Change Management Requires a Change Mindset

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Change Management Requires a Change Mindset     Every organization of every size struggles with change in some way. While midsize companies are no exception, their size offers a competitive advantage. Unlike small companies with limited resources, or large companies saddled by bureaucracy or “this is how we do it” norms, midsize companies are in the sweet spot for rethinking how to relate to change and uncertainty effectively. Helping your team develop and strengthen their change mindset should be a priority. Team discussions about one’s orientation to change could unlock hidden superpowers and create new pathways for internal mobility. This article discusses how to integrate scenario mapping into your strategic planning process to boost your “flux capacity” (your tolerance for change) and contribute to the kinds of futures you’d like to see. Continued here

S9

Restorers uncover demon in a 1789 painting - and reveal the decline of superstition in the Age of Reason     Recent news that restorers had uncovered the image of a Gothic-looking demon in a late work by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) seems fitting for these long, dark evenings. The sinister face hovers above the head of a dying clergyman in The Death of Cardinal Beaufort, painted in 1789. Fake-or-Fortune-style reveals such as this, where Reynolds’s hollow-eyed fiend re-emerges, fanged and uncanny from the gloom of centuries of overpainting, are always popular with the public. But what are we to make of Reynolds’s devilish detail in his painting, and how does it fit into the larger story of demonic representation in the art and literature of the 18th century? Continued here

S23

A Philosopher-Filmmaker's Polyphonic Perspective on Trans Experience     Woe betide the critic trying to take notes at a screening of "Orlando, My Political Biography." It would require the stenographic skills of a court reporter to do justice to this essay-film, written and directed by the Spanish-born philosopher Paul B. Preciado, which takes Virginia Woolf's "Orlando: A Biography" (1928) as an ur-text from which to explore trans experience, history, and politics. The novel (which Sally Potter memorably adapted for a bold and lavish film starring Tilda Swinton) tells the story of an Elizabethan nobleman who, in the seventeenth century, is transformed into a woman and, as a woman, makes her way through British society all the way into modern times. For Preciado, the novel and its central character exemplify a crucial idea—that Orlando isn't a man who becomes a woman, but, rather, a person whose very identity is transition itself, who is a living challenge to the notion of determinate gender. Preciado, making his first film, brings that concept to life with some remarkable cinematic stagecraft.Preciado recruits more than twenty trans and nonbinary actors (including Preciado himself) to play the role of Orlando. There are a few ensemble scenes of great dramatic impact, but the performers mainly appear successively and separately, identifying themselves by name and then stating, "In this film, I'll be Virginia Woolf's Orlando." Their costuming and makeup frequently take place in real time, onscreen, with a wryly straightforward sense of anachronism. Chain mail and a ruffled collar go just fine with a T-shirt or a baseball jacket, and scenes set in a studio are presented as such—with crew members preparing a photographic backdrop of a snowy landscape and a snow machine sprinkling two actors with its artificial flakes. Continued here

S21

Journalistic Independence Isn't a Human-Resources Exercise     Of all the signs of the death of free speech—whether the raft of anti-protest legislation that passed in state houses across the country after the summer of 2020, or the much-cited polls that show that free expression is not a primary concern to young people—none should be as concerning as the relative silence around the legitimate free-speech crisis that has unfolded over the past month.Nearly every corner of American life has felt the chill. On Tuesday night, the House of Representatives voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, for her statements on the war in Gaza, including amplifying the phrase "from the river to the sea." In the corporate world, there has been a bizarre multi-industry campaign to either reprimand current employees or refuse to hire people for participating in a protest or signing their names in support of Palestine. Continued here

S52

8 Strategies For Getting Business Financial Support From Friends     Don't assume that friends and family will be as excited as you are about your new business. Continued here

S51

How This Second-Generation Instruments Retailer--Dubbed the Folk Music Mecca--Hit Its Stride After 50 Years     Meet Elderly Instruments, a second-generation musical instrument small business thatemerged as the victor from a sea of more than 15,000 applications. Continued here

S4

COP28: a year on from climate change funding breakthrough, poor countries eye disappointment at Dubai summit     At the COP27 summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, an agreement to establish a loss and damage fund was hailed as a major breakthrough on one of the trickiest topics in the UN climate change negotiations. In an otherwise frustrating conference, this decision in November 2022 acknowledged the help that poorer and low-emitting countries in particular need to deal with the consequences of climate change – and, tentatively, who ought to pay. This following year has seen more extreme weather records broken. Torrential rains created flooding which swept away an entire city in Libya, while wildfires razed swathes of Canada, Greece and the Hawaiian island of Maui. Continued here

