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☆ 'The Pillowcase Murders': What happened to Billy Chemirmir? Authorities say he killed 22 older women in 2 years.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Eammon Jacobs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read preview"The Pillowcase Murders" puts the convicted murderer Billy Chemirmir in the spotlight. The Paramount Plus docuseries details how authorities accused him of killing 22 older women between 2016 and 2018, though he was only found guilty of two murders. Chemirmir attacked women living in nursing homes and senior living communities in Texas, prosecutors alleged. AdvertisementHe posed as a maintenance man to gain entry into the building and then used pillows to smother his victims, prosecutors said. AdvertisementAccording to press releases from prosecutors, Chemirmir was ultimately accused of killing 13 women in Dallas County and 9 in Collin County.

Persons: —, Billy Chemirmir, Chemirmir, Mary Bartel, Lu Thi Harris, Mary Brooks Billy Chemirmir, Tom Fox, Mary Brooks, Prosecutors, Wyatt Busby, Shannon Dion Organizations: Service, Paramount, Netflix, Business, NBC, Dallas, Dallas Morning News, Coffield Unit, Associated Press, Guardian, Texas, Fox Locations: Texas, Fort Worth, Dallas County, Collin County, Anderson County, Dallas

☆ There's a simple solution to make wine more sustainable: sheep
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-12 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Now, Whitehall Lane Winery has eight vineyards, including six in Napa Valley and two in Sonoma Valley. "The whole country is dotted with cows and sheep," Moulton said, referring to the 9.6 million cattle and 26 million sheep that live there. Whitehall Lane Winery. Whitehall Lane Winery. Whitehall Lane Winery.

Persons: Jason Moulton, Moulton, They'll Organizations: Service, Sonoma Valley ., American Sheep Industry, Lincoln University Viticulture Locations: Whitehall Lane, Oakville, United States, Napa Valley, Helena, Sonoma Valley, New Zealand, Lincoln, Auckland, Hawke's, It's, Whitehall Lane Winery, Whitehall, Nevada, Moulton

☆ Welcome to the AI dystopia no one asked for, courtesy of Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

AI skeptics — who are legion, and not necessarily part of the fringe tin foil hat crowd — are begging Silicon Valley to take a beat before unleashing AI to the world. Then, the big reveal: It’s all contained in Apple’s new iPad, its thinnest and most powerful ever, thanks to its brand new AI chip. Meanwhile, is anyone else getting inundated with Google’s Pixel ads, which show people giddily using the smartphone’s AI photo-editing software to deceive their online followers? Apple is expected to announce its own ChatGPT-like tools that could be a game changer for your internet searches. The Jeff Goldblums of the AI debate — who include some of the industry’s own pioneers — are not necessarily saying we have to smother AI and pretend it never existed.

Persons: CNN Business ’, Jeff Goldblum’s, “, John, that’s, —, Cher’s, Asif Kapadia, ”, Luke Barnett, Apple, Tim Cook, Apple’s, Siri, I’ll, We’re, Jeff Goldblums, weren’t Organizations: CNN Business, New York CNN, Google, Apple, Space Invaders Locations: New York

☆ An Explosion in Afghanistan Nearly Killed Him. Now, It’s Inspiring His Senate Bid.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Kellen Browning | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lying in an Afghan desert, engulfed in flames and soaked in diesel fuel, Sam Brown realized he was about to die. It was September 2008, and Mr. Brown, a U.S. Army captain, had been leading his platoon to the aid of fellow soldiers who had been ambushed by the Taliban. What happens as I die?” Mr. Brown recalled in an interview with The New York Times. A fellow soldier, also injured in the blast, saved Mr. Brown, and his platoon provided first aid until he could be evacuated to a hospital. At a burn unit in Texas, he underwent more than 30 surgeries over a three-year recovery, and he was left permanently scarred.

Persons: Sam Brown, Brown, “, Mr Organizations: U.S . Army, The New York Times Locations: Afghan, Kandahar, Texas

☆ America's Plastic Catastrophe: Most Waste Can't Be Recycled
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Taylor Dorrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

It's an urgent question — what do we do with the 40 million tons of plastic waste we produce annually? One year of plastic waste is roughly enough to smother the entirety of Manhattan a meter deep, and it has to go somewhere. For decades, America sent its plastic waste to countries like China and Indonesia. Unlike aluminum or glass, the plastic that can be recycled rarely results in replacing one recycled water bottle with another. By downcycling a tiny portion of plastic waste, companies can genuinely reuse a relatively small share of plastic, while convincing consumers that the industry has created a circular economy of infinitely recycled plastic.

