December 16, 2022 - 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Boost Public Speaking Skills

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5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Boost Public Speaking Skills You've already done the hard work of building a successful company. Now take it to the next level by learning to speak publicly and inspire others. Continued here

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Taste of Tomorrow The future of food and flavour. Veronique Greenwood takes you on a gastronomic tour with a difference, revealing the latest thinking behind the way food is produced and sold to you, and exploring how and why we respond to food in the way we do. Continued here

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Are Chemicals Really Bad for the Environment? We need to think about chemicals in a more nuanced way Continued here

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Moog’s New Theramin Etherwave Still Makes Far-Out Sounds One of the coolest instruments I've played this year requires a small history lesson: In 1949, in a small home in Queens, New York, a 14-year-old boy named Robert Moog put together his first-ever theremin. He had been obsessed with the antenna-controlled electronic instrument, a touchless electromagnetic device that had been invented by accident just two decades earlier in a Soviet laboratory. The theremin, which now squeals to us with the nostalgic sounds of the space age, offered the never-heard sounds of the future for that young boy. By 1953, Moog had developed his own improved version of the theremin, selling them as kits by mail order as he finished college. After graduating, Moog leaned into his love of obscure electronic sounds and the means of creating them, using the knowledge he gained first at Queens College, then Columbia University and Cornell—where he earned a master's in electrical engineering and a PhD in engineering physics—to create some of the most iconic synthesizers and keyboards of our age. But people never really got over his theremins. Continued here

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‘Nasty’ Geometry Breaks Decades-Old Tiling Conjecture | Quanta Magazine Mathematicians want to know when it's possible to form aperiodic tiling patterns — patterns like the Penrose tilings, which never repeat. One of the oldest and simplest problems in geometry has caught mathematicians off guard — and not for the first time. Continued here

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Nearshoring helped Zara double its profits in 2021. Here's how. The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly disrupted offshore manufacturing. Overseas factory closures, a shortage of shipping containers, and labor shortages all came together to create the perfect storm. Now, more than two years into the pandemic, we’re still feeling the effects. As of July, it took an average of 100 days for companies to receive production materials — an all-time high, according to the Institute for Supply Management. A recent Bank of America survey found that over 80% of global sectors experienced supply chain disruptions during the pandemic. As a result, three-quarters of those organizations are now bringing some offshore operations back home. A method called nearshoring could be the way of the future. It brings manufacturing — and the supply chain — closer to home. The fast-fashion brand Zara is a prime example of a company that has nearly perfected the model, using nearshoring to revolutionize the way it sells clothes. Here’s how. Continued here

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A New EU Rule Can Expose Greenwashers In 2023, all companies listed on regulated markets in the European Union will begin applying the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), a new rule that will require them to publish, from 2024, detailed information about how they relate to the environment, the treatment of employees, human rights, anti-corruption, bribery, and boardroom diversity. It’s a welcome step toward improving the functioning of a multitrillion-dollar market known as ESG (environment, society, and governance), which has long been troubled by inconsistencies in data quality, reporting standards, and methods used to generate companies’ ESG ratings.  The new EU rule will try to tame the Wild West of ESG in three ways. First, companies must meet mandatory EU sustainability standards, which should introduce greater quality and consistency to their reporting. Second, companies’ reported information must be audited, which in theory should lead to greater scrutiny (audit firms’ track records suggest vigilance will be needed in this new area too). Third, companies must expand beyond the existing practice of reporting on how ESG factors impact their business to also report on how their business impacts the environment, society, and governance. This dual perspective should make it easier for investors, regulators, and consumers to reward—or punish—companies based on their ESG performance. Continued here

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A rare disease in the Top End affects muscles for speech. Here's how we're designing alternative ways to communicate in Yolŋu languages Aboriginal Health and Community Worker with the MJD Foundation, Indigenous Knowledge Machado-Joseph-Disease (MJD) is a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects muscles in the body, including those required for speech. It is prevalent in some remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory and Queensland. Continued here

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Identify Key Learnings and Inform Actionable Goals for 2023 Three Tips to Guide Your End-of-Year Goal Setting Continued here

