Front Page: The New York Times – March 2, 2023

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Biden Challenged by Softening Public Support for Arming Ukraine

Proponents of more aid fear that growing taxpayer fatigue toward shipping tens of billions of dollars overseas could undercut the war effort.

Chicago’s Choice Points to a Democratic Divide the G.O.P. Hopes to Exploit

The two mayoral candidates, both Democrats, are on opposite sides of the debate over crime and policing. Republicans, with an eye toward 2024, are watching closely.

Where Digital Payments, Even for a 10-Cent Chai, Are Colossal in Scale

India’s homegrown instant payment system has remade commerce and pulled millions into the formal economy.

A Shifting Mood on Crime Propelled Chicago’s Leading Candidate for Mayor

Paul Vallas, who emerged as the front-runner with a tough-on-crime message, will face Brandon Johnson, a progressive county commissioner, in an April runoff.

Preview: Art In America Magazine – March 2023

Magazine cover featuring an artwork of digitized images of flowers taken from video games. The logo Art in America is in black letters at the top of a white border.

ART IN AMERICA MAGAZINE – MARCH 2023 – The artwork on the cover of this issue looks pretty simple: an elegant arrangement of colorful, cartoon-like flowers. Pretty it is; simple it most certainly is not. Artist Jill Magid scoured the digital worlds of hundreds of video games—from Super Mario to Minecraft—and selected pixelated plants and photo-realistic flowers from virtual landscapes that she then assembled into bouquets worthy of the fanciest dinner party.

After that, she took the resulting images and crafted her first series of NFT-backed artworks, which dropped on Valentine’s Day. The collection comprises 165 animated bouquets, including one that you can view online at artwrld.com and on Art in America’s Instagram, where Magid has generously collaborated with us on our first animated cover. 

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – March 2, 2023

Volume 615 Issue 7950

nature – March 2, 2023 issue:

Custom-built drug shows its powers against tuberculosis

An upgraded antibiotic holds promise for treating tuberculosis strains that are resistant to existing treatments.

Kevlar helps to make one tough synthetic tendon

A water-filled gel has the strength and elasticity of natural tendon.

Big dino, little dino: how T. rex’s relatives changed their size

‘Impressive’ fossil analysis reveals why some dinosaurs were massive but their cousins were tiny.

Arts & Culture: The Art Newspaper – March 2023

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The Art Newspaper – March 2023 Issue:

The hunt for as many as nine elusive Vermeer paintings continues

As the Rijksmuseum’s once-in-a-lifetime blockbuster brings together an unprecedented number of works by the Old Master, paintings including a self-portrait are still missing

Michiel van Musscher’s A Self-portrait of the Artist in his Studio (1670) is thought to have been inspired by a lost Vermeer work Courtesy of Christie’s
Michiel van Musscher’s A Self-portrait of the Artist in his Studio (1670) is thought to have been inspired by a lost Vermeer workCourtesy of Christie’s

With only 37 authenticated Johannes Vermeer paintings (28 in the Rijksmuseum’s sold-out exhibition), could there be more out there, not yet recognised as from his hand? Vermeer’s production was certainly larger, so the hunt continues for the missing masterpieces. Experts believe that a number are still unaccounted for.

What are the implications of artificial intelligence for the future of art? The robot artist Ai-da and her creators discuss

Ai-da is an artist, she marks a challenge to the category, and it is in this sense that she becomes Duchampian, argue her creators

Previews: The Guardian Weekly – March 3, 2023

The ruin of Mariupol: inside the 3 March Guardian Weekly | Ukraine | The  Guardian

The Guardian Weekly (March 3, 2023) – A year on from the invasion of Ukraine and there seems little end in sight to a conflict that has, unquestionably, changed the world. The Guardian Weekly’s big story this week outlines five possible routes to peace (some more hopeful than others), but the main focus is a stunning collaboration from Guardian reporters detailing the fate of the port of Mariupol, the battle for which has perhaps been the bloodiest and most shocking chapter of the war to date.

It’s an extraordinary account of the devastation, partial reconstruction, and Russification of a thriving city. “You learn to only voice your opinions with those you know you can trust,” says Darya, a student opposed to the occupation. “Otherwise, you keep your thoughts to yourself.”

