Welcome to Bihar flood relief 2008: Forget Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen -- it's accountants who could seal Trump's fate

Forget Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen -- it's accountants who could seal Trump's fate

Donald Trump has been formally charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after an investigation into hush money payments to three people, including a porn star.The statement of facts compiled by prosecutors alleges Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”

Continued here

Green energy: South Africa's transition plan must be careful not to deepen inequality - the 3 top issues

The Wits School of Governance received a grant from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). I can confirm that this comes with no conditions on what I publish. This article is not commissioned by GEAPP or any other organisation. University of the Witwatersrand provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA.

Continued here

�

Is Your Startup Doing Everything It Can to Capture Value?

Fortunately, there is a strategic model that startups can follow that allows them to focus on service and capture value at the same time — double play. Building double play into a startup operation means that a startup understands the current positioning it has and then find ways to capture extra value in that process. In double play, there is a high level of dependency within the business units, making it possible to create a virtuoso circle of value capture within a symbiotic relationship. There are three core phases in creating double play: discovering the best product your business can offer, identifying value points in your company, and then monetizing that value.

Continued here

Why Highly Efficient Leaders Fail

With ever-increasing demands at work, being able to get things done can be a key driver of success. But, the irony is that it can also deter success, because a focus on tasks often comes at the expense of a focus on people. Things like building relationships, inspiring a team, developing others, and showing empathy can fall by the wayside. If you sense that you may be overly task-focused, talk to your team about what you can do to focus more meaningfully on the people on your team. Seek out the advice of others who are good at balancing task- and people-focus to gain some insight into how they do it. Building greater self-awareness in the moment provides an opportunity to pause and choose a different approach. This might mean choosing not to send a slew of emails about your big project over the weekend, pausing to acknowledge a colleague’s effort, or taking the time to teach a team member something new. To be sure, task-focus and achieving results are vital for any leader, team, or organization to succeed, but without a sufficient balance with people-focus, success will be limited at every level.

Continued here

You Might Like

�

Onboarding Can Make or Break a New Hire's Experience

Poor onboarding can leave your employees with lower confidence in their new roles, worsened levels of engagement, and an increased risk of jumping ship when they see a new, more exciting position elsewhere. On the other hand, companies that implement a formal onboarding program could see 50% greater employee retention among new recruits and 62% greater productivity within the same group. Given that how you onboard your employees will determine their experience, managers can take the following steps to ensure they set their new hires up for success: 1) set clear goals and measures for success, 2) create a multi-departmental onboarding team, and 3) provide support throughout the onboarding journey.

Continued here

What Binance's US lawsuit says about the future for cryptocurrency regulation

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has been hit with a lawsuit by US regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This is not the first time a cryptocurrency exchange has been charged by a regulator. But this particular case involves a regulator that does not directly oversee cryptocurrencies. This indicates how regulators – particularly those in the US – hope to clamp down on the cryptocurrency industry.The CFTC’s lawsuit alleges that Binance violated US derivatives laws by offering its derivative trading services to US customers without registering with the right market regulators. It says Binance has prioritised commercial success over regulatory compliance.

Continued here

�

Fake medicines are a dangerous threat in Africa: 3 ways to spot them

At the end of a long day, you realise you’re starting to get a headache. So you buy painkillers from the street vendor, and take two. But how do you know what those pills really are? The vendor isn’t a pharmacy. There’s no package insert listing ingredients or dosage instructions. What if you’ve just tried to treat your headache with counterfeit medicine?The term “counterfeit medicine” refers to medicines that are deliberately and fraudulently falsified or mislabelled. Also called sub-standard or falsified medicines, they would have failed to pass the quality measurements and standards which are approved by medicine regulatory authorities. They aren’t to be confused with generic medicines – those are cheaper, but still scientifically proven to be safe and efficacious versions of patented medicines.

Continued here

UK risks losing out on hi-tech growth if it falters on AI regulation

Haydn Belfield is at the University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (Associate Fellow) and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (Academic Project Manager), and is also on the Advisory Board of Labour for the Long Term.The UK government has published a white paper on the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).

Continued here

�

6 of 8 Ivy Leagues will soon have women as presidents -- an expert explains why this matters

Starting July 1, 2023, Claudine Gay will assume the role of president at Harvard University, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik at Columbia University and Sian Leah Beilock at Dartmouth College. They will join current female presidents at Brown University, Cornell University and University of Pennsylvania.Felecia Commodore, an associate professor of higher education at Old Dominion University, explains what this means for gender equity in the college presidency – and why U.S. colleges and universities still have a long way to go.

