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☆ 'Star Trek: Picard' series finale Episode 10 review: 'The Last Generation' fights the Borg (again), with an ending that's easy to resist (SPOILERS)
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The following contains spoilers about the “Star Trek: Picard” series finale, “The Last Generation.”CNN —Jean-Luc Picard and his crew fought the Borg again in the finale of “Star Trek: Picard,” but despite the oft-used phrase about the futility of fighting them, the highly sentimental ending to the Paramount+ series – including 15 minutes of character-driven material after the battle – likely gave many fans what they wanted, but still turned out to be pretty easy to resist. Patrick Stewart has gamely anchored this latest offshoot of Gene Roddenberry’s creation into his 80s, in this third round flanked by most of the original “Star Trek: The Next Generation” lineup. Still, the extended curtain calls reinforced a sense that the nostalgia, while initially welcome, had essentially reached its limit. There’s nothing wrong with serving that devoted audience, but the 10-episode sendoff still began to feel like too much of a good thing. Nobody can accuse Paramount of under-utilizing the “Trek” shingle, with “Strange New Worlds,” “Lower Decks” and “Prodigy” set to return later this year, plus a just-announced movie featuring Michelle Yeoh.

☆ Opinion: Top secrets come spilling out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Writing for CNN Opinion, Rep. Justin Pearson noted, “This should be a chastening moment for revanchist forces in Tennessee’s legislature and across the country. Over the long haul, the undemocratic machinations employed to oust us from office are destined to fail. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. “As a Jewish historian,” Perry wrote, “I worry about the tension between preserving the memory of past hardships while not locking our entire history into a tale of oppression.

☆ I was jealous of people who were laid off from Big Tech and posting about it since I got laid off from a startup and felt invisible. Then I realized shame drove my resentment.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Hanna Matyiku-Nuñez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Hanna Matyiku-Nuñez was laid off from her job as a marketing manager at a small tech firm in 2021. She developed resentment toward her tech colleagues who got laid off from bigger companies. I was laid off from my marketing position at a small startup most people had never heard of. In my mind, this meant the enviable perks of working for a tech giant continued even after a layoff. I now realize the shame of being laid off kept me from being open, and later drove me to layoff resentment.

☆ At 100 years old, I'm the 'world's oldest practicing doctor'—5 things I never do to live a long, happy life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Dr. Howard Tucker | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

When I was born in 1922, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was 58 years old for men, and 61 years old for women. So as a 100-year-old practicing medical doctor and neurologist, patients often ask me for tips on how to stay healthy, happy and mentally sharp. I've been working for more than 75 years, and was even named as the world's oldest practicing doctor by the Guinness World Records. (My hospital just shut down, so I'm currently doing medical legal review work while I look for another role.) Moderation allows us to live life to the fullest while also keeping us from going overboard and impacting our health in the long run.

☆ Here’s Why This Clever Midea U-Shaped Air Conditioner Is a Professional Reviewer’s Favorite
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

By Liam McCabeEvery spring for five years, it was my job to test and review window air conditioners. When the Midea U-Shaped Air Conditioner arrived in 2020, seemingly out of nowhere, it upended everything I hated about this staid, stale category since I began my reviewer gig in the 2010s. For people who have to rely on window ACs to cool a scorching home, I’d argue that it’s the biggest summertime quality-of-life improvement in decades. The biggest advantage of the U-shaped Air Conditioner is it’s so much quieter than a typical window unit, thanks to its namesake, weird-looking chassis. It looks like a standard air conditioner has been split in two, with just a short band of plastic holding the halves together along their bottom edge.

☆ Great Wall of China: Six sections with beautiful views
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Whether you’re planning to visit the Great Wall for the first time or the 50th, the following destinations are sure to make your trip to China even more worthwhile. The juxtaposition of its ruins against the rammed-earth Great Wall makes Bataizi a unique place to spend a morning or afternoon. Laoniuwan (aka the Old Ox Bend Great Wall)Laoniuwan, where the Great Wall and the Yellow River meet. Alex SherrAs the locals say, Laoniuwan is where the Great Wall and the mighty Yellow River shake hands. The piled-stone wall at Dushikou is unique, as many other sections of the Great Wall close to Beijing were constructed using kiln-fired bricks.

