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☆ I quit the big city to become a virtual assistant in the Spanish mountains. Here's how I work fewer hours and got started without personal-assistant experience.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Helen Taylor, a 40-year-old virtual assistant living in the Asturias province of Spain. But from my research, I realized that "virtual assistant" is an umbrella term for a lot of different work. Associates work for a lead virtual assistant who hands over the tasks they may not have the time or ability to complete. I started by offering clients tasks I knew I could do. I start work early so my clients in London can start at 9 a.m. with a clean inbox.

“Now, we have a better understanding of the kind of benefits that operating in cislunar space can bring countries back home.”Though definitions sometimes differ, cislunar space generally refers to the space between Earth and the moon, including the moon's surface and orbit. In 2021, Holzinger co-authored a report titled “A Primer on Cislunar Space“ to help U.S. government officials understand the ins and outs of cislunar space. That interest is apparent: Last year, the Space Force identified cislunar operations as a development priority, and in April established the 19th Space Defense Squadron to oversee cislunar space. In November, the White House released its own strategy for interagency research on "responsible, peaceful, and sustainable exploration and utilization of cislunar space." Together, these factors could make it difficult to manage traffic in cislunar space, particularly if adversaries intentionally try to mask their activities there.

Waller said he remained "cautious" about the path of inflation and expected it would take "continued tightening of monetary policy" to return the rate of price increases to the Fed's 2% target. That process seems to be underway, Waller said, all while the unemployment rate remains, at least so far, at a half-century low of 3.5%. The Fed used a series of aggressive-three-quarter point rate increases last year to push the target federal funds rate from near zero to a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. At the Fed's last meeting in December, however, policymakers eased the pace and approved just a half-point increase. While supporting the use of quarter point hikes, Waller did not indicate in his prepared remarks how much further he feels rates need to rise from here.

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is set to again slow the pace of its interest rate increases at a Jan. 31-Feb. 1 policy meeting while also signaling that its battle against inflation is far from over. Throughout last year, the Fed's rapid series of rate hikes were announced in a statement that also promised "ongoing increases" until rates were "sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2%." Fed officials were surprised in 2021 by the persistence of inflation that at one point was more than triple their 2% target. The unemployment rate is currently 3.5%, a level seen only rarely since World War Two. "Thus, I anticipate the need for further rate increases."

☆ Teachers are adapting to concerns about a powerful new AI tool
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Some teachers said they’ve also heard of students being required to film short videos that elaborate on their thought process. Public schools in New York City and Seattle, meanwhile, have already banned students and teachers from using ChatGPT on the district’s networks and devices. Reid, the professor at Coastal Carolina University, believes teachers should work with ChatGPT and teach best practices in the classroom. Reid said teachers could encourage students to plug an assignment question into the tool and have them compare that result to what they personally wrote. “Like with other new technologies, this could be a tool instructors use to help students express their ideas,” she said.

The Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate rapidly last year, from near-zero in March to the current 4.25%-4.50% range, to restrain inflation that climbed to 40-year highs. In December, Fed policymakers as a group signaled the policy rate will need to rise to at least 5.1%; financial markets, meanwhile, are pricing for the Fed to stop just short of 5%. But she did appear to ratify market expectations for the Fed's upcoming rate hike to be a quarter-of-a-percentage-point, a downshift from December's half-point rate hike and from the four 75-basis-point rate hikes that preceded. "Recent data suggests slightly better prospects that we could see continued disinflation in the context of moderate growth," Brainard said. Even as the Fed parses the progress it has made on inflation, she said it would "stay the course."

[1/3] Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard speaks at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 19, 2023. In addition, she said the full impact of last year's aggressive Fed interest rate increases has yet to be felt. "It remains possible that a continued moderation in aggregate demand could facilitate continued easing in the labor market and reduction in inflation without a significant loss of employment," Brainard said. Even as the Fed parses the progress it has made on inflation, she said it would "stay the course." "Even with the recent moderation, inflation remains high, and policy will need to be sufficiently restrictive for some time to make sure inflation returns to 2 percent on a sustained basis," Brainard said.

That’s consistent with the long-standing and well-understood rule that eating fewer calories contributes to weight loss. She also noted that the average person gains 1 or 2 pounds per year, which can amount to significant weight gain over time. Eating fewer large meals and more small meals, then, could "prevent that slow creep of weight gain," Bennett said. Consuming too much highly processed food like hot dogs, chips or soda can contribute to weight gain, whereas diets that rely on vegetables and whole grains may assist with weight loss. "Some of our best data in humans suggests probably diet quality matters more than meal timing," Peterson said.