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A New NASA Satellite Will Map Earth’s Rising Seas Billions of people now live in rapidly changing coastal areas that must develop plans to adapt to a future that includes rising seas, crumbing cliffs, and devastating hurricanes. Now they'll have help from a dedicated satellite scanning the world's water.  Early Friday morning, NASA and its international partners plan to launch the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The joint mission, shared with the French, Canadian, and United Kingdom's space agencies, will survey about 90 percent of the water on Earth—almost everything except the poles—using cloud-penetrating radar in order to create high-resolution maps of oceans, rivers, reservoirs, and lakes. Continued here

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Time to end Santa's 'naughty list'? "You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town." And don't I know it! This is the first year that my three-year-old daughter has fully immersed herself in the mythology of Santa. As she tells me just how Old Saint Nick is going to fit down our chimney, I can see a glint of pure wonder in her eyes that immediately transports me back to my own childhood Christmases. Continued here

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How to Hack Your Brain, According to a Neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart explains how to become the best version of yourself using the science of neuroplasticity. Continued here

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London Initiative Will Give Away 1,000 Free Theater Tickets Every Week A new program in London will soon start giving away unsold theater tickets to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them. Called the Ticket Bank, it will aim to dole out 1,000 tickets per week to theater, dance, music and comedy shows. The tickets will be free or pay-what-you-can. The Ticket Bank is an arts-oriented variation on a food bank: giving donations, or any available surplus, to those in need. The pilot program will launch on January 9, 2023 and run for one year. Continued here

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Heartbreak is more than a metaphor. Are you at risk? | Psyche Ideas Grant Withers and Dolores Costello in the film Hearts in Exile (1929). Photo by Mack Elliott/Margaret Chute/Getty Grant Withers and Dolores Costello in the film Hearts in Exile (1929). Photo by Mack Elliott/Margaret Chute/Getty Continued here

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How to win the gift-stealing game Bad Santa, according to a mathematician Christmas comes but once a year – as do Christmas party games. With such little practice it’s hard to get good at any of them. Let me help. I’m going to share with you some expert tips, tested through mathematical modelling, on how to win one of the most popular games: Bad Santa – also known as Dirty Santa, White Elephant, Grab Bag, Yankee Swap, Thieving Secret Santa, or simply “that present-stealing game”. Continued here

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What dead whales can teach us about finding aliens on Mars Ever since the first “whale fall” was discovered with a submersible in 1977, biologists have recognized that whale carcasses falling to the ocean floor can support a thriving biosphere at depths of more than 1,000 meters. Organisms feeding at these deep-sea “restaurants” include a myriad of microbes as well as crabs, octopuses, lobsters, sea cucumbers, hagfish, sleeper sharks, and even certain newly discovered species observed only at whale falls. Qihui Li and colleagues from the University of Technology in Chengdu, China, make a case for the biological importance of whale falls, which can feed many species in an oxygen-rich environment for about 10 years, and for even longer — upwards of 50 years — in an oxygen-poor environment. At the bottom of the ocean, where nutrients are scarce, a whale fall becomes a biological hotspot. While some species may already be in the vicinity of a fallen carcass when it hits the sea floor, others are drawn to it from much farther away. Continued here

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4 Wealth-Building Moves to Make While Moving Into the New Year What you're doing now may not get you where you want to be. Continued here

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Crate & Barrel CEO Janet Hayes on Navigating Turbulent Times for Retail Janet Hayes took over as CEO of Crate & Barrel in August 2020, in the middle of the Covid lockdown. “I walked into an empty building,” she recalls of her challenging first day and the awkward first encounters to come. “The only thing harder than being a new CEO in the middle of a pandemic is getting a new CEO in the middle of a pandemic.” But she persevered, and so did her team. Over the past two and a half years, the privately run furniture retailer has experienced what Hayes calls “tremendous growth,” particularly in the home sector as people have fitted out residences that now double as offices. Retail is a good window into the health of the economy, and the headwinds are concerning. The pandemic has disrupted supply chains, inflation has driven up the cost of materials, and consumers are generally wary. All of that means the next phase may be harder, for Crate & Barrel and other retailers. Continued here

