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☆ Critical Role's heartbreak prince helped make 'Dungeons & Dragons' cool. Now he's coming for the gothic horror gaming scene.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Critical Role recently released "Candela Obscura," a gothic horror roleplaying game. AdvertisementIn October, Critical Role, a crew of eight self-professed "nerdy-ass voice actors," played their long-running "Dungeons & Dragons" game at a sold-out Wembley Arena. These qualities make O'Brien ideal for stepping into the game master role for "Candela Obscura," Critical Role's new gothic horror game, and he's leaning hard into the tragedy. AdvertisementIt's also one of the more punishing gaming systems he's played in, O'Brien told me during our video call. Mercer, the team's designated game master, is the one who crafts the narrative and controls how the story develops.

Persons: Liam O'Brien, —, Matthew Mercer, O'Brien, I've, It's, he's, Twitch, Mercer, — O'Brien, — Taliesin Jaffe, Imari Williams, Aimee Carrero, Alexander Ward —, Taliesin Jaffe, Alexander Ward, Julius Caesar, Irish, Martin McDonagh, Spenser Starke, Rowan Hall, Aabria Iyengar, Starke, Mary Shelley, it's, Amazon, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, Ashley Johnson, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer Robyn von Swank Organizations: Service, Wembley, Darrington Press, Hasbro's, Hasbro, CR Locations: Europe, Ireland, New York, Mercer, Starke

☆ Nerd world's most famous faces are out to conquer the gothic horror gaming space — and their heartbreak prince is here to get the job done
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Critical Role recently released "Candela Obscura," a gothic horror roleplaying game. These qualities make O'Brien ideal for stepping into the game master role for "Candela Obscura," Critical Role's new gothic horror game, and he's leaning hard into the tragedy. AdvertisementIt's also one of the more punishing gaming systems he's played in, O'Brien told during our video call. Mercer, the team's designated game master, is the one who crafts the narrative and controls how the story develops. "I always prefer complicated narratively satisfying endings to a neat little happy ending," O'Brien told me.

☆ Having too many options can paralyze investors. Here's how you can overcome 'choice overload'
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Humans get overwhelmed by too many options, a behavioral finance concept known as "choice overload." How investors encounter choice overloadChristopher Ames | E+ | Getty ImagesIt's not just investing: The choice paradox can extend to things like ice cream flavors and apparel, for example. Given these behavioral biases, retailers and others have evolved, making it less likely consumers will experience choice overload "in the wild" today, said Dan Egan, vice president of behavioral finance and investing at Betterment. Do-it-yourselfers may have about one to two dozen investment options, at most, from which to choose, reducing the choice friction. If you don't give people an easy choice, "it's really hard for them," Blanchett said.

Persons: Philip Chao, Brian Scholl, David Blanchett, Samantha Lamas, Christopher Ames, Sheena Iyengar, Mark Lepper, Dan Egan, Egan, that's, Blanchett Organizations: Sdi, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Investor, Morningstar, Finance Locations: John , Maryland

☆ Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest ever male player to win grand slam title with Australian Open triumph
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Aged 43, Rohan Bopanna became the oldest male player in the Open era to ever win a grand slam title on Saturday when he and his partner, Matthew Ebden, won the Australian Open men’s doubles tournament. “Without a doubt the best moment in my career,” Bopanna said afterwards, according to the Australian Open’s official website. I mean, the hurdle was tough.”The pair have each won grand slam titles separately – Bopanna won the 2017 French Open mixed doubles while Ebden won the 2013 Australian Open mixed doubles and 2022 Wimbledon men’s doubles – but this marked their first trophy together after they lost last year’s US Open final. Bopanna’s 61 attempts at winning a men’s doubles grand slam title prior to his triumph on Saturday also set a new Open era record, while he is set to become the world’s oldest No. Rohan Bopanna won his first ever men's doubles grand slam title.

Persons: Rohan Bopanna, Matthew Ebden, India’s, Australia’s Ebden, Simone Bolelli, Andrea Vavassori, ” Bopanna, “, I’ve, – Bopanna, Ebden, David Gray, ” Ebden, he’s, He’s, Iyengar, ” Organizations: CNN, Wimbledon, Getty, Reuters Locations: AFP, he’s

☆ Rohan Bopanna: At the age of 43, Indian tennis star is making history – with a little help from Iyengar yoga
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Amy Woodyatt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Rohan Bopanna is set to become the world’s oldest No.1 tennis player in history at the age of 43 – with a little help from Iyengar yoga. Bopanna and Ebden defeated Tomas Machac of Czech Republic and Zhang Zhizhen of China on the 12th day of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 25, 2024. Bopanna attributed yoga, which he started practising during the Covid-19 pandemic, as helping improve his tennis in recent years. But with a local studio near his home, Bopanna tried Iyengar yoga, which he practiced four times a week for 90 minutes. Next, second-seeded Bopanna and Australian Ebden will face Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassor as the Indian seeks his first major title, and the Australian his second.