S17

All the Light We Cannot See: how progressive congenital cataracts can lead to blindness     In the new Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See, a blind French girl called Marie-Laure LeBlanc makes illicit radio broadcasts from her uncle’s house in Nazi-occupied France. We are told that Marie-Laure has congenital cataracts in both eyes. But what is this condition?The word “cataract” comes from the Latin word for waterfall and describes a condition where the usually transparent lens of the eye is cloudy or opaque. This prevents a clear image being projected onto the back of the eye and causes poor vision. Continued here

S12

Shareholder activists can inadvertently raise CEO pay - here's how to help make pay rises more equal for all     Activist investors or shareholders can be a powerful force in the corporate world, capable of driving significant change within companies. Their influence can be a force for good. It can extend beyond financial decisions to advocate that a company makes important societal, ethical and, increasingly, environmental changes. Recently, shareholder collaboration initiatives like Say on Climate have led investors to influence companies’ environmental policies and practices. But investors are also speaking out on social issues such as income inequality. Continued here

S16

Palestine march: some opponents are politicising the Cenotaph to sow divisions - and it could work     The pro-Palestine protest planned to take place in London on Armistice Day has met with opposition from politicians and media pundits alike. Organisers of the Armistice Day protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have said the march will not go near the Cenotaph on Whitehall. Opponents, meanwhile, have argued that it nonetheless poses a “threat” to the national war memorial. The journalist Matt Ridley has said that “any protest which threatens the Cenotaph is a travesty”. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has echoed this sentiment, saying: Continued here

S7

UN's 'global stocktake' on climate is offering a sober emissions reckoning - but there are also signs of progress     When this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference begins in late November 2023, it will be a moment for course correction. Seven years ago, nearly every country worldwide signed onto the Paris climate agreement. They agreed to goals of limiting global warming – including key targets to be met by 2030, seven years from now. A primary aim of this year’s conference, known as COP28, is to evaluate countries’ progress halfway to the 2030 deadlines. Continued here

S14

English football is ready for a rule change when it comes to financial management     Christina Philippou has consulted with DCMS, teaches on the Premier League's Workforce Learning and Development program and is affiliated with the RAF FA.Football fans are frequently involved in heated arguments over the rules of the game. Soon it will be the turn of elected politicians to debate new regulations which govern how the sport in England will be run. Continued here

S25

L.A. Hosts a Delegation of Survivors from Israel and Families of Hostages     Last Tuesday morning, a month after the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel—a day now known as Black Sabbath—Matti Leshem and Lynn Harris, married movie producers, arrived at a back-yard gathering in West Los Angeles. It was a Hollywood crowd, assembled for a sombre purpose: to receive a delegation of survivors from Israel and families of hostages being held in Gaza.Leshem, who specializes in Jewish subjects, is tall, and he wore a khaki blazer, a polka-dot pocket square, and a jockey cap; Harris had on big sunglasses, bluejeans, and a T-shirt that read “Bring Them Home Now.” Leshem is an Israeli citizen; his cousin’s two adult children were killed at a music festival that was a target of the attack. In the weeks since, he and Harris, along with many of their colleagues in the entertainment industry, have felt a sense of urgency. “Half my day is spent triaging people saying, ‘What can I do to help?’ ” Leshem said. “Normally, people are not selfless at all. They’re putting aside their schedules.” Continued here

S10

Phoebe Philo's fashion frenzy: why her much-anticipated collection sold out within hours     British luxury fashion designer Phoebe Philo OBE, debuted her long-anticipated eponymous label to critical acclaim at the end of October. Despite the eye-watering price tags, the small range of clothing, accessories, jewellery and footwear – only available on the Phoebe Philo website – virtually sold out within hours. But Philo is no stranger to fashion frenzies. Her 2005 Paddington bag, created during her tenure as creative director at French designer Chloé, became an instant and enduring “It bag” that sold out before it even hit the shelves. Continued here

S3

From Riders to Tackle! - how Britain loves Jilly Cooper's raunchy novels     Despite being a nation with a reputation for prudishness about sex, the British don't seem to have any problem reading about it, at least not if you go by the enduring popularity of one the country's most successful writers, Jilly Cooper. Known as the Queen of the "bonkbuster" (a British term for a popular novel stuffed with salacious storylines and frequent sexual encounters), she even counts the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as one of her fans. For those who came of age in the UK in the 1980s or 90s, the covers of Cooper's raunchy books alone are forever imprinted on their memory, such was their ubiquity on bookshelves and sun loungers, or in schools, where they were shared like contraband by teenage girls.More like this:- Why the British are obsessed with footballers' wives - Why 'Slut' is Swift's call to arms - The greatest reality TV show never made Continued here

S6

Specialized training programs using sensory augmentation devices could prevent astronauts from getting disoriented in space     When landing on the surface of the Moon, astronauts can become spatially disoriented, which is when they lose sense of their orientation – they might not be able to tell which way is up. This disorientation can lead to fatal accidents. Even on Earth, between 1993 and 2013, spatial disorientation led to the loss of 65 aircraft, US$2.32 billion of damages and 101 deaths in the U.S. Continued here

