Where is the next COVID variant, pi? A virologist explains why omicron is continuing to dominate

S8

Where is the next COVID variant, pi? A virologist explains why omicron is continuing to dominate The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has now been around for more than a year. Before omicron became dominant, there had been a quick succession of named variants of concern – from alpha, to beta, to gamma, to delta. But now it seems as though we’re facing a never-ending string of letter and number combinations denoting the children and grandchildren of omicron: BA.2, BA.2.75, BA.5, BQ.1, BF.7, XBB – the list goes on. So what does it take for a new variant to earn a Greek letter for a name, and are we ever going to see omicron replaced? Continued here

�

S1

A Massive New Study of 500,000 People Says This Is How Much to Sleep, According to Neuroscience What if the rule of "eight hours a day" turns out to be incorrect? Continued here

�

S2

Salesforce’s CEO Faced Intense Pushback at an All-Hands Meeting. His Response Was the 1 Thing a Leader Should Never Do If you're going to get your team together, at least give them the respect of answering questions. Continued here

�

S3

4 Body Language 'Facts' Most People Believe That Are All Wrong, According to a Former FBI Agent Here's what crossed arms, mirroring, and smirking actually mean. Continued here

�

S4

Follow the 3-second PowerPoint rule to simplify slides and create persuasive presentations. Use the billboard test to simplify presentation slides. Continued here

�

S5

The Secret to Getting Everything Done: Don't Rush! How slowing down can improve productivity and help you grow your business faster. Continued here

�

S6

Managing the New Tensions of Hybrid Work Developing corporate culture and inspiring innovation were tough three years ago, when everyone sat in adjoining cubicles all week, drinking coffee from the same pot. Now that hybrid work appears to be here to stay, with many employees dividing their working hours between home and a company location, these challenges are magnified. New research shows that managers are deeply concerned about the downsides of hybrid arrangements for two domains that are, beyond most others, inherently social: Although evidence of damage to innovation and culture remains largely anecdotal, the potential threat is real. We define hybrid work as a flexible balance, with working hours divided between a company location and elsewhere, typically a home office. Its endurance became manifest during the two years we studied market-leading global corporations that had adopted the model during the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the managers in our sample said that their companies intended to create long-term hybrid strategies or had already done so. The imperative to support hybrid working is largely workforce demand. Employees — pointing to their strong performance when they worked from home during the worst of the pandemic — are reasonably demanding greater flexibility to work where and when they want. Leaders know they have to offer flexible working arrangements to attract, retain, and motivate top talent. Continued here

�

S7

4 ways Netanyahu's new far-right government threatens Israeli democracy Democracy is not just about holding elections. It is a set of institutions, ideas and practices that allow citizens a continuous, decisive voice in shaping their government and its policies. The new Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu and sworn in on Dec. 29, 2022, is a coalition of the most extreme right-wing and religious parties in the history of the state. This government presents a major threat to Israeli democracy, and it does so on multiple fronts. Continued here

S9

China's COVID situation is dire - but it shouldn't pose a big risk to other countries China is currently in the midst of a severe wave of COVID infections and deaths. We don’t know exactly how bad it is because of significant gaps in official reporting, but by all indications, things are dire. News reports suggest hospitals and mortuaries are overflowing. Despite the popular perception that the current wave of infections is a direct result of the country lifting its zero COVID policy in early December, this isn’t quite true. Cases were already rising in China before restrictions were eased. Continued here

S10

Deforestation: proposed EU import ban may fail to protect Most European consumers’ shopping baskets tend to include items linked to deforestation in tropical regions, involving agricultural commodities such as beef, soybeans, palm oil, cocoa, rubber, coffee, timber and paper. These so-called “forest-risk” commodities are used in thousands of consumer goods ranging from hamburgers to chocolate bars. Yet this may be about to change. In December, the EU provisionally agreed on a new regulation to ensure that supply chains are free from processes and products that cause deforestation. The regulation, which is expected to come into force in mid-2023, states that companies will be unable to sell products in the EU that were produced on land cleared after 2020. Companies must prove that their products are produced legally. Continued here

S11

How philosophy can help mothers avoid judgment, guilt and shame Parenting is tough: the lack of sleep, the baby that cries for hours for no reason, the toddler that has a tantrum for all too many reasons. But being a mother is often especially hard. This isn’t just because mothers often do the lion’s share of hands-on child raising. It is because motherhood can come with an additional layer of judgment, guilt and shame. Continued here

S12

What if the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol had succeeded? A graphic novel is uniquely placed to answer “Art is a powerful tool to confront the complex issues we face today,” says author and artist Gan Golan. An uncontroversial statement, perhaps, when discussing great portraits, harrowing films, or triple decker novels. But not one generally associated with comics. Yet Golan knows the powerful role that graphic novels can play in galvanising social movements better than most. Continued here