Persons: CNN — Rohan Bopanna, –, Matthew Ebden, Maximo Gonzalez, Andres Molteni, Tomas Machac, Zhang Zhizhen, “, ” Bopanna, you’re, Bopanna, ”, Ebden, Andy Cheung, Eric Butorac, Iyengar, Simone Bolelli, Andrea Vavassor, Max Purcell, Matt it’s Organizations: CNN, Iyengar, Melbourne Park, Los Angeles, Indian, Wimbledon, Asian, Paris Olympics Locations: Czech Republic, China, India, Australian

☆ Sheryl Sandberg to leave Meta board
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Former longtime Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg will not remain on the company’s board of directors after her term ends in May, she said in a Facebook post Wednesday. “With a heart filled with gratitude and a mind filled with memories, I let the Meta board know that I will not stand for reelection this May,” Sandberg said in the post. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Sandberg’s decision to leave the board. In partnership with Zuckerberg, Sandberg helped grow Facebook’s revenue from roughly $150 million in 2007 to more than $3.7 billion in 2011, the year before it went public. In 2022, the year Sandberg stepped down as COO, Meta posted total annual revenue of $116.6 billion.

Persons: Sheryl Sandberg, ” Sandberg, Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg “, Sheryl, ” Zuckerberg, ”, Meta, Bill Clinton, Zuckerberg, “ Sheryl architected, Riley Gutiérrez McDermid, Brian Fung, Rishi Iyengar Organizations: New, New York CNN, Meta, Facebook, Lean, Google, World Bank, Treasury Department Locations: New York, reorient

☆ Opinion | ‘A Perfect Storm for the Ambitious, Extreme Ideologue’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

In this context, many partisan elites have political incentives to take, or at least refrain from pushing back on, relatively extreme partisan positions. Those I queried repeatedly cited the role of the two-party winner-take-all system in exacerbating polarization in this country. Iyengar cited two other “big differences between the U.S. and the other industrialized democracies”:The U.S. is the outlier, in the sense that we are the one case without a major public broadcaster. In other words, our democracy has always been contested and political polarization has often been intense. Foner shares the view that the two-party system fosters polarization, noting that “it may even be that the political system produces polarization, even though on many issues Americans may not be as divided as appears on the surface.”

Persons: ”, Malka, Shanto Iyengar, Iyengar, “, ” Eric Foner, —, Foner Organizations: Stanford, Coalition, U.S Locations: United States, Covid, U.S, ’, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Columbia

☆ Cancel That Brainstorm. There’s a Better Way to Spur Good Ideas.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Callum Borchers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The value of gathering to swap loosely formed thoughts is highly suspect, despite being a major reason many companies want workers back in offices. “You do not get your best ideas out of these freewheeling brainstorming sessions,” says Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School. He discovered that his 16-person team, now fully remote, thrives when people develop ideas on their own and can share them in writing. An Amazon spokesman adds that the company’s brainstorming sessions are sometimes unstructured but often begin with colleagues sharing well-researched memos, reducing time spent on ill-conceived ideas. Oh, he’s also noticed that the duds tend to come first, so to leave time for the good stuff, he prescribes two-hour meetings.

☆ Office Brainstorms Are a Waste of Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Callum Borchers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Office wardrobe malfunctions? The value of gathering to swap loosely formed thoughts is highly suspect, despite being a major reason many companies want workers back in offices. “You do not get your best ideas out of these freewheeling brainstorming sessions,” says Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School. Mostly, though, grumblers have accepted such meetings as an inescapable office reality, like elevator Muzak and bad coffee. An Amazon spokesman adds that the company’s brainstorming sessions are sometimes unstructured but often begin with colleagues sharing well-researched memos, reducing time spent on ill-conceived ideas.

☆ Ivy League expert: Brainstorming doesn't work—here's a better way to find new ideas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Brainstorming is a popular way of coming up with new ideas. Just because it's well-known, however, doesn't mean it's the most effective, according to a Columbia professor. After becoming an educator herself, though, Iyengar realized that brainstorming "doesn't deliver." You're better off coming up with ideas solo, she says. "I began to see up close that brainstorming wasn't working," Iyengar says.

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