December 19, 2022 - Sardinia's mysterious beehive towers

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Sardinia's mysterious beehive towers Expecting not to find much more than a pile of big stones, I followed the sign off the motorway into a little car park and there it was, rising from a flat, green landscape covered in little white flowers, with a few donkeys dotted around: Nuraghe Losa. From a distance, it looked like a big sandcastle with its top crumbling away, but as I walked towards it, I began to realise the colossal size of the monument in front of me. Nuraghi (the plural of nuraghe) are massive conical stone towers that pepper the landscape of the Italian island of Sardinia. Built between 1600 and 1200BCE, these mysterious Bronze Age bastions were constructed by carefully placing huge, roughly worked stones, weighing several tons each, on top of each other in a truncated formation.  Continued here

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The Himalayas' ancient earthquake-defying design In 1905, a deadly earthquake rocked the landscape of Himachal Pradesh, an Indian state in the western Himalayas. Sturdy-looking concrete constructions toppled like houses of cards. The only surviving structures were in towns where the residents had used an ancient, traditional Himalayan building technique known as kath kuni. On a warm Tuesday afternoon, I was headed towards one of them: Naggar Castle, which was built more than 500 years ago as the seat of the region's powerful Kullu kings, and which remained standing, unscathed, after that calamity.  Continued here

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Dust collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover could reveal Martian climate secrets Regolith might tell scientists what exactly was going on back when Mars was warmer and wetter. The Mars Sample Return (MSR) part of Perseverance’s mission is picking up — literally. For the past few months, the rover has concentrated on picking up samples that will eventually be returned to Earth as part of the future Mars Sample Return mission. Continued here

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Citron: The exquisite fruit that brings rabbis Every summer, in preparation for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Hasidic rabbis from all over the world travel to the northern part of Italy's Calabria region to handpick the best citron fruits for their lulav, the bundle of four plants used to bless the small, temporary huts built every autumn by Jews to celebrate the holiday. For about two weeks, the orchards around the town of Santa Maria del Cedro fill up with English, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish-speaking rabbis and their families. With the help of local farmers, they inspect the trees and analyse the fruits, sometimes with magnifying glasses, in their quest for citron perfection. The most ancient and aromatic of all citrus fruits, citrons are far less known than their renowned yellow and orange cousins. They resemble large, green lemons, have more peel than pulp, and with a sour-bitter flavour, they are not considered desirable for home consumption. This means that, outside of Calabria, you won't typically find them at the supermarket. Continued here

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The Curse of the Strong U.S. Economy With GDP contracting in the first half of the year and a cratering stock market, it may seem surprising to describe the U.S. economy as “strong.” While the haze of macroeconomic data is exceptionally contradictory, the current reality is that highly profitable firms are employing a record number of workers and paying them rising wages. This would all be good news if it didn’t stoke the fire of inflation. In fighting inflation, the Fed is now much more accepting of the risk of causing a recession. When recession looms, the reaction from executives is often to retreat behind the moat, pull up the drawbridge by cutting orders, production, investment, and the workforce, all with an aim to fortify the balance sheet with liquidity to ride out the storm. But this alone would be a wasted opportunity to improve competitive position at a time when rivals will be distracted. Continued here

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Coriander: The unsung hero of Indian cuisine Peek inside any Indian spice box, and you'll likely find the holy trifecta of spices – turmeric, red chilli powder and ground coriander (often mixed with cumin) ­­– that forms the base of many a curry, lentil or vegetable dish. Though it lacks the striking ochre hue of haldi (turmeric) and isn't associated with any of India's signature red-hot flavours (like chilli powder), coriander (commonly called dhaniya or kothmir in India) is perhaps the most versatile of these spices. Its coarsely ground seeds bring warmth and nuttiness to many dishes, while as a powder, it can be used to thicken curries. As an herb, its fresh stalks and leaves often serve as an aromatic and tangy finishing flavour. Continued here

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Is Santa Claus buried in Ireland? Amid green hilly pastures dotted with grazing sheep and a cemetery with graves dating back to the 13th Century, the ruins of St Nicholas Church tower over the family home of Maeve and Joe O'Connell. Among those resting eternally here are early inhabitants of the estate, parishioners of the church and – according to local legend – St Nicholas of Myra. Yes, the St Nick who inspired Santa Claus. Today, the O'Connells are the owners and sole (living) human inhabitants of Jerpoint Park, a 120-acre deserted 12th-Century medieval town located 20km south of the town of Kilkenny, Ireland. Located along the crossing point of the River Nore and Little Arrigle River, the settlement (formerly called Newtown Jerpoint) is thought to have been founded by the Normans, who arrived in Ireland around 1160 CE. According to a conservation plan compiled by Ireland's Heritage Council, the town flourished into the 15th Century, with archaeological evidence revealing homes, a marketplace, a tower, a bridge, streets, a mill, a water management system and nearby Jerpoint Abbey, which still stands today. But by the 17th Century, the town's occupants were gone, likely from a combination of violent attacks and a plague. Continued here

