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These Triplet Models Want to Take This Town by the Throat Hundreds of people, many dressed in elaborate fur and sequined outfits, packed the Grand Central Cipriani restaurant on Thursday for the runway show of Romeo Juliet Couture. Their eyes were on the catwalk as the first model, petite with strawberry blond hair, emerged from backstage in a floral top, faux leather jacket and high wasted maxi skirt. After completing her circuit, another woman took her place. Her outfit was different; she was wearing a strapless gingham top paired with washed black jeans. But her face and walk looked eerily similar to the first model. "They must be sisters," said John Gavras, a senior associate for the LiRo Group, a construction management firm, who was watching the show with his two adult daughters in an elevated V.I.P. section. "Or are all models supposed to look the same?" a neighboring stranger said. When the third model appeared, looking indistinguishable from the first two, the crowd finally figured it out. "They are triplets," Mr. Gavras said. "Holy cow! It's incredible." Runway shows are generally civilized affairs, with observers expressing themselves through creative outfits, not shouts. But as the identical triplet models, named Andrea, Arianna and Athena Levesque, took one lap together, the crowd started clapping loudly and hollering as if it were a sporting event. "You heard it," said David Shamouelian, the owner and C.E.O. of Romeo Juliet Couture. "There was power behind these triplets." It's not the first time multiple births have graced the fashion world. Identical twins who go by the names Cipriana Quann and TK Wonder appeared in a recent Kenneth Cole advertising campaign. In October the designer Jun Takahashi cast five sets of identical twins to close his show at Paris Fashion Week. But triplets are rarer than twins, and for the past two years these sisters, 24 and living in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, have convinced multiple designers, television producers and filmmakers that their showcases will be better with their participation. They have come down the catwalk for designers including Adrian Alicea and Andre Emery. They have appeared on "Good Morning America." There is reality show interest, they said. "We aren't allowed to say who just yet," Arianna said with a grin. In September they plan to introduce their own feminine, but not too girlie, clothing line of denim and trucker jackets, jumpsuits and florals. They have a studio in their three bedroom apartment, where they photograph themselves and other models and actors for extra pay. They also act and have appeared in a few short films including the popular video for Circa Survive's song "Premonition of the Hex." Arianna is the stylist and designer, Andrea is the photographer, and Athena is the lead actress. But they almost always market themselves as one. "There are a lot of pretty blond girls, but there aren't that many triplets," Athena said. "We should use it." Many multiples try to differentiate themselves as individuals, but for marketing purposes this set is determined to be as identical as possible. If one of them wants a haircut, all must agree to get the same look. "I wanted bangs a couple of months ago, but my sisters told me they didn't, so we couldn't do it," Andrea said. "They saved me." They don't always have to try that hard. The morning of the Romeo Juliet show they put on matching shoes, leggings and oversize sweaters without consulting one another, they said. The apartment is shared with Andrea's cat, Arianna's cat and Athena's 55 pound dog. "The animals can tell us apart," Athena said. "They know who their parents are." Since they were young girls, growing up in Hyannis, Mass., the sisters wanted to do things together. At 11 they wore shirts Arianna made out of old pillowcases to school. As seniors, they starred together in "Twelfth Night," with Athena and Arianna cast as Viola and Andrea playing Feste, the singing fool. "Our teacher was so worried about how to give us all lead roles," Andrea said. "He was so relieved when he found out I could sing better than them." After attending different colleges, study abroad programs and graduate schools, they all moved to New York City to give modeling something they had done for fun a try professionally. "Other careers were always something we could go back to," Andrea said. "But modeling is something we can only do now. And it's something I can do with my sisters now." And they have become more value as a threesome. "We have done shoots with them individually, but the triplets is what makes a difference," Mr. Shamouelian said. (Arianna also works part time as one of his assistant designers.) "I don't really know if I would have used them if it was just one because I tend to use models that are 5'9 and up," Mr. Emery said. (The Levesques are 5 foot 6.) "But because they are triplets I knew I could be creative with them. I knew people would say, 'Whoa, this is a new trend.'" The triplets have a long list of bigger designers they want to model for, including Dolce Gabanna and Tom Ford. But there are downsides to the sisters working together, said Sara Ziff, the founder and executive director of the Model Alliance, a New York City advocacy organization for models. "Booking triplet models is a very specific choice on the part of the client," she said. "I imagine it might be limiting for the models themselves if they are always sold as a package deal." (The triplets respond by saying that they encourage each other to get big gigs on their own. It will only elevate all of them, they reason.) Ms. Ziff also worries that the presence of identical triplet models reinforces a notion in the fashion world that all models should look exactly the same. "It's arresting to see people as carbon copies. With hair and makeup, models are often made to look interchangeable, and their individuality is subsumed by the brand," she said. "Having the same DNA takes that to another level." Mr. Emery, though, dresses the triplets differently, with one in a robe for his debut, another looking like she was headed to a nightclub. "I want them to have their own individual style and taste," he said. And the models insist they don't care so long as the clothes fit well and are flattering. "The only important thing is that we are either all the same or all different," Athena said. "I just don't like it when two people are the same, and I have to be different. We are triplets." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
After I set up Samsung's new Galaxy S10 Plus phone last week, I showed it to my partner and said with atypical enthusiasm, "Check it out this phone has the fingerprint sensor built directly into the screen." I pressed my thumb down on the screen, where the fingerprint sensor was embedded. "No match," a message on the phone read. I pressed down again and got the same message. After five failed attempts, it asked for a passcode. "Great demo," my partner said as she turned back to browsing Instagram on her phone. A few days later, Samsung issued a software update that it described as a security patch for biometrics. After I installed it and re enrolled my fingerprints, the Galaxy's reader showed a marked improvement. The phone registered my print to unlock the phone the majority of the time, though there were still occasional failures. My bumpy experience with the print sensor firmed up one conclusion: Face recognition is a more convenient method for unlocking phones, and Samsung is behind Apple in this area. That is unfortunate in an era of skyrocketing phone prices: If you're shelling out this much cash for a phone, you expect to get the best of the best, not a compromise. The Galaxy S10 Plus is no modest gadget, with a starting price of 1,000. And Samsung is preparing to push prices up even higher with the Galaxy Fold, a highly anticipated 1,980 tablet that physically folds into a pocketable cellphone, which will become available in late April. Apple phased out fingerprint sensors in its newest iPhones after fully embracing its face scanning technology, which works by spraying your face with infrared dots to create a 3 D image. That image is then used to check whether you are the smartphone's owner before unlocking the device. Face recognition has proved to be more difficult for thieves to manipulate; it also logs you into your phone more consistently than a fingerprint sensor. Samsung's phones also have face scanners, but they use a less secure method for authenticating you. More on this later. After I used the Galaxy S10 Plus for a week, here's what I found. I began my tests by taking the Galaxy S10 Plus outdoors to try the new camera. The back of the device has a triple lens system, meaning it has one more lens than some of last year's Galaxy phones that had dual lens cameras. The new camera has a so called ultra wide angle lens for taking shots with a wider field of view than traditional phone cameras, which makes it handy for shooting landscapes or large group gatherings. To take an ultra wide angle shot, you pinch inward to zoom all the way out. The new Samsung device's 6.4 inch screen is on a par with the 6.5 inch screen on Apple's iPhone XS Max and the 6.3 inch display on Google's Pixel 3 XL. All produce sharp, rich images with accurate colors and excellent shadow detail. (If you asked me which screen was best, I would call it a draw.) As for the battery, the Galaxy S10 Plus had such long battery life that by bedtime after a busy day, the device still had about 25 percent of juice remaining. Samsung said it expanded the size of the battery while also improving the software to manage energy use. Samsung is so confident in the new Galaxy phone's battery that it designed the device to wirelessly charge other gadgets, like smart watches and other phones. The feature, Wireless PowerShare, uses induction, which involves tapping an electrical current to generate a magnetic field that powers other devices. To use the power sharing feature, you hit a button in the phone's settings and place another device that supports wireless charging onto the back of the Samsung. I stacked my iPhone and the Galaxy S10 Plus back to back, and it took the Samsung about 15 minutes to replenish 5 percent of the iPhone's battery. That's a slow charge rate, though Samsung said the feature was primarily intended for charging accessories like wireless earbuds or smart watches. An improved fingerprint sensor, but weaker biometrics than the iPhone I found that the fingerprint reader on Samsung's Galaxy S10 Plus was an improvement over past models. But the device's biometrics over all were still weaker than the features on Apple's iPhone, Samsung's biggest rival. In previous Samsung phones, the sensor was a physical button on the back of the phone near the camera, which often led people to accidentally bump the camera lenses when attempting to unlock their phones. Now the sensor is on the front and embedded in the screen. Its ultrasonic technology uses sound waves that read the ridges and valleys of a finger. This means you can now unlock the phone while it is flat on a table, and the ultrasonic technology will be able to scan your print through water or grease. In addition, because the captured image is so detailed, the print becomes much more difficult to spoof than with past fingerprint sensors. In my tests, I was able to unlock the phone while my hand was damp. On the downside, Samsung is behind Apple in face recognition. While Apple uses infrared scanning to create a precise 3 D map of a person's face, Samsung's face scanner uses the camera to take your photo and then compares it with an image stored on the device. So a thief could fool the system by holding a photo of your face in front of the camera. Because a person's head shape is unique, the likelihood of bypassing infrared based facial recognition with an incorrect face is one in a million, according to Qualcomm. In contrast, the false acceptance rate of older face scanning techniques like Samsung's is one in 100, and the false acceptance rate of fingerprint scanning (including the new ultrasonic technology) is one in 50,000. Nonetheless, I tried Samsung's face recognition feature. When you set it up, Samsung shows a warning that face recognition is less secure because someone who looks like you or uses an image of you could unlock the phone. After taking a photo of my face, the feature was quick to detect my mug and unlock the phone, but it did not instill me with much confidence. I shared my concerns with Samsung. Drew Blackard, a director of product marketing at the company, said that based on customer feedback, the fingerprint sensor was the most popular method for unlocking devices. As a result, the company focused on improving that feature. He added that Samsung was studying face recognition and had made it more difficult to trick the scanner with a photo of a person's face. "Is it an area that we're continuing to look at? The answer is: Of course," Mr. Blackard said. I have to say Samsung's decision to focus on fingerprint sensing instead of upgrading its face scanner is not particularly satisfying. User feedback isn't generally an ideal way to design security features. After all, many people also enjoy using the same weak passwords across all their internet accounts. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
The dumbest N.F.L. play call ever? Some people think it came on Sunday, and it seems to have cost the Jets' defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, his job. The Jets were looking to get the first win of their season against the Las Vegas Raiders at home. They were leading the game, 28 24, with 13 seconds left and the Raiders in possession of the ball 46 yards away from the end zone. What happened next was almost universally blasted by fans, commentators and Jets players, and seemed to sum up the team's horrific 2020 season. Needing to hold the Raiders off just once or twice more, on third and 10, the Jets did not drop nickel and dime backs into coverage or merely protect against a deep pass, like the one Derek Carr had attempted on second and 10 when he barely missed Nelson Agholor in the back of the end zone. Instead, the Jets all out blitzed, leaving the secondary threadbare and the Raiders' receivers covered man to man. Carr completed a 46 yard touchdown pass to a single covered Henry Ruggs III, who easily outran his defender, the undrafted rookie Lamar Jackson, and dumped the Jets to an 0 12 record. The Jets couldn't have very well put eight players in the secondary, but because they knew that only a touchdown could beat them, they could have gone into a prevent defense, opting to play zone or taken away the sidelines anything other than a blitz with a rookie cornerback against one of the fastest men in the game, Ruggs. Depending on how you counted, the Jets sent either seven or eight rushers at Carr. ESPN Stats and Info reported that of 251 pass plays with this criteria final 15 seconds, a 4 to 8 point lead and 40 or more yards to go it was the first time a team had ever rushed more than six players. On Monday, the team said it had "parted ways" with Williams, without specifying a reason. The commentary after the play call on Sunday was withering and immediate, and the Jets' players did not hold back their criticisms. Safety Marcus Maye, a team captain, said, "I just felt like we could have been in a better call at that time, in that point of the game." He added: "The call came in. A lot of things running through our minds and everything like that. We just played the call that the coaches called and we just got to execute. But you've got to help us out at the same time." Coach Adam Gase gave some terse nonanswers after the game that said a lot. Asked if the pressure had been needed, he replied, "We ended up pressuring." Asked if Williams had explained his thought process, Gase replied, "He explained his thought process." Rex Ryan, a former Jets head coach, said on ESPN that it was the "dumbest call I've ever seen." He went on to say: "Been around the thing for 58 years, 30 years as a coach. That's the dumbest call ever. There's a time and place for Cover Zero. That sure ain't it. It's just stupid." On CBS, Boomer Esiason said: "The fact that Gregg Williams would play that coverage in that situation? It's almost like the Jets drew that up to lose the game." There were some conspiracy minded football watchers out there who insisted, without hard evidence, that the Jets had, in fact, tried to lose, part of an effort to draft Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
