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☆ Some climate-tech startups want you to believe AI tools can save the planet — but it's not that simple
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

AMP Robotics is just one of more than 44,500 climate tech startups that have emerged since 2010. Last year investors poured $70.1 billion into climate tech, an 89% rise compared with 2021, according to HolonIQ Global Impact Intelligence. While AI tools like Horowitz's waste-sorting robots have been around for years, the advent of generative-AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT has reignited conversations around deploying AI to address societal issues. PersefoniBut researchers warn AI may do more harm than goodResearchers, activists, and climate tech execs agree that AI can't single-handedly cool the planet. AMP RoboticsEven AI climate tech executives see limits to their impactEven climate tech executives believe there are limitations to AI.

Persons: Matanya Horowitz, Horowitz, ChatGPT, Carling Spelhaug, Sasha Luccioni, Luccioni, David Rolnick, Banks, James Newsome, Newsome, Rolnick, Bill McKibben, McKibben, Helena Norberg, Hodge, Norberg, OpenAI's ChatGPT Organizations: AMP Robotics, Caltech, Global, Intelligence, Carling, UN, McGill University, Research, Tech, Greenpeace, AMP Locations: Colorado, Africa, South America

☆ Alistair Brownlee relives one of the most incredible moments in sports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Don Riddell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —It has been described as one of the most incredible moments in sports, brothers-in-arms at the end of a grueling triathlon race in Cozumel, Mexico. In September 2016, over what were the last 400 yards of the season, triathlete Alistair Brownlee rounded a bend to find his younger brother Jonny in considerable medical distress. Jonny Brownlee (L) is helped after crossing the line in second place during the 2016 ITU World Triathlon Championships. Alistair Brownlee celebrates on the podium after winning gold in the men's triathlon event at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain won another gold medal in the men's triathlon at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

☆ Military Caught Airman Mishandling Secrets Before Arrest but Left Him in Job
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Glenn Thrush | Robin Stein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Air Force officials caught Airman Jack Teixeira taking notes and conducting deep-dive searches for classified material months before he was charged with leaking a vast trove of government secrets, but did not remove him from his job, according to a Justice Department filing on Wednesday. On two occasions in September and October 2022, Airman Teixeira’s superiors in the Massachusetts Air National Guard admonished him after reports that he had taken “concerning actions” while handling classified information. Those included stuffing a note into his pocket after reviewing secret information inside his unit, according to a court filing ahead of a hearing before a federal magistrate judge in Worcester, Mass., on Friday to determine whether he should be released on bail. Airman Teixeira — who until March shared secrets with scores of online friends from around the world on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers — “was instructed to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information,” lawyers with the department’s national security division wrote in an 11-page memo arguing for his indefinite detention. The airman’s superiors also ordered him to “cease and desist on any deep dives into classified intelligence information,” although it is not clear how, or if, they enforced that directive.

☆ Japan's Kore-eda: sexual identity not the focus in film 'Monster'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Alicia Powell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Press conference for the film "Kaibutsu" (Monster) in competition - Cannes, France, May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah MeyssonnierCANNES, May 18 (Reuters) - Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda said he did not want to focus on sexual identity in portraying the relationship between the two schoolboys at the centre of his latest film, "Monster." "The age that these children are at is an age where their sexual identity is maybe not fully... they're not fully aware of it at this stage," Kore-eda told Reuters on Thursday, the day after the movie's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Earlier Thursday, Kore-eda told journalists he did not think the story should be viewed as portraying two boys who have growing feelings for each other, as suggested in some reviews. For "Monster" Kore-eda once again teamed up with Sakura Ando, who starred in his 2018 Palmes d' Or winner "Shoplifters," and who portrays Saori in the new film.

☆ Chile greenlights mining tax reform that boosts government take
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Fabian Cambero | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Lawmakers in Chile’s lower house of Congress gave final approval on Wednesday for a long-awaited mining tax reform that now requires only the signature of leftist President Gabriel Boric, who has publicly backed it, to become law. By a vote of 101 in favor to 24 against, lawmakers approved modifications to the tax and royalty bill endorsed by the Senate last week. The lopsided vote was hailed by Finance Minister Mario Marcel, who underscored that the higher government take required of mining companies would address past abuses. Under the reform, the top tax rate will reach up to nearly 47% for companies that produce over 80,000 tonnes of fine copper a year, considered high by the industry. Mining association Sonami expressed relief that the measure ended uncertainty over the type of reform lawmakers would ultimately adopt.