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The true story behind the US' first federal monuments "Are you sitting down? I have news for you." Gwen Marable's cousin from the US state of Ohio called her at home in Maryland about 27 years ago. "We are descended from the sister of Benjamin Banneker, Jemima." The Banneker family, which numbers over 5,000 known descendants today, only learned about this astonishing connection to their ground-breaking but little-known ancestor through the wonders of DNA testing. As such, no personal stories about him, no artifacts, were handed down through the generations. Continued here

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A secret site for the Knights Templar? In a hole in the ground beneath the Hertfordshire market town of Royston, dimly illuminated by flickering light, I was looking at a gallery of crudely carved figures, blank-faced and bearing instruments of torture. Cave manager Nicky Paton pointed them out to me one by one. "There's Saint Catherine, with her breaking wheel. She was only 18 when she was martyred," Paton said, cheerfully. "And there's Saint Lawrence. He was burnt to death on a griddle." Amid the grisly Christian scenes were Pagan images: a large carving of a horse, and a fertility symbol known as a sheela na gig, depicting a woman with exaggerated sexual organs. Another portrayed a person holding a skull in their right hand and a candle in their left, theorised to represent an initiation ceremony – a tantalising clue as to the cave's possible purpose. Adding to the carvings' creepiness was their rudimentary, almost childlike, execution. Continued here

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Spain's ingenious fairy-tale houses Deep in Spain's north-western corner, the windswept Ancares mountains are dotted with centuries-old houses that look straight out of a fairy tale – or the Asterix and Obelix comic-book series – but that are cleverly suited to the harsh realities of this remote region. Known as pallozas, the round huts are made of stone and topped with a teardrop-shaped roof of rye straw. There are more than 200 scattered among Galicia's and Castile-León's rural villages, including Piornedo, Balouta, O Cebreiro and Balboa. Many of these homes were built 250 years ago, though their architectural roots stretch back millennia – some historians contend that pallozas are pre-Roman, an evolution of Celtic and Iron Age constructions. Continued here

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The ancient remains of Great Zimbabwe Walking up to the towering walls of Great Zimbabwe was a humbling experience. The closer I got, the more they dwarfed me – and yet, there was something inviting about the archaeological site. It didn't feel like an abandoned fortress or castle that one might see in Europe: Great Zimbabwe was a place where people lived and worked, a place where they came to worship – and still do. It felt alive.  Great Zimbabwe is the name of the extensive stone remains of an ancient city built between 1100 and 1450 CE near modern-day Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Believed to be the work of the Shona (who today make up the majority of Zimbabwe's population) and possibly other societies that were migrating back and forth across the area, the city was large and powerful, housing a population comparable to London at that time – somewhere around 20,000 people during its peak. Great Zimbabwe was part of a sophisticated trade network (Arab, Indian and Chinese trade goods were all found at the site), and its architectural design was astounding: made of enormous, mortarless stone walls and towers, most of which are still standing. Continued here

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How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique In virtually every decision they make, executives today consider some kind of forecast. Sound predictions of demands and trends are no longer luxury items, but a necessity, if managers are to cope with seasonality, sudden changes in demand levels, price-cutting maneuvers of the competition, strikes, and large swings of the economy. Forecasting can help them deal with these troubles; but it can help them more, the more they know about the general principles of forecasting, what it can and cannot do for them currently, and which techniques are suited to their needs of the moment. Here the authors try to explain the potential of forecasting to managers, focusing special attention on sales forecasting for products of Corning Glass Works as these have matured through the product life cycle. Also included is a rundown of forecasting techniques. Continued here

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The Difference Between Doing a Task and Owning a Task It's subtle, but it's everything. Continued here

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France's undisputed queens of cheese In the months leading up to the very first cheese-focused iteration of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) competition, held every few years to recognise the country's the best craftspeople, Nathalie Quatrehomme remembers her cheesemonger mother, Marie, taking over the family living room, assembling and disassembling a plexiglass apparatus supporting dozens of different cheeses. "It was 2000, and I was 17," Nathalie recalled. "She practiced building it on our living room table for a whole year." Continued here

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The 10 best action games of 2022, ranked There are few things more thrilling than an action game. The genre thrived this year, with countless excellent entries across the board, each with a distinct style and premise. Some were more combat-heavy, while others leaned into puzzles or RPG mechanics. These are our picks for the 10 best action games of 2022. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a wildly different entry in the long-running franchise, straying from the traditional Pokémon RPG mechanics we’ve grown to love. Instead, Arceus leans into real-time action, and this paid off in a major way. It’s a wonderful change of pace that still feels like Pokémon while throwing a fresh spin on the formula. Continued here

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Duna de Bolonia: The Spanish sand dune hiding Roman ruins Near the southern tip of Spain's Cádiz province, where Europe lunges into the Strait of Gibraltar as if reaching out for the North African coast, the Duna de Bolonia is one of the continent's largest sand dunes. Rising more than 30m high and sprawling 200m wide, the white mound spills into the azure sea and appears as if someone has dumped a massive pile of sugar atop the surrounding Estrecho Nature Park's protected green forest. Like all sand dunes, Bolonia is a constantly moving ecosystem that shifts with the winds. But as climate change has intensified the hurricane-force gusts coming from the east, the dune has increasingly migrated inland towards the ecologically important cork and pine forests and scrubland – revealing remnants of the many past cilivilisations who have passed through here in the process. Continued here