S26

Chicken Soup's Healing Powers Have Little To Do With Its Ingredients     Preparing a bowl of chicken soup for a loved one when they’re sick has been a common practice worldwide for centuries. Today, generations from virtually every culture swear to the benefits of chicken soup. In the U.S., the dish is typically made with noodles, but different cultures prepare the soothing remedy their own way.Chicken soup as a therapy can be traced back to 60 A.D. and Pedanius Dioscorides, an army surgeon who served under the Roman emperor Nero and whose five-volume medical encyclopedia was consulted by early healers for more than a millennium. But the origins of chicken soup go back thousands of years earlier, to ancient China. Continued here

S28

How A Radical New Vaccine Could Eradicate This Deadly Disease By 2040     About 40 million children born every year in malaria areas in Africa would benefit from a vaccine. We’re seeing about 75 percent efficacy by counting the reduction in the number of malaria episodes over a year. The best vaccine prior to this was about 50 percent over a year and lower than that over three years. Continued here

S19

Why the search for the Loch Ness monster (and other beasts) continues 90 years after that first blurry photograph     Hugh Gray was taking his usual post-church walk around Loch Ness in Scotland on a November Sunday in 1933. His amble was disrupted when he saw something bobbing above the water two or three feet from him. He quickly snapped several pictures of what he described to the Scottish Daily Record as “an object of considerable dimensions”. Continued here

S49

Should You Launch Products During a Recession?     Economic downturns are frightening. Consumers curb spending, companies cut costs, and we all wait anxiously for the economy to recover. In such a climate, launching a product—an expensive and uncertain endeavor in the best of times—would seem to make little sense. But a new study finds that products launched during recessions outperform on several important measures. Continued here

S2

Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel on the Challenges and Opportunities of Following a Visionary Leader     In the final episode of the season, HBR editor Adi Ignatius interviews Jason Buechel, the CEO of Whole Foods. Buechel discusses the challenges of succeeding a larger-than-life executive, the role of Whole Foods as a subsidiary of Amazon, and how the company is addressing changes in the business environment, such as climate change and hybrid work. Buechel emphasizes the importance of understanding the voice of team members during a leadership transition and being authentic as a leader. He also highlights Whole Foods’ focus on growth opportunities for employees and its commitment to sustainability. Buechel believes that AI will fundamentally change the retail and grocery shopping experience in the next decade. The episode concludes with Buechel sharing his favorite products from Whole Foods. Continued here

S24

Everyday Harbingers of Doom     Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff.By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Continued here

S27

Netflix Just Quietly Released David Fincher's Most Thrilling Movie in a Decade     The Killer, the latest thriller in David Fincher’s oeuvre, stars Michael Fassbender as “The Killer,” an assassin whose life derails when a moment of distraction causes a rare miss. When his failure endangers the woman he loves, he’s forced to wage a one-man war on everyone responsible. It’s a thrilling and darkly comic tale, and rightly hailed as a true return to form for the modern thriller auteur, despite dropping too quietly on Netflix on November 10th (outside a limited theatrical run in NY and LA).Fassbender’s cold-blooded protagonist is far from the first murderer in Fincher’s canon. We’ve seen detective-taunting serial killers (Se7en, Zodiac, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), a murderously vengeful spouse (Gone Girl), criminals pushed to the brink (Panic Room), and a truly dangerous toxic masculinity cult (Fight Club). Yet another regular Fincher trajectory centers around dangers of decidedly more bourgeois varieties, from fictional corporations that ruin lives with elaborate games (The Game), to real corporations that ruin lives thanks to power hungry founders (The Social Network). Continued here

S5

Erdogan's stance on Israel reflects desire to mix politics with realpolitik - and still remain a relevant regional player     Visiting Scholar at the Fletcher School's Russia and Eurasia Program, Tufts University Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pulled his ambassador from Israel on Nov. 4, 2023. Less than a month earlier, he was offering diplomatic assistance to calm the situation in the Middle East. Continued here

S13

Proposed smoking ban would improve UK public health - but tobacco industry opposition could be a major roadblock     In his speech on Tuesday, King Charles III outlined what measures the government plans to introduce to cut smoking rates and create a smoke-free generation in England.Among the measures the government hopes to introduce as part of its new tobacco and vapes bill are plans to restrict sales of e-cigarettes so they’re less accessible to children and young people, as well as exploring the possibility of a new duty on vapes. Continued here