S13

New year resolutions: why your brain isn't wired to stick to them - and what to do instead New year, new resolutions. It is that time once again. A recent survey shows that almost 58% of the UK population intended to make a new year’s resolution in 2023, which is approximately 30 million adults. More than a quarter of these resolutions will be about making more money, personal improvement and losing weight. But will we succeed? Sadly, a survey of over 800 million activities by the app Strava, which tracks people’s physical exercise, predicts most of these resolutions will be abandoned by January 19. Continued here

S14

Netflix's The Pale Blue Eye uses a fictional whodunnit to explore the origins of Edgar Allan Poe The historical noir – set in a beautifully rendered wintry Hudson Highlands, New York – imagines what might have happened if the young Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) had ingratiated himself into the investigation of the apparent suicide of one of his fellow cadets at West Point Military Academy. The body is found hanging from a tree by the banks of the Hudson. Puzzlingly, the young man’s feet appear to have been on the ground, with his stiff fingers clutching a fragment of a note. His rib cage has been surgically ripped open and the heart removed. Continued here

S15

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

S16

Surfing Through Korea’s War Games For hours, I had watched the ominous, looping news broadcasts on my phone: the reporters cloaked in ponchos, some wearing hard hats, as tall waves crashed behind them on the beaches of Busan and Jeju Island. Typhoon Hinnamnor was predicted to be the most ferocious storm in Korean history and the second weather catastrophe of the season. An earlier storm had produced seventeen inches of rain in a single August day, flooding the southern half of Seoul. That water had been cinematically lethal: a family of three drowned in a basement apartment; two middle-aged siblings dropped to their deaths down a manhole, whose cover had floated away. Typhoon Hinnamnor arrived from across the East Sea onto the southern end of the Korean Peninsula. But the storm wore itself out in Japan, and, by the time I took a train down to Busan from Seoul several days later, the only terrestrial evidence of high winds was a few peeled-up stone slabs on the sidewalk of touristic Haeundae Beach. Out at sea, though, the waves continued to form angry, kinetic white walls. At a quieter Busan beach called Songjeong, the typhoon had chased away the usual scrum of bodyboarders and surfers. Cafés and restaurants closed down and fortified their doors with sandbags. In the blackness of night, the cresting, crashing waves looked like demon clouds, racing for prey. Continued here

S17

Bob Woodward on His Trump Tapes When Bob Woodward began interviewing Donald Trump during the pandemic, he found access to be unprecedented—disconcertingly so—despite Woodward having written critically of the former President in 2018. “I could call him anytime, [and] he would call me,” Woodward says. His wife, Elsa Walsh, “used to joke [that] there’s three of us in the marriage.” Woodward talks with David Remnick about “The Trump Tapes,” a new audiobook of his phone calls with the President. And, in the wake of Daman Hamlin’s accident, the staff writer Louisa Thomas talks about an uncomfortable truth: football’s danger to players is part of its singular popularity. And the staff writer Julian Lucas talks with the photographer Marilyn Nance, whose new book “Last Day in Lagos” documents FESTAC ’77, a monthlong festival that took place in Nigeria. FESTAC has been described as the most important Black cultural event of the twentieth century—so why have so few people heard of it? The legendary journalist has chronicled the White House going back to Nixon. He knows how to interview Presidents. But, with Donald Trump, Woodward got more than he bargained for. Continued here

S18

How to Make Trump and the Wealthy Pay Their Taxes Since a Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee released five years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, the Republicans’ farcical struggle to elect a new Speaker of the House has distracted attention from two urgent questions that the contents of the returns raised: How can we remodel the U.S. tax system to prevent Trump and other wealthy tax cheats from continuing to make a mockery of it? And, going beyond the individual case, egregious as it is, how can we use what we have learned to make the tax system fairer? After reviewing years of Trump’s returns and speaking with independent tax experts, I am convinced that there are three imperatives. First, we need to strengthen the Internal Revenue Service so that it has the capacity to hold accountable serial tax avoiders like Trump and to deter would-be imitators. Second, we must eliminate loopholes in the tax code that serve no economic purpose beyond sheltering the riches of the financial élite while depriving the federal government of much-needed revenue that would aid other Americans. (This shortfall amounts to upward of four hundred billion dollars a year, according to some estimates.) Third, we have to introduce broader changes to the tax code for an economic era where the rich accumulate vast amounts of untaxed wealth, and where inequality has reached record levels. Continued here

S19

Kevin McCarthy’s Week in “Purgatory” By Thursday evening, Kevin McCarthy had lost eleven votes for Speaker of the House, the longest series of inconclusive ballots for the role since 1859. Until the next Speaker is selected, nothing can happen in the House of Representatives: no new legislation, no top-secret briefings, not even paychecks for lawmakers. McCarthy's fate remained unclear when the staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gathered for their weekly conversation, on Friday morning. Whatever the outcome, they say, the entire saga is instructive about the current state of the Republican Party—who wields true power, what the role of big money is, and even what the next two years of divided government might look like. Personal History by David Sedaris: after thirty years together, sleeping is the new having sex. Continued here

