DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ TikTok influencers want to rent you a very cool home. Just don't call them landlords.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

While live-in landlords are far from a novel concept, the pandemic-era fever around passive income and real-estate investing has sparked a rise in the popularity of house hacking. While Turner's initial strategy emphasized small multifamily buildings, some house hackers applied the concept to single-family homes. In 2019, he published a book called "The House Hacking Strategy: How to Use Your Home to Achieve Financial Freedom." And I think house hacking is one obvious way to eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, what likely is your largest expense." "Yeah, it's called 'house hacking," the owner and roommate, also played by Jarman, who has 4 million followers, replies.

Persons: Kelly Clark, Clark, scoffed, TikTok, Zers, Brandon Turner, Turner, Ryan Lehman, Lehman, Brandon, I'm, Craig Curelop, BiggerPockets who's, Curelop, influencer Addison Jarman, renter, it's, Jarman, Jay Parsons, John Liang, TikToker, Liang, —, It's, doesn't, Insider's Daniel Geiger, she'd, James Rodriguez Organizations: Federal Housing Administration, BiggerPockets, Census, YouTube, RealPage Locations: Spokane , Washington, Silicon, millennials, Seattle, Spokane

☆ Live updates: Spain vs Netherlands, Women's World Cup 2023 quarter final
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | Adam Renton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

A beaten finalist in 2019, the Netherlands will likely be feeling very confident of going one better this year after an impressive World Cup campaign so far. The Oranje is unbeaten in Australia and New Zealand and has conceded just one goal during the tournament, coming in the 1-1 group stage draw against the United States — also the only game it has failed to win. Spain has both dazzled and disappointed its fans this tournament, racking up high-scoring wins over Zambia, Costa Rica and then Switzerland in the last-16. However, the team’s low point came in a 4-0 demolition against Japan in the final group stage match, a game that laid bare La Roja's weaknesses. Spain will likely chalk it up to a off day, while others will point to the sobering defeat as proof the team isn’t yet up to level of the true title contenders Down Under.

Persons: United States —, Jill Roord, Lieke Martens, Daniëlle van Organizations: Oranje, United, South, Zambia Locations: Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, United States, South Africa, Spain, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Japan

☆ The AI boom will wipe out jobs — and there's not really much we can do about it, Paul Krugman says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Krugman talked about AI's potential to displace white-collar jobs. He contended that there isn't much the government can do to mitigate the impact of AI on jobs. What he means is that the AI boom is likely to wipe out some white-collar jobs (over manual-labor jobs) evenly across the country — instead of devastating one particular region or social group. "I don't think there's much you can do about that aside from just trying to ban the technology altogether, which isn't going to work," Krugman said. Krugman said it's still hard to gauge the impact of technological innovation like AI because the way we "measure technology is godawful."

Persons: Paul Krugman, Krugman, it's, It's Organizations: Morning

☆ How ‘gray rocking’ can protect you against narcissists
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Here is what you need to know about narcissists and how to gray rock your way out of conflict with them. It depends on what you mean by narcissist, Malkin said. In conflict, or even just in conversation, it is important to protect your sense of self and independence from narcissists, Ashway said. If the person is likely to just be a jerk, gray rocking may be very helpful. Important to remember, though, is that gray rocking is not about changing the behavior of the narcissist, Malkin said.

Persons: ” Gray, narcissists, Keith Campbell, I’ve, ” Campbell, Craig Malkin, narcissist, Malkin, Campbell, …, Covert, ”, “, you’ve, Deborah Ashway, Ashway, “ They’re, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, University of Georgia, Harvard Medical School Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts, New Bern , North Carolina, narcissists

☆ Bitcoin is in the depths of the summer doldrums despite a wave of positive regulatory developments. Here's what to expect in August.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In the latest week, bitcoin closed lower by 1.9%. Coin Metrics measures a week in crypto, which trades 24 hours a day, from the 4:00 p.m. "August is a quiet month for traditional market investors and crypto is no different," said Greg Cipolaro, global head of research at NYDIG, the crypto subsidiary of Stone Ridge Asset Management. "Historically, mean returns have waned as we go into the summer months and that may play out again in August." But even with the latest downdraft, bitcoin is still up about 77% for the year, and investors are upbeat.