S22

Ivanka Trump's Tricky Comeback Tour     Poor Ivanka! Just when she thought she was out, they pulled her back in. I am referring, of course, to her recent appearance at the civil fraud trial of her father, Donald Trump, which has been ongoing in Manhattan for six weeks. The trial stems from the New York attorney general Letitia James's contention that the former President—along with his two eldest sons, and other Trump Organization executives—fraudulently inflated his net worth, and the value of his real-estate assets on financial documents, which helped them secure favorable loans for the company.Ivanka narrowly wriggled out of being a defendant herself: she stopped working for the Trump Organization, where she had been an executive vice-president, in 2017—which, as luck would have it, places her outside the statute of limitations for the trial's purposes. She also did her best to avoid getting called as a government witness, with her lawyers claiming that she would "suffer undue hardship" if she were "required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week." (Ivanka lives in Florida and has three young children.) But, despite this heartstrings-pulling nod to the spectre of motherhood, the claim was rejected by the prosecution. And so there she was on Wednesday morning, striding into the New York State Supreme Courthouse, the picture of staid elegance in a navy suit and coat, a Chanel handbag in her hand, her hair long and smooth down her back, a slight smile on her face (which, if one were to believe the Daily Mail, might have been newly if tastefully nipped and tucked for the occasion). She was, apparently, ready to like it or lump it. Continued here

S57

The Warning Signs Were there about FTX--If Anyone Was Looking     Sam Bankman-Fried's bankrupt crypto exchange attracted high-profile investors despite many red flags. Continued here

S11

Joe Biden to meet with Xi Jinping - what a good result looks like for the US president     US president, Joe Biden, is expected to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in San Francisco as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference on Wednesday November 15. Their meeting has great significance, as the two leaders have not met since the G20 in 2022, and because of their lack of agreement concerning current global conflicts, particularly the Ukraine war. Continued here

S30

'Fantasy Life i's Reported Delay Could Save the Game for One Simple Reason     I’m a sucker for life sims. I’ve spent more time than I care to calculate decorating digital houses and growing virtual vegetables. A life sim doesn’t even necessarily have to be that good to get me to forget my actual responsibilities in favor of my in-game life. But I couldn’t be happier to hear that my most anticipated life sim may have been delayed from this year into 2024.Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time was reportedly pushed back to winter 2024. As first spotted by Gematsu, the report comes from the Ryokutya2089 blog, which has a history of leaking reliable information, often sourced from Japanese magazines like Famitsu before it’s translated into other languages. That appears to be the case here, with Ryokutya2089 claiming the release date shift was noted in a magazine ad. Publisher Level-5 did not immediately respond to Inverse’s request for comment. Continued here

S20

Israel-Hamas conflict: what Gaza might look like 'the day after' the war     Rob Geist Pinfold is a Board Member at Yachad, a British NGO whose primary mission is to support a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Less than a week after Hamas’s devastating attacks on October 7, Israel’s intelligence ministry produced a chilling document. It advocated that Israel remove all of Gaza’s Palestinian population and forcibly resettle them in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. Continued here

S54

Remembering Duty Free Founder Chuck Feeney, the Billionaire Who Inspired Warren Buffett      Feeney was the brains behind the Giving Pledge, which motivated more than 200 billionaires to pledge to give away at least half their fortune. Continued here

S67

Is Long COVID Real? Here Is What Tony Fauci Told Me     Too many people are suffering from long COVID and other postviral syndromes. Anthony Fauci says we need to step up funding and research nowThe first person I met with long COVID was Kenton Kaplan, a student I was mentoring at Georgetown University. Without much warning, he had called me in January 2022 to drop out of our departmental honors program. As we talked over the next year and a half, he told me about debilitating fatigue, dizziness and intense memory inconsistencies. He and his doctors believed that these symptoms were related to a COVID infection he likely caught at a New Year’s Eve party. Continued here

S29

20 Years Ago, an Underrated Insomniac Franchise Changed Video Games Forever     There’s a rule in life that I learned many eons ago. It’s a rule most often missed or outright disregarded for a combination of ignorance and, frankly, snobbery. The rule is that you must never underestimate the power of a simple, cuddly-looking, cartoon aesthetic.Such is the case for Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, the PlayStation 2 classic about furry “lombax,” his robot sidekick, and lots of weird, sci-fi weapons. From Insomniac Studios, which would go on to make Sony’s modern Spider-Man video games, Going Commando paved the way for the developer’s future projects when it comes to gameplay, narrative, and character. Continued here

S53

How 'Empathy Hours' Can Grow Your Revenue and Conversion Rates     Need more customers? Discover why hosting empathy hours may be the best-kept secret for scaling your business. Continued here

