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☆ Need More Light in the Kitchen? Here’s a Stylish, Adjustable Fix
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Nina Molina | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

DOUBLE DIP Landed Interiors & Homes, which is based in New York City, draped a couple of matte-black adjustable pendants above a kitchen island in Piedmont, Calif. Photo: Haris KenjarHAVE YOU ever yearned to yank the ceiling light in your kitchen closer to the radishes you’re julienning? Adjustable pendants can get you out of your own way. London designer Susie Atkinson thrifted a 1960s double adjustable pendant for a local Queen-Anne style kitchen. This discreet concealing trick is still available on some models, but Los Angeles interior designer Martha Mulholland, for one, admires the visible, “industrial meets decorative” look of those with visible ballast. “It’s a design born out of a practical function,” said Ms. Mulholland.

This month, an anonymous producer jolted the music industry by using artificial intelligence to impersonate the singers Drake and the Weeknd, creating a fake track, “Heart on My Sleeve,” that quickly went viral. Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The Times, talks about how the song’s rise and fall could presage widespread changes in the way music is made.

☆ Is It T.M.I. for Entrepreneurs to Air Their Private Business?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Nina Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Making It Work is a series is about small-business owners striving to endure hard times. Mr. Akdeniz, 43, is part of a growing group of small-business owners incorporating some of the most intimate aspects of their private lives into their company’s brands, according to experts and business observers. But a new generation of founders are distinguishing themselves with narratives that aren’t clean-cut, easily digestible stories of how their businesses came to be, experts say. Many small-business owners say they are choosing to be transparent about a difficult period in their lives and, in turn, build deeper relationships with their consumers. But what happens when companies reveal some of the darkest moments of their founders’ lives?

☆ Looking for Freedom, Isaac Julien Comes Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Elizabeth Fullerton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Freedom ripples as an undercurrent through the works of the British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien. For four decades, he has produced boundary-stretching works addressing racism, homophobia, migration and colonialism, from experimental documentaries to lavish multiscreen installations; in all of them an activist spirit is counterbalanced with opulent imagery and sound. Now, a major exhibition at Tate Britain, in London, is the culmination of a trajectory that began on the margins, with films for television and cinema, and evolved into something more elaborate that belongs in a gallery setting. The show, called “What Freedom Is to Me” and running through Aug. 20, is the largest exhibition of the artist’s work ever staged in his home country. The title comes from a quote by the singer Nina Simone in a 1968 interview: “I will tell you what freedom is to me: No fear.”

☆ Enel close to Greek renewables stake sale to Macquarie -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ATHENS, April 27 (Reuters) - Italy's Enel (ENEI.MI) is expected to finalise by May a deal for the sale of around a 50% stake in its Greek renewables unit to Australia-based Macquarie Group (MQG.AX), two sources close to the matter said on Thursday. Enel said in November it was looking for a partner willing to buy part of Enel Green Power Hellas and invest in its development. "The talks with Macquarie for a stake of about 50% are seen concluding in the coming days," one of the sources told Reuters. Macquarie, which holds a 49% stake in Greece's sole power grid operator HEDNO, declined to immediately comment. Under the strategy presented by CEO Francesco Starace in November, Enel decided to exit Romania, Peru and Argentina and to partner with investors in some countries or specific businesses.

☆ Catastrophic drought that’s pushed millions into crisis made 100 times more likely by climate change, analysis finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The unrelenting drought that has devastated the Horn of Africa and left more than 20 million people facing acute food insecurity would not have been possible without climate change, a new analysis has found. In a world without human-caused climate change, this devastating drought would not have happened. The organization is made up of a team of international scientists who, in the immediate aftermath of extreme weather events, analyze data and climate models to establish what role climate change played. The scientists also looked at whether climate change was to blame for the lack of rain, but concluded there was no overall impact. “The country continues to pay the price of global warming and climate change,” he added.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have endured five failed consecutive rainy seasons since October 2020, with aid groups labeling it 'the worst drought in 40 years'. "Climate change has made this drought exceptional," said Joyce Kimutai, a climate scientist with the Kenya Meteorological Department who worked with WWA to tease out climate change's role. Unlike with extreme heat and heavy rainfall, scientists have a harder time pinning down climate change's contribution to droughts around the world. Using computer models and climate observations, the WWA team determined climate change had made the Horn of Africa's long rains from March through May twice as likely to underdeliver, and the short rains from October through December wetter. In addition to less rain falling on the Horn, a warming climate means more water is evaporating from soil and transpiring from plants into the atmosphere.

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Floating wind is viewed as the final frontier for offshore wind as turbines can be installed in deeper waters than fixed-bottom foundations, harnessing stronger and more continuous wind to generate more power. There are two main types of tender for traditional and floating wind projects. ITALYItaly is expected to hold an auction for up to 1 GW of offshore wind power, including floating technology, in 2023 or 2024. NORWAYNorway opened its first tenders to build offshore wind farms, including one area for floating wind, in a step to meet growing electricity demand at home and to build a new industry. TAIWANTaiwan is set to hold an auction for site licences and power offtake agreements for 3 GW, including offshore wind this year.