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Gary Vaynerchuk at His Best: 'Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook' What you can learn from this book on how to tell your story in a noisy social world. Continued here

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Vampire Survivors’ first DLC offers some enjoyable (but diminishing) returns The game doesn't instantly lose its hypnotic, epilepsy-inducing appeal at that point, of course. But once you've finally met all of the game's many "official" goals, it becomes a bit more difficult to come up with new self-imposed challenges. Continued here

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Scientists Create a Vaccine Against Fentanyl Researchers hope the vaccine, which blocked the drug from entering rats' brains, could help reduce overdoses in humans Drug overdose fatalities soared to a record high during the early Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, deaths from overdoses in the United States rose to 91,799, a 30 percent spike from the previous year. Researchers say synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are partially responsible. These drugs were involved in more than half all fatal overdoses in 2020. More than 150 people die every day from synthetic opioids.   Continued here

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Human Ancestors May Have Evolved to Walk Upright in Trees When human ancestors evolved to walk upright, they may have done so in trees, suggests new research published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. The findings contrast with a prevailing theory about human bipedalism—walking on two feet—known as the savanna hypothesis. This theory posits that human ancestors began walking upright when forests retreated and the landscape transformed into more open, savanna-like areas. As a result, hominins began spending less time in trees and more time on the ground, traveling and foraging for food, per the hypothesis. The ability to walk on two feet would have been helpful for seeing over tall grass, as well as for carrying objects, scientists suggested. Continued here

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Stability AI plans to let artists opt out of Stable Diffusion 3 image training On Wednesday, Stability AI announced it would allow artists to remove their work from the training dataset for an upcoming Stable Diffusion 3.0 release. The move comes as an artist advocacy group called Spawning tweeted that Stability AI would honor opt-out requests collected on its Have I Been Trained website. The details of how the plan will be implemented remain incomplete and unclear, however. Continued here

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How Boards Can Guide Company Strategy on Social Issues Given shifting stakeholder expectations around corporate stances on social issues and the potential reputational and financial consequences of poor decisions, board directors must focus on their company’s capacity and strategy for addressing these issues. They should demand a framework for determining relevance; ask smart questions about alignment, opportunity and risks; gather feedback from stakeholders, especially employees; consider objectives and tactics; consult with a diverse advisory team; and look for potential areas of contradiction so as to avoid or prepare for criticism. Continued here

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Richmond Removes Its Last City-Owned Confederate Monument On Monday, crews removed the last city-owned Confederate statue in Richmond, Virginia. The monument, located at a busy intersection in the city that once served as the capital of the Confederacy, honored Ambrose P. Hill, a Confederate lieutenant general. Hill’s remains were buried under the monument, which had towered over the intersection of West Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road since 1892. Officials say they will eventually take the statue to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Lyndon German. They plan to transfer Hill’s remains to a cemetery.  Continued here

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The slipping reputation of Santa Ifigênia, once São Paulo’s top tech bazaar Santa Ifigênia, in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, is full of self-proclaimed “kings” — the term locals use to signal expertise over a certain domain. The patch of century-old buildings is clustered with hundreds of shop owners declaring themselves anything from the “king of iPhones” to the “king of TV boxes.” “It’s sad, because the new generation will grow angry at us. Santa Ifigênia is [less and less] a reference for tech for people in São Paulo,” Wissam Atie — “the iPhone king” — told Rest of World. “Before, whenever someone wanted to buy electronics, they came to the city’s center. Now, people think there are only crackheads and scammers here. I think that’s very cruel.” Continued here

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Queensland police killings show the threat posed by conspiracy theories – how should police respond? Nicholas Evans is affiliated with the New Zealand Australia Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA). The killing of two police officers and a good samaritan, as well as the wounding of two other officers in Wieambilla, Queensland, has sent shockwaves through Australia. Continued here

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Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage Traditional approaches to strategy assume that the world is relatively stable and predictable. But globalization, new technologies, and greater transparency have combined to upend the business environment. In this period of risk and uncertainty, more and more managers are finding competitive advantage in organizational capabilities that foster rapid adaptation. Instead of being really good at doing some particular thing, companies must be really good at learning how to do new things. Continued here