Continued here

Alvin Bragg, Donald Trump, and the Pursuit of Low-Level Crimes

On Alvin Bragg’s third day as the Manhattan District Attorney, in January, 2021, he stated that his office would no longer prosecute low-level offenses such as subway-fare evasion, resistance to arrest, or prostitution unless they were part of an accompanying felony charge. Despite the fact that Bragg had campaigned as a reformer, the bluntness of his statement raised eyebrows. The pledge marked a sweeping departure from the “broken windows” philosophy of law enforcement, in which the prosecution of low-level offenses was thought—erroneously, it turned out—to prevent more serious ones. Those presumptions shaped Bragg’s early interactions with police in New York, and his subsequent outlook as Manhattan’s first Black D.A. Bragg told me recently that he has spent “twenty-plus years of professional work and almost fifty years of life living at the intersection between civil rights and prosecution.” He added, “I decided to go to law school in large part because, when I was growing up in central Harlem, during the height of the crack-cocaine epidemic, I had a gun pointed at me six times, three by police officers”—during search stops—“and three during more traditional public-safety issues.” He said that he will continue to do what he has done throughout his career, which is “looking at collateral consequences of prosecutions.”The move away from the prosecution of petty crimes made Bragg an immediate target of conservatives, and the subject of frequently derisive coverage in the New York Post. (A lede from a story published this past November began, “Soft-on-crime Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has downgraded more than half his felony cases to misdemeanors,” and went on to accuse him of ineptly handling the felonies that he does prosecute.) Last year, amid a notably competitive gubernatorial race, Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee, ran on a promise to remove Bragg from office. Yet, as recent events have made exceedingly clear, the disdain that Bragg inspires for not prosecuting certain misdemeanor cases is minuscule in comparison with the rage that can result from a decision to file dozens of criminal charges against a suspect—especially when he is the twice-impeached forty-fifth President of the United States.

Continued here

�

Youth and Age: Kahlil Gibran on the Art of Becoming

The unfolding of life does more than fray our bodies with entropy — it softens our spirit, blunting the edge of vanity and broadening the aperture of beauty, so that we become both more ourselves and more unselved, awake to the felicitous interdependence of the world. And yet the selves we have been — young and foolish, hungry for the wrong things, hopeful for the right but winged by hope into hubris — are elemental building blocks of who we become, unsheddable like the hydrogen and helium that made the universe. Joan Didion knew this when she observed that “we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.” Jane Ellen Harrison knew it when, in her superb meditation on the art of growing older, she cautioned that “you cannot unroll that snowball which is you: there is no ‘you’ except your life — lived.”That transmutation and integration is what poet and philosopher Kahlil Gibran (January 6, 1883–April 10, 1931) takes up with uncommon soulfulness in his long poem “Youth and Age,” penned in his early forties, shortly after he completed The Prophet.In his youth, Gibran reflects, he felt doomed to insignificance, dwarfed by a universe that seemed immense and remote. But as he matured, he learned to live with “the great aloneness which knows not what is far and what is near, nor what is small nor great” — to inhabit that elemental aloneness with a sense of boundless belonging to the universe and every other aloneness in it.

Continued here

Leveraging Coaching and Mentoring to Create More Effective Leaders - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM Torch

Organizations with strong leadership development point to great leadership as key to their sustained business success. But leadership styles of the past are changing given the evolving needs of today’s workplaces. While some organizations continue to struggle with development programs that are exclusionary, generalized, and not aligned with their goals, others have increased the effectiveness of their leadership development by taking a different approach. These more successful leadership development programs align their leadership development to their organizations’ overall business strategies and create leaders more attuned to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals and hybrid and distributed workplaces, as well as other issues that resonate with today’s employees. Best practices contribute to their success, including making greater and more effective use of mentoring and leadership coaching and ensuring skill development is more inclusive and customized to the organization.

Continued here

�

Finland joins Nato in a major blow to Putin which doubles the length of the alliance's border with Russia

In 1948, the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance was signed between the Soviet Union and Finland, providing a key basis for relations between the two states that was to last throughout the cold war. With memories of the 1939 “winter war” between the two still acute, the agreement embodied the Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine, named for two of Finland’s post-war presidents who developed the idea between 1946 and 1982 of a neutral Finland close to the USSR. It also set the context for the term “Finlandisation” used by international relations scholars to describe external interference by a powerful country in the foreign policy of a smaller neighbouring state. A year later, on April 4 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by the 12 founding members of Nato.

Continued here

Pillars of Resilient Digital Transformation - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM Red Hat

The acceleration of digital transformation because of the pandemic recast the position of the chief information officer (CIO) to that of a big-picture strategist. From ensuring ongoing alignment of IT and business demands to leading the transition to full digital enablement, the CIO role requires expert proficiency in a broad range of both technology and management skills.

