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☆ Art therapy offers relief to Afghan women struggling with mental health
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But she sank into depression since the Taliban closed tertiary institutions to women in December, requiring psychiatric treatment where she was recommended art therapy classes. But many women, particularly in urban areas, who gained opportunities in education and work during the 20-year presence of foreign troops and a Western-backed government are now struggling with a deep sense of despair and mental health challenges, Afghan women and mental health experts say. There are few reliable figures on mental health trends but anecdotally doctors and aid workers say more women are struggling with mental health in the wake of the orders restricting women's work and education. Not only did I make good friends here, I also receive art therapy," said a former university student at the class. Khushi said the art therapy gave her a respite from home and a little hope for the future.

Persons: Khushi, I'm, Charlotte Greenfield, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Health, Reuters, Thomson Locations: MAZAR, SHARIF, Afghanistan, Balkh province's, Islamic Emirate, Balkh's, Mazar

☆ The Persistent Confusion Around the U.T.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Alisha Haridasani Gupta | More About Alisha Haridasani Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

can occur anywhere along the urinary tract, which includes the urethra, bladder, the kidneys and, in men, the prostate, Dr. Kim said. For an issue to be considered a U.T.I., a patient must show some symptoms and have confirmed bacteria in their urine. might be in the kidneys, which would make it a more acute case that can lead to sepsis and kidney damage, though those outcomes are “very, very rare,” Dr. Kim said. “I don’t have a study to quote you that says peeing after sex or before sex reduces infections,” he said. But some women never develop U.T.I.s with increased sexual activity, even if they don’t urinate before or after.

Persons: Kim, Dr, Gupta, U.T.I.s, Benjamin Brucker, ” Organizations: NYU Langone

☆ Temperatures reached record highs this week. Here’s why you still need a sweater in the office
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Ellie Stevens | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

But if you work in an office, chances are the temperatures indoors felt the exact opposite. When air conditioning became standard in buildings in the 1950s, offices started “overcooling,” explains Salvatore Basile, the author of “Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything.” Building owners wanted to show that they offered the comfort of air conditioning, but sometimes they offered too much of it. “Air conditioning was a sexist technology. According to a 2015 paper by Kingma, temperatures in office buildings appear to be based on the heat needs of a 40-year-old, 154-pound man. “Start by raising the office temperature 5 degrees, and then give people the option to use fans, either at their desk or installed into the ceiling,” says Schavion.

Persons: “, ”, Salvatore Basile, Basile, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandburg, “ Lean, Jason Henry, Joe’s, David Lehrer, Sun, Thomas Barwick, Heather Abraham, Leann Parrish, Tik, ‘, Kassia Miller, Boris Kingma, Kingma, Stefano Schavion Organizations: CNN, Facebook, ” Architects, Bloomberg, Getty, NASCAR, UC Berkeley’s Center, Built, Center, Netherlands Institute of Applied Scientific Research, UC Berkeley Locations: San Francisco , California, Pittsburgh, Japan

☆ Ford's electric Mustang Mach-E is piling up on dealer lots as the automaker confronts an EV-inventory problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Nora Naughton | Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But the automaker is having a hard time moving its inventory of Mach-E and Lightning EVs. Ford dealerships are selling fewer Ford EVs than they were this time last year, per Cloud Theory. Erich Merkle, Ford's head of US sales analysis, said EV sales were up nearly 12% through June. He also said the unsold Mach-E inventory wasn't just sitting on dealer lots because it spent more time in transit. The EV market is having its first growing painsFord is not alone in its struggle to match EV production with demand.

Persons: Ford, It's, Erich Merkle, Ford's, it's, they've, We've, Merkle, Tesla, Hummer, EVs, Karl Brauer, Brauer Organizations: Ford, Theory, EV, Coast Ford, East Coast, GM, Lightning, astjohn Locations: EVs, East, Midwest

☆ The world's most-powerful AI model suddenly got 'lazier' and 'dumber.' A radical redesign of OpenAI's GPT-4 could be behind the decline in performance.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Lately, the giant AI model has become faster, but performance has declined. The world's most-powerful AI model has become, well, less powerful. It's considered the most-powerful AI model available broadly and is multimodal, which means it can understand images as well as text inputs. They think OpenAI is creating several smaller GPT-4 models that act similarly to the large model but are less expensive to run. This week, several AI experts posted what they claimed were details of GPT-4's architecture on Twitter.