[1/2] Hywind Tampen floating wind farm structures are being assembled at the Wergeland Base in Gulen, Norway, June 7, 2022. But by 2035, the LCOE for floating wind is expected to fall to about 60 euros/MWh. It plans to set a specific target for floating wind this year. Britain aims to have 5 GW of floating wind installed by 2030 but a report by the UK Floating Wind Offshore Wind Taskforce, said 34 GW could be installed by 2040 if ports were upgraded. "South Korea will be commercial the quickest," said Cole at Corio Generation, which has 1.5 GW of floating wind under development there.

☆ Pace of rise in global sea level has doubled, UN climate report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The remains of houses are pictured as rising sea levels destroy homes built along the shoreline, forcing villagers to relocate, in El Bosque, Mexico, November 7, 2022. Extreme glacier melt and record ocean heat levels - which cause water to expand - contributed to an average rise in sea levels of 4.62mm a year between 2013-2022, the U.N. agency said in a major report detailing the havoc of climate change. "We have already lost this melting of glaciers game and sea level rise game so that's bad news," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas told a press conference. Rising sea levels threaten some coastal cities and the very existence of low-lying states such as the island of Tuvalu - which plans to build a digital version of itself in case it is submerged. Climate scientists have warned that the world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fuelled by climate change and the anticipated return of warming El Niño conditions.

☆ Earth Day 2023: The world just failed its annual health checkup
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The WMO’s annual State of the Climate Report, published Friday ahead of Earth Day, is essentially a health checkup for the world. Global sea levels climbed to the highest on record due to melting glaciers and warming oceans, which expand as they heat up. “Communities and countries which have contributed least to climate change suffer disproportionately.”A man uses a hand fan in a park in central Madrid during a heatwave, on August 2, 2022. The hottest year on record, 2016, was the result of a strong El Niño and climate change, said Baddour. “This is really a wake up call that climate change isn’t a future problem, it is a current problem.

☆ ‘I Never Spend a Lot On…’ Interior Designers Open Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Nina Molina | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

CUT CORNERS New York City design firm White Arrow draped a bed in Parachute sheets in this Brooklyn bedroom. Photo: Thomas RichterEVERYONE LOVES a bargain—and savvy designers know that when it comes to outfitting your home, even if you have a fortune, it doesn’t always pay to spend one. The trick, according to high-end stylists, is to think strategically, pinching pennies on inexpensive yet well-designed utility pieces and flexing your budget on statement items that really wow. Need guidance? Here, six items pros won’t pay a lot for.

☆ World could face record temperatures in 2023 as El Nino returns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Issei KatoBRUSSELS, April 20 (Reuters) - The world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fuelled by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists say. During El Nino, winds blowing west along the equator slow down, and warm water is pushed east, creating warmer surface ocean temperatures. "El Nino is normally associated with record breaking temperatures at the global level. Climate models suggest a return to El Nino conditions in the late boreal summer, and the possibility of a strong El Nino developing towards the end of the year, Buontempo said. The world's hottest year on record so far was 2016, coinciding with a strong El Nino - although climate change has fuelled extreme temperatures even in years without the phenomenon.

”The Phantom of the Opera,” the longest-running show in the history of Broadway, will close its doors on Sunday after more than three decades. We went backstage during one of the final performances before the show’s famous chandelier crashes down one last time.

However, strong suppressive trade winds have not yet allowed this warmth to disperse across the ocean and allow El Nino to gain its footing. The most recent two weeks where the anomaly was as warm or warmer were in July 2015, preceding the 2015-16 El Nino event, and in June 1998, coming off the 1997-98 event. A few forecasters see a possible Super El Nino in 2023. The timing of El Nino is most immediately pressing in the Southern Hemisphere, which begins planting wheat next month. Argentina, often wet during El Nino, is wrapping up a catastrophic crop year due to severe drought.

☆ China could start building a moon base with lunar-soil bricks in 5 years, amid NASA fears of a moon territory dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Marianne Guenot | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China could be ready to start building its lunar base within five years, scientists said. China has made major strides in space exploration, recently launching its own crewed space station. "We will be using real moon soil to make the first brick right there on the moon," he added, per SCMP. These could be used to make habitats on the moon using traditional Chinese building techniques, he said. The agency wants to build its own station orbiting the moon, as well as an Artemis lunar base.

☆ At Mexico's Chichen Itza, archaeologists discover Mayan scoreboard
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Mexican archaeologists found a circular-shaped Mayan scoreboard used for a ball game at Chichen Itza's archaeological site, Mexican Anthropology and History Institute (INAH), in this handout picture released on April 10, 2023. INAH/Handout via REUTERSMEXICO CITY, April 11 (Reuters) - A stone scoreboard used in an ancient soccer-like ball game has been discovered at the famed Mayan Chichen Itza archaeological site in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, archaeologists said this week. "In this Mayan site, it is rare to find hieroglyphic writing, let alone a complete text," said Francisco Perez, one of the archaeologists coordinating the investigations in the Chichanchob complex, also called Casa Colorada. The ball game was a traditional practice of Mesoamerican peoples and is believed to have had ritual undertones. The Chichen Itza complex, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is one of the main archaeological centers of the Mayan civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula.

