How Busy People Can Develop Leadership Skills

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How Busy People Can Develop Leadership Skills Leadership development should be recognized as an ongoing part of professional life. And while dipping in and focusing on it when time allows is great, as we all know, time doesn’t always allow. That doesn’t mean that you can’t develop your skills. All it takes to become a better leader is dedication and a small investment of time. Continued here

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Indonesia's emergency labour regulation changes spark worker anger a year out from election, but Jokowi's government is unwavering Just weeks ago, Indonesia’s government changed its controversial Job Creation Law – better known as the Omnibus Law – into a “Government Regulation in Lieu of Law” as it was considered an emergency to issue the regulation. It was a sudden manoeuvre to bypass Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruling stating the law was unconstitutional in 2021. The 2021 verdict gave the government two years to adjust the controversial law. By changing it into an emergency regulation, Indonesia government evades the possibility of the law being fully annulled. Continued here

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The Case for Executive Assistants In their zeal for cutting administrative expenses, numerous organizations now count on highly paid middle and upper managers to arrange their own travel, file expense reports, and schedule meetings. Some companies may see a type of egalitarianism in this assistant-less structure—believing that when workers see the boss loading paper into the copy machine, it creates a “we’re all in this together” spirit. Continued here

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The Costs of Code-Switching In 2012, a video of President Barack Obama entering the locker room of the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team went viral. In the clip, viewers can see that there’s a clear difference between how Obama greets a white assistant coach and how he greets the black NBA player Kevin Durant. This moment inspired a sketch on Key & Peele in 2014 that played off the idea that Obama “switches” how he greets people, depending on whether they’re white or black. Continued here

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Netflix’s (Less Popular) Shows About Ex-Royals Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff. © 2023 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here

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Charles Simic in The New Yorker When I was a student in his workshop at N.Y.U., the poet Charles Simic would frequently counsel me and my classmates, “You could write a poem about anything!” (A toothpick, for example, or a rat on the subway tracks—he would perform a little impression, protruding his front teeth and waggling his fingers before his cheeks like whiskers.) Simic, who died this week, at the age of eighty-four, served as the United States Poet Laureate and won the Pulitzer Prize, among other national and international honors, and his advice is borne out in his body of work: a trove of surreal, philosophical verse, melancholy yet marked by a profound sense of humor and joie de vivre, in which the everyday mingles with the existential. Simic contributed regularly to The New Yorker for half a century, starting in 1971, with “Sunflowers,” an oblique riff on the King Midas myth that reads simultaneously like a love poem and an ars poetica. Writing, after all, is an alchemical act—the poet’s touch transforming the stuff of life into art—and one that is often if not always intertwined with desire. The poem ends: “Sunflowers, / my greed is not for gold.” For what, then? Romance, experience, the world itself—or something more intangible, immense, whose mystery is realized and deepened through the language of the lyric? In their compression, Simic’s imagistic poems, whether looking inward, outward, or in many directions at once, convey a sense of vastness. “Harsh Climate,” from 1979, describes the brain as “Something like a stretch of tundra / On the scale of the universe.” But his work is also sensually abundant and imbued with earthly appetites, such as in “Country Lunch,” which begins, “A feast in the time of plague— / That’s the way it feels.” Continued here

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The Science of Strong Business Writing Brain scans are showing us in new detail exactly what entices readers. Scientists can see a group of midbrain neurons—the “reward circuit”—light up as people respond to everything from a simple metaphor to an unexpected story twist. The big takeaway? Whether you’re crafting an email to a colleague or an important report for the board, you can write in a way that delights readers on a primal level, releasing pleasure chemicals in their brains. Continued here

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'M3GAN's dance to the top proves that horror can be ridiculous again Dancing its way through the uncanny valley and into the hearts and minds of audiences, M3GAN is an undeniable box-office and critical smash. The Blumhouse horror hit currently sits well over the $30 million mark in earnings and is rated “Certified Fresh” on the popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The titular killer android has become something of an immediate cultural touchpoint, an instant queer icon and the central figure in the latest deluge of Twitter memes. There is an element of the all-too-familiar “out of nowhere” narrative to the proceedings, but really M3GAN — rather than a watershed moment — is more akin to a tipping point when it comes to the reinvigorated relevance of camp horror. Continued here

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The 20 Most Common Things That Come Up During Reference Checks Along with job applications, resumes, and interviews, a reference check is one of the most common parts of the hiring process. It remains the one piece of information that is not provided by the applicant him or herself, alleviating some of the problems with information that is provided by the applicant — faking, embellishment, and omissions of previous work or other related experience. Continued here