Since they both lost in the opening round in Rome, at their only clay court tournament before the French Open, Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek have taken radically different paths to their unexpected places in Saturday's final. Kenin, the 21 year old American who won the Australian Open in February, has had to scrap and improvise to avert defeat, fighting and drop shotting through four matches that lasted three sets. But Kenin has worked her way into a much more authoritative place, as she demonstrated on Thursday. She blunted Petra Kvitova's easy power and read the angles of her game like a mathematician, frequently taking a quick step in just the right direction and repeatedly winning the exchanges that mattered most in a 6 4, 7 5, semifinal victory on this blustery afternoon on Philippe Chatrier Court. "She just has something you can't teach: The bigger the point, the more she wants it," said Lindsay Davenport, a former No. 1 who is now a Tennis Channel analyst. Out of nowhere in this unusual Grand Slam tournament, no one has come close to finding a solution to Swiatek's compact blend of offense and defense. Not the No. 1 seed and former champion Simona Halep, whom Swiatek crushed, 6 1, 6 2, in the fourth round. Not the qualifier Nadia Podoroska, whom Swiatek routed, 6 2, 6 1, in a semifinal that lasted little more than an hour on Thursday. Swiatek has yet to win a tour title. She has a surname that many tennis followers are still struggling to pronounce (try Shvee ON tek), yet here she is in her first Grand Slam final, with a chance to play in two this week if she and her doubles partner, Nicole Melichar, can win their semifinal on Friday. "It seems unreal," said Swiatek, who is ranked 54th in singles. "On one hand, I know that I can play great tennis. On the other hand, it's kind of surprising for me. I never would have thought that I'm going to be in the final." The French Open, of course, has been something of a haven for wild results. Michael Chang won here at age 17 after serving underhand against No. 1 Ivan Lendl and then beating the great Stefan Edberg in the final. Gustavo Kuerten showed up in 1997 with a world ranking of 66 and a reservation at a two star hotel, then cruised all the way to the trophy with his elastic strokes and surfer's shuffle. In 2017, Jelena Ostapenko arrived unseeded and without a tour singles title, then ran the table, derailing Halep in the final. Clearly, shifting the tournament from spring to autumn in the year of the coronavirus has changed the Parisian public's wardrobe (parkas, anyone?) but has done nothing to dampen the chances of the underdogs. The women's tournament has been a dizzying succession of upsets and introductions, with players like Podoroska, a 23 year old from Argentina, making their French Open debuts with rankings outside the top 100 and beating up on the veterans. The match between the fourth seeded Kenin and seventh seeded Kvitova was only the fourth between seeded players in the women's singles tournament. The men will have a total of 11 such matches. But it is hard to call the Swiatek Kenin final a fluke. Swiatek's game has been irresistible, and Kenin has already shown she belongs at this lofty level, winning her first major title at the Australian Open by defeating the local hero Ashleigh Barty and the two time major champion Garbine Muguruza. Kenin reached the fourth round of the United States Open last month, is 16 1 in Grand Slam singles play in 2020 and is now in her second Grand Slam final of the season, the sort of achievement typically reserved for Americans named Williams. She has turned things around in Paris after losing, 6 0, 6 0, to Victoria Azarenka last month in Rome, where Kenin sometimes looked overwrought and bounced a racket or two on the red clay. But, in what is becoming her trademark, she quickly reset and got back to business. "I'm just really grateful with the way that I'm playing, with the way things are going," Kenin said. "It's not easy getting to a Grand Slam final. Having two this year, it's really special." Like the Williams sisters, Kenin lives in Florida, in Pembroke Pines. But her story bears a greater resemblance to that of the now retired Maria Sharapova, who left Russia as a child to take a long shot chance at tennis stardom in the packed academies of Florida. Kenin, nicknamed Sonya, was born in Moscow in 1998, long after her parents, Alex and Svetlana, had immigrated to the United States, where they soon returned with their daughter. Though Kenin often speaks Russian with her father, who is also her coach, she has only an American passport. Like Sharapova, she was groomed bright and early to be a champion, attending tournaments and posing for photographs with the likes of Kim Clijsters. She also shares some of Sharapova's inner fire, relishing the point to point combat while playing at an even brisker pace. "Sonya's not afraid to play Rafa," Rick Macci, one of her childhood coaches, once said of Kenin and the prospect of facing Rafael Nadal. Though psychologists are nothing new in tennis, the emerging generation of stars seems more willing to be open about using them. Bianca Andreescu, the Canadian who won the U.S. Open last year at 19, has also emphasized the mental game. In Swiatek's view, Abramowicz has helped her manage her emotions under duress and helped her focus on the point at hand rather than the prize at stake. Walking out on Chatrier on Thursday, Swiatek told herself to treat the semifinal like a first round match. It worked, just as everything seems to have worked in her charmed 12 day run at Roland Garros. But Kenin is not the sort to step quietly aside and let another youngster pass her by. Kenin moves around the court like a point guard who wants the ball, defines herself as "really fierce" and often reacts to her own winners with an exasperated look that basically says: "What took so long?" When asked this week if she could pick one word to express what she loved most about tennis, she answered quickly: "Winning, definitely." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
A production of "Julius Caesar" in Central Park was disrupted on Friday evening by two protesters who objected to the bloody scene in which the title character, played by an actor costumed and styled to resemble President Trump, is knifed to death. A woman who later identified herself on social media as Laura Loomer jumped onto the stage just after the assassination of Caesar and began shouting, "Stop the normalization of political violence against the right," and, "This is violence against Donald Trump." Ms. Loomer describes herself as a "a right wing investigative journalist and activist" who has previously worked with James O'Keefe, the conservative activist known for selectively edited undercover video investigations. Ms. Loomer's interruption of the scene was being recorded by a man in the audience who began shouting, "You are all Goebbels," a reference to the Hitler aide and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. On social media, Jack Posobiec, an activist who supports President Trump and has been associated with conspiracy theories, identified himself as Ms. Loomer's collaborator. The show was paused briefly, with the actors still on stage, as security officers removed the two protesters from the Delacorte Theater, the 1,800 seat outdoor amphitheater in which Shakespeare in the Park is staged. The audience tried to shout down the protesters, and applauded as they were removed. The show then resumed as a stage manager announced, "Pick up at 'liberty and freedom,'" referring to the lines in the play that came next. "Two protesters disrupted our show tonight; we stopped the show for less than a minute and our stage manager handled it beautifully," Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater and the director of the "Julius Caesar" production, said in a statement. "The staff removed the protesters peacefully, and the show resumed with the line 'Liberty! Freedom!' The audience rose to their feet to thank the actors, and we joyfully continued. Free speech for all, but let's not stop the show." Ms. Loomer, 24, continued to shout from outside the theater after she was removed, and declined requests by the police to step away from the structure; she was then arrested. The New York Police Department said she was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct and was released. The assassination of Caesar is part of the script of the play, which was written 418 years ago by William Shakespeare; the choice to depict the title character as akin to President Trump is part of a long history of productions of the play that have used the text to explore contemporary politics. In 2012, another American production of "Julius Caesar" depicted the title character as President Barack Obama. The decision by the Public Theater, which oversees Shakespeare in the Park, to depict Caesar as Mr. Trump has prompted social media protests from conservatives, and two corporate sponsors of the theater program, Delta Air Lines and Bank of America, withdrew their support. A third sponsor, American Express, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, took steps to make sure the public knew they had not supported the production. Defenders of the Public Theater, saying the play does not sanction political violence but is instead a cautionary tale about the use of antidemocratic means to defend a democracy, have said the critics are misconstruing the play and this production. Two critics of the production demonstrated outside the Delacorte on Friday night, while a slightly larger group of defenders held a counter demonstration. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Prices will likely continue to drop in Manhattan's rental market because of surging inventory and at least temporary changes to renter habits brought on by Covid 19. For the first time in nearly a decade, the median asking rent for an apartment in Manhattan has fallen below 3,000 a month, as vacancies soar and tenants reorder priorities amid the coronavirus. The third quarter also marked the first time in which Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens all recorded year over year rent declines since 2010, according to a new report from the listings website StreetEasy. The median monthly rent fell to 2,990 in Manhattan, down 7.8 percent; 2,599 in Brooklyn, down 2.5 percent; and 2,200 in Queens, down 2.2 percent. "This is the first of many milestones to come, in terms of Manhattan's rental market being turned on its head," Nancy Wu, a StreetEasy economist, said about the declines, noting that prices will likely continue to drop because of surging inventory, and temporary, if not fundamental, changes to renter habits. Of all the boroughs, Manhattan has the highest share of affluent, mobile renters, many of whom chose not to renew leases during the pandemic, and the once reliable stream of newcomers, who paid a premium to be close to Midtown offices, has slowed, Ms. Wu said. Last month, there were nearly 16,000 listings available for rent in Manhattan, a 14 year record and more than triple the inventory in the same period last year, according to a recent report from the brokerage Douglas Elliman. StreetEasy observed a similar surge in new listings this quarter, which helped to push the median discount on Manhattan rentals to 9.1 percent off the initial asking price, up from 3.9 percent this time last year. That translates to a median 272 monthly discount. It's likely that the actual price cuts are even deeper, because landlords hardly ever disclose the final negotiated rent, said Bill Kowalczuk, an associate broker with Warburg Realty. In the absence of a treatment or vaccine for the virus, those cuts are expected to deepen, he said, despite landlords' reluctance. "I don't think they can believe this is actually happening," he said. "'How could I have gotten 5,000 two years ago, and now no one even wants it for 3,500?'" While inventory has also climbed significantly in Brooklyn and Queens, prices there have not fallen as dramatically and in some cases, prices are flat or rising, because of a dearth of affordable options elsewhere in the city. In the third quarter, Brooklyn rents dropped, year over year, for the first time in a decade. Yet the 2.5 percent price decline was modest, spurred by discounting in expensive northwest neighborhoods, like Williamsburg, while rents held steady in less affluent parts of the borough, like East New York. None Testing the Limits: Only three of New York's 25 tallest residential buildings have completed safety tasks required by the city. The Downside to Life in a Supertall: 432 Park faces some significant design problems, and other luxury high rises may share its fate. Luxury Developers' Loophole: Soaring towers are able to push high into the sky because of a loophole in the city's labyrinthine zoning laws. An Evolving Skyline: The high rise building boom has transformed the city's skyline in recent years. Its impact will echo for years to come. Hidden Feats: Our critic looks at some supertall N.Y.C. buildings and how the ingenuity of engineers helped build landmarks. Even with considerable price cuts, the discounting will mean less for the tenants who need it the most. Mr. Kowalczuk warns that common concessions, like two or three months of free rent on a one year lease, are a temporary perk, and new tenants should carefully consider if they can afford the unmitigated rent the following year. And the coronavirus has made clear that rent relief is not proportional to need. In a StreetEasy analysis of neighborhoods with the fewest Covid 19 cases, rents in wealthy neighborhoods, like SoHo in Manhattan, dropped 4.3 percent from February to September. In the hardest hit neighborhoods, like Corona in Queens and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, rents actually rose 0.2 percent. Despite the considerable discounting in Manhattan, which is expected to persist for months or longer, breaking the 3,000 threshold remains mostly symbolic, since citywide, the median rent was 1,467 a month, according to the New York University Furman Center. For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: nytrealestate. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
SAN FRANCISCO Apple is seeding the next generation of American made glass for its iPhones and iPads, and its investments may have the side benefit of helping the company win favor in Washington. Apple announced Friday that it was giving 200 million to Corning, which makes the tough, scratch resistant face for every iPhone and iPad, to support the glass maker's efforts to develop and build more sophisticated products at its factory in Harrodsburg, Ky. Corning has made the glass for every iPhone since the original 10 years ago. Apple's investment, the first from the technology giant's 1 billion fund to promote advanced manufacturing in the United States, will help Corning develop thinner, more versatile glass for iPhones as well as other product lines that Apple is exploring, such as screens for self driving cars and augmented reality glasses. The move goes beyond Apple's traditional practice of subsidizing suppliers, said Tim Bajarin, president of the technology consulting firm Creative Strategies. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
Forget phrase books or even Google Translate. New translation devices are getting closer to replicating the fantasy of the Babel fish, which in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" sits in one's ear and instantly translates any foreign language into the user's own. The WT2 Plus Ear to Ear AI Translator Earbuds from Timekettle are already available, while the over the ear "Ambassador" from Wavery Labs is scheduled for release this year. Both brands are wireless, and come with two earpieces that must be synced to a single smartphone connected to Wi Fi or cellular data. These devices "bring us a bit closer to being able to travel to places in the world where people speak different languages and communicate smoothly with those who are living there," said Graham Neubig, an assistant professor at the Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and an expert in machine learning and natural language processing. Whether the technology is in the ear, hand held or in an app, speech to speech translation has mostly occurred in the same three step process since 2016, when neural networks were assigned to the task. First, automatic speech recognition software transcribes the spoken words into text. Next, the text is converted using neural machine translation into the text of the other language, and finally text to speech voice modulation articulates the other language. That conversion process causes a slight delay, while the imaginary yellow fish in Douglas Adams's comedy science fiction series translated instantaneously. Still, the new devices do allow a person to continue speaking even as the translation is occurring, and that allows for a more natural flow to the conversation. "This is important, because otherwise the conversation will become twice as long, where one person speaks, the system translates, then the other person speaks, the system translates. This is ponderous and can test people's patience," Mr. Neubig said. The WT2 Plus consists of two earbuds that look similar to large AirPods, and in any of the three modes , users can talk in any two of 36 languages and 84 accents. (The modes, Simul Mode, Touch Mode and Speaker Mode, allow control over the earbuds to address ambient noise and whether you want to lend the person you're conversing with an earbud or use your phone's microphone and speaker.) The Ambassador, which supports 20 languages, allows people to chat when they are each wearing one of the clip on earpieces that look like a small headphone. Or, a single user in "Listen Mode" can use microphones embedded in the earpiece to hear a translated version of what others are saying while standing a few feet away. In addition to the Converse and Listen modes, the Ambassador has a "Lecture Mode" to stream your words through your phone or pair the earpiece with an audio system. To see how advanced the ear pieces are, we compared them to two translation tools on the market, Google Translate's conversation mode and the hand held CM Translator ( 117 retail) from Cheetah Mobile. A preproduction model of the Ambassador ( 150 retail) was tested at company headquarters in Brooklyn, while the WT2 Plus earbuds ( 230 retail), were used by two multilingual students at the University of Colorado Boulder. The upshot: Google Translate and the CM Translator would be fine for ordering a beer or asking the location of a museum, but both would fall short if trying to engage with the person sitting next to you on the train. "I thought it was really cool that you could talk in one language and a few seconds later it would come out in a different language," Maya Singh, a freshman who speaks English, Russian and Spanish, said of the WT2 Plus earbuds. The WT2 Plus and the Ambassador each offer unique advantages. In its conversation mode, the Ambassador allows one user to interrupt another, as is done in real life, and translates simultaneously to both. The WT2 Plus requires the speakers to take turns, but simultaneously transcribes the conversation, and later this year it should be able to translate English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian while offline, said Kazaf Ye, head of marketing for Timekettle, in an interview from company headquarters in Shenzhen, China. "Efficiency is a key element in deciding whether one person wants to continue talking to the other person," Mr. Ye said. "If it is too much trouble or if I have to wait too long then I will not want to talk with him, I'd rather just speak to someone in my language." Andrew Ochoa, the chief executive officer of Waverly Labs, said the ultimate goal in translation devices would be an earpiece that works offline, in real time, and can translate everything you hear. If that device is ever developed, "I can drop you off in the middle of Tokyo ... and it will translate everything in your proximity," Mr. Ochoa said. While we're not there yet, translation has taken a quantum leap forward in the past few years because neural machine translation can process phrases, not just words. So although today's translators can't seem to differentiate "phat" from "fat" in a sentence, all the ones we compared were sophisticated enough to translate the Spanish phrase "No hay mal que por bien no venga," which literally means, "There is no bad from which good doesn't come," into the more relatable English expression, "Every cloud has a silver lining." As for the future, translation will likely be faster, more accurate and maybe even mimic your voice, tone and emotion. Google is already experimenting with a new way of translating altogether, titled "Translatotron." "Translatotron is the first end to end model that can directly translate speech from one language into speech in another language" without first converting to text, said Justin Burr, a spokesman for Google AI Machine Learning. He cautioned that so far it's just research, and Google has no plans to develop it into a stand alone translation device. Still, that doesn't mean that someone else won't. And if it happens, it might blow the Babel fish right out of the water. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