Persons: Kartik Byma, they're, Tim Miller, Susan Freinkel, Nestlé, Lea Suzuki, Larry Thomas, what's, Taylor Dorrell, Biden, that's, Taylor, Miller, Kelley Sayre, Vicky Abou, it's, Mike Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Espen Barth Eide, Norway's, Abou, It's Organizations: Getty, America, Chevron, Exxon, Paper Stock, Plastics Industry Association, Organization for Economic Co, San Francisco, NPR, International Energy Agency, ExxonMobil, Alterra Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Royal Paper Stock, Akron, Buckeye Environmental, Business, Eastman Chemical Co, American Chemistry Council, New, Beyond Plastics, UN, Buckeye Environmental Network Locations: America, Manhattan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, AFP, Ohio, American, San Francisco, Akron, Taylor Dorrell Akron , Ohio, United States, Oregon, New York City

☆ Man Sets Himself on Fire Near Courthouse Where Trump Is on Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Nate Schweber | Matthew Haag | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A man set himself on fire on Friday afternoon near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where jurors were being chosen for the criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump. The man doused himself with accelerant at around 1:35 p.m. in Collect Pond Park, across the street from the courthouse. Onlookers screamed and started to run, and soon, bright orange flames engulfed the man. It was unclear what motivated his action, but he threw leaflets espousing anti-government conspiracy theories into the air before the incident. People rushed to extinguish the fire, but the intensity of the heat could be felt several hundred feet away.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, accelerant Organizations: The New York Fire Department Locations: Lower Manhattan, Pond

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Brown University have recently taken swift and decisive action against student protesters, including making arrests. And on Thursday, Columbia University hit its limit with student protesters who had set up dozens of tents on campus, sending in the New York Police Department to make arrests. Image At Columbia, officials cracked down on students who had erected tents on campus. Muncy for The New York TimesImage The New York Police Department arrested protesters at Columbia University. “But now we’re seeing that as an immediate response.”In her congressional testimony, Dr. Shafik revealed that 15 Columbia students have been suspended in recent weeks.

Persons: “, Santa J, Ono, ”, Nemat Shafik, Recalibrating, Rosy Fitzgerald, didn’t, Shafik, Nicole Hester, Donald J, Daniel Diermeier, Vanderbilt, “ They’re, Diermeier, —, Tracy Arwari, Ms, Arwari, Suzanne Nossel, Nossel, Amanda Andrade, Rhoades, Ezri Tyler, Tyler, Dan Korobkin, Colleen Mastony, Jacob Mchangama, Mr, Mchangama Organizations: University of, University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , New York University, Brown University, Columbia University, New York Police Department, Columbia, Credit, The New York Times, Columbia University . Credit, The New York Times College, Republican, Institute for Middle, Vanderbilt, USA, Network Vanderbilt University, Pomona College, School, Pomona, PEN America, The New York Times Students, “, American Civil Liberties Union, ” Locations: Santa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ,, Columbia, C.S, Muncy, Israel, Vietnam, Southern California, Pomona, “, Michigan, . Michigan

☆ Stocks are undergoing a needed, and (so far) modest, pullback in a longer-term bull market
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The result was a 1.5-percent weekly drop in the S & P 500 , with Friday's setback exacerbated at least somewhat by a collective clenching-up of risk markets on some geopolitical worry. This dynamic hasn't been reversed, but the signal has grown a bit staticky, draining some conviction from the macro bullish case with the S & P 500 still 24% above the October low. Bull market's backdrop First, it's a bull market, and not a particularly mature or excessively generous one yet. Yet both stocks are still outperforming the S & P this year. The S & P 500 closed Friday at exactly the same level of five weeks earlier, on March 8 – which was perhaps the moment of maximum investor confidence in the "we can have it all" thesis.

Persons: I've, Jerome Powell, Powell, Wall, it's, We're, John Butters, Fastenal, Scott Chronert Organizations: Federal, ICE, Treasury, CPI, Fed, Grainger, Citi

☆ What to do if you don’t want sex at the same time as your partner
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Ian Kerner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

If you’re not having sex like porn stars, you’re not having good sex. One of the most pernicious myths is that sexual desire is “an electric spark of wanting” that happens naturally and instantaneously. There’s no such thing as normal when it comes to sex, and there’s more than one way of experiencing sexual desire. Even though I’m reading and writing and thinking and talking about sex all the time, I end up with no interest in actually having sex. When you talk to people who have great sex lives, they don’t talk about desire.

