The New York Times – Wednesday, June 7, 2023

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Destroyed Ukrainian Dam Floods War Zone and Forces Residents to Flee

The Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region of Ukraine was breached early Tuesday.

Experts suspect an explosion collapsed the dam on the Dnipro River. Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other, and residents downstream were forced to evacuate to escape the cascading waves.

PGA Tour and LIV Golf Agree to Alliance, Ending Golf’s Bitter Fight

LIV began play about a year ago, building its brand on big purses and big names.

In a stunning announcement, the tour, along with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said the rivals had agreed to create a “new, collectively owned, for-profit entity.”

Wildfire Smoke Blots Sun and Prompts Health Alerts in Much of U.S.

The smoke was pouring across the border from Canada, where hundreds of wildfires remain unchecked, and the hazardous smoke conditions are expected to linger through Wednesday and perhaps until later in the week.

Prince Harry, in Dramatic Testimony, Says Journalists Have ‘Blood on Their Hands’

In a remarkable court scene, the prince took the stand for five hours to make his case that his phone was hacked by a newspaper group, as a lawyer for the defense grilled him about his claims.

Culture: The American Scholar – Summer 2023

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THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR SUMMER 2023 issue: What does Antoni van Leeuwenhoek have to do with Covid? Can a digital restoration of a supposed da Vinci be just as good as the real thing? What was it like to be a young journalist on one of François Truffaut’s sets?

A Kingdom of Little Animals

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, in a circa 1680 painting by the Dutch artist Jan Verkolje, famous for his portraits of prominent members of Delft society (Wikimedia Commons)
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, in a circa 1680 painting by the Dutch artist Jan Verkolje, famous for his portraits of prominent members of Delft society

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of microorganisms made possible the revolutionary advances in biology and medicine that continue to inform our Covid age

By Laura J. Snyder

One night in 1677, a grizzled man in a wrinkled linen nightshirt rushed from his bemused wife’s bed with a candle in hand to examine the “remains of conjugal coitus, immediately after ejaculation before six beats of the pulse.” Using the candle to cast a pool of light in his dark study, he put a drop of the liquid into a tiny glass vial he had blown himself, attaching it to the back of a strange-looking device he had also constructed. 

The Whole World in His Hands

The Salvator Mundi in its damaged state—cleaned but not yet restored (Wikimedia Commons)

What a digital restoration of the most expensive painting ever sold tells us about beauty, authenticity, and the fragility of existence

I got the call late on a summer afternoon. Yanai Segal, an artist I’ve known for years, asked me whether I’d heard of the Salvator Mundi—the painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci that was lost for more than two centuries before resurfacing in New Orleans in 2005. I told him that I’d heard something of the story but that I didn’t remember the details. He had recently undertaken a project related to the painting, he said, and wanted to tell me about it. I was eager to hear more, but first I needed to remind myself of the basic facts. We agreed to speak again soon.

Reviews: How Global Lake Water Levels Are Falling

SCIENCE MAGAZINE VIDEOS – JUNE 6, 2023: Some of the most notable lakes in the world, from the Great Salt Lake to Poyang Lake, have shrunk dramatically in recent decades. But because most lakes lack long-term, on-the-ground measurements, it was hard to say whether this was a widespread phenomenon.

Now, researchers have published a first-of-its-kind data set to look at how lake water storage has changed in nearly 2000 of the world’s largest lakes. They find significant global losses and tease out what might be driving these decreases.

Modern Homes: Madison Desert Club In La Quinta

The Local Project (June 6, 2023) – Inspired by the conventions of a boutique hotel, Kovac Design Studio administers an array of design elements that cater to its clients’ desires to have a modern house that celebrates the surrounds and can host friends and family.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction 00:43 – A Boutique Residence 01:07 – Enabling the Feeling of Secludedness 01:41 – The Organisation of the Building 02:12 – The Element of Surprise 02:38 – Built for 2 people or 200 people 02:54 – Covered in Glass 03:09 – Matching the Materials with the Surrounds 03:32 – The Glamorous Material Palette 03:57 – Giving Each Room its own Identity 04:33 – The Oculus 05:10 – The Canopy 05:28 – Designing a Concept from Start to Finish 05:57 – Proud Moments

From the first steps inside, Madison Desert Club is deliberately designed to offer the feeling of being outside when moving from room to room. Imbued with space for the owner to entertain and unwind, Madison Desert Club rejoices in the landscape of La Quinta with an open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows and doors.

Additionally, unique design elements are employed to enhance the home’s connection to the outdoors, beginning with a continuous canopy-style roof that is set over parts of the modern house, offering a change of light throughout the day. Another element seen upon arrival is the Oculus – a circular shape integrated into the roof, which allows for uninterrupted views of the sky above. Spanning all three levels, the modern house tour begins at the lower level, where a sauna, spa and gym are placed.

The above two levels hold the guestrooms, kitchen, living, dining areas and private cocktail bar. Expressed by its metal mesh curtain, the cocktail bar is imbued with warm colours that reference whiskey and give the impression of being inside a sophisticated space reserved for VIP clients. On the top level, a dedicated screening room offers a rare surprise when the screen wall opens up to the entire living space below.