Persons: OpenAI's, Peter Yang, I've, Frazier MacLeod, Christi Kennedy, OpenAI, ChatGPT, It's, Sharon Zhou, Theseus, Zhou, Yam, Semianalysis, George Hotz, Soumith Chintala, Oren Etzioni, Greg Brockman, " Brockman, Lilian Weng Organizations: Morning, Twitter, Roblox, Microsoft, Meta, Allen Institute, AI Locations: GPT

☆ Mexico stocks are surging this year on reshoring bets, but big risks can knock down the rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Mexico nearshoring play is real, but investors should be aware of some pitfalls. Nearshoring — also called reshoring, onshoring, inshoring or backshoring — is helping drive Mexican stocks higher this year. For U.S. companies, there are compelling advantages to moving operations to Mexico from Asia, including geographical proximity, as well as low labor costs. "There is no nearshoring industrial revolution without electricity," according to a March note where Lippmann discusses Mexico's need to revamp its electricity infrastructure. According to Nace, the firm is the largest auto insurance company in Mexico, "similar to a Progressive in the United States.

Persons: —, Andrés Manuel López Obrador's, Meagan Nace, Nace, Morgan, Nikolaj Lippmann, Lippmann, Lippman, López Obrador, Tesla Organizations: U.S, Grupo, Artisan Partners, Companies, Partners, Semiconductor, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Mexico, Asia, Mexican, nearshoring, Baja California, United States, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, U.S

☆ Goldman Sachs' dealmaking crown slips a bit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Jeffrey Cane | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Refinitiv and Bloomberg say Goldman Sachs lost the top M&A ranking for the first half for the first time in 5 years. When mega deals return, Goldman is poised to gain market share. It is a difference of less than $8 billion, or the size of one large deal, but it has cost Goldman Sachs a crown. For the mega deals, or those valued at more than $10 billion, business has been even slower, with a 52% decline. But if that's the bottom of the deal cycle, then Goldman stands to benefit when mega mergers come roaring back.

Persons: Refinitiv, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Goldman's, Stephan Feldgoise, Feldgoise Organizations: Bloomberg, Refinitiv, Intelligence, JPMorgan, Biden, Goldman

☆ Trump tape: The audio that encapsulates why the former president may be unfit for the Oval Office -- and why it may not matter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Critics on Tuesday seized on the latest Trump tape as a perfect example of why the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president is unfit to return to the Oval Office. On the audio – exclusively obtained by CNN – Trump discusses holding a secret document. In the tape, Trump seems to indicate he was holding up information that may be among the government’s most closely guarded secrets. As he often did in office, Trump appears to have been using US national security as a tool for his own personal or political gain. In response to the tape, Trump – as he often does – sought to redefine an apparent example of aberrant behavior as perfectly acceptable.

Persons: CNN – Trump, Trump, “ We’ve, Liz Cheney, NBC’s Lester Holt, Elie Honig, Donald Trump, ” Honig, “, Adam Kinzinger, Cheney, –, ” Trump, he’s, Kevin McCarthy –, CNN’s Kristen Holmes, Breitbart, ”, Fox, Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden, Trump’s, I’m, Rudy Giuliani, Nikki Haley, Jack Smith, Haley didn’t, “ We’re Organizations: CNN, Trump, GOP, Wyoming, Aspen Ideas, CNBC, California Republican, Breitbart News, –, Fox News Digital, weaponized Justice Department, New Hampshire Federation, Republican, NBC News, Republicans, New Hampshire Republican, Justice Department, Biden’s, Former South Carolina Gov Locations: Washington, Bedminster , New Jersey, United States, Illinois, California, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, Manhattan

Then, a deep dive into MrBeast and what his YouTube empire says about the future of the internet. Reddit came along and said, oh, we need to protect Reddit from the rise of these large language models. So I don’t think they’re totally out of the woods. But I don’t think people would say it was a golden age for how safe the platforms fell to use. But I want to challenge you on this, because I don’t necessarily think that it’s a bad thing if we have past peak trust and safety.