Persons: Ian Kerner, ”, you’re, Emily Nagoski, can’t, Nagoski, Kerner, Donald Hall, “ Organizations: CNN, ” CNN

☆ The Ancient Back Story of the Slimiest Animal in the Sea
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Veronique Greenwood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The hagfish, a deep-sea scavenger about the size and shape of a tube sock, has the curious ability to smother itself in its own snot. The mucus is a defense mechanism, released into the water (or in one unfortunate incident, all over an Oregon highway) when the fish feels threatened. A shark trying to take a bite of a hagfish will find itself suddenly unable to breathe, its gills clogged with the slime. “We have to be removing the mucus all the time on the ship, or they will die,” he said. The hagfish has no jaw, making it part of a group that diverged long ago from the ancestors of jawed vertebrates like ourselves.

Persons: Juan Pascual, Anaya, ” Organizations: University of Málaga Locations: smother, Oregon, Spain, Japan

☆ A scientist explains what would happen if all the fish in the ocean disappeared
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-08 | by ( Kory Evans | The Conversation | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

So what would happen to Earth if all the fish in the ocean suddenly disappeared? NOAA, Kevin LinoI'm a scientist who studies fish, their diversity, and all the ways they contribute to ocean environments. Fish as foodFish play important roles as both predators and prey in ocean ecosystems. Related storiesIn coral reef ecosystems, small fish are eaten by larger fish and other marine animals. AdvertisementIn coral reef ecosystems, plant-eating fish control the growth of algae by constantly grazing it down.

Persons: Fish, Kevin Lino I'm, Rogers, parrotfish, Kory Evans Organizations: Service, Fisheries, NOAA, biosciences, Rice University Locations: They're, United States, parrotfish

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares slipped in Asia on Wednesday, tracking a decline on Wall Street a day after stocks there hit their highest level since the start of August. Troubled property developer Sunac China Holding's shares rose 2.3% as state media reported it had completed a restructuring of its $90 billion in debts. Retailers were mixed after several reported their earnings for the latest quarter and, more importantly, their forecasts for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Lowe’s sank 3.1% despite reporting better profit for the latest quarter. Best Buy dipped 0.7% after likewise beating analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter but falling short on revenue and cutting its forecast for the full year.

Persons: OpenAI's, Sam Altman, Altman, Satya Nadella, OpenAI, “, ”, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, Adam D’Angelo, Australia's, Stocks, Brent Organizations: Microsoft, U.S ., Federal Reserve, University of Michigan, Nikkei, China, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Lowe’s, Dick’s, Goods, Federal, Deutsche Bank, Fed, Treasury, New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S Locations: BANGKOK, Asia, Tokyo, Mumbai, U.S, Japan, OpenAI, Francisco, Adam D’Angelo ., Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Thailand

Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, with more than three times the daily average of incidents. Thanksgiving is the most fire-prone day of the year and the peak day for home cooking fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association. There are more home fires on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year, with more than three times the daily average. Unattended cooking was by far the leading contributing factor in cooking fires and fire deaths. Thanksgiving fire safety tips:The NFPA shares the following tips to reduce the chances of a fire over the Thanksgiving holiday:1.

Persons: —, you'll Organizations: Service, National Fire Protection, NFPA Locations: Turkey

☆ Google's CEO defends paying Apple, others billions of dollars to make Google their default search engine on devices
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CEO Sundar Pichai defended Google's spending billions to be the default search engine on devices. Court documents show Google paid more than $26 billion to Apple and other tech companies in 2021. AdvertisementAdvertisementGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday defended his company's practice of paying Apple and other tech companies to make Google the default search engine on their devices. Google counters that it dominates the market because its search engine is better than the competition. The Mountain View, California-based company could be stopped from paying Apple and other companies to make Google the default search engine.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai, —, Trump, Judge Amit Mehta Organizations: Apple, Service, The Department, Justice, Google, Justice Department, Microsoft, Washington D.C, U.S Locations: U.S, Washington, View , California

Google contends that it dominates the market because its search engine is better than the competition's. The Justice Department sought to show that Google feared Apple might establish its own search engine and worried about losing talent to Apple. In a 2019 email shown in court, Pichai asked to be informed directly whenever a member of Google’s search engine team defected to Apple. The Mountain View, California-based company could be stopped from paying Apple and other companies to make Google the default search engine. “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google,” Nadella said.