S20

Netanyahu’s Government Takes a Turn Toward Theocracy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new coalition government, which was sworn in last week, is routinely referred to as "extreme right," but this tortures the meaning of conservatism in a democracy. Thirty-two of the coalition's members in the Knesset (out of a hundred and twenty parliamentary seats) are disciples of so-called religious parties, the political arms of theocratic communities. These parties, and factions of parties, can be divided into three groups: The largest alliance, with fourteen seats, is religious Zionism, whose forebears were preoccupied with preserving the rabbinic privileges afforded by the British Mandate in the new state of Israel—such as supervision over marriage, burial, conversion, and dietary laws, and state-supported religious schools—but which, since 1967, has been overtaken by the messianic claims of West Bank settlers. The Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, with seven seats, represent self-segregating communities living mainly in and around Jerusalem. Shas, with eleven seats, are a populist, anti-élite party of Orthodox Mizrahi immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East, who tend to be poorer and less educated. In recent years, the three groups have meshed ideologically into the "national camp," adhering in particular to the ultranationalist, Greater Israel vision of the religious-Zionist alliance: prohibiting the surrender of Biblically promised land, and moving the state further toward Orthodox law. Indeed, the other, anchoring half of the government majority, Netanyahu's Likud party, includes many rank-and-file members who also openly identify with religious Zionism. (The new minister of environmental protection, Idit Silman, is a former backbencher of a religious-Zionist party who jumped to the Likud last summer, abandoning the "change government" of Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, thereby helping to bring it down.) Continued here

S21

You need to watch the best haunted house thriller of the century on Netflix ASAP There aren’t many contemporary filmmakers who have had as much success in the Hollywood studio system as James Wan. The Malaysian-born director achieved mainstream recognition in the early 2000s with Saw, which spawned a horror franchise that Hollywood still hasn’t abandoned. While he spent the next few years struggling to replicate Saw’s success, Wan kicked off a new chapter of his career in 2010 with the horror smash hit, Insidious. Three years later, Wan topped himself by directing both Insidious: Chapter 2 and The Conjuring. As with most of Wan’s horror films, the latter spawned a franchise that’s since become the highest-grossing in horror movie history. However, while The Conjuring has been followed by multiple sequels and spin-offs — including one Wan-directed 2016 sequel that’s quite good — the director’s original 2013 film is still the purest example of what makes him such a skilled studio filmmaker. Continued here

S22

'Final Fantasy 16's villain could be hiding a shocking secret Even after a handful of trailers, there’s still a ton we don’t know about Final Fantasy XVI. We’ve only seen a few minutes of g gameplay and its overall narrative largely remains a mystery. While the trailers have seemingly introduced the major players of the story there’s one vital piece still missing, a villain. It’s not entirely unusual for Final Fantasy games to keep their villains secret, even Final Fantasy XV didn’t fully reveal that detail until the game actually launched. There are plenty of interesting details in the trailers, however, that could provide some tantalizing hints at who might be working against Clive. We’ll dive into a couple of theories, along with how FFXVI’s villain is likely someone very close to Clive. Something important to get out of the way first is just who’s making the game. Naoki Yoshida is at the head as producer and Kazutoyo Maehiro, the main scenario writer of A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, is the lead writer. Final Fantasy XIV has revitalized the franchise in many ways, but Yoshida has been vocal in the past about how much they love Yasumi Matsuno’s works, the director of Final Fantasy Tactics and original creator of Final Fantasy XII. On top of that, Maehiro has played a central role in many of Matsuno’s games and was actually the event planner on Tactics, and the main battle system designer on FFXII. Continued here

S23

A heart doctor answers 4 key questions about NFL player Damar Hamlin's injury Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, collapsed on the field during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, 2023. Medical staff gave Hamlin CPR and shocked him with a defibrillator, restarting his heart’s rhythm. News outlets immediately began speculating that Hamlin may have suffered from commotio cordis — a potentially lethal stoppage of the heart caused by a strong impact on a person’s chest. The next day, the Bills announced that Hamlin had indeed experienced “cardiac arrest” but did not confirm whether the cause was commotion cordis. Continued here

S24

'Wednesday' Season 2 confirmed! Everything we know about the Netflix show's future Wednesday made a bloody splash on Netflix over Thanksgiving 2022. Netflix says it enjoyed the platform’s biggest opening week ever, beating out even Stranger Things. But with Season 1 in the books, what lies in the future for Netflix’s most sullen teen? Will we see more adventures at Nevermore Academy? Here’s everything you need to know about where we left off, and what could come next in Wednesday Season 2. Yes! Netflix officially renewed Wednesday for Season 2 on Friday, January 6. The news comes after several shocking cancellations from the streamer, including 1899 and Midnight Club, so to say we’re relieved may be an understatement. Continued here