"I just think we need to keep going, and we'll discuss at the meeting how much to do." The Fed's benchmark overnight lending rate currently sits in a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%. Investors expect the Fed to lift that rate by a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its Jan. 31 -Feb. 1 meeting. Several Fed officials have expressed support for slowing to quarter-percentage-point rate increases so as not to slow the labor market more than necessary. The answer may in part be found in the latest "Beige Book" report published by the Fed on Wednesday.

☆ Deadly HIMARS strikes show how Ukrainian forces are turning cell phones into 'force multipliers'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Ukraine has launched deadly long-range strikes against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. Some of those strikes and other attacks have reportedly been enabled by Russian cell phone use. Those cases illustrate the growing use of cell phones as sensors on the battlefield. In addition, Ukrainians have used their cell phones to report on Russian military movements. Cell phones have also provided accountability, allowing observers to tally losses and to shed light on misdeeds.

☆ J&J Slashes Production of Its Unpopular Covid-19 Shot
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | Peter Loftus | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

After mobilizing to quickly develop and manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine, Johnson & Johnson has vastly scaled back its efforts in producing the shots as it faces slumping demand. The New Brunswick, N.J., pharmaceutical company in recent months terminated manufacturing agreements with companies that helped produce the shot during the pandemic such as Catalent Inc. and Sanofi SA.

Florida could soon become the 26th state to allow individuals to carry concealed loaded guns anywhere without permits — a growing trend that has alarmed gun safety groups. “Constitutional carry” and “permitless carry” laws eliminate the requirement. Permitless carry laws get rid of that requirement. “Permitless carry causes harm, and there is data to prove it,” said Shannon Watts, a board member at the gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety. She pointed to multiple studies showing that states that have implemented permitless carry have had upticks in both gun violence and police shootings.

Kishida said in a speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies that China was the central challenge for both Japan and the United States. "It is absolutely imperative for Japan, the United States and Europe to stand united in managing our respective relationship with China," he added. "The international community is at a historical turning point: the free, open and stable international order that we have dedicated ourselves to upholding is now in grave danger," Kishida said. China's vision for the international order differs from the views of Japan and the United States in some ways that the allies "can never accept," Kishida said. "China needs to make a strategic decision that it will abide by established international rules and that it cannot and will not change the international order in way that are contrary to these rules," Kishida said.

A key adviser to the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine panel is questioning whether more Covid booster shots are necessary for healthy, younger people. The FDA later backed the vaccine panel, authorizing a new formulation of the booster shots. “The people who are talking about why young people need it are missing the point,” he said, referring to the booster. Levy, the director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, continues to encourage Covid boosters for everyone who is eligible. Relatively few people in the U.S. have had updated boosters.

Reuters GraphicsThe U.S. central bank is already adjusting to one unanticipated set of changes - an outbreak of inflation coupled with stalled growth in the U.S. labor force. "You have to identify the regime change ... Then you have to understand the transition dynamics ... and have a clear vision and insight into all of those ... "Markets calibrated to ... Chinese growth and low interest rates may prove fragile." Like recessions, which are typically identified only well after they have started, other economic turning points aren't always apparent in the moment. But as evidence of that accumulated following the 2007-2009 recession, it was only embodied into Fed policy in 2020 under a new approach that leaned against premature interest rate increases.

☆ 5 writers break down how they launched careers from their copywriting side hustles and now make up to 6 figures
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Alexa Nizam started freelance copywriting on weekends and in the evenings alongside her job in 2020 using the freelancer-platform Fiverr. She left her day job one year after she started copywriting when she realized she'd made $8,000 in a month from freelancing. Read more: I make up to $13,000 a month on Fiverr doing freelance copywriting. Courtesy of Elna CainElna Cain started freelance writing in 2014 when her maternity leave was coming to an end. Emilina LomasEmilina Lomas started freelance copywriting while earning her master's degree in 2018.

☆ I help people start side hustles. Here are 5 tips to build lucrative gigs that only take a couple hours a week.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She spent at least 30 minutes a day on her side hustle and blocked out time in her day. Then, after my friends asked me for help with their own side hustles, I started a time-management-coaching business as another side hustle in April 2020. I started spending about four hours a week coaching clients and marketing my coaching services on Instagram and Facebook outside of that. What do you need to sacrifice through the day to make sure you're working as efficiently as you can in your nine-to-five? I would block out hours in my day so I could get my projects done early in the day.

