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☆ Taylor Swift says '1989 (Taylor's Version)' vault tracks are 'insane'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Taylor Swift capped off her sixth and final “Eras Tour” concert at Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium on Wednesday with a big announcement that Swifties had been speculating about for weeks. She then directed attention to the large video screen where an image of the album art for “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” appeared, confirming an October release date. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is on its way to you,” Swift wrote on Instagram Wednesday night shortly following her in-concert announcement, adding “the 1989 album changed my life in countless ways.”With each “Taylor’s Version” album, she’s included a number of previously unreleased songs coined “from the vault” tracks alongside the re-recorded originals, tracks that didn’t make the initial album’s final cut. She has since released “Taylor’s Version” albums for “Red,” “Speak Now” and “Fearless.” After “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift is expected to at some point release 2018’s “Reputation” album, and her 2006 self-titled debut album “Taylor Swift.”The “Eras Tour” starts back up for the international leg on August 24 in Mexico City. “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is due out on October 27.

Persons: CNN — Taylor Swift, Swifties, ”, I’ve, ” Swift, she’s, Swift, “ Taylor Swift Organizations: CNN Locations: Mexico City

☆ A top Amazon executive recently said he had 'no data' to support the company's return-to-office mandate, prompting criticism from frustrated employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some Amazon employees are upset about the company's new RTO mandate. Amazon is famous for using data to make decisions — except when it's forcing employees back to the office. Hopkins's comments have added to rising frustration among some Amazon employees over the company's return-to-office mandate. Following Hopkins's meeting, Amazon employees took to internal Slack channels to vent their concerns. Another suspected Amazon was intentionally hiding data, and said the RTO mandate was in conflict with the company's "Earth's best employer" commitment.

Persons: Mike Hopkins, Hopkins, Andy Jassy, we're, Amazon, Rob Munoz, we've, Eugene Kim Organizations: Amazon Video, Amazon, Amazon's Locations: Seattle

☆ Modi’s India Won’t Be A Reliable Partner for the U.S. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Arundhati Roy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mercilessly attacked by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s cheerleaders and other Hindu nationalists on Twitter, Ms. Siddiqui was accused of being a biased Pakistani Islamist hatemonger with an anti-India agenda. Eventually the White House had to step up and condemn the harassment as “antithetical to the very principles of democracy.” It felt as if everything that the White House had sought to gloss over had become embarrassingly manifest. The same cannot be said of the State Department and the White House. They would have known plenty about the man for whom they were rolling out the red carpet. Nobody in the 21st century should have to live as they do, with a boot on their throats.

Persons: Bharatiya Janata Party’s, Siddiqui, Modi, Modi’s Organizations: Bharatiya Janata, Twitter, White, State Department, Amnesty, 161st, World Press Locations: India, Gujarat, Kashmir

DeSantis is scheduled to visit Iowa on Friday, his third trip to the state since declaring his presidential bid. His wife, Casey DeSantis, last week traveled to Iowa to launch a national "Mamas for DeSantis" campaign focused on parental rights, hoping to win over the swing vote of suburban Republican women. DeSantis' supporters are also emphasizing what they see as the similarities between DeSantis and Kim Reynolds, Iowa's popular Republican governor, said one person close to the campaign. "The campaign has the most sophisticated and experienced team ever in Iowa, and is poised to crush DeSantis," Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said. A dearth of reliable polling in Iowa makes it difficult to assess the real strength of both DeSantis and Trump in the state.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump's, DeSantis, Trump, Chris Stirewalt, Stirewalt, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Steve Cortes, Donald Trump, They've, Ryan Frederick, Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Casey DeSantis, Kim Reynolds, Iowa's, Reynolds, Steven Cheung, Ann Selzer, Selzer, James Oliphant, Gram Slattery, Alexandra Ulmer, Ross Colvin, Alistair Bell Organizations: Republican, Trump, American Enterprise Institute, Arkansas, Fox Business, Republican Party, Iowa, Thomson Locations: Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, U.S, Trump, Adair County

☆ New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins under fire for bringing backup plane on China trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Isaac Yee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —New Zealand’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been criticized for bringing a backup plane on his visit to China this week, with opposition leaders pointing to excess planet-warming emissions created in the middle of the climate crisis. A “backup aircraft” was “pre-positioned” in the Philippine capital Manila in case the primary aircraft carrying Hipkins and a trade delegation broke down, the spokesperson said. The leader of the opposition National Party Chris Luxon said Hipkins’ use of two planes wasn’t a good look environmentally, according to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand (RNZ). The 757s are “around 30 years old, are nearing the end of their economic lives, and are due for replacement between 2028 and 2030,” Hipkins’ spokesperson said. Former New Zealand prime ministers have faced political embarrassment after their planes broke down on official trips.

