Planet Pasta and Mariachi Academy

(1) The New York Times has this adorably illustrated interactive visit to the Barilla factory outside Parma, in Italy (they make 5 tons of spaghetti every hour! The plant is as large as 100 soccer fields!).

(2) The BBC has a short little video up about the first-ever mariachi academy, in Mexico City, where a woman named Leticia Soto is instituting formal training for mariachi musicians, who she insists will benefit from the ability to read sheet music and collaborate not just by ear but on sight, with any musicians, anytime.