☆ Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. hospitalized patients experience a harmful event, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Kaitlin Sullivan | Kaitlin Sullivan Is A Contributor For Nbcnews.Com Who Has Worked With Nbc News Investigations. She Reports On Health | Science | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The stark findings underscore that, despite decades of effort, hospitals in the United States still have a long way to go to improve patient safety, experts say. A total of 222 adverse events were considered preventable, meaning an error resulted in patient harm. Twenty-nine people, or 1% of the total of those admitted, experienced serious preventable adverse events that resulted in serious harm. The most common adverse events overall (nearly 40%) were related to medications given in the hospital. It used data from patients hospitalized in New York state in 1984, and found that only about 4% of hospitalized patients experienced harm.

There's a new heavy hitter in the hunt for planets beyond our solar system. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope — the next-generation observatory that has already beamed back some of the clearest and most stunning views of the universe — was used for the first time to confirm the existence of an exoplanet, scientists announced Wednesday. The exoplanet confirmation marks an important milestone for the $10 billion Webb telescope, which launched into space in December 2021 and began science operations less than a year ago. “These first observational results from an Earth-size, rocky planet open the door to many future possibilities for studying rocky planet atmospheres with Webb,” Mark Clampin, director of the astrophysics division at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. “Webb is bringing us closer and closer to a new understanding of Earth-like worlds outside our solar system, and the mission is only just getting started.”

HONG KONG — On the first day of unimpeded travel between mainland China and Hong Kong, Olivia Gai was one of the first in line. On Tuesday, the Chinese embassies in South Korea and Japan said they would stop issuing short-term visas for travelers to China. The South Korean Foreign Ministry says its restrictions on travelers from China are based on science. According to some estimates, China’s Covid death toll could reach 1 million or more in the coming months. Nonetheless, more countries have begun requiring negative Covid tests for travelers from China, and at least one country, Morocco, has banned arrivals entirely.

☆ Strength of 'weak ties': How casual contacts can boost your career
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Chris Taylor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

That is what researchers call “weak ties” - and they can be surprisingly critical to your career path. "Weak ties give you access to a lot more information.”Among New Year’s resolutions, finding a better job or career ranks high on many lists. Then set up informational interviews with new weak ties that result, and your job search will be cooking with gas. “Look for people who tend to run in a lot of circles, because they’re the ones who can introduce you to new weak ties,” said Augustine. REACH OUTOne barrier to leveraging weak ties is that people tend to feel uncomfortable about it.

☆ 3 Airbnb hosts share how they set up low-lift, reliable income streams — and they achieved 'superhost' status
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Airbnb gives hosts who get consistently good reviews after a year the status of "superhost." They shared their strategies for landing superhost status and avoiding common mistakes that can leave guests dissatisfied. Mosher, who's had 4,300 five-star reviews, shared her dos and don'ts for getting superhost status. She said that to get superhost status, hosts should communicate with guests throughout their stay. "But if we canceled on a guest reservation ourselves, it will hurt us in obtaining superhost status — which would ding our ranking."

Regan, who has spent the past year visiting communities struggling with water infrastructure crises — including in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia — acknowledged that the need is much greater. Engineers also had the forethought to build separate waste and drinking water infrastructure in Baltimore. Weather events routinely overwhelm the system, causing sinkholes that can lead to water main breaks and sewer backups in homes. Blue Water Baltimore filed a federal lawsuit against Baltimore in late 2021 over the issue. Two separate sinkholes, caused by the collapse of a stormwater tunnel and a leaking water main, led chlorination levels in the water system to drop.

But "we should 'stick to our knitting' and not wander off to pursue perceived social benefits that are not tightly linked to our statutory goals and authorities," Powell said. "Taking on new goals, however worthy, without a clear statutory mandate would undermine the case for our independence." "Decisions about policies to directly address climate change should be made by the elected branches of government and thus reflect the public's will as expressed through elections," he told the forum in Stockholm. Powell's comments, particularly about climate change, are not new. When it comes to inflation, however, Powell said it was critical the Fed retain the ability to manage as it sees fit - raising interest rates to control inflation even if that means slower growth and higher unemployment.

STOCKHOLM, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's independence from political influence is central to its ability to battle inflation, but requires it stay out of issues like climate change that are beyond its congressionally-established mandate, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday. "Restoring price stability when inflation is high can require measures that are not popular in the short term as we raise interest rates to slow the economy. "Taking on new goals, however worthy, without a clear statutory mandate would undermine the case for our independence." Powell's position on the issue stands in contrast to major central banks in Europe that have integrated green economy efforts into their policymaking. But it also recognizes the political realities in the United States where opinion among elected officials is more divided.

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