Persons: Chris Hipkins, “, ”, National Party Chris Luxon, David Seymour, ” Seymour, Seymour, ” Hipkins, John Key, RNZ, Jacinda Ardern, Hipkins Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Zealand’s, CNN, National Party, Radio New Zealand, ACT Party, Ford, Defense Force, RNZAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Boeing, New Zealand Defense Force, Former New Zealand, RNZAF Boeing, Air Force Locations: Hong Kong, China, Philippine, Manila, India, Australia, Melbourne, Auckland, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai

☆ Racism, sexism and class-based discrimination ‘widespread’ in English cricket, independent report finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Matt Foster | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —An independent report into the culture of cricket in England and Wales has found racism, class-based discrimination, elitism and sexism to be “widespread” and “deep rooted” in the sport. The “Holding a Mirror Up to Cricket” report was written by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) and received more than 4,400 responses to its call for evidence between oral and written submissions. … The decline in Black cricket in England and Wales has been well documented and subject to much public debate for many years. Regarding sexism, the report said: “Women are still seen as an ‘add on’ to the men’s game. “The apology should acknowledge that racism, sexism, elitism and class-based discrimination have existed, and still exist, in the game, and recognise the impact on victims of discrimination.

Persons: George Floyd, ”, Cindy Butts, Azeem Rafiq, Butts, Rafiq, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Heather Knight, …, Richard Thompson Organizations: CNN, Cricket, Independent Commission, Equity, Wales Cricket Board, Culture, Media, Sport Committee, England men’s, ECB, ”, England Women, England Locations: England, Wales, “

☆ Opinion: The Russian official with a none-too-subtle message from the boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The world awoke Wednesday morning to the latest threat from Russia’s former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. He’s like the fictional figure who appears out of nowhere, stares ahead with a blank face and slowly runs his finger across his throat: a none-too-subtle message from the boss. Or is he speaking for the Russian president? Shortly before he died, he had called Russia’s war against Ukraine “a fascist invasion.” The cause of death remains unexplained. With the war in Ukraine – a pivotal moment in Russia’s history – Putin remains at the center of the mafia-like government he has built.

Persons: Frida Ghitis, Dmitry Medvedev, Medvedev, James, “, –, Venance, Putin, Xi Jinping, ”, ” Medvedev, Sen, Lindsey Graham of, Vladimir Putin toasts, Sergei Surovikin, Kirill Kuryavtsev, Pyotr Kucherenko, Ukraine “, Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Kara, Navalny, embarrassingly, Putin’s, couldn’t, Ukraine – Organizations: CNN, Washington Post, Politics, Twitter, Russia’s Security, Russia, Foreign, Getty, London, Telegram, Kremlin, Ukraine, Facebook, Navalny’s, Corruption Foundation, YouTube Locations: United Kingdom, Moscow, Ukraine, ”, Russia, Russian, London, France, AFP, Crimea, Poland, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Syria, Cuba, Kara, West, Italy

☆ Why It’s So Hard to Crack Down on Stoned Drivers in New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Corey Kilgannon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But arrests are scant in New York, a city of 8.5 million residents with more than two million cars and 36,000 police officers. Police officials said they arrested 204 people last year for driving under the influence of drugs, and at least 83 so far this year. It is unclear how many arrests were for marijuana, because police officials do not break down arrests by type of substance. In explaining the low arrest numbers, New York City police officials noted numerous hurdles in cracking down on driving high: the lack of a Breathalyzer-type device for evaluating blood marijuana levels, the difficulty in proving impairment and legal limitations when apprehending stoned drivers. By contrast, alcohol arrests are more straightforward, typically based on breath tests and clear rules on impairment linked to blood alcohol levels.