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Not just light: Everything is a wave, including you In 1905, the 26-year-old Albert Einstein proposed something quite outrageous: that light could be both wave or particle. This idea is just as weird as it sounds. How could something be two things that are so different? A particle is small and confined to a tiny space, while a wave is something that spreads out. Particles hit one another and scatter about. Waves refract and diffract. They add on or cancel each other out in superpositions. These are very different behaviors.  The problem with this wave-particle duality is that language has issues accommodating both behaviors coming from the same object. After all, language is built of our experiences and emotions, of the things we see and feel. We do not directly see or feel photons. We probe into their nature with experimental set-ups, collecting information through monitors, counters, and the like.  Continued here

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8 Tips for Holiday Gift-Giving at Work Giving gifts to your coworkers during the holidays need not cause you a lot of stress, break the bank, or even cost any money. In this piece, the author outlines eight factors to consider when giving gifts at work. She also notes minefields to avoid (give food and alcohol carefully) and offers suggestions for thoughtful gift ideas, such as making a donation in your colleague’s name to a charity that they support and is meaningful to them. By following the guidelines in this piece, you’ll increase your chances of bringing joy to your colleagues while showing appreciation and creating warmth and connection. Continued here

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Stop Eliminating Perfectly Good Candidates by Asking Them the Wrong Questions Assessing a job candidate is all about the questions you ask during the interview. But too often leaders ask the wrong things, focusing more on what the interviewee has done in the past rather than what they can do in the future. If you need to hire someone to work on an innovation project, make sure you’re asking questions that get to their ability to collaboratively problem solve. For example, you want to know how they would handle particular problem-solving situations rather than whether they’ve done exactly what you’re looking for in the past. You should assess whether they are able and willing to fill in gaps on teams when it becomes clear a particular role isn’t being filled. And, it’s important to understand what they’re passionate about working on. Innovation happens when you bring people with different passions and approaches together to work toward the same goal. Continued here

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Expand Your Pricing Paradigm With inflation high, a global recession possible, and consumers spending carefully, many companies are concerned about preserving profit margins. In this article, pricing consultant Rafi Mohammed argues that instead of simply adjusting prices, firms should consider adding new ways to charge customers. He outlines 18 different pricing tactics that can be used for various purposes: to accommodate buyers with different usage needs, to appeal to people on a tight budget, to spur purchases by customers who love a good deal, to achieve favorable prices when the value of an offering is uncertain, and to increase business efficiency. Continued here

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What Makes a Great Leader? Tomorrow’s leaders master three key roles — architect, bridger, and catalyst, or ABCs — to access the talent and tools they need to drive innovation and impact. As architects, they build the culture and capabilities for co-creation. As bridgers, they curate and enable networks of talent inside and outside their organizations to co-create. And as catalysts, they lead beyond their organizational boundaries to energize and activate co-creation across entire ecosystems. These ABCs require leaders to stop relying on formal authority as their source of power and shift to a style that enables diverse talent to collaborate, experiment, and learn together — a challenging yet essential personal transformation. Continued here

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Research: How Many M&A Advisors Do You Really Need? When it comes to M&A deals, outside advisors are often a necessity. However, the authors’ recent research shows that they can come at a cost: An analysis of market reactions to 10,000 U.S.-based acquisitions found that firms with a single advisor outperformed those with none — but firms which retained two or more advisors performed worse than those with just one. Through a series of interviews with industry experts, the authors identified four factors driving this effect, as well as six strategies to help executives maximize the value-add of working with multiple advisors. Ultimately, the authors argue that while their default incentives and routines sometimes make collaboration challenging, working with multiple advisors can still add substantial value when they’re managed with an eye toward teamwork and long-term results. Continued here

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Heart rate variability and self-compassion: Two tools to help postpartum mothers make exercise decisions The transition to parenthood is challenging for all parents but is particularly hard on mothers who are recovering from pregnancy and birth. This recovery often takes place behind the scenes of tending to the constant needs of a new baby. This motherload can leave mothers feeling fatigued and overwhelmed, increasing the risk of postpartum anxiety and depression. Our recommendations incorporate both a physiological indicator of recovery (heart rate variability) and a psychological indicator of well-being (self-compassion). Continued here