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Why Decentralized Crypto Platforms Are Weathering the Crash In the past year, crypto markets dropped from $2.9 trillion in value to around $800 billion. In the wake of the collapse, crypto lenders and exchanges have been accused of fraud and other wrongdoing. What went wrong? One factor is competition. In theory, competition should always benefit consumers. But in some situations, as competition intensifies, companies hide underlying costs and risks in order to offer attractive products and win customers. Because it’s so easy to move assets in crypto, competition incentivized this practice, and a lack of transparency in centralized crypto finance allowed unproductive companies to thrive by offering products that appeared attractive in the short run but were unsustainable in the long run. Unfortunately, these companies amassed significant assets before their business models eventually unraveled. This problem hasn’t affected all crypto markets, however: decentralized exchanges, which have more transparency, have held up while centralized exchanges have flamed out. Though generally smaller and less advanced than centralized exchanges, these decentralized protocols may offer a way forward for crypto markets. Continued here

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Kevin McCarthy Celebrates One Week of Being Barely Tolerated by Colleagues WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Declaring that “it’s time for a victory lap,” Representative Kevin McCarthy celebrated one week of being barely tolerated by his Republican colleagues. The California congressman was unable to contain his jubilation after a week in which the G.O.P. caucus appeared to keep its profound loathing of him marginally in check. Continued here

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In Politics, How Old Is Too Old? It wasn’t so long ago that Ronald Reagan running for office at sixty-eight was considered over the hill; the Presidential race in 2024 may feature two men close to eighty. What accounts for the change in attitudes? David Remnick talks with the staff writers Jane Mayer and Jill Lepore, along with the prominent gerontologist Jack Rowe, about how to evaluate a candidate’s competency for office—and what to make of public opinion on the matter. Plus, the author Deepti Kapoor talks with the staff writer Parul Sehgal about Kapoor’s highly anticipated new novel “Age of Vice,” a sprawling thriller of crime and corruption set in India’s capital. Should advanced age disqualify Joe Biden or Donald Trump from another term in the White House? The staff writers Jane Mayer and Jill Lepore, plus the gerontologist Jack Rowe, weigh in. Continued here

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James Cameron’s attack on Netflix gets 2 major things wrong — and one right If anyone has the right to go on the offensive against Netflix and the streaming industry in general, it’s James Cameron. The director behind Titanic, Terminator, and Avatar has a penchant for making unstoppable blockbuster movies that break box office records (often his own). And in a world where Netflix and Amazon seem unstoppable — and major studios like Disney and Warner are racing to catch up — it can feel like the future of cinema really is watching movies at home. As Avatar: The Way of Water proves, people will still show up to the theater in droves for a big enough spectacle. (To be fair, Marvel also had a few big theatrical hits last year, as did Tom Cruise with Top Gun: Maverick.) But leave it to Cameron to swoop in at the end of the year and grab the crown. And in his victory lap, the master of Pandora took a not-so-subtle shot at Netflix. Continued here

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These clever things have fanatical Amazon reviews because they save you so much money Have you ever bought something and loved it so much that you wanted to tell everyone about it? Maybe you feel the need to demonstrate your pet-hair-removing brush to everyone who visits your house. Or maybe you can’t stop yourself from talking about a kitchen gadget, coffee brewer, or unique cleaning hack — especially if it’s affordable. It’s not just you. This is a common feeling. As a matter of fact, the clever things on this list all have fanatical Amazon reviews. Because they work well and help save you so much money. Continued here

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Frene Ginwala remembered: trailblazing feminist and first speaker of South Africa's democratic parliament Frene Ginwala, feisty feminist, astute political tactician and committed cadre of South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), has died at the age of 90. In a country blessed with exceptional leaders, Ginwala must surely count among the best. Typically for her, but unusually for the ANC leadership, she will be laid to rest in a private ceremony. While she was modest about her achievements, she has left an indelible mark on South Africa’s constitution and democratic institutions. Frene Noshir Ginwala was born in 1932 in Johannesburg. Her Parsee grandparents immigrated from Mumbai in India in the 1800s and made a life for the family in Johannesburg. Ginwala left South Africa after high school, to pursue an LLB degree at the University of London. She qualified as a barrister at the Inner Temple. Around this time her parent moved to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in Mozambique. She returned to South Africa after graduating and moved to Durban where her sister, a medical doctor, had settled. Continued here

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An Extremely Laudatory Oral History of Your High-School Theatre Program TRIPLE-THREAT ACTRESS: Sometimes, there’s a moment. And after that moment? Nothing is the same. For anyone who was there, that moment was the 2006 spring production of “Annie” at Marshallville High School. SUPER-AMBITIOUS STUDENT DIRECTOR: A lot of people are completely delusional about their high-school theatre programs being special, but not us. There was just something in the air. Continued here

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House Republicans Launch Their Campaign Against the Bidens The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government was launched on Tuesday, with Representative Jim Jordan, a combative ally of Donald Trump and a co-founder of the far-right Freedom Caucus, at the helm. This powerful new committee has the authority to investigate the federal government and how it has collected, analyzed, and used information about American citizens. Its mandate includes access to sensitive documents and details about covert actions, all of which fall under Congress’s typical oversight authority. But the new committee also provides a way for Republicans to advance the narrative that conservatives are systematically under attack. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to look at historical parallels of this new committee, and how it will likely handle issues such as Hunter Biden’s laptop and the recent revelation that Joe Biden had a number of classified documents in his possession. Personal History by David Sedaris: after thirty years together, sleeping is the new having sex. Continued here

