“His is just one of many businesses and households that have been affected by South Africa's energy shortage, which has even led to protests, with people declaring that ‘enough is enough.’ So the pressure has been mounting on President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the issue, which he said he would confront head-on: ‘We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on our water infrastructure, on our transport network and a number of other areas and facilities that support our people's lives,’ he said in his state of the nation address on Thursday.” (BBC)
“U.S. agents have quietly confiscated more than $20 million worth of allegedly stolen Greek and Roman art from a prominent New York art collector and returned the pieces to Italy and Turkey. Nearly two dozen pieces were seized from the home of Shelby White, a philanthropist whose wealth comes from a Wall Street fortune. The works include a monumental bronze statue of Roman emperor Lucius Verus that was originally found in Turkey and has been the subject of extensive past scholarship. ‘This is a really rare, highly significant piece,’ said David Gill, a professor at the University of Kent law school who writes extensively on the illicit antiquities trade. ‘So few life-sized Roman statues have survived from antiquity.’” (ICIJ)
These Millionaires Tried Turning a Yacht Into a Tax Break. (WSJ)
“Microsoft’s new search interface can serve up key information from articles, removing the need to click—and potentially undermining media business models.” (WIRED)
"Last month, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks founded the Anti-Woke Caucus, calling for 'a recorded vote on an amendment to defund wokeness' on any bill that spends money on 'leftist activities.' Days later, he launched a campaign for U.S. Senate, lining up conservative endorsements for a potential race against former Gov. Mitch Daniels, who later opted not to run. Banks, for now, has the Senate race to himself, giving him more time to build the caucus and fight to strip out “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from federal agencies." (SEMAFOR)
The Only Success Story in Right-Wing Social Media (NYMag)
The Tao of Rick Rubin. (Ezra Klein)
Moldova names new pro-EU prime minister after government falls amid Russian pressure (Politico)
Kyiv and Moldova say Russian missile crossed Moldovan airspace (SEMAFOR)
Report: Pentagon wants to revive top secret commando program in Ukraine (Responsible Statecraft)
“(Jing) Tsu became interested in Chinese identities during her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, at the height of the 1990s American culture wars around racial identity. ‘The debates around multiculturalism mostly featured African-American scholars, and they made me wonder, does Asian-American identity fit into that blueprint for talking about race in the US?’” (FT)
“(James) Dolan’s use of facial-recognition technology to kick his enemies out of his venue has gotten him on the bad side of state and city lawmakers, and drawn the attention of the state attorney general, all as New York City looks to move Madison Square Garden to a new location.” (VF)
“Humans are well-protected from most noxious fungi species, including Cordyceps, by our high internal body temperature. Very few species can tolerate 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. So why do so many stories find something to fear in our fungal friends? In part, it’s the need for a fresh take on the viral and bacterial infection stories we’ve already seen countless versions of, an example of sci-fi writers on the hunt for something new. But there’s something else about fungus that makes it tempting for fiction—our own limited understanding.” (Slate)
Trust me, this is the most interesting conversation about Coinage and Numismatics in Greek Central Asia with Dr. Frank Lee Holt. (TheHellenisticAge)
“Reactionary panics about what children learn in school are about as old as time. And they won’t ever go away. So if you want to fight bans of LBGT books, Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis’s lunatic crusade against math texts supposedly pushing social-emotional learning, or panics about the teaching of America’s true history that somehow supposedly teach white children to “hate themselves,” you really have no choice. You have to put Twitter or the TV aside. You have to start at the very beginning.” (ForumMag)
Kristen Stewart Set to Star in Meta Susan Sontag Biopic From Kirsten Johnson (Variety)
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it. (TNR)
An Artist With Roots in Nairobi and New York Imagines a New Destiny (NYT)