S25

Cake’s new work e-bike has the range of a small electric car The Åik’s customizable frame can be fitted with racks, baskets, and passenger seats —and it has a more than 200-mile range. This e-bike can haul cargo as easily as it can get you around town. Cake introduced its electric utility bike called the Åik at CES 2023. Cake designed the Åik as part e-bike, part utility vehicle since it fits the bill as a commercial two-wheeler just as much as it does a daily commuter bike. Continued here

S26

When Is Sherlock Holmes's Birthday and How Do We Know For Sure? Sherlock Holmes isn’t real, but when was his birthday? In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes’s best quip wasn’t “the game’s afoot!” but instead, something a little more intelligent. “What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,” Holmes tells Watson. “The question is what can you make people believe you have done.” Playing the game of perception versus truth is probably just as essential to the canon of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes as the search for obscure clues. But, how did a fictional character convince us he has a real birthday, and why are we still (sometimes) confused about his age? On January 6, Sherlock Holmes fans — sometimes called Sherlockians, sometimes Holmsesians, sometimes Baker Street Babes — celebrated the “real” birthday of the greatest detective in history. On January 6, in either 1853 or 1854, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, son of Siger and Violet Holmes, youngest brother of Mycroft and Sherrinford Holmes, was born. Most fans will tell you it’s certainly 1854 (not 1853) and the most revered Holmes scholar of them all, Leslie Klinger, settles on 1854, too. Writing in 2005’s The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Klinger says that the timeline of the life of Holmes consists of a “…consensus of the major chronologists.” What this means, is that Klinger is like all fans who have played “the game,” the original fan theory community in which readers pretend Sherlock was a real person, albeit one with biographical source material limited to 56 short stories and four novels. As Ian McQueen elucidates in his 1974 book Sherlock Holmes Detected, “The only direct reference to [Sherlock’s] age comes from the very last adventure of all, “His Last Bow,” when Holmes, alias the Irish-American Altamont, is described as ‘a tall, gaunt man of sixty.’ The age sixty may not have been precise, but is suggestive of Holmes having been born about 1853 or 1854.” Continued here

S27

PlayStation VR 2 release date, price, and games for the new headset The PSVR follow-up we've all been waiting for is finally coming. Officially named PlayStation VR 2, Sony’s next-gen successor to its PSVR headset will work with the PlayStation 5. Players who have enjoyed games like Hitman 3 in PSVR are likely hungry for a more powerful machine, which is exactly where PSVR 2 comes into play. Sony has finally shared the most sought-after details about the device, revealing its specs, features, release date, and price tag. Judging by the information, the new device sounds like a major improvement over the serviceable, but limited PSVR. Here's everything you need to know about PSVR 2. PSVR 2 will officially launch on February 22, 2023, according to the official PlayStation Blog. Continued here

S28

We tried HTC's new VR headset, and Meta should be worried The $1,099 mixed reality goggles are cheaper than Meta's Quest Pro and more comfortable too. HTC is ready to be back in the virtual reality limelight. The company announced the Vive XR Elite at CES 2023, its take on a mixed-reality device that just about anyone can enjoy. Continued here

S29

A 2,000-year-old Roman engineering secret could make today’s buildings greener If you had to guess which industries drive carbon emissions around the world, obvious culprits like transportation and industrial farming probably come to mind. But you may not know that another major source sits literally beneath our feet and contributes a whopping 8 percent of carbon emissions worldwide: cement. Cement is a crucial component of concrete, a building block of modern civil engineering that’s often used to pave roads and construct buildings — but sustainable cement alternatives have proven difficult to find. So instead of forsaking concrete altogether, an ancient Roman trick could make modern concrete more sustainable, according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances. Continued here

S30

These hyper-thin lenses could be the breakthrough AR glasses need The company's new waveguide design helps create bright, legible AR images and is small enough to fit into a pair of sunglasses. A proper everyday augmented reality experience is a long way off, but at CES 2023, an optics company called Lumus may just be offering a glimpse of what mainstream AR could look like. Continued here

S31

Dolby's spatial audio makes Mercedes' Maybach sound as luxurious as it looks As exciting as it was for me to finally step foot in a Maybach, Dolby somehow managed to steal the thunder of a car that essentially defines the words “luxury automobile.” Dolby is no stranger to orchestrating audio in cars, but its integration with Mercedes-Benz is arguably the company’s most ambitious tie-in yet, bringing together Dolby Atmos’ spatial audio, dozens of hi-fi speakers, and an Apple Music integration that makes finding and playing compatible songs incredibly simple. Continued here