Persons: it's, Greg Cipolaro, Ric Edelman, Edelman, Bitcoin, —, Gina Francolla Organizations: bitcoin, Management, Digital Assets, Financial Professionals, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Binance, Innovation, Technology, Century, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Nasdaq Locations: NYDIG, Stone, Congress, BlackRock

☆ Snap’s boss destroys $43 bln in a snap
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Snap’s (SNAP.N) value is disappearing almost as quickly as its messages. Snap is still struggling to pry money from advertisers, a worrisome trend for a relatively young company. When the then 26-year-old co-founder brought Snap public, the company, whose deal was 10 times oversubscribed, had promises of being the next Facebook. Snap’s shares should be worth some $37, or $60 billion overall. Snap’s shares fell 19% in morning trade on July 26.

Persons: Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg’s, Spiegel, that’s, Snap’s, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Revenue, Spiegel, Thomson Locations: California

☆ Elon Musk plans to rebrand Twitter as 'X' — an idea that harkens back to the CEO's early days when he was ousted from PayPal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk announced Saturday that he plans to rebrand Twitter and change the bird logo to 'X.' Musk previously wanted X to be the name of a banking services site now known as PayPal. Musk said a new "interim" X logo will go live Sunday. Elon Musk in Palo Alto, California, on August 7, 2000. According to Ashlee Vance's biography "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future," almost everyone in the company preferred the name PayPal.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Elon, Pauline Lubens, Julie Anderson Ankenbrandt, Ankenbrandt, x.com, X.com, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Musk's, Thiel, Ashlee Vance's Organizations: Twitter, PayPal, MediaNews, Mercury, Getty, Elon, SpaceX, X Corp Locations: Silicon Valley, Palo Alto , California, Palo Alto, Nevada

☆ Canada gives Toronto millions to shelter asylum seekers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which has responsibility for refugees and asylum seekers, prides itself on its record of accepting those fleeing oppression even as it tries to tighten its border with the United States. But Toronto, Canada's largest city, says Ottawa has not provided anywhere near enough money to keep shelters open. At the end of 2022, Canada had more than 70,000 pending refugee claims. Almost 40,000 asylum seekers entered Canada through irregular border crossings from the United States last year -- nine times higher than in 2021 when COVID-19 related restrictions were enforced. In March, the United States and Canada changed a two-decade-old refugee agreement as part of an attempts to reduce the influx across the world's largest land border.

Persons: Marco Mendicino's, Soe, Sean Fraser, Justin Trudeau, Kevin Vuong, Trudeau, Fraser, David Ljunggren, Susan Heavey Organizations: Rights, Public Safety, REUTERS, Rights OTTAWA, Canadian, Thomson Locations: Canada, United States, Toronto , Ontario, Toronto, Canada's, Ottawa, COVID, Quebec

☆ The unlikely story of the first photo of Mars ever seen on TV
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It was one of a twin set of spacecraft designed to take images of Mars, and the first one failed. Dan Goods/NASA/JPL-CaltechThe transmission was incredibly slow by today’s standards, given that the Perseverance rover regularly sends back batches of high-resolution images from Mars. Together, they revealed craters on the Martian surface and clouds floating above in the atmosphere, both of which surprised scientists. The highest-resolution Mariner 4 image (right) revealed the cratered Martian surface from 7,830 miles (12,601 kilometers) above. JPL/NASAThe snapshots showed less than 1% of the Martian surface, missing the more diverse features on the planet’s surface that later missions such as Viking 1 would capture.