WASHINGTON Howard University said Wednesday that it would join other broadcasters in taking part in a Federal Communications Commission auction that could entail selling the rights to the spectrum on which it broadcasts the nation's only black owned public television station. Citing confidentiality rules surrounding the auction, Howard did not detail its bidding strategy or intentions. According to F.C.C. rules, the university may choose to completely cede its spectrum rights for a premium payout or to trade them for a less valuable frequency type and a smaller payment. If it elects to cede its rights, Howard may take its 35 year old station, WHUT, off the air or try to share spectrum space with another broadcaster. The auction has stirred vociferous debate at Howard, a historically black university, as students, faculty and alumni have called on trustees to weigh the station's symbolic, educational and financial value. Giving up its spectrum could fetch Howard, which has struggled financially in recent years, up to 461 million, though people who have studied the auction, the first of its kind, say they expect a much lower final buyback bid. Howard's president, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, wrote on Wednesday in a letter to the university community that Howard could still walk away from the auction at any point and would continue to contemplate "an overarching Media and Communications strategy." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
"High as Hope," the follow up to Florence and the Machine's first No. 1 album, is the first LP that Florence Welch has made from both a sober and emotionally connected place. The day that Florence Welch got "Always Lonely" tattooed in blocky print on her left arm, she wasn't lonely at all. She'd spent a blissful day traipsing around New York with a close friend, visiting bookstores, savoring ice creams and coffee, feeling enamored and alive with the city's possibilities. She wrote a poem about it, "New York Poem (for Polly)," which contained a line that became the title of the fourth Florence and the Machine album, "High as Hope": "Heady with pagan worship/of water towers/fire escapes, ever reaching/high as hope." And yet there she was, in an East Village tattoo shop, getting that sad phrase inked on her body while her friend (Polly) looked on. Ms. Welch, the effervescent leader and songwriter of the British rock band Florence and the Machine, has made a specialty of wringing joy from despair, so she didn't think twice about exposing her loneliness. "I thought that I would just cement it," she said, "because maybe if I just had it on there, I could own it somehow, make it a part of myself, or embrace that part that I find difficult." Ms. Welch, 31, is lately very ready to showcase her self acceptance. Her New York poem is collected in "Useless Magic," a book of her lyrics, poetry and drawings that's out July 10. "High as Hope," due June 29, is full of secrets she never thought she'd share, let alone sing and dance about in front of fans. Even for an artist who makes anthems out of the confessional a painful breakup fueled "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful," the group's last album "High as Hope" represents a new openness, and a new confidence, for Ms. Welch. "I made myself more vulnerable and made a step away from the metaphoric," she said in a recent interview at the Bowery Hotel. "It created a creative bravery. I was like, it's O.K. to put yourself out there." Never miss a pop music story: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Louder. It was a path she'd been on since 2015, with the No. 1 "How Big," but even then "I still felt I had something to prove," she said. "This one, I had a lot of joy in making it." She came in jangling, then took off her golden charm bracelets too noisy for an interview, she said, though their clink is all over the album. "It was a very physical record," she said, "very tactile. Really, the thrill of making a sound has never left me." "Florence has definitely gone through a transformation," said her bandmate Isabella Summers, with whom Ms. Welch began playing music in her teens in South London, where she grew up. Ms. Summers, who plays keys in the group, went on to help produce and write some of Ms. Welch's early work, including the 2009 breakout "Dog Days Are Over." "The first time I really found my sound was working with another woman, working with Isa," Ms. Welch said. "As a young artist, you can struggle to find your voice, and it takes a while to say, 'No, I want it to be like this.' " Now, she added, "I'm very O.K. with being in charge. Because I know that I know what I'm doing." For this album, Ms. Welch took a producing credit for the first time. She spent six months just making demos, mostly on her own. One of the most challenging songs was "Hunger," the second single. Its opening line "At 17, I started to starve myself" is a reference to an eating disorder that Ms. Welch struggled with as a teenager. "I never thought I would talk about it," she said. "I didn't really talk about it with my mom until really recently. So to put it in a song it's like, what am I doing?" She worried that people would be angry with her for discussing it, and tried to convince herself to take the line out the rest of the lyrics deal more obliquely with emptiness. But the song was not as powerful without it. She thought about tossing the whole track off the album, but, she said, "It's at the heart of it." Her revelation stayed, and it helped her own understanding. "It definitely was a release for me," she said. "The songs sometimes have more clarity in them than I do about my life." Working with the producer Emile Haynie (Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die"), "High as Hope" centers, as always, around Ms. Welch's muscular, emotional voice, which can go from ecstatic to mournful in one lilt. The tracks build from piano and earnest percussion toward sometimes lavish instrumentation; the saxophonist Kamasi Washington did arrangements for French horn, tuba, flute and bass clarinet. Mr. Washington, who also plays on the album, signed on quickly he had ideas the moment he heard the demos. "The thing for me was trying to add without taking away what she had already put in there," he said. He called Ms. Welch a kindred spirit, comparing her to another of his collaborators, Kendrick Lamar, in the purity of her love for music and her freedom to follow where the tune goes in the studio. "It was really cool, every time we'd finish recording, we'd go in the room and she'd have all new vocal parts that she'd created while we were recording the horn parts," he said. She starts with the lyrics, filling graph paper journals at home, some of which are replicated in her book, complete with whimsical doodles. "I could fall in love with a plastic bag, if it paid me some attention," goes one, with a sketch of a heart adorned bag. The album has its share of songs about wanting, and love, though not always romantic love "Patricia" is about Patti Smith, whom Ms. Welch calls her "North Star." Though Ms. Welch herself is bad with directions (she gets lost even in the grid of Manhattan, she said), her music has an urbane sense of geography, skittering from scenes in a rainy Los Angeles to a bleak Chicago and a nostalgic London. And it also gets wry. The song "Big God" is about "obviously, an unfillable hole in the soul," Ms. Welch said, "but mainly about someone not replying to my text." Over a two hour conversation, she laughed often, and robustly. In the hotel lounge, she spilled her secrets in a voice loud enough to demonstrate she didn't care who else heard; she has the surprisingly rare ability, as an artist, to translate how her emotions and music intersect. "You know, having an overactive mind and overthinking stuff, and being anxious ever since I was a kid, if I had a song that I could follow, everything would become very calm," she said. "It was like this cocoon that I could go into." She was sitting on a dusty gold velvet couch, beneath a Renaissance looking tapestry, that, in her own vintage tapestry coat and ruffled ivory blouse, she might've slid right out of. She wore necklaces and rings on six fingers, many adorned with horseshoes, and tucked her wild, softly glowing hair over her right shoulder. Her natural color is more mousy reddish brown than her signature flaming tresses, she said. In concert, her energy is brash and soaring, and she moves like the music is catapulting her a fierceness that seems at odds, but shouldn't be, with her romantic vibe. Her fall tour for "High as Hope" is her biggest yet, with headlining stops at arenas like the Hollywood Bowl and Barclays Center in Brooklyn. At a preview show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last month, the stage heaved with flowers and moss and baby's breath hung overhead, like clouds. Beforehand, she'd joked that the tour "could be called, like, 'On Nightgowns and Spiritual Confusion' because that's what it is, I'm in a nightgown being confused about things in a loud way." But when she walked onstage, de accessorized and barefoot, in a shell pink lingerie gown and lace edged bed jacket, there were no doubts. She stalked the floor with the fervor of a preacher, raising her arms in exaltation and executing balletic spins. In the end, she made her way into the crowd, for a communion. "Tell someone you don't know that you love them," she instructed. "Make it awkward." In real life and in performance, Ms. Welch is looking for connection. "I quite like the idea of putting really big, unanswerable spiritual questions in pop songs," she'd said earlier. "We can be together in this moment, and celebrate the not knowing, and perhaps feel closer to each other. We can jump up and down. If you just dance about it, you will feel better." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
LESS than a single model year after it showed up for work, the 2010 Ford Mustang received a gold watch and a retirement package. Despite sheet metal that was still fresh enough to stand out from the pony car herd, Ford euthanized that revamped model and skipped ahead to next year. The 2011 Mustang has been on sale since April, and while it may look only slightly different from the 2010 edition, it is much better in the places where even a little better counts. Gone is the base Mustang's archaic 210 horsepower 4 liter iron block V 6, replaced by an economical and effective all aluminum V 6, which displaces 3.7 liters and pumps out an impressive 305 horsepower. Also banished is the 2010 Mustang GT's yester tech V 8, a 4.6 liter engine that made 315 horsepower. In its place is an all new, all rollicking 5 liter V 8 rated at 412 horses. This new V 8 is so entertaining that it deserves a Golden Globe. Along with new manual and automatic transmissions both with 6 forward speeds the engines represent the single greatest technological leap for the Mustang since it entered production 46 years ago. And while the new V 8 deserves its own Irving Berlin ballad, the tune today is in the key of V 6. Let's put that engine's performance in perspective. It carries the same horsepower rating as the most muscular Mustang offered in 1998 the SVT Cobra with a 4.6 liter, dual overhead cam, 32 valve V 8 that seemed exotic at the time. Yet the new Mustang manages 19 miles per gallon in the city and, when paired with the automatic transmission, 31 m.p.g. on the highway. That's 5 m.p.g. better than the highway rating for the base Mustang notchback way back in 1984. That tired old horse weighed 900 pounds less than today's larger pony, had a crummy 88 horsepower 4 cylinder under its hood and a gear grinding 4 speed manual transmission. "It's all about interdependency," said David Pericak, the 33 year old chief engineer of the Mustang, explaining the talents of the new drivetrains. "About finding solutions at each opportunity that would be more efficient." Those optimized interdependencies let the car's Duratec V 6 perform as if it were actually two separate engines: one optimized for fuel economy at low engine speeds and partial throttle, and one that roars when allowed to spin toward its red line of 7,000 r.p.m. at full throttle. Start up the new V 6 and it growls a bit through its new dual exhaust outlets. Put the shifter in D, touch the throttle pedal lightly and the Mustang moves out, well, tenderly. There's enough torque available from just off idle to motivate the car easily even the heavier Mustang convertible. But if kept below 4,000 r.p.m., the engine responds modestly. It doesn't feel as if it is making anything close to 305 horsepower. The Duratec V 6 may have dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and an aggressive 10.5:1 compression ratio, but it is tuned to putter around like a golf cart as long as it is driven with a light foot. The 280 pound feet of peak torque isn't available until the engine is spinning at a lofty 4,250 r.p.m. and long before that the automatic transmission will shift itself into the highest gear possible (both fifth and sixth are overdrives) to keep the engine revs down. In fact, at low speed the new engine doesn't feel much different from the superseded 4 liter V 6 that made its peak torque (240 pound feet) at a relatively sedate 3,500 r.p.m. In sum, at part throttle, the Duratec V 6 behaves like, say, a 190 horsepower engine. That is why it can return such solid fuel economy numbers. Crush the throttle pedal, however, and all 305 horses show up ready to gallop. The Mustang's Duratec may not be equipped with of the moment technologies like direct injection (in contrast to the V 6 of its archrival, the Chevrolet Camaro), but the engine's variable camshaft timing system is very effective. Once the tachometer needle sweeps past 4,000 r.p.m., the intake and exhaust cams transition to more aggressive settings and the V 6 breathes like Secretariat turning onto the front straight in the Belmont Stakes. By holding the transmission in each gear, it's possible to keep the engine boiling in the sweet spot between the torque peak at 4,250 r.p.m. and the dizzying 6,500 r.p.m. where it makes its maximum horsepower. That is just 500 r.p.m. short of the V 6's red line, where the engine control computer intervenes to keep the pistons from bursting through the hood. But when this engine is making its full 305 horsepower it's getting nothing close to 31 m.p.g. Try 15, or 13, or maybe 12. This would be hard to calculate because holding those engine speeds for very long is virtually impossible except on a racetrack. InsideLine.com measured a 2011 V 6 coupe with a manual gearbox running from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in 5.6 seconds. It also raced through the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds at 101.2 m.p.h. While short of the performance of last year's Mustang GT (13.5 seconds at 102.9 m.p.h.) that car's V 8 had 315 horsepower and was rated at 24 m.p.g. on the highway. The test car was a 34,990 convertible with an automatic transmission, which according to Ford weighs 133 pounds more than the V 6 coupe. But despite the heft and the gearbox, the car felt athletic and easygoing. The V 6 lacks the low end grunt that makes V 8s so much fun, but its combination of cruising parsimony and high end thrills is tantalizing. This is not a car that feels compromised by its drivetrain. Advanced as the new drivetrain is, however, there's a lot of throwback in the Mustang's engineering that defines both its charms and its limitations. Soon to be the last rear drive car sold in America with a solid rear axle, the Mustang handles and rides well, but the tail takes its time settling down after hitting a bump. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
