DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Opinion | Congress Isn’t a Schoolyard. Time to Deal With Toxic Immaturity.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The set-to between Mullin and O’Brien wasn’t the only incident of its kind in Congress this week. And though it may go without saying, what’s good for the basest kind of political entertainment isn’t necessarily good for Congress, the country as a whole or young men. I don’t have boys, but I know that by several measures, they are floundering compared to American girls. I don’t mean that in a “Won’t somebody please think of the children” kind of way. I just don’t think we can be a functional society if this becomes the new norm.

Persons: Joseph Bernstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, it’s “, Mullin, O’Brien, Robert Jimison, Donald Trump, Gen, ” Sanders, Let’s, It’s, “ Organizations: Pew Research, Congress Locations: ”, United States

☆ Opinion | Are We Finally Ready for a Male Contraceptive?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

So the method the foundation is working on with a biotech company is a pill that needs to be taken only monthly. It contains the same types of hormones that are in a daily pill, so the same set of side effects would apply. Another hot spot for innovation is in injectables, like the Depo-Provera shot, Vogelsong said. ”Injectables aren’t very popular in the U.S., but they are the No. 1 method used in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa for a variety of reasons,” she noted.

Persons: Ed Cara, ”, Wang, Kirsten Vogelsong, Melinda Gates, Vogelsong, I’ve Organizations: Melinda Gates Foundation Locations: injectables, U.S, Saharan Africa

☆ Opinion | The Despair at the Heart of Britney Spears’s Memoir
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first chapter of Britney Spears’s new memoir, “The Woman in Me,” includes the story of her paternal grandmother, Emma Jean Spears, called Jean; everybody says Britney Spears looks like her, but that’s not the only thing they have in common. “Tragedy runs in my family,” the passage about Jean Spears begins. “Jean wasn’t the only wife June sent to the mental hospital in Mandeville,” Britney Spears writes. “He sent his second wife there, too.”That’s the environment that her father, Jamie Spears, was raised in, Britney Spears writes. By now, most people have heard about her conservatorship (the subject of a Times documentary, “Framing Britney Spears”), which started in 2008, after her father petitioned for control over his daughter’s life and finances, citing concerns about her mental health.

Persons: Britney Spears’s, Emma Jean Spears, Jean, Britney Spears, that’s, Jean Spears, June Spears, “ Jean wasn’t, “, ”, Jamie Spears, Justin Timberlake Organizations: Louisiana Hospital Locations: Mandeville

☆ Opinion | Why We Need to Talk More Openly About Birth Control Side Effects
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Part of the reason that some non-hormonal birth control methods seem to have gained such traction on social media is that there is a tendency among some medical professionals to downplay the side effects of hormonal birth control methods that many women experience. Most women who use birth control are completely or somewhat satisfied with their methods of choice, but a minority of them experience reactions unpleasant enough to seriously impede their daily lives. Over the years, I have heard anecdotally about — and experienced — various side effects to different types of contraception: heavy breakthrough bleeding and abdominal pain with IUDs, mood disturbances with different types of pills, and sexual side effects with everything. Discussion of these issues, often confined to intimate chats among women, was aired out in a great extended bit from the comedian Beth Stelling’s new Netflix special, in which she recounts the various kinds of birth control she’s “experimented recreationally” with over the years. But some physicians say without data that point to the prevalence of some side effects, they find it difficult to respond.

Persons: Beth Stelling’s, she’s “, ”, “, Sara Cravatts, Cravatts, —, Kat Tenbarge, Kate White, they’re Organizations: Netflix, “, Stat, NBC News, Boston Medical Center

She comes on Halloween night after they fall asleep, switch it out for either healthier candy or a toy. But I think it’s all part of a larger trend where we don’t let kids have time or space to let their imaginations run wild. And so this lack of unconstructed free time is making kids feel that they don’t have power in their own lives. Maybe a little, but I’m not —[LAUGHS]I don’t want — like, I don’t do it just to be a hater. And where can I find ways that we can do things that give our kids more freedom and pleasure that we’re not stage managing?