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You need to watch the most underrated sci-fi space-thriller on Amazon ASAP If filmmakers are going to shamelessly lift premises for their movies, they might as well lift from the best. In the 40-plus years since it was released, Ridley Scott’s Alien has inspired dozens of imitators, most of which can’t come close to Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece. Still, the idea of a deadly alien presence loose on a self-contained spaceship is simple enough to offer plenty of twists and be realized with relatively modest resources. So it’s no surprise that filmmakers are still borrowing from it. And in the hands of accomplished filmmakers with a decent budget and a talented cast, a riff on Alien can be an entirely satisfying film in its own right. Continued here

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Marriage provides health benefits - and here's why The new year is traditionally a time when many people feel a renewed commitment to create healthy habits, such as exercising regularly, drinking more water or eating more healthfully. It turns out that when it comes to health, married people have an edge, especially married men. But surely the act of walking down the aisle is not what provides this health advantage. Continued here

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Andrew Bridgen: how anti-vaccine misinformation hampers the conversation about genuine vaccine injuries MP Andrew Bridgen was suspended from the Conservative party on January 11 for persistent misinformation about COVID vaccines, including numerous false claims around their safety. The final straw appears to have been his comments comparing the vaccination programme to the Holocaust. With more than 13 billion doses administered to date, we know COVID vaccines are overwhelmingly safe, effective, and a vital tool that must continue to underpin the pandemic response. Continued here

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Cleaning Up After the Bolsonaristas in Brasília On the afternoon of Sunday, January 8th, exactly a week after the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftist popularly known as Lula, to his third term as the President of Brazil, a march held by supporters of his predecessor, the right-wing nationalist Jair Bolsonaro, reached its terminus at the National Congress of Brazil, in Brasília. The protesters, many of whom were dressed in the colors of the Brazilian flag, were united by the conspiratorial claim that the election had been rigged and Bolsonaro had won. Shortly before three in the afternoon, instead of dispersing, the marchers forced their way past a meagre police presence into the most important federal buildings in the country, which they proceeded to vandalize and smash. That afternoon, I was in Rio de Janeiro, a city where, in the days after the inauguration, the giddy optimism of Lula's supporters had been visible on the streets. At Bar do Omar, a live-music venue in the hillside favela of Santo Cristo, the opening time was listed as five-thirteen, in honor of his having been the thirteenth candidate on the ballot, and a cardboard cutout of the reëlected President (Lula's first two terms were from 2003 to 2010) stood by the door. Victorious Lula signs hung in the windows of Copacabana high-rises, and that Sunday, as a few of the many blocos de samba that parade through the streets during Carnaval gathered at a plaza in downtown Rio for rehearsals, I saw a Lula flag hanging from a trumpet. Continued here

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Voters have few options to remove George Santos from Congress - aside from waiting until the next election There are mounting calls from both politicians and voters to force the newly elected apparent fabulist U.S. Rep. George Santos from Congress following revelations he fabricated his background and other details of his life. But New York’s 3rd Congressional District voters, who elected Santos as their representative in November 2022, cannot directly force him out of office until the next election, in November 2024. Continued here

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How Do You Know If You Work In a Toxic Company? You Will See Any of These 6 Types of Coworkers Toxic coworkers can be a big problem that you need to deal with. Here are some tips to keep your sanity. Continued here

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“Saint Omer,” Reviewed: A Harrowing Trial Inspires a Complex, Brilliant Film On a long and deep beach at night, with little but moonlight shimmering vaguely on the waves, a woman gently but unhesitatingly deposits a baby in the sand, near the rising tide, and walks away. I'd have sworn that I saw this in the French director Alice Diop's film "Saint Omer," yet I'd also swear that I didn't—because, although no such scene is included in the movie, it's described so vividly in the course of the action that I felt as if it was shown onscreen. The person who describes the event is Laurence Coly (played by Guslagie Malanda), who is accused of killing her baby in this manner, and whose detailed confession of her crime occurs in the courtroom, in the course of her trial. Diop does more in "Saint Omer" than create an original and far-reaching courtroom drama; she establishes an aesthetic, distinctive to the courtroom setting, that seemingly puts the characters' language itself in the frame along with the psychological vectors that connect them. This spare and straightforward method gives rise to a film of vast reach and great complexity. "Saint Omer," which goes into wide release Friday, is both a docudrama and an implicit metafiction, placing the filmmaker's surrogate in the onscreen action. The movie's protagonist isn't Laurence but, rather, a thirtysomething writer and professor named Rama (Kayije Kagame), who attends the trial in order to write a book about Laurence, and whose point of view as an observer is the one through which the details of the trial are conveyed. Diop based the movie on the real-life case of Fabienne Kabou, who was tried, in 2016, in the northern French town of the title, for killing her own baby—and Diop in fact attended that trial. Continued here

