| ? |
 |
|
Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium    
CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!  S62The Columbine-Killers Fan Club   A quarter century on, the school shooters' mythology has propagated a sprawling subculture that idolizes murder and mayhem.Mass shootings didn't start at Columbine High, but the mass-shooter era did. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's audacious plan and misread motives multiplied the stakes and inspired wave after wave of emulation. How could we know we were witnessing an origin story?
Continued here
|
| ? |
 |
S1Today's Most Critical Workplace Challenges Are About Systems - Harvard Business Review (No paywall)  Critical workplace issues — e.g., the problematic quality of leadership within organizations, the threats to employee mental health and well-being, and the lack of belonging and inclusion — are primarily attributable to systemic factors embedded in organizational cultures and processes. And yet, many of these and other issues are still mainly addressed on the individual level. Why do organizations keep investing in remedies that don’t work and have little chance of working? An automatic bias in how we perceive and explain the world is a likely culprit. The author explains how that “superbias” manifests — and what leaders can do to combat it in their organizations.
Continued here
|
| ? |
|
S2Should You Quit Your "Meh" Job? Or Is It Salvageable? - Harvard Business Review (No paywall)  Bad days at work are inevitable, just as some degree of frustration and ennui is bound to be a part of almost any job. In this article, the author shares advice from two experts on what to do if you’re stuck in the gray area of deciding whether your job is merely mediocre (and could potentially improve) or downright soul-crushing (and might require a change). They offer seven questions to ask yourself to help you sort it out: 1) Is the workplace toxic? 2) Do you feel depleted? 3) Are you miserable or are you bored? 4) Is there anything about the job you enjoy? 5) Are you really giving it your best effort? 6) Do you need different friends? 7) Is there anything about the job you enjoy?
Continued here
|
S3
| ? |
|
S4
| ? |
|
S5
| ? |
|
S6Editor's Note: For example, a study conducted into classroom colours by researchers at the Valencia Polytechnic University, published in Building and Environment in 2021, found university students in cool-coloured rooms (green and blue) reported increased attention and memory, while white was linked to a 25 per cent drop in human efficiency, as measured by a mixture of performance-based tasks and neurophysiological responses (such as heart rate and brain activity).
| ? |
|
S7
| ? |
|
S8S9The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong  One thing you can be sure of, as you measure and observe the Universe around you, is this: the physical objects you see, touch, and otherwise interact with all occupy a volume of space. Whether in the form of solid, liquid, gas, or any other phase of matter, it costs energy in order to reduce the volume that any tangible material occupies, as though the very components of matter themselves are capable of resisting the impetus to occupy a smaller amount of three-dimensional space.And yet, seemingly paradoxically, the fundamental constituents of matter — the particles of the Standard Model — occupy no measurable volume at all; they’re simply point particles. So how, then, can substances made out of volume-less entities come to occupy space at all, creating the world and Universe as we observe it? That’s what Pete Sand is curious about, asking:
Continued here
|
S10Want true success? Be more philosophical about "good" and "bad" failure.  Failing is cool at the moment. This is an era of reframing. A setback isn’t bad; it’s a learning experience. An obstacle shouldn’t bother you; it’s an opportunity to grow. If you’ve read any self-help article written in the last five years, you will often find, at some point, the idea that “failing is necessary for success.” There’s a cottage industry of celebrities and self-help personalities who lionize the great benefits of having to overcome. All will start with a similar refrain: “We live in an age of perfection,” or “We don’t treat failure with respect.” Perhaps a decade ago, but after several years of bestselling books and viral videos, it’s getting harder to uphold that refrain. It could even be argued the pendulum has shifted the other way; this is an age of failure fetishization.The real problem, though, is that the issue is too often oversimplified. A child getting a bad grade at school or an athlete who doesn’t get their PB might make them better. Yes, some failure means growth, but as the philosopher Jonathan Mitchell argues, the fetishization of failure often overlooks one key thing: sometimes, failure can break you. So how can you tell the difference between “good” and “bad” failure, especially in our daily lives? And how can we shift the pendulum back to somewhere more balanced?