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You’re Gonna Need a Crypto Wallet Even if you own no bitcoin, no ether, and no NFTs, crypto wallets—pocket-friendly hardware lockers that store digital assets—will be a part of your future. They're essential tools for securing not only coins and tokens, but also the next generation of passports, drivers licenses, and concert tickets. A French company called Ledger, one of the leaders in digital wallets, is trying to take the technology mainstream with the help of Tony Fadell, one of Silicon Valley's most celebrated hardware designers. Fadell designed the iPod and the Nest thermostat, and now he's designed Ledger's next product, a crypto wallet called Stax. This week, WIRED editor at large Steven Levy joins the show to tell us about the time he spent with Fadell and the Ledger team in Paris (we know, tough gig) to witness the birth of the Stax. We cover all you need to know about crypto wallets, why they are safer places to store digital assets than exchanges, and how digital wallets will be useful beyond the world of cryptocurrencies. Continued here

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Why Istanbul's mayor was sentenced to jail – and what it means for Turkey's 2023 presidential race A Turkish court’s decision on Dec. 14, 2022, to jail Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu for two years and seven months for insulting public officials hung on comments he made three years ago. But its impact will be felt on an event taking place in a few months time: the Turkish presidential election. If the appeals court upholds Imamoglu’s conviction – based on a 2019 speech in which he allegedly called Turkey’s supreme election council “fools” – the opposition figure will be barred from holding any political office. It hands President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a double win: Not only does it mean Erdogan would retake control of Istanbul, but it also would potentially prevent his strongest challenger from running in the June 2023 election. Continued here

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Jesse Ilhardt: How play helps a kid's brain grow A little bit of playtime can have big benefits for a child's developing brain, like a superfood -- but adult participation is a crucial ingredient for best results. Early-education leader Jesse Ilhardt makes the case for you to put down the phone, pick up the make-believe tea cup (or that blanket-superhero cape) and take the time to experiment with imagination during kids' most formative learning years. Continued here

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After 50 years, fusion power hits a major milestone. The future of energy begins today On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that researchers at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, had achieved net energy gain in a thermonuclear fusion experiment. The result was hailed as one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century and the first step toward the holy grail of a cheap, plentiful source of clean energy. The news ping-ponged around the media. I had the chance, very briefly, to explain what it meant on both NBC and MSNBC.  But what does it all mean? Are the results really as remarkable as the Department of Energy touts? And how long before we all have a Mr. Fusion in our kitchens? Continued here

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Amazon Games branches out, announces it will publish the next Tomb Raider Amazon's games division will publish the next big Tomb Raider sequel, a press release revealed today. Continued here

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What is a name microaggression and could you be doing it without knowing? In our recent study of 150 non-English speaking background migrants and refugees living in Australia, nearly 80% revealed using their birth names in their CVs led to fewer call-backs or no response at all. This highlights language-based discrimination, and is an example of “name microaggressions” – negative assumptions based on ethnic-sounding names. Continued here

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Curious Kids: how are babies made? Lots of kids your age wonder about how babies are made. It’s an important question because making babies allows the human species (and other animals) to continue. The first step in making a baby happens when a sperm from a man’s body joins with an egg from a woman’s body. Continued here

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How Teaming Up with a Foreign Partner Could Impact Your Taxes Being caught unaware of these tax obligations could mean an expensive tax bill for your partnership. Continued here

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Your next pour-over may be Liberica or excelsa Coffee is uniquely vulnerable to climate change. It grows in tropical regions, where temperatures and rainfall are becoming increasingly erratic; it is grown by small farms, which do not have the resources available to weather the coming literal and figurative storms; and despite the fact that coffee is among the most highly traded commodities in the world, little agricultural research time or money has been devoted to it. Continued here