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The parents who sever ties with their children Helen hasn’t spoken with her son in more than a year. The last she heard, he was in prison. Now aged 31, he’s been addicted to opioids for more than a decade. “He’s tried to call me, probably to ask for money, and I have not been picking up,” explains Helen, who lives in England. “Right now, that’s the right decision for my safety and sanity.” As the primary caregiver for her son’s young daughter, Helen’s focus is providing a loving and secure environment for her to grow up in. Continued here

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Sahlab: The Middle East's answer to the latte Whether it's ladled from a Bethlehem street vendor's steaming urn or savoured around a California kitchen table, the holiday drink sahlab tells a story in each sip. The first taste is as warming and floral as its sunlit origins. The second reveals a viscous texture as silky as orchid petals. And with the third comes the first hints of its history, the rich flavours of the Levant and the spices of holiday traditions that reach across religions and stretch back centuries. In the kitchen of cookbook author Blanche Shaheen, steam drifts from small cups, carrying scents that recall the passing of seasons, late winter orange blossoms and the roses of spring. For Shaheen, sahlab isn't simply the winter holiday drink her mother taught her to make. It's also a story of family and the persistence of culture.  Continued here

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Pizzoccheri: Italy's debated buckwheat pasta recipe "It's still like a postcard," Lanzarotti said, pointing her cane to the south side of Italy's Valtellina valley, surrounded by the Orobie Alps, which are snow-speckled, even in mid-July.  Lanzarotti's maternal ancestors, the Tusetti's, settled in Teglio on Valtellina's north side – 16km south of the Italian-Swiss border in Lombardy and 900m above sea level – in the 1600s, and cultivated buckwheat, a traditional food staple for farmers tending their terraced mountain crops. Flour ground from the plant's triangular seeds, grano saraceno in Italian, or furmentùn in Valtellina's dialect, was central to a hearty tagliatelle-style pasta dish called pizzoccheri, which was topped with vegetables like cabbage and potatoes, as well as cheese and butter, which fuelled them from dawn to dusk. Continued here

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Everything You (Don't) Want to Know About Raising Capital Most entrepreneurs understand that if the fundamentals of a business idea—the management team, the market opportunities, the operating systems and controls—are sound, chances are there’s money out there. The challenge of landing that capital to grow a company can be exhilarating. But as exciting as the money search may be, it is equally threatening. Built into the process are certain harsh realities that can seriously damage a business. Entrepreneurs cannot escape them but, by knowing what they are, can at least prepare for them. Continued here

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Schmilka: The progressive German town stuck in the past The half-timbered houses, the isolated location deep in eastern Germany's forested hinterlands, the eerie rock pinnacles bounding the town on one side and the tempestuous Elbe River on the other – throw in an evil witch and Schmilka would be straight out of a 19th-Century Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Or, at least, of that age: the buildings go back around two centuries, the food and beer are prepared using techniques just as old, and I had to run up and down the town's one street (cobblestoned, of course) to find a wi-fi signal. Talk about a time warp. "Schmilka used to be a holiday village 200 years ago," said Andrea Bigge, a local art historian. It is again, she added, but it still feels like it exists in that era.  Continued here

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Owamni: A (r)evolution of indigenous foods On the back patio at Owamni – the Minneapolis, Minnesota, restaurant owned by Sean Sherman and Dana Thompson – the late-evening sun cast my dessert in a natural spotlight. Marigold-coloured agave squash caramel cascaded slowly down the sides of a sunflower-seed cake the colour of sandstone, and a deep red berry sauce shimmered atop a maple chaga cake so earthy in tone, it felt as though it were plucked from the forest floor. The connection to nature is palpable here, where sweeping views of the Mississippi River, along with curated indigenous plants like prairie dropseed – whose high-protein seeds can be eaten raw or ground into a flour – etch themselves into the landscape like a painting. Continued here

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Global Business Speaks English Like it or not, English is the global language of business. Today 1.75 billion people speak English at a useful level—that’s one in four of us. Multinational companies such as Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, SAP, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, and Microsoft in Beijing have mandated English as the corporate language. And any company with a global presence or global aspirations would be wise to do the same, says HBS professor Tsedal Neeley, to ensure good communication and collaboration with customers, suppliers, business partners, and other stakeholders. Continued here

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Mahua: The Indian liquor the British banned I smelled the sweet flowers before I saw them. During an early morning drive inside the Similipal National Park in the east Indian state of Odisha, I had stopped near a picturesque waterfall where thousands of pale-green blooms were falling from the surrounding trees and carpeting the forest floor. "These are mahua trees," said Suresh Kisku, my guide from the Santhal tribal community. He pointed towards the cluster of short, stout trunks and dome-shaped canopies that edged a small clearing. Continued here

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New Zealand's overlooked indigenous cuisine On any night in Auckland, you can have your pick of world cuisine, whether you're hankering for hand-pulled biang biang noodles swathed in chilli oil, or a Margherita pizza cooked by someone holding official Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana certification. Māori, the first inhabitants of New Zealand, were thought to have arrived sometime in the 1300s by canoe from East Polynesia (though the exact date of their arrival is still debated). Their original diet was largely foraged food such as wild ferns, vines, palms, fungi, fruit and seeds, plus root crops like yams and sweet potatoes from their homeland – as well as hunted birds and seafood. But despite nearly 17% of New Zealand’s population identifying as Māori, indigenous cuisine is not widely available. Continued here