Persons: CNN —, I’ve, Alex Sherr, ”, Alex Sherr Mutianyu, you’ll, William Lindesay, Pan, Zuoyun, You’ll, Simatai, Yatou’s, Emperor Jiajing, Lamb Organizations: CNN, Tourism, UNESCO, Northern Barbarians Locations: Beijing, China, Turtle, Gansu, Sitan, Jingtai County, City, Jingtai, Lanzhou, Gansu province, Turtle City, Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport, it’s, Mutianyu, Jiankou, Xizhazi, Bataizi, Datong, Shanxi province’s, Zuoyun, Zuoyun County, Laoniuwan, Pianguan County, Xinzhou, Shanxi province, Inner Mongolia, marveling, Pianguan, Tangjiazhai, Beijing’s Miyun, Miyun, It’s, Dushikou, Chicheng, Hebei province, Hebei, Liuliqiao

☆ Fact Check-Image of Pope Francis wearing oversized white puffer coat is AI-generated
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An image showing Pope Francis wearing a white-colored puffer coat with a cross around his neck was generated using an artificial intelligence-based system, but sowed some confusion online. The image has been widely shared on Twitter (here) (archive.is/JlIqq) and Facebook (here), (here). Midjourney is an AI program that generates imagery based on text descriptions users can input to its system (www.midjourney.com/). BuzzFeed News reportedly interviewed the creator of the photo, who said it was made using Midjourney (here). Image was generated using AI, not an authentic photo of the Pope.

☆ Wall Street Elite Investors Will Profit From Banking Crisis, Stock Market Chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Dumb because they were run by bankers who failed to do the business of banking or manage risk. But other investors, the kind of Wall Street sharks who thrive on uncertainty, stand to make a killing. While some of the sharper investors on Wall Street see this mess as an opportunity, chaos cannot suit everyone. Last week the Federal Reserve reiterated its commitment to fighting inflation and continued to hike interest rates. The new rules — higher interest rates — will remain for the foreseeable future.

☆ I'm an underground miner making as much as $160,000 a year without a college degree. The job saved my life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Cory Rockwell is an underground miner at copper mine Nevada Copper in the town of Yerington. Now, I'm an underground miner — and the job saved my life. Three years later, I moved to a different surface mine, but I really wanted to work underground, so I was applying to underground mines on the side. Years later, I am now a powders guy at underground copper mine Nevada Copper. At Nevada Copper, I'm responsible for dropping explosives into the holes drilled into the ground.

☆ How credit-card points travel advisor build their businesses and give advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kaila Yu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

What are credit card points travel awards? Travel advisors like Do offer consultations to teach clients about maximizing hotel points and airline miles earned for travel. Why hire a credit card points travel advisor? Grossman also creates consulting plans for CFOs of small businesses to maximize credit card points — this service can run into thousands of dollars. Savanti Travel works with small to medium businesses on points and miles travel redemption strategies, and uses a subscription model on a minimum retainer of about $3,000 bucks a month.

☆ Saddam's rusting yacht serves as picnic spot for Iraqi fishermen
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"I can’t believe that this belonged to Saddam and now I'm the one moving around it," he said. But it was targeted by U.S.-led forces, and later capsized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway as it fell into decay. In the turmoil that followed Saddam’s downfall, the yacht was stripped bare and looted, with everything from its chandeliers and furniture to parts of its metal structure removed. One of three yachts owned by Saddam, the yacht could accommodate up to 200 guests and was equipped with a helipad. U.S. officials estimated in 2003 that Saddam and his family may have amassed up to $40 billion in ill-gotten funds.

☆ Where Paul Wick, seasoned tech stock investor, is raising his bets now
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

So when a position opened up at the Seligman Communications and Information fund, the firm's then-chief investment officer asked Wick to take it over. Today, the Columbia Seligman Technology and Information fund (CCIZX) that Wick began running on New Year's Day in 1990, has $8.5 billion in assets under management. "It's really hard to guess how will the technology industry change in five years. By now, Wick has relationships going back decades in the tech industry. As of January, the Technology and Information fund held 2.96% of its assets in Bloom, up from 2.36% in October.