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Want to pre-drink before going out? It probably won't save you money, and can be risky to boot You’re catching up with a few friends before you go out. Everyone’s having a drink, listening to some tunes, and the mood is good. A ride share is pulling up in the driveway – everyone quickly finishes their drinks and piles into the car, headed to a gig where more alcohol will be consumed. This is the typical pre-drinking scenario – drinking alcohol in one place, typically someone’s home, before drinking more somewhere else, such as a pub, club or event. Continued here

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The New Science of Customer Emotions When a company connects with customers’ emotions, the payoff can be huge. Yet building such connections is often more guesswork than science. To remedy that problem, the authors have created a lexicon of nearly 300 “emotional motivators” and, using big data analytics, have linked them to specific profitable behaviors. They describe how firms can identify and leverage the particular motivators that will maximize their competitive advantage and growth. The process can be divided into three phases. First, companies should inventory their existing market research and customer insight data, looking for qualitative descriptions of what motivates their customers—desires for freedom, security, success, and so on. Further research can add to their understanding of those motivators. Second, companies should analyze their best customers to learn which of the motivators just identified are specific or more important to the high-value group. They should then find the two or three of these key motivators that have a strong association with their brand. This provides a guide to the emotions they need to connect with in order to grow their most valuable customer segment. Third, companies need to make the organization’s commitment to emotional connection a key lever for growth—not just in the marketing department but across every function in the firm. Continued here

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Peer mentoring in the workplace: 10 benefits and best practices The word “mentoring” often brings to mind the image of a seasoned professional passing along wisdom gained through years of experience and guiding the development of a junior employee. However, a peer to peer mentoring program (also known as lateral mentoring) occurs between individuals at the same organizational level, with more experienced employees offering their skills and knowledge to those with less experience. Done well, these programs can offer substantial benefits for organizations and their employees. Here are five of them, followed by a list of best practices for implementing a peer mentoring program. Continued here

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Sick of online abuse, Brazil’s top female esports player is quitting Ubisoft’s league Danielle Andrade, known as Cherna, is considered one of Brazil’s top gamers but she is  ready to walk away from one of South America’s most competitive gaming leagues. While Cherna played in competitions sponsored and organized by game developer Ubisoft, she told Rest of World she was not offered any public support by Ubisoft after the bouts of online abuse she received while playing, including, she claimed, harassment from other players. Ubisoft never publicly condemned these abuses, she added. She also claimed investments in women’s competitions by Ubisoft were insufficient beyond what she said were tokenistic exceptions. The 22-year-old esports professional said she will exit Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege league in January 2023, after 19 tournament wins in three years. “It is horrible to be a Black woman playing Rainbow Six Siege,” Cherna told Rest of World. “Ubisoft only cares about the women’s league for the diversity marketing … I won’t stand for it anymore.” Continued here