Persons: kevin roose, you’ve, casey newton, casey newton Yes, I’ve, there’s, kevin roose I’m, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, Casey, Reddit, casey newton Right, roose, Steve Huffman, you’re, Kevin, It’s, They’re, casey newton Well, they’ve, we’re, Huffman, “, Redditors, We’ve, Everyone’s, we’ve, I’m, let’s, Sam Walton, Max, kevin roose Hey, kevin roose Oh, kevin roose Max Read, MrBeast, it’s, Jimmy Donaldson, He’s, Willy Wonka, he’s, somethings, haven’t, kevin roose We’ll, We’ll, kevin roose She’s, she’s, kevin roose MrBeast, Jeremiah, jeremiah howard, Jeremiah Howard who’s, Jimmy, Burger, You’re, Stefan Molyneux, PewDiePie, Paul, Let’s, Raman, kevin roose It’s, MrBeast financials, doesn’t, Logan Paul, they’re, Vincent Miller, Jon Hamm’s, Matthew Weiner’s, kevin roose Max, Will, Max Read, ” kevin roose, casey newton Max, Robert F Kennedy, COVID, Kennedy, Instagram, Connor Roy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Elon, Donald Trump, We’re, Jim Jordan, kevin roose Totally, Alex Jones, casey newton Totally, Kate Kalanick, Trump, Tucker Carlson, aren’t, — casey newton, hasn’t, Rachel Cohn, Jen Poyante, Caitlin Love, Alyssa Moxley, Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sofia Lanman, Rowan Niemisto, Paula Szuchman, Tam, Nell Gallogly, Kate LoPresi, Jeffrey Miranda Organizations: The New York Times, Twitter, YouTube, Lamborghini, Netflix, Walmart, News, Producers, Meta, Instagram, COVID, Democratic, Washington Post, Apple, Republicans, Facebook, 4chan, Republican Party, Trump, Fox News, Stanford, Davis Locations: Hawaii, Reddit, Greenville , North Carolina, hysterics, New Jersey, New York, Greenville, North Carolina, Central, United States, Bay, San Francisco, Stanford

☆ Janitors who lost jobs during WGA strike join picket line
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Natasha Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Several hundred janitors marched to join writers on the picket line outside Sony Pictures and Amazon Studios Thursday, as some custodial staff have lost their jobs while productions are halted. The union did not have an estimate for impacts on custodial workers in other major filming hubs like Georgia and New York. “Several businesses anecdotally already started cutting staff,” Klowden said. “Then does it become permanent?”Klowden noted the dry cleaners, caterers, “Star Wagons,” restaurants, and custodial staff. The Motion Picture Association told CNN that in 2021, the film and TV industry supported 822,000 direct jobs, while supporting a total of 2.4 million jobs.

Persons: Natalia Lopez, “, We’re, ” Lopez, it’s, ”, David Huerta, Rebekah Kohler, they’ve, aren’t, Stagehand Amanda Winter, “ Janitors, they’re, ” Winter, Kevin Klowden, Klowden, ” Klowden Organizations: CNN, Sony Pictures, Amazon Studios, SEIU United Service Workers, Paramount Studios, SAG, SEIU, Netflix, Warner Brothers Discovery, WGA, Milken Institute, Association Locations: Los Angeles, Georgia, New York, Culver City, Hollywood, California

☆ 67% of brands are spending more on influencer marketing this year, according to a new survey. Here's where they're diverting funds from and how they're measuring results.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some are diverting the money from other areas, like paid advertising, as overall marketing budgets face scrutiny. Here's what the study said about how and why brands are spending on influencer marketing in 2023. A new study from the creator-focused marketing platform CreatorIQ shows brands are investing more in influencer marketing and seeing results. It found 67% of the companies surveyed increased their influencer-marketing budgets from 2022 to 2023. Most of the brands that increased their influencer-marketing budgets — 76% — were diverting funds away from other marketing activities.