Continued here

How the indictment of Donald Trump is a 'strange and different' event for America, according to political scientists

The indictment of a former president of the United States, Donald Trump, is history happening in real time. The Conversation asked political scientists James D. Long and Victor Menaldo, both at the University of Washington, to help readers understand the meaning of this moment in the U.S. The two scholars have written about the lessons other democracies can teach the U.S. about prosecuting a president and provide the context for Trump’s arraignment in a Manhattan courthouse. James Long: The first thought I had was about the grand jury, and how much work it is to be on a grand jury. It becomes a part-time job. And how wonderful that we live in a country where that’s how these things are decided. Twenty-three people performed this service that is so critical to the functioning of our country and our democracy. They do it not just for Donald Trump’s case, but for many types of cases. There was something very touching about it.

Continued here

The Best Leaders Aren't Afraid to Ask for Help

I see myself as someone who can manage a lot of stress. Who can get a tremendous amount accomplished in a day. Who can work long hours and pull through in clutch moments. Who doesn’t give up in the face of problems, but works tirelessly until they are solved.I am a leader and most leaders I know feel the same way. We have to — our companies, our employees, our clients, our families — they all rely on us to pull through in the clutch. And we do. Sometimes, in our skillful mastery of pressure, complexity, and accomplishment, we can feel super-human.

Continued here

Food forests are bringing shade and sustenance to US cities, one parcel of land at a time

Karen is Principal of KAS Consulting, which works with health and equity-focused initiatives. She serves on the Steering Committee and as Massachusetts Ambassador for the Food Solutions New England network and on the boards of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association: Massachusetts Chapter. Also serves on the Advisory Council of Global Council of Science and the Environment; founding member of Southern New England Farmers of Color Collaborative; committee work with Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and member of Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society.More than half of all people on Earth live in cities, and that share could reach 70% by 2050. But except for public parks, there aren’t many models for nature conservation that focus on caring for nature in urban areas.

Continued here

Cosmati pavement: walk on the 755-year-old floor where King Charles III will be crowned (but take off your shoes first)

Westminster Abbey has announced that following the coronation of King Charles III and the Queen Consort, Camilla, in May 2023, the church’s famous Cosmati pavement will be opened up to the public. Every news story has been quick to highlight the unusual condition the abbey is imposing on visitors: given that this intricate mosaic was completed in 1268, people will have to remove their shoes to step on it.Being able to see the floor as it was designed to be seen – underfoot and in motion – is an exciting experience. It goes beyond the visual and engages the senses more broadly. This will place visitors in a chain of tactile encounters that stretches back centuries. Many will relish the idea they are standing in the same spot as rulers past and present.

Continued here

I went behind the scenes of Penguin's psychiatric titles - what I found was women's hidden labour

Reader in Contemporary Literature and Medical Humanities, University of Glasgow Penguin Books brought psychiatric ideas to post-war Britain through their inexpensive paperback list. This eclectic list ranged from general introductions to psychiatry and psychotherapy, to discussions of specific problems like depression and anorexia nervosa, and also large political issues such as propaganda and brainwashing.

Continued here

The People Versus Donald J. Trump

On a glorious spring day, with barely a cloud in the sky over the Manhattan Criminal Court building and magnolia trees blooming across the five boroughs, a seventy-six-year-old businessman who has lately been living in Florida was arraigned on thirty-four felony charges of falsifying business records to disguise a payment that he made, via his personal lawyer, to a self-employed Texas woman more than thirty years his junior.At a press conference after the arraignment, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, pointed out that prosecutors in his office regularly indict people for falsifying business records. What made this case different, Bragg didn’t need to add, were the identity of the defendant and the legal strategy Bragg is using to elevate the charges of falsifying business records from misdemeanors to felonies.

Continued here

Does It Feel Like Your Department Has Been Sidelined?

As business needs and relationships at work continuously change, so does the relative influence of certain departments. In this piece, the author offers strategies to follow if you’re getting the sense that your department is being cast aside: 1) Reflect on the root cause of your exclusion; 2) Tie your department’s work to clear business needs; 3) Broaden your perceived value; 4) Keep driving results; 5) Build up those that are coming up after you.

Continued here

Why are Air Jordans so valuable?

For a pair of second-hand trainers to be expected to sell for somewhere in the region of $2 million to $4 million, they must be pretty special. Next week, a pair of Nike Air Jordan 13s worn by Michael Jordan in the second game of the NBA finals in 1998, a season colloquially known as "the last dance", are to be auctioned by Sotheby's and are the most valuable sneakers to ever appear on the market."At the time [of the game] the Bulls were cognisant that they were going to be disbanded as a team, they were aware that this was their last chance at winning an NBA championship together," Brahm Wachter, Sotheby's head of streetwear and modern collectables, tells BBC Culture. "The pair that we have is actually the only MeiGray photo-matched pair (MeiGray is the authenticator for the NBA) from any of the NBA finals that have ever appeared at auction."