#Modern #House #Design

Front Cover: The Atlantic Magazine – July/Aug 2023

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The Atlantic Magazine – July/August 2023 issue: Mark Leibovich goes inside the MLB’s desperate effort to rescue America’s pastime from irrelevance

‘HELL WELCOMES ALL’

A graphic illustration of black, pixelated video-game characters on a red background.

Can hard-core gamers learn to play well with others? By Spencer Kornhaber

Playing a prerelease version of Diablo IV, the latest installment in a 26-year-old adventure series about battling the forces of hell, I faced swarms of demons that yowled and belched. My character, a sorcerer, shot them with lightning bolts, producing a jet-engine roar. 

HOW BASEBALL SAVED ITSELF

Inside the desperate effort to rescue America’s pastime from irrelevance By Mark Leibovich

A photograph of a baseball outfielder on green field with fans silhouetted in the foreground.

Where in the name of human rain delays is Juan Soto?

The stud outfielder is late. Everyone keeps checking their phones—the antsy Major League Baseball officials, the San Diego Padres PR guy, the handful of reporters, and the assorted hangers-on you encounter around baseball clubhouses. Everyone is wondering when the Padres superstar will show up. He was supposed to be here half an hour ago, just after this baseball players’ sanctum opened and we were allowed to join them in their most elemental of baseball activities: waiting around.

Auto Racing: The ’24 Hours Of Le Mans’ At 100 Years

FRANCE 24 (June 6, 2023) – It’s one of the most iconic motor races in the world. The “24 hours of Le Mans” race marks a centenary this year. Seven auto manufacturers will be fighting for overall victory with 16 teams represented.

The unique race tests its participants’ reliability and endurance and encourages innovation. The 13,626km track attracts hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world every year. The endurance classic is both a physical and mental challenge for the drivers; the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours wins.

News: Major Ukraine Dam Destroyed, Multinational Naval Drills In Indonesia

The Globalist Podcast, Tuesday, June 6, 2023: Ukraine‘s Kakhovska dam was completely destroyed; naval drills in Indonesia bring together Chinese, Russian and US forces, we get the latest from Jakarta.

Plus: reports of mass arrests in Kyrgyzstan, our technology correspondent is in California as Apple announces its newest releases and why Studio Ghibli’s forthcoming film will be unique.

The New York Times – Tuesday, June 6, 2023

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As Ukrainian Attacks Surge, U.S. Officials See Signs of Counteroffensive

Soldiers from Ukraine’s 95th Air Assault Brigade, with a lightweight British howitzer, targeted Russian positions in eastern Ukraine on Friday.

Kyiv has not formally announced the start of operations. But on Tuesday, Ukraine said the Russians had blown up a dam on the Dnipro River, potentially imperiling residents and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Biden Administration Shrugs Off Ukraine’s Attacks in Russia

Ukrainian soldiers in the Donbas region of Ukraine on Friday.

For months, U.S. officials said cross-border operations risked a dangerous escalation. But those fears have ebbed.

Schools Received Billions in Stimulus Funds. It May Not Be Doing Enough.

Pandemic aid was supposed to help students recover from learning loss, but results have been mixed.

S.E.C. Accuses Binance of Mishandling Funds and Lying to Regulators

The S.E.C. said the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange mixed billions of dollars in customer funds and secretly sent them to a separate company controlled by Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao.

Preview: London Review Of Books — June 15, 2023

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London Review of Books (LRB) – June 15, 2023 issue: James Butler on Italo Calvino’s Politics; John Lahr – My Hollywood Fling; Ferdinand Mount – Safe as the Bank of England; Africa’s Cold War by Kevin Okoth, and more…

Toots, they owned you

By John Lahr

Hollywood: The Oral History 
edited by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson.

In April​ 1973, on a Pan Am 747 jumbo jet from London to LA, I took my seat in the upstairs dining room opposite a Cincinnati salesman and his wife. He sold screws – really. Just as improbably, I had sold my first novel to the movies. The tablecloth, the silverware, the crystal wine glasses, the Chateaubriand being carved in front of us at five hundred miles an hour felt extraordinary, a swank unreality that matched my elevated mood. I was 32. I was going to Hollywood. I was making a movie. I was going to be a screenwriter.


Africa Travel: The ‘Ksars’ Of Djado, Northern Niger

FRANCE 24 (June 5, 2023) – A long trek across the desert of northeastern Niger brings visitors to one of the most astonishing and rewarding sights in the Sahel: fortified villages of salt and clay built on rocks, besieged by the Sahara sands.

Generations of travelers have stood before the “ksars” of Djado,  wandering their crenellated walls, watchtowers, secretive passages and wells, all of them testifying to a skilled but unknown hand.

The now ruined city Djado is located on the southern end of the Djado Pleateau in the Sahara in northern Niger. It is not clear who built the complex of fortified mud buildings (ksars). The city was a part Trans-Saharan trading network of the Kanuri people whose Kanem-Bornu Empire was founded before 1000 CE and at its greater extent covered what is now Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, southern Lybia and Eastern Niger.

It is not clear what caused the abandonment of the city after the 1860s: increased desertification, conflict or even a mosquito infestation have been proposed as possible causes. Since then it has been used by Toubou nomads for the cultivation of dates. The site also contains rock drawings and carvings from 12,000 to 6,000 BCE, depicting the fauna that roved the prehistoric Sahara. The Djado Plateau was added to the UNESCO Tenative List in 2006.

Niger or the Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest.

#Niger #lostcity #Sahara