☆ Evelyne Axell was a trailblazer of erotic pop art in the 1960s. Then she died
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Throughout Evelyne Axell’s short but radical career, the Belgian artist revered the female body in psychedelic hues rendered in gleaming enamel. In 1972, only a handful of years into painting, she died in a car crash and faded into relative obscurity. But such sales for Axell are infrequent, according to Sara Friedlander, Christie’s deputy chairman of post-war and contemporary art. Her stylistic approach — a mix of pop art influences and dreamy surrealist settings — is still underrecognized, according to Morris. “She acts as a historical bridge (between surrealism and pop art),” she said.

☆ Why a travel coach is a must-have for some travelers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Tamara Hardingham-Gill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Professional guidanceSahara Rose De Vore, founder of the Travel Coach Network, pictured, second from right, with members during an event in Atlanta. Courtesy Sahara Rose De Vore/The Travel Coach Network“It was something new,” explains Ubogagu. Sahara Rose De Vore, founder of The Travel Coach Network, a database of certified travel coaches, defines a travel coach as a “travel expert who helps people bring awareness to why they want to travel and what type of experience they need in order to obtain the transformation, feelings, or outcomes that their urge to travel is calling for.”The types of services provided tend to vary depending on each coach’s “personal interest, background, and passion for travel,” adds De Vore. Certified travel coach and organizational psychologist, Sonia Cruz Oro, founder of travel and personal development service Travel Awakens, has been coaching travelers since 2021. Increasing interestWellness travel coach Dr. Noreen Nguru prescribes travel to her clients.

☆ Court tosses defamation lawsuit against the Daily Beast over an article that destroyed Gawker 2.0
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A defamation lawsuit against The Daily Beast was dismissed by a New York appeals court. A New York appeals court this week dismissed a defamation lawsuit against The Daily Beast over an article that led to the implosion of Gawker's short-lived second iteration. The Daily Beast article in question, written by Maxwell Tani, detailed Bustle Digital Group's failed attempt to revive Gawker, a gossipy media site. According to The Daily Beast report, the site's only two writers quit in frustration with Griffith's comments about diversity in the workplace. The litigation bounced around in court for years before landing in front of a New York state appeals court.

☆ Cramer discusses recent stock wins and losses: 'We refuse to accept defeat in the long term'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

We remonstrate, but we act and stubbornly refuse to accept defeat in the long term. Start with some of the challenges DIS YTD mountain Disney YTD performance We got started too early with Walt Disney (DIS) and we got too close to the company. EMR YTD mountain Emerson Electric YTD performance Emerson Electric (EMR) infuriates me. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Robert E. Lucas Jr., Nobel-Winning Conservative Economist, Dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Sam Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Robert E. Lucas Jr., a contrarian Nobel laureate in economics who undergirded conservative arguments that government intervention in fiscal policy is often self-defeating, died on Monday in Chicago. His death was announced by the University of Chicago, where he began teaching as a professor in 1975 and remained a professor emeritus until his death. The announcement did not cite a cause. In awarding the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1995 to Professor Lucas, the fifth winner in economics from the University of Chicago in six years, the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences described him as “the economist who has had the greatest influence on macroeconomic research since 1970.”While he propounded a number of groundbreaking if sometimes controversial theories, Professor Lucas was best known for his hypothesis of “rational expectations,” advanced in the early 1970s in a critique of macroeconomics.

☆ A real-estate agent explains how regular homebuyers can compete with all-cash buyers using 'pre-underwriting' — and 3 other ways to get your offer accepted in a competitive market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The housing market is competitive right now and homes are selling quickly. Realtor Dana Bull shares the strategies that her clients are using to win bids in a competitive market. Real-estate agent, consultant, and investor Dana Bull says that her market, Boston, is more competitive than ever. The main advantage is that the everyday buyer can close quickly, which used to only be a luxury for all-cash buyers who didn't have to worry about securing financing. Big picture, you win the bid and you get the house because you're able to close quickly; but you may not be getting the best rate."