Continued here

Calls to regulate AI are growing louder. But how exactly do you regulate a technology like this?

Olga Kokshagina is an appointed member of the French Digital Council (Conseil national du numérique)Last week, artificial intelligence pioneers and experts urged major AI labs to immediately pause the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 for at least six months.

Continued here

The importance of sport for children with disabilities - and the lengths their parents go to access it

Access to physical activity and sport is not equal. Children and young people with disabilities are less likely to engage in physical activity and sport, as there are significant barriers to their participation. For most parents, their child’s sense of social belonging was their biggest concern. This had led them to seek out opportunities for their child to find social connection with others through sport.

Continued here

You can't hide side hustles from the IRS anymore - here's what taxpayers need to know about reporting online payments for gig work

Do you rent out your home a few weekends a year through Airbnb? Sell stuff on Etsy? Get paid for pet-sitting? If you, like many Americans, make at least US$600 a year with a side hustle of any kind, the way you pay taxes may soon change.New rules are going to make sure the Internal Revenue Service gets more information about payments made to Venmo and other apps often used for informal work. And this new system will enhance the agency’ ability to detect any underreported taxable income.

Continued here

An Architect's Dream of Rebuilding a Battered City in Ukraine

In February of 2022, when Kharkiv was under constant bombardment, Maxim Rozenfeld, a forty-six-year-old architect who goes by Max, was reading "Man's Search for Meaning," a chronicle of the months that its author, Viktor Frankl, spent in a Nazi concentration camp. In one passage, Frankl describes a spike in deaths at the camp during the week between Christmas, in 1944, and New Year's Day. The chief doctor of the camp attributed the deaths not to living or labor conditions, which hadn't worsened, but to the demise of hope: the men who died had somehow been convinced that they would be free by Christmas. Max's two younger children, who were seventeen and eleven, had fled to Germany with their mother; Max's girlfriend had made it out of the country as well. He was staying with his parents, who are in their seventies. Waiting for the war to end, he concluded, could be deadly, as could believing that it would be endless. Frankl's point was that physical and spiritual survival depended on finding meaning even under the most trying circumstances. Max urgently needed to be needed.He is trained as an artist and a historian of architecture. He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on high-tech style, focussing on the British architect Norman Foster. A dozen years ago, he started leading walking tours of Kharkiv, which were spectacularly popular: his record was three hundred and forty-five people on a single tour. The tours made Max a household name in Kharkiv. He made multi-episode series on various aspects of the city's history, first for YouTube, then for television. But none of this was of use now. Max was not a skilled organizer. He was not particularly physically fit. He couldn't drive a car. He felt he had little to offer the city's many volunteer efforts.

Continued here

The entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

Sam Schreim has been his own boss for nearly 20 years. He’s opened his own consultancy firm, launched multiple start-ups and advised high-net-worth clients as an independent consultant. But if the 54-year-old could go back, he may never have taken the plunge.“If I’d had a crystal ball, I would’ve never made that jump,” says Boston-based Schreim. “I regret it all the time. I look back, and by now I would’ve consistently been making seven figures as a management consultant had I stayed working with the large firms.”

Continued here

New EU-UK trade deal has promise for Northern Ireland and US as well

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, American University School of International Service Kimberly Cowell-Meyers is affiliated with the Ad-hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement but does not represent the group and the views expressed here are her own.

Continued here

Rough Cut: Netflix's first Welsh language series is a further boost for subtitled content

When Netflix announced in January that it would be streaming its first ever drama series in the Welsh language, the news was met with widespread positivity in the media. The streaming giant bought the licence for Dal y Mellt, which translates as “catch the lightning”, from the Welsh language public service broadcaster, S4C. Adapted from a novel by Iwan “Iwcs” Roberts, the gritty six-part crime thriller follows a group of misfits as they come together to pull off a diamond heist.

Continued here

Leading a Business in Ukraine During the War

As the world marks the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this article shares first-hand stories from a diverse group of Ukrainian business leaders. Their experiences provide a glimpse into the challenges of leading in the midst of war, and offer lessons on the power of resilience, purpose, empathy, and gratitude — no matter how hopeless things may appear.

