CHICAGO — Here are some stories we're reading on this rainy Thursday.
Whole Lolla Love: The number of music festivals like Chicago's Lollapalooza is growing around the world and they "are basically the future of the industry," one music exec tells Agence France-Presse. With record sales down, “It’s really the last area where there is real money to be made for artists.” On the fan side, says a ticket agency honcho, “When it comes to millennials, we are finding that buying experiences trumps buying things.”
Well, maybe. Racked says Lolla-type festivals have created a fashion trend marked by "lots and lots of fringe." The clothes favored by fest-goers "are almost exact replicas of what their parents wore at Woodstock (in some cases — do the math — this could actually be their grandparents)." Except, notes senior editor Andrew Herrmann, grandma's denim jacket probably didn't cost $265 like the one at ShopBop's "festival wear" page.
Lollapalooza, 2014 by Bill Whitmire
Common Core Explained: Reporter Ariel Cheung has never claimed to be a math genius, but she's been curious about those confusing Common Core math problems making rounds on social media. Parents have posted tests and homework for their outraged friends to see, begging for someone to explain why math has to be so complicated. Well, Vox's explainer on the reasoning behind Common Core problems sheds some light on methods that aren't as complex as they first appear.
Brontosaurus Brought Back From Extinction: In exciting news for Brontosaurus fans, the "thunder lizard" is no longer the Pluto of the dinosaur clan. For more than a century, scientists have insisted the Brontosaurus was merely a member of the much less popular Apatosaurus family, not a genus of its own. Well look who has egg on their face now. New research, reported by the New Yorker, suggests the Brontosaurus is NOT an Apatosaurus after all. Which is a huge relief not only to reporter Patty Wetli but to Fred Flinstone as well, who can continue eating bronto-ribs in syndication for all eternity.
Strike a Pose, Coyotes: Much has been written about the highly-adaptable urban coyote, but Lex Berko writes in the Atlantic's CityLab that a new photojournalism project sets out to document the predators' lives visually. One founder of "The Natural History of the Urban Coyote" tells Berko she was inspired by the Cook County Coyote Project, which shows how well the coyote has adapted to habitat invasion by humans in ways bears and wolves haven't in North America.
Church of Scientology Spends $10,000 A Week For Spying Purposes: After recently watching the HBO documentary "Going Clear," which profiles members of the Church of Scientology, reporter Mina Bloom has been eager to find out more about the church and its questionable practices. The International Business Times just released a report revealing that the church paid $10,000 a week to spy on the father of the church's leader, David Miscavige, because they feared his father would "divulge information that was damaging to the organization." Miscavige's lawyer denied the whole thing.
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