It’s Good to Be the King: Private sector employees saw a 4.4% increase in wages and benefits in 2021. That would feel better if inflation hadn’t reached 7% at the end of last year. But some folks were still in the green. CEO pay rose 17% in 2021 as profits soared.

+ A Good Fella: He came onto the scene via the cornfields in Field of Dreams but will be forever remembered for playing one of Hollywood’s most iconic characters in GoodFellas. At a moment when his career was undergoing a resurgence, Ray Liotta Dies at 67. No one did on-screen anger better than Liotta. But that laugh… (And no one said Karen more or better.)

+ Kerrnal of Truth: “Golden State’s star guard Stephen Curry retweeted his coach’s entire pre-game press conference, along with the caption: ‘Watch this as much as you watch the game tonight.'” Steve Kerr: the moral compass at the heart of the Golden State Warriors. We’re lucky in the Bay Area. Giants manage Gabe Kapler also takes public stances (or sometimes a public knee) on big issues.

+ Net Flux and Chill: “The average fridge in the US consumes more electricity in a year than an average person in dozens of countries.” The problem of global energy inequity, explained by American refrigerators.

+ Murder, She Wrote: “A jury in the US city of Portland, Oregon, has convicted a self-published romance novelist who wrote an essay titled How to Murder Your Husband of fatally shooting her husband.”