☆ Opinion: What Trump gets right on Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Opinion Daniel R. Depetris | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

For many political pundits and politicians, his observations on the war in Ukraine were no exception. Asa Hutchinson, who is challenging Trump for the 2024 nomination, declared that “Trump reminded everyone tonight of his support of Russia and his willingness to sell out Ukraine. The major difference between the Biden administration and Trump on the Ukraine question seems to be not whether talks should happen, but when. Another point Trump gets right is the vast disparity between the US and its European allies on the issue of assistance to Ukraine, even if his grossly exaggerates the amount of US aid. Join us on Twitter and FacebookTo be clear, some of what Trump said at the town hall about Ukraine was incorrect.

☆ The Debt Ceiling Could Be Avoided by Issuing Premium Bonds, and That’s Fine. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Paul Krugman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As I wrote in my last column, this won’t be because investors view U.S. debt as excessive; America in 2023 isn’t Greece in 2009. If it happens, it will be because Republicans in the House are trying to use the debt ceiling to extort policy concessions they would have no chance of enacting through the normal legislative process. In such a situation, it’s natural to consider possible end runs around the debt ceiling that the Biden administration could use to meet U.S. commitments without the cooperation of Congress. There are two main gimmicks that have been widely discussed: premium bonds and platinum coins. Premium bonds are harder to explain, which may make them a more likely route, simply because the platinum coin offers an easier target for false narratives.

☆ Little would make sense about a drone attack on the Kremlin. Except this
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jill Dougherty | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The Kremlin was slow to react, eventually releasing a statement calling it a “planned terrorist attack,” a deliberate attempt by Ukraine to assassinate Putin, but presenting no evidence. Even more embarrassingly for the Kremlin, how did the drones get so close to the Kremlin? Ukraine officials said the attacks might be exploited by Russia to launch even more vicious attacks on Ukraine, including “terrorist” attacks. What about the possibility that Russians opposed to Putin launched a drone attack from within Russia? This year, with drones apparently attacking the Kremlin, it may be harder than usual to feel victorious.

☆ Should Champagne Be Sipped From Coupes or Flutes? A Design Lover Weighs In
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Ajiri Aki | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ONE CHILLY Parisian Friday evening five years ago, our French neighbors invited us downstairs for an apéro. As an American expat whose grasp of the language was embarrassingly subpar, I remember dreading this hangout. When my husband and I walked in, there was the expected bottle of Champagne on a low marble table ready for service next to unexpected glassware: Champagne coupes. I had always understood that Champagne should be poured into flutes to maintain the bubbles, and here was my neighbor, a French person who should know, setting out coupes. I’d thought they would be used for cocktails, wine, even desserts.

☆ Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

The infusions at the ketamine clinic in his West Texas hometown were a Christmas gift from his grandmother. About five years ago, more and more of my friends started using ketamine recreationally. IV ketamine treatment centers charging $400 to $2,000 an infusion popped up all over the country. "Ketamine used as directed in an appropriate clinical setting very rarely leads to any dependence," Mindbloom says on its website. Like Nadia, most of the people I interviewed said when they started using ketamine, they didn't think it was possible to become dependent on it.

☆ Tesla shares fall on US and European price cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

More stable cost inflation was also a factor in reducing prices, said a spokesperson for Tesla Germany, confirming price cuts in its top European market. The US price cuts, announced late Thursday on its global top-sellers the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover SUV, were between 6% and 20%, Reuters calculations showed. For a US buyer of the long-range Model Y, the new Tesla price combined with the US subsidy amounts to a discount of 31%. In China, where Tesla cut prices last week by 6% to 13.5%, owners protested at delivery centres, calling for compensation. Before the cuts, Tesla inventory in the United States, as tracked by models its website shows as immediately available, had been trending higher.

☆ I asked ChatGPT to reply to my Hinge matches. No one responded.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

I asked it to write responses to my Hinge matches. I fed ChatGPT a few comments that were left on my Hinge profile, and also asked it to come up with responses to other people's prompts. In reply to a flame emoji left on one of my photos, ChatGPT offered: "Thanks for the hot compliment! In another prompt, I asked the bot to write a short, witty response to someone whose profile says they work in finance. The number of times that ChatGPT asked me to message someone about "craft beers and avocado toast" makes me think that ChatGPT may be powered by some poor 2010s hipster.

☆ Elon Musk told he's '100% wrong' for claiming Twitter is the internet's biggest click driver 'by far'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk claimed Twitter was "the biggest click driver on the internet by far" in a tweet Saturday. In a tweet on Saturday, the new owner of Twitter suggested the platform was the biggest source of referrals to other websites. Biggest click driver on the Internet by far," Musk replied. In terms of all websites, Twitter ranked ninth for traffic, just above adult website Pornhub. Musk is looking for ways to make Twitter profitable after saying last week the company was losing $4 million a day.