Continued here

Italian government wants to stop businesses using English - here's why it's the lingua franca of firms around the world

The Italian government has proposed new legislation to crack down on the use of foreign languages in government, business and public life. The draft bill is particularly aimed at the use of English, which it says “demeans and mortifies” the Italian language. The proposed legislation would require employment contracts and internal regulations of overseas businesses operating in Italy to be in Italian. Obeying such a policy would be difficult for many firms. France introduced a similar law in 1994, which has long been seen as unenforceable. Despite being in legislation for nearly 30 years, almost all multinational companies operating in France are thought to be in breach of the law.

Continued here

Should you schedule sex? We looked at whether spontaneous or unplanned sex is more satisfying

Katarina Kovacevic is the owner and director of Kat Kova Therapy, a group psychotherapy practice in Toronto, Ont.Portrayals of sex in TV and movies often involve passionate, spur-of-the-moment encounters that seem to have little forethought or planning. Media depictions of sex might then send the message that a feature of hot, fulfilling sex is spontaneity.

Continued here

A brief history of school meals in the UK: from free milk to Jamie Oliver's campaign against Turkey Twizzlers

Reader in Education for Social Justice and Inclusion, University of Wolverhampton Mashed potato, gravy, custard. When British people hear the words “school dinners”, it’s not always great memories that come to mind.

Continued here

How Women on Boards Navigate the "Warmth-Competence" Line

Gender parity on boards is showing signs of improvement. But having a seat at the table is just the first step; exerting influence around high-stakes decisions is vital, too. To better understand how women board members do this, researchers interviewed 43 women directors at U.S. companies. They found that these women had to navigate a fine line of appearing both warm and competent to get their opinions across, and did so using six key tactics: asking, connecting, asserting, qualifying, waiting, and checking. The researchers also note that it should not simply be up to women directors to navigate bias against them, and suggest four strategies for companies looking to improve gender parity on their boards — not only in number, but in influence.

Continued here

How a CEO Can Create Psychological Safety in the Room

As the CEO, your mere presence in a room dictates the power dynamic. The paradox of being a CEO is that your job is to encourage useful ideas, and yet your very presence can work against that objective. So can your desire to indulge in the dark side of charisma to seek admiration. Ironically, you must overcome the interpersonal liability of your role in order to perform it. How, then, can you create high levels of psychological safety to promote the unencumbered exchange of ideas and unedited circulation of feedback? The author, who has worked with hundreds of CEOs over the past 25 years, offers 10 practical ways to make that happen.

Continued here

Monsters or masters of the deep sea? Why the deepest of deep-sea fish aren't as scary as you might think

Last year, my colleagues and I went on an expedition to the deep trenches around Japan. Having already found the Mariana snailfish in 2014 – thought to be the deepest ever – we had a hunch that with more exploration and a better understanding of things like temperature, the Japanese trenches would host a fish at even greater depths. After another 63 deployments of our deep-sea cameras, bringing our total to about 250 across the globe, we hit the jackpot.

Continued here

Matcha tea: what the current evidence says about its health benefits

Although matcha tea has been around for centuries, it’s recently increased in popularity. This may be due to its favour with celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow, and because of its purported health benefits – with many claiming matcha has even greater benefit for our health than green tea does. All green tea comes from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. Green tea (known as sencha) is produced from the unfermented leaves of this plant. Matcha tea (known as tencha) involves shading the plant from less intense sunlight, then harvesting, steaming and drying the leaves before they’re ground into a powder.

Continued here

Bonobos and chimps: what our closest relatives tell us about humans

Among the great apes, the chimpanzees and the bonobos are the most genetically related to us as we share about 98.7% of our DNA with them. We share a common ancestor with them as well as anatomical features, complex social hierarchies and problem-solving skills.However, one disturbing characteristic stands out. Chimpanzees “go ape” and attack each other in coordinated assaults. Dutch primate expert Frans de Waal’s 1982 book Chimpanzee Politics included a colourful description of how Luit and Nikkie, two young male chimpanzees, allied to violently usurp Yeroen, the alpha male. They bit and ripped out Yeroen’s testicles and the loss of blood killed him.

Continued here

How to Create a Better Consumer Market for U.S. Health Care

Measures to make prices more transparent were good steps in the drive to create more competition in health care. But they don’t do what is necessary to create a vibrant consumer market in which patients would actively shop around for the best prices. Four additional steps that would make a big difference include: (1) force care providers to specify their prices for a list of standardized, consumer-focused bundles of services tied to full episodes of clinical interventions; (2) require all providers to participate in this bundled pricing system; (3) mandate that the prices posted for these services be available to all patients, irrespective of their insurance status; and (4) ensure that consumers who select service providers that charge prices that are below what their insurance plans will pay can keep the savings.

