US charitable donations fell to $499 billion in 2022 as stocks slumped and inflation surged

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US charitable donations fell to $499 billion in 2022 as stocks slumped and inflation surged     Glenn Family Chair Emeritus of Economics and Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University Associated Director of Data Partnerships at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University Continued here

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The Real Lesson of 'The Truman Show'     Twenty-five years later, the film’s most powerful insight isn’t about reality TV so much as the complicities of modern life.Truman Burbank, the unwitting star of the world’s most popular TV show, is supposed to be an everyman. The Truman Show is set in an island town, Seahaven, that evokes the prefab conformities of American suburbia. Truman is a brand in a setting that is stridently generic. Since his birth, he has navigated a world manufactured—by Christof, the creator of his show—for lucrative inoffensiveness. Everything around him exists to fulfill the primary mandate of a mass-market TV show: appealing to the widest possible audience. Continued here

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Vertical schools are increasingly common. This is what students want in 'high' school design     The traditional idea of a one-or-two-storey school, spread over a vast campus is no longer an option for some new schools. Population growth and a lack of land in urban areas mean some schools have to go up. This has seen vertical schools become increasingly common. These are schools that tend to have more than four storeys. Continued here

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Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever - why this tick-borne virus could become more common in richer countries     Climate change is already having, and will continue to have, a significant effect on global health. This is likely to be greatest in rural poorer populations in sub-Saharan Africa. However, richer countries, such as the UK, will also probably be on the receiving end of emerging infectious disease threats as the country warms.Infections that are mainly found in the tropics are on the move to new locations. Dengue, a virus transmitted by mosquitoes, is becoming more widely reported in European countries, particularly in some parts of Italy and France. The West Nile virus, which is also spread by mosquitoes, has been common across many states in the US, with typically more than 1,000 cases reported each year. Continued here

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The Good Mothers: Disney's groundbreaking drama tries to tell the stories of women in the mafia but important pieces of the puzzle are missing     The music accompanying the opening titles of the new Disney+ series The Good Mothers is a lullaby in the Calabrian dialect:Ninna, ninna, ninna, ninna, neda The wolf eats the little lamb. Little lamb of mine, what did you do when you found yourself in the mouth of the wolf? Continued here

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Unprecedented marine heatwave underlines the urgency to clean up UK rivers and coasts     Chief Conservation Officer, Project Seagrass & Postdoctoral Associate, Florida International University Benjamin L.H. Jones is Chief Conservation Officer for the marine conservation charity Project Seagrass. He is also president of the World Seagrass Association. Continued here

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Why it's getting harder for some women to report harassment     Diane has worked at a software company in New York for about six years. For the first two of those years, she enjoyed her job. Then she got a new boss, and things changed. “It was clear from the beginning he didn’t like me,” explains Diane, 37, who identifies as Asian-American. “He would ask me to do tasks that were objectively below my paygrade. Then he’d criticise me in front of my colleagues and accuse me of not following instructions, even though I had.”   Continued here

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Global average sea and air temperatures are spiking in 2023, before El Ni     Recent spikes in ocean heat content and average global air temperature have left climate scientists across the world scrambling to find the cause. The global average air temperature, relative to 1850-1900, exceeded the 1.5℃ lower Paris Agreement threshold during part of March and the first days of June. This last happened in 2020, and before that during the powerful 2015-16 El Niño.What makes these most recent temperature spikes so alarming is that they’ve occurred before a forecast El Niño event in the Pacific, rather than during one. Continued here

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Hurricanes push heat deeper into the ocean than scientists realized, boosting long-term ocean warming, new research shows     When a hurricane hits land, the destruction can be visible for years or even decades. Less obvious, but also powerful, is the effect hurricanes have on the oceans. In a new study, we show through real-time measurements that hurricanes don’t just churn water at the surface. They can also push heat deep into the ocean in ways that can lock it up for years and ultimately affect regions far from the storm. Continued here

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Ukraine war: Kremlin's threat to interfere with undersea data cables may be bluster, but must be taken seriously     In what is more than likely to turn out to be an attempt at escalation in the confrontation between Nato and Russia over the war in Ukraine, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev argued recently on his Telegram channel that Russia should have the right to attack submarine data cables.Medvedev claimed such rights against the background of recent media reports on the mysterious sabotage of the Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline last year. He wrote: Continued here

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Canadians are losing their appetite for news -- and trusting it less     Sébastien Charlton works for the Centre d'études sur les médias, which is the Canadian partner of the Digital News Reports. Canadian data collection was partly funded by Canadian Heritage. Canadians have less appetite for news and are less inclined to pay for news online, according to the latest findings from the 2023 Digital News Report survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. Continued here