An artist's concept of a supermassive black hole and its surrounding disk of gas, and two smaller black holes embedded in that disk and orbiting each other. In an announcement on Thursday, astronomers described the detection of an epistemological marvel: an invisible collision of invisible objects black holes had become briefly visible. The story goes like this: Long, long ago, about 4 billion years before now and in a faraway galaxy, a pair of black holes collided. Typically such an event would leave no visible trace, just a shuddering of space time gravitational waves and a bigger black hole. (Black holes emit no light.) But these black holes were part of a swirl of star parts, gas and dust surrounding a third, gigantic black hole, a supermassive black hole 100 million times more massive than the sun. As a result, the merging pair generated a shock wave of heat and light that allowed the collision to be seen as well as heard. That is the explanation being offered by a group of astronomers, led by Matthew Graham of the California Institute of Technology, for a curious flash of light they recorded last year. Their conclusion, announced on Thursday, was laid out in a paper in Physical Review Letters. If the result holds up, it would mark the first time that colliding black holes have produced light as well as gravitational waves. "We have seen a visible signal from a previously invisible part of the universe," Dr. Graham said. "It means we can see them and hear them at the same time," K. E. Saavik Ford, of the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York and an author of the new study, said about the black holes. She called the whole event "super exciting." The work, the researchers say, could lead to new insights into how, when and where black holes merge into ever bigger monsters that weigh millions or billions of suns and dominate the centers of galaxies. It could also elucidate the conditions inside the crackling turnstile of fire and fury through which matter passes on its way to black hole doom. Two black holes colliding while in the whirling grip of another? "Astrophysics probably doesn't get more exciting than that." Dr. Graham said. Black holes are objects predicted by Albert Einstein to be so dense that not even light can escape them. Most of the black holes that astronomers know about are the corpses of massive stars that have died and collapsed catastrophically into nothing; the dark remnants are a few times as massive as the sun. But galaxies harbor black holes millions or billions of more massive than that. How black holes can grow so big is an abiding mystery of astronomy. In 2016, scientists for the first time detected the collision of two distant black holes, using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or LIGO, a pair of L shaped antennas in Hanford, Wash., and Livingston, La. Since then LIGO and a third antenna, Virgo, located in Italy, together have charted dozens of similar catastrophic marriages out there in the dark. But astronomers have yet to see any trace of light from them. (One exception was a collision of neutron stars, the remnants of supernova explosions, that lit up the universe and was detected in August 2017) On May 21, 2019, an alert went out to the world's astronomers that the LIGO and Virgo antennas had recorded what looked like two black holes colliding. Among the telescopes on duty that night was the Zwicky Transient Facility, a robotic instrument on Palomar Mountain in California, which monitors the deep sky for anything that flares, blinks, explodes or moves. It is named after Fritz Zwicky, an innovative and eccentric Swiss astronomer who worked at Caltech. Dr. Graham, the project scientist for the Zwicky telescope, and his colleagues had been mulling the possibility that black hole mergers might be happening in the dense, sparky accretion disks of supermassive black holes, which are the central engines for quasars. The team began monitoring quasars in the those regions for unusual activity. The trail from the May gravitational wave event led to a quasar known as J124942.3 344929, located about 4 billion light years from Earth. Examining records from the Zwicky telescope, Dr. Graham discovered that the quasar had flared, doubling in brightness for about a month an uncharacteristically large fluctuation. That marked it as a possible black hole collision, he said. Bolstering that hypothesis was the fact that the flare did not become visible until 34 days after the gravitational waves were detected. It would take about that long for any light from a black hole collision to emerge from such a thick disk of gas, according to a model that Dr. Ford and Barry McKernan, her colleague at the American Museum of Natural History, described in a paper last year. Dr. Ford described the accretion disk as " a swarm of stars and dead stars, including black holes," in a Caltech news release. She added, "These objects swarm like angry bees around the monstrous queen bee at the center. They can briefly find gravitational partners and pair up but usually lose their partners quickly to the mad dance. But in a supermassive black hole's disk, the flowing gas converts the mosh pit of the swarm to a classical minuet, organizing the black holes so they can pair up." The result, she said, can be a frenzy of black holes combining and recombining into bigger and bigger cosmic graves. This, she said, is what might have caused the signal that was detected in May 2019. That could explain how the black holes in this collision grew so big, she said. The black hole that emerged from this collision and left a fiery trail through the accretion disk was at least 100 times as massive as the sun. But 50 solar masses is the weight limit for black holes formed directly from dead stars, meaning that the two holes that collided last May were right at the limit and probably even bigger. So they didn't result directly from a stellar collapse, she said. Rather, they probably formed through a series of ever larger mergers. The collision heard by LIGO and Virgo might have been only the end of a chain reaction of black holes mating. "This is the tip of the iceberg," Dr. Ford said. In the story that Dr. Graham and his team patched together, the black holes were spinning, which caused a recoil that shot the merged result almost straight up and eventually out of the accretion disk at 120 miles per second, at which point the flare stopped. If the explanation is accurate, the black hole should fall back into the accretion disk at the same speed in a few months or a year, generating another flare. "We'll be looking for that," Dr. Graham said. The supermassive black hole at the center of all this is about 100 million times the mass of the sun. It remained unperturbed by all the fuss around it, but could eventually eat the smaller black hole that set off this flare and everything else nearby, but not anytime soon, astronomers say. Scientists associated with the LIGO and Virgo arrays have not yet published their own analysis of the collision's gravitational wave signal. Officially it is still a "candidate" event, and they have declined to comment on Dr. Graham's paper, pending publication of their own. In the interim, Dr. Ford said, her team has an opportunity predict what the LIGO analysis will show: among other things, that the combined masses of the black holes was 100 solar masses; that the two were spinning rapidly; and, even the recoil velocity of the resultant black hole. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week's most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once a week blast of our pop music coverage. Romeo Santos's "Utopia" is a luscious new album of collaborations with bachata stars of various generations (though notably, none who emerged after Santos became a solo phenomenon). But while there are standout performances from Raulin Rodriguez and Monchy Alexandra, among others, the most anticipated song is "Inmortal," on which Santos reunites with his bandmates in Aventura, the foursome that modernized bachata in the 2000s and hasn't released new music in eight years. "Inmortal" is lithe and lovely the group's taut dynamic is still rooted in the formidable pair of Lenny Santos on guitar and Max Santos on bass. (Henry Santos dips in and out on background vocals.) Romeo sings like a matador commanding but also sly, weaving in and out of the forefront at will. Like the rest of this album, "Inmortal" argues that even as the music Aventura spawned mutates ever faster, there is still comfort in how it used to be. JON CARAMANICA Gil Scott Heron, the visionary poet and musician who died in 2011, would have turned 70 this week. In commemoration, the Archives a reggae band based in Scott Heron's onetime home of Washington, D.C. has released the first single from a forthcoming album devoted to his repertoire. This version of "Home Is Where the Hatred Is," a testimonial of bleak addiction, trades in the edgy anxiety of Scott Heron's scurrying original for a sedate, dub reggae flow. But Puma Ptah, a vocalist hailing from the U.S. Virgin Islands, holds onto the lyric's core sense of pathos and frustration. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO It's more important that this exists than that it's great. That said, it's almost great. Conor Oberst takes the Jackson Maine part and aggressively deflates it he turns the searching lyrics morose, and you sense he wants to yank the cadence down into the mud but doesn't let himself. Perhaps that's because Phoebe Bridgers is on deck, and she's in ferocious form. If Oberst is stubbing the song out, she's lifting it over her head in triumph. CARAMANICA Blissed out but not blissful synth pop from the Australian singer Hatchie, "Stay With Me" is viscous and shimmering, but also so lush it verges on the suffocating. Maybe that's by design: "It's no better now you're gone/I feel nothing, I feel numb," she sings, wallowing in ache as the dreamy music takes up all the air in the room. CARAMANICA "Titanic Rising," the album released on Friday by Weyes Blood the songwriter Natalie Mering takes refuge from present day dread in vintage sounds, reaching back to the late 1960s and the early 1970s. "Everyday," a song about longing and fear of loneliness, moves from Beatles style piano bounce and bass countermelodies to a chorus full of exultant vocal harmonies recalling the Mamas and the Papas. An orchestral buildup sounds supportive but then falls apart, leaving her unfulfilled once again. The video, directed by Mering, becomes a horror movie. JON PARELES "When the last tree has fallen and the rivers are poison/You cannot eat money," the Norwegian songwriter Aurora warns in "The Seed," an environmental anthem that seesaws between hopeful and baleful. She summons an orchestra and a multitracked choir to juxtapose the growth of a seed "Feed me sunlight/feed me air" with the forces arrayed against it. The outcome isn't guaranteed. PARELES Composure on the surface, passion and turbulence flaring within: That's what happens in the songs on Ioanna Gika's new album "Thalassa," released on Friday. In "Out of Focus," stately electric piano chords pace a sustained but odd angled melody: "All I was, was wanting you," she confesses as it begins. But nervous, double time drums and electronics are already creeping in, soon to swell with voices and instruments, as she realizes this romance is crumbling: "Holding on to history/love, the absentee." The melody stays clear and aloft; the hope plummets. PARELES "The Who Sell Out" was a 1967 concept album, an imaginary pirate radio broadcast that placed new Who songs between the band's own mock commercials. Now it's a just throwaway reference "Im'a sell out like the Who" for Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks, the rapper and utterly unpredictable producer who records as Jpegmafia. His casual boasts are by far the most commonplace part of this track, a glimmering assemblage of looping keyboards, comic interruptions and plaintive melodic fragments of song from the electronic pop singer Eyas: "I'll dream again, or will I?," she muses, in promising non sequiturs. PARELES In just two and a half minutes, "Tirata Tiratata" demonstrates the depth of Anat Fort's talents as a pianist, and the synergetic range of her trio (Gary Wang on bass and Roland Schneider on drums), which is celebrating its 20th year together. Fort skids around the keyboard in quick, truncated lines, using jagged chords in the left hand to slice up her momentum even as the group's energy continues to rise. With the trio tumbling toward a release, Fort remains governed by a deep sense of poise and a luminous touch. RUSSONELLO The 12 minute title track of Christian Fennesz's new album, "Agora," his first solo release in five years, conjures elemental forces in limitless space: vast washes of sound that materialize slowly out of nowhere and transform themselves from noise to tone and back again, perceptible sometimes as chords and sometimes as abstract sound. They work on their own time frame, hinting at something that dwarfs mere human scale. PARELES | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
Almost two decades ago, before he left the brand that bears his name, Calvin Klein (the man) appeared on "Larry King Live" and discussed, among other topics, the prevalence of copying in fashion. "Oh, I think that's flattering if we are," he said. "It's when they stop copying, that's when we're really in trouble." It's hard to imagine a brand these days having the same response. Call out culture has become one of the defining parts of our online life, whether it's identifying mass market brands producing clothes that look suspiciously similar to high fashion runway looks, or high fashion brands making clothes that seem closely akin to others. The result is a toxic and unregulated situation in which accusations fly fast and furious, often coming with little or no real consideration or attempt to wrestle with what original design really means. Indeed, the angry crying of "copy" has become so ubiquitous that it is almost startling when a brand chooses to use a different approach in the court of public opinion. Yet that's exactly what happened earlier this month when Gucci, the Italian global powerhouse, and Keen, the outdoor gear company from Portland, Ore., found themselves in a now familiar we made/they made situation. And that makes it worthy of ... well, its own call out. Here's what happened: Gucci released GucciShowtime campaign highlighting its spring collection. The inspiration was 1940s Hollywood musicals, and one image had a showgirl lineup of legs in knee socks and all wearing a shoe that the caption described as "a new sneaker sandal hybrid design with Velcro straps and elastic laces." The problem was that the shoe looked very similar to an old sneaker sandal hybrid created by Keen in 2003 the Newport sandal with its "toe bumper" which has become staple footwear for the outdoor community. The Gucci version isn't exactly the same the color of its toe cap contrasts with that of the shoe itself, and the Velcro strap has a large logo across the top but it was close enough, and the original Keen distinctive enough, that many who saw the image could not avoid the comparison. Fans were quick to comment, as one did, "I think y'all forgot to credit Keen for their design ...," and to appeal to the internet watchdog Diet Prada, which has made its name from identifying and publicizing what it sees as suspicious "homages." But Keen had a somewhat different, arguably more Klein like, response. "When we first saw that, I personally felt a bit of amazement to see how the outdoors is taking hold from a style perspective," said Erik Burbank, the Keen general manager for outdoor, lifestyle and kids. "Playful is part of our persona and our brand, and part of that is the desire to share in the fun and joy of the outdoors with as many people as possible. When we see big brands, especially sophisticated fashion brands, trying to capture some of that, we think it's pretty cool. And then we were humbled and kind of flattered." So Keen decided to address the similarity with a sardonic meta wink: It gathered a group of employees (and one black dog called Ridley) and created its own version of the Gucci shot, with the message "Dear Gucci. We're inspired by your inspiration from our inspiration. XOXO KEEN Team." Gucci did not respond to the post and declined to comment. Of course, it probably is true that whoever would be drawn to the Gucci shoe, which costs 890 and has care guidelines that include "Fill shoe with tissue paper to help maintain the shape and absorb humidity, then store in the provided flannel bag and box," would not be drawn to the Keen shoe, which costs 100 and has care guidelines that include advice on machine washing. And Gucci may not have been aware that the closed toe rubberized lace up sandal is not as generic a shoe as, say, a sneaker. In the outdoors world there are Keens and Chacos and Tevas, and each has its own specific look and partisans and is recognizable by sight (and, sometimes, foot tan). Or that, as Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute, pointed out, Keen has numerous patents on its sandal style, beginning in 2002 with a patent for "sandal with toe guard." But it is also true that there is a trend toward fashion brands playing in the outdoors/comfort footwear field via overt cross sector collaboration: see Balenciaga and Christopher Kane with Crocs, and Anna Sui and Teva. Diet Prada said the Keen "clapback" at Gucci seemed to be "a calculated resolution that made them happy," which is why the site had not posted about the two styles. It is possible, however, that the Keen reaction was something more. That in demonstrating a way to stake out style territory with a laugh and in a civil fashion, the company may also be a new model for what is starting to seem like an old, and increasingly acrimonious, debate. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
Mr. Rashid's unconventional aesthetic was most evident in the bathroom, where the door swings sideways to double as a barrier wall between toilet and shower stall (there was no tub) when needed. An oblong mirror and circular basin sink continued the geometric theme, as did slightly slanting shelves and the Leaning Tower of Pisa inspired bottles of complimentary toiletries. There is a minibar in the room and free Wi Fi throughout the hotel. The rooftop has a heated infinity pool with Mediterranean views, as well as a circular cocktail bar and curtained off spa suites for massages. Bicycles and guest passes to a nearby gym are available. With no in house restaurant, dining options are limited, but the staff encourages guests to take advantage of the surrounding neighborhood by providing local guidebooks and delivery menus for nearby establishments. Breakfast is served in the adjacent LovEat cafe, an organic, vegan friendly coffeehouse chain where hotel guests get private access to a garden terrace and menu options include a "Sabich plate" a deconstructed version of the beloved Israeli sandwich featuring tahini, hard boiled egg and eggplant; and the "Tel Aviv Breakfast" of two eggs any style, chopped salad, bread basket and assorted dips. Coffee, cookies and free flowing champagne are available in the street level gallery space 24 hours a day. In a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, this glossy, digi pop inspired hotel pays homage to its urban neighborhood with the right balance of history and high end fun. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