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Mexico's 1,500-year-old unknown pyramids From a distance, the grey volcanic rock pyramids and their encircling stonewalls looked like something that Mother Nature had wrought herself. Located in Cañada de La Virgen (The Valley of the Virgin), an area about 30 miles outside the city of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico's central highlands, the stone formations blended into the arid, desiccated landscape like a diminutive mountain range. But as I got closer to the largest of the three structures, there was no doubt it was man-made. A staircase of identical steps, etched into the hard, dark rock, had clearly required a skilled mason's hand. The other two pyramids, smaller and less well-preserved, bore a similarly unmistakable human touch. The timeworn edifices were erected by a civilisation long gone. Continued here

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The Wagyu Olympics: The quest for the world's best beef There's a unique competition in Japan that's reminiscent of the Westminster Dog Show, where animals are celebrated for their beauty, breeding and other attributes. But unlike their canine comrades, this contest is about food, these animals are cows, and the winning breeders get the opportunity to sell their cattle and carcasses to the best restaurants and butchers in the world at the highest price. This is the Japanese Wagyu Olympics, and these are high "steaks". But that's only half of the story. Continued here

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How Entrepreneurs Can Discover the Zone Of Genius to Grow the Business Get clear on your natural gifts to gain the most leverage for your time. Continued here

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Leader-shift | Elizabeth Heichler Reorganize. Revolutionize. Reform. Rethink. Today’s organizational leaders have a mandate to make change happen: to diversify or innovate before a line of business is disrupted, to fix an unhealthy culture that is driving out talent, and to adapt to new trends or technologies. While the times may call for transformational leaders, focusing on how to effect change in other people, processes, and structures isn’t enough. In order to truly rise to complex challenges posed by the great economic, social, environmental, and political uncertainty the world currently faces, you must also be a transforming leader — continually learning, evolving, and maturing as a manager and a human being. A great source of inspiration for personal growth that can help you responsibly and effectively wield the authority you have been given is the research on leader character development by Mary Crossan, William (Bill) Furlong, and Robert D. Austin, featured in this issue. They identify 11 interrelated dimensions of character and show how they can lead to either positive or negative behaviors that have implications for organizations far beyond leaders’ ethical choices. In short, they make a compelling argument that character is as important as competence in influencing judgment and hence organizational outcomes. Their framework is an excellent tool for both leaders’ own introspection and the important work of building an organizational culture that reflects shared positive values. Continued here

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Two-Thirds of Executive Women Pay for Household Help. Why Are So Few Willing to Talk About It? It's past time women explode the stigma around not being able to "do it all" by being open and unapologetic about household help. Continued here

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Our Guide to the Winter 2023 Issue Top Takeaways: Externally oriented teams have been shown to boost agility and speed of execution in the face of rapid change and uncertainty, but this approach can be difficult for organizations to adopt. Doing so requires managers to put aside assumptions that teams are bounded groups with stable membership and that the resources, information, and collaborators they need are only to be found inside the organization. Trying out this so-called x-team way of operating on a small scale is a strategy that can help change perspectives and build comfort with change. Top Takeaways: When researchers asked employees what their supervisor could do to help alleviate the anxiety that arose from the pandemic, the data revealed that during a crisis, employees most want information about their job and the organization; psychological and instrumental support; and clear, fast, and accurate communication. The findings highlight the importance of individualized approaches, especially when employees want answers or resources that managers can’t realistically provide. Managers must also prioritize building trust. Top Takeaways: As many employees resist the call to return to the workplace from the home offices they established during the pandemic, managers worried about losing talent are accommodating them but seeing signs of slowed innovation. The authors studied 20 global enterprises to gain insight into management concerns and emerging best practices for managing hybrid work effectively. They recommend setting policy based on the nature of the tasks performed, and bringing teams together for collaborative work and to strengthen social networks. Continued here

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Tuscany's mysterious 'cave roads' Wildflowers grazed my legs as I hiked down from the volcanic-rock hilltop fortress of Pitigliano into the Tuscan valley below. At the base of the hill, I crossed a burbling stream and followed a winding trail as it inclined. All of a sudden, I was walled in. Huge blocks of tuff, a porous rock made from volcanic ash, rose as high as 25m on either side of the trench I found myself in. I felt spooked – and I'm not the only one who's felt that way in vie cave like this. These subterranean trails have been linked with lore of devils and deities for centuries.  Continued here

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New 'Doctor Who' Season 14 costumes pay brilliant tribute to franchise history The next Doctor is keeping things simple. When Ncuti Gatwa becomes the incumbent eponymous Doctor Who hero sometime in 2023, we now know what he’ll be wearing. The fashion of the Doctor is a big part of the show’s nearly six-decade-long history, and it looks like Gatwa’s 15th Doctor will be dressed simply, but with a classic Who flare. On December 17, 2022, the official social media channels of Doctor Who unveiled the initial costumes for both the new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and the new companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). The big news here is that we actually know what the new Doctor will be wearing in his first regular season. Continued here