S32

Pimax's Portal fuses the Nintendo Switch with a VR headset I was skeptical of the Pimax Portal, but after trying the odd Android handheld and virtual reality headset hybrid at CES 2023, I can confirm that Pimax’s do-it-all machine really does work. Pimax launched the Portal’s Kickstarter campaign in November 2022 with the framing that its latest hardware is “the world’s first metaverse entertainment system” thanks to a suite of accessories that can convert it into a Quest 2-like VR headset, home console, or larger handheld. But based on my time with the Portal the real issue for the device isn’t whether its hardware is up to the test but whether it’ll have the apps and games to take advantage of its flexibility. Continued here

S33

LG’s 240Hz 45-inch curved OLED has ruined all other gaming monitors for me When at CES 2023, take in all the big, bright TVs and gaming monitors. That’s what I did at LG’s CES booth where I got to bask my retinas in the glorious 45-inch OLED goodness of the company’s 240Hz UltraGear 45GR95QE curved gaming monitor. I’m already weeping at the thought of going home to my overpriced Apple Studio Display which is not curved, not OLED, and limited to a measly 60Hz refresh rate. Continued here

S34

Leica brings its ultra-expensive engineering to laser projectors If you’ve ever wanted to flex your home theater, this Leica laser projector would be the way to go. Leica is jumping into the home entertainment world with its first-ever laser TV, the Cine 1. While the laser projector debuted at IFA 2022 in Berlin, Leica is showing off a pre-production model of the Cine 1 at CES 2023. It’s actually not the first time that Leica has produced projectors, previously making them under the Pradovit branding. Leica has come a long way since the Pradovit projectors, though — the Cine 1 combines laser projection technology with Leica’s renowned lenses. Continued here

S35

Ram’s electric pickup truck concept is also a mobile movie projector Ram is officially fashionably late to the EV market with its electric pickup truck concept. Ram debuted its Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept at CES 2023, after initially delaying its premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show a couple of months ago. It’s still just a concept, but it’s a comprehensive look into what Ram has been working on with EVs. The bar is certainly higher these days with more car makers offering innovative all-electric pickup trucks. Although the final production model Ram 1500 EV may not look or perform exactly like this concept, we’re hoping that some of the features introduced here will eventually may it to the rest of Ram’s lineup. Continued here

S36

This wireless TV dares you to suction $3,000 worth of tech to your wall Displace’s new wireless TV looks like a floating screen... because it is. The OLED panel vacuums to your wall and runs off rechargeable batteries. Displace is making an ambitious bet on the future of home entertainment. The $2,999 Displace TV announced at CES 2023 and now available to reserve, is an entirely wireless television you can control with your hands. Continued here

S37

28 years ago, James Cameron wrote a sci-fi flop — that became a cyberpunk masterpiece A lot of cyberpunk has aged badly. A Kathryn Bigelow-directed thriller is a massive exception. James Cameron would become the king of the world in 1997, but just two years prior, a movie he co-wrote with Jay Cocks tanked at the box office. Strange Days, a cyberpunk film decades ahead of its time, is more relevant today than it was then, but for the longest time it wasn’t available to stream anywhere. Continued here

S38

The secret Netflix metric that got '1899' canceled — and could ruin TV forever Understanding why Netflix cancels some shows and renews others can feel like trying to predict the weather from under your blanket. A new show might climb the ranks of Netflix’s very public Top 10 rankings, stay there for weeks, and still wind up on the garbage heap. However, there’s a secret metric Netflix doesn’t reveal that helps explain exactly why a show like 1899 got canceled — and it may prove that Netflix’s biggest critics are right about one particular issue. As Forbes pointed out in a recent article, the easiest way to predict whether a Netflix show will be renewed or canceled is to look at its completion rate (aka, what percentage of people who watched a show actually finished it). If the completion rate is over 50 percent, the show gets renewed. If it’s under 50 percent... well, you can guess what happens then. Continued here

S39

'Mayfair Witches' Review: AMC's Anne Rice show is banal, not bewitching Mayfair Witches is a neither kooky nor spooky adaptation of Anne Rice's bestselling trilogy. Such fear of their potency and potions was evident in the many witch hunts that extended far beyond Salem, Massachusetts. And our enduring fascination with these alluring enchantresses has become a staple in pop culture. Continued here

S40

No, Remote Employees Aren't Becoming Less Engaged One of executives’ biggest worries about remote work is the reduction in spontaneous meetings and conversations with employees. But is this worry justified? New research on meetings shows that it might not be. It turns out that employees have more short, one-on-one meetings compared to 2020, and those meetings are increasingly spontaneous (meaning they weren’t set up in advance on the calendar). While there are limitations to this data, it does suggest that employees are finding new ways to connect with each other — and that there are steps organizations can take to encourage them to continue to do so. Continued here

S41

No, Remote Employees Aren't Becoming Less Engaged One of executives’ biggest worries about remote work is the reduction in spontaneous meetings and conversations with employees. But is this worry justified? New research on meetings shows that it might not be. It turns out that employees have more short, one-on-one meetings compared to 2020, and those meetings are increasingly spontaneous (meaning they weren’t set up in advance on the calendar). While there are limitations to this data, it does suggest that employees are finding new ways to connect with each other — and that there are steps organizations can take to encourage them to continue to do so. Continued here