Continued here
|
S11Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders  The quest to build a robust pipeline of high-potential leadership talent is increasingly urgent as the challenges facing organizations gain in complexity and speed. However, the current leadership gap illustrates how difficult that quest can be. One crucial question must be addressed at the outset: What differentiates high-potential leadership talent from high-performing professionals more generally? Both are essential to an organization’s success, but each brings unique capabilities.
Continued here
|
S12Everyday Philosophy: "Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?"  I have a friend at work; she’s kind of a friend, but only ever a “work friend.” We have lunch together and get along, but nothing more. Lately, she’s started to spend our lunch breaks ‘trauma dumping’ on me. I don’t mind venting or offloading, but this is more than that. It’s too much. It makes me feel uncomfortable, and I find I don’t want to eat with her anymore. Is she wrong to dump trauma on me?”Friendships are complicated. In some ways, the term “friend” is such a sprawling, overused word that it’s now become pointless. We have work friends, school friends, home friends, best friends, old friends, new friends, parent friends, couple friends, and so on — each with its own definition and rules of engagement. So, we find Lisa in a thicket, trapped by two related issues. The first is, “What kinds of friendships allow what kinds of behaviors?” and, second, “When, if ever, is ‘trauma dumping’ acceptable?”
Continued here
|
S1325 years since Columbine: We're closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology  At roughly 11:19 a.m. on April 20, 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold emerged from their vehicles in the parking lots of Columbine High School. Clad in black trench coats, they started strolling toward the school entrance. Klebold lobbed a pipe bomb. Then the duo brandished guns and started shooting.Armed with a TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol, two shotguns, a carbine, as well as dozens of pipe bombs and mounds of ammunition in a bag they were lugging, the two were out to kill hundreds of their classmates.
Continued here
|
S14Missouri Backs Big Expansion of Low-Interest Loans as Demand for State Aid Grows  Â Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to significantly expand a low-interest loan program for farmers and small businesses, in a move that reflects strong consumer demand for such government aid amid persistently high borrowing costs.The legislation comes as states have seen surging public interest in programs that use taxpayer funds to spur private investment with bargain-priced loans. Those programs gained steam as the Federal Reserve fought inflation by repeatedly raising its benchmark interest rate, which now stands at a 23-year high of 5.3 percent.
Continued here
|
S15San Francisco Sues Oakland Over New Airport Name  San Francisco on Thursday sued Oakland after officials there voted in favor of changing the name of the city's airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, saying the change will cause confusion and is already affecting its airport financially.Last week, the Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland voted unanimously to move forward with the name-change and scheduled a second vote for final approval on May 9. The airport is currently called Oakland International Airport.
Continued here
|
S16Fed's Global Detractors Grumble as Central Bankers Debate Rate Cuts  Federal Reserve policymakers have coalesced around the idea of keeping borrowing costs where they are until perhaps well into the year, given slow and bumpy progress on inflation, and a still-strong U.S. economy.On Thursday New York Fed President John Williams became the latest U.S. rate-setter to embrace the "no rush" on rate cuts view articulated in February by Fed Governor Christopher Waller and since echoed by many of his colleagues.Â
Continued here
|
S17Meta's AI Model Agents Get Weird on Social Media  Facebook parent Meta Platforms unveiled a new set of artificial intelligence systems Thursday that are powering what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls "the most intelligent AI assistant that you can freely use."But as Zuckerberg's crew of amped-up Meta AI agents started venturing into social media this week to engage with real people, their bizarre exchanges exposed the ongoing limitations of even the best generative AI technology.
Continued here
|
S18Don't Compete--Collaborate. How Cannabis Partnerships Are Driving Growth  In the 10 years since Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational cannabis, the industry has grown into a more than $30 billion market, with more than half of all Americans now living in a state where recreational cannabis is legal. To capitalize on this growth, companies in the legal marijuana industry are collaborating and leveraging partnerships, helping some land on Inc.'s list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Sebastian Solano, co-founder of cannabis brand Jeeter, says collaborations have become a core part of his company's success. On Saturday, for 4/20, the Desert Hot Springs, California-based company will offer a limited edition pre-rolled joint product, and hold its third-annual "high dining" event, a dinner where every dish is paired with the reveal of a brand-new Jeeter product. This year, the event will feature an acoustic tribute to Bob Marley performed by his grandson, Skip Marley, as part of a larger collaboration between Jeeter and the Marley estate. Founded in 2018, Jeeter claimed the No.144 spot on the 2022 Inc. 5000, with a three-year growth rate of 3,346 percent.