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Sweet temptation: Istanbul's beloved 'brothel dessert' As I entered the grand arches of Istanbul's Misir Carsisi (Egyptian Bazaar) – considered by many locals to be the city's greatest marketplace – I was hit by a heady aroma of spice and kaleidoscope of colour. Moving with the current of busy shoppers sifting through a sea of produce, I spilled out on the market's backstreets where carts of stuffed mussels and barrels of stringed cheese sat alongside piles of pistachios, rose bud tea and bright pink olives. Transfixed by these treasures, I drifted, dream-like, until I spied the storied sweet I'd come in search of, beckoning beneath a pastry shop's glass. Halka tatlisi ("ring dessert" in English) is one of Istanbul's favourite and oldest street foods. Found on every corner and said to help restore one's vigour after hours spent walking the busy streets, the circular dough that's deep-fried to a golden-brown and soaked in syrup has long been associated with the city's seedier side. And it's that connotation that gave rise to its local nickname of the "brothel dessert". Continued here

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How Bite Founder Lindsay McCormick Went From Hobby to Brand to Smart Rebrand How this female founder is scaling sustainability from toothpaste to other personal care--even though it meant tinkering with her brand identity. Continued here

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The city with gold in its sewage lines "He burned the sari and from it, handed us a thin slice of pure silver," said my mother, describing a moment that had taken place 30 years ago at her home in the city of Firozabad. The man in her story was no magician, but an extractor. Like many similar artisans in my mother's hometown, he'd go door to door collecting old saris to mine them for their precious metals.  Until the 1990s, saris were often threaded with pure silver and gold, and I remember digging into my mother's wardrobe, searching for her glittery outfits like treasure. But as she told me, the extractors were looking for something even more valuable than clothing – they were looking for trash, and a kind of trash specific to this city. Continued here

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The benefits of procrastinating, according to a behavioral scientist Given that procrastination causes stress and anxiety, why are most of us still prone to it? As research shows, it is related to a number of cognitive biases. Are you procrastinating? I am. I have been delaying writing this article for the last few days even though I knew I had a deadline. I have scrolled through social media, and I have gone down a rabbit hole looking up houses on Rightmove — even though I do not need a new house. Continued here

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Parasitic wasps, friendly anemones: 9 incredible new species identified in 2022 In a time when extinction regularly makes headlines, it might seem paradoxical that scientists are still documenting new species. From the depths of the ocean to the densest forests on Earth, undiscovered creatures are hiding right under our noses. Continued here

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The Right Way to Manage Expats But international assignments don’t come cheap. On average, expatriates cost two to three times what they would in an equivalent position back home. A fully loaded expatriate package including benefits and cost-of-living adjustments costs anywhere from $300,000 to $1 million annually, probably the single largest expenditure most companies make on any one individual except for the CEO. Continued here

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Apple killed the iPod, but modders are giving it a second life Apple discontinued its iPod line earlier this year. Now only modders and devoted fans are keeping Apple’s second most important product alive. When it comes to consuming media, and particularly music, the biggest driver of change is often storage technology. Continued here

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Isfeng: a crispy doughnut from al-Andalus for Hanukkah Hanukkah, literally "dedication" in Hebrew, commemorates the Maccabean revolt that led to the historical recovery of Jerusalem from the Greek empire and the rededication of the menorah in the Second Temple around 168 BCE. Religious texts later extrapolated on the event in Shabbat 21b of the Talmud, writing of the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days. Oil and fried foods have ever since been inextricably linked to the holiday. But there's more to explore in the culinary canon of the Jewish "Festival of Lights" beyond the traditional latkes (grated potatoes mixed with onions, egg and fried into crunchy pancakes) and sufganiyot (doughnuts stuffed with a piping bag full of jam) that are as essential to celebrating Hanukkah as candles for the hanukkiah – the nine-branch menorah used exclusively for the holiday. This year, take a trip back to 13th Century al-Andalus (modern-day Andalusia, Spain) when Jews – and Muslims – both indulged in isfenğ. Continued here

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The Maine lake full of sunken steamboats "A hundred years ago there were dozens of these things cruising around here," said a man who'd suddenly appeared next to me at the dock as I watched the approaching steamboat. He'd startled me out of my reverie, my gaze caught somewhere between the shimmer that dances across Moosehead Lake and the seaplanes taking off toward Mount Katahdin. I grew up in the US state of Maine at a smaller lake not far from here, and I spent many summers taking day trips to Moosehead Lake with my family. But this was the first time I boarded the historical Steamboat Katahdin, the last of a once-numerous fleet that used to ferry hordes of well-dressed elites from nearby train depots to the area's luxury resorts for their summer holidays.  Continued here