Continued here

Demystifying Strategy: The What, Who, How, and Why

Many leaders I work with struggle with strategy. They know it’s important to have strategies in order to align decision making in their businesses. They understand that they can’t observe and control everything in their organizations (much as many of them would like to). They earnestly want to develop good strategies and they get the theory. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of crafting strategy, they rapidly get bogged down.

Continued here

Alberta's minimum wage report leaves out labour perspectives in favour of corporate interests

Alberta’s minimum wage expert panel report was recently released three years after it was submitted to the provincial government.This panel was formed by the United Conservative Party of Alberta to study the impact of the gradual minimum wage increase that was instituted by the previous NDP government — from $10.20 per hour in 2015 to $15 in 2018.

Continued here

The Case for Banning Children from Social Media

There are times when I wonder what it would take to separate my six-year-old daughter from her iPad. Like so many parents these days, my wife and I have ceded some of our child-raising duties to a device that, despite having multiple safeguards turned on, still has a terrifying proximity to all the worst things on the Internet. We set limits on it like a lot of other people do, and generally feel bad every time we see her with her nose buried in an episode of Pokemon or “Is It Cake?” (a game show in which contestants bake realistic cakes, and judges guess whether an object is cake or not). I feel bad because my kid is spending her days the same way I do: staring at a screen. But what I worry about more than anything is what will happen when she gets older, and her screens go from “Is It Cake?” to the chaos of social media.Poll after poll shows that a lot of parents are worried about what their kids consume and how they communicate with one another on the Internet. Earlier this year, Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General of the United States, said that he did not think children under the age of fourteen should have access to social media. Last month, the state of Utah passed two bills that address this concern, dramatically restricting kids’ access to social-media platforms. The new laws will require anyone under the age of eighteen to obtain parental permission to maintain or create accounts on any social-media site, and grant parents full access to their children’s accounts. There will also be a social-media curfew for minors, unless otherwise amended by their parents, and restrictions to make it more difficult for teens to send or receive messages from people outside of their existing networks. Additionally, any “addictive” features placed on these platforms would have to be removed from underage accounts. Details on how the state plans to enforce these policies are still hazy—most would involve the state fining or suing social-media companies—but there’s considerable support on both sides of the aisle for these kinds of restrictions. At the federal level, there is a bill floating around Congress called the Social Media Child Protection Act that proposes to do much of the same.

Continued here

Timeless review: Nigerian star Davido's new album is mostly form over substance

Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido (David Adeleke) has demonstrated himself to be a master of showboating. He is able to milk every situation to the maximum. And he did not disappoint with the recent trailer for his fourth studio album, Timeless, released on 31 March. It’s drenched with signifiers of the tragic loss of his three-year-old son in a drowning accident last year. The trailer is clear as to his resolve to get over grief and dance again, and it leaves no one in doubt about his battle readiness:

Continued here

Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender exhibition - a glittering testament to a fashion genius

The first retrospective exhibition of the fashion designer Ashish Gupta has opened at London’s William Morris Gallery.As an expert in fashion marketing (and a proud owner of a number of Ashish’s renowned shimmering sequined skirts) I was greatly excited by the prospect of the show.

Continued here

What's behind the recent surge in Australia's net migration - and will it last?

Last week, the Australian published a story saying net-overseas migration would reach 650,000 over the two financial years, 2022-23 and 2023-24. As the story included comments from Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy, we can assume these numbers will appear in the population statement accompanying the May budget.

Continued here

How to Ask for a Promotion

First, reflect on what you want. Is there a job you covet or do you wish to create a new role? Do you want to move up — or might a lateral move interest you? Answering these questions helps you position your request. Second, build a case. Prepare a memo that outlines your strengths, recent successes, and impact. Next, talk to your boss and make your intentions clear. Beware that asking for a promotion is rarely a “one and done” discussion; rather, it’s a series of ongoing conversations. Your objective is to plant the seed and then nurture that seed over time. Finally, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get what you want right away. Continue to do good work and look for ways to elevate the level at which you operate.

Continued here

How much is the world's most productive river worth? Here's how experts estimate the value of nature

Southeast Asia’s Mekong may be the most important river in the world. Known as the “mother of waters,” it is home to the world’s largest inland fishery, and the huge amounts of sediments it transports feed some of the planet’s most fertile farmlands. Tens of millions of people depend on it for their livelihoods.But how valuable is it in monetary terms? Is it possible to put a dollar value on the multitude of ecosystem services it provides, to help keep those services healthy into the future?

Continued here

Panicky Matt Gaetz Stops Payment on Several Checks

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Rep. Matt Gaetz announced that he has decided to stop payment on several checks he wrote to a variety of payees.Gaetz, who appeared panicky and sweaty while talking to reporters, refused to reveal the identity of the payees, but said that he came to the stop-payment decision in the middle of Tuesday afternoon.