☆ A 30-year-old property owner in Seattle is experimenting with short-term rentals and overcoming the 'Airbnbust' by setting up one-of-kind listings, including a 70s-themed 'Groovy Guest House'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Real estate investor Peter Keane-Rivera recently got into short-term vacation rentals. After nearly five and a half years of doing long-term rentals, Seattle-based property owner Peter Keane-Rivera is experimenting with short-term vacation rentals via Airbnb. "He said, 'you'll pretty much double the rent on a long-term rental unit if you convert it to a short-term vacation rental,'" Keane-Rivera, who works full-time at a large aerospace manufacturer in the Seattle area, told Insider. While that may have been true when his mentor was listing Airbnbs, vacation rental bookings started slowing down in 2022 and hosts started worrying about what was coined 'Airbnbust.' After looking through listings of other Airbnbs in the Seattle area and evaluating his competition, Keane-Rivera settled on creating a 70s-themed space.

I've set aside a specific fund for splurges so I can get myself nice things without going overboard. Since stockpiling puts a dent in my immediate budget, I'll follow it up with no-spend months to stay on track. As someone who likes to stick to a strict budget, I've found gift cards to be helpful tools in achieving this goal. Editor's Rating 4.36/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Editor's Rating 4.34/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Editor's Rating 3.9/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Learn more On Public's website Learn more On Wealthfront's website Learn more On Acorns' website5. By allowing myself a judgment-free splurge from money set aside for that purpose, I can stay on budget while still enjoying the fruits of my labor.

☆ Two Israels face off as justice overhaul deepens the divide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

For them, weakening the Supreme Court would undermine the bedrock of Israel's democracy and could set the country on the path to becoming a corrupt and religiously coercive state. In 2020, the Supreme Court struck down a law that had retroactively legalised homes built by settlers on land owned by Palestinians, like Amona. Settlers driven by ideology see themselves as pioneers redeeming land that was promised by God and many feel betrayed by Supreme Court rulings against settlements. The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment. "The Supreme Court has challenged parliament time and again, playing politics, not nicely."

☆ How healthy imitation crab is compared to other seafood, and what surimi sticks are actually made of
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Crystal Raypole | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

While imitation crab is more affordable than real crab, it doesn't have as much nutritional value. Once imitation crab hit the markets in the late '70s, it became wildly popular as an affordable alternative to crab meat. Yet while real crab packs a major protein punch, imitation crab doesn't have quite as much nutritional value. Imitation crab contains little or no real crab. Brian Vander Brug / Contributor / Getty ImagesThe rising costs of crab have made imitation crab a more appealing option for many shoppers.

☆ Has the Basic Black Dress Disappeared?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Christine Lennon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

AS A BABY EDITOR at fashion magazines in the 1990s, I was raised on a steady visual diet of the chicest black clothes. The office grown-ups at Harper’s Bazaar, W and Vogue would glide down the halls in form-fitting knits or svelte Helmut Lang pants that grazed their Manolo Blahnik BB pumps. Their sleek black Jil Sander suits and pencil skirts were constructed with care. My middle-aged years, it seemed, were going to be sartorially amazing: Choosing an artful black wardrobe would give me license to ignore lesser trends, signify maturity and fill my closet with essentials to rely on for decades—especially once I had the financial leeway to splurge on quality pieces. My commute is 30 feet to an office above our garage, my co-workers two terriers that shed shamelessly, leaving anything I wear covered in hair.

☆ Volkswagen sees no sign of forced labor at its plant in Xinjiang
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Volkswagen faced a barrage of criticism from campaigners Tuesday after the head of its Chinese business said he saw no sign of forced labor during a visit to the carmaker’s plant in Xinjiang. Activists and an international group of lawmakers said verifying labor standards in the region was impossible. Rights groups have documented human rights abuses in Xinjiang since the 2000s, including mass forced labor in detention camps which the United Nations said could constitute crimes against humanity. Brandstaetter said he saw no signs of forced labor and that workers’ comments matched the reports Volkswagen had received from SAIC about the plant. Reputational riskVolkswagen says it has never found evidence of forced labor among its Xinjiang workforce and its presence is positive for the local population.