[1/2] A general view shows a special ship, "Neptune", the floating liquefied natural gas terminal, during the inauguration of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal 'Deutsche Ostsee' in the port of Lubmin, Germany January 14, 2023. Northweat Europe LNG imports Northwest Europe LNG importsAnalysts estimate that Europe accounted for more than a third of global spot market trades in 2022, from around 13% in 2021. Such exposure could reach more than 50% this year if no long-term contracts were signed. Morten Frisch, senior partner at Morten Frisch Consulting, said Europe ideally needs about 70-75% of its LNG supply under firm long-term sale and purchase agreements (SPAs). LNG spot market prices LNG spot market pricesBut they are expected to rise again, with a hot summer that could cut hydro levels, a cold 2023-2024 winter and a rebound in Chinese LNG demand all seen as among the risk factors for price.

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Emissions regulated under the European Union's carbon market from power and industrial sectors fell by 1.2-1.6% last year, preliminary data in the European Union Transaction Log database examined by analysts showed on Monday. Analysts at Refinitiv and ICIS said stationary emissions covered by the scheme, such as power plants and factories, totalled 1.316-1.320 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2022, down 1.2-1.6% from the previous year. While power sector emissions increased, that was offset by a decline in industrial emissions. There were also problems with French nuclear power output, requiring more power generation from fossil fuels to fill the gap. Some 93% of all installations covered by the ETS have reported their emissions so the data is incomplete.

[1/5] One of the dishes created by Bolivian chef Marsia Taha and Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez with ingredients from the Amazon, gets served at Gustu restaurant, in La Paz, Bolivia, March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Claudia MoralesApril 3 (Reuters) - In the high altitudes of Bolivia's La Paz, some of South America's top chefs are paying homage to regional Amazonian culinary ingredients including gusanillo, or worm chili, tree bark that tastes like garlic, and honey from stingless bees. At Taha's restaurant Gustu in La Paz, a feast of colors and flavors was carefully spread out on wooden tables decorated with large leaves to celebrate the gastronomic diversity of the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon. "This is not only a celebration of the Amazon and its biodiversity but of our producers as well. They are the ones who make it possible for these products to arrive to our homes or our restaurants," said Taha.

☆ Exclusive: US to build $300 mln database to fuel Alzheimer's research
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Julie Steenhuysen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The platform will draw on data from medical records, insurance claims, pharmacies, mobile devices, sensors and various government agencies, they said. The database could help identify healthy people at risk for Alzheimer's, which affects about 6 million Americans, for future drug trials. The U.S. Medicare health plan for older adults will likely require such tracking in a registry as a condition of reimbursement for Leqembi. Silverberg said the data platform could also help researchers working in other disease areas understand which patients are most at risk and the impact of medications. The system would be built in a secure computing environment with a number of restrictions to ensure the privacy of people's health data, Silverberg said.

☆ Heavy rain brings flash flooding to Sydney, prompts rescues
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, April 2 (Reuters) - Heavy rain brought flash flooding to Australia's largest city Sydney on Sunday, prompting rescues and residents to sandbag houses, as authorities warned of bad weather ahead. A NSW State Emergency Service (SES) spokesperson told Reuters two people were pulled safely from cars that become stranded in floodwaters in Sydney's inner suburbs. "Don't walk drive or ride through floodwater," the SES spokesperson said. The nation's weather forecaster issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Sydney on Sunday, forecasting heavy rain and possible flash flooding, and warned of more rain for the city this week. "That situation can change quickly so if people monitor the conditions and take heed of those warnings ... that would be excellent to keep people safe," the NSW SES spokesperson said.

☆ How to Avoid the 5 Most Common Dining Room Decorating Mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Nina Molina | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DINING ROOM décor gone awry can kill appetites. Whether your guests are flinching from an eerie portrait their chairs face or squeezing into too-tight seats, bad decorating can take the joy out of even the most well-concocted meal. Los Angeles-based designer David Netto believes dinner guests are rarely eager to enter these stuffy rooms. “So what a dining room must have, above all, is atmosphere,” he said. Here, interiors pros detail five mood crushers in dining rooms, and palate-pleasing alternatives.

Cramer has dealt with a huge number of pitch decks in her time as an entrepreneur and VC. She has shared on LinkedIn her top tips for creating a successful pitch deck. "If you want to build a brand, your pitch deck needs to highlight that brand. If you want to build a tool, you need a pitch deck that shows mock-ups of the product," Cramer wrote. It allows senders much more control over who reads their pitch deck — and who can forward it.

☆ 5 ways to cope with layoff anxiety and how to stop worrying you’re next
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Melody Wilding | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

With layoffs seemingly in every major industry, it's natural to feel some layoff anxiety. Layoff anxiety is high among workers. What to do when layoff anxiety is consuming your thoughts1. Ask yourself:What would I do if I'm laid off? Layoff anxiety can stop you in your tracks.

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