WHEN she was just 10 years old, Mary Jackson began her teaching career on the back porch of her family's home in Easley, S.C. It was there that she set up her chalkboard and led her imaginary classroom. "I would use my yardstick to tap my make believe students who misbehaved, or didn't get the right answer," Ms. Jackson said. Her passion led her to earn a teaching degree at the University of Virginia in 1977, but her career took a detour when, after graduation, she accepted a position at IBM. The job paid 4,000 more a year than the teaching job she had been offered, so she snapped it up. After three decades with Big Blue, she retired, and now Ms. Jackson, a 59 year old former IBM project management executive, is finally in the classroom, and not just imagining it. She teaches math and science to fifth graders at Lockheed Elementary in Marietta, Ga. Ms. Jackson credited her move to a second career as a teacher, in part, to the support of IBM's Transition to Teaching program, begun in 2006. It is one of a growing number of corporate sponsored programs that help retirees make a smooth transition to their next chapter, whether it is a salaried second career or myriad volunteer projects. The program reimbursed 15,000 of her expenses to become certified as a teacher (or, in her case, recertified), a task she accomplished while still at IBM. The program also allowed her to work with her manager to adapt her class work to her day to day job responsibilities, and even provided networking assistance to help her get a foot in the door for her initial job interview with the school district. "At IBM, the single largest area where our employees do community service and volunteer work is in education," said Stanley S. Litow, IBM's vice president for corporate citizenship. "People feel passionate about it, so we knew it was an area of interest for people ready to move on to a new chapter, but learning to be an effective teacher takes a special transition." So the company came up with the idea to create a smooth pathway from first career at IBM to second career in teaching math and science. For many of the growing number of retirees who may have income from retirement plans but who want to stay engaged both mentally and socially, employer programs like IBM's provide resources to make the move to retirement a fruitful one. It's a bonus for employers, too. "Retirees are great representatives of company values and ambassadors for the brand," said Jennifer Lawson, vice president for corporate strategy at the nonprofit group Points of Light. The organization presents an annual Corporate Engagement Award of Excellence to companies that provide volunteer programs. "Companies are seeing the value of engaging employees throughout their tenure and beyond." Locast, a nonprofit streaming service for local TV, is shutting down Capital One's chief executive was fined after being called a 'repeat offender.' At the auditing giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, retired partners are encouraged to apply for Project Belize, a program that sends 400 people from interns and employees to active and retired partners to Belize City during a two week period to teach financial literacy and entrepreneurship to young students, according to Shannon Schuyler, PricewaterhouseCoopers's corporate responsibility leader. The technology company Intel offers a relatively new retiree benefit. Two years ago, the company introduced the Intel Encore Career Fellowship a program that pays a one year, 25,000 stipend to help retiring employees transition into post retirement careers with a nonprofit organization. So far, 200 retiring Intel employees have become Encore Fellows, said Julie Wirt, Intel's global human resources retirement design manager. "And the momentum for the program is clearly building," she said. "It's not only a retirement benefit for our employees, it's having an impact on communities around the country." Noel Durrant was an Intel engineer in Austin, Tex. Mr. Durrant, 58, retired last December, after 26 years with the company, and won an Encore Fellowship working with Team4Tech, a tiny organization of technology professionals focused on improving the quality of education around the world in developing countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. In June, after six months in his fellowship, he was hired full time to build relationships with nongovernmental organizations to improve teaching skills by using technology to help teachers. "We're high tech gunslingers," Mr. Durrant said. "It was perfect for me," he said. "I had been offered a retirement package from Intel, but I couldn't see why I would leave Intel. It was hard to see that there was another universe out there. But when the Encore Fellowship came into play it became clear that set the compass." Intel isn't the only company to test this kind of transition program. There have been Encore Fellows at an increasing number of businesses. Hewlett Packard, for example, is a founding sponsor of the Encore Fellow program, and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group has also participated. Nonprofit groups that have participated include organizations like the Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico, Habitat for Humanity, the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Fla., and the Center for Fathers and Families in Sacramento. Last year, Intel also started a pilot program that pays the tuition for retiring employees to go back to school through UCLA Extension continuing education certificate programs and a small business incubator that offers mentoring and business planning advice for those pondering entrepreneurship. Pay, however, is not what these kinds of work transitions are all about. Mr. Durrant now is paid about a quarter of what he made at Intel, and there are no additional benefits. "I was told there would be a little bit of money, but not a lot," Mr. Durrant said. "But it was the work I could do and wanted to do. You know how when you first find a job when you are really young and are excited to go to work every day and it's really cool," he said, later adding, "That's what I feel like now." And Ms. Jackson's initial teaching salary was about one third of her ending salary with IBM, or around 47,000. But she does have health and retirement benefits. While these jobs are a boon for many retirees, volunteer projects are also in demand. Corporations like Intel and IBM are helping connect their former employees to volunteer opportunities in their communities. The Intel Retiree Organization, for instance, was created in 2008 to link more than 5,000 retirees worldwide. Retirees can gain access to volunteer resources on the retiree organization's website. Elaine Case, 59, of Rochester, Minn., is one of more than 17,000 IBM retiree volunteers, a number that has more than quadrupled since the program began in 2004. On Demand is a web based portal with more than 11,000 projects listed. It also has educational tools for volunteers, like video presentations and training materials, on how to teach students in the sciences. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Your Money |
If you aren't an ardent "Kids in the Hall" fan, little in the show, except for Mr. McDonald's frequent mentions of his passionate hatred of Winnipeg, will make much sense to you. Then again, if you aren't, you should be. Go to YouTube and watch "Girl Drink Drunk"! Or if you want to see Mr. McDonald at his finest (alongside Dave Foley, who recorded that cellphone announcement), try "Citizen Kane" or "Simon and Hecubus." Backed by the unflappable guitarist John Wlaysewski ("I'm not the coolest guy in the world," Mr. McDonald admits, "I'm not even the coolest guy onstage"), Mr. McDonald brays songs, with occasional reliance on a lyrics sheet, and spins stories, most of which relate to the early years of "Kids." Then, Mr. McDonald was wild eyed and wild haired, ready to hurl himself into a role at maximum velocity. These days, the hair has beat a retreat and he mostly keeps to the speed limit. The eyes are still wild, though, and that voice a high pitched rasp that rises to a smoke alarm falsetto has endured. His maniacal, goofball energy sometimes flashes through. There is something misty and depressing about seeing a gifted comic rehash material from 20 or 30 years ago, some of which he has already performed in an earlier solo, "Hammy and the Kids." (The Winnipeg hatred is new. As is a tale of a missing penis.) And yet, conversely, there is something cheering about a room full of people who loved that material then and love it audibly, fervently now. And, really, why nitpick a show when Mr. McDonald is only too eager to pick those nits for you and snack on them after? "By Sunday night, this'll be perfect," he said as he flipped script pages in search of some lyrics. The show closes on Saturday. Kevin McDonald Alive on 42nd Street Through Aug. 31 at the Studio Theater at Theater Row, Manhattan; 212 239 6200, bfany.org/theatre row. Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
WASHINGTON President Trump, who has called the North American Free Trade Agreement "the worst trade deal" ever signed by the United States, appears to have backed off his threat to abandon the deal and is instead proposing keeping major planks in place when he begins renegotiating it later this year. But Mr. Trump, eager to showcase his tough stance against unfair trade practices, plans to sign two executive orders on Friday that will lay the groundwork for new policies and stricter enforcement of trade laws. The president will order a 90 day study of abusive trade practices that contribute to the United States' trade deficit. The Commerce Department and the United States trade representative will do a country by country, product by product accounting of the reasons for the imbalance. A second directive is aimed at increasing the collection of duties from countries whose companies American officials believe are selling products in the United States below their cost of production. Neither measure will have an immediate impact on trade policy or enforcement, but each could eventually lead to aggressive new measures. Both are aimed at showcasing Mr. Trump's intent to fulfill his promises on trade. "These actions are designed to let the world know that this is another step in the president fulfilling his campaign promise," said Wilbur L. Ross, the secretary of commerce. He said the findings would "form the basis for decision making by the administration" on how to approach trade deficits in the future, including in a renegotiation of Nafta. "For the first time, we're looking comprehensively at the source of what has been a large and persistent trade deficit that has contributed to job losses, the loss of our manufacturing base and other things," said Peter Navarro, the director of Mr. Trump's National Trade Council. The president is poised to give Congress the legally required 90 days' notice of his intention to renegotiate Nafta, the 1994 pact with Canada and Mexico. In a draft letter circulated among members of Congress this week, the administration proposed adding a provision to allow tariffs to be reinstated if a flood of imports threatens to harm a domestic industry. Mr. Trump also wants to adjust the agreement's rules of origin, or how much of a product must be made in a Nafta country. And he wants Nafta partners to expand the market for United States made goods in their government procurement. Mr. Trump has often said that the United States could abandon Nafta altogether if renegotiating it is not possible. But the hawkish rhetoric of the campaign has given way to more measured statements on trade from the administration that track more closely with the stance of many congressional Republicans, who are avid promoters of free trade and deeply skeptical of policies they view as restrictive or protectionist. "In terms of what we consider to be President Trump's economic nationalist objectives and what he has said previously about Nafta, the list of negotiating terms was relatively benign," said Scott S. Lincicome, an international trade lawyer at White Case. American business welcomed the additional specifics on trade policy. "The details in the letter have whet our appetite for more," said John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. The tone of the eight page draft letter, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, did not echo Mr. Trump's campaign speeches. Nowhere was there a mention of his threats to pull out of the agreement. Antonio Ortiz Mena, a former Mexican trade official, said the letter suggested a softening in tone but also contained several proposals that were likely to prompt a strong response from the Mexican government. "There are some specific problems," said Mr. Ortiz Mena, now a senior adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington. "But in terms of the language used during the campaign and at the beginning of the administration, it's not as far reaching as some people could have expected." The assessment that the actual policies of the United States might not end up being as harsh as those espoused by Mr. Trump during the campaign is reflected in the confidence in the Mexican peso. Measured against a basket of currencies, it has gained about 17.5 percent in value since the inauguration, more than any other major currency. On Thursday, it traded at 18.72 pesos to the dollar, approaching the levels it held before Mr. Trump's victory. The Canadian government declined on Thursday to comment directly on the draft letter, because Nafta negotiations have not begun. "Should notice of intent to renegotiate be given, Canada is prepared to discuss improvements at the appropriate time," said Global Affairs Canada, the country's foreign ministry. Among Canadian trade experts, the proposals were met with relief, but the suspense has not ended. While the draft letter did not completely dismiss Nafta, it outlined American priorities that could threaten Canadian industries. "It's not ripping up Nafta, but there are a bunch of sticks of dynamite contained in those pages," said Mark Warner, a Canadian American trade lawyer based in Toronto. "It's going to be a messy, hard slogging negotiation." The letter calls for expanding market access among the three countries and eliminating licensing and permit barriers that tend to stall commerce. It also calls for maintaining "reciprocal access" for textile and apparel products. Rather than scrap Nafta's arbitration tribunals, regarded by some free trade critics as secretive bodies that give private corporations unbridled power to challenge foreign governments outside the court system, the letter proposed to "maintain and seek to improve procedures" for settling disputes. It made no mention of currency policy, an issue many trade experts had thought might be on the table. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
U.S. economic output increased at the fastest pace on record last quarter as businesses began to reopen and customers returned to stores. But the economy has climbed only partway out of its pandemic induced hole, and progress is slowing. Gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The gain, the equivalent of 33.1 percent on an annualized basis, was by far the biggest since reliable statistics began after World War II. The rebound was fueled in part by trillions of dollars in federal assistance to households and businesses. That aid has since dried up, even as the recovery remains far from complete: The economy in the third quarter was 3.5 percent smaller than at the end of 2019, before the pandemic. By comparison, G.D.P. shrank 4 percent over the entire year and a half of the Great Recession a decade ago. Economists said the third quarter figures revealed less about the strength of the recovery than about the severity of the collapse that preceded it. G.D.P. fell 1.3 percent in the first quarter and 9 percent in the second as the pandemic forced widespread business closures. A big rebound was inevitable once the economy began to reopen. The challenge is what comes next. "The reason we had such a big bounce is that the economy went from closed to partially open," said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America. "The easy growth was exhausted, and now the hard work has to be done in terms of fully healing." There are signs that the recovery is losing steam. Industrial production fell in September, and job growth has cooled, even as a growing list of major corporations have announced new rounds of large scale layoffs and furloughs. Most economists expect the slowdown to worsen in the final three months of the year as virus cases rise and federal assistance fades. Forecasts for the next G.D.P. report are highly uncertain this early in the quarter. But most forecasters expect growth to slow to about 1 to 1.5 percent, with some economists anticipating even weaker results. That would leave the economy about 2.5 percent smaller than before the pandemic. A 2.5 percent contraction would be the equivalent of a relatively typical recession smaller than the Great Recession but substantially worse than the mild downturns of the early 1990s and 2000s. "We're no longer in unprecedented territory, but this is still a deep gash in our economy," said Tara Sinclair, a George Washington University economist who studies recessions. What is troubling, Ms. Sinclair said, is that after the initial bounce, the economy appears to be falling into a pattern that has become familiar in recent decades: a steep drop in a recession, followed by a painfully slow rebound. Congress's failure to provide more stimulus money, she said, makes a weak recovery more likely. "Without any further support, it's going to be a slog," she said. Separate data released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that 732,000 workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week, a decrease of about 28,000 from the week before. New claims have fallen only gradually in recent weeks and remain extraordinarily high by historical standards. And millions of people who lost jobs earlier in the pandemic remain unemployed. "We're moving in the right direction, but not nearly as quickly as we need," said AnnElizabeth Konkel, a labor market economist for the Indeed Hiring Lab. "We need to recover quicker so that we don't have people transitioning to long term unemployment." Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. Laura Mayer was furloughed in March from her job as the general manager at Public House, a restaurant at Oracle Park, the San Francisco Giants' baseball stadium. At the end of September, her furlough turned into a permanent layoff. But the 600 supplement expired at the end of July, and Congress has failed to agree on a plan to replace it. Ms. Mayer's state benefits ran out at the end of September the same week her job loss turned permanent and a 13 week federal extension will expire in December, leaving her with no income. Her partner, Steven Flamm, found a restaurant job in June, but at 25 hours a week, it isn't enough to sustain them both. "All that I've built my whole life just got wiped out," Ms. Mayer said. "I just don't know what my future is, and I think that's the scariest part." The G.D.P. report released on Thursday doesn't break down the data by race, sex or income. But other sources make clear that the pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on low wage workers, particularly on Black and Hispanic women. Those workers bore the brunt of the job losses early in the crisis and have continued to struggle. Service sector jobs have been slow to return, while school closings are keeping many parents, especially mothers, from returning to work. Nearly half a million Hispanic women have left the labor force over the last three months. Many white collar professionals held on to their jobs and have been able to shore up their savings as they cut spending on vacations and restaurant meals during the pandemic. And while the stock market has fallen in recent days, it has recovered far more quickly than the economy as a whole. "If we're thinking that the economy is recovering completely and uniformly, that is simply not the case," said Michelle Holder, an economist at John Jay College in New York. "This rebound is unevenly distributed along racial and gender lines." Consumer spending on goods last quarter rose sharply, nearly 10 percent, more than enough to offset a relatively mild 2.8 percent decline in the spring. Spending on durable goods was particularly strong as Americans rushed to buy cars, recreational vehicles and equipment for their new homebound lifestyles. Spending on services, on the other hand, collapsed in the second quarter, falling 12.7 percent as consumers abandoned restaurant meals, gym classes and family vacations. Services spending rebounded 8.5 percent last quarter but remains 7.7 percent below its pre pandemic level. Two Wisconsin businesses illustrate the diverging paths of the two sectors. When U.S. auto plants shut down last spring, it meant an immediate loss of business for Husco International, a manufacturer of hydraulic and electromechanical components for cars and other equipment. The company cut back production and furloughed many of its workers. But by the end of May, car factories were humming again, and Husco's business had begun to bounce back. In September, its automotive division had its best month on record. Austin Ramirez, the company's president and chief executive, said he still expected sales to be down about 10 percent for the full year. Despite September's strong results, the pandemic and the economic weakness it has wrought are dragging down demand. And the virus is causing other complications, leading to more employee absences. But the damage to his business is not nearly as severe as in the recession a decade ago. "In a cyclical business like ours, this has actually been a fairly mild recession that we've had tools to manage," Mr. Ramirez said. For Becky Cooper, it is a different story. Bounce Milwaukee, the family entertainment center that she owns with her husband, shut down in March and has yet to reopen. They experimented over the summer with selling takeout pizza and offering drive in movies in the parking lot, but sales weren't enough to offset costs. The couple began the year dreaming up plans for what they would do once they paid off the Small Business Administration loan they used to open the business six years ago. Instead, they had to drain their bank accounts and take on more debt. Now, with Covid 19 cases spiking in Wisconsin, they don't know when they will be able to welcome customers again or whether they can hold out until then. "I'm watching those numbers go up and just feeling so powerless," Ms. Cooper said. "The beginning of March seems almost insanely optimistic to me, and I don't see how much past that we could possibly go." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values . It is separate from the newsroom. It's just possible that common sense and reality have a shot at prying open the doors to the Senate chamber after all. After Republican senators claimed that it was perfectly reasonable to put a United States president on trial without hearing from any witnesses, a few of them are showing signs of recognizing that the truth matters. Or, at least, that the American people believe it does. What's changed? Shocking but not surprising revelations from John Bolton's book manuscript, which The New York Times reported over the weekend, have made impossible to ignore what everyone has known for months: President Trump withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine to benefit himself politically, and against the strenuous objections of his top aides and both parties in Congress. On Monday morning, Mitt Romney, of Utah, said, "I think it's increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton." It's refreshing to hear those words. And yet the fact that such a statement is noteworthy at all tells you how far from responsible governance Republicans have strayed. They hold 53 seats in the Senate, and yet the nation is waiting on just four four! to do the right thing and agree to call Mr. Bolton, the former national security adviser, and other key witnesses to testify in Mr. Trump's impeachment trial. A far more representative attitude in the Republican caucus was expressed by Roy Blunt, of Missouri, who said on Monday, "Unless there's a witness that's going to change the outcome, I can't imagine why we'd want to stretch this out for weeks and months." With this tautology Senator Blunt gives away the game: All witness testimony to date all presented as part of the House impeachment proceedings has only strengthened the case against Mr. Trump, but Republicans will not vote to convict him under any circumstances. By definition, then, no witness in the Senate could possibly change the outcome. The reporting on Mr. Bolton's manuscript, which is scheduled for publication in March, has scrambled that strategy. Mr. Bolton's foreign policy disagreements with Mr. Trump have been public knowledge for months. Last fall, Fiona Hill, a Russia expert and former Bolton aide, testified in the House that Mr. Bolton was alarmed by Mr. Trump's aid for investigations scheme, which Mr. Bolton characterized as a "drug deal." In the manuscript, detailed descriptions of which were leaked to The Times, he recounts nearly a dozen instances in which he and other top administration officials pleaded with Mr. Trump to release the aid, to no avail. He describes Mr. Trump's fixation on conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, and about the supposed corruption of Marie Yovanovitch, the American ambassador to Ukraine. He says that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted privately to him that he knew there was nothing to the theories regarding Ms. Yovanovitch, whom Mr. Trump fired last spring. Mr. Bolton, a hard line conservative with decades of service in Republican administrations, is no anti Trump zealot, which makes his allegations against the president that much more devastating. And his decision to tell these stories publicly nearly certainly waives any claims of executive privilege Mr. Trump might try to assert over their communications. Let's not forget the newly revealed evidence that came to light on Saturday, in the form of a tape recording released by the lawyer for Lev Parnas, who had worked for Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, in the Ukraine scheme. Mr. Trump has denied even knowing Mr. Parnas, but on the tape the two men can be heard in conversation at a dinner in April 2018. "Get rid of her," Mr. Trump said of Ms. Yovanovitch. "Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. O.K.? Do it." In a late night tweet, Mr. Trump angrily denied Mr. Bolton's allegations. "I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens," Mr. Trump wrote. You know what would be a good way to figure out who's telling the truth? Subpoena Mr. Bolton to testify under oath. This isn't a close call. A majority of Americans of all political stripes want to hear from Mr. Bolton, at the least. They believe, as do congressional Democrats, that you can't vote on whether to remove a president from office without getting the fullest possible account of his alleged offenses. But Senate Republicans have so far refused to hear from any witnesses or to demand any documents, following the lead of Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, who has never hesitated to undermine the country's institutions if he thinks doing so will help his party. Mr. McConnell and nearly all in his caucus seem to imagine that if they block their eyes and ears and let their mouths run, the turbulence of impeachment will eventually pass. This is a risky strategy. One reason good lawyers insist on deposing witnesses and subpoenaing documentary evidence is to avoid any unwelcome surprises at trial. Mr. Bolton has now provided the latest of those surprises. It is surely not the last. The most galling part is that Republicans have already admitted how bad the president's behavior was. Back in September, Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and one of Mr. Trump's staunchest defenders, said: "What would've been wrong is if the president had suggested to the Ukrainian government that if you don't do what I want you to do regarding the Bidens, we're not going to give you the aid. That was the accusation; that did not remotely happen." Except that it did, as Mr. Bolton is apparently willing to say under oath. Republicans don't want him to do that because they don't want Americans to exercise the simple good judgment that Mr. Graham once did. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
Two Drugs for Adult Migraines May Not Help Children Neither of the two drugs used most frequently to prevent migraines in children is more effective than a sugar pill, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers stopped the large trial early, saying the evidence was clear even though the drugs the antidepressant amitriptyline and the epilepsy drug topiramate had been shown to prevent migraines in adults. "The medication didn't perform as well as we thought it would, and the placebo performed better than you would think," said Scott Powers, the lead author of the study and a director of the Headache Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. A migraine is a neurological illness characterized by pulsating headache pain, sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and noise. It's a common childhood condition. Up to 11 percent of 7 to 11 year olds and 23 percent of 15 year olds have migraines. At 31 sites nationwide, 328 migraine sufferers aged 8 to 17 were randomly assigned to take amitriptyline, topiramate or a placebo pill for 24 weeks. Patients with episodic migraines (fewer than 15 headache days a month) and chronic migraines (15 or more headache days a month) were included. The aim was to figure out which drug was more effective at reducing the number of headache days, and to gauge which one helped children to stop missing school or social activities. As it turned out, there was no significant difference among the groups: 61 percent of the placebo group reduced their headache days by 50 percent or more, compared with 52 percent of the children given amitriptyline and 55 percent of those who took topiramate. And there was no significant difference among the three groups in reducing the school days or other activities missed. The drugs also produced side effects in some children, such as fatigue, dry mouth, and tingling in their hands or feet. A few cases were more severe. One child on topiramate attempted suicide. Three taking amitriptyline had mood changes; one told his mother he wanted to hurt himself, while another wrote suicide notes at school and was hospitalized. Because of the side effects, Dr. Powers and his colleagues questioned whether the benefits of either drug outweighed its risks. In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration approved topiramate for the prevention of migraine headaches in adolescents 12 to 17 who had fewer than 15 headache days a month. In light of the new study, Dr. Powers said he hoped that the F.D.A. and doctors would re examine that decision. Other experts were not yet ready to give up on drug treatment. "Am I now going to feel obligated to tell patients that these drugs are no better than a placebo? No," said Dr. Eugene R. Schnitzler, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. "I'll simply say, 'We have data in adults that it's effective, but less convincing data in children and adolescents.'" Even if the drugs are not effective for children over all, "that doesn't mean for any one individual, a drug might not work," said Dr. David Gloss, a neurologist and a methodologist for the American Academy of Neurology. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
Nick Apollo Forte, the actor and cruise ship singer best known for playing the over the hill crooner Lou Canova in Woody Allen's 1984 movie "Broadway Danny Rose," died on Feb. 26 in Waterbury, Conn., where he was born. He was 81. His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his daughter Lynn Coleman. Mr. Forte had a very brief acting career, appearing in "Broadway Danny Rose" as a burly (6 foot 1, 235 pounds) has been musician with a big ego and a drinking problem who becomes a client of Danny Rose (Woody Allen), a bottom feeding small time agent and personal manager whose stable of talent includes skating penguins, a balloon act and a woman who plays melodies on water glasses. With Danny coaching him ("Don't forget to do 'My Funny Valentine' with the special lyrics about the moon landing!") Lou finesses his way out of the Catskills and into the Waldorf Astoria, where they get caught in a love triangle with a brassy blonde named Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow). "Mr. Forte, who was himself a singer of the ruffled shirt school when recruited for the movie, is an absolute natural," Janet Maslin wrote in her review in The New York Times. "He blusters through his role with the absolute confidence that is the essential perhaps the only ingredient in Lou's mystique." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
The concert world has a few less frustrated fans, now that a Russian billionaire's company has returned the money for two canceled concerts at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, allowing ticket holders to collect refunds. Fans of Tool and Judas Priest had spent more than 2 million for tickets to those bands' shows this year at the Coliseum. But after all events at the arena were canceled because of the pandemic, complaints began bubbling through social media that refunds for those shows were not reaching fans. According to the policies posted by Ticketmaster, the Coliseum's ticket vendor, refunds for events that are canceled outright should be processed in about 30 days. Onexim Sports and Entertainment, a company controlled by Mikhail Prokhorov, a billionaire Russian investor, leased the Coliseum from Nassau County until August, when the county negotiated a transfer of the lease to a real estate developer that had helped finance renovations to the arena. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
When my friend posted an adorable picture of her son with a black Santa in New York City, I was drawn to the idea of visiting a Santa who reflected my family's skin tones. I'm black, and my 3 year old son's father is white. I am raising him as a single mom with the help of my parents. Why should white Santa be the default? Of course, you can find children's books that feature a black Santa Claus, and he appears in some ornaments and other products. The website blacksanta.com, founded by the former N.B.A. player Baron Davis, sells products like T shirts, hats and ornaments featuring images of black Santa. In a classic episode of "The Cosby Show," Dr. Huxtable explains to one of the children that as Santa drops down each chimney, his race morphs to match that of the family he's visiting Asian, African American, Caucasian and so on. It's a nice sentiment, but the reality is that black Santas are pretty hard to find. When the Mall of America in Minnesota enlisted a black Santa this year, he was popular with children but his presence prompted an unpleasant racial backlash online. I decided to make an appointment for Macy's Santaland at the Herald Square store, where my friend had seen the black Santa. I'd heard the option was by special request so I searched the form for some way to indicate that I wanted a black Santa. Black Santa isn't advertised at all; he is known about mainly through word of mouth. After calling the store and experiencing a few rounds of dead ends, I finally found a secretary who explained that we just had to tell the elves when we got there that we wanted to see black Santa. Elina Kazan, Macy's vice president for media relations, would not discuss details about the store's black Santa option. She said only that the store aimed to create "a magical experience" through the visit with "the one true Santa himself." She added, "At Macy's, we believe that Santa is all things to all people, and we uphold the tradition and belief that Santa is real for children." We rode up to the eighth floor and stepped into a picture postcard: There was a giant train, and trains are my son's favorite thing in the world. There was a forest of beautifully decorated Christmas trees, fake snow, dim lights. There was even a wishing well where you could throw change in for children's charities. It actually was pretty magical. My son admired the trains circling the tracks and tried to climb into the displays while we waited. As some of Santa's helpers began to lead us toward Santa, I pulled an elf aside. "Can we please see the black Santa?" I whispered. He nodded and told us to stand off to the side. A few minutes later we were ushered into a little alcove. There sat Santa, a man the color of Hershey's milk chocolate with a gray beard and a soothing voice. But my son froze, so I gently led him over. "See, it's Santa! He looks like Pop Pop!" I thought that drawing the parallel between Santa and his grandfather would be helpful, but he wanted none of it. Climbing onto a stranger's lap was entirely out of the question for my son, who keeps his guard up around strangers. I sat next to Santa and my son sat in my lap for the pictures. He didn't talk to Santa, but he did give Santa a high five when we left. At least he didn't cry. I knew there are many factors that can cause any child to be uncomfortable or even cry when visiting Santa. Itchy new clothes, long lines, being handed to a stranger and general sensory overload have reduced generations of children to tears on plenty of Santas' laps. (We skipped the itchy clothes in favor of a kid friendly shirt.) And my son is only 3, an age when the outrage of having to wear green socks when you wanted blue ones can be cause for distress. We tried to see Santa again the next day, but this time we went closer to home, to the Staten Island Mall, which features a white Santa. The reality is, my son had even less interest in Santa on day two black or white than he did on day one, and wouldn't really go near him. He looked at me as if to say, "Did we not learn from this the first time?" In the picture he and I are kneeling next to Santa, but at least he's smiling. While you might think that seeing two different races of Santa would be confusing for a child, my son seemed not to notice. He has seen that Santa can take various forms on television and in books. While Santa never really looks the same, he always looks like a jolly man in a red suit. When it comes to Santa, perhaps my son is colorblind. I did my best not to comment on either Santa's race, but I want my son to know that Santa doesn't have to look only one way. Santa can be whatever you want him to be. He may never want to go see Santa again, but he has photographic evidence that Santa can reflect the skin tones of both sides of his family. And that's, well, pretty magical. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Well |