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What does ESG mean? Two business scholars explain what environmental, social and governance standards and principles are Environmental, social and governance business standards and principles, often referred to as ESG, are becoming both more commonplace and controversial. It’s shorthand for the way that many corporations operate in accordance with the belief that their long-term survival and their ability to generate profits require accounting for the impact their decisions and actions have on the environment, society as a whole and their own workforce. Continued here

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Relying on carbon capture and storage may be a dangerous trap for UK industry We are reminded of climate change all the time. Every week seemingly brings a “once in a hundred year” disaster or new scientific evidence saying that the time to act has passed. Had we taken small steps 35 years ago, when climate change first became a public policy issue, the scale of the challenge might not seem so daunting. But now urgent climate action is required and will involve more than just personal lifestyle choices. Such action will be expensive and involve huge sums of public and private money. Continued here

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Serbia and Kosovo: why the EU is intent on resolving border tension stoked by the Ukraine war The Russian invasion of Ukraine serves as a sombre reminder that Europe’s unresolved issues can reignite. Given the rising tension in the Balkans, Germany and France have made settling the unresolved problems between Serbia and Kosovo a top priority for 2023. This is particularly important after a confrontation in December 2022 over licence plates in northern Kosovo stoked fears of a renewed conflict in the Balkans. Some ethnic Serbs do not acknowledge Kosovo’s independence, and therefore thousands of residents in northern Kosovo refuse to use Kosovan licence plates. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, but Serbia continues to claim the territory. Continued here

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Strategically Aligning Customer Service with B2B Business Goals - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM SAP For business-to-business (B2B) companies to remain competitive, it’s no longer enough to sell great products. They also need to deliver new levels of customer service that reflect the digital expectations of customers today and deliver on the more personalized, fast, and effortless experiences that digital tools and data-driven capabilities can offer. Continued here

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Why Don DeLillo is America's greatest living writer "A brilliant story about death and the fear of death," said the original jacket blurb on Don DeLillo's 1985 novel White Noise – adding that the book "is a comedy, of course." This month, Noah Baumbach's Netflix film of White Noise dazzles its way on to our screens, and we're promised "a fascinating, invigorating spectacle," a "thrillingly original" blast of cinematic lustre. So this feels like a good time to look again at White Noise's author – and consider why Don DeLillo is one of the great novelists of our time. He published his first novel in 1971, and for half a century has been one of those writers who makes us think in a new way: read him for long enough and the world begins to look different. Continued here

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Mike Colter would "entertain" the idea of coming back to Luke Cage Mike Colter burst onto the scene as Marvel’s “Bulletproof Black Man,” Luke Cage. But it wasn’t a bullet that felled the superhero: it was a Netflix cancellation. Luke Cage was one of the casualties of the doomed Marvel-Netflix deal, which saw Marvel TV attempt to expand its catalog with “streetwise” superheroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Punisher, and Luke Cage, only to have to dismantle the whole empire (dubbed The Defenders Saga) when Disney introduced Disney+ in 2019. Continued here

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Look! Astronomers discover weird crisscrossing jets lurking in 14-year-old Hubble photo The Butterfly Nebula is really “a tempestuous fire-sneezing dragon, with eyes that project ultraviolet light,” according to astronomer Bruce Balick. The star (or stars) at the center of the nebula seem to blast powerful jets of energy out into space in random directions, creating chaos in the expanding gas that forms the Butterfly’s wings. Fourteen-year-old photos from the Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers discover the mystery behind the jets, and infrared images from the James Webb Space Telescope might eventually help solve it. Continued here

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This supermassive black hole takes long snack breaks, new model suggests Black hole science is a little like shadow puppet theater. Black holes cannot be seen directly, because they trap all matter that falls into them, including light. One way scientists learn about them, however, is by looking at the behavior of bright stuff surrounding the black holes. Sometimes, as is the case of the two supermassive black holes the world beheld through the incredible images from the Event Horizon Telescope, black hole shadows are flanked by the glow of superheated material whipping around it pretty continuously. Continued here

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'One Piece Odyssey' beginner’s guide: 5 essential tips for the early game One Piece Odyssey doesn’t tell you everything you need to know in its early hours. The game encourages experimentation in its lengthy playtime, but all its random encounters might inspire you to hurry through the grinding and straight to the action-packed boss battles and cutscenes. Here are a few tips and tricks for getting started on your One Piece Odyssey playthrough. One Piece Odyssey features a turn-based combat system with three different types: Power, Speed, and Technique. Technique trumps Power, Power trumps Speed, and Speed trumps Technique. Always lean into these type weaknesses when possible, even if it means a couple of turns switching characters. Players can endlessly switch characters without consuming a turn, so you can swap characters between different areas based on which ones have type advantages. Also consider switching characters to take advantage of moves that can take out multiple enemies at once. Continued here

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How National Champions Kirby Smart and Nick Saban Use Process Goals as Their Competitive Edge Leverage the science of progress goals to achieve organizational success. Continued here