Continued here
|
S19Early AI Regulation Efforts Get Pushback From All Sides  Artificial intelligence is helping decide which Americans get the job interview, the apartment, even medical care, but the first major proposals to rein in bias in AI decision making are facing headwinds from every direction.Lawmakers working on these bills, in states including Colorado, Connecticut and Texas, came together Thursday to argue the case for their proposals as civil rights-oriented groups and the industry play tug-of-war with core components of the legislation.
Continued here
|
S20Here's How a TikTok Ban Got Tied to Military Aid for Israel and Ukraine  Legislation that could ban TikTok in the U.S. if its China-based owner doesn't sell its stake won a major boost late Wednesday when House Republican leaders included it in a package of bills that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel. The bill could be law as soon as next week if Congress moves quickly.The TikTok legislation, which passed the House in March and has widespread support in both chambers, was included in the House package as leaders have worked to win votes for the foreign aid bills and after negotiations with the Senate over how long the Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. would have to sell its stake in the app to continue operating in the United States. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the TikTok legislation if it reaches his desk.
Continued here
|
S21This 'Shark Tank' Founder Restructured Her Business Thanks to Barbara Corcoran--Her 3 Big Takeaways  The Avondale, Pennsylvania-based entrepreneur spent four years creating a prototype that put her into $1.7 million in debt--she even sold her house to find the capital to release her product. And while her business racked in almost $3 million in sales in 2023, Cella told the Sharks that she came on the show to look for an investor who could help drive the business forward. With no business experience, chief financial officer, or bookkeeper, Cella wanted the experience of a Shark to take the reins. Kevin O'Leary and Mark Cuban stepped down from investment, both saying that the business needed a leadership overhaul they weren't willing to deal with. Robert Herjavec and Lori Greiner did not make offers either. Instead, they suggested Cella take Barbara Corcoran's offer: $200,000 for a 25 percent stake in the company on the condition that Cella would travel to New York so Corcoran could restructure her business using index cards. Cella settled on the deal, with the added condition that Corcoran fund all of her purchase orders.Â
Continued here
|
S223 Things to Know About the TikTok Bill That Might Make a Ban All the More Likely  The House made another push to pressure TikTok out of the hands of its Chinese owner, ByteDance. This follows the bill that the House passed in March, which gave ByteDance the ultimatum to either sell or get banned. The move would affect millions of users, let alone the businesses that depend on its algorithm to reach broader markets. This time, the push coming as part of a $95 billion foreign aid bill aimed at serving American interests in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Lawmakers in the lower house are expected to vote on the foreign aid bill over the weekend, following its contentious journey through feuding GOP representatives. Here are three things you should know about what it means for the popular short video app:Â
Continued here
|
S23Beyond Black and White Logos, These Are the Emerging Design Trends to Watch  That's according to experts like Alex Center, founder of CENTER, a New York City-based branding and design company. "You always want to look at the category and look at your competitors and see how you can stand out amongst the crowd," says Center. "So something that's familiar, but surprising, I think is what makes for a hit."Center says he first noticed the black-and-white trend pop up in 2023, when Elon Musk unveiled a new black-and-white X logo to replace Twitter's famous blue bird. "When all the apps are trying to be the brightest, most colorful to stand out, then nothing stands out," Center says. "Going to black and white kind of became sort of the antithetical way to differentiate from all the colorful app icons on your phone."
Continued here
|
S24Should You Quit Your "Meh" Job? Or Is It Salvageable? Bad days at work are inevitable, just as some degree of frustration and ennui is bound to be a part of almost any job. In this article, the author shares advice from two experts on what to do if you’re stuck in the gray area of deciding whether your job is merely mediocre (and could potentially improve) or downright soul-crushing (and might require a change). They offer seven questions to ask yourself to help you sort it out: 1) Is the workplace toxic? 2) Do you feel depleted? 3) Are you miserable or are you bored? 4) Is there anything about the job you enjoy? 5) Are you really giving it your best effort? 6) Do you need different friends? 7) Is there anything about the job you enjoy?
