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☆ The mysterious cities of the dead carved into the sides of cliffs
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-06 | by ( Barry Neild | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —The ancient Lycians knew a thing or two about democracy. Drive around the coast of this beautiful region and you’ll never be too far from a spectacular city of the dead – elaborate tombs carved by Lycians into the sides of cliffs overlooking towns, valleys and shorelines. This cliff tomb above the city of Fethiye is a great place to watch the sun go down. It’s a mystery, says Catherine Draycott, an associate professor of archaeology at the UK’s Durham University, who has studied Lycian cliff tombs, as well as sarcophagi and another rarer variation — sarcophagi placed atop pillars. There are plenty of less extreme Lycian tomb raids to enjoy in this corner of Turkey.

Persons: Lycians, Indiana Jones, Barry Neild, Aminthas, Hermapias, Önder, Catherine Draycott, Draycott, that’s, pawopa3336, ”, would’ve, Cadesi, you’re, Kaleüçağız Organizations: CNN, UK’s Durham University Locations: Fethiye, Myra, Dalyan, Turkish, Demre, cityscapes, Kaş, Turkey, Kaleüçağız, City, Theimussa, “

☆ Saudi Arabia's Neom replaces its CEO amid reports of delays and cutbacks
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-13 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Saudi Arabia's massive Neom megaproject, a multi-trillion dollar plan to develop a swathe of land the size of Massachusetts, has replaced its CEO in a significant reshuffling as the kingdom faces questions over the economic viability of its ambitions. "As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project," a Neom statement said. The projects have faced skepticism and criticism from environmentalists and engineers in other parts of the world. Neom's leadership reshuffle comes at a period of changing financial pressures on the kingdom, as oil prices and demand forecasts remain subdued, and Saudi Arabia's budget deficit widens. Budgets are facing cutbacks and projects are seeing delays, three people with knowledge of the matter told CNBC, speaking anonymously due to lack of authorization to speak to the press.

Persons: Neom's, Aiman, Nadhmi Al, Nasr, NEOM, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Organizations: Saudi Crown, Games, Saudi, CNBC Locations: Saudi, Massachusetts, Al

☆ Eat, sleep, live luxury: LVMH is building whole cityscapes centered on their designer stores
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Luxury powerhouse LVMH is investing billions in real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Michael Burke, head of LVMH Fashion Group, told the Journal, "We're creating a city." According to the Journal, the company spent $2.1 billion last year acquiring properties in Paris ahead of the Olympic games. Related storiesThe luxury brand is among several spending billions on luxury stores and experiences. Chanel and LVMH are also interested in purchasing properties on New York's Fifth Avenue and the Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Journal reported.

Persons: —, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, Louis Vuitton, Frank Gehry, Michael Burke, we're, Burke, Bernard Arnault, Saint Laurent, Chanel, LVMH, Amar Sitayeb, Saint, Alan DeSousa Organizations: Street Journal, Service, Wall Street Journal, Dior, LVMH, Design, Miami Design District, Gucci, Montenapoleone, The New York Times, Times, Canada, Laurent, Global News, Business Locations: Paris, Pont Neuf, Miami, Montreal, Milan's, New, The, Marais

☆ Why this artist is making ink from guns
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Nearly 43,000 people died from gun injuries across the US in 2023, according to the database Gun Violence Archive. Red, for example, requires roasting the iron sulfate; yellow, the more finnicky hue, is the result of mixing the iron sulfate with an alkali like baking soda. Because of the time and labor involved to make the pigments, Little only produces them in “special batches” for artists who seek them out. It’s like gun violence in that this small thing can do so much, and it’s so potent.”Little's large batch of ink for the artist Christina Kwan, who has been experimenting with his materials. Thomas LittleKwan says she has anxiety over gun violence in the US, particularly after the birth of her child.