S15

Suella Braverman's comments comparing Gaza protests with Northern Ireland are a grave misunderstanding of the facts     The aim of Suella Braverman’s controversial Times article commenting on the ongoing protests over Gaza seems obvious. As with many of her recent and provocative statements, the assumption is that she is trying to undermine and ultimately replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader by appealing to the party’s right. However, the methods used – and particularly the comparisons she made between marches in Northern Ireland and demonstrations in London – are more confusing. This confusion is understandable, as Braverman herself seems confused in what she wrote. She linked marches over the Gaza conflict to “the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland”. She drew further comparisons when suggesting that some of those organising the London protests “have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas”. Continued here

S32

The Budget-Conscious Way To Stay Up To Date With The Latest MacBook Tech     Get the MacBook you need today and pay for it over time, with the option to upgrade to a new model after 24 payments.If you can’t live without the latest MacBook tech and are looking for a smart, affordable way to access it, GatorTec teamed up with Upgraded and Citizens Pay to create a sustainable upgrade program with you in mind. Continued here

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How much income is needed to live well in the UK in 2023? At least      You don’t have to look very hard at the moment to find evidence of the immense financial pressure on UK households. New figures from the Trussell Trust show that 1.5 million emergency food parcels were provided to people between April and September 2023. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest report on destitution in the UK shows that around 3.8 million people in 2022 were not able to meet their basic physical needs – staying warm, dry, clean and fed – more than double the amount in 2017. Continued here

S8

Is some of the body that collided with Earth to form the Moon still recognisable inside our planet?     Scientists have dated the birth of the Solar System to about 4.57 billion years ago. About 60 million years later a “giant impact” collision between the infant Earth and a Mars-sized body called Theia created the Moon. The new study, led by Qian Yuan of Arizona State University and Caltech, argues that the heat generated by this collision was not enough to melt the whole of the Earth’s mantle, so the innermost mantle remained solid. Continued here

S38

I Shot My Own Spatial Video With iPhone 15 Pro and Rewatched It in Apple Vision Pro     When the iPhone 15 Pros were announced in September, Apple’s head of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, said there was one big camera feature that wouldn’t be available until later this year: spatial video capture for viewing in an Apple Vision Pro.Well, it’s November, and Apple has kept its promise. Yesterday, Apple released the second developer beta for iOS 17.2 and included in the software update was the ability to capture spatial video with an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max. Today, Apple is releasing the public beta version so anybody can start recording 3D videos before the “spatial computer” launches early next year in the U.S. Continued here

S35

Fei-Fei Li Started an AI Revolution by Seeing Like an Algorithm     Early in the pandemic, an agent—literary, not software—suggested Fei-Fei Li write a book. The approach made sense. She has made an indelible mark on the field of artificial intelligence by heading a project started in 2006 called ImageNet. It classified millions of digital images to form what became a seminal training ground for the AI systems that rock our world today. Li is currently the founding codirector of Stanford’s Institute of Human-Centered AI (HAI), whose very name is a plea for cooperation, if not coevolution, between people and intelligent machines. Accepting the agent’s challenge, Li spent the lockdown year churning out a draft. But when her cofounder at HAI, philosopher Jon Etchemendy, read it, he told her to start over—this time including her own journey in the field. “He said there’s plenty of technical people who can read an AI book,” says Li. “But I was missing an opportunity to tell all the young immigrants, women, and people of diverse backgrounds to understand that they can actually do AI, too.”Li is a private person who is uncomfortable talking about herself. But she gamely figured out how to integrate her experience as an immigrant who came to the United States when she was 16, with no command of the language, and overcame obstacles to become a key figure in this pivotal technology. On the way to her current position, she’s also been director of the Stanford AI Lab and chief scientist of AI and machine learning at Google Cloud. Li says that her book, The Worlds I See, is structured like a double helix, with her personal quest and the trajectory of AI intertwined into a spiraling whole. “We continue to see ourselves through the reflection of who we are,” says Li. “Part of the reflection is technology itself. The hardest world to see is ourselves.” Continued here

S47

How to Build Wealth When You Don't Come from Money     The first step to attaining wealth — at least for people who are not born into it — is much more personal than building millionaire habits or investing wisely. Such approaches often fail to address the systemic and mental barriers faced by many of the marginalized groups who grew up without access to wealth. The author argues that changing your mindset, or building a mindset conducive to wealth, is the real first step. Continued here

S59

These Military Veterans Have a New Mission--Running Inc. 5000 Companies     In celebration of Veteran's Day November 10, we spoke to several entreprenuers who have soared to new heights after leaving the military. Here's what they have to say about building successful businesses. Continued here

S42

65 Awesome Gifts Under $30 on Amazon That Seem a Hell of a Lot More Expensive     There are endless occasions for gift giving, like holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries — but not always endless funds to purchase said gifts. So if you’re looking to impress everyone on your shopping list without going broke as you do it, read on. Here, you’ll find an extensive collection of awesome gifts that seem way more expensive than they are. From self care to home repair to loungewear, there’s something here for every type of recipient you could imagine. But don’t forget to leave a little extra room in your budget, because some of these gifts are so good, you’ll want to keep them for yourself.Perfect for anyone who’s frequently taking out their toolbox, this RAK magnetic wristband ensures that those easy-to-lose bolts, screws, and nails are always within reach. Made out of heavy-duty ballistic nylon, the wristband features 10 strong magnets to hold on tightly to metal fasteners. And the 14.5-inch band offers a customizable, one-size-fits-most design. Continued here