Continued here

Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions at Work

Microaggressions, the insensitive statements, questions, or assumptions aimed at traditionally marginalized identity groups can happen to anyone, of any background, at any professional level. The research is clear about the impact seemingly innocuous statements can have on one’s physical and mental health, especially over the course of an entire career: increased rates of depression, prolonged stress and trauma, physical concerns like headaches, high blood pressure, and difficulties with sleep. Getting better at noticing and responding to microaggressions — and at being more aware of our everyday speech — is a journey, one with a real effect on our mental health and well-being at work. Microaggressions affect everyone, so creating more inclusive and culturally competent workplace cultures means each of us must explore our own biases in order to become aware of them. The goal is not to be fearful of communicating with each other, but instead to embrace the opportunity to be intentional about it. Creating inclusive cultures where people can thrive does not happen overnight. It takes a continuous process of learning, evolving, and growing.

Continued here

Buildings left standing in Turkey offer design guidance for future earthquake-resilient construction

The Feb. 6, 2023, earthquakes in Turkey and Syria damaged over 100,000 buildings, caused more than 10,000 collapses and killed more than 50,000 people. These earthquakes also put to the test advanced building technologies that can minimize damage and keep buildings functioning after a quake.Several hospitals built with one such technology – called a seismic isolation system – survived the earthquakes with almost no harm, according to local news reports, even while surrounding buildings sustained heavy damage.

Continued here

Slightly-Less-Super Heroes

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

Driving on less than 5 hours of sleep is just as dangerous as drunk-driving, study finds

What if you could be fined or lose your license for driving tired? Our new study just published in Nature and Science of Sleep has found if you had less than five hours of sleep last night, you are just as likely to have a vehicle crash as if you were over the legal limit for alcohol. We know about 20% of all vehicle crashes are caused by fatigue. Over the past 20 years, the number of crashes caused by alcohol has decreased significantly.

Continued here

The Super Mario Bros. Movie review: 'Lazy and for fans only'

Mario the plumber has been one of the most beloved characters in the history of video games ever since he was first seen jumping over barrels and running up girders in Donkey Kong in 1981. But even if you've never played a single video game, there is no reason why a Mario film shouldn't be worth seeing. True, 1993's Super Mario Bros, with Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, was a notorious flop, but The Lego Movie was tied to a line of plastic construction sets, and that was wonderful. Wreck-It Ralph demonstrated how clever a cartoon set in a video-game milieu could be. And another recent release Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves proved that films adapted from games could be plenty of fun, whether or not you're familiar with the games in question. Unfortunately, The Super Mario Bros Movie is not one of those films.More like this:– The ultimate video game icon – 11 of the best films to watch in April – The Cold War battle over Tetris

Continued here

'On Country' football league an opportunity to bring communities together - but we need more government funding

This article contains quotes from First Nations community members, which the author has obtained permission to share and publish. Images have also been used with their permission This article was co-written with Papunya community leader and Luritja-Pintupi man Terence Abbott Tjapanangka.

Continued here

Natural disasters take a toll on unborn babies - we need to support pregnant mums after Cyclone Gabrielle

The Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle have put the spotlight on how communities recover in the aftermath of widespread devastation. But future-proofing communities against the impact of these disasters needs to include measures to protect some of our most vulnerable people – pregnant women and their unborn babies. What happens during pregnancy lays the foundation for child health and development. Exposure to a natural disaster is no exception.

Continued here

How 'Hogwarts Legacy' video game reinforces antisemitic scapegoating with goblins

In its first two weeks after being released, the video game Hogwarts Legacy, described by the developer as “set in the world of the Harry Potter books,” sold 12 million copies and made about US$850 million in revenue. Despite its commercial success, the game has been at the centre of heated online debates around the use of antisemitic tropes in its imagery and story line.

Continued here

Everyone is NOT doing it: how schools and parents should talk about vaping

Murooj Yousef works for Blurred Minds, an alcohol, vaping and drug education initiative within Griffith University. Blurred Minds is a non-for-profit organisation. James Durl, as part of the larger Blurred Minds team, a not-for-profit organisation housed within Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland. His role is to help create, refine, deliver and evaluate content for secondary schools regarding Vaping & other drug education.

Continued here

What Is the Appeal of Fan Fiction?