Persons: CreatorIQ, That's, Brittni Starr, Starr Organizations: Brands, CreatorIQ's

☆ Brands are investing more in influencer marketing, pulling funds from other areas like paid ads as overall budgets face scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some are diverting the money from other areas, like paid advertising, as overall marketing budgets face scrutiny. Here's what the study said about how and why brands are spending on influencer marketing in 2023. Brands are funneling more of their advertising budgets to influencer marketing, new data suggests. A new study from the creator-focused marketing platform CreatorIQ shows brands are investing more in influencer marketing and seeing results. That's despite the increased scrutiny on marketing budgets overall, the report said.

Persons: CreatorIQ, That's, Brittni Starr, Starr Organizations: Brands, CreatorIQ's

☆ Why the new bull market is headed for more Fed stress after a rate hike pause
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Natalie Rose Goldberg | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

And even if the Fed does pause, Ferguson says it doesn't mean that more rate hikes aren't coming over the rest of the year. He isn't alone in the view that a Fed pause won't last long. This view is underpinned by, among other things, a labor market that continues to be tight. Others see recent cooling the labor market as a signal the Fed may soon have more need to moderate its rate hike strategy. "The broad picture here is the labor market is cooling in a sustainable way.

Persons: Savita Subramanian, Roger Ferguson, That's, Ferguson, CNBC's, isn't, Michelle Girard, Steve Liesman, Dennis Lockhart, Lockhart, Fed's, Jerome Powell, Brendan McDermid, — Ferguson, Wharton, Jeremy Siegel, Siegel, Jerome Powell's, Rucha Vankudre, Nick Bunker, Bunker, Goldman Sachs, David Solomon —, Solomon, Goldman, Frederic Mishkin, it's, Mishkin, we've Organizations: Federal Reserve, Dow Jones, NASDAQ, Bank of America, Fed, NatWest Markets, Atlanta Fed, Traders, New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, Conference Board, Labor, Lightcast, Former Fed, Bank of Canada, Reserve Bank of Australia Locations: U.S

☆ Even as inflation rate subsides, prices may stay higher. Here's why
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The rate of inflation has shown signs of easing, following the highest spike in four decades. Yet the shock of rising prices continues to have an impact on consumers' psyches. The nonprofit think tank's consumer confidence index declined in May amid "gloomy" expectations. Meanwhile, expectations for inflation were stable, but still high, with inflation expected to average 6.1% over the next 12 months. "When anecdotally we ask consumers what's your top concern on the economy, prices and inflation still come out as the top concern," Ozyildirim said.

Persons: Ataman Ozyildirim, Ozyildirim Organizations: The Conference Board, Finance, Social, Conference Board Locations: U.S

☆ Cycle Syncing Is Trendy. Does It Work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Alisha Haridasani Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

According to proponents of cycle syncing, in this phase the body is primed to take on stress and can recover more quickly. And it remains unclear whether cycle syncing makes sense for women using hormonal forms of birth control. The bits of scientific and anecdotal evidence showing fluctuations in performance or energy throughout the menstrual cycle also don’t prove that syncing workouts to the cycle will optimize fitness. One of the main aims of the Empow’her program is to fill that void, Ms. Antero said. She plans to publish the results of the training program after the Olympics.

Persons: Mahalingaiah, Juliana Antero, Antero, Stacy Sims, Clancy, ”, Asima Ahmad, Ms, Scott Organizations: French Institute of Sport

☆ Why are you suddenly being asked to tip more? It could be because workers are getting more expensive.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | Andy Kiersz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

More and more businesses are asking customers to tip. It's driven in part by the spread of digital payment technologies that include prompts to tip workers. Workers are getting more expensive, and tips help cover the costBusinesses relying on tips to help pay their workers is far from a new phenomenon — particularly in the restaurant industry. One potential reason service businesses are warming up to tipping is that they're under particular pressure to keep labor costs in check. In recent years, many service businesses have struggled to attract workers and been forced to raise pay considerably as a result.