Continued here
|
S25The 3-Stage Process That Makes Universities Prime Innovators  While calls for cross-sector collaborations to tackle complex societal issues abound, in practice, only few succeed. Those that do often have a collaboration intermediary, which can bring together different actors, develop relationships among collaborators, and create an ecosystem to support ideas over time. With their strengths in knowledge creation and their role as community anchors, universities are ideally equipped to create and orchestrate support for the kind of innovation that the sustainability imperative requires. However, to be able to take on this role they need to develop a culture of open innovation, experimentation and iteration, and value, which requires supporting teams that will champion the change and facilitate collaborations among the diverse actors of the innovation ecosystem.
Continued here
|
S26Indonesia taps influencers to convince people to move to its new, under-construction capital  Four years after Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that he would move the nation’s capital from the main island of Java to Borneo, he led a tour of dozens of influencers through Nusantara, the new capital under construction.The influencers, wearing hard hats, stood in front of a giant glass-and-chrome building in the shape of a bird — the mythological garuda or golden eagle — which will be the new presidential palace. They listened intently as Jokowi, as the outgoing president is popularly known, gestured at swaths of eucalyptus trees and said, “Remember, this is an industrial forest. It’s chopped down every six years. It is not a natural forest. Don’t get it wrong.”
Continued here
|
S27Tesla Recalls Cybertruck Over Faulty Pedals--Its Worst Flaw Yet TeslaâÂÂs Cybertruck has been widely derided. Its panel gaps are wide and amateurish, itâÂÂs prone to rust, and it looks like an ergonomic cheese grater. Its most serious flaw to date, though, has resulted in a recall of nearly 4,000 vehicles.The US National Highway Traffic Safety Association has recalled 3,878 Cybertrucks, which comprises any that were manufactured between November 13 of last year and April 4. At issue is the accelerator pedal: Its pad can become dislodged, resulting in the pedal becoming trapped in the trim above it. This is, needless to say, quite bad.
Continued here
|
S28How to Stop ChatGPT's Voice Feature From Interrupting You I was recently waiting for my nails to dry and didnâÂÂt want to smudge the paint, when it dawned on me that this would be the perfect opportunity to test some voice-only artificial intelligence features. Silicon Valley car owners are having long conversations with ChatGPT as they drive around, and I wanted to try chatting hands-free before meeting with two OpenAI product leads later that day.Even though chatbots can be helpful for brainstorms, speaking back-and-forth with ChatGPT was like collaborating with an over-caffeinated friend who canâÂÂt stand even a second of silence. I was valiantly fighting against the artificial intelligence tool to finish a single, complete thought before it cut me off.
Continued here
|
S2918 Best Keyboards for PC (2024): Gaming and Work If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDThere are few things as polarizing as PC keyboards. There are message boards and subreddits filled to the brim with opinions dissecting every aspect and component, mechanical vs. membrane, different switch mechanisms, and the plastic used in the key caps.
Continued here
|
S3020 Best Earth Day Deals (2024): Ebikes, Chargers, and Bags Made of Recycled Plastic Earth Day arrives on Monday, April 22, but you can already take part. We at WIRED value sustainability all year long, and right now you'll find plenty of sales on our favorite eco-conscious gear. Be sure to check out our related buying guides, including Best Reusable Products, Best Recycled and Upcycled Gear, Best Clothing Made of Recycled Materials, Best Recycled Backpacks, and Best Eco-Friendly Cleaning Supplies.Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Continued here
|
S31Bitcoin Miners Brace for the 'Halving'--and Race to Cash In By the end of Friday, the size of the reward for mining bitcoin will have been cut in half. The eventâÂÂknown as the halvingâÂÂtakes place roughly once every four years, and it can be fatal for the mining companies that compete for the newly minted cryptocurrency.âÂÂYou donâÂÂt see that in any other industry,â says Charles Chong, director of strategy at Foundry, a company that mines bitcoin and provides services to other miners. âÂÂYouâÂÂre on a treadmill. If you donâÂÂt keep running, you are going to get left behind.â The only mercy, he says, is that âÂÂyou get a lot of time to prepare.âÂÂ
Continued here
|
S32The Biggest Deepfake Porn Website Is Now Blocked in the UK Two of the biggest deepfake pornography websites have now started blocking people trying to access them from the United Kingdom. The move comes days after the UK government announced plans for a new law that will make creating nonconsensual deepfakes a criminal offense.Nonconsensual deepfake pornography websites and apps that "strip" clothes off of photos have been growing at an alarming rateâcausing untold harm to the thousands of women they are used to target.
