• “This is a declaration of war on a civilization.” (Guardian)

• The history of sign language in official documentation. (The Conversation)

• How the Portuguese became the first colonizers of India. (Scroll)

• Remembering Nellie Bly. (Atlas Obscura)

• “How our ancestors used mushrooms to change the course of human history.” (New Scientist)

• The heyday of P-Funk and George Clinton’s iconic stage prop. (New York Times)

• On the central mystery of Roberto Bolaño’s Distant Star. (The Paris Review Daily)

• The political history of St. Patrick’s Day in America. (History Today)

• “What I’ve now come to realize, then, is that beyond the empty rhetoric behind the call to ‘freedom,’ and beyond even the insatiable greed for other countries’ oil reserves, today’s war with Iran echoes centuries of religious conflict.” (Vanity Fair)

• This week in obituaries: Walid Khalidi, Mohammad Shehab, Amal Hamad Al-Shamali, Yanar Mohammed, Colleen Hanamusa, Umberto Allemandi, Thaddeus Mosley, Alexander Butterfield, Joe McDonald, Lord Sear, Dot Rotten, Peter Schneider, Angelika Saleh, Paula Doress-Worters, Ernie Anastos, Jennifer Runyon, Stephen Hibbert, Ron Delaney, Bob Harlan, Anthony Leggett, Tommy DeCarlo, Matt Snell, and over 1,000 civilians killed in U.S.-Israeli bombings on Iran.