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Focus on Skills to Grow Your Workforce     Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.As the threat of an economic downturn looms, we are entering the fourth consecutive year of uncertainty and rapid change. Three years ago, a global pandemic upended supply chains, and quarantines transformed how we work. Months later, a racial justice reckoning compelled businesses to make unprecedented commitments to building inclusive organizations. Sustained remote work again challenged the status quo in the workplace and, in some cases, became a vehicle for accessibility. The ongoing tight labor market has forced companies to reconsider and adapt their efforts to attract top talent. And now advances in AI are poised to reshape the skill sets required for nearly every job in every sector. Continued here

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England's plan to introduce east Asia-style maths textbooks widely rejected by primary schools     Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently outlined a plan to improve maths skills in England, which will see young people study the subject at school until they are 18. This sounds straightforward but it’s worth considering how tricky new educational policy is to get right. We don’t yet know if the schools who used the textbooks saw any effect on their pupils’ attainment. The results of SATs – tests taken at the end of primary school – haven’t been published since 2019 due to the COVID pandemic. Continued here

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Internet of microbiota: could synthetic probiotics help prevent our natural bacteria from going astray?     Animals use chemical substances called pheromones to communicate with each other and attract mates, mark territory, and signal danger. Plants release volatile organic compounds to attract pollinators and repel predators. Communication using molecules, known as “molecular communication”, is also useful to humans, albeit in a way that goes unnoticed by us – it plays a critical role in the interactions between the trillions of natural bacteria that live in and on our bodies.Indeed, the human microbiota – the natural bacteria inside the human body – use “quorum sensing” molecules to organise themselves and communicate with their human host. The microbiota is crucial for our health since it involves a wide range of physiological processes, including digestion and immune system regulation, besides producing certain hormones and other essential molecules. Continued here

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Are You Failing to Prepare the Next Generation of C-Suite Leaders? - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM DAGGERWING     For many people leaders, that’s been the mantra for the past three years. “Let’s just get through this moment in time, focus on the short-term solutions for our immediate needs, and when things go back to normal, we’ll deal with all the issues we’ve been putting on the backburner.” Continued here

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US national parks are crowded - and so are many national forests, wildlife refuges, battlefields and seashores     Outdoor recreation is on track for another record-setting year. In 2022, U.S. national parks logged more than 300 million visits – and that means a lot more people on roads and trails.For all of their popularity, national parks are just one subset of U.S. public lands. Across the nation, the federal government owns more than 640 million acres (2.6 million square kilometers) of land. Depending on each site’s mission, its uses may include logging, livestock grazing, mining, oil and gas production, wildlife habitat or recreation – often, several of these at once. In contrast, national parks exist solely to protect some of the most important places for public enjoyment. Continued here

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Why the Scottish ferry system is in crisis again this summer     Scottish ferry operator CalMac cancelled all direct sailings from the mainland to South Uist, the second largest island in the Outer Hebrides, off the north-west coast of Scotland on June 1 2023. Cancellations are expected to last until June 30. Disruption to ferry services to Scottish islands has been a long-term problem. One local business leader has claimed the economic impact is worse than that of COVID lockdowns. Continued here

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Finland in 1944, Kurdish ghettos of Bonn, and January 6: the top 5 films at the Sydney Film Festival in 2023     Winter on Market Street, and it’s time to switch off one’s phone and retreat to the cinema cave for the 12 days of hibernation known as the Sydney Film Festival. From the 50 or so films I caught this year, my top five (in no particular order) are below. Continued here

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Maryland Crab Sammy: a singular American sandwich     As a child, Elmer Melendez Martinez often snacked on crabmeat from the claws that his mother and aunts brought home from their jobs picking blue crabs in the US state of Maryland. Though the steamed vermilion legs and prickly claws hold succulent meat for those with the patience to extract it, they are often discarded in the crabmeat industry in order to prioritise its most prized offering: lump crabmeat. These tender pillows of white fin meat – graded lump or jumbo lump, the latter even more a luxury – are carefully packed and sold fresh. Though exact numbers are hard to come by, a great deal of the product is enjoyed in the form of crab cakes, a Maryland signature.Today, Melendez Martinez is the sous chef at Stars restaurant at the Inn at Perry Cabin in St Michaels, Maryland, where he prepares crab cakes with seasonal accoutrements such as autumn squash, pomegranate and brown butter. Though he'd never had a crab cake before working at the restaurant in 2019, he quickly fell in love. Continued here

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How to protect yourself from drop account fraud -- tips from our investigative unit     Cyber bank fraud is on the rise. Here are some important ways to protect yourself. Continued here

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An 'extreme' heatwave has hit the seas around the UK and Ireland - here's what's going on     One of the most severe marine heatwaves on the planet is taking place in the shallow seas around the UK and Ireland. That’s according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has labelled this a “Category 4” heatwave. Rarely used outside of the tropics, a cat 4 heatwave means “extreme” heat.Marine heatwaves are classified as “prolonged periods of anomalously high sea surface temperature”, when compared to the long-term average for that time of year. And thanks to measurements made by satellites orbiting the earth we know that, in some areas around the UK, surface water temperatures are 4°C to 5°C above normal for mid June. Continued here

