"Using Rice's Connexions platform, OpenStax will offer free course materials for five common introductory classes. The textbooks are open to classes anywhere and organizers believe the programs could save students $90 million in the next five years if the books capture 10 percent of the national market."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com/diacritical

"The following are real, quirkily obtuse entries from the Missed Connections section of Charleston Craigslist, broken into lines and stanzas and minimally edited for clarity..."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com/diacritical

"He may be an artist so identified with his own moment that his flame will gutter when individual pieces of larger enterprises are broken up and confined in permanent exhibitions. This is the context where deceased artists (without their own museums) have to compete to be noticed and live on, and it's one reason painters have an advantage in art-history books."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com/diacritical

"One couple failed because they Tweeted their every move. One man attempted to hook the picture off the wall with a long broom. Having eluded such elaborate ruses, Pulp Fiction will now be donated to Crime Stoppers, a division of the police, and will be auctioned off to raise funds for crime fighting."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com/diacritical

For such a little building, the Lieb House has a notorious history.

"Now an ambitious plan" - by the design firm OLIN - "is in the works to transform this four-block-long stretch along Fifth Avenue, from 80th to 84th Street, into a more efficient, pleasing and environmentally friendly space, with new fountains, tree-shaded allées, seating areas, museum-run kiosks and softer, energy-efficient nighttime lighting."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com

"Ballerinas used to be plump by modern standards; indeed, the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova was criticised in the late 1890s for being too thin (mocked for her long, slender limbs, she was nicknamed 'the broom' by fellow students)." My, how things have changed. (Might Balanchine bear a bit of the blame?)...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com

"In Nicolas Sarkozy's second crisis-budget plan, which raised taxes to try to plug the deficit, he raised VAT on books from 5.5% to 7%. ... Booksellers' unions are up in arms against the measure, which comes into force in April ... Some booksellers have hinted at a possible 'labelling strike' where they simply refuse to stick on new price tags."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com

"Four years after designing the spectacular Bird's Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing, the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei are to reunite ... to design this year's pavilion - the 12th commission in what has become a major annual event on the architecture calendar."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com

"San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti has been appointed music director of Teatro di San Carlo of Naples, Italy, effective immediately. ... Founded in 1737, San Carlo is the oldest continuously active theater in Europe, and one of Italy's most prestigious opera houses, famous for its beauty and acoustics."...

ArtsJournal
http://www.artsjournal.com