Continued here
|
S3310 Best Computer Monitors (2024): Budget, OLED, 4K, Ultrawide If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDYou might not think about your monitor too much, but whether you're working or gaming in your home, that array of pixels blasting light at your face is important. A computer monitor can vastly improve your productivity if you're currently working off a laptop, and a dual display setup can take things further. It can also make your games or movies look much, much nicer (or much worse). The folks on the WIRED Gear team use these large external screens every day in a variety of arrangements as we write our reviews, and naturally, we decided to review those too.
Continued here
|
S34S35S3616 Best Hair Straighteners We've Tested (2024): Flat Irons, Hot Combs, and Straightening Brushes If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDCurls are beautiful, but taking care of and styling them can be a long, frustrating, and often expensive task. Whether you have tight coils, waves, or Shirley Temple spirals, sometimes you just want to smooth them out and not be bothered for a few days. Having a good tool, be it a hair straightener or a blow-dry brush, makes that process easier.
Continued here
|
S37How AI will step off the screen and into the real world  The convergence of AI and robotics will unlock a wonderful new world of possibilities in everyday life, says robotics and AI pioneer Daniela Rus. Diving into the way machines think, she reveals how "liquid networks" — a revolutionary class of AI that mimics the neural processes of simple organisms — could help intelligent machines process information more efficiently and give rise to "physical intelligence" that will enable AI to operate beyond digital confines and engage dynamically in the real world.
Continued here
|
S38S39S40Io: New image of a lake of fire, signs of permanent volcanism  Ever since the Voyager mission sent home images of Jupiter's moon Io spewing material into space, we've gradually built up a clearer picture of Io's volcanic activity. It slowly became clear that Io, which is a bit smaller than Mercury, is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, with all that activity driven by the gravitational strain caused by Jupiter and its three other giant moons. There is so much volcanism that its surface has been completely remodeled, with no signs of impact craters.
Continued here
|
S41Huawei phone has a pop-out camera lens, just like a point-and-shoot camera  Huawei is still out there making phones, even if it has been shunned by the US government and the US-aligned tech ecosystem. The latest phone has a new name: "Huawei Pura 70." While you wouldn't ever want to deal with the cobbled-together SoC or whatever is going on with Huawei's software, the "Ultra" model does have a cool party trick up its sleeve: a pop-out main camera lens.
Continued here
|
S42S43S44S45CNN, record holder for shortest streaming service, wants another shot  On March 29, 2022, CNN+, CNN's take on a video streaming service, debuted. On April 28, 2022, it shuttered, making it the fastest shutdown of any launched streaming service. Despite that discouraging superlative, CNN has plans for another subscription-based video streaming platform, Financial Times (FT) reported on Wednesday.
Continued here
|
S46S47S48The New Rules of Political Journalism  This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.In our digitally chaotic world, relying on the election-reporting strategies of the past is like bringing the rules of chess to the Thunderdome.
Continued here
|
S49How to Be Less Busy and More Happy  Want to stay current with Arthur's writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out.Are you feeling a little guilty about reading this article? Not because of the content, of courseânothing scandalous here!âbut rather because of the time it takes away from something else you feel you should be doing. Perhaps you are taking a break from work but feel that you shouldn't because deadlines and obligations are nipping at your ankles this very minute.