Persons: CNN —, Thomas Little, Little, “ I’ve, ” Little, ”, —, Little's van, Helen Hill, “, Smith, Thomas Little Black, he’s, I’ve, Christina Kwan, Kwan, ” Kwan, Aram Han Sifuentes, Han Sifuentes, Han, Thomas Little Kwan, Christina Kwan Little, ’, ” He’s, lightheartedly Organizations: CNN, Beretta, Wesson, National Liberty Museum Locations: North Carolina, Little’s, New Orleans, Sampson County, Atlanta, Little, Chicago, Philadelphia

☆ Critics are hailing FX's 'Shōgun' as the next 'Game of Thrones'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Palmer Haasch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Shōgun," created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, takes place at the turn of the 17th century in Japan. Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga in the series premiere of "Shōgun." The Washington Post's Lili Loofbourow wrote that "Shōgun" will draw comparisons to "Game of Thrones" because it has a "proven combination of gorgeous set pieces, moral ambiguity, cliffhangers (literally, in one case!) According to critics, however, FX's "Shōgun" more effectively shifts the focus to the story's cast of Japanese characters. AdvertisementReviews praised Hiroyuki Sanada's performance as Toranaga YoshiiHiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga in "Shōgun."

Persons: —, James Clavell's, Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks, John Blackthorne, Yoshii Toranaga, Hiroyuki Sanada, Katie Yu, Alan Sepinwall, Nick Hilton, Lili Loofbourow, Loofbourow, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Time's Judy Berman, Mike Hale, Toda Mariko, IGN's Samantha Nelson, Sanada, Hiroyuki Sanada's, Yoshii Hiroyuki Sanada, Stone's Sepinwall, Today's Kelly Lawler, IGN's Nelson, Toranaga, Critics, IndieWire's Ben Travers, Travers, Rebecca Nicholson, Yuka Kouri, Kurt Iswarienko, Variety's Alison Herman, showrunners Marks, Jonathan van Tulleken, Helen Jarvis, Carlos Rosario Organizations: Service, Hulu, Disney, Taiko, Regents, Business, Thrones, FX, New York Times Locations: United Kingdom, Japan, Kanto, Washington, Osaka, Hulu

☆ The Genius Behind Hollywood’s Most Indelible Sets
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Noah Gallagher Shannon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Bringing this moment of cultural collision back to life would represent as sweeping a challenge as Fisk had ever faced. The sets would represent a kind of culmination of Fisk’s careerlong obsession with reclaiming the rough contours of American history. On set, Malick refers to Fisk as “my eyes.”Fisk has a background in the fine arts, but he considers himself more strictly speaking a “worker” — the conduit of someone else’s vision. (Noirs of the 1940s are crosshatched with shadows partly to conceal threadbare sets.) In early Hollywood, most were painters, hired to illustrate literal backdrops on massive rolls of canvas hung behind the actors.

Persons: Fisk, Scorsese, derrick, Terrence Malick, Sissy Spacek —, Malick, ” Fisk, ”, unvarnished, David O, Selznick, William Cameron Menzies Organizations: Canadian Rockies Locations: Hollywood, French

☆ This storm chaser captures stunning photographs of extreme weather
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Nadia Leigh-Hewitson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Ad FeedbackThough she is an accountant by trade, Sarah Hasan Al-Sayegh calls herself the first Kuwaiti-Arab female storm chaser. “Storm chasing made me see the world more,” she says. Al-Sayegh recalls that on May 31, 2016, she and fellow storm chaser Mike Olbinski came across a huge storm structure near Lamesa, Texas. She now hopes to expand her meteorological knowledge and raise awareness around climate change. “I just hope to be able to put that message to everybody through my photography and through my storm chasing,” Al-Sayegh says.