Persons: I’m Jessica Grose, I’m, You’re Organizations: The New York Times, Pediatrics

☆ Opinion | Stop Micromanaging Halloween — Let Your Kids Be Free
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Yes, there’s international variation on these themes, which I’ve written about, and the authors of the commentary cite Finland, in particular, as a place where children still have a lot of autonomy. They theorize that a lack of independent activities negatively affects a child’s internal locus of control. When children aren’t allowed to do things on their own, they may have a weaker internal LOC, and that is “highly predictive” of certain levels of anxiety and depression. Which is that you’re taking away the opportunity for kids to have control over what they’re doing, “Because you are always controlling them. But one reason parents are overcontrolling is that they are worried about things like crime, bullying, inappropriate internet content and so on, and these things have their own negative effect on kids.

Persons: —, aren’t, ”, Peter Gray, They’re, ” Laurence Steinberg, “ Organizations: Boston College, Temple University Locations: Finland, United States

☆ Opinion | Lenient Grading Won’t Help Struggling Students. Addressing Chronic Absenteeism Will.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Once put in place, though, these types of changes are difficult to roll back, said Paul Hill, the founder of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Schools don’t work like businesses — beta testing a particular practice, looking at the results and moving forward based on the outcome. Instead, these types of realignments can become the status quo, regardless of what the data says, according to Hill. After my previous story, I did hear from some educators who’ve had positive experiences applying the 50 percent floor. But that doesn’t change the reality that strong evidence is lacking that such a practice is academically effective on a large scale.

Persons: Paul Hill, hadn’t, Brian Conrad, who’ve, you’ve, that’s, ” Organizations: Reinventing Public Education, Schools, San Francisco Unified School District, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, North Locations: Hill, That’s, California, San Antonio, North Carolina

☆ It took Trump calling Hezbollah 'very smart' for Ron DeSantis to finally glove up and go after him
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis has slammed Donald Trump for calling Hezbollah "very smart." Ron DeSantis finally gloved up and went after his onetime mentor, former President Donald Trump, after the latter called the armed group Hezbollah "very smart." Trump was also mocking the Biden administration for raising concerns about a possible Hezbollah attack on Israel. The Trump War Room, an X account linked to the Trump campaign, said DeSantis had mischaracterized Trump's remarks on the war. AdvertisementAdvertisementRepresentatives for DeSantis and Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Trump, DeSantis, —, Biden, Gee, telegraphing, Smart, Ron, Yoav Gallant, Christian Grose Organizations: Service, Hamas, Trump, ISIS, Republican, University of Southern, DeSantis Locations: Israel, Florida, DeSantis, Gaza, University of Southern California

☆ Opinion | You Can Win in Business Without Being Unhinged
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I’ve read and watched many stories about the most heralded business leaders of the past few centuries. I’m not immune to the inherent drama of an arrogant rise, a spectacular fall or both. (For example, harassing job interviewees, firing people in front of crowds, attacking former employees of companies they purchased. Isaacson puts innovation first: This man might be a monster, but look at what he built! Whereas Mary Shelley, for instance, put innovation second: The man who built this is a monster!

Persons: I’ve, Walter Isaacson’s, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Aaron Sorkin’s, Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Jill Lepore, Isaacson’s, Isaacson, Franklin, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Shelley, Marisa Meltzer’s, Emily Weiss’s Glossier, ”, Meltzer, clichés, valorizes Weiss, Weiss, underling, Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port, Hunter Harris Organizations: The Times Locations: ”

☆ Opinion | The Teacher Shortage: Why, and What to Do?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Can You Blame Them?,” by Jessica Grose (newsletter, nytimes.com, Sept. 13):As a retired teacher, I read this with heartfelt interest. Ms. Grose noted the cost of getting a degree, low pay and lack of respect as leading causes for our current shortage of teachers. Then again, when I entered the College of Education at the University of Minnesota in 1980, my friends thought I was crazy. The classroom felt like a journey of love, an opportunity to be inspired and to inspire each and every day. I walked into my college guidance counselor’s office and asked to transfer into the College of Education.

Persons: Jessica Grose, Grose Organizations: College of Education, University of Minnesota

☆ Opinion | The Joys of Spite Exercising
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

I like to joke that my current fitness level has been achieved through spite. After I had kids, I also resented any notion that I couldn’t possibly attain the fitness level I had before pushing out two nine-pound monsters. I wanted to understand, on a deeper level, why I found this spite exercising so satisfying, beyond the oft-reported mood-enhancing benefits of running. In “Secrets of Giants,” Ages writes:I couldn’t explain it, but going to the gym was bringing me back to life. block, I have a little mantra that I repeat in my head: You can do anything for five minutes.

Persons: nebbishes, —, I’d, ”, “, I’m Organizations: Giants

☆ Opinion | The Hope at the Bottom of the ‘Child Care Cliff’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

So I called Kathryn Anne Edwards, an economist and economic policy consultant, to see if there’s an argument that might change people’s minds about the utter necessity of more robust government child care funding — or if I should lose all hope in the possibility of a shift in the way that child care is thought about, discussed and sustained in the United States. labor force participation is midway through a historic decline. In Edwards’s phrasing, it “has been frozen in time for 25 years.” When you see headlines about how we’re at all-time highs for women’s labor force participation, Edwards suggests, that’s misleading. When you look at the actual level of increase since the 1990s, labor force participation among women has barely budged, and without a policy shift, we shouldn’t expect it to go up much in the coming years. The second thing that could force Congress to act on child care is that the birthrate is on the decline in the United States, Edwards said.

Persons: Kathryn Anne Edwards, Edwards, ”, ” Edwards, “, Peter G Organizations: Social, Peterson Foundation, Social Security Locations: United States

☆ Opinion | There’s Still Overwhelming Cultural Pressure to Get Married and Have Kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Personally, I don’t care whether candidates for higher office are married — I don’t think it has anything to do with their ability to lead. (Even Donald Trump, with his divorces and reputation as a womanizer, could be photographed with his beautiful current wife and brood of kids.) And on the other: People Without Kids (PWOKS: self-absorbed, entitled, attention whores, grumpy about life’s inconveniences even though their life is easy). I read this piece on two levels, the cultural and the personal. As for the cultural, I think when people get into their 30s and 40s and aren’t married and don’t have kids, they’re often judged in the “Departed” style.

Persons: Martin Scorsese, he’s, ”, “, Tim Scott, —, won’t, Donald Trump, Allison P, Davis, aren’t, don’t, they’re, it’s Organizations: Washington Post, Republican, White House Locations: United States

☆ Opinion | No One Wants to Be a Teacher Anymore. Can You Blame Them?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Interest in the teaching profession among high school seniors and college freshman has fallen 50 percent since the 1990s and 38 percent since 2010, reaching the lowest level in the last 50 years. It’s important to note that teacher shortages are not uniformly spread across schools, districts or states. So what can be done to help get more teachers into the profession and keep them there? Cutting the costs of a teaching degree is one lever to pull, whether that’s through student loan forgiveness or college scholarships. reported that when adjusted for inflation, “the average salary of teachers has actually declined by an estimated 6.4 percent, or $3,644, over the past decade.”

Persons: Matthew Kraft of Brown, Melissa Arnold Lyon, Kraft, Dorinda Carter Andrews, “, ” Carter Andrews, M.S.U, ” Organizations: Annenberg Institute, School Reform, Brown University, University, Albany, Michigan State University, National Education Association Locations: Colorado, Washington State

☆ Opinion | I’m Not a Joiner. Was I Born That Way?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

When I started my reporting, I was somewhat ambivalent about my lack of traditional observance as an adult. I went to temple growing up and I’m proud of my heritage and the values I consider to be Jewish. There are a lot of reasons for this reaction, but the most deep-rooted may be that I’m not a joiner. I’m often skeptical of institutions, their exclusionary tactics and their hidden agendas, which makes me a good journalist (and arguably a good Jew, because we love to question everything). Once a book becomes an assignment, reading it starts feeling like a chore, rather than a pleasure.

Persons: I’ve, Groucho Marx, I’m

☆ Opinion | The Fight for Your Kids’ Brains Has Already Begun
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Much of the drama in the charming new Netflix teen comedy “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” revolves around the pitfalls of social media, specifically the public sharing of private videos. A mild spoiler: Stacy completes the jump without injury and to great applause, until her maxi pad floats up next to her and the applause dissolves into laughter. A humiliation like this used to be confined to the memory of the kids who witnessed it, and at worst, it became local lore. They’re 10 and 7 and I don’t allow them to use social media yet, and I feel some comfort having equipped them with as much information as I can about the digital world. I’m not naïve and I don’t think they’re perfect angels — I know they’ll make mistakes, but hopefully they have enough foresight and knowledge that their errors aren’t catastrophic ones.

Persons: Stacy, I’ve, Devorah Heitner, Heitner Organizations: Netflix, ricochet, Northwestern University

☆ Opinion | Where Should Agnostics Go on Sundays?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

So what he’d like — well, here’s the quote:I can easily imagine a “church for the nones.” (It would need a more appealing name.) I could attend a Christian church on Sundays and teach my daughter about other beliefs the rest of the week. With all my reservations, I don’t really want to join an existing church. And I don’t think I am going to have much luck getting my fellow nones to join something I start. My sense is that the people who want what church provides are going to the existing Christian churches, even if they are skeptical of some of the beliefs.

Persons: Perry Bacon, ’, Jessica Grose, Nick Kristof, Bacon, certainties, Doesn’t Bacon, Hasn’t, he’s, I’ve Organizations: The Washington Post, Society for Ethical, Netflix Locations: America, ”

☆ After being asked what his biggest selling point is over Trump, DeSantis delivered a 3-minute ramble that avoided taking direct shots at the GOP frontrunner
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis passed up an opportunity to name one reason voters should pick him over Donald Trump. At an event at J&J Ag Solutions, an "average voter" named Ethan Masters asked DeSantis, "So what's your biggest selling point when I'm in the voting stage and it's between you and Trump?" He'd be a lame duck on Day 1 even if he could get elected," DeSantis said. Trump leads DeSantis by nearly 40 points in most recent polls of GOP candidates. Representatives for DeSantis and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Ethan Masters, DeSantis, Trump, unmet, Hillary Clinton, Masters, didn't, Chris Christie —, Christian Grose, he's Organizations: Service, J Ag Solutions, The New York Times, Trump, Times, University of Southern, DeSantis Locations: Florida, Wall, Silicon, Estherville , Iowa, Mexico, University of Southern California, Iowa

☆ Opinion | Margot Robbie’s Sly Interpretation of the Feminine Ideal
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In particular, I continue to marvel at the performance of Margot Robbie, who played the titular heroine — Stereotypical Barbie — and who I think isn’t getting enough credit for holding the movie together. She must journey to the real world, leaving an army of other Barbies behind, to get back to a state of unquestioning bliss. She grudgingly takes Ken (a perfectly doltish Ryan Gosling) with her, and in the real world he discovers the concept of patriarchy. A movie called “Barbie,” and Barbie didn’t always feel like the main character. I also kept thinking about Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie.

Persons: Barbie, Barbie ”, Margot Robbie, Barbie —, Ken, Ryan Gosling, Manohla Dargis, Ken’s, Robbie, Weird Barbie, Kate McKinnon, — didn’t, Allan, Michael Cera, Barbie didn’t, — Organizations: House Locations: America

☆ Opinion | Leaving the Office at 5 Is Not a Moral Failing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

These concepts aren’t about goofing off all day or shirking responsibility; they’re about creating reasonable boundaries based on actual job descriptions. This shouldn’t be framed as a moral failing. Executives should take note: Laying down acceptable boundaries between the home and work lives of your employees doesn’t mean less profit. Not everyone should be a raging ambition monster — it is not sustainable for a varied and functional workplace. If, as a manager, you’re constantly requiring people to work overtime or out of the scope of their job description, it’s a sure sign that your company is not well structured.

Persons: ” Gabrielle Judge, ”, Williams, Lora Kelley, you’re Organizations: ” Harvard Locations: Britain

☆ Opinion | The Absurd Republican Argument for Rolling Back Child Labor Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Vrbin’s report notes that Kellams isn’t against teenagers working, and that as a teenager she herself worked at a local chicken plant that has a history of violating child labor laws. Some of these laws, like Iowa’s, which allows 14- and 15-year-olds to work up to six hours a day during the school year, conflict with federal labor law. According to Nina Mast, a state economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, the ultimate goal of the proponents of these state laws is to weaken federal child labor law. Though there were attempts to weaken child labor law after that, he says, they weren’t really mainstream for decades. In his book, Fliter notes that as a presidential candidate in 2012, the former House speaker Newt Gingrich “proposed a plan to allow poor children to work as janitors in schools” and called child labor laws “truly stupid.” Since then, political attacks on child labor laws have increased.

Persons: ”, Tess Vrbin, Laura Kellams, ” Kellams, Nina Mast, John Fliter, Fliter, Mike Lee of, Newt Gingrich “ Organizations: Northwest, Arkansas, Children, Economic Policy Institute, Kansas State University, “ Child Labor, Fair Labor, Senate Locations: Arkansas, The Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas, ” Arkansas, Iowa , New Hampshire, New Jersey, America, Mike Lee of Utah, ”

☆ Opinion | ‘Huberman Husbands,’ ‘Bro Diets’ and the ‘Masculine’ Branding of Fitness Culture
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It started with a suspicious green sludge at the bottom of our drinking glasses. I kept finding evidence of this murky, grassy sediment when I was unloading the dishwasher, and I asked my husband if he knew where it came from. He said something like, “Oh, that’s Athletic Greens” — a supplement powder that includes dehydrated fruits, vegetables and grains that you mix with water. And I would also hear him mention “zone 2” exercising — which, as a runner, I honestly wanted to know more about. (You can peruse mixed reviews on greens powders’ benefits here and here.)

Persons: Andrew Huberman, Canon, Joseph Bernstein, Huberman, Goop, ”, he’s Organizations: that’s Athletic Greens, Stanford, Athletic Greens

☆ Ron DeSantis is trailing Trump in the polls because he hasn’t ‘hit him hard enough’ and isn’t a ‘memorable personality,’ political experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Lloyd Lee | Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ron DeSantis hoped that Donald Trump's legal woes would hurt his opponent, per The New York Times. A USC political science professor told Insider that DeSantis hasn't hit Trump "hard enough." With eight months until the primaries, the public's opinion can still change — and so can Trump's legal standing. As for Trump's top challenger for the GOP nomination, Grose said DeSantis hasn't quite "hit him hard enough." Regardless, it appears like the DeSantis campaign is working hard on its reboot.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump's, Trump, Jack Smith, Christian Grose, Grose, DeSantis, Biden, Justice Department's, kowtowing, Anthony Fauci, Cal Jillson, Jillson, —, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, He's Organizations: New York Times, Trump, USC, Service, GOP, Truth, University of Southern, Republican, Biden Administration, Department of Justice, Justice, CNN, Southern Methodist University, Politico Locations: Florida, Wall, Silicon, Trump, University of Southern California, DeSantis, Iowa, New Hampshire

☆ Opinion | The Church of Group Fitness
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Some talked about clubs that formed organically in their neighborhoods or towns, like that Colorado hiking group. But they found community — and more — in CrossFit, a group class that involves a variety of high-intensity exercises and weight lifting. CrossFit also has parallels with some religious organizations in terms of the potential to alienate people who disagree with conservative-aligned beliefs. Petrzela described an unsavory side of group fitness involving entitled star instructors and the businesses that profit from them. Still, there are many positives to glean from group fitness.

Persons: Jeffrey Johnson, Louis, ” Johnson, ” Casper ter Kuile, ”, Johnson, CrossFitters, There’s, CrossFit, Greg Glassman, George Floyd, Covid, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Petrzela, Ter Kuile, Angie Thurston Organizations: Harvard Divinity School Locations: Colorado, Illinois, St, Haiti, CrossFit

☆ Opinion | This Summer Has Been a Travel Nightmare. Technology Isn’t Helping.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Summer is generally the busiest travel season of the year, and the Northeast, where I live, has been hit with consecutive weekends of severe thunderstorms, leading to thousands of flight cancellations. Dealing with the fallout of the cancellations is an additional fiasco on top of the already chaotic summer airport scene. At the risk of sounding like a hack comic — What is the deal with airlines? I tried to change that flight on my phone using the airline’s app, so I could get home sooner, but it and the airline’s website kept crashing. I went to the airport, but the gate agents told me they couldn’t reach the airline’s booking system, either on their computers or on the phone.

Locations: Savannah , Ga, New York, New York City, Atlanta

Search resuls for: "Grose"

25 mentions found