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Well, actually: Mansplaining is a problem in the workplace Since the term “mansplaining” has entered the cultural zeitgeist as a social media phenomenon and hashtag, its popularity and usage has only skyrocketed. In just six months between November 2016 and April 2017, for example, it was mentioned at least 10,000 unique times on Twitter. Mansplaining is a portmanteau combining “man” and “explain” that refers to a man providing an unrequested explanation to a woman. It is characterized by the confidence of the speaker, a condescending tone, an interjection or interruption and the underlying assumption that the target has no prior knowledge of the subject. Continued here S38 The Clitoris Has Been Lost to Science for Centuries, but It's Making a Comeback The vulva has long been ignored in anatomical study. But scientists and doctors are making strides in mapping its pleasure center, the clitoris, and improving sensation for survivors of genital cutting. In October researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University announced that they approximated the number of nerve fibers in the human clitoris that are responsible for sexual pleasure—more than 10,000—for the first time ever. In comparison with the penis, which has been studied extensively, the vulva has been largely ignored in anatomical study. Continued here S61 Belkin makes MagSafe iPhone mount for desktop owners who want a better webcam The Continuity Camera feature was one of the headliners in the macOS Ventura update: Any Mac can now use any compatible iPhone as a webcam via a Lightning cable or a wireless connection. And any iPhone camera is a significant upgrade over the 720p and 1080p webcams that ship with iMacs and most of the 1080p desktop webcams from the likes of Logitech, Microsoft, and Razer (for Mac mini and Pro owners with no built-in webcam). Continued here S20 After the Holiday Rush, the Next Challenge for Retailers? Record Levels of Returns After a booming holiday sales season, retailers will have to contend with higher returns and slower growth. Here's how to prepare. Continued here S7 Life is short, and for good reason – here's how to make it more meaningful In 1605 the great Spanish novelist, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, wrote, through the mouthpiece of Don Quixote of La Mancha, that it is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not to venture all his eggs in one basket. Continued here S66 Millions of Pilgrims Gathered to Celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City More than three million Catholic pilgrims made their way to Mexico City this week for the annual feast day honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. Some traveled on foot, some rode bikes or buses, and others crawled forward on their knees. For the first time in two years, many slept on the ground near the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 2020 and 2021, the pilgrimage had been canceled or restricted due to the pandemic. Continued here S40 A creative approach to community climate action When he learned of the threat that rising sea levels posed to his coastal hometown of Miami, Florida, eco-artist Xavier Cortada founded a movement around beautifully designed elevation markers highlighting the risk of flood damage. The collaborative art project quickly mobilized action -- and excited some controversy. Watch as Cortada offers a creative vision of community organizing inspired by art that engages, educates and empowers. Continued here S10 Thinking of buying a battery to help power your home? Here's what you need to know Batteries are undoubtedly part of our energy future. Should you put one in your home now to store solar output, manage your energy use and cut costs? It really depends on what you want to achieve. More than 30% of Australian homes have solar systems. They typically generate more than is needed during the middle of the day, less than is needed during morning and evening demand peaks, and nothing at night. Continued here S62 Oppo’s foldable phones take on Samsung with a flip phone and a tablet Oppo has a new set of foldables with some interesting designs: Meet the Oppo Find N2 and the Oppo Find N2 Flip. Just like Samsung's lineup, these are big and small foldable phones, but both offer something unique. Continued here S17 Looking For a Job Abroad? Here's What You Should Know. Whatever your reasons, working abroad can be a great way to open your mind and accelerate your career growth. However, this significant career move will not be an easy journey. It’s crucial to be thoughtful about your decision and to prepare before making that leap by building a local network, learning about the country’s culture, and finding the right organization for your needs. Continued here S45 The Best Kindles to Take Your Library Anywhere If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED WE LOVE Kindles here at WIRED. They're simple, reliable, and perfect at what they do—in one palm-sized device, you can bring thousands of books with you to the park or mountain, and they get a month of battery life per charge. You can subscribe to get unlimited books from Amazon or get free books from your local library (more on those below). But what's the best Kindle? Our guide will help you decode the differences. Continued here S59 Big Tech sues California, claims child-safety law violates First Amendment In the last half of 2022 alone, many services—from game platforms designed with kids in mind to popular apps like TikTok or Twitter catering to all ages—were accused of endangering young users, exposing minors to self-harm and financial and sexual exploitation. Some kids died, their parents sued, and some tech companies were shielded from their legal challenges by Section 230. As regulators and parents alike continue scrutinizing how kids become hooked on visiting favorite web destinations that could put them at risk of serious harm, a pressure that's increasingly harder to escape has mounted on tech companies to take more responsibility for protecting child safety online. Continued here S48 How to prove Einstein's relativity for under $100 As you stand on the surface of the Earth, what is it that you experience? Yes, the surrounding atoms