New albums by the country superstars show how Nashville prioritizes men at the expense of female creativity or any creativity at all. There's a familiar kind of country song that functions essentially as a listicle. A laundry list of tropes about rural life. A slide show of small town imagery. They're a staple of the genre, an easy too easy go to for performers hoping to trigger pleasure centers. There are a few of these songs on "What You See Is What You Get," the second major label album by Luke Combs, the quickest rising country star of the last two years. "Refrigerator Door" is a big, formless ocean of nostalgia. "Blue Collar Boys" feels like a Home Depot marketing PowerPoint. "Better Together" is pure rural Mad Libs ("Barbed wire and old fence posts/ 8 point bucks in autumn"). But songs like this aren't always a crutch. Take "It All Comes Out in the Wash," from Miranda Lambert's sixth major label album, "Wildcard." It's bawdy and messy, a whoop it up celebration of the not so niceties underneath polite grins: If you pour yourself a merlot to go You dip your fries in your ketchup on a bumpy road You spill the beans to your mama, sister got knocked up In a truck at the 7 Eleven, don't sweat it You can embrace a cliche, or you can upend it. How Combs and Lambert approach that decision reflects larger things about their music, and also about the demands country music does and does not place on them. Lambert is, on all fronts, a more thoughtful, precise, provocative and creative artist. Her music is riskier, and more nimble. She is the slipperiest performer working in country music's top tier, doing just enough to stay there, and even more to remind you how little she thinks of its limitations. All of Combs's singles seven of them, beginning in 2016 have reached the Top 3 of the Billboard country songs chart. Lambert, too, has had seven singles in the Top 3 it just took her six more years. It's too simplistic to say Combs is the problem and Lambert could be has been the solution. Perhaps it's more accurate to say in Combs's universe, there is no problem whatsoever, and in Lambert's universe, the problem is so intractable as to almost be worth ignoring. That said, Nashville's minimization of its female performers is an issue so vast and so persistent that the relentless success of Combs is practically camouflaged by it. Which means it can be difficult to see what Combs actually does well. Apart from the cheeky "When It Rains It Pours," Combs's earlier hits deployed lyrical melodrama juxtaposed with tender reads on hard rock dynamics. He has a meaty, frank voice it hits bluntly, but without much depth, like painting with a brush lashed to an eighteen wheeler. "What You See Is What You Get" challenges him less than his debut album did. It is mundanely forceful, laden with chunky guitars and hard snap drums, and just barely ambitious. Which is to say, in the current country ecosystem, reasonably effective. Where Combs shows the most promise is in his emergent desire to restore the genre to the high octane pep of the 1990s, when thanks to the cross genre theatrics of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, country music believed it was big tent pop. "Angels Workin' Overtime," with flickers of early career Alan Jackson, moves at a jubilant 130 beats per minute , an extremely quick clip for contemporary country music. "Lovin' on You" shouts out Brooks Dunn and echoes their line dance ready come ons, and then, a couple of songs later, Brooks Dunn show up to bemoan late night misbehavior on the glib, uproarious (148 b.p.m.!) boogie of "1, 2 Many." As Combs is loading his sound with growth hormone, Lambert is making hers even more shaggy. Over the course of her career, her albums including those with the trio Pistol Annies have become looser, more curious, less married to a fixed idea of the genre. "Wildcard" isn't as intimate as her 2016 double album about her divorce, "The Weight of These Wings," or as musically adventurous as its predecessor, "Platinum." What it does have is some sharp songwriting. On "Track Record," Lambert bemoans her romantic woes, and "Tequila Does" is a cleverer take on the succumbing to alcohol trope than it deserves. "Dark Bars," which recalls Lee Ann Womack's midcareer shift to classic country, opens with a sparse gut punch image of idling nights away. "I'm here for the habit," she sighs. "Complimentary matches/ The pretty bartenders/The smoke and the mirrors ." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
From 239 in the low season; water view rooms from 379. For proximity to Seattle's greatest hits, it doesn't get much better than this 12 story spot. And, if you splurge for a waterfront room, views don't get much better. Beyond that, the usual sleek and satisfying Thompson approach is in place at the Seattle outpost, which opened in June 2016 the brand's first property in the Pacific Northwest. Smack dab downtown, just a few blocks from the water, which means it is easy walking distance from Pike Place Market, the Seattle Art Museum and Aquarium, the Olympic Sculpture Park and the Great Wheel (not to mention the major ferry terminals) yet on a relatively quiet side street. Plentiful and varied dining and night life options are also nearby. The floor to ceiling windows are the main eye catchers here, especially if your room has a view of the waterfront and Puget Sound beyond, as ours did. (The exterior of the building, designed by the local firm Olson Kundig Architects, has the look of piled up offset glass rectangles.) Our room, with two queen beds, was a cozy 320 square feet, with large, dark headboards and a mishmash of oddball art on the walls. A few welcome touches went a long way, like individual reading lights and a comfortable desk chair, above which hung a 42 inch TV, perhaps a tad oversized for the room. A few pluses (rain style shower, DS Durga products) outweighed the minuses (an inexplicably curved shower curtain, which meant that a shower left a corner of the room flooded). I'll never understand the trend toward a half privacy wall not at all separating the toilet from the rest of the bathroom, but that seems to have become the standard. (Another plus: the toilets have a water saving low flush option.) The friendly but not obsequious staff is happy to help out with restaurant and transit recommendations, and coffee drinkers can grab a free cup (Caffe Ladro, a local roaster, of course) from 6 to 8 a.m. Wi Fi is free and functioned well for us. There's no pool, but a small gym is available. Off the lobby, the 75 seat restaurant Scout does a sprightly business. I grabbed a drink at Nest, the 3,500 square foot rooftop bar and lounge, which offers stunning views (especially in the outdoor section, which also has warming fire pits) and solid cocktails, like the Pacific Loon, with Japanese Suntory Toki whiskey, orgeat, ginger and lemon. (There is also a selection of large format cocktails for groups.) A list of spirits is also available, though it would be nice to see a few more locally produced options. Prices are not extortionate. (Reservations recommended for both spots, especially on weekends.) We also pre ordered an excellent room service breakfast: quality gravlax, bagels and dill cream cheese, and yogurt, granola and fresh berries, as well as coffee and tea. When our daughter awoke an hour before our requested 7:30 delivery, the hotel sent it up within 15 minutes of our request. A sui generis neighborhood spot this is not, but the Thompson is perfect for those looking for a pleasant, modestly stylish environment with easy access to Puget adjacent tourist options. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
Another apartment at Walker Tower that was claimed by one of the developers during the early stages of the Art Deco skyscraper's conversion sold for 17,156,250 and was the most expensive closed sale of the week, according to city records. The duplex aerie is now back on the market for almost double the purchase price. Monthly carrying costs for No. 18A, on the 18th and 19th floors of the 24 story vintage building at 212 West 18th Street in Chelsea, are 7,955. The four bedroom four and a half bath residence, with 4,871 square feet of interior space and 698 square feet of terraces, was purchased without brokers by Elliott Joseph, a principal of the Property Markets Group, which developed the Walker condominium with the JDS Development Group, in partnership with the Starwood Capital Group. Designed by the architect Ralph Walker, Walker Tower is the former commercial office building for the New York Telephone company. Condo sales began in 2012. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Episode 2 of "Mrs. America," the new TV show dramatizing the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment, features a glamorous party at the Guggenheim Museum. It's 1972, and Gloria Steinem is launching her new magazine, Ms. She mingles, dances and then talks shop with a fellow women's movement leader, Bella Abzug. As the two walk up the museum's ramp, artworks on the walls peek out behind them. Fanny Pereire, who has spent more than a decade placing art in television and film productions, was indispensable to the making of that scene. Her nearly three dozen credits include the Oliver Stone film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" (2010), the all female heist movie "Ocean's 8" (2018), as well as the recent high profile TV series "Billions," "Succession" and "Mrs. America," which debuted last month on Hulu to critical acclaim (and runs through May). "I create art collections for people who don't exist," Ms. Pereire likes to say. She dreams up what Midwestern housewives or New York City billionaires might hang on their walls and then clears the rights to use either real, existing works or, more often, to recreate them on set. It's a lesson that served her well as she transitioned into the entertainment industry, which, after a series of copyright lawsuits brought by artists in the 1990s, started to be more careful about obtaining permission. Ms. Pereire's first gig in what would become her new role came in 2002 on the set of the revenge drama "Changing Lanes." Since then productions have multiplied, as have requests for art: Artists Rights Society, which handles many of those clearances, has seen a threefold increase in the past five years. In the process, that one off assignment has since grown into a full fledged job: "fine art coordinator." Ms. Pereire spoke by phone from her New York City home about the joys and challenges of her job. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. I get a script, I get a character, just like everyone else in the production team. The costume designer will come up with the costume; the production designer thinks about where would they live, what their office would look like. I put what they would have on their wall, and either it says something about who they are or what's happening in the scene. I have to take all sorts of things in consideration: the period, what we're trying to say, and the cost I'm not going to put a million dollar painting on the wall for somebody who makes 50,000 a year. I want it to be credible. Are you looking through your own files, images you've collected from seeing art over the years? I have 57,128 photos and 810 videos on my computer. Plus I have Dropbox and other things those are just photos that I've taken. Once you come up with the art, what happens next? I get clearance from the artist or their representative, or from the estate. From there I have to procure a very good digital file of the artwork. If it's a watercolor, it's reproduced on paper; if it's a canvas, it's reproduced on canvas. The art department's scenic artists will finish them off to make sure that if the camera goes close enough, it looks like the real thing. It seems as if you helped create the role of fine art coordinator. Yes, somewhat. But the thing is, for a long time, let's say they wanted a de Kooning. They had to make something that sort of looked like a de Kooning, but not enough like a de Kooning that de Kooning could say, "you have my painting and you didn't ask my permission." So it ends up being just as consuming. It's much easier to get permission for the real thing. What was one of your best placements? In "Changing Lanes," Ben Affleck is at a crossroads in his life. Across from his desk I put an Alex Katz painting "Harbor 9" of this person walking on the beach. It was actually twice as big as what I had the wall for, but they allowed us to reproduce it at just the right proportion. At one point Affleck's character is like, should I go away and move somewhere and walk on the beach? That painting was the perfect rendition of what was going on in the character's mind. The Guggenheim scene in "Mrs. America" takes place in the actual museum. Did you use the art that was already on the walls? Yes. That was sort of the chance of a lifetime. When the production designer called me, she knew I was going to be jumping up and down, because I had done other things at the Guggenheim, but never with Guggenheim artwork. She said, you're going to go there with the location manager, and you're going to have to take a picture of every single piece for those two ramps in the scene . And then you're going have to clear every piece and make sure that it wasn't made after 1972. Anything that's not adequate for our script, you're going to have to figure out what to do with it. Is there more prominent art coming in "Mrs. America"? There is another scene in Episode 8, which is the women's conference in Houston. I think it's 1977 or '79. In there I have two very large Rothkos. But those are definitely reproductions, whereas at the Guggenheim it was all original artwork. How often do you use real work versus reproductions? At the Guggenheim we had no choice, because they weren't going to take all the artwork off during the night for us to shoot and then put it back in the morning. When we shoot in a location for a day or two, I will either keep artwork that's there and have it watched, or I will borrow or rent original artwork. I certainly don't want to have original artworks for a long time. But Aaron Young's artworks in "Billions" ended up staying for the whole season, and they were original. It took a special forklift to hang them and nobody could reach them because they were very high up and far away. What's one of the most prominent placements you've done? In "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," our character had an extensive art collection. He had Richard Prince cowboys and Warhols, but also old masters. We wanted him to have something that was unique and priceless, and Oliver Stone wanted something that everybody would know what it was. So I came up with a Goya. There's a series of Goyas at the Prado, and there's one that's been lost over the years. You don't really know exactly what it looks like. And so, from my research of the drawings of the missing piece, we made the painting a study for "Saturn Devouring His Son" . We had five of them made because the character, at one point, out of rage, slams the painting and tears it with his teeth. Afterward, the actor, Josh Brolin, said, "I'm so sorry, I was really in the scene." I said, "Don't worry, we still have a couple more." We ended up damaging three, I think, and I think Oliver has one copy and our producer still has a copy in her office. What usually happens to reproductions when you're done with them? At the end of shooting, there's a whole other part of the process: proof of destruction. Sometimes whoever licensed the work will want us to return our official copies, or they'll want proof of destruction, in which case I will destroy the artwork and send them pieces of it and pictures of it being destroyed. Or I send them a video with one of us slashing it. Have you had any works that were especially difficult or fun to destroy? In "Changing Lanes," we reproduced a sculpture by Antony Gormley. We made it in Styrofoam that was glazed to look like a matte metal. I remember asking the producer, how am I going to do the proof of destruction? He says, "Oh, leave it to me." He had the crane pick up the sculpture and drop it from the top of the soundstage all the way to the floor. It exploded in pieces. Then he handed me the video and said, now you can send it to your artist. I remember sending it to Antony Gormley and then seeing him a few months later and reintroducing myself. He was like, "Oh my God!" His wife was like, "You have no idea. He loves that video; he shows it to people when they come over." Granted, this was 20 years ago, but I was so pleased. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