Continued here
|
S50There's No Easy Answer to Chinese EVs  Chinese electric vehiclesâcheap, stylish, and high qualityâshould be a godsend to the Biden administration, whose two biggest priorities are reducing carbon emissions quickly enough to avert a climate catastrophe and reducing consumer prices quickly enough to avert an electoral catastrophe. Instead, the White House is going out of its way to keep Chinese EVs out of the U.S. What gives?The key to understanding this seeming contradiction is something known as "the China shock." American policy makers long considered free trade to be close to an unalloyed good. But, according to a hugely influential 2016 paper, the loosening of trade restrictions with China at the turn of the 21st century was a disaster for the American manufacturing workforce. Consumers got cheap toys and clothes, but more than 2 million workers lost their jobs, and factory towns across the country fell into ruin. Later research found that, in 2016, Donald Trump overperformed in counties that had been hit hardest by the China shock, helping him win key swing states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Continued here
|
S51Abolish DEI Statements  This month, Professor Randall L. Kennedy, an eminent scholar of race and civil rights, published an op-ed in The Harvard Crimson denouncing the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion statements in academic hiring. "I am a scholar on the left committed to struggles for social justice," he wrote. "The realities surrounding mandatory DEI statements, however, make me wince."More and more colleges started requiring faculty to submit these statements in recent years, until legislatures in red states began to outlaw them. They remain common at private institutions and in blue states. Kennedy lamented that at Harvard and elsewhere, aspiring professors are required to "profess and flaunt" their faith in DEI in a process that "leans heavily and tendentiously towards varieties of academic leftism." He concluded that DEI statements "ought to be abandoned."
Continued here
|
S52The Paradox of the American Labor Movement  Last year was widely hailed as a breakthrough for the American worker. Amid a historically hot labor market, the United Auto Workers and Hollywood writers' and actors' guilds launched high-profile strikes that made front-page news and resulted in significant victories. Strikes, organizing efforts, and public support for unions reached heights not seen since the 1960s. Two in three Americans support unions, and 59 percent say they would be in favor of unionizing their own workplace. And Joe Biden supports organized labor more vocally than any other president in recent memory. You could look at all this and say that the U.S. labor movement is stronger than it has been in decades.But you could just as easily say that worker power in America is as low as it has been in nearly a century. Despite all the headlines and good feeling, a mere 10 percent of American workers belong to unions. In the private sector, the share is just 6 percent. After years of intense media attention and dogged organizing efforts, workers at Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe's still don't have a contract, or even the start of meaningful negotiations to get one. Union membership is associated with higher earnings, better benefits, stable hours, protection from arbitrary discipline, and moreâbut most Americans haven't had the chance to experience these advantages firsthand. In 2023, according to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, 60 million working people in this country wanted a union but couldn't get one.
Continued here
|
S53The Bone-Marrow-Transplant Revolution  Finding a matched donor has always been the major challenge. A drug has solved that problem.In the fall of 2021, Gabriel Arias felt like his body was "rotting from the inside." He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a form of blood cancer so aggressive that doctors had him hospitalized the day of his biopsy. In cases like his, the ideal treatment is a transplant. Arias's cancer-prone blood cells needed to be destroyed and replaced with healthy ones taken from the bone marrow or blood of a donor who matched him biologically. Fortunately, doctors found him a match in the volunteer-donor registriesâa man in Poland. Unfortunately, Arias's single match in the entire world was no longer available to donate.
Continued here
|
S54The Crucial Factor of the Stormy Daniels Case  In the criminal case now unfolding in a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump is accused of having a sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels, finding a way to pay her to keep quiet about it, and then disguising those payments as a business expense. The facts are all very tabloid-y. They also took place before the 2016 election, long before January 6 or the "Stop the Steal" movement, or any of the more serious threats to democracy we associate with Trump.But the Stormy Daniels case has distinct and simple advantages: In the other, more sprawling cases that deal directly with election interference, Trump's lawyers have been remarkably successful at piling on delay tactics and are unlikely to go to court any time soon. But in the Stormy Daniels trial, the defendant has been summoned, the jury is being selected, witnesses have been called. And the D.A., Alvin Bragg, has honed his argument that the hush-money payments were in fact an attempt to interfere with the election.
Continued here
|
S55The Illogical Relationship Americans Have With Animals  A new book explores the roots of our love for certain creaturesâand our indifference toward many others.American society has a confused, contradictory relationship with animals. Many dog owners have no compunction about eating feedlot-raised pigs, animals whose intelligence, sociality, and sentience compare favorably with their shih tzus and beagles. Some cat lovers let their outdoor felines contribute to mass bird murder. A pescatarian might claim that a cod is less capable of suffering than a chicken. Why do some species reside comfortably within our circles of concern, while others squat shivering beyond the firelight, waiting for us to welcome them in?
