What’s Happening: Few days go by without headlines lamenting poorly behaved tourists who are defacing historical monuments, grumbling about local customs, and getting piss-drunk in public. Are senses of entitlement and the TikTokification of everything to blame?

The Download: Security is tight at the Eiffel Tower. Visitors to France’s most visible national monument must adhere to 40 rules prohibiting any form of roughhousing: no climbing over barriers, entering non-public areas, running, sliding, jostling, or even holding group picnics. It’s easy to imagine how shocked a group of security guards was to find two American tourists fast asleep in a no-access part of the tower early this past Monday. The men, who purchased tickets to the attraction the day prior, appear to have gotten stuck because they were shitfaced. The French media seemed more amused than annoyed.

At this point, Americans behaving badly on vacation verges on cliché—the “Ugly American” stereotype originated in 1958 after the namesake novel shot to popularity, further reinforced by the blunders of the Griswolds and the Simpsons on film and television. The trope endures, and lately the summer of oafish tourists has been in full swing. Two videos of Americans complaining about Europe, in particular, have sparked global side-eyes. In one, a woman argued that influencers who post pristine photos of the Amalfi Coast “deserve jail time” because they neglect to mention the “manual labor” it takes to get there. Another grumbled that Paris “smells like piss, cheese, and armpit,” and said the food “looks grimy as hell.”

Americans tend to get the most flak, but entitled tourists are a problem everywhere. Is the TikTokification of travel to blame? We’re already accustomed to overnight delivery and instant everything, and TikToks now offer decks and spreadsheets that purport to plan perfect, optimized itineraries for you. A breezy convenience of modern-day life, sure, but it can yield “thousands of people doing the same things, in the same places, at the same times,” writes Rebecca Jennings. Instead of taking time to research local customs, these tourists steamroll through their destinations and spend their time capturing content—often at the expense of locals. That doesn’t excuse etching one’s name into the Colosseum, but it begs the question if Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he called travel “a fool’s paradise.”

In Their Own Words: “An ugly thing, that is what you are when you become a tourist, an ugly empty thing, a stupid thing, a piece of rubbish pausing here and there to gaze at this and taste that,” the novelist Jamaica Kincaid wrote in A Small Place, a 1988 book chronicling her experiences growing up in Antigua. “It will never occur to you that the people who inhabit the place in which you have just paused cannot stand you.”

Surface Says: Attenzione, Ugly American!

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The Berlin-based performance artist doesn’t claim to “do” fashion, or so she recently said. “That’s something else. I do merchandise for my shows.” So while her collection of hoodies, tees, a bomber jacket, and cap, are available at Dover Street Market, they’re an extension of her recent work Emo, a production that saw a crew of goth-cool models delight visitors at Sprüth Magers Gallery with their theatrical nihilism in the context of Imhof’s defiant artwork.

Produced in collaboration with Mumi Haiati of Reference Studios—a consulting firm retained by the likes of Acne Studios and Sacai—and stylist Marc Goehring, Imhof applied key thematic elements from the show onto the collection’s garments and accessories. Some of the most popular items, like a graphic tee depicting a possessed-looking clown shown in Emo, and a tee with a varsity-style portrait of a model wearing a jersey emblazoned with the words “Suicidal Ideation,” are already sold out.

Utharaa Zacharias and Palaash Chaudhary understand the concept of softness as inherently nuanced and not quite easy to pin down. The duo, who split time between San Francisco and Kochi, India, has dedicated their four-year-old studio Soft Geometry to unpacking how that notion can translate to collectible furniture and home objects, especially ones that explore modern sensibilities while being imbued with a deep reverence for Indian handicraft.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

Doctor Kidnapped Outside Brooklyn Mirage Paid for a $6,000 Spending Spree That Included Pizza, Shoes, and a Strip Club Trip [New York Post]

Why This School District Used AI to Help Determine Which Books to Ban [Smithsonian]

Airline Close Calls Happen Far More Often Than Previously Known [New York Times]

Hot Dog Straws Are Now a Real Thing Thanks to Oscar Mayer [Food & Wine]

Can TikTok Revive the Dead? [New York Times]

A Power Outage in New Jersey Was Due to an Unlikely Culprit: a Fish Likely Put There By a Bird [AP]

When: Until Nov. 5

Where: Powerhouse Ultimo, Australia

What: Inspired by 19th-century British philosopher Charles Babbage’s idea that the air captures our every gesture and utterance, the Mexican-Canadian artist has created a series of interactive installations using emerging technologies like AI and robotics. One notable piece is Cloud Display, a screen made of 1,600 ultrasonic atomizers that writes words spoken into its voice recognition system using water vapor. “It explores his ideas today,” Lozano says, “when the dream of perfect recollection is one of the defining conditions of our digital life, and the air we breathe has become a battleground for the future of our planet.”

As mass timber buildings have surged in popularity, the Jenga-like slabs of wood known as cross-laminated timber (CLT) have recently enjoyed a resurgence. On August 21, 1923, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the first patent for CLT to two Tacoma business partners whose technique of layering slabs of wood at alternating angles improved both structural integrity and thermal resilience. Some architects and scientists now regard mass timber construction as a possible alternative to concrete and steel for CLT’s ability to withstand fires, earthquakes, blasts, and to sequester carbon. Mass timber buildings ignite a fair share of debate, but the International Building Code was recently updated to approve timber buildings of up to 18 stories.

Phillip Jividen’s works are about creating timeless pieces that feel familiar yet unexpected. Using intuitive forms that are a balance between practicality and playfulness, his design process is an exploration of material and composition as a means to create objects that instills a sense of permanence.

Surface Says: Jividen achieves the unlikely by bringing texture, warmth, and personality to stone, wood, glass, and aluminum through his explorations of form and composition.

Volunteers are convening for the first Loch Ness Monster hunt in 50 years.

An adorable Paddington Bear features on Royal Mail’s anniversary stamps.

According to a new report by The RealReal, everybody wants to look rich.

Have you noticed that Citi Bike’s fleet of electric bikes are always broken?