S42

No, Remote Employees Aren't Becoming Less Engaged One of executives’ biggest worries about remote work is the reduction in spontaneous meetings and conversations with employees. But is this worry justified? New research on meetings shows that it might not be. It turns out that employees have more short, one-on-one meetings compared to 2020, and those meetings are increasingly spontaneous (meaning they weren’t set up in advance on the calendar). While there are limitations to this data, it does suggest that employees are finding new ways to connect with each other — and that there are steps organizations can take to encourage them to continue to do so. Continued here

S43

Everything Starts with Trust Trust is the basis for almost everything we do. It’s the foundation on which our laws and contracts are built. It’s the reason we’re willing to exchange our hard-earned paychecks for goods and services, to pledge our lives to another person in marriage, and to cast a ballot for someone who will represent our interests. It’s also the input that makes it possible for leaders to create the conditions for employees to fully realize their own capacity and power. Continued here

S44

Strategies for Learning from Failure Many executives believe that all failure is bad (although it usually provides lessons) and that learning from it is pretty straightforward. The author, a professor at Harvard Business School, thinks both beliefs are misguided. In organizational life, she says, some failures are inevitable and some are even good. And successful learning from failure is not simple: It requires context-specific strategies. But first leaders must understand how the blame game gets in the way and work to create an organizational culture in which employees feel safe admitting or reporting on failure. Continued here

S45

Negotiating with a Customer You Can't Afford to Lose This wasn’t supposed to happen. You’ve invested a lot of time earning a customer’s trust and goodwill. You’ve done needs-satisfaction selling, relationship selling, consultative selling, customer-oriented selling; you’ve been persuasive and good-humored. But as you approach the close, your good friend the customer suddenly turns into Attila the Hun, demanding a better deal, eager to plunder your company’s margin and ride away with the profits. You’re left with a lousy choice: do the business unprofitably or don’t do the business at all. Continued here

S46

How to Make Great Decisions, Quickly As a new leader, learning to make good decisions without hesitation and procrastination is a capability that can set you apart from your peers. While others vacillate on tricky choices, your team could be hitting deadlines and producing the type of results that deliver true value. That’s something that will get you — and them — noticed. Here are a few of a great decision: Continued here

S47

How to Stop Overthinking Everything Deliberation is an admirable and essential leadership quality that undoubtedly produces better outcomes. But there comes a point in decision making where helpful contemplation turns into overthinking. To stop the cycle of thinking too much and drive towards better, faster decisions you can: put aside perfectionism, right-size the problem, leverage the underestimated power of intuition, limit the drain of decision fatigue, and construct creative constraints. Continued here

S48

The Absolute Least You Can Do to Protect Yourself Online Now One day, B.J. Mendelson was playing Roblox with his school-aged nieces when suddenly, he heard a stranger’s voice come out of one of their iPads. A longtime digital security buff, he was pretty creeped out. He knew how to keep himself secure online, but the incident brought home just how many opportunities for privacy breaches there are lurking in everyday devices. Most people, including his own brother and sister-in-law, operate them without a playbook. That’s why this fall, he decided to start a podcast miniseries with the goal of making digital privacy more accessible. Sexy, even. The result is Stupid Sexy Privacy, a show in which he and co-host Rosie Tran give listeners bite-size, actionable tips on dealing with basic tech stuff like password management, not letting your car harvest your data, and whatever Elon Musk is doing to Twitter. Mendelson was kind enough to share some of these pearls of privacy wisdom with Slate, though you should probably get a VPN before you read them. Continued here

S49

These Japanese beef croquettes are so popular there's a 30-year waitlist If you order a box of frozen Kobe beef croquettes from Asahiya, a family-run butcher shop in Takasago City in Japan's western Hyogo Prefecture, today, it'll take another 30 years before you receive your order. Continued here

S50

The forecast for 2023 is hot 2023 is forecast to be a hotter year than 2022, according to the UK’s Met Office weather service. Why? Well, an unusual three-year-long weather pattern that typically has a cooling effect on our planet should finally come to an end next year. On top of that, global average temperatures are expected to rise as greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb. As a result, the Met Office predicts 2023 will be one of the hottest years on record. That’s no surprise, considering the last eight years are on track to be the eight hottest on the books, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).  Continued here