Continued here
|
S56Your Fast Food Is Already Automated  The founder of Chipotle wants to reinvent lunch using robots. Is that really a reinvention at all?Moments after receiving my lunch order, the robots whirred to life. A clawlike contraption lurched forward, like a bird pecking at feed, to snatch dishes holding a faux-chicken cutlet and potatoes, then inserted them onto a metal track that snakes through a 650-degree-Fahrenheit oven. Seven minutes, some automatic food dispensers, and two conveyor belts later (with a healthy assist from human hands), my meal was sitting on a shelf of mint-green cubbies. It was a vegan fried-chicken sandwich, a cucumber salad, crispy potatoes, and a smattering of other sides.
Continued here
|
S57The Uncomfortable Truth About Child Abuse in Hollywood  A new series about the "dark underbelly" of kids' TV raises crucial questions about abuse in Hollywood. But it doesn't go far enough.During Nickelodeon's golden era, the network captivated young viewers by introducing them to an impressive roster of comedic talentâwho happened to be kids, just like them. Starting in the mid-1990s, actors such as Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson, and Ariana Grande became household names, as popular children's shows including All That, Drake & Josh, and Zoey 101 helped propel Nickelodeon to astronomical ratings. For nearly two decades, the network dominated not just kids' programming, but the entire cable-TV landscape.
Continued here
|
S58Winners of the 2024 World Press Photo Contest  The winning entries of the annual World Press Photo Contest âhave just been announced. This year, according to organizers, 61,062 images were submitted for judging, made by 3,851 photographers from 130 different countries. World Press Photo was once again kind enough to share some of this year's global and regional winners, gathered below. Europe, Winner, SinglesâA Father's Pain: Mesut Hançer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter, Irmak, who died in the earthquake in KahramanmaraÅ, Turkey, the day after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck the country's southeast, on February 7, 2023. Rescuers in Turkey and Syria braved frigid weather, aftershocks, and collapsing buildings as they dug for survivors buried by an earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people. #
Continued here
|
S59Playing God With the Atmosphere  Interfering with Earth's climate systems is becoming more possibleâand less predictableâthan ever.After a deluge of record-breaking rainfall this week, citizens of the United Arab Emirates and Oman are still trying to return to regular life. The storms forced schools, offices, and businesses to close, transformed the tarmac of Dubai's international airport into a rippling sea, and killed more than 20 people across both nations. The downpour seemed almost apocalyptic: On Tuesday, the UAE received the amount of rain that usually falls in an entire year.
Continued here
|
S60The Real Youth-Vote Shift to Watch  No, young voters aren't definitively turning toward Trump. But there's a more specific dynamic to pay attention to.This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
Continued here
|
S61Photos of the Week:  Eid al-Fitr prayers in India, trophy winners at the Boston Marathon, the burning of a historic building in Denmark, a wildfire in Kosovo, widespread flooding in Russia, a joyous water festival in Thailand, a music festival in China, and much more A woman stands on a breakwater in China's southwestern city of Chongqing on April 13, 2024. #
Continued here
|
S63How Being Busy Became a Status Symbol  This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.On our How to Keep Time podcast last year, co-host Becca Rashid shared an anecdote that has long stuck with me. "I was having lunch with a friend last weekend who was trying to organize a birthday party for her colleague," she began. "And, typical story, she said she was having trouble gathering everyone because everyone was too busy and it was impossible to get them to commit."
Continued here
|
S64The Art of Putting On Airs  In the 21st century, you are who you pretend to be. It's a world Tom Ripley was made for.The paintings in Dickie Greenleaf's studio are bad. Hilariously bad, so much so that the set dressers on Ripley, the Netflix adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, must have let out a real cackle when they were commissioned. Dickie, the Ivy-educated dilettante son of a New York ship-building titan who has moved to seaside Italy to fritter away his inheritance, claims, about his work, "I happen to be pretty good at it." But he can't see what the audience can: the droopy Modigliani knockoffs and derivative Cubist faces that would make Picasso wince. When Tom Ripley, who will soon focus his affection and envy and rage at Dickie, first looks at the paintings, he practically laughs into his sleeve. As he quickly comes to realize, it doesn't matter that the paintings are tripeâDickie himself is a piece of art worth copying.