Persons: Pasadena , California CNN —, Mars, “, ”, David Delgado, Percival, Dan Goods, Richard Grumm, Grumm, ” Delgado, William Pickering Organizations: Pasadena , California CNN, Spacecraft, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA’s, JPL, Mariner, Venus, NASA Mariner, NASA, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: Pasadena , California, High, Pasadena, Flagstaff , Arizona, Goldstone , California

☆ In Switzerland, an artist uses mountain slopes as his canvas
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Denis Balibouse | Thomson Reuters | Award Winning Photographer Based In Switzerland With Over Years Of Experience In Coverage Of Local | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Swiss- French artist SAYPE poses next to his land art painting representing a pet bottle left on the grass as littering in the Parc Bourget in Lausanne, Switzerland, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoVILLARS-SUR-OLLON, Switzerland, July 14 (Reuters) - On mountain slopes in the Swiss village of Villars-sur-Ollon, an artist has used chalk and charcoal to paint two giant frescos of children sketching how they see the vast world around them. Swiss-French artist SAYPE said his frescos -- which at around 3,000 square metres (3,590 square yards) can be seen from the mountaintop and nearby pastures -- symbolize the need to reject uniformity and embrace different perspectives. "The children are on different altitudes, so they are drawing different things," SAYPE said. "Even if they are at different altitudes, the two worlds they are drawing complement each other."

Persons: SAYPE, Denis Balibouse, Frances Kerry Organizations: REUTERS, Cape Town, Thomson Locations: Swiss, Parc Bourget, Lausanne, Switzerland, Villars, Berlin, Paris, Istanbul, Cape

☆ 33 non-Prime Day Alternative Sales to Shop from Walmart, Macy’s & More
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Bellamy Richardson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +20 min

For these two days, take 25% off select items as well as 15% off select beauty products by using the code CYBER at checkout. Everlane Best of SaleThe deal: Various discounts sitewideLooking to add some classic summer essentials to your wardrobe for the warmer weather? Lands’ End High-Summer SaleThe deal: 50% offHeading to the beach and need a new swimsuit? Our Place Summer SaleThe deal: 20% off select itemsFrom now through July 12, upgrade your cookware collection and take 20% off select items from Our Place for its Summer Sale. Sephora Top Skincare SaleThe deal: Up to 50% off top skincare itemsYou can save up to 50% off top skincare picks through July 15.

Persons: Bellamy Richardson, Alex Mill, “, Cabeau, Peter Thomas Roth, Huckberry, Ripstop, Macy’s, Michael Kors, you’ve, Samsonite, Spinner —, —, LUNA, Pearl Pink, Kate Somerville, grillers, Gray Organizations: Amazon, Amazon Prime, USA, GOLS, Stainless Steel, Macbook, Walmart, Target, Samsung, LG, Sony, LG Smart, Brooklinen, Cabeau, Soho, Rockies, Black, Nike, Nike Air Max, Saks, Saks Fifth, Sale, Sun, Dyson, Lenovo, Thermoworks, Savings, Urban, Big Deal, Urban Outfitters, Party Locations: California, Kalamata, Bone, Zion, Black, Caribbean, Tres, Wayfair, White

Tom Schroeder, the whistleblower accusing Medtronic of a kickback scheme, left, is interviewed by Morgan Brennan, in Kansas City, Missouri. Schroeder said rumors circulated that Medtronic sales representatives were bribing VA staff to purchase an excessive amount of the company's inventory. The veterans hospital purchased more devices than some of the largest veterans medical facilities, according to data the VA's investigation gathered. Medtronic also said that Schroeder has "admitted under oath that he has no firsthand knowledge of any problematic procedure involving Medtronic devices." Douglas Winger, one of the Medtronic sales representatives named as a defendant in Schroeder's lawsuit, won a Medtronic President's Club award in 2016 for his sales.