Persons: Sarah Hasan Al, Sayegh, ”, “, sandstorms, Storm Daniel, Mike Olbinski, “ Don’t, ” Al Organizations: CNN, UN, United Arab, Kuwait City Locations: Kuwaiti, Kuwait, East, North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Dubai, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Al, Lamesa , Texas, Gulf

☆ Lego sales increase while other toy makers struggle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

While other toy companies struggle with an inflation-fueled sales slump, Lego is building positive results brick by brick. Meanwhile, publicly traded rivals such as Mattel , Hasbro , Funko and Jakks Pacific have all reported double-digit revenue and sales declines so far this year. "I think what makes me very satisfied is this fact that we continue to outgrow the industry," CEO Niels Christiansen told CNBC. Toy companies across the industry saw massive gains during the Covid-19 pandemic, as parents looked for ways to keep their kids occupied during lockdowns. The region is newly exposed to the iconic building bricks and physical locations have helped show adults and children how to play with Lego.

Persons: Niels Christiansen, we've, Christiansen, That's Organizations: Mattel, Hasbro, Funko, Jakks, CNBC, lockdowns, U.S ., Star Locations: Danish, Mexico, Virginia, China

☆ Why Cities Across the US Look the Same: Remote Work, High Home Prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( David A. Banks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The shift to remote work early in the pandemic allowed wealthy residents to ditch big cities in droves and set up shop in smaller cities and towns nearby. While the surging costs of housing and the new freedom of remote work helped trigger this mass migration, small cities have been laying the groundwork over the last decade to entice these big-city refugees. Then came the pandemic, and remote work suddenly made small cities a viable home for wealthy professionals. For the past two decades, cities have turned to an economic development strategy I've deemed "the city authentic." It spiked even more during the pandemic when change of addresses from New York City jumped a whopping 787%.

Persons: Tim Burton, —, Richard Florida, millennials, DAVID BREWSTER, downtowns, weathers, It's, Alison Roman, Chrissy Teigen, it's, restaurateurs, John Greim, Instagramable cafés, David A, Banks Organizations: Urban, New York Times, Creative, The New York Times, Industrial Development Agency, IDA, Arts, Craft, Fulton, Star Tribune, Getty, Social, Business, New York City, Neighborhood Initiative, Globalization Studies, University, Albany SUNY, UUP Locations: America, Hudson, New York City, Austin , Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, Denver , Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Louisville, Connecticut, Florida, Washington, Fulton, New York, Athens, Georgia, Tulsa , Oklahoma, Arts District, Saint Paul , Minnesota, , New York, Rensselaer, Troy, Rensselaer County, Newark , New Jersey, Dudley, Boston

☆ Investors and techies gather in San Francisco to bathe in generative A.I. hype sparked by ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

They were there to discuss the latest craze capturing the attention of the tech world: generative artificial intelligence. The underlying AI software powering ChatGPT, a kind of machine-learning technology known as a "large language model," isn't new. As Bessemer Venture Partners' Sameer Dholakia told audience members, generative AI could change "the lives of billions of people." Blackwell credits OpenAI and ChatGPT with showing people what's possible with generative AI, shining a spotlight on the industry at large. But for one day in San Francisco, generative AI was more than just a tool.

☆ Grand Central's sparkling new terminal could use a spellcheck — it misspelled artist Georgia O'Keeffe's name in an engraved quote about New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A new terminal for the Long Island Rail Road in New York's Grand Central Station opened Wednesday. The terminal's walls are engraved with homages to New York from famous artists. In a new terminal in New York's Grand Central Station that opened last Wednesday, called the Grand Central Madison station, O'Keeffe's name is spelled with one "f" instead of two, Bloomberg reported. That's the quote that made it into the Grand Central Madison station. Bloomberg reported that the Grand Central Madison terminal is part of an $11.1 billion project called East Side Access that will bring passengers on the Long Island Railroad to Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal instead of Penn Station.

☆ Here to stay? China's cityscapes transformed by thousands of COVID test booths
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Not so China itself - in cities big or small, routine PCR testing is the new normal. read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterTens of thousands of kerbside sampling booths where people can be tested day and night have become a permanent feature of Chinese cityscapes. Testing booths, typically container-like structures erected in the middle of a pavement, are staffed by a few health workers in hazmat suits ready to take quick throat swabs. "Doing a PCR test every two days, I really feel it's a pure waste of resources," posted one user of Weibo, a popular Twitter-like microblog in China. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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