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What Is Web3? Web3 is being touted as the future of the internet. The vision for this new, blockchain-based web includes cryptocurrencies, NFTs, DAOs, decentralized finance, and more. It offers a read/write/own version of the web, in which users have a financial stake in and more control over the web communities they belong to. Web3 promises to transform the experience of being online as dramatically as PCs and smartphones did. It is not, however, without risk. Some companies have entered the space only to face a backlash over the environmental impact and financial speculation (and potential for fraud) that comes with Web3 projects. And while blockchain is offered as a solution to privacy, centralization, and financial exclusion concerns, it has created new versions of many of these problems. Companies need to consider both the risks and the benefits before diving in. Continued here S48 Wong to visit Beijing as 'strategic dialogue' restarts in new breakthrough in Australia-China relations Australia’s relations with China will take another major step forward this week with Foreign Minister Penny Wong travelling to Beijing for the resumption of the bilateral Foreign and Strategic Dialogue, which has been on hold since 2018. The latest breakthrough follows the meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Continued here S66 34 years ago, a forgotten Nintendo masterpiece paved the way for Mario Kart Sports were always a natural fit for video games, even before Pong began replicating table tennis in 1972. Electro-mechanical games allowed players to shrink star athletes down to a controllable size. The International Mutoscope Reel Company's K.O. Champ, which came out in 1955, had players control small metal boxers and throw as many punches as possible while a timer counted them down. At face value, sports already have everything that video games need: points, timers, furious action, and tons of skill and luck are required to win. These were structures practically built for games. So it wasn’t surprising that a few years after the NES had been released in America, a suite of sports games followed. Baseball, Golf, Soccer, and so on. Continued here S45 Babylon review: 'A cinematic marvel' Director Damien Chazelle has called Babylon: "A hate letter to Hollywood and a love letter to movies," but his messy, dazzling epic doesn't support that simplistic idea. Set in the early days of cinema, when talking pictures were a jaw-dropping phenomenon and Hollywood was still being created, Babylon suggests a deeper reality: the film industry's raw, self-destructive, narcissistic impulses and its glorious, magical results have always been opposite parts of the same whole. Chazelle's ambitions are huge. Babylon is full of remarkable set pieces with richly drawn characters, music, dancing, drugs, sex, love and betrayal. The film's strengths more than make up for its serious flaws, including too many endings and a wrong-headed reliance on Singin' in the Rain as a touchstone. But if Babylon makes you groan occasionally, there are many more times – long, exhilarating stretches – that are mesmerising.   Continued here S58 The most common surgery sedative could be dangerous when taken at the wrong time All living organisms on Earth are exposed to a 24-hour day-night cycle. This cycle is the reason why people rest during the darkness of night and are active during the light of day. Consequently, all human body functions also follow this daily rhythm, and the timing of behaviors like exercise or food intake can significantly influence your health. For example, eating at night can lead to weight gain over time because while daytime food intake is used for activities, food intake at night leads to increased fat storage because the body expects to be at rest. Continued here S36 8 Keys to Keeping Up With Market Change in Your Business Don't count on that big innovation that spawned your business to keep you competitive over time. Continued here S31 The mysterious Viking runes found in a landlocked US state "[Farley] spent the majority of her adult life researching the stone," said Amanda Garcia, Heavener Runestone Park manager. "She travelled all around the US, went to Egypt and went to different places looking at different markings." Faith Rogers, an environmental-science intern and volunteer at the Heavener Runestone Park, led me down a cobblestone path toward one of the 55-acre woodland's biggest attractions – which is also one of the US' biggest historical mysteries. We were deep in the rolling, scrub-forest foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in far eastern Oklahoma, and we were on our way to view a slab of ancient sandstone that still has experts scratching their heads and debating about the eight symbols engraved on its face.  Continued here S55 How Guillermo del Toro’s 'Pinocchio' became the darkest musical of the year Co-screenwriter Patrick McHale talks about writing songs with del Toro, why they chose to include Benito Mussolini, and more. The Italian dictator makes a surprise appearance in Pinocchio, a fresh interpretation of the 19th-century book by director Guillermo del Toro, now streaming on Netflix. Co-screenwriter McHale worried the cameo might glorify fascism, but del Toro insisted. Continued here S7 Does the Capital Asset Pricing Model Work? An important task of the corporate financial manager is measurement of the company’s cost of equity capital. But estimating the cost of equity causes a lot of head scratching; often the result is subjective and therefore open to question as a reliable benchmark. This article describes a method for arriving at that figure, a method spawned in the rarefied atmosphere of financial theory. The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is an idealized portrayal of how financial markets price securities and thereby determine expected returns on capital investments. The model provides a methodology for quantifying risk and translating that risk into estimates of expected return on equity. Continued here S64 'Genshin Impact' Alhaitham release window, story, abilities, and constellations Genshin Impact’s new boy toy knows more than he lets on. Alhaitham works as the Scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, which means “classifying and archiving important documents” that should be kept out of the wrong hands. Others see him as a highly intelligent and organized individual who operates solely on rationality, much to the dismay of his peers. He first appears in the Genshin Impact Archon Quest Chapter III Act I, where he saves the Traveler from being conned