For the art world, the biggest news coming out of Pittsburgh last year should have been the opening of the 57th edition of the Carnegie International, the oldest survey exhibition of visual art in the United States. Instead, news of that exhibition was eclipsed in October by a shooting at the progressive Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which killed 11 people and wounded six. Art seems minor in the wake of such events. And yet, as time and history stretch out in the aftermath of trauma, art becomes a prime place where tragedy is acknowledged, memorialized and processed. Art is an inherently hopeful gesture, and as institutions increasingly become forums ("laboratories," in the current parlance) for new ideas not just places to show off wealth or wield "soft power" they can be places to heal and ponder how to move forward. In Pittsburgh where vast sums of money made relatively quickly during the Industrial Revolution were spent on art museums and alternative spaces abound, complementing many schools and universities. Contemporary art, with its global ambitions, feels right at home. The city was, historically, a magnet for immigrants and home to indigenous people s. A recent tour of Pittsburgh showed how the vibrant visual arts community, in many ways, offers a model for diversity and tolerance. This edition of the Carnegie International, organized by Ingrid Schaffner, includes 32 artists and artist collectives and very few unfamiliar names. The upside of this approach is that many of the artists here are midcareer and know, from experience, how to operate within the potentially homogenizing context of a large exhibition and create exceptional displays. Several here are outstanding, activating the Carnegie Museum of Art's collection and making you think differently about art history. On the outside of the museum, El Anatsui, the Ghanaian sculptor who has become one of the most imitated artists in Africa, has draped the upper facade of the entrance with a work made from his signature found bottle caps and printing plates sourced from a Pittsburgh printing press. The work treats the museum like a kind of body to be dressed with a garment. Inside the galleries, Ulrike Muller and Sarah Crowner use bright tiles, enamel, weaving and canvases sewn together to test the line between art and craft. Nearby, a terrific presentation of portraits by Lynette Yiadom Boakye with cryptic titles suggests painting as a portal into the everyday lives of her characters, while Dayanita Singh's installation with lush silver gelatin images bundled in cloth in India questions how history in the form of images is archived and stored. The boundary between furniture and sculpture is playfully transgressed in Jessi Reaves's fantastic full room installation, where art and design blend. You're encouraged to sit on the sculpture furniture. If you make the pilgrimage out to Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's "cabin" masterpiece designed for the family of Edgar J. Kaufmann, you can see Ms. Reaves's sculpture on the terrace, made during a residency there: a lanky homemade shelving unit with an iridescent burgundy zip on mantle that looks like a sadomasochistic vampire's cape. Back in the museum, Josiah McElheny, working with the curators John Corbett and Jim Dempsey, shows his MacArthur award mettle with an expertly researched display. Curious musical instruments and documents relate to maverick composers like Harry Partch, Pauline Oliveros and Lucia Dlugoszewski, who created sculptural wooden instruments that are one of the standouts of the installation. One of the most ambitious presentations here is the terrific show within a show, "Dig Where You Stand," organized by the Cameroon born Koyo Kouoh, with research contributed by graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh. Drawing from the collections of the Carnegie Museums for what she calls a "visual essay," she points out that changing language is the taproot of changing ideas. She wants us to rethink "coloniality" different forms of colonialism and occupation since Africa, she points out in the guide, is a continent with 54 very different countries; the one thing they all share is that they were colonized. Throughout the ocher colored space she has paired objects and images to make you question their origins and messages. African sculptures sit near Mickalene Thomas's photograph of black women assuming the pose from a famous Manet painting. Screenprints by Kara Walker are juxtaposed with a cutout silhouette of an "honorable" gentleman holding a whip. Ms. Kouoh throws all categories into a quandary. Bernd and Hilla Becher's black and white photographs of outdated industrial structures in Germany considered landmarks of conceptual art are shown next to Teenie Harris's photographs of a 1950s home appliance fair for African Americans in Pittsburgh. What defines art history and constitutes a survey museum? What's included, championed and omitted and how do those decisions reflect colonial and racist history? The implication is that every encyclopedic museum is probably sitting on a trove of exceptional objects that could be artfully rearranged to promote diversity, inclusion and tolerance, rather than acquisition and power. (Unless, of course, all the art should be "repatriated" and sent back to where it was made, though "home" may no longer exist.) Through Aug. 4 at the Mattress Factory; 412 231 3169, mattress.org. The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh's premier alternative space, housed in a former industrial building and a couple of annexes, has become a mecca for installation art. Here you will find immersive works by the pioneering light artist James Turrell and one of Yayoi Kusama's wildly popular "infinity rooms." The focus, however, is on the temporary residents at the Mattress Factory and what they produce. The projects by 2018 residents include the Brazilian collective OSGEMEOS's top floor installation, with large yellow light bulbs sprouting from the floor, altered photographs and paintings that pay homage to cheap portrait studios in Latin America, and a wild zoetrope, a pre film animation device that winds up a couple of times a day. Laleh Mehran's darkened room in the basement relies on viewer activated digital effects that update the ancient Persian concept of "Boroosh" or "glimmer of light." In the nearby Monterey Annex, Karina Smigla Bobinski's transparent ball, studded with charcoal and inspired by nanobiotechnology and 19th century computer prototypes, becomes a viewer activated drawing machine you can bounce off the walls. Christina A. West's electric apple hued "Screen" (2018) is like a distorted fun house inspired by photographic green screens. In general, the works at the Mattress Factory are engaging crowd pleasers that challenge how we create and relate to our environments although sometimes they sacrifice rigor for social media "likes." Through Jan. 6 at the Frick Pittsburgh; 412 371 0600, thefrickpittsburgh.org. The Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave uses paper to remake historical costumes and dresses in famous museum paintings. Inspired by a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in the mid 1990s, Ms. de Borchgrave's crumpled, pleated and painted marvels sit perfectly within the Frick's collection of old masters, imitating the silk, satin, velvet and brocade the artists captured in paint. There are re creations here of costumes worn by queens and mythical goddesses in masterpieces by Botticelli and other painters, and of fashion designs by Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin. Some of her most stunning works here, however, hang on walls: They recreate Central Asia caftans from the 1700s to the 1800s, which Ms. de Borchgrave first encountered in Istanbul. They demonstrate her considerable skill as a painter and expand the Frick's Western European inspired collection into the customs and aesthetics of cultures far beyond the aspirations of Pittsburgh's Gilded Age patrons. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
'If We Let Everybody Go, There'd Be Nobody in Prison' For Mother's Day last year, Ebony Thomas's new husband, Anthony, gifted her a car, a white Volkswagen Passat bought secondhand. She had just started a new job, working as a medical assistant at a facility near to their home in Lakewood Heights, in southeast Atlanta. "My husband wanted me to have a car to get around better, especially with the new job," she told me. One month later, with Anthony out of town for work, Ms. Thomas decided to make a run to the store. Two blocks from home, Ms. Thomas was stopped by a police officer. Her tag light was out and she had yet to purchase appropriate stickers for the car. She also had an outstanding seatbelt ticket from another traffic stop in 2015. "I didn't really have the money to pay that ticket. Then we moved and I honestly just forgot about it," she said. Because the ticket went ignored, and Ms. Thomas had failed to appear in court, her license had been suspended. The arresting officer "was going to let me go, after I reasoned with him some," Ms. Thomas said. "He let me out of the squad car and was just going to tow my car." Then another officer arrived, and he persuaded the original officer to go through with the arrest. "I remember he said, 'If we let everybody go, there'd be nobody in prison,'" Ms. Thomas said. She was taken to Atlanta's Fulton County jail, and she was in jail for three days before a family member found her. Her relatives had been frantic, calling all the local hospitals and police stations. "This is really embarrassing, but I couldn't remember anybody's number by heart," Ms. Thomas said. "I couldn't call anybody, so I just sat there." A judge set Ms. Thomas's bail at 1,500. Bail is paid at 10 percent. Her family couldn't afford 150, so Ms. Thomas remained in jail for eight days. During that time, her name was picked up by several organizations that had banded together for a Mother's Day initiative last year that would pay bail for black mothers who couldn't afford it. The organizations, which include National Bailout and the nonprofit Color of Change, eventually paid for over 100 black mothers around the country to leave jail. (National Bailout says they bail out all varieties of black mothers: "queer, trans, young, elder and immigrant.") Ms. Thomas was one of them. "Our ultimate goal is to end money bail," said Clarice McCants, the criminal justice campaign director of Color of Change. But for now, "there are mothers, away from their families, languishing in jail just because they lack the funds to make bail." In the United States, a bail payment is intended as collateral. It's meant to ensure that a person charged with a crime will appear in court if they are released before trial. As such, bail payments are not meant to be prohibitively expensive they are meant to incentivize a person to return to court. The Eighth Amendment, in particular, outlaws "excessive" bail amounts, but there is a national crisis of sky high bail amounts. As a result, pretrial detention is the norm, rather than a limited exception. In 2016, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, around 70 percent of county jail inmates nationwide had not been convicted of a crime. Ms. Thomas's bail may not have counted as "excessive," but for her it was still outside the realm of affordability. Expensive bail, in general, is a far more widespread problem for black women, as they are four times as likely to be imprisoned as white women. Black defendants routinely receive higher bail amounts than white defendants with similar charges. Many things happen while people are held awaiting trial. Families lose income. Children suffer the absence of a parent. The costs of incarceration whether its fees paid to probation officers or payments made to bail bondsmen add up, and can be debilitating for families that are already financially vulnerable. A secondary fear, for many, is the involvement of Child Protective Services. Ms. Thomas felt fortunate that her son, Jorden, was seventeen at the time of her arrest, and her family intervened to care for him while she was away. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
WHEN Helen Clark brought her father in law, then 83, to the doctor last year, she knew his mind was slowing, but a mental status exam confirmed it. He knew the year, where he lived and the name of the president. But when the doctor asked him to count backward from 100, subtracting seven from each number 100, 93, 86, 79 a look of confusion washed over his face. Studies show that the ability to perform simple math problems, as well as handling financial matters, are typically one of the first set of skills to decline in diseases of the mind, like Alzheimer's, and Ms. Clark's father in law, who suffered from mild dementia, was no exception. Research has also shown that even cognitively normal people may reach a point where financial decision making becomes more challenging. "A person can appear to have their wherewithal cognitively, but not have the ability to understand money in the same way anymore," said Ms. Clark, a retired registered nurse and family therapist in Cottonwood, Calif. The issue looms large, particularly as the number of older people continues to rapidly expand: There are 44.7 million people 65 and older, representing 14 percent of the population, according to the most recent census data, but, within 10 years, they will swell to an estimated 66 million. This group collectively holds trillions of dollars in wealth, but are often left to manage their own finances, even as they become increasingly vulnerable. About half of adults in their 80s either have dementia, or at least some cognitive impairment without dementia, researchers said. "If you can detect emerging financial impairment early, you can also step in early and protect the person," said Daniel Marson, a neuropsychologist and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "It may be if you step in two months from now, they won't be in a position to make a poor decision or be exploited a year from now." For Ms. Clark's father in law, Francis Taylor, the intervention came too late. At 80 years old, he married a woman 17 years his junior, who, over their three year union, according to the family, cashed 40,000 in blank checks sent by his credit card issuer and emptied the contents of his 123,000 annuity, leaving him with little more than a giant tax bill. Mr. Taylor, a former diesel mechanic and Korean War veteran, gave his wife permission to make two annuity withdrawals over the phone. But his wife, who couldn't be reached for comment, made 20 more withdrawals on her own by using her husband's Social Security number and other identifying information, and signing papers to direct money into a joint account, according to documents provided by Ms. Clark. After an internal investigation, MetLife, the annuity provider, concluded that it had followed proper procedures. Preventing these situations is often difficult. Knowing exactly when to get involved can be fraught, whether you are an adult child or a trusted adviser. There are a series of early warning signs of financial decline, which Dr. Marson identified in a recent study, which is being submitted for publication and was funded by the National Endowment for Financial Education and the National Institute on Aging. The signs, while perhaps not surprising, are subtle, making them easy to miss: It may become more difficult for people to identify the risks in a particular investment, and they may focus too much on the benefits. Completing various tasks on a financial to do list may start to take longer, such as preparing bills for the mail. Everyday math may become more laborious or prone to errors, whether that's figuring out a tip in a restaurant or doing a calculation that requires two steps. Financial concepts, like medical deductibles and minimum balances required in savings accounts, may also become harder to grasp. Naturally, these behaviors should represent a significant change: If a person was never adept with personal finances, this won't serve as much of an indicator. Dr. Marson said he identified these warnings signs as part of a study of 138 older adults over time who were initially deemed "cognitively normal" by a panel of four doctors when they joined the study (and after at least one annual follow up visit). Participants were also timed as they completed financial tasks in a lab. Twenty three members of the group later received a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, but when the researchers went back and looked at the original results of the financial capacity test when the group members were deemed cognitively normal there were already subtle signs of slowing and financial decline. "The group that would later decline already had some emerging signs," Dr. Marson said, though they weren't glaring. While many people continue to handle their finances with ease well into their later years, even people with healthy brains tend to experience cognitive decline. According to one study, which analyzed participants' propensity to make financial mistakes, a person's financial decision making ability peaks at age 53, or, more generally, in their 50s. This is the sweet spot, the paper said, because they have substantial amounts of experience but they have had only modest declines in their ability to solve new problems. There is a general tendency for our ability to solve new problems known as fluid intelligence to slowly decline over time, starting as early as age 20. But this is at least partly offset by our growing experiences and wisdom, known as crystallized intelligence. David Laibson, an economics professor at Harvard and co author of the research, said he believed that crