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☆ Where are Gen Z's tech founders?
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-09 | by ( Amanda Hoover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

So where are Gen Z's tech founders? Gen Z founders and would-be founders are stepping into a vastly different tech world from that of their predecessors — a world where launching a unicorn is far more difficult, and publicly scrutinized, than it was for the garage-band generation of Jobs and Gates. Gen Z is coming of age in an era when the same Big Tech companies are diffuse and dominant. In other words, millennial founders ran so that Gen Z founders could walk. Perhaps we won't see Gen Z founders standing before a crowd and unveiling their latest shiny products anytime soon.

Persons: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Gen X, Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, Travis Kalanick, Peter Thiel, Millennials, I'm, Zuckerberg, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Brian Chesky, Elizabeth Holmes, Sam Bankman, Gen, aren't, Zers, Jerry Neumann, millennials, Uber, Z, There's, Neumann, Kimberly Eddleston, they've, Adam Neumann, Holmes, Alexandra Debow, that's, Alexandr Wang, Wang, They've, Ibrahim Rashid, Rashid didn't, COVID, Rashid, Martin Shkreli, Forbes, Alexis Barreyat, Barreyat, Julian Kage, Kage, they'd, Debow, It's, Eddleston, Emma Chamberlain's Organizations: Boomers, Columbia University, Big Tech, Northeastern University, Facebook, New York University, MIT, Wired, Forbes, University of Chicago, Deloitte, Harvard, Harvard Business Locations: swaggering, Silicon Valley

Boris Epshteyn, who is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on election interference charges in Arizona, has played many roles for former President Donald J. Trump. A college friend of Mr. Trump’s son Eric at Georgetown University, he would become a swaggering TV surrogate for the 2016 Trump campaign before eventually serving as Mr. Trump’s unofficial chief fixer and legal strategist. When Mr. Trump was convicted in New York last month on 34 felony counts, Mr. Epshteyn (pronounced EP-stine) was at his side, huddling with the former president and other aides after the verdict. His indictment there stems from work he did behind the scenes to try to keep Mr. Trump in power after his 2020 election loss. Shepherding a small group of advisers, he helped oversee a plan to deploy fake electors in seven battleground states lost by Mr. Trump, documents show.

Persons: Boris Epshteyn, Donald J, Trump, Mr, Trump’s, Eric, Epshteyn, stine Organizations: Georgetown University, Trump, Mr, ” Locations: Arizona, New York, Trump, Georgia, Wisconsin

Everybody Wants to Sound LikeBad Bunny As Bad Bunny and other Puerto Rican musical artists explode in popularity, language instructors say more people want to learn how to speak the island’s slick, swaggering version of Spanish.

Organizations: Puerto Locations: Puerto Rican

☆ Opinion | ‘Accordion Hands’ and ‘Caterpillar Eyebrows’: Trump Meets the Female Gaze
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Jessica Bennett | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Donald Trump is relaxed — or as relaxed as someone can be while on trial for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — you can see his socks. She takes it all in, and all of it, in turn, informs her work, which has been appearing in New York magazine. But rather than capturing key moments, or producing realistic renderings of the day’s events, Ms. Brourman’s expressive images cut across space and time. She uses watercolors, colored pencils, graphite, glitter pens; sometimes she tweezes for texture, or scrawls words in corners. In her portraits of Mr. Trump, he is both frenetic and hulking; her Stormy Daniels, shaded with blues and purples, looks emotionally bruised.

Persons: Donald Trump, Isabelle Brourman, Trump’s, Ms, Brourman, Mr, Trump, Stormy Daniels, ” Locations: New York

But while the company's profile in the industry has stayed constant and swaggering, behind the curtain, its business has been increasingly troubled, 10 insiders told Business Insider. Creator economy professionals mingled beneath glowing jellyfish and coral light fixtures inside Jellysmack's creator lounge during VidCon 2023. "As a startup in the ever-evolving creator economy, we are constantly testing and adapting our business model," the Jellysmack spokesperson told BI in a statement. Advertisement"The world was falling apart with the pandemic, but early Jellysmack felt like a dream," the second former staffer told BI. BI viewed two Jellysmack contracts and an email exchange between Jellysmack and one of its creator clients to verify the practice.

Persons: —, SoftBank, lanyards, Jellymack, Jellysmack, YouTubers, Brad Mondo, Meta, Michael Philippe, Jellysmack cofounders Swann Maizil, Robin Sabban, Nathan Guetta, Condé Nast, Youri Hazanov, Sean Atkins, hasn't, Snapchat —, Amanda Perelli, JellyFi, deprioritize, that's, it's, Ollie Forsyth, They've Organizations: Service, Business, Facebook, influencers, BI, YouTube, Disney, Comcast, Keli, Big Tech, cryptocurrency, MTV, HBO, Copyright Capital, SoftBank, Productions, OKA Media, Network Media LLC, Crime, Star, Spotify, Crime Network Locations: VidCon, SoftBank

☆ With New Six-Year Term, Putin Cements Hold on Russian Leadership
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Nanna Heitmann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday extended his rule over Russia until 2030, using a heavily stage-managed presidential election with no real competition to portray overwhelming public support for his domestic dominance and his invasion of Ukraine. Some Russians tried to turn the undemocratic vote into a protest, forming long lines at polling stations at a predetermined time — noon — to register their discontent. At the same time, Ukraine sought to cast its own vote of sorts by firing a volley of exploding drones at Moscow and other targets. But the Kremlin brushed those challenges aside and released results after the polls closed claiming that Mr. Putin had won 87 percent of the vote — an even higher number than in the four previous elections he participated in. Afterward, Mr. Putin took a lengthy, televised victory lap, including a swaggering, after-midnight news conference at which he commented on the death of the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny for the first time, referring to it as an “unfortunate incident.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Aleksei A, ” Organizations: Sunday Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow

☆ ‘Subway Mania’ Brings the Cartoonish World of Pro Wrestling to Commuters
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Joshua Needelman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For many New Yorkers, the city’s subways are the performance spaces they encounter most often. Everyday, dancers and musicians put on a subterranean revue that uses mass transit as a stage. In recent years, this moving festival has included “Subway Mania,” an homage to one of professional wrestling’s most popular period: the late 1990s to early 2000. The scene caught the attention of Shyama Venkateswar, 57, who was on her way home to Forest Hills, Queens. Her sons, now young adults, had watched World Wrestling Entertainment shows growing up, she said, so she followed the wrestlers aboard the train and abandoned her trip home.

Persons: ”, Kane, Stone, Steve Austin, Shyama Venkateswar Organizations: Lexington, Wrestling Entertainment Locations: Manhattan, Forest Hills, Queens

Instead, they addressed terrorism and the Middle East conflict as well as domestic issues such as Social Security and abortion. On foreign policy, Haley offered an unapologetic and determined vision, saying America needs to stand by its ally Israel and support Ukraine. On Social Security, both Haley and Christie said the retirement age needed to be raised for younger workers, though neither would state a specific age. Christie also called for means-testing, saying rich people did not need Social Security as a safety net. "As governor of Florida, I know a few people on Social Security," DeSantis quipped.

Persons: Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, Sen, Tim Scott of, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ramaswamy, Haley, winnowed, Israel, Putin, Scott, DeSantis, Joe Biden, Christie, Trump, Ronna McDaniel, Dick Cheney, we've Organizations: GOP, Social Security, Former South Carolina Gov, Florida Gov, Former New Jersey Gov, Trump, Miami, Ukraine, Capitol, Senate, Republican Locations: Israel, Ukraine, Former, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Ramaswamy, America, New Jersey, Virginia , Kentucky, Ohio, Florida

☆ Springbok belief and physicality make for world beating mix
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Mark Gleeson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - A record fourth Rugby World Cup showed South Africa's dogged determination, which saw the team dig deep at critical moments. Few sides have had as bruising a route to World Cup success as the Springboks in this tournament, playing against each of the other top six ranked nations on their way to the podium. They edged three successive knockout stage matches by a single point to claim the Webb Ellis Cup. "As a South African, as a Springbok, you always believe you are going to win," said centre Jesse Kriel. "We thought we can't mess this up because we believed from 2018 they had the ability to win the World Cup.

Persons: Webb, Jesse Kriel, Handre Pollard, Jacques Nienaber, I'm, flyhalf Pollard, Kriel, Alexander Smith Organizations: Rugby, Springboks, New Zealand, Stade de France, Springbok, Thomson Locations: New, Paris, South Africa, Jesse Kriel . South Africa, Japan, Ireland, France, England

WASHINGTON (AP) — Day 20 without a House speaker, and Republicans found themselves starting over on Monday — bumbling ahead with few ideas about who will lead, what they are fighting over and when they will get Congress working again. Nine lower-level Republican lawmakers are now running to be speaker, leader of the House and second in line to the presidency — none with any clear shot for the gavel. McCarthy himself calls the whole spectacle “embarrassing” for the House Republicans whose majority is being wasted away and for the U.S. government that cannot fully function. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who has repeatedly suggested Trump should be elected House speaker. The House Republicans dropped Jordan as their nominee late Friday.

Persons: Tom Emmer, Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, Joe Biden, —, Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, ”, Troy Nehls, Trump, Biden, Jordan, Emmer, Patrick McHenry, Republicans —, McHenry, Mitch McConnell, ” McConnell, “, Mike Johnson, Kevin Hern, Byron Donalds, Austin Scott of Georgia, Pete Sessions, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Dan Meuser, Gary Palmer of, Dusty Johnson of, Stephen Groves, Jill Colvin, Farnoush Amiri, Kevin Freking Organizations: WASHINGTON, —, GOP, Republicans, House Republicans, U.S ., Rep, Federal, Capitol, Republican, Trump, Financial Services, Senate, CBS, Committee, Press Locations: ., Minnesota, Florida, Israel, Ukraine, U.S, Mexico, Texas, R, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota

☆ Doja Cat Looks to the Past to Make Her Own Moment on ‘Scarlet’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Jon Caramanica | More About Jon Caramanica | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

She does so not in an especially nostalgic or imitative fashion, but more as a decoration. Doja Cat also varies her rapping technique in ways that recall these bygone eras. “Love Life” nods to the mid-90s proto neo-soul of Groove Theory, and Doja Cat matches it with a percussive flow that recalls Ladybug Mecca of Digable Planets. Lyrically, “Scarlet” has two primary topics: Doja Cat’s dominance and her lust. And her songs about sex, like “Agora Hills” and “Often,” are bawdy and lighthearted.

Persons: ”, Diamond, Doja, Ladybug Mecca, She’s, “, Versace Organizations: York, Theory

African leaders allied with Russia had grown used to dealing with Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the swaggering, profane mercenary leader who traveled the continent by private jet, offering to prop up shaky regimes with guns and propaganda in return for gold and diamonds. But the Russian delegation that toured three African countries last week was led by a very different figure, the starchy deputy defense minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov. Dressed in a khaki uniform and a “telnyashka” — the horizontally-striped undergarment of Russian armed forces — he signaled conformity and restraint, giving assurances wrapped in polite language. “We will do our best to help you,” he said at a news conference in Burkina Faso. The contrast with the flamboyant Mr. Prigozhin could not have been sharper, and it aligned with the message the Kremlin was delivering: After Mr. Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash last month, Russia’s operations in Africa were coming under new management.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Yunus, bek Yevkurov, —, ”, Prigozhin, Prigozhin’s Locations: Russia, Burkina Faso, Africa

☆ H.B.O. Is Tackling Religion in the Most Remarkable Ways
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Elizabeth Nelson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Television’s depictions of religion have often leaned either toward po-faced dogma or scouring atheism, but here is one that dares to split the difference. The eldest, Jesse, is a pompous hothead whose default response to any insult is light violence and who, despite his persona as a family man, has enjoyed the sort of hard-partying lifestyle that would make early-1970s Led Zeppelin blush. His sister, Judy, is a flamethrowing libertine with a staggeringly foul mouth and a tendency to transgress against her lovingly milquetoast husband. Like a staging of “King Lear” at a monster-truck rally, the show has a loneliness that undergirds its berserk energy. This is not the only fascinating vision of the church on HBO these days.

Persons: they’ve, McBride, Jesse, Judy, “ King Lear ”, John Goodman, Eli Gemstone —, Aimee, Leigh, Croesus, ”, Gideon, —, Bridget Everett, Sam, Joel, Sam —, Maria ” Organizations: ”, Southern, Gemstone Salvation, HBO, Hollywood Locations: American, Hollywood, Kansas, America

☆ Opinion: Putin faces a challenging task that threatens his power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The Russian president needs to restore his image of a man in full command of his country to audiences at home and abroad. Speaking at the summit, Putin tried to reinforce the message he had delivered to the Russian people, the claim that all Russians had stood with him. It wasn’t just his use of “alternative facts” that undermined Putin’s effort to leverage the SCO summit into a place to restore his standing as Russia’s czar for the foreseeable future. In fact, in the aftermath of the Prigozhin uprising, Putin has echoed the traditional strongman’s playbook of buying loyalty. Putin now faces a triple task: reclaiming the mantle of invincibility in Russia, rebuilding that image abroad and winning his calamitous war in Ukraine.

Persons: Frida Ghitis, Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin —, —, Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin, Putin, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, ”, “, Modi, Ebrahim Raisi, Xi, Dmitry Peskov, India’s Modi, Antony Blinken, Janet Yellen Organizations: CNN, Washington Post, Politics, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SCO, Frida Ghitis CNN, Wagner Group, Belarussian, Indian, Biological Safety, Twitter, Financial Times, Russian Locations: Russia, China, India, Russian, Moscow, St . Petersburg, Belarus, Ukraine, Iran, Rostov, New Delhi, Iranian, Republic, Dagestan, Kremlin, Asia, Washington, Beijing

☆ Michelle Goldberg on Susan Faludi’s ‘Backlash’ - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Opinion America Is Triggered by ProgressI keep reaching for Susan Faludi’s 1991 book, “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women,” because it explains so much about American politics and culture. In the wake of Trump’s “Lock her up” campaign for president in 2016, it’s simply text, with gender emerging as a central fault line of American politics. Listen to an excerpt from “Backlash” narrated by Michelle Goldberg. A lot has changed since “Backlash” came out 32 years ago, especially in the news and entertainment, two of Faludi’s prime targets. The reaction has been a backlash that is in many ways more brutal and angry than what Faludi described, even if the fragmentation of American culture means it’s less all-encompassing.

Persons: topick, Susan Faludi’s, Donald Trump, TikTok, Tucker Carlson, Faludi, “, ’, —, it’s, It’s, Michelle Goldberg, ”, Candace Owens, Andrew Tate, ” Faludi Organizations: Progress, Fox News Locations: America, Romania

☆ Brooks Koepka Surges to the Lead at P.G.A. Championship
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Alan Blinder | Desiree Rios | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Four years ago, less than a week before he won his second consecutive P.G.A. Championship, Brooks Koepka allowed the world inside his swaggering mind. “You figure about half of them won’t play well from there, so you’re down to about maybe 35,” he added. And now he is in the mix this weekend at the P.G.A. Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, where he fired a field-best four-under-par 66 on a rain-soaked Saturday, giving him a one-stroke lead over Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland with a round to play.

☆ That’s the Funny Thing About Grief
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Either way, there’s no question that in certain quarters of comedy, jokes are not enough. For instance, at shows around New York, the quirky, swaggering Gastor Almonte has been performing a hilarious 10 to 15 minutes about his hatred of oatmeal. In a previous era that might have added up to a debut special that resembled the work of Jim Gaffigan. “What is trauma but unmonetized content?” he asks, echoing a line from “WandaVision,” a series that itself is a grief narrative. “We don’t talk about grief: We keep our grief to ourselves,” Kayne says in “Sorry for Your Loss.” Glazer hit this same theme.

☆ Ukraine says it shot down 6 of the high-powered Kinzhal missiles that Russia boasted were unstoppable
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine says it shot down six of Russia's "unstoppable" Kinzhal missiles over Kyiv early Tuesday. In total, a barrage of 18 missiles were intercepted from land, sea and air, officials claimed. According to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's army, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, six Russian MiG-31K jets launched the Kinzhal missiles overnight. "It was exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, of the barrage, per The Telegraph's translation. Firefighters work at a site of a vehicle parking area damaged by remains of Russian missiles, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 16, 2023.

☆ Opinion | E. Jean Carroll Must Be Going Through Hell
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The story is schematic and the script, by the end, turns didactic, but Comer’s blazing, magnificent performance elevates the show into greatness. I kept thinking about “Prima Facie” as I sat in the Manhattan courtroom where E. Jean Carroll is suing Donald Trump for battery and defamation stemming from a rape that she alleges occurred in the mid-1990s. “The lived experience of sexual assault is not remembered in a neat, consistent, scientific parcel,” Tessa says. Both sides rested on Thursday — the Trump camp declined to call a single witness — and closing arguments are scheduled for Monday. Two of Carroll’s friends, Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin, testified that Carroll told them that Trump had assaulted her shortly after it happened.

[1/2] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at the 2023 NHGOP Amos Tuck Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., April 14, 2023. REUTERS/Brian SnyderApril 26 (Reuters) - In his face-off with Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has frequently adopted the pose of a swaggering gunfighter out of the Wild West. “There’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis boasts to conservative audiences nationwide as he prepares to launch his 2024 presidential bid. But as his clash with Disney escalates, so does the political risk for DeSantis and his nascent campaign. Billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel Securities last year remarked that DeSantis’ actions amounted to “retaliation against corporate America.”“The war with Disney made some sense for a time in the context of Governor DeSantis’ presidential aspirations.

[1/2] Actor Robert Blake speaks to reporters as he walks to Burbank Courthouse in Burbank, California, U.S. August 29, 2005. A wrongful death lawsuit subsequently filed against Blake by her estate led to a civil court judgment that the actor was responsible for her slaying. Blake contended his wife was a victim of her own checkered past, gunned down by an unknown assailant. Blake's acting work was overshadowed four years later by the Bakley murder, which remains unsolved. A paternity test showed that the father was Blake, not Christian Brando, son of actor Marlon Brando, who Bakley had been dating simultaneously.

☆ The Bomber Jacket Is Now Sleek, Sophisticated and…Almost Formal?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Todd Plummer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

SUEDE AND SWEATS Former soccer star David Beckham’s handsome jacket elevates a sporty look in October. FOR A RECENT dressy work dinner with his company’s leadership team in Wayne, N.J., Cameron Birch took a style detour. Instead of defaulting to a tie and sport coat like his colleagues, the medical-device strategist, 34, reached for his emerald-green Club Monaco bomber jacket. This bomber aligns with his post-lockdown mood: These days he hankers for clothes that are “simple, clean, versatile and as comfortable as athleisure—but more dressed up.”A dressy bomber? Though this style of aviator jacket has typically skewed casual and utilitarian, it has lately been reborn as a sophisticate.

☆ The Bomber Jacket Is Now Sleek, Sophisticated and… Almost Formal?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Todd Plummer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Manchester City Rolls Over Arsenal and Takes Charge of the Premier League Race
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Joshua Robinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jack Grealish celebrates after scoring during Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal. Barely a week after the Premier League accused Manchester City of more than 100 breaches of its rules on spending, the most expensively assembled team in Premier League history took control of the title race. Manchester City, with an all-star squad worth more than a billion dollars, returned to the top of the standings on Wednesday night with a swaggering 3-1 victory at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Though Arsenal is only in second place due to its lower goal differential—and has played one less game than City—the result immediately felt like a turning point in the season.

☆ Crypto Brands Reposition Themselves in Wake of FTX and Market Tumble
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Roughly one year ago, a handful of crypto heavyweights made swaggering debuts on the Super Bowl ad roster, airing costly commercials with messages like “Don’t miss out” (FTX) and “Fortune favors the brave” (Crypto.com). Then came the swoon in crypto and the bankruptcy of FTX. Recently, trading firm OKX scuttled its plans to buy an ad in Super Bowl LVII when FTX began to dominate the news cycle. Coinbase aims to convey its confidence in crypto “while maintaining our position as the most trusted brand in the space,” Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch said. “I think that, especially after the FTX collapse, there has been a real need for that across the entire crypto space,” he said.

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