and molecules of the atmosphere collide with your body, as do photons: particles of light. Some of these particles are particularly energetic, and can kick electrons off of the atoms and molecules they’re normally bound to, creating free electrons and ions that can strike you as well. There are ghostly neutrinos and antineutrinos passing through your body, although they rarely interact with you. But there’s more that you experience than you realize. All throughout the Universe, from stars, black holes, galaxies and more, cosmic rays are emitted: particles that stream through the Universe at high-energies. They strike Earth’s atmosphere and produce showers of both stable and unstable particles. The ones that live long enough before decaying eventually make their way down to Earth’s surface. Every second, somewhere between 10 and 100 muons — the unstable, heavy cousin of the electron — passes through your body. With a mean lifetime of 2.2 microseconds, you might think the ~100+ km journey to your hand would be impossible. Yet relativity makes it so, and the fact that these muons pass through your body are more than sufficient to prove it. Continued here S39 Nithya Vaduganathan: 5 hiring tips every company (and job seeker) should know To keep up with a rapidly evolving job market, hiring practices need to change, too. In this practical talk, talent strategy expert Nithya Vaduganathan shares five crucial tips every hiring manager (and job seeker) should know in order to cultivate an inclusive work culture, inspire productivity and unleash talent hiding in plain sight. Continued here S32 Angel investors tell us what they want in a startup In the world of startups and entrepreneurship, the first investor plays a crucial role. An early investor often takes a huge risk in betting on a team that has yet to show signs of success — often, they don’t even have a functioning business. Perhaps that’s why these investors are called angels. In emerging startup ecosystems across the world, angel investors play a vital role in ensuring that innovative young teams can survive in their early days until they become large enough for a venture capital firm to back them. Continued here S53 How to make corn more like cactus This past summer, a widespread drought across the United States lowered crop yields by as much as one-third as corn, wheat, barley and other plants suffered from too much heat and too little water. It’s a scenario that will likely become more common as climate change makes much of the world a hotter, drier place. Scientists are trying to teach old crops some new tricks that will let them flourish in these harsher conditions — turning to secrets that reside in plants like pineapples, orchids and agaves. These and certain other plants have hacked photosynthesis in ways that allow them to thrive when it’s hot and dry, and even to withstand blistering periods of drought. Continued here S55 Google Nest and Android devices are now Matter controllers (for future devices) The promise of Matter—the future where smart-home devices easily nestle into your home, regardless of what other devices or speakers you use—just got a bit closer today. Google announced that Nest and Android devices are Matter-enabled, allowing them to set up and control other Matter devices—that mostly don't exist yet. Continued here S36 First 'Vagina-on-a-Chip' Will Help Researchers Test Drugs Scientists have developed what they say is the world’s first “vagina-on-a-chip,” which uses living cells and bacteria to mimic the microbial environment of the human vagina. It could help to test drugs against bacterial vaginosis (BV), a common microbial imbalance that makes millions of people more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases and puts them at risk of preterm delivery when pregnant. Vaginal health is difficult to study in a laboratory setting partly because laboratory animals have “totally different microbiomes” than humans do, says Don Ingber, a bioengineer at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. To address this, he and his colleagues created their unique chip, described in Microbiome: an inch-long, rectangular polymer case containing live human vaginal tissue from a donor and a flow of estrogen-carrying material to simulate vaginal mucus. Continued here S58 Scientists may have found the first water worlds Two planets that were originally discovered by the Kepler mission may not be what we thought they were. Based on an initial characterization, it was thought these planets were rocky bodies a bit larger than Earth. But continued observation has produced data that indicates the planets are much less dense than we originally thought. And the only realistic way to get the sort of densities they now seem to have is for a substantial amount of their volume to be occupied by water or a similar fluid. Continued here S35 10 Ways AI Was Used for Good This Year Artificial intelligence can improve health, protect biodiversity and even write wine reviews Artificial intelligence does not have to threaten humans; it can also work with us to solve big problems. Are you still feeling a little wary of algorithms? We rounded up a slew of stories from the past year that demonstrate the many ways in which this technology can have a positive impact. Continued here S37 International Sports Need to Prioritize Sustainability Events like the World Cup can emit millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide, but it doesn’t have to be that way Climate researchers normally use megatons (millions of metric tons) to measure the annual emissions of entire countries, not sporting events. But the carbon footprint of this year’s World Cup will be measured in megatons: 3.6 of them to be exact. Continued here S56 Microsoft discovers Windows/Linux botnet used in DDoS attacks Microsoft researchers have discovered a hybrid Windows-Linux botnet that uses a highly efficient technique to take down Minecraft servers and performs distributed denial-of-service attacks on other platforms. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Tweets Tweets follow me on Twitter Microsoft Silverlight - Change the World Connect with Me Random Hacks! - My Blog @ MSDN Loading... Where Dreamers Dare! Loading... 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