☆ Google zeroed in on these 3 categories of climate companies to boost
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

This year, the 12 companies mostly fell into three broad categories: Artificial intelligence, electric vehicle infrastructure, and providing companies with better data to decarbonize their operations. When I read the headlines about the dangers of the climate crisis, I feel a personal obligation to be a part of supporting innovative climate solutions to scale," Ridenour told CNBC. Google has hosted three climate change startup accelerators for North American companies in the last three years, and all 33 of the participants are all still operating, a spokesperson for Google told CNBC. "Teams are leaning deeper into developing AI and ML models to address climate change," Ridenour told CNBC. Cleartrace is particularly focused on measurement techniques for Scope 3 emissions -- emissions associated with a company's entire supply chain or value chain, which can be fiendishly difficult to track.

CNN —Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Sunday teased a possible 2024 presidential run while declining to support Donald Trump’s campaign, becoming the latest onetime Trump appointee to distance himself from the former president’s third White House bid. “It’s early in the process, I think, for any of us to sit back and say, ‘I’m for this person or that person,’” Perry said. Perry is the longest-serving Texas governor in history, assuming the role in 2000, when Gov. Other texts between Perry and Meadows discussing how to overturn the election, signed by the former governor, also found the light of day during the investigation. So again, there is a lot of misinformation out there, Jim, and that was one piece of it,” Perry said.

Middle-income households are less likely to have access to resources like Medicaid and food stamps. The report, by Drexel's Autism Institute, looked at the intersection of poverty, race, and health outcomes for autistic youth. Children with autism from middle-income households, or households at 200% to 399% of the federal poverty line, actually had the worst health outcomes out of all income classes. The first, Dr. Anderson pointed out, was that middle-income households are less likely to be eligible for Medicaid. While some states offer waivers for kids with autism from middle-income households, it's far from a universal practice.

☆ Biden warns of recession unless Republicans back his debt ceiling plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

We're going to win this fight," Biden said at a flag-bedecked event at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York. Republicans are vowing to support raising the debt ceiling only if Biden agrees to retroactive reductions in government spending. Biden wants the debt ceiling lifted without spending cuts attached, but said he wants to negotiate the next budget. White House aides are meeting with congressional leaders' staff in Washington daily before Biden and the leaders meet again on Friday. Democrats view Republican House members who narrowly won election as possibly vulnerable to being pressured into breaking with their party's leadership and voting for a bill to raise the debt ceiling without conditions.

☆ E. Jean Carroll's team wanted to dismiss a juror during the Trump sexual abuse and defamation trial who described Tim Pool's podcast as 'balanced'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New filings from E. Jean Carroll's case against Donald Trump reveal her team sought to dismiss a juror. On April 30, Carroll's team moved to dismiss Juror No. The juror was ultimately allowed to stay on after a judge rejected the request from Carroll's team, according to Politico. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages for the sexual abuse and defamation claims. 77 was among the nine jurors who unanimously found Trump was liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll.

☆ A US Army colonel explains how jumping in to solve your team’s problems kills motivation — and what you should do the next time a crisis hits
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Susan Margolin | Kellog Insight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

You may begin to question your team members and double-check their work as if it were your own. Let go of being a heroThe responsibility of senior leaders in any organization is to focus on the bigger picture and not be mired in tactical processes. "When you're in a position of authority, it's your responsibility to extend trust to the individuals on your team," Maddox says. This can mean relinquishing authority to provide team members autonomy to make decisions and learn. To do this, you need "multiple sensors" or viewpoints from your team members to get the full picture.

☆ Biden hits Republican debt ceiling plan in swing New York district
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

We're going to win this fight," Biden said at a flag-bedecked event at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York. Republicans are vowing to support raising the debt ceiling only if Biden agrees to retroactive reductions in government spending. Biden wants the debt ceiling lifted without spending cuts attached, but said he wants to negotiate the next budget. Biden spoke a day after he met with top Republican and Democratic lawmakers for the first time in three months to try to move forward on the debt ceiling and avoid a historic default. Democrats view Republican House members who narrowly won election as possibly vulnerable to being pressured into breaking with their party's leadership and voting for a bill to raise the debt ceiling without conditions.