Persons: Tom Schroeder, Schroeder, Becton Dickinson, Medtronic, Morgan Brennan, Schroder, Boua Xiong, Robert J, texted, Rick Ament, Ament, filet mignon, …, I'm, Brendan Donelon, Donelon, CNBC Donelon, Xiong, Douglas Winger, Winger, Kim Hodgson, Hodgson, Dole, ProPublica, John Laird Organizations: Inc, CNBC, Dole Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dole VA, Department of Veterans Affairs, United, VA's, Department of Justice, Covidien, Dole, Medtronic, Society for Vascular, Drug Administration, FDA Locations: Kansas, United States, Kansas City , Missouri, Dublin, Ireland, Medtronic's, Wichita ., Dole, Covidien, Medtronic, Dole VA

☆ Alcaraz overcomes Muller despite error-strewn performance
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Clare Lovell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The 26-year-old Muller, ranked 84th, has spent most of his professional career on the second-tier challenger circuit. At key moments U.S. Open champion Alcaraz produced backhands that swerved round the net post, lobs that puffed the baseline chalk, and unreturnable serves that reached 130 miles an hour. After breaking serve in the seventh game, Alcaraz won the first set on his fourth set point with a big serve the Frenchman could not deal with. "I'm getting more experience and getting better every game," Alcaraz said in an on-court interview. Reporting by Clare Lovell, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, France’s Alexandre Muller, Andrew Couldridge, Carlos Alcaraz, France's Alexandre Muller, Muller, Alcaraz, unreturnable, I'm, Clare Lovell, Ed Osmond Organizations: Lawn Tennis, Croquet Club, France’s Alexandre Muller REUTERS, Wimbledon, Frenchman, Thomson Locations: London, Britain

☆ Toolbelts, cardboard bags and ‘crogs:’ Fendi makes a case for carpenter-core
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Scarlett Conlon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Step forward the “corporate artisan”, star of the Italian fashion house’s SS24 show on Thursday night and proposed pin-up for next season. Part technical-whizz, part traditional tool-master, the handle speaks to the modern-day creative, said Artistic Director Silvia Venturini Fendi in a pre-show preview with CNN. FendiFor the accessories, Venturini Fendi collaborated with the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma - who she regards to be “the best to combine nature and technology” - to reinvent signature Fendi bags including the Peekaboo in traditional Japanese washi paper. The clog silhouette is going nowhere, as Fendi becomes the latest high fashion brand to reimagine the comfy slip-on shoe. Pietro D'Aprano/Getty ImagesThe set, said Venturini Fendi, was masterminded so to be transparent about the teamwork involved in creating a fashion collection.

Persons: Silvia Venturini Fendi, Fendi, ”, Kengo Kuma, JW Anderson, Pietro D'Aprano, Venturini Fendi, “ It’s, ” Alexander Skarsgard, Daniele Venturelli, Adele, Karl Lagerfeld, “ Organizations: CNN, JW Locations: Capannuccia, Florence, Italy, Rome

☆ Artist paints giant plastic bottle in Swiss park in litter protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/5] Swiss- French artist SAYPE poses next to his land art painting representing a pet bottle left on the grass as littering in the Parc Bourget in Lausanne, Switzerland, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseLAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 16 (Reuters) - A Swiss-French artist has painted a giant fresco depicting a crumpled plastic bottle directly onto the grass of a Swiss park with a view to raising awareness about pollution. Saype, 34, used chalk and charcoal for the huge painting which is about the length and width of three tennis courts in Lausanne's Louis-Bourget park on the shores of Lake Geneva. The painting, which is cordoned off, is expected to last for two or three weeks. Reporting by Denis Balibouse; Writing by Emma Farge, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: SAYPE, Denis Balibouse, Emma Farge, William Maclean Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Swiss, Parc Bourget, Lausanne, Switzerland, Lausanne's Louis, Bourget, Lake Geneva

☆ Good Luck, and Bad, on New York’s Sidewalks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Amelia Nierenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Look down, and you may find yourself standing in a “good luck spot,” drawn in pastel pink or blue or yellow. Or maybe a “bad luck spot.” Or maybe many bad luck spots. “It’s like a practical joke,” Mr. Morelo, 51, said on a recent afternoon, his hands dusty with chalk. Some days, Mr. Morelo fills an entire stretch of sidewalk with bad luck anemones, leaving only a small path between them. Or he may draw one huge bad luck sinkhole, right where skateboarders gather.