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What to Do When It Rains on the Winter Games New York’s newly elected governor, Kathy Hochul, stood center-ice on the fabled Lake Placid hockey rink on Thursday night, welcoming fourteen hundred athletes from around the world to the thirty-first World University Games—Olympics for college kids—winter edition. Flags of the nations had been paraded on toboggans, aerialists had descended on wires from the rafters, and now the Governor was beaming in the spotlight. (I’m a longtime denizen of the Adirondacks, and got to watch close up as an honorary bearer of the—electric, renewable-powered—torch.) The Governor paid homage to the Miracle on Ice, from the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, when the upstart American hockey team had defeated the Soviet Union; she saluted the local officials who had helped win more than five hundred million dollars in government funding to refurbish the town’s ski trails and bobsled runs; and then she noted that New York is the only state ever to host the World University Games three times. “Third time’s definitely the charm,” she said, and the rink roared. Outside, however, it had begun to rain, and by the time the crowd began to stream out almost no one wanted to party on Lake Placid’s closed-off Main Street. The buildings and trees shone with gold and white lights, but the glow reflected in growing puddles; what should, indeed, have been charming was glum. It was one more reminder—in a winter when ski resorts in the Alps have had to turn off their lifts and offer their guests mountain bikes—that we can no longer take winter for granted. Lake Placid had also hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932, but the cold that made it a model Olympic town can no longer be counted on anywhere. A study last year predicted that, out of the twenty-one cities that have previously hosted the Winter Olympics, only four will still be able to do so by mid-century. As one of the four is Lake Placid, even that might be an optimistic count. Continued here

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What the FDA's accelerated approval of a new Alzheimer's drug could mean for those with the disease - 5 questions answered about lecanemab The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the medication lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi, on Jan. 6, 2023, through an “accelerated approval pathway” that fast-tracks promising clinical treatments for diseases in which there are no other currently effective options. The Conversation asked James E. Galvin, a neurologist from the University of Miami School of Medicine who specializes in the study of Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, to explain the drug’s clinical potential to help ease the suffering of the roughly 6.5 million Americans who live with Alzheimer’s. Continued here

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Mercedes’ limited-edition SL 63 has an F1-inspired gradient paint job This one’s for all the fans of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team. Mercedes-AMG is releasing a collectors edition of its SL 63 4MATIC+ directly inspired by the race car. Mercedes-AMG designed this SL 63 after its Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance race car that was used during the recently-concluded 2022 F1 season. Luckily, Mercedes ported over the most attractive part of the race car: the two-tone gradient paint. Continued here

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Britain is a net electricity exporter for first time in 44 years PhD in Probabilistic Supply and Demand Forecasting of UK Hyper Local Energy Systems using Machine Learning, University of Birmingham Volatile prices in international energy markets sparked unrest throughout 2022, with governments seeking to reduce the impact of unprecedented price increases on their respective economies. As energy experts focused on how data can be used in the transition to a low-carbon economy, we have closely followed how this volatility has played out in Britain. Full data for the year 2022 is now available and here are a few things we have noticed. Continued here

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'Evil' star Mike Colter teases unexpected new cases in Season 4 Mike Colter unpacks David Acosta’s higher calling in the next season of TV’s most mysterious saga. While Evil is in limbo, television star Mike Colter reveals what awaits his Catholic priest, David Acosta, and his escalating battle against the underworld in the Paramount+ drama. Continued here

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How Mike Colter's surprising first acting role prepared him for 'Plane' Mike Colter plays an enigma in the new action thriller Plane. And he’d like to keep it that way. With his hulking physique and intimidating presence, he’s used to being cast as the strong man or the heavy. It’s what made his casting as Marvel’s bulletproof man in Luke Cage so perfect. And it’s what makes him such a formidable presence in Plane, the new action flick in which Colter plays a convicted murderer being extradited in a commercial plane piloted by Gerard Butler’s Captain Brodie Torrance. But when a storm forces Brodie to make a crash landing in hostile territory, Colter’s Louis Gaspare becomes Brodie’s best bet at survival. Continued here

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Bringing manufacturing back to the US requires political will, but success hinges on training American workers Supply chain disruptions during COVID-19 brought to light how interdependent nations are when it comes to manufacturing. The inability of the U.S. to produce such needed goods as test kits and personal protective equipment during the pandemic revealed our vulnerabilities as a nation. China’s rise as a global production superpower has further underscored the weaknesses of American manufacturing. In addition to fixing supply chain disruptions, bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. will benefit national security. Advanced computer chips, for example, are disproportionately made by a single firm, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. These microchips are critical to smartphones, medical devices and self-driving cars, as well as military technology. TSMC, from a U.S. national security perspective, is located too close to China. Taiwan’s proximity to China makes it vulnerable because the Chinese government threatens to use force to unify Taiwan with the mainland. Continued here

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Why winter walks at the seaside are good for you Dreary weather, freezing temperatures, long dark days, no festivities to look forward to – it’s beginning to feel at lot like the middle of January. The idea that there is a “Blue Monday” somewhere around the middle of the month where people feel most miserable may be a bit of a myth, but seasonal affective disorder is real enough. No wonder many people take off at this time of year in search of winter sun. To lift your mood, however, you don’t need to go as far as that. Plenty of us go for winter walks near nature, and for many that can mean a trip to the local coast. The health benefits of spending time near the seaside are increasingly well documented, including making people feel happier and more relaxed. Continued here