Continued here
|
S65The Growing Incentive to Go Nuclear  From now on, any state with genuine fears for its own security is bound to consider building nuclear weapons. Over nearly eight decades after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, careful diplomacy and multinational collaboration have limited the number of nuclear-armed countries to nine. But that count is likely to riseâironically because of American policies designed to prevent nuclear escalation with Russia. Recent events have shown how much deference even superpowers give to countries with nuclear weapons, and how grievously Ukraine has suffered for lacking them.Last Saturday, Iranian forces launched a large air assault on Israel. They used a range of systems, including relatively simple drones as well as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. The apparent goal was to overwhelm Israeli air defenses so that at least some of the missiles and drones could get through and hit their target. Iran's move seems to have been inspired by devastating Russian aerial attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in recent monthsâand indeed was larger than any that Russia had launched on a single night.
Continued here
|
S66Democrats' Unproven Plan to Close Biden's Enthusiasm Gap  On Indivisible's website, the first words you'll findâin large font and all capsâare "Defeat MAGA. Save democracy." The progressive organizing group, formed shortly after Donald Trump's 2016 win, sees the stakes of this fall's presidential election as enormous, even existential. Yet when it deploys more than 2,000 volunteers to canvass neighborhoods in Arizona over the next seven months, the presidential race is the last topic it plans to bring up."We're not going to be knocking on doors trying to convince people to vote for Joe Biden," Indivisible's co-founder Ezra Levin told me. Instead, its volunteers will be trying to turn out voters for just about every other Democrat on the ballotâincluding the party's nominees for U.S. Senate and House seats and its candidates for the Republican-controlled state legislatureâas well as a referendum that could restore abortion rights in Arizona.
Continued here
|
S67Taylor Swift Is Having Quality-Control Issues  The Tortured Poets Department excavates her private life more deeply than everâbut somehow, it's a story we've heard before.This album is okay. I understand that Taylor Swift is not someone you're supposed to feel okay aboutâshe is either the great redeemer of English-language arts and letters in the 21st century, as her fans have it, or a total cornball foisted upon the public by the evil record industry, as the haters say. The truth is that she is a talented artist who has reinvigorated popular music as a storytelling mediumâbut who has, all along, suffered from some quality-control issues.
Continued here
|
S68Eight Cookbooks Worth Reading Cover to Cover  Flag dishes you want to make, or don't: The point of this practice is pleasure, not pragmatism.A certain type of person will tell you that they read cookbooks like they do novels. This usually means they flip through them at night, in bed, perhaps with the help of some gentle, warm light and a hot cup of tea. They pore over the notes and instructions that precede each recipe; they dream up menus the way a fiction reader might picture the furniture inside a character's home. They might flag dishes they want to cook, or they might not. The point of this practice is pleasure, not pragmatism.
Continued here
|
S69The Hidden Wisdom of Cookbooks  This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors' weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.The fact that I live close to a dedicated cookbook-and-food-writing storeâand that it's one door down from a specialty market full of bread, cheeses, and confectionsâis a constant delight, though a mild threat to my household's financial security. Strolling down this block can create moments of gorgeous culinary serendipity: I'll spin through the bookshop, Bold Fork Books, drinking in an assortment of colorful food photography and picturing the sensory bouquet of each dishâand perhaps picking up another hardcover to add to my already overstuffed shelves. Then I'll head over to Each Peach, where I can admire the rows of glistening preserves and tinned fishes, smell the sandwiches being prepared, and bring home crusty bread, a bottle of wine, and some seasonal vegetable or another.
Continued here
|
S70The Languages AI Is Leaving Behind  This is Atlantic Intelligence, a limited-run series in which our writers help you wrap your mind around artificial intelligence and a new machine age. Sign up here.Generative AI is famously data-hungry. The technology requires huge troves of digital informationâtext, photos, video, audioâto "learn" how to produce convincingly humanlike material. The most powerful large language models have effectively "read" just about everything; when it comes to content mined from the open web, this means that AI is especially well versed in English and a handful of other languages, to the exclusion of thousands more that people speak around the world.
Continued here
|
 |
TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives About Us | Advertise Privacy Policy Unsubscribe (one-click) You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs.
Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India |
