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☆ Biden's stock buyback tax isn't working. In State of the Union, he's asking Congress for more
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

In September 2021, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) proposed that stock buybacks should be taxed at 2%. Lazonick, who thought any minor buyback tax would be ineffective, says he has been proven correct. If a higher buyback tax is enacted, he is betting it will not have the outcomes that Democrats envision. While it's hard to see a higher tax getting passed in the current Congress, it does make sense for Biden to state his desire for 4%. Changing a buyback tax, though, might first prove harder.

Biden personally adds mentions of an assault weapons ban to his planned public remarks, a White House official said. "We're going to ban assault weapons again," he said on Thursday at a Lunar New Year reception at the White House, to applause. As vice president, he spearheaded a set of gun control proposals for Barack Obama after Sandy Hook that included a recommendation for a new assault weapons ban. However the Quinnipiac and other polls show that just about half of Americans support an assault weapons ban. Even though an all-out assault weapons ban seems unlikely, a very thin Republican majority in the House means that something more modest, such as raising the age to 21 to buy assault weapons, could be possible, the University of New Hampshire's Scala said.

☆ Photos: How Sea Spiders and Other Creatures Could Unlock the Secrets of Tissue Regeneration
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Nidhi Subbaraman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The axolotl can regrow multiple organs, including lungs, heart and brain. When regenerative cells from a donor salamander were grafted into the arm of another, they grew into an extra limb. Scientists want to better understand the conditions under which limbs grow back. Catherine McCusker, PhD/University of Massachusetts Boston

☆ Amid 'Velma' pushback, Mindy Kaling is a 'lightning rod' held to impossible standard, some critics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

In 2021, South Asian women made up 0.3% of onscreen representation in television and film, according to a study by the Nielsen company. Srinivas sees why the South Asian community feels incorrectly represented by Mindy, Devi, Bela or Velma. “When her characters have become so popular with the mainstream audience, I think it’s understandable that the South Asian community feels somewhat outraged by this portrayal of a South Asian individual,” she said. “It’s not inauthentic to the experience of South Asian kids growing up in this society. “They are very much the same as the characters Mindy portrays.”

☆ Columbia University will be led by a woman for the first time in its 268-year history
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Since 1754, Columbia University has had a male president — but that's about to change. The University announced Wednesday that Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, a leading economist and author, will become its 20th president and first woman leader. In an announcement from Columbia's Board of Trustees, Shafik was praised for her character and dedication to sparking change. By age 36, Shafik had become the youngest-ever vice president of the World Bank in the 1990s. "I feel like, if I had looked all over the world for the best person to next lead Columbia, I would have chosen Minouche Shafik," Bollinger said in a statement.

☆ Fact Check-Moon visible during daytime is not proof of flat Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The moon visible during the day is not proof that the Earth is flat, despite claims shared online. The moon is commonly visible during the day, however, and it is not always directly opposite the sun, experts told Reuters. At full moon, the moon rises as the sun sets and at the end of that night the moon sets at sunrise. During this lunar phase, we see part of the moon illuminated because only a part of the moon that is being illuminated by the sun is visible to us, he said. “However, the best argument against flat Earth (using the moon) is that during a lunar eclipse, the moon enters Earth shadow,” Fe McBride, assistant professor in the Physics and Astronomy department at Bowdoin College told Reuters.

In recent years, U.S. tech majors have stepped up hiring and made diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) a priority. But as the industry grapples with over-hiring since mid-2020, rising interest rates and changes in business and consumer behavior, tech companies have announced deep cuts, risking their diversity efforts. The rare shakeup in big tech companies risks further disrupting diversity pledges that have already grown stagnant as companies de-emphasize DEI efforts. Equal Employment Opportunity data for 2008-2016, found that about 7% of tech firms are actively trying to diversify their workforce. This will disrupt diversity efforts even further, said Benjamin Juarez, a recruiting consultant and co-founder of Latinos in Tech.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - FTX founder and former Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces U.S. fraud charges over the collapse of FTX, ran his crypto empire with a number of associates. GARY WANGGary Wang co-founded FTX and Alameda Research with Bankman-Fried, and served as FTX's chief technology officer. He and Bankman-Fried met at a math camp in high school and became college roommates, Bankman-Fried wrote in a now-unavailable FTX blog. Wang worked as a software engineer at Google before co-founding FTX and Alameda, according to an archived webpage for the FTX Future Fund, the company's charitable effort. NISHAD SINGHNishad Singh was a best friend of Bankman-Fried's brother in high school, Bankman-Fried wrote in the deleted blog post.

Ron DeSantis, who won re-election in a landslide Tuesday, threw his political weight behind 30 school board candidates this election cycle. In Florida, because school board races are nonpartisan, if candidates capture at least 50% of the vote in the primary, they don’t need to compete in the November elections. That stands in contrast to the results for the Florida Democratic Party, which supported 30 school board candidates, only nine of whom won seats this year. Riding a wave of conservative parent anger, Republicans in several states targeted school board races, with mixed results. However, GOP candidates running against progressive ideas captured seats on the State Board of Education, which sets curriculum standards.

For the most part, Mastodon looks like Twitter, with hashtags, political back-and-forth and tech banter jostling for space with cat pictures. People swap posts and links with others on their own server - or Mastodon "instance" - and also, almost as easily, with users on other servers across the growing network. But the jump in Mastodon users in a matter of days has still been startling. loadingBefore Musk completed the Twitter acquisition on Oct. 27, Mastodon's growth averaged 60-80 new users an hour, according to the widely-cited Mastodon Users account. Rochko started Mastodon in 2017, when rumours were spreading that PayPal founder and Musk ally Peter Thiel wanted to buy Twitter.