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Jeff Beck: the unorthodox techniques that made him such a unique guitarist The praise Jeff Beck, who has died aged 78, received from indebted musicians during his lifetime already read like unbridled eulogies. Eric Clapton had called him “the most unique guitarist”, Steve Lukather (Toto) “God’s guitarist”, and Joe Satriani “just a genius”. Jazz great John McLaughlin described Beck as “the best guitarist alive”, Steve Vai as “unique in the most superlative use of the word”, and Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience) as his “personal favourite”. Queen’s Brian May said Beck “radically changed” his view of the guitar. Continued here

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Subway Just Ran a Very Strange National Contest, and I Have to Admit It Was a Stroke of Genius No more than 10,000 winners, they said.Continued here S11 Decade of progress on making England's homes safer threatened by austerity and the pandemic In her ruling on the death of two-year old Awaab Ishak in Rochdale in 2020, senior coroner Joanne Kearsley concluded that the child had died as a result of “prolonged exposure to mould in his home environment”. According to the English Housing Survey, in 2020, 116,000 other social renting households in England faced condensation and mould bad enough to count as a “serious” hazard to health, as defined by the official housing health and safety rating system(HHSRS). The survey also found 137,000 homeowners and 191,000 private tenants – for a total of 1.8% of all households in England – are impacted by serious damp and mould. Continued here S9 Mining and armed conflict threaten eastern DRC's biodiversity in a complex web The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) conflict-affected eastern provinces are home to numerous protected areas. These areas host unique biodiversity and a range of threatened species, such as the okapi, forest elephant and mountain gorilla. They are also part of the Congo Basin rainforest, which is a crucial line of defence against climate change. The same protected areas overlap with globally significant deposits of minerals – including gold, coltan and cassiterite. Continued here S55 Everything you need to know about EA's 'Dead Space' remake Close to 10 years after Dead Space 3 was released and nearly six since the series’ original developer closed, Electronic Arts is developing a remake of the original Dead Space with Frostbite Engine-powered visuals in “a deeper and more immersive experience” that features some “improvement to gameplay while staying true to the original.” We even have a firm release date on the calendar that’s somehow sooner than Starfield, Bethesda’s decidedly different take on spacefaring sci-fi. Regardless of whether or not you experienced the original’s gripping third-person action horror gameplay, this is a game worth paying attention to. Here’s everything you need to know about the Dead Space remake. Continued here S56 A new Covid-19 omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, is sweeping the country. Omicron, the variant that has dominated Covid cases since Thanksgiving of 2021, isn’t done with us yet, it seems. The latest subvariant of Omicron sweeping the country, XBB.1.5, is moving fast. It now accounts for 70 percent of Covid cases in the New York City area and more than 40 percent in the United States. Here’s what you should know about the latest alphabet soup variant. Omicron first reached the United States in November of 2021, and unlike previous variants, it spawned successful sublineages that have quickly overtaken other variants, including the original omicron variant. Its dominance results from mutations that make it more transmissible and better at evading immune defenses from vaccination or previous infection. Continued here S2 Why Tim Cook’s $50 Million Pay Cut Is the Best Example of Emotional Intelligence I’ve Seen Yet Shareholders expressed concern over Apple's CEO pay. His response was good leadership. Continued here S57 The past 8 years were the hottest on record. Here's where 2022 fits in Record-setting temperatures, natural disasters, floods, droughts, and more made headlines all throughout the year. Continued here S20 Special counsels, like those examining Biden's and Trump's handling of classified documents, are intended to be independent - but they aren't entirely Attorney General Merrick Garland has now appointed two veteran prosecutors as special counsels to oversee investigations into how President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump handled classified documents after leaving office – Biden after he ended his terms as vice president in 2017, and Trump after leaving the Oval Office in 2021. Robert Hur, a former federal prosecutor in Maryland, will investigate whether Biden or any of his staff or associates mishandled classified information. Jack Smith, a longtime top investigator in the Department of Justice, is overseeing two criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump. Continued here S29 'The most dangerous Negro': 3 essential reads on the FBI's assessment of MLK's radical views and allies Left out of GOP debates about “the weaponization” of the federal government is the use of the FBI to spy on civil rights leaders for most of the 20th century. As secret FBI documents became declassified, The Conversation U.S. published several articles looking at the details that emerged about King’s personal life and how he was considered in 1963 by the FBI as “the most dangerous Negro.” Continued here S58 'Willow' Season 1 ending explained: How that emotional finale plants the seeds for Season 2 Elora Danan, the last blood of Kymeria and the one true empress, isn’t holding back anymore. She knows what has to be done to stomp out the wicked, even if it means tapping into some uncomfortable bits of herself. The Season 1 finale of Willow didn’t hold back either, delivering a punchy ending that doesn’t provide much closure, opting to pave the way for a Season 2 