S34

'Loki' Season 2's Ending Just Debunked a Major Kang Theory     Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has a Kang problem. While he may have started out as a much-needed shot in the arm for a rudderless franchise, Jonathan Majors’ time-traversing baddie has since become an unfortunate distraction. The actor has been confronting accusations of domestic violence since March 2023, but Marvel’s reluctance to distance itself from Kang and his many variants puts the franchise in a difficult spot.The controversy was especially apparent as Loki returned for its second season. Its Season 1 finale introduced Kang’s omniscient variant He Who Remains, and set the stage for Kang himself to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. A handful of insiders warned about Majors’ growing role in the MCU, particularly in Loki Season 2. A blistering tell-all from Variety implied that Episode 6 put Marvel in an impossible position: “I don’t see a path to how they move forward with him,” one dealmaker told the trade. Continued here

S65

We Need Product Safety Regulations for Social Media     As social media more frequently exposes people to brutality and untruths, we need to treat it like a consumer product, and that means product safety regulationsLike many people, I’ve used Twitter, or X, less and less over the last year. There is no one single reason for this: the system has simply become less useful and fun. But when the terrible news about the attacks in Israel broke recently, I turned to X for information. Instead of updates from journalists (which is what I used to see during breaking news events), I was confronted with graphic images of the attacks that were brutal and terrifying. I wasn’t the only one; some of these posts had millions of views and were shared by thousands of people. Continued here

S33

This Blacked-Out Game Boy Remake Comes With a Joystick     If you missed the window to snap up Analogue’s limited edition Pocket, you may not be out of luck just yet — Ayaneo is here to offer you an alternative modernized Game Boy.The handheld recently teased plans to remake the classic Nintendo Game Boy that we grew up with, but with a major twist of including a joystick. Introducing: the Ayaneo Pocket DMG. Continued here

S55

Big Tech Is Ghosting Downtown Austin. Entrepreneurs Are Just Fine With That     Despite a staggering commercial vacancy rate of 30 percent in Austin, startup founders say the city is still vibrant. Continued here

S31

9 Years Later, 'The Marvels' Brings Back One of the MCU's Greatest Strengths     Most of us tune in to superhero movie to watch a good guy beat the snot out of a bad guy — but as franchises like Marvel embed themselves further into the zeitgeist, we’ve got to ask ourselves something: how many times have they delivered action that was well and truly memorable?Marvel’s Cinematic Universe prides itself on spectacle, but in 15 years and twice as many films, real, remarkable action remains as elusive as ever. Aside from the odd gem, like the Captain America sequels or Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, high-quality, high-octane fight sequences feel more like afterthoughts. The MCU prioritizes CGI mush over grounded thrills, meaning that most hand-to-hand combat we do get to see often devolves into lazy slugfests before the credits roll. Continued here

S41

45 genius solutions to your stupid problems around the house     I'm a science fiction fan, and I thought that, by now, there would be robots available to handle all the annoying household problems. But here we are, still struggling with issues like drafty doors, rotting produce, and sock drawers in chaos. It's all good, though. After boldly going where no AI can, I found 45 solutions to various household issues — and they're all on Amazon.Nothing on this list is too expensive, but all of it is necessary if you want to prepare meals with ease, organize your closet, or create a comfier WFH environment. Continued here

S37

Everything You Need To Know About Zynga's 'Star Wars: Hunters'     Remember that Star Wars free-to-play game being developed by Zynga called Star Wars: Hunters? Me neither! But it still exists. While the title has been mostly silent since its original announcement back in 2021, development seems to still be underway. The latest news confirms Star Wars: Hunters will come to a galaxy near you sometime in the future, but maybe not as soon as you might be hoping.Star Wars: Hunters was originally slated to be released in late 2021 for Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Then the game was delayed in July 2022 to a general 2023 release window. The latest news comes from a post on the Zynga Star Wars X (formerly Twitter) account on November 8 announcing the game has been delayed yet again to a nebulous 2024 release window. Continued here

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Why Nostalgia Will be a Key Branding Trend in 2024     Nostalgia in branding is back for 2024, but this time it's a little different. Continued here

S45

Why Alien Life on "Triassic Worlds" Might Be Easiest To Spot     Highly oxygenated worlds like Earth during the Age of Dinosaurs might be prime targets for astrobiology.If we want to look for signs of life on other worlds, we might want to look to our planet’s past, specifically when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Continued here