☆ The companies that won that war for talent during the Great Resignation had one major thing in common: they offered paid leave
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

During the pandemic, workers with paid leave were more likely to stay in their roles. They were also more likely to get raises and promotions, suggesting that paid leave helps with retention. At companies that didn't offer paid leave, employees were three to four times more likely to quit than at companies with the benefit. In one company the report analyzes, over a third of female hourly workers without access to paid leave quit in 2020. Workers who took leave quit less frequently than workers who didn't.

"Look we all love Emmanuel the Emu but he has avian flu. Avian flu experts, too, said touching an infected emu isn't advisable, given that the virus can jump from animals to humans in rare cases. H5N1, the bird flu strain currently spreading, is highly contagious among birds, and it can be deadly to them. "Once an avian virus can move to mammals, now we’re in the realm of 'Yeah, we better be careful.'" All three experts said scientists are watching this bird flu closely even though the risk to humans is low.

☆ He’s CEO of Two Companies—and a Ranked Fencer
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Jen Murphy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Aaron Luo must choose between attending his sons’ fencing contests and his own. “When tournaments overlap, it’s such a dilemma,” says Mr. Luo, who, like his sons, competes at a national level. Mr. Luo, 42, fenced in high school and competed with a club at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He took a 10-year hiatus from the sport to co-found Caraa, a New York-based luxury accessories brand, in 2014. So he dusted off his epee, the largest and heaviest of the three fencing swords.

☆ Anxiety: Influential task force recommends screening kids 8 and older
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Naomi Thomas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —For the first time, the US Preventive Services Task Force has recommended screening for anxiety in children 8 and older. In its final recommendations, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, the task force also urged screening for depression in children 12 and older, consistent with recommendations from 2016. The members considered recommendations on screening for suicide risk in children and adolescents but said there’s not enough evidence on its harms and benefits. Last month, the task force posted draft recommendations that for the first time said adults under 65 be screened for anxiety. “It is not coincidental that the USPSTF considered evidence for suicide and depression screening in the same updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review,” he wrote.

☆ U.S. adults should get routine anxiety screening, panel says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

U.S. doctors should regularly screen all adults under 65 for anxiety, an influential health guidelines group proposed Tuesday. It’s the first time the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended anxiety screening in primary care for adults without symptoms. “The most important thing to recognize is that a screening test alone is not sufficient to diagnose anxiety,” Pbert said. The group continues to recommend depression screening for adults and children, but said there isn’t enough evidence to evaluate potential benefits and harms of suicide screening in adults who show no worrisome symptoms. In 2020, a group affiliated with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended routine primary care anxiety screening for women and girls starting at age 13.

☆ For the first time, US task force proposes recommendation to screen for anxiety in adults
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Naomi Thomas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The task force defines anxiety disorders as "characterized by greater duration or intensity of a stress response over everyday events." Screening tools already availableThe anxiety recommendation would apply to adults 19 and older who do not have a diagnosed mental health disorder. The statements are for anxiety screening in adults over the age of 65 and for screening of suicide risk in adults. The task force members also hope the recommendations will elevate awareness about the need for mental health screening and treatment. "We would like people to be honest, to provide their input and perspectives," Pbert said, adding that the task force will read every comment.

☆ „Am hotărât să nu ne mai facem planuri mărețe de viitor, acum luăm zilele câte una pe rând”. Cum rezistă, pe timp de pandemie, o afacere deschisă de un cuplu de moldoveni în SUA
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-27 | by ( ) www.zdg.md time to read: +8 min

A fost complicat? Cel mai des, moldovenii ne vizitează la sărbători și evenimente. Când a început pandemia, ați făcut donații, iar ulterior v-ați implicat cu suport și către alegerile prezidențiale pentru R. Moldova. Acea implicare a avut un impact pozitiv și am hotărât să o facem și la alegerile prezidențiale din 2020. Comunitatea noastră a fost motorul care ne-a susținut continuu prin comenzi, vizite la restaurant, sunete.

Persons: Sandra, Artur Andronic, Sincer, Crăciun Organizations: Boston College, University of Locations: Chișinău, SUA, Boston, Harvard, University of Massachusetts, MIT, Moldova, moldoveneşti

☆ WATCH: Experts discuss race, wealth-building, and closing the racial wealth gap once and for all
▼ + stars: | 2020-09-29 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The racial wealth gap in the United States is enormous — and growing. On September 25 at 4pm EST, a group of thinkers joined Business Insider reporter Taylor Nicole Rogers for a live Zoom discussion on how to close the racial wealth gap. The conversation is a part of our "Inside the racial wealth gap" series. On September 25 at 4pm EST, a group of thinkers joined Business Insider reporter Taylor Nicole Rogers for a live conversation via Zoom on closing the racial wealth gap. This conversation is part of Business Insider's "Inside the racial wealth gap" series, examining how we got here and why the wealth gap persists.

☆ Ученые: причины войн и конфликтов кроются в психологии
▼ + stars: | 2018-10-25 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: +1 min

Войны и конфликты кроются в психологии, считают американские ученые, проводившие исследование. Исследование американских ученых из Университета штата Массачусетс (University of Massachusetts) было опубликовано в научном журнале American Psychologist. Проанализировав причины глобальных, локальных, бытовых и военных конфликтов, ученые выяснили, что их причиной зачастую являются психологические потребности. Исследователи полагают, что это понимание может быть использовано для содействия миру и навсегда опрокинуть убеждение, что насильственные конфликты неизбежны. Кроме того, ненасилие получает гораздо меньше внимания в средствах массовой информации и внимание исследователей.

Persons: Bernhard Leidner, Бернард Лейднер Organizations: University of Massachusetts, Университет штата Массачусетс ( ) Locations: США

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