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Police forces across England plan to respond to fewer mental health calls -- here's why     The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley has announced that the London police force is to attend fewer mental health emergencies. As part of an approach called Right Care, Right Person, police officers will only respond to 999 mental health calls when there is an “immediate threat to life”. The new strategy will be implemented from September 1 2023. This change has been in motion since Humberside Police created the model in 2020. It is now being adopted by forces across England. In Scotland, a similar reform – Right Care, Right Time – has already been introduced. Continued here

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Milisuthando: a powerful documentary that will get South Africans talking about identity     Milisuthando is a debut feature length documentary film by Milisuthando Bongela. Taking the form of a personal essay, it’s an intimate story about family and ancestors, about “inside apartheid’s experiment” and negotiating the complex world of post-apartheid South Africa.Bongela, born in 1985, offers a version of her life story in five parts organised poetically and thematically. The film is built on her experience of being born in the former Transkei “homeland” – one of the “independent states” designated by the racist apartheid government to institutionalise “separate development”. It explores what it means to have grown up in this society. Continued here

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Thit Kho: Vietnamese Braised Pork with Eggs     Ask Vietnamese-Australian chef Jerry Mai to describe Vietnamese food, and she is momentarily lost for words. It's hard to describe the complex flavours and aromas behind the cuisine, but one of her favourite dishes is, she said, pretty simple. It is thit kho, or braised pork with eggs. The dish, in which pork meat — usually pork belly — is stewed with boiled eggs in a coconut caramel sauce, has been a mainstay since her childhood.  Continued here

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Seven cleverly designed emergency homes around the world     When workers at a vending machine factory in Ukraine had their homes bombed, the owner Alex Stepura repurposed the facility to build them new ones. From that, Terra Monada was born, a company set up to produce good-quality, relatively affordable modular homes to replace the bomb damage. "The ambition was to create something that was strong, elegant, simple, and quick to assemble," says UK-based partner Chris Baxter.Now re-named HOMers, the company is growing fast. Stepura's son Nikita Stepura, who is involved in the business, explains that the homes would also work well for the many Ukrainian refugees whose houses have been damaged and who now live elsewhere. "When there's a peaceful resolution, their HOMers shelters could be dismantled and reassembled back in their home-town or village." This design has potential beyond conflict situations, Baxter believes, and could be a solution for those made homeless by the recent earthquake in Turkey, or in any country suffering from a shortage of social housing. Continued here

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To Implement Change, You Don't Need to Convince Everyone at Once     Managers launching a new initiative often try to start big. They work to gain approval for a substantial budget, recruit high-profile executives, arrange a big “kick-off” meeting, then look to move fast, gain scale, and generate some quick wins. But starting with a big kickoff campaign is more likely to activate resistance than it is to win over a majority. It’s also unnecessary. Decades of research shows that you don’t need to convince everybody for an idea to take hold. In fact, a significant minority is completely sufficient to create change. So rather than trying to convince the skeptics from the outset, a much more effective strategy is to identify people who are already enthusiastic about the idea and want the transformation to succeed. Then, when people see that something is working, they want to be involved, and they bring in others who can bring in others still. That’s how you can grow your initiative and tip the scales toward widespread change. Continued here

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The destroyed Kakhovka dam once symbolized Russian-Ukrainian harmony     Associate professor, Human Rights Studies, King's University College, Western University Whoever destroyed it, the fall of the 67-year-old Kakhovka Dam stands as a symbol of the final death of the Soviet dream of inter-ethnic and constructive co-operation. Continued here

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Microsoft and Google rivalry could supercharge development of AI     Microsoft and Google have recently made big investments in two of the most valuable companies in artificial intelligence (AI). OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, has received a staggering investment of US$10 billion (£7.8 billion) from Microsoft, while Google has invested US$300 million in Anthropic. The companies’ financial support for AI has pushed an ongoing rivalry in to the public spotlight. Google’s struggle for dominance with Microsoft is increasingly at the forefront of discussions about AI’s future success. Continued here

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African leaders in Sierra Leone played a key role in ending the transatlantic slave trade     Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone on the west African coast, was named for the freed slaves who were returned to Africa by British members of the movement to end slavery. Founded in 1787 by a group of 400 black Britons from London, the colony ultimately became a refuge for nearly 100,000 people resettled by the British Anti-Slavery Naval Squadron. As a historian focusing on the impact of abolitionism, I have studied this history and the founding of modern Sierra Leone. Continued here

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Four ways to have hard conversations with your friends - without making things worse     It’s painful to watch someone you care about make what you perceive as bad life choices – we all want what’s best for our loved ones. This can be particularly hard when they are dating someone you don’t think is good, or right for them.Swifties (fans of Taylor Swift) have experienced this recently when Taylor Swift was reported to be dating famed bad boy and “problematic” favourite Matt Healy from the band The 1975. Some fans form parasocial relationships with famous figures like Swift – this is where they feel like they have a close personal relationship with a celebrity and feel invested in them, while the celebrity has no idea who they are. Continued here