S66

Can You Trust Farmers' Almanacs' Weather Predictions?     Two competing farmers’ almanacs say this winter will be cold and snowy, but NOAA, the top U.S. weather agency, disagreesPeople swear by farmers’ almanacs. Every autumn these publications arrive with their eclectic mix of miscellany and lore. They also deliver a region-by-region weather forecast for an entire year, notably the coming winter, which everyone from farmers to city dwellers can plan their businesses and lives around. There are actually two competing almanacs: the Farmers’ Almanac and the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Both have been published for more than 200 years, and both highly protect their secret forecasting formulas, which they say have stood the test of time. Continued here

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U.S. Hits Carbon Tech Milestone with First Direct-Air Capture Facility     A new facility will suck carbon dioxide from the air, showcasing the potential of a nascent industry that some say is crucial to fighting climate changeCLIMATEWIRE | TRACY, Calif. — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm used a pair of oversized red scissors Thursday to cut the ribbon on a potentially significant achievement in the battle against climate change: the first commercial direct air capture facility in the United States. Continued here

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32 Years Ago, a Groundbreaking Time-Travel Movie Brazenly Ripped Off Star Wars     India’s first time-travel movie didn’t arrive until 1991, but when it finally did, it wasn’t afraid to imitate its influences. Or, in some cases, outright steal from them.Borrowing equal inspiration from Back to the Future (1985) and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Aditya 369 looks back even further in its opening scene to reference two foundational science fiction franchises. The Telugu-language film, commonly considered a touchstone of South Asian science fiction, opens on an eccentric scientist busying himself in a lab with his latest experiments. Then, bizarrely, the camera cuts to still images of the original posters for Star Wars and concept art of Star Trek’s starship Enterprise. Continued here

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Funding for Research on Psychedelics Is on the Rise, Along with Scientists' Hopes for Using Them     As interest and support for psychedelic research grows, scientists share their hopes for the future.This is Episode Three of a three-part Fascination on the science of psychedelics. You can listen to Episode One here and Episode Two here. Continued here

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Following These 8 Health Rules Can Slow Biological Aging, Study Shows     Every year adds another candle to our birthday cake, but our body’s aging process isn’t so straightforward. While chronological age is set, the rate at which our body ages varies depending on our habits and health factors.One researcher pondered how biological age changes when someone follows the guidelines of Life’s Essential 8 (formerly Life’s Simple 7 until sleep was added to the list in 2022), a set of evidence-based criteria from the American Heart Association (AHA) for lowering the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. The Essential 8 are: Continued here

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'Modern Warfare 3' Isn't the Only Game to Brutalize Cheaters in Hilarious Ways     Cheaters have something new to fear in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and it’s not just the dull pang of guilt at their misbegotten wins. As Activision announced in a pre-launch blog post, Modern Warfare 3 will have a rather direct method of keeping cheaters from ruining other players’ games — a system evocatively named Splat!“With Splat, if a cheater is discovered, we may randomly, and for fun, disable their parachute sending them careening into the ground after they deploy,” Activision says. Continued here

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New '3 Body Problem' Trailer Gets One Thing Right From The Books     Netflix’s ambitious adaptation of the popular Cixin Liu books has nailed one of the trickiest aspects of this sci-fi world.The next big sci-fi epic from the people behind Game of Thrones — David Benioff and D. B. Weiss — is coming to Netflix on March 21, 2024. The series is the 3 Body Problem, based on the Remembrance of Earth's Past book series by Cixin Liu. Continued here

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Celebrates 4,000 Days on Mars -- Here's What Its Seen So Far     NASA’s Curiosity mission has just passed a special milestone. On Monday, NASA announced that Curiosity has now surpassed 4,000 sols, or days on Mars.The small-SUV-sized rover reached the Red Planet on August 5, 2012, to explore Gale Crater for signs that past or present life could have existed on Mars. To find glimmers of this evidence, Curiosity has sojourned across a sediment-rich landscape on the alien planet with its six wheels over the last 11 years. Continued here

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Learning to Accept Discomfort Could Help You Thrive     Equanimity, a key ingredient of mindfulness meditation, helps people face life’s ups and downsCan you imagine getting a root canal or other major dental procedure without novocaine? A scientist colleague of mine recently told me about a painful exposed nerve in his tooth. Rather than request a numbing option at the dentist, he used a “focus in” meditation technique to direct all of his attention to his mouth with as much calming equanimity as he could muster. Doing so transformed the pain for a few minutes. Each time the dentist touched the tooth, my colleague felt bubbles of joy, and this lasted until the dentist interrupted by asking, “Why are you smiling?” Continued here