On Monday the UK government finally agreed a deal with the EU to end a long-running Brexit dispute over customs arrangements and legal oversight in Northern Ireland. Our Brexit correspondent Lisa O’Carroll unpicks the key points of the new agreement and what it means for the region.

In 2003, when the US army occupied Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Guardian writer Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was aged 28 and living in Baghdad. He recounts his front-row view of the fall of the regime, the arrival of the so-called liberators and the unfolding of a sectarian war.

Travel & History: Inside Stories Of German Castles

DW Travel (March 1, 2023) – You’ve likely heard of Germany’s famous Neuschwanstein castle, or Potsdam’s Sanssouci palace. But did you know one of the country’s best-known castles only became famous as a ruin? And that some German castles served as fortified customs offices? Here are some of the biggest misconceptions involving German castles palaces.

Video timeline: 0:00 Intro 0:28 Neuschwanstein – a medieval castle? 2:06 Sanssouci – palace or garden hut? 3:35 Is it too expensive to rebuild Heidelberg castle? 5:00 Why do so many castles line river Rhine? 6:25 Are all German castles and palaces owned by the state?

Tilt-Shift Timelapse Views: Schloss Elmau In Germany

Little Big World (March 1, 2023) – Schloss Elmau is a five-star hotel and national monument, situated between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald in a sanctuary of the Bavarian Alps, Germany. It lies at the foot of the Wetterstein mountains. It’s the only venue, that has hosted the G7 Summit twice. I was lucky enough to be invited by them to shoot footage from the winter activities in the valley surrounding the hotel. Thanks to Naomi Jödicke for making this episode happen.

Culture & Politics: The Drift – February 28, 2023

The Drift Magazine – February 28, 2023 Issue – We called it heterosexual oppression. Like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch.

Electric Bodies | Medical Technology Takes Over

Through a growing focus on healthcare monitoring in recent years, Apple has positioned its wearables as essential accessories for the technophile and the casual hypochondriac alike. 

Like so many other predictions of collapse, exaggerated.  Methylphenidate  for Miriam. Two executives showed up for a meeting dressed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear. A source of revolutionary Marxist critiques, an outright conservative, a peddler of flimsy conspiracy theories. Some days I am so filled with myself I can see nothing. I am not going to apologize for the empire, for our history. Bravissima! Stealth, he kept no socials. She had martini-glass tits. In this city every boy is an isotope. Enter among the truly civilized peoples. Cruising for difference. The body of a bear, the nose of an elephant, the paws of a tiger, the tail of an ox, and needle-like hairs. Wainscoting for an all-knowing liberalism. How can a narrow regional tabloid claim itself The World? The surrealist didn’t prescribe life-sized butter ears. Spend how you want the sixtyish years you have left of your life

Words Exchanged | Italophone Somalia, Then and Now

“Italian language teaching is back in Somalia!” the Italian embassy in Somalia tweeted in late September 2021, announcing a new program at the Somali National University that would reintroduce the language of the country’s former colonizer.

Travel And Photography: One-Week In Iceland (4K)

Tales of Justin (February 28, 2023) – Iceland, an island nation in the North Atlantic Ocean, lies between Europe and North America. The country is situated on a strategic location between North America and Europe, about 840 km north west of the United Kingdom and about 460 km south east of Greenland‘s coast. The closest bodies of land in Europe are the Faroe Islands (530 km).

The island lies just south of the Arctic Circle at the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), where the tectonic plate of Eurasia meets the North American Plate, causing a lot of volcanic activity in the region. Iceland’s extraordinary landscape offers hot springs and geysers, icefields and volcanoes, glaciers and wild waterfalls.

Iceland has 30 active volcanic systems, of which 13 have erupted since the settlement of island in AD 874, only about 20 percent of the country is habitable.

News: France Seeks ‘New Era’ In Africa, Serbia And Kosovo Normalize Ties

March 1, 2023: Macron’s four-nation Africa tour: to what extent does this mark a “new era” for France’s relations with the continent? Plus: Serbia and Kosovo accept a provisional proposal to normalise ties, the latest business news and where are the world’s new cultural capitals?