Knowing the credit score you'll need to be considered for popular rewards credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred can help you decide which to apply for. Here are the five credit score categories, according to FICO:Poor: 300-579Fair: 580-669Good: 670-739Very good: 740-799Excellent: 800-850If you have a limited credit history, you might need to start smaller with a secured credit card or a starter credit card aimed at those new to credit. Read our Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card review for a closer look at what this premium credit card offers. Capital One says you'll need excellent credit to be approved for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. What to know about credit card approvalIt's possible to be approved for some of the best cards in the credit card world with a credit score in the high 600s.

In midsized metros Metros with 250,000 to one million residents. An Emerging Divide Mobility has risen for college-educated workers, even as it has fallen for workers without a degree. College-educated workers leaving the most expensive parts of the country are also not spreading out equally everywhere — or even going to parts of the country that are struggling. Net migration among college graduates Loss Gain Among the 12 most expensive metros, net college migration has generally declined or turned negative. “Consumer cities,” as she puts it, are increasingly replacing “producer cities” as the places where college graduates want to live.

☆ AI could rebuild the middle class, or in the worst-case scenario 'we use AI to kill each other,' says labor economist
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Labor economist David Autor told NPR he believes AI could revitalize the middle class. "The good scenario is one where AI makes elite expertise cheaper and more accessible," Autor told NPR. "First of all, we live in the physical world, which most machines do not," Autor told NPR. "In my mind, I actually think the irony is that the labor market is the least scary part of this at the moment," Autor told NPR. Autor also said, in a worst-case scenario, "we use AI to kill each other" — echoing similar warnings from other researchers.

☆ How promising are new drugs to treat obesity?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Katia Hetter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced last week that a medication developed to treat diabetes, tirzepatide, also had a substantial effect on reducing weight. Another pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, manufactures the medication semaglutide, which the FDA has already approved to treat diabetes under the brand name Ozempic and to treat obesity under the brand name Wegovy. How promising are they to treat obesity? CNN: How promising are these drugs to treat obesity? It is really important to treat obesity as the disease that it is — and having effective medications to do so is crucial.

☆ Switching to a 4-day work week got rid of this company's 'Sunday Scaries'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A 4-day work week could help employees say goodbye to their Sunday Scaries. But the company's experience also adds to the established litany of research, trials, and discourse around the 4-day work week. Qwick wasn't one of the companies that participated in the 4-day work week trial study that was published by 4 Day Week Global in December. To aid the company's growth, Qwick weighed the option of piloting a 4-day work week. After announcing its four-day work week trial, Kekic said Qwick saw a 230% increase in job applications.

☆ Putin's political enemies and Kremlin critics face an 'extremely dangerous' situation in Russia right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

"All of the opposition political leaders are either in jail or under restrictive measures or outside of the country. The oppression of political opposition figures in Russia is nothing new. Some accuse the Russian state of trying to poison them, while others have died in suspicious circumstances. Evgenia Novozhenina | ReutersThe persecution of political opposition figures attracted global attention in 2020 when the high-profile Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya agreed that "it's extremely dangerous" to be a critic of the Kremlin now, no matter what your background is.

☆ I had a 4-day workweek at Kickstarter. I saw huge improvements in my productivity and social life — and there was only one downside.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Elle Hardy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Former marketing manager Brooke McDaniel said the four-day schedule increased her productivity. She has since started a new job with a five-day schedule but says the schedule was one of her cons. The company transitioned to a four-day workweek while I was on the road. Remote work was the most important factor for a trip like mine, but knowing the four-day workweek was coming gave me additional motivation. All in all, it made me more aware of how I spend my timeThe work-life balance that a four-day workweek offered me was incredible.

☆ What Goldman's top dealmaker is saying behind the scenes about M&A and its spot on the league tables after a tough first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Goldman was forced to share its M&A crown with JPMorgan last quarter. It's been a tough road in 2023 for the Wall Street banks that specialize in advising on mergers and acquisitions. In a note sent to Goldman's alumni network last Tuesday, Feldgoise acknowledged that things have been tough. The importance of Goldman's M&A franchise was underscored by the bank's first-quarter earnings released Tuesday. "The Goldman M&A franchise has been #1 for 20+ years," Feldgoise said in his letter.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

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