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Everything You Need to Know About 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III'     It’s November. The leaves are falling, Christmas music is creeping in, mustachioed men are no-nutting, and a new Call of Duty is upon us. The perennial FPS franchise returns with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from Sledgehammer Games. As with every entry, the broad strokes remain the same — impeccably balanced shooting mechanics, a plethora of maps, granular weapon modifications — but a host of smaller changes make this year’s entry just unique enough that we prepped this handy primer for you detailing all the important things you need to know before you dolphin-dive into the action. This year’s installment is a direct sequel to last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. MW2 followed two groups of special ops soldiers, Task Force 141, which is full of familiar faces like Price, Ghost, and Gaz, and the Mexican unit Los Vaqueros led by Alejandro Vargas. Its mission was to stop a terrorist cell that came into possession of some American-made ballistic missiles, culminating in a near-miss event in Chicago where one was shot down before it could reach the Pentagon. Continued here

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Everything We Know About 'GTA 6,' From the Latest Leaks to Release Date Rumors     The GTA 6 rumor mill never stops churning. Rockstar finally announced the next installment of its blockbuster Grand Theft Auto series in 2022 (kinda), but with few solid details about gameplay or the faintest whiff of a release date, speculation still runs rampant. Despite the lack of official comment, a good deal about what GTA 6 might be has been revealed in bombshell leaks and reports in the past few years. With the tenth anniversary of GTA 5 quickly approaching, 2023 might be the year we finally learn more about the next entry in the series.So far, there’s no trailer for GTA 6, but that’s going to change very soon. On November 8, Rockstar shared the news that its GTA 6 trailer is set to debut “in early December,” coinciding with the developer’s 25th anniversary, but didn’t give a more exact date. Continued here

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See JWST's Spectacular New View of the Crab Nebula     The James Webb Space Telescope’s studies of the Crab nebula may shed new light on the supernova remnant’s originsA little more than 969 years ago—on July 4, 1054, to be more precise—the light from one of the universe’s most energetic and violent events reached Earth: a supernova, or exploding star. Continued here

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Marketing When Budgets Are Down     The general rule of enterprise finance is that marketing budgets drop like a stone at the first sign of trouble and rise like a feather once the environment is more settled. In mid-2023 we’re far from a settled state — projected GDP growth in western markets is depressingly flat, inflation is proving to be rather stubborn, and those disruptions just keep on coming. It’s tough to see a significant increase in marketing budgets in the near term. Gartner’s annual survey of hundreds of CMOs charts the evolution of marketing spending over recent history, offering guidance for how enterprise leaders can deliver results and build the capabilities to fuel growth in a time of less. Continued here

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Thanks to Inflation, There's a Chance You Could Be Paying Less Taxes With IRS's New 2024 Brackets     The Internal Revenue Service unveiled its new tax brackets for 2024 and, once again, its increasing the income limits to adjust for inflation. Continued here

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Using Data to Improve Employee Health and Wellness     Very few employers systematically track their employees’ health and wellbeing. But without such data, they won’t be able to set priorities and won’t know whether their efforts are effective. It is now possible to systematically assess your employees’ wellbeing and assess the effectiveness of your programs to address their needs. This article offers a four-part framework for doing that. Continued here

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What Leaders Need to Know About Spatial Computing     Spatial computing is an evolving form of computing that blends our physical world and virtual experiences using a wide range of technologies, thus enabling humans to interact and communicate in new ways with each other and with machines, as well as giving machines the capabilities to navigate and understand our physical environment in new ways. Apple’s entrance into the market is a big step for the technology, but the idea has been in development for years. Now, spatial computing is already starting to make an impact, including on communication and co-presence, manufacturing, gaming, human resources, media, sports and entertainment, and data visualization. Continued here

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How GenAI Can Help Companies Go Beyond Social Listening     GenAI can transform the process of collecting feedback from consumers, reaching more people across more demographics than ever before, and learning more about what they really think. Companies can rescue qualitative survey data from the trash and dig for deeper insights. To do so, they should: tailor genAI tools to meet their organization’s specific needs, feed them existing data, and have them make suggestions for future survey questions. Continued here

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The powerful women of an ancient empire     The raiders came from the north. They came on horseback, the skilled bowmen shooting powerful arrows with expert precision. They ruined and burned the crops, which the Han Chinese villagers living on China's northern frontiers in about 200 BCE tended to with great attention. The Han Chinese called the invaders "Xiongnu", which meant "fierce slave", a pejorative term aimed to emphasise the barbarians' "inferiority".In reality, however, the Xiongnu outperformed their Chinese neighbours in military expertise and political organisation. Comprised of different ethnic tribes, the Xiongnu were the world's first nomadic empire, well-organised and formidable enough to cause so much trouble to the Han Chinese that the latter eventually resolved to build the Great Wall of China. More interestingly, behind the fierce bowmen, it was the powerful Xiongnu women who helped hold the empire together. Continued here