☆ Biden heads to New York to talk debt ceiling, raise funds for re-election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In an appearance at Westchester Community College north of New York City, Biden plans to discuss the need to move quickly to head off default. Democrats view Republican House members who narrowly won election as possibly vulnerable to being pressured into breaking with their party's leadership and voting for a bill to raise the debt ceiling without conditions. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said Republicans will not vote to raise the borrowing limit without an agreement to cut spending. While Biden has largely focused on his presidential duties since announcing his bid for re-election, his campaign operation is coming to life. The events being planned for Biden are expected to generate some $2.5 million for his reelection campaign, according to sources.

☆ MSG: The world's most misunderstood ingredient
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Maggie Hiufu Wong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Case in point – he has the letters “MSG” tattooed on his arm, and his restaurant’s menu includes a signature drink called the MSG Martini. “Things just taste better with MSG, whether it’s Western food or Cantonese food,” the chef tells CNN. You’ve probably been playing with glutamate, inosinate and guanylate in your own cooking without even realizing it. We season our food with MSG a little bit – it’s different from heating water and adding MSG and serving it with noodles,” he says. “Our mission from the very beginning was to show people what Cantonese food is and what Cantonese food can be – it’s always going to be playful, fun and approachable,” says Eng.

☆ McCarthy blocks Tlaib event marking Palestinian displacement, known as Nakba
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Haley Talbot | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Many Arabs, especially Palestinians, commemorate the displacement every year as Nakba Day. McCarthy intervened late Tuesday to reserve the Capitol Visitor Center space where Tlaib – the first Palestinian-American US congresswoman – was going to host a Wednesday event, according to a spokesperson for McCarthy. Tlaib responded in a statement, saying, “Speaker McCarthy wants to rewrite history and erase the existence and truth of the Palestinian people, but he has failed to do so. “We fully plan on moving forward with this event and we will continue to ensure that Palestinian voices are heard. McCarthy will instead lead a bipartisan briefing celebrating the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship instead, his office says.

☆ Finland prime minister divorces husband
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HELSINKI, May 10 (Reuters) - Finland's outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin has filed for divorce jointly with her husband of three years Markus Raikkonen, they said on Instagram on Wednesday. Marin and Raikkonen, who until recently worked at a venture capital firm, share a 5-year-old daughter. They married in 2020 while Marin was in office dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marin and her Social Democratic Party lost Finland's election for parliament last month, trailing the right-wing National Coalition Party as well as the nationalist Finns Party. Marin, 37, the world's youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019, is considered by fans around the globe as a millennial role model for progressive new leaders, even as voters at home opted for a new government.

☆ The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post Win Pulitzer Prizes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Joseph De Avila | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wall Street Journal staff members celebrate the Pulitzer win in the paper’s New York office on Monday. Photo: Emil Lendof/The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press and New York Times were among news outlets awarded Pulitzer Prizes Monday, honoring journalists who uncovered financial conflicts of interest and delved into issues of racism, immigration and abortion. The Journal was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for its series examining how more than 2,600 federal officials invested in companies that stood to benefit from their agencies’ work.

☆ TurboTax is paying out $141 million in settlement checks to 4.4 million Americans this month. Here's how to know if you get one.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Payments from a $141 million TurboTax settlement will be sent to 4.4 million Americans this month. TurboTax and parent company Intuit agreed to the settlement last year over allegedly deceptive ads. In 2016, 2017, and 2018 millions of Americans paid TurboTax to file their taxes when the IRS would have done it for free. An estimated 4.4 million Americans will soon receive checks as part of a $141 million settlement from Intuit, the parent company of popular tax filing software TurboTax. The state attorneys general said the company deceived Americans with advertising campaigns that emphasized its products were "free, free, free" when its gratis program only covers Americans with "simple" tax returns, as defined by the company.

☆ Big Promises From Vivek Ramaswamy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We will use our military to annihilate the Mexican drug cartels.”While in Keene, N.H., on Wednesday, Mr. Ramaswamy mused about using a local precision-weapons plant to elaborate on his threat of military action against organized crime across the southern border in Mexico. And Mr. Ramaswamy has conceded that among some libertarian-minded voters, the promise sounds disconcertingly bellicose. It might also resonate with those who understand how lopsided the youth vote is in favor of Democrats. He would prevent American businesses from expanding into Chinese markets unless “our demands are met” by Beijing. Those include more intellectual property protections and an end to required joint ventures with state-controlled businesses.

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