Persons: —, Sundar Pichai, Pichai, “ That’s, Trump, Judge Amit Mehta, Satya Nadella, ” Nadella, Michael Liedke Organizations: WASHINGTON, Apple, Department, Justice, Google, McKinsey & Co, Justice Department, Microsoft, Washington D.C, U.S, Associated Press Technology Locations: India, U.S, Washington, View , California

☆ Rose Petals and Peacock Brains: What It Took to Be an ‘Emperor of Rome’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Jennifer Szalai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

EMPEROR OF ROME: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, by Mary BeardIf social media is to be believed, men can’t stop thinking about the Roman Empire, particularly its “alpha male” elements. Anyone similarly obsessed would do well to pick up a copy of “Emperor of Rome,” an erudite and entertaining new book by the redoubtable classics scholar and feminist Mary Beard. The “good” emperors are invariably wise, kind, prudent and generous, while the “bad” ones are dim, disgusting, decadent and miserly. Did Elagabalus really arrange to smother his dinner guests to death by dropping rose petals from the ceiling? Beard encourages us to be skeptical of all the “preposterous anecdotes,” even as she maintains that such demonizing can tell us something about how power works.

Persons: OF, Mary Beard, Emperor of Rome, ”, Beard, Rome ”, Julius Caesar, Alexander Severus, Alexander, Maximinus Thrax, Caligula, Elagabalus Locations: Roman, Roman Republic

That's almost 40% of U.S. solar panel capacity, according to figures from the Solar Energy Industries Association. Political Cartoons View All 1211 ImagesIndustry jitters about a flood of cheap solar panels from overseas show how dependent on federal policy the solar industry remains. Even with that boost, solar industry leaders warn, factories will struggle to compete with a new spike in cheap Asian imports. They're again urging federal officials to investigate whether solar panels are being dumped at unfairly low prices. Politics envelops the solar industry.

Persons: That's, Qcells, “, Scott Moskowitz, Joe Biden’s, Donald Trump, They're, Mike Carr, Carr, Moskowitz, Kamala Harris, Brian Kemp, Democratic U.S . Sen, Jon Ossoff, ” Kemp, Ossoff, Georgia Democratic Sen, Raphael Warnock, ” Ossoff Organizations: Hanwha, Solar Energy Industries Association, Associated Press, Republican, U.S, Solar Energy Manufacturers, America Coalition, Qcells, Republican Gov, Democratic U.S ., Georgia Democratic Locations: Georgia, United States, Dalton, U.S, Asia, Cartersville, Washington, China, Taiwan . U.S, OPEC

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts Acquire Licensing RightsSept 25 (Reuters) - It's a now-familiar dance: Federal Reserve officials signal to the world that interest rates are not dropping anytime soon. Forecasts published on Wednesday by the U.S. central bank showed that a majority of its policymakers see the Fed's benchmark overnight interest rate ending this year at 5.6%, which implies one more interest rate hike in the next three months. They also now anticipate an end-of-2024 policy rate of at least 5.1%, half a percentage point higher than they projected three months ago. Meanwhile, interest rate futures contracts continue to price in only about a 50% chance of further tightening in 2023, and see a 4.65% policy rate by the end of next year. THE FED'S OWN UNCERTAIN FORECASTSFed policymakers plan to stop raising interest rates once they are convinced inflation is headed down to the central bank's 2% target.

Persons: Joshua Roberts, Preston Caldwell, Jerome Powell, Powell, Morgan Stanley, Ann Saphir, Dan Burns, Paul Simao Organizations: Federal Reserve, REUTERS, Financial, U.S, Fed, Morningstar, Securities, United Auto Workers, Detroit automakers, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, U.S

☆ UK inflation to be highest among big economies in 2023 - OECD
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Britain remains on course to have the highest inflation of leading rich economies in 2023, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecasts which showed the country's inflation problem widening compared with most of its peers. Britain's headline inflation rate was set to average 7.2% over 2023, up from a previous forecast of 6.9% made by the OECD in June. It was also higher than Germany's expected inflation this year of 6.1% and France's 5.8%, both of which represented cuts from the OECD's June forecasts. "Today the OECD have set out a challenging global picture, but it is good news that they expect UK inflation to drop below 3% next year," finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. Britain's high inflation rate has led the Bank of England to raise borrowing costs 14 times in a row since December 2021.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, William Schomberg, Andy Bruce Organizations: for Economic Co, OECD, Bank of England, Thomson Locations: Britain, Japan, Paris, France, Germany, Italy

