggy limestone facades and jade green water. Bruno De Hogues/Photodisc/Getty Images Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park: A UNESCO World Heritage, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is heaven for spelunkers.

☆ People think AI is to blame for the mysterious case of the Spotify song with 49 different names
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

One Spotify user was recommended the same song under 49 different names and suspects AI is behind it. Turns out, AI-generated songs are taking over conversation in the music industry. Spotify user Adam Faze took to Twitter to try to find out. except every time I looked, it was a different song name and artist entirely." He decided to add each of these recommended tracks to a playlist, which now includes 49 "different" songs.

Coronations at Westminster Abbey go back almost one thousand years. Like Charles III, William had his coronation at Westminster Abbey. Gross says coronation blunders do not become truly significant for monarchs until their reign starts to go wrong. A “beautiful and symbolic” silver cross containing a piece of the so-called True Cross will lead King Charles’ coronation procession in London next month. Meanwhile, gun salutes will sound from military bases and ships at sea to mark the moment Charles is crowned King.

REUTERS/Joe SkipperLOS ANGELES, April 20 (Reuters) - The spectacular explosion of SpaceX's new Starship rocket minutes after it soared off its launch pad on a first flight test is the latest vivid illustration of a "successful failure" business formula that serves Elon Musk's company well, experts said on Thursday. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTAt least two experts in aerospace engineering and planetary science who spoke with Reuters agreed that the test flight delivered benefits. "This is a classical SpaceX successful failure," said Garrett Reisman, an astronautical engineering professor at the University of Southern California who is a former NASA astronaut and is also a senior adviser to SpaceX. Reisman called the Starship test flight a hallmark of a SpaceX strategy that sets Musk's company apart from traditional aerospace companies and even NASA by "this embracing of failure when the consequences of failure are low." She said the risks of a single flight test were small in comparison to the ambitious gains at stake.

☆ In the Footsteps of Charles III
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Sarah Lyall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

No royal heir in British history has waited longer than Charles III, the king formerly known as the Prince of Wales, to ascend the throne. By contrast, Charles — the oldest Prince of Wales in British history to become king — was born a monarch-in-waiting and has had a lifetime to prepare. The public in turn has had a lifetime to get to know Charles, starting from his rarefied childhood in the public eye. But Charles was an unusually outspoken Prince of Wales. He has often waded into debates on unexpected topics like alternative medicine and organic farming (pro) and modernist architecture (against).

☆ Chess-World championship contender faces purported leak of his preparation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 20 (Reuters) - Chess grandmasters and other players said a secret online account has been found of world championship contender Ding Liren's preparation as he trails by a point in his match in Astana, Kazakhstan, against Russian-born Ian Nepomniachtchi. The first player to gain 7.5 points will win the match and a prize of 2 million euros ($2.19 million). Ding would have used a burner account on the website Lichess.org to prepare for the match with his trainers, several players said. The account, created on Feb. 14, features new opening ideas which Ding unveiled in the match. "Ding has to deal with the fallout of his 'anonymous' pre-match training games being discovered online," chess publication Chess24 reported.

☆ ‘Rear View,’ a Show About Butts, Is Forward Thinking
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The four art dealers who trade together as LGDR have opened a gallery on East 64th Street with a preposterous inaugural exhibition — but before you take that the wrong way, remember the etymology. Preposterous, adjective: from the Latin prae-, meaning “before,” and posterus, or “coming after.” Something preposterous is turned the wrong way. …I had better stop; “Rear View,” with more than 60 paintings, sculptures and photographs of human figures facing the more interesting way, invites a preposterous amount of wordplay. Many of the artists in “Rear View” channel their backward glances through the classical ideal. Michelangelo Pistoletto, the Arte Povera artist, places a concrete copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos in a pile of trash.

☆ New propellers with looped blades could help make the oceans quiet again, sparing both marine life and the climate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Sharrow Marine sells them for small boats but would need to scale up to reach the shipping industry. A traditional ship propeller that has blades in a screw-like form. That's what Sebastian realized when he put loop propellers on a drone. Sharrow began selling propellers to recreational boaters in 2020 through a company he founded called Sharrow Marine. Testing led by the company BoatTEST found that the Sharrow Propeller was up to 30% more efficient than a standard blade propeller.

☆ Factbox: Little known facts about King Charles: One-time jockey and hedgelayer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - King Charles will be crowned next month at London's Westminster Abbey, following in a tradition that dates back some 1,000 years. Here are some little known facts about the monarch:FIRST REGAL SCHOOLBOYCharles is the first monarch to have gone to school, as all his predecessors were educated by private tutors. As part of his education, he spent two terms at Geelong Church of England Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia. SPORTYAs a young prince, Charles loved skiing, surfing, and scuba diving. MUSIC AND ARTS LOVERCAMBERLEY, ENGLAND - APRIL 14: King Charles III inspects the 200th Sovereign's parade at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on April 14, 2023 in Camberley, England.

Some are turning to startups who are pivoting to using powerful chips to run quantum-inspired software on regular computers as they bide their time. In the past 18 months, quantum software startups including SandBoxAQ - an Alphabet spinoff - raised about $1 billion, according to data firm PitchBook. Ultimately, the software inspired by quantum physics won't perform well on quantum computers without some changes, said William Hurley, boss of Austin-based quantum software startup Strangeworks. Still, he said companies that start using them will have engineers "learning about quantum and the phenomenon and the process, which will better prepare them to use quantum computers at the point that they do so." Strangeworks, which also operates a cloud with over 60 quantum computers on it, raised $24 million last month from investors including IBM (IBM.N).

☆ Opinion | Removing Offensive Language From Classic Books
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

While there may be an argument for expurgated versions of some books for young children, adult readers should face squarely our literature as it is — flaws and all. Al McKeeSan FranciscoTo the Editor:Efforts by literary executors, editors and school systems to sanitize the writing of past generations is nothing new. Notoriously, the 19th-century Bowdler editions of Shakespeare scrubbed away all unsettling sexual content. Victorian translations of classical texts scrubbed away all references to homosexuality, creating an illusion of heteronormativity where it never existed. Late 20th-century library shelves were purged of books that expressed racist, antisemitic and eugenic beliefs, creating a comfortable delusion that such opinions were rare.

☆ Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Take That to perform at King Charles' coronation concert
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Take That will star in an eclectic lineup at a concert to celebrate King Charles' coronation next month, billed by organisers as a chance to celebrate a new chapter in Britain's history. The formal coronation ceremony for Charles, who became king on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth last September, will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6. U.S. music star Richie said: "To share the stage with the other performers at the Coronation Concert is a once-in-a-lifetime event and it will be an honor and a celebration." The line-up also includes opera star Andrea Bocelli, singer-songwriter Freya Ridings, Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, and classical-soul composer Alexis Ffrench. The list of performers was announced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who will produce and broadcast the showcase.

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