S51

These People Love to Collect Radioactive Glass. Are They Nuts? The relationship between a piece of glass’s propensity to glow and its uranium content is often not predictable. The piece at left contains no uranium at all, while the dark piece at bottom-center contains the most of the group. Photo via Vaseline Glassware by Barrie Skelcher. For many glass collectors, the only color that matters is Vaseline. That’s the catch-all word describing pressed, pattern, and blown glass in shades ranging from canary yellow to avocado green. Vaseline glass gets its oddly urinous color from radioactive uranium, which causes it to glow under a black light. Everyone who collects Vaseline glass knows it’s got uranium in it, which means everyone who comes in contact with Vaseline glass understands they’re being irradiated. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the gaffer making footed cake plates in a glass factory, the driver loading boxes of lace-edged compotes onto a truck, or the tchotchkes dealer setting out vintage Vaseline glass toothpick holders and tumblers for prospective customers—all of you are being zapped. Continued here

S52

Strategy vs. Tactics: Why the Difference Matters - Farnam Street Strategy and tactics are two terms that get thrown around a lot, and are often used interchangeably in numerous contexts. But what exactly do they mean, what is the difference, and why is it important? In this article, we will look at the contrast between strategy and tactics, and the most effective ways to use each. While strategy and tactics originated as military terminology, their use has spread to planning in many areas of life. Strategy is overarching plan or set of goals. Changing strategies is like trying to turn around an aircraft carrier—it can be done but not quickly. Tactics are the specific actions or steps you undertake to accomplish your strategy. For example, in a war, a nation’s strategy might be to win the hearts and minds of the opponent’s civilian population. To achieve this they could use tactics such as radio broadcasts or building hospitals.  A personal strategy might be to get into a particular career, whereas your tactics might include choosing your educational path, seeking out a helpful mentor, or distinguishing yourself from the competition. Continued here

S53

Global economy 2023: why there will still be plenty of pressure on food prices in the year ahead Welcome to this special report on the food industry, the fourth instalment in our series on where the global economy is heading in 2023. It follows recent articles on inflation, energy and the cost of living. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the closely watched food price index of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reached its highest recorded level, stoking consumer prices across the world. In the UK, for example, the prices of many everyday items increased way ahead of inflation, with bread and eggs both up 18% in the year to December, and milk up 30%. Continued here

S54

What is Pentecostal Christianity? In the wake of every election, political analysts pore over polls for clues about how conservative Christians voted, especially evangelicals – and the 2022 midterms are no exception. But these discussions often overlook a group with an increasingly important role in national politics: Pentecostals, evangelicals’ theological cousins. In summer 2022, Pentecostal Congresswoman Mayra Flores flipped her 84% Hispanic south Texas district to the Republican Party for the first time in over 150 years. On the midterm campaign trail, a number of Pentecostal-leaning preachers stumped for GOP candidates. Continued here

S55

Richard Avedon, Truman Capote and the brutality of photography I am the curator of the Richard Avedon: Relationships exhibition currently on view at the Palazzo Reale and am a contributor to the Gagosian exhibition in NYC that opens in May 2023. What obligation does a portrait photographer have to their subject? Is it their duty to cast that person in the best light, or the most revealing light? Continued here

S56

Alcohol use is widely accepted in the US, but even moderate consumption is associated with many harmful effects This month, millions of Americans are taking part in “Dry January” in an effort to forgo alcohol for a month and cleanse themselves of the excesses of the holiday season. In 2020, nearly 70% of people ages 18 and older in the U.S. said they had consumed an alcoholic drink in the previous year, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Additionally, 24% of people reported binge drinking – defined for women as four or more drinks per occasion and five or more drinks per occasion for men – in the previous month. Continued here

S57

Visualizing the inside of cells at previously impossible resolutions provides vivid insights into how they work Biological structures can be visualized by either starting at the level of the whole organism and working down, or starting at the level of single atoms and working up. However, there has been a resolution gap between a cell’s smallest structures, such as the cytoskeleton that supports the cell’s shape, and its largest structures, such as the ribosomes that make proteins in cells. By analogy of Google Maps, while scientists have been able to see entire cities and individual houses, they did not have the tools to see how the houses came together to make up neighborhoods. Seeing these neighborhood-level details is essential to being able to understand how individual components work together in the environment of a cell. Continued here

S58

How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts -- instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific California has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and drainage ditches have become torrents of water racing toward the ocean. Yet, most of the state remains in severe drought. All that runoff in the middle of a drought begs the question — why can’t more rainwater be collected and stored for the long, dry spring and summer when it’s needed? Continued here

S59

Vivienne Westwood: how the brand will maintain the spirit of transgression and rebellion after her death The death of the English fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood at the age of 81 on December 29 2022, has not only moved the fashion industry, but the world. Through her designs and her activism, Westwood had a profound impact on fashion and culture. I, like so many others, credit Westwood for inspiring my passion for fashion. As a teenager, I spent countless Saturdays wandering down the Kings Road in London with the intention of ending up at Westwood’s World’s End store. On these trips I would stroll past groups of punks adorned in bondage trousers, ripped shirts (undoubtedly influenced by Westwood) and spiky hair. Continued here