☆ Opinion | We Need Shopping Malls, or Something Like Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Margaret Renkl | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was already hot at 5:45 in the morning, the humidity so thick it left me breathless. Even for the South, this was extreme: frog-strangling humidity, smother-you-in-your-sleep heat. It blanketed the region, day after day after day. At one point the forecast called for a heat index here in Nashville that was higher than the heat index in Las Vegas. Very close to 100 percent of the time, the resolution to a problem comes to me while I’m walking.

Persons: I’m Organizations: Parnassus Books, Amazon Locations: Nashville, Las Vegas

☆ Opinion | How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mall
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Margaret Renkl | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even for the South, this was extreme: frog-strangling humidity, smother-you-in-your-sleep heat. It blanketed the region, day after day after day. At one point the forecast called for a heat index here in Nashville that was higher than the heat index in Las Vegas. Very close to 100 percent of the time, the resolution to a problem comes to me while I’m walking. It never occurred to me to stop in, and clearly I’m not the only one.

Persons: I’m Organizations: Parnassus Books, Amazon Locations: Nashville, Las Vegas

☆ UK jobs market lost some of its heat in July - survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Britain's labour market is losing some of its inflationary heat with vacancies and advertised starting salaries falling in July for the first time this year, according to a survey published on Monday. Job search website Adzuna also said the number of job-seekers per vacancy rose slightly in July but the overall state of the labour market remained tight. The Bank of England is looking closely at the labour market as it considers how much further it needs to raise interest rates to smother high inflation. Adzuna said employers were becoming more secretive about pay rates as the labour market cooled with over half of adverts not disclosing salary details for the first time. Writing by William Schomberg, Editing by Kylie MacLellanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Adzuna, Andrew Hunter, William Schomberg, Kylie MacLellan Organizations: The Bank of England, Thomson

☆ Summer cooking hack: Ways to grill with campfires or firepits
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Casey Barber | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Start with a few key itemsAs with an indoor kitchen, you’ll need a few crucial tools to make your outdoor cooking expeditions a success. Metal cutlery are staples of outdoor cooking. Simple to prepare in advance, foil packets are among the easiest meals for a campfire cooking newbie to whip up. For skillet cooking, you can experiment with some of your usual one-pan meals transferred to the outdoors. One note: High-sided stainless steel firepits, such as Solo Stoves, aren’t the best option for cooking in coals.

Persons: they’re, I’ve, Helmut Feil, •, ”, Dani Meyer, you’re, Harlan Schwartz, ” Meyer, Meyer, Casey Barber Organizations: CNN

☆ Stifling heat wave to grip U.S. South over holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] People purchase ice during a heatwave with expected temperatures of 102 F (39 C) in Dallas, Texas, U.S. June 12, 2022. Some 35 million people in southern Texas, Louisiana and Florida were under excessive heat warnings, watches and advisories from Thursday through the three-day Juneteenth weekend, the National Weather Service said. The growing frequency and intensity of severe weather across the U.S. is symptomatic of human-driven climate change, climate scientists say. New Orleans residents woke up to a brutal 96-degree heat index, the weather service said in a tweet. Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Shelby Tauber, RyDavis, Brendan O'Brien, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, National Weather Service, Reliability, of Texas, Thomson Locations: Dallas , Texas, U.S, Texas, Florida, Texas , Louisiana, Austin, Louisiana, New Orleans, Miami, Chicago

☆ Opinion | ‘The View’ Has Narrowed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Megan K. Stack | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

If you are saying that he is a white supremacist, what are they?” Ms. Hostin continued. Either way, the idea that Republicans could be written off en masse signaled a radical departure in “View” philosophy. The panelists have traditionally taken pains to distinguish between bad politicians and the regular people who vote for them. “You have just seen what should not happen,” Ms. Walters told the audience that day. To be fair, the animosity between “The View” and Republicans is mutual, and finding the origin point is something of a chicken-versus-egg conundrum.

Persons: Hostin, ”, Barbara Walters, Goldberg, Behar, Bill O’Reilly, Walters, “, Ms, It’s, Trump, DeSantis Locations: “, Wyoming

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