His name is Moon. He is the youngest member of a K-pop band with a global following. Before the narrator, an American living in Berlin, sees him perform, her idea of transcendence is purely theoretical, as if the word were a sheet of music that no one could play. When her flatmate drags her to one of Moon’s concerts, his dancing—“fluid, tragic, ancient”—changes everything. “He seemed to control even the speed at which he fell from the air,” she marvels, “his feet landing with aching tenderness, as if he didn’t want to wake up the stage.”The narrator doesn’t have a name, or much of a life. She produces copy for a company that sells canned artichoke hearts, a job that demands she “credibly infuse the vegetable with the ability to feel romantic love for its consumer.” After the concert, she discovers a new vocation: writing Moon-themed fan fiction. Following the online convention that allows readers to insert themselves into the story, she calls her protagonist Y/N: “Your Name.” But it’s the narrator who enters her own plot, merging, through magic or perhaps devotion, with her fictional avatar. These three women—the narrator, Y/N, and N, a hybrid of the previous two—guide us through “Y/N,” a strange, funny, and at times gorgeous new novel by Esther Yi. (N observes that her letter forms one shaky half of “M,” for Moon.) Full of characters that squirm and run together, as if the reader were trying to decipher an out-of-focus eye chart, the book evokes how precarious identity itself can be. It also explores the consequences of subsuming your entire life in a desire for what may or may not exist.

Continued here

A Courtroom Made Donald Trump Look Small

Donald Trump said nine words during his arraignment in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday. “Yes,” “thank you,” “I do,” “yes,” “yes,” and “not guilty.” He didn’t say “hugely not guilty” or make a crack about the judge’s race. He appeared in the doorway of the courtroom just before 2:30 P.M., sombre and alone, and he approached the defense table so reluctantly that his long red tie swung more than his arms did. His lawyers had arrived ahead of him. Taking a seat between them, Trump looked very much like a man forced to be there—which is exactly what he was. For a moment, it was possible to forget that he was running for President.The courtroom was packed, hot, and tense. The crowds outside—MAGA-ites, anti-Trumpers, reporters, and looky-loos—could be heard through the windows, even though the courtroom was up on the fifteenth floor of the building. More than twenty court officers and security personnel were stationed around the room, and about the same number of reporters were sitting in the gallery, notebooks out. Sketch artists were seated in the jury box, working their pastels. A few minutes before Trump appeared, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, walked in, flanked by staff, and, without a word, took a seat in the first row of the gallery, behind his prosecutors. After Trump arrived, several press photographers were ushered in. Glum or not, he indulged them, jutting out his bronzed chin and narrowing his eyes as the shutters clicked.

Continued here

Beneath the Trump circus, American democracy faces up to a vital challenge

Former US President Donald J Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts in New York. In the words of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump is accused of making “34 false statements”, themselves “made to cover up other crimes”. Those crimes include a “conspiracy to promote a candidacy by unlawful means” and to “scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election”. The charges in New York add to the network of cases focused on Trump’s efforts to subvert and undermine democratic processes in the United States, now stretching all the way back to his 2016 candidacy and across the duration of his presidential administration.

Continued here

'We haven't got anybody': new research reveals how major parties are dying in remote Australia

We haven’t got anybody [there]. We just forgot about Kununurra. There’s a bunch of brochures on a Greyhound bus. Can you go and pick them up? Can you go and set up the booths? Can you go and round up some people to bloody pamphleteer?Once upon a time, such a call wouldn’t have been necessary. In decades past, Labor had an active grassroots branch in Kununurra that would have taken care of everything. But by 2019, this was long gone and the party’s closest branch was nearly 1,000 kilometres away in Broome.

Continued here

Prime drinks aren't suitable for children and pregnant women. Here's why

Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia Prime drinks have been heavily promoted in Australia, leading to frenzied sales in supermarkets, as well bans in schools.

Continued here

3 reasons you feel hungrier and crave comfort foods when the weather turns cold

As we move through Autumn, parts of Australia are starting to see cooler weather. For some of us, that can mean increasing feelings of hunger and cravings for “comfort food” such as as pasta, stews and ramen. It sends this energy it conserves to our internal organs so they can maintain their temperature and work properly. The body can also perform heat-generating activities (such as shivering), which uses energy. The body will then look for additional energy through calories from eating food.

Continued here

Guide to the classics: steeped in the arboreal sublime, Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders carries a startling urgency

Sometimes the sound is like a Gregorian chant, a threnody from the rustling leaves, the creaking boughs, the undulations of limbs heavy with leaves, swaying in the wind that rushes through the woods of Dorset’s Little Hintock. At other times, it is a low moan, a cry of pain, voiced as if in sympathy with the tragic plight of the characters who wander through these woods, searching for something lost or never quite possessed – for a Hardyian character is always driven by a restive compulsion to move.

Continued here

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Forget Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen -- it's accountants who could seal Trump's fate

No comments:

Addresses of importance

Medicine List

Please donate!

News List

Blog Archive

Contributors

Collaborators

Friends in our effort

Friends in our effort