☆ Woody Harrelson Can Play Anyone. It’s Being Himself That’s Hard.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

“I’m an A personality and a B facade,” says Woody Harrelson, and that’s as good an explanation for his charm and success as you’re likely to find. I don’t know. I could go hang off one of those big mountaintop-remover coal things, but that’s not going to stop it. I meet with the director, and I’m going to do it — they’re making it for like $500,000 — then the guy just goes with someone else! I have a gluttonous side, and I know that’s not going to help me be a spiritually better person.

☆ As accomplished, high-profile female leaders step back from their careers, I wonder whether any woman can have it all
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I don't fault them; they're women who achieved much and then, it appears, made the best decision for themselves. Women face bias when they're leaders. McKinsey & Company recently said it found that "compared with men, senior women leaders report higher rates of burnout, chronic stress, and exhaustion." A report last year from LeanIn.org and McKinsey said women leaders were leaving their companies at the highest rate ever; the organizations started tracking the data in 2015. "You're not promoting enough women into the leadership ranks, and now you have more women leaving leadership roles," Thomas told CNBC Make It in October.

☆ Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. president, is in hospice care
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Former President Jimmy Carter speaks to the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in his hometown of Plains, Georgia on April 28, 2019. Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 years old is the longest-lived American president, has entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, a statement from The Carter Center confirmed Saturday. Jason Carter, the couple's grandson who now chairs The Carter Center governing board, said Saturday in a tweet that he "saw both of my grandparents yesterday. That's a staggering drop from when The Carter Center began leading the global eradication effort in 1986, when the parasitic disease infected 3.5 million people. I would not deserve to be your president," Carter said often as he campaigned.

☆ Children as young as 10 and rape victims were sterilized in Utah as late as the 1970s. Time is running out to get justice.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Victims as young as 10 were sterilizedA picture of the Utah State Hospital from the late 1800s. Sterilizations were carried out in this hospital before the Utah State Training School was opened. 'He felt there was nothing he could do to prevent the operation'An entrance to the Utah State Training School, American Fork, Utah, February 1942. Utah State Historical SocietyLike many other states in the US, the people who were deemed unfit in Utah — labeled as "feeble-minded"— would be sent to off to state institutions — first at the Utah State Hospital they at the Utah State Training School from 1931. At the Utah State Training School, students were meant to learn practical skills like housework, sewing, and shoe mending.

But retail investors are haunted by the regulatory purges, volatility and losses since 2021. With 212 million retail investors, equal to Brazil's population, the conservatism of China's retail army has implications for the viability of the rally. Individual retail investor transactions accounted for about 60% of the total A-shares turnover in late 2022, China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Yi Huiman said in November. But data shows barely any investor accounts being opened and the margin financing that retail investors typically use has plateaued. Retail investors are waiting for clearer policy signals, said Lei Meng, China equities strategist at UBS Securities.

☆ What Makes His AMC Gremlin X a Collectible? A Blue Jeans Interior
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( A.J. Baime | Photographs Saeed Rahbaran For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Manny Athans , a retired peace officer living in North Las Vegas, Nev., on his 1973 AMC Gremlin X Levi’s edition, as told to A.J. I would go to car shows and see these kinds of cars everywhere. One day, I decided that I wanted to gravitate toward the unusual. I wanted to stand out. Having grown up a teenager in the 1970s, I remembered the Gremlin.

☆ Layoffs at Google, Microsoft, Salesforce Teaching Tech Employees a Harsh Lesson
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Tech workers are using all sorts of emotional phrases to describe the layoff wave that has gripped the industry and become the talk of the business world. "I'm shocked and hurt and still processing," Katie Olaskiewicz, a former human-truths strategist at Google, wrote on LinkedIn last week shortly after 12,000 Google employees were let go. Over the past two weeks, a total of 40,000 employees have been laid off from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, a nightmare come true for tech workers. The tech layoffs have been starkly different from Wall Street, which has in recent months instituted its own rounds of job cuts. Wall Street realitiesIn many ways, tech workers are waking up to a reality that their peers in other high-flying industries have always known.

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