by local thugs. However, Genshin Impact fans knew about him way before that. He was one of the characters included in this year’s massive Genshin Impact 3.0 leak, which also included Tighnari, Collei, Dori, Kusanali, Nilou, Cyno, and Dehya. Continued here S19 The world's surprising fried chicken capital The little karaage, one of the most popular snacks in Japan, is a delicate and intricate version of fried chicken that is a staple across the country. This delightfully crunchy treat is so beloved that every year, hundreds of thousands of people vote in a country-wide competition to determine which karaage shop serves the best ones. While shops from massive metropolises like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka should be dominating any large-scale contest, it's shops from one small town, Nakatsu City, located in the Oita prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, that typically garner the most awards. The Karaage Grand Prix is the annual competition in Japan whose winner gets to boast that they have the crispiest, juiciest, most flavourful fried chicken, and nearly 1,000 shops enter to compete. Up until 2022, this contest was based entirely on popularity, with common denizens getting to vote on their favourite places. But in 2023, the rules are changing, judges are being brought in to taste test, and the true crown for the best karaage will ultimately be rewarded. Continued here S50 Longtermism - why the million-year philosophy can't be ignored Katie Steele will be a visiting scholar at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford, in 2023. In 2017, the Scottish philosopher William MacAskill coined the name “longtermism” to describe the idea “that positively affecting the long-run future is a key moral priority of our time”. The label took off among like-minded philosophers and members of the “effective altruism” movement, which sets out to use evidence and reason to determine how individuals can best help the world. Continued here S67 How Ada Lovelace used embroidery to create the first computer program Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, was born on December 10, 1815, more than a century before digital electronic computers were developed. Lovelace has been hailed as a model for girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A dozen biographies for young audiences were published for the 200th anniversary of her birth in 2015. And in 2018, The New York Times added hers as one of the first “missing obituaries” of women at the rise of the #MeToo movement. Continued here S68 Massive new physics project could finally find dark matter Dark matter is an archetype of a missing phenomenon, but there are plenty of potential explanations for it. As we’ve noted in plenty of other articles, science also moves forward by constraints. Understanding the limits of a physical phenomenon helps to develop better methods of looking for it, especially in its absence. Dark matter is an archetype of a missing phenomenon, but there are plenty of potential explanations for it. Continued here S49 How crowdfunding could raise US$12 billion to boost renewable energy access in Indonesia Indonesia has a target to have 23% of its energy mix coming from renewable sources by 2025, and the country needs at least Rp 1,600 trillion (US$102.4 billion) to make that happen. This is not an easy task, especially for medium and small-scale projects.Renewable energy projects require huge investments and this high cost makes small projects unattractive and therefore not bankable. As a result, they have to rely on grants and government budgets. Continued here S38 Richard Branson, Tim Cook, and Jack Dorsey Say This Is the Perfect Wake-Up Routine to Jump Start Your Day Research points to early morning people as having a clear advantage. Continued here S47 A hat trick of essential reads to accompany the World Cup final Soccer fans are just 90 minutes of action away from knowing who will lift the World Cup and be crowned the beautiful game’s global champs. Well, given the refereeing during the tournament in Qatar, it is likely to be 90 minutes plus a few more. Even then, an extra 30 minutes could be added should the game be tied at that stage. And if still level after that, penalties await. Penalties are unbearably tense. If, like me, you’d rather avert your eyes from the on-pitch drama at that point, then please find below three of the best World Cup articles from The Conversation to take your mind off those tense moments. Continued here S15 A fish that sparked a national obsession On a cold winter's evening in Portugal, it might come to your table com natas – fresh from the oven and bubbling in cream – layered between fried potato and sliced onion and spiced with nutmeg. Weaving through Lisbon's steep and cobbled streets, it wouldn't take long before you found someone serving it as a light and crispy fritter, dusted with a little coarse salt and dished up with a pot of pungent aioli. You could buy it shaped as mouth-sized fried potato dumplings pastéis style, flavoured with parsley and garlic, for a walk along the banks of Porto's Douro River. You might even come across it as part of a hearty southern bread soup, topped with coriander and a poached egg.  That's because bacalhau – or salt cod – which sits at the heart of all these dishes, runs deep through Portugal's culinary identity, with the country consuming 20% of the world's supply. In fact, so central to Portuguese hearts (and stomachs) is this ingredient, that the saying goes "there are 365 ways to prepare salted cod, one for each day of the year". Continued here S57 When will fusion energy be available? Here's what 3 scientists predict This past week, in a historic first, the team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility announced that they managed to create a surplus of nuclear fusion energy by bombarding hydrogen isotopes with powerful lasers. Now, scientists, clean energy advocates, and closely-following nerds around the world are wondering what’s next. Continued here S52 What is burnout and how to prevent it in the workplace - insights from a clinical psychologist People close to you, including family members, friends, and co-workers, frequently express their “stress” at this time of year. As the end of the year draws nearer people are likely to feel weary, irritable and overwhelmed. As social beings at our core, humans rely on others to organise both our internal and external environments. Although we cannot survive without interpersonal relationships, engaging with others in high-stress situations (such as lengthy patient care) can be emotionally draining and lead to the onset of stress symptoms. As with everything human, too much stress or the wrong kind of stress can suppress the immune system, leading to illness and discomfort. Continued here S60 'Avatar 2' just proved that Marvel's harshest critics are right Near the end of the 2000s, two important films changed Hollywood forever. The first was Iron Man, which debuted in 2008 and ushered in a new era of the interconnected cinematic universe and total superhero saturation. The second, a year later, was James Cameron’s Avatar, which pushed the limits of movie-making technology and then faded into relative obscurity. Thirteen years later, superheroes seem to be the only sure thing at the box office. Leave it to James Cameron to return with an Avatar sequel that just might have what it takes to dethrone Marvel Studios. (Although let’s be honest, when Disney competes with Disney, no one really wins.) Continued here S10 An epic food journey in the Arctic Circle Fabled for its off-the-beaten track location, gourmet restaurant Koks is now even harder to reach. It has uprooted from the Faroe Islands, and until 2023, moved to a small village in western Greenland that's located more than 200km inside the Arctic Circle. Here, rugged nature serves up a wild harvest of seafood and game, from prawns and halibut to reindeer and muskox (a horned and shaggy-haired bovine that resembles a bison). Continued here S59 Rocket Lab’s first U.S. launch: Mission details and how to watch Rocket Lab’s reusable Electron rocket will blast off Sunday night from Wallops Island, Virginia, carrying three satellites that can sniff out the geographic origin of radio frequencies around the world. This marks the company’s first launch on United States soil. The “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission was initially slated to blast off on December 7 but was pushed back multiple times to ​​a launch date of no earlier than December 18. When Electron finally takes off, it will kick off a series of three satellite launches for HawkEye 360, a geospatial analytics company. Continued here S63 25 years ago, Steven Spielberg made an underrated sci-fi adventure — and subverted his own formula Batteries Not Included is largely considered one of the least kid-friendly entries in executive producer Steven Spielberg’s '80s oeuvre. There's a reason why the usual video game or theme park ride tie-in didn’t follow. But while its cutesy critters failed to make the same cultural imprint as E.T.'s luminous-fingered alien and Gremlins’ luminous-allergic furballs, they did help steer the blockbuster king into uncharted territory. For one thing, the protagonists aren’t a bunch of adventure-seeking kids with parental issues but an elderly couple, one of whom is in the full throes of dementia. Jessica Tandy’s Faye spends much of the film mistaking an unscrupulous property developer’s hired heavy for her late son. And secondly, the setting isn’t picturesque suburbia but a crumbling apartment block in the bustling city of Manhattan. Continued here S51 Climate change can be beaten - why some scientists are hopeful Postdoctoral Scholar in International Environment and Resource Policy, Tufts University University of the Witwatersrand provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA. Continued here S53 Drug deaths are rising and overdose prevention centres save lives, so why is the UK unwilling to introduce them? In late 2020, a converted van appeared in central Glasgow. Inside were clean needles, sterilising equipment, mirrors, “sharps bins” for the disposal of syringes, and supplies of the overdose reversal drug naloxone. There were also boxes containing protein bars, tea, blankets and a defibrillator, as well as two chairs and tables where injections could be prepared. OPCs are places where people can take illegally purchased drugs in a supervised environment, using clean equipment and with staff able to intervene in the case of an overdose. The first such centre opened in the Swiss capital Bern in 1986, and there are now around 200 across the world from Berlin, Paris and Geneva to Sydney, Vancouver and New York. Continued here S54 Iran Detains Its Most Celebrated Actress The Iranian government’s campaign to crush a nationwide revolt reached one of its most famous actresses Saturday, with the arrest and detention of Taraneh Alidoosti, a beloved movie star known internationally for her role in the 2016 Oscar-winning film “The Salesman.” Alidoosti was taken from her home, in Tehran, by local authorities, after she denounced the government for its execution, earlier this month, of a young protester, Mohsen Shekari. In a posting on her now-deleted Instagram page, which had eight million followers, Alidoosti wrote, referring to Shekari’s killing, that “every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.” IRNA, the Iranian state news agency, confirmed Alidoosti’s arrest, saying that she was unable to provide documents to substantiate her public claims against the government. But the dispatch provided no details of her whereabouts or the crime, if there was one, with which she was being charged. “We absolutely have no idea where she is at the moment,’’ a friend, who requested anonymity, told me by telephone. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Addresses of importance Dharmendra Kumar AID INDIA, Bihar Chapter west from state tube bell lohiya path linked with Jagdeo Path patna-14 (Bihar) call @ 9431477171, 9801157286 (India #) Account Details Account Number: 03510020000278 Bank Name: Kotak Mahindra Bank Account name: AID INDIA Bihar Chapter Medicine List Click here for the list of medicine you can donate. If you can donate please coordinate with Dharmendrajee@9431477171 , his number is given Thanks Please donate! For Dollar donations (Tax Deductible) For Rupee Donations in India  Dharmendra ji is leading our flood relief in Bihar and a source of constant inspiration for us to provide more help to the flood victims. You can call him @ 9431477171 if you want any direct feedback from the ground level or for sending any material. Convenient timings to call: 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM in Morning (IST) 10:30 PM to 12:00 AM in Evening(IST) Latest Update: Health care, a prime concern at the moment. As the water is receding in some areas, they are becoming epidemic prone ! This blog has information received from Bihar on flood relief efforts undertaken by AID, AID India and partners. Donations links: Please Click here to view pics on gallery Please visit http://biharfloodvideos2008.blogspot.com/ to see the video coverage on Bihar Floods. 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