☆ Binance just bought FTX. Here's how rumors of insolvency and fears of contagion led Sam Bankman-Fried into a deal.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Here's the short of it: The once-top-dog crypto firm, FTX, helmed by 30-year-old billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, is being bought by Binance amid significant liquidity issues and rumors of insolvency. But Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao seemed to think saving a floundering FTX was worth the risk of any future downside. CoinDesk published a revealing report on November 2 about the crypto trading firm Alameda Research, another branch of Sam Bankman-Fried's empire. It turns out that the trading firm held billions of dollars' worth of FTX's native token, FTT. Anthony Georgiades, co-founder of blockchain company Pastel Network told me he doesn't think Binance is too concerned about making those investors whole again at this point.

☆ Here's how to protect your portfolio from an inescapable energy crisis in 2023 caused by 'embarrassingly stupid' government policies, says a $200 million hedge fund manager who called the oil market's
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Department of Energy's "embarrassingly stupid" policies will likely cause a severe energy shortage and an energy crisis in 2023, Kupperman told Insider. I mean, US energy production has roughly been flat since the end of Q1 — six months where it's flat. Ironically, energy-friendly policies that lead to an increase in oil production would bring down prices and hurt his portfolio's performance in the process. This doesn't sound like the team of people — between his energy secretary and then Biden — that's going to restore energy production. "We're going to see a new level, so to speak, in terms of commodity prices," Kupperman said.

The research will look at whether the drug can effectively treat depression when other therapies have failed. COMPASS Pathways, a United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical company that focuses on psilocybin research, is conducting the study. Most psychedelics, including psilocybin, are illegal at the federal level in the U.S. No one knows for sure how it might work to treat depression. Nayak was also not involved with the COMPASS study, but does conduct research on psilocybin for other mental health conditions. A re-enactment of a COMPASS Pathways psilocybin therapy session.

☆ Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to humiliate Biden as part of a global power play
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman wants to assert himself internationally. It is a change driven by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is deliberately snubbing the US in an attempt to chart a more independent path, an expert told Insider. Specifically, this has taken the form of Saudi Arabia joining Russia other oil-rich nations to announce a steep cut in production. Cafiero, the analysts, said that Crown Prince Mohammed believes that drawing closer to Russia and China will secure more "leverage" internationally. "Bin Salman and others in Saudi Arabia took a tremendous amount of offense to that rhetoric.

☆ Ye’s graveyard of hate: What Kanye West’s agreement to purchase Parler actually means
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN Business —After being locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts for anti-semitic posts, Monday’s announcement Kanye West will buy the far-right social platform Parler for an undisclosed amount drove headlines. As of press time, the music icon had just 10,000 followers on the platform — a tiny sliver of the 31 million followers he has amassed on Twitter. (By comparison Twitter, also a small social platform compared to giants like Meta, has more than 237 million daily active users.) In truth, West did not even agree to purchase a “conservative social media platform,” as many headlines in the press would have led readers to believe. What he agreed to purchase is a platform with an embarrassingly small user base comprised of far-right extremists and racists.

☆ I kept my money in a standard savings account for an embarrassingly long time, but switching to high-yield took just 10 minutes and I'm so happy I did
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Sarah Sharkey | Read More | Read Less | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I put off switching my money into a high-yield savings account, but when I finally did it took 10 minutes. The Capital One 360 Performance Savings Account checked all of the boxes I was looking for with a high-yield savings account. Pros Check mark icon A check mark. No monthly service fee Check mark icon A check mark. Easy to save for various goals Check mark icon A check mark.

☆ Want to sound less annoying? Avoid these 15 words and phrases that are ‘embarrassingly cliched,’ say grammar experts
▼ + stars: | 2021-12-26 | by ( Kathy | Ross Petras | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

That's legit, but it's being used so often now that we seem to be avoiding a simpler word: "Detailed." It seems like everyone wants to take things offline instead of talking about it later, like they used to say in the old days. 'We remain cautious'Sometimes, "we remain cautious" is used to say nothing — meaning "we're not going to say much because who knows?" Other times, it's used to say "not to worry; we're not going to do anything untoward." But now, it's overused: WFH clothes, WFH hacks (see above), WFH everything.

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