with more adventures and more ominous threats. Continued here S15 Native eastern fence lizards changed their bodies and behavior in response to invasive red imported fire ants An eastern fence lizard basking in the sun feels a small red ant walk over its back. Not hungry, it ignores the insect. Soon there are lots of ants crawling up its legs, biting the scales that usually protect it and inserting their stingers in its soft underlying flesh. Not having evolved with this threat, the lizard adopts its typical defensive posture of lying flat and closing its eyes, counting on its natural camouflage to protect it. This can be a deadly decision, though. As few as 12 of these ants can kill an adult lizard in less than a minute. Continued here S48 How to evolve Pokémon #1,000 Gholdengo in 'Scarlet and Violet' Gholdengo is built different. According to its Pokémon Scarlet Pokédex entry, its body is comprised of 1000 coins, which makes its status as the 1000th Pokémon even more fitting. They don’t call it the Coin Entity Pokémon for nothing. Unfortunately, the “golden boy” of Pokémon is also one of the most difficult ones to get because of how tedious it is to gather enough Gimmighoul coins to evolve Gimmighoul into Gholdengo. Thankfully, they can pop up at multiple stops throughout your journey while you’re solving gym puzzles and breeding Pokémon. Continued here S14 Western Sahara: the six-decade struggle to liberate Africa's last colony PhD candidate, College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of Exeter Meriem Naili is affiliated with OUISO, the International Academic Observatory on Western Sahara. Continued here S5 4 Simple Ways to Make Yourself Really Happy in 10 Minutes or Less, Backed by Harvard Research An 85-year-long study reveals the secret to long-term happiness. Should you try it? Continued here S50 Hyundai’s crab walking tech lets you drive completely sideways Hyundai is showing off some next-level maneuverability. Hyundai Mobis, the car parts division of Hyundai, demoed a prototype Ioniq 5 with its “crab walking” e-Corner System at CES 2023. It took Hyundai Mobis a few years since the car tech’s debut at CES 2018. The company gave a demo of a prototype designed specifically for the e-Corner System at CES 2021. Later that year, Hyundai Mobis announced that it fully developed the e-Corner System. Most recently, we saw a full-on demo of the tech on an Ioniq 5 at the latest CES, showing how far Hyundai Mobis has come. Continued here S7 The Top MIT SMR Articles of 2022 In 2021, Anthony Klotz, professor of management at the University College London School of Management, coined the term “Great Resignation” to describe the burgeoning economic trend of employees leaving their jobs in the wake of COVID-19. In 2022, we’ve seen how this reshuffling in the labor market has affected workplaces and managers. Employees are more vocal than ever about their dissatisfaction at work, and companies must now strike a balance between addressing employees’ needs to increase their engagement and planning for economic uncertainty in the months ahead. It’s not surprising that, during the past year, readers sought out articles focused on removing friction from the workplace — from fixing toxic culture to rooting out bad bosses — and dived deeply into topics such as work design, decision-making, and corporate purpose. Employee engagement and well-being were also top of mind for managers, with articles on building a respectful hybrid work culture and supporting mental health among the most popular. No-meeting days allow for efficient collaboration while preventing disruptions of focused, heads-down work. The authors suggest several ways to deploy a no-meetings policy or adjust an existing one. Continued here S26 BTS singer set for military training - but South Korea is far from alone in retaining national service Late last year, the first member of the most successful and famous boy band on the planet – BTS – began military service. Singer and songwriter, Kim Seok-jin (popularly known as Jin), 30, began five weeks of compulsory military training in South Korea by posting a selfie of his new “buzz cut” hairstyle. There had been speculation this call-up was on the horizon and that upcoming military service for several members of BTS was the real reason for the band’s break-up which had been announced during the summer. Continued here S51 'Skull and Bones' release window, delays, gameplay, trailer, and platforms Few games have undergone a development cycle as tumultuous as Skull and Bones, an open-world pirate adventure that has been in the works for nearly a decade. Since its initial reveal at E3 2017, the game has reportedly gone through numerous redesigns and has been delayed several times. Following its reemergence in 2022, it’s clear the game was coming together. However, in January 2023, Ubisoft delayed the game for a sixth time. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Skull & Bones, including its launch window, gameplay, and details about its development cycle. Skull & Bones was supposed to launch on March 9, 2023, but was delayed to sometime between 2023 and 2024. Its exact release date is unknown but it should launch within the next year, assuming Ubisoft sticks to its new timeframe. Continued here S21 Noma to close: why it's so hard to run a sustainable innovation-focused restaurant On January 9 2023, Noma’s Danish chef and co-owner René Redzepi announced an imminent and significant transition: Noma would close as a restaurant in 2025 to focus on pop-ups and culinary innovation. Over a decade ago, El Bulli in Spain, one of the first innovation and R&D-led restaurants, made a similar transition. Exploring the reasons behind the decision, an article about the upcoming changes at Noma in the New York Times explained: Continued here S6 Keep Forgetting Things? A Massive New Study Says This Is What Happens to Your Brain If You Retire Early "If you rest, you rust." Continued here S47 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' could be the reboot the franchise needs Sometimes, it feels like the sci-fi franchise world is a duopoly of Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, because both are owned by Disney, that’s more like a monopoly. But there are plenty of sleeper hits that could be bumped up to big-league status with the correct move. The rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy could be poised to do just that with its latest film, which is garnering some big stars for an event that looks like a reboot-to-the-reboot. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the upcoming fourth film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, but it’s more like another refresh for the long-running sci-fi saga. It’s set years after the events of the previous three movies and stars Owen Teague as Cornelius, the ape we saw born in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and as a mere toddler in War for the Planet of the Apes. Continued here S13 Madosini, a South African national treasure whose music kept a rich history alive Boudina McConnachie is affiliated with Rhodes University and hosted Madosini at ILAM funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2021. Renowned African musician, songwriter and storyteller Latozi “Madosini” Mphahleni passed away late in 2022. The cultural and indigenous music activist, who laughed as often as she played, was loved by everyone she met. She has left behind a rich legacy of Xhosa music, heritage and history. She also taught and nurtured a new generation of bow players, reinvigorating an art that was dying. Continued here S45 The best sci-fi thriller of 2023 reveals a surprising real-life threat In M3GAN, the blonde-haired, sweet-voiced android at its center has been programmed to be the perfect child companion. But then the murders begin. The new film from Housebound director Gerard Johnstone and Malignant screenwriter Akela Cooper, is the latest to tap into cinema’s deep-rooted fear of machine insurgencies. The classic “robots gone haywire” trope dates as far back as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and as recently as Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall. M3GAN leans closer to Joe Begos’ Christmas Bloody Christmas than these films — think “slasher level carnage” instead of “extinction level event.” The change makes M3GAN’s horror element more personal. The threat of malfunctioning smart assistants becomes scarier than the threat of nuclear holocaust because the threat lives at home. Technology is a wonderful thing. But what if the fabulous gadgets and inventions we rely on for easing our daily routines suddenly turned against us? Continued here S52 'Genshin Impact' birthdays: Complete list of dates for all 58 characters Fictional characters deserve presents too, right? Genshin Impact fans love the characters enough to send them trending on social media on their birthdays. It’s become tradition to gush over our favorite party members and watch the flood of fan art. Travelers get presents if they log in on a character’s birthday, and the gifts often include endearing and ship-inducing messages. Here’s a complete list of birthdays for each Genshin Impact character, along with their zodiac signs. Continued here S59 'Missing' review: A worn-out thriller less exciting than a doomscroll Missing, set for release on January 20, is a stand-alone sequel to director Aneesh Chaganty’s riveting 2018 thriller Searching, two films emblematic of producer Timur Bekmambetov’s “Screenlife” vision. While Missing uses the same tricks of the trade that made Searching compulsively watchable, the cracks in the genre are beginning to show, with the claustrophobic nature of the screen-only format beginning to feel more exhausting than invigorating. Missing, helmed by freshman filmmakers Nick Johnson and Will Merrick, flips the script from Searching — where John Cho sought his missing daughter’s whereabouts — with 18-year-old rebel June (Storm Reid) using an array of apps, stolen passwords, and the unlikely aid of gig workers to locate her mother (Nia Long) and her new boyfriend (Ken Leung) after they vanish in Colombia. Continued here S49 'Yellowjackets' Season 2 trailer unpacks the mystery of Lottie Matthews Showtime’s Yellowjackets checked all kinds of boxes when it premiered in late 2021: It was a survival drama with a sinister twist like Lost, but based around a group of high school girls — a great recipe for drama. The 1990s setting added the nostalgia factor, and the present-day flash-forwards gave the entire show some much-needed perspective (and gave us an all-timer Christina Ricci performance.) Now, in Season 2, there’s one question on everyone’s lips — who the heck is Lottie Matthews? — and the latest trailer for the series answers that question with two words: pure chaos. Continued here S46 Nintendo theory reveals a wild Kirby secret hidden in plain sight for decades In Nintendo’s pantheon of characters, there are quite a few contenders for the most powerful. There are evil superbeings like Ridley and Ganon, and literal gods like Palutena and Arceus. But none can match the sheer raw, unrestrictive (and cuddly) power of Kirby. Looking back over the games, there’s some pretty compelling evidence that Kirby might be the same species as many of the series’ one-eyed eldritch horror bosses. The hidden lore behind the pink fluffball reveals a secret potential that other Nintendo heavy hitters can’t hope to reach. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ►  2024 (51) ►  December (1) ►  October (2) ►  August (2) ►  July (4) ►  June (3) ►  May (5) ►  April (4) ►  March (2) ►  February (10) ►  January (18) ▼  2023 (834) ►  December (20) ►  November (54) ►  October (44) ►  September (108) ►  August (91) ►  July (29) ►  June (68) ►  May (104) ►  April (33) ►  March (30) ►  February (99) ▼  January (154) A Physical Theory For When the Brain Performs Best... Feb 1, 2023 - 4 Startup Terms Explained With Analo... January 31, 2023 - Russian offensive "imminent" as... 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