S60

White Noise review - director Noah Baumbach skilfully captures Don Delillo's 'unadaptable' novel Never one to downplay the power of film, Stanley Kubrick once said that “almost every novel could be successfully adapted”. He carried this confidence into his own filmmaking, working not from original screenplays, but from adaptations of novels as different as William Makepeace Thackeray’s historical romp Barry Lyndon (1844) and Vladimir Nabokov’s erotic fantasy Lolita (1955). Even Kubrick, however, allowed for the possibility of unfilmable fiction. Any novel can be adapted, he said, “provided it is not one whose artistic integrity is lost along with its length”. Continued here

S61

Ukraine war: why Russian soldiers' mothers aren't demonstrating the strong opposition they have in previous conflicts Ukraine’s military launched a devastating strike on New Year’s Day hitting a building housing recently mobilised Russian soldiers in the occupied region of Donetsk. Russia’s official response has been surprising. The ministry of defence took the unusual step of swiftly announcing the deaths of 63 (later revised to 89) soldiers – the largest number of casualties so far acknowledged in any incident since the start of Russia’s mass invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Continued here

S62

House speaker election: fight over Kevin McCarthy's leadership has exposed limits of Trump's power Days after what was supposed to be a victory lap for Kevin McCarthy, and Republicans still haven’t figured out who the next speaker of the House will be. The chamber had taken eleven votes as this article went to press, with no member receiving the requisite 218 ballots required to lead. Neither side seems to be budging. So Washington waits on its knees in a legislative purgatory that could stretch on for days, or weeks. Republicans promised an obstructionist government. But they didn’t campaign on obstructing themselves. For a tiny minority of Republicans from ruby-red districts, sticking it to McCarthy has been the ultimate power play. Setting the party’s “establishment” on fire doesn’t just seem like a byproduct of the venture, more and more it looks to be the entire point. Continued here

S63

Lessons from Tesla's Approach to Innovation Tesla has shifted the auto industry toward electric vehicles, achieved consistently growing revenues, and at the start of 2020 was the highest performing automaker, in terms of total return, sales growth and long-term shareholder value. As a technology and innovation scholar, the author has studied how innovators commercialize new technologies and found that Tesla’s strategy offers enduring lessons for any innovator, especially in terms of how to win support for an idea and how to bring new technologies to market. To understand Tesla’s strategy, one must separate its two primary pillars: headline-grabbing moves like launching the Cybertruck or the Roadster 2.0 and the big bets it is making on its core vehicles, the models S, X, 3, and Y. Continued here

S64

10 Red Flags to Watch Out for in a Job Interview While no one can perfectly predict how a new job will turn out, staying alert to potential red flags during the interview process can help weed out sub-optimal employment options. Being observant in your interviews as well as attuned to how the process is managed, asking good follow-up questions, and doing your due diligence can help mitigate the chances of making a bad decision. Here are 10 red flags to look out for. Continued here

S65

What You Need to Know About Launching a Startup Right Out of College In the fall of 2020, when the world was in lockdown, Kris Christmon, a life sciences Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maryland, USA, was surprised to learn that entrepreneurship was a career option for her. When the university announced a competition to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture and environmental sustainability, Christmon decided to give it a shot. Her team pitched an idea around recycling plastics and won the first prize. Continued here

S66

What You Need to Know About Launching a Startup Right Out of College In the fall of 2020, when the world was in lockdown, Kris Christmon, a life sciences Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maryland, USA, was surprised to learn that entrepreneurship was a career option for her. When the university announced a competition to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture and environmental sustainability, Christmon decided to give it a shot. Her team pitched an idea around recycling plastics and won the first prize. Continued here

S67

5 Ways to Talk About Salary During a Job Interview The most nerve-wracking question of all might just be: What are your salary expectations? To gain more insight into how to answer this question in a smart way, I reached out to a few of my colleagues — across job titles, departments, industries, and levels of experience — for advice. Here’s what they had to say: Continued here

S68

Cofounders Need to Learn How to (Productively) Disagree While there are many factors to consider on the road to success, one lies directly within your control. Sixty-five percent of startups fail due to founder conflict, according to Noam Wasserman, author of The Founder’s Dilemmas. That means, if you want your new venture to beat the odds, you need to learn how to productively collaborate, and more importantly, disagree with your business partner. Continued here

S69

Don't Just Focus on Your Technical Skills. Focus On Your People Skills. Early in their careers, young professionals tend to focus on the technical skills that will help them get the next promotion. These skills are certainly useful, but they won’t help you get the promotions down the line. The author identifies three strategic interpersonal skills that young professionals should focus on to shape their future career development: Continued here

S70

What You Should Know About Layoffs (Before, During, and After) On the morning of September 14, 2011, I received an Outlook invite to a meeting with my manager and HR. They informed me that my position was being terminated. “You have five minutes to write the last email before you leave your laptop in this room. Your account will be disabled. We will escort you to the exit,” the HR representative said. Continued here