Persons: Felix Morelo, ”, “, Mr, Morelo Locations: Washington, New York

☆ England and Wales get first female top judge in 750-year history
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - The head of the judiciary in England and Wales will be a woman for the first time in the more than 750-year history of the role, it was announced on Thursday. Sue Carr was formally appointed by King Charles and will take up the role of Lord Chief Justice, which dates back to the 13th century, following Ian Burnett's retirement in October. The 58-year-old qualified as a lawyer in 1987 and was first appointed as a judge in 2009, before becoming a High Court judge in 2013. The title of Lord Chief Justice, created in 1268, is set down in law. However, Britain's justice minister Alex Chalk told the BBC this week the title could be changed depending on Carr's wishes.

Persons: Sue Carr, King Charles, Justice, Ian Burnett's, Alex Chalk, Sam Tobin, Sachin Ravikumar Organizations: Lord, BBC, Thomson Locations: England, Wales

☆ Where is the best place in New York City for a finance office?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

So if you have to come in, where's the best place to go? Note: Most of the companies listed below have multiple office locations beyond the one listed. An open letter to big banks going through an identity crisis. My open letter to big banks. Here's a list of nearly a dozen of the best chocolates you can buy, according to a professional chocolatier.

Persons: Dan DeFrancesco, we've, Spencer Platt, It's, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, We'll, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, You've, I'm, Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka, Stephanie Cohen, Banks, We've, Brace, it's, Jeffrey Cane, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Getty, Apple, Downtown . Companies, NYSE, BNY, Metro North, . Companies, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP, Midwest, Midtown East . Companies, Blackstone, Millennium, Grand Central, Yards, Hudson Yards, Plaid, Rho Technologies, Connecticut . Companies, Paramount, Maverick Capital, Tiger Global, D1, JPMorgan, LinkedIn Locations: Downtown, JPMorgan, MarketAxess, BlackRock, midtown, — Flatiron, NoHo, Connecticut, Bridgewater, AQR, London, Citadel, New York

☆ The ‘Haunting’ of Gary Simmons
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Ted Loos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For someone whose signature move is using chalk or paint to create ghostly traces of images that seem to be disappearing before our eyes, Gary Simmons is emphatically present in the art world these days. Simmons, a Conceptual artist known for looking at the ways racial ideas are disseminated, has his biggest and most comprehensive retrospective opening June 13 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, as well as a current show of new work at Hauser & Wirth in London. “Seeing that much of your own work can have an odd effect — it can be paralyzing,” said Simmons, 59, who was warm and chatty as he talked about the MCA show in the smaller of his two studios here. At the MCA, “Gary Simmons: Public Enemy,” with 70 works, will be on view through Oct. 1, and later travel to the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the co-organizer.

Persons: Gary Simmons, Simmons, ” Organizations: Museum of Contemporary Art, Hauser & Wirth, MCA, Pérez Art Museum Miami Locations: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, London

☆ Opinion | Trump’s Justices Didn’t Doom Affirmative Action. Demography Did.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Christopher Caldwell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But it’s inadequate to describe why affirmative action is in danger. Affirmative action dates from executive orders issued by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s. Giving a break to a few Black students might have meant denying a chance to the equivalent number of white students. But because white people constituted an overwhelming majority, the number of white applicants disadvantaged by affirmative action was relatively low. And advantages were being redistributed from descendants of the former oppressor race (white people) to descendants of the former oppressed race (Black people).

Persons: Donald Trump, John F, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson Organizations: Harvard Locations: Black

The deal to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until January 2025 holds non-defense discretionary spending largely flat this year, with a 1% increase in fiscal 2024. SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE OFF LIMITSIn their debt limit negotiations, both President Joe Biden and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed not to touch the main driver of U.S. debt: rising Social Security pension and Medicare health benefit costs. Debt-ceiling negotiations spared cuts to mandatory spending like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security even though these programs cost more than discretionary spending. CBO projects the government will spend $6 trillion on mandatory spending programs in the 2033 fiscal year, up from $4.1 trillion this year. But the plan failed when then-president Barack Obama declined to endorse it, setting up Congress for the debt ceiling battle of 2011.

Persons: Joe Biden, Kevin McCarthy, Julia Nikhinson, Dennis Ippolito, you've, Nigel Chalk, Biden, Brian Riedl, Linda Bilmes, Bowles, Barack Obama, Bilmes, David Lawder, Andy Sullivan, Heather Timmons, Nick Zieminski Organizations: White, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, Republicans, Defense, Southern Methodist University, Congressional Budget Office, Security, Social Security, CBO, International Monetary Fund, Reuters, Democratic, Western Hemisphere Department, IMF, Manhattan Institute, Harvard Kennedy School, Commerce Department, Simpson, Thomson Locations: United States, Washington , U.S, U.S, Washington

☆ Opinion: A boast that could sink Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. CNN —“I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade,” former President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday on Newsmax. Congress has the power to rein in the court, wrote CNN legal analyst and law professor Steve Vladeck, whose new book “The Shadow Docket” focuses on the Supreme Court. Courtesy Boaz FreundIn 2019, then-President Trump issued an executive order requiring hospitals to post the prices of common medical services and procedures. For some, its celebration of a multiracial but purely fictional British aristocracy may even be a big part of its appeal.”As escapism, “Queen Charlotte” is a success.

☆ Read Your Way Through Los Angeles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Héctor Tobar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Read Your Way Around the World is a series exploring the globe through books. Outsiders often think of Los Angeles as an anti-intellectual place, all Hollywood glitz and no substance, but writers have always been drawn to my hometown. In David L. Ulin’s “Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology,” I read about Simone de Beauvoir’s 1947 journey to L.A.’s Eastside, where she learned about the city’s anti-Mexican prejudice and admired Dia de los Muertos skulls. It’s no accident that two very different, canonical works of L.A. literature climax with riots, even though they were written more than a half century apart: Nathanael West’s 1939 novel “The Day of the Locust,” and Anna Deavere Smith’s play “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.”Is there a book, or a writer, who captures the essence of Los Angeles? With her iconic 1960s and ‘70s essays about Los Angeles and the West, in collections such as “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” Didion helped invent New Journalism.

☆ Opinion: The banned Russian landmine with a deceptively poetic name
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Opinion Sasha Dovzhyk | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

A great deal of eeriness is due to the highly explosive Russian “petals.” “Petal” — or, “lepestok,” in Russian — is the poetic name of an internationally banned Russian-made anti-personnel landmine. The Russian wish for Ukraine appears to be death: to render Ukrainian land uninhabitable, to maim and kill those who live on it. But as one learns from Kataev’s tale, the Russian petals travel far and know no borders. In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that 200,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) of Ukrainian land were contaminated with unexploded mines and shells. The rusted remains of a tank in Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region, pictured during a PEN Ukraine trip in April 2023.

☆ Mexico's mighty peso hits 7-year record high against U.S. dollar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Noe Torres | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Some analysts chalk up the peso's latest gains, however, as mostly the flip side of a weakening greenback. The peso gained 0.95% on Monday to trade at 17.42 pesos per dollar, its strongest level since May 2016. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador repeatedly touts the peso's strength as evidence of sound macroeconomic policies, especially his administration's budget austerity and pledge to avoid taking on new debt. "A big part of (the peso's strength) is the dollar's weakness," he said, adding that the Mexican economy further benefits from growing flows of fixed investments into the country. "Mexico has shown itself to be the least ugly person at the party," quipped Gonzali, helping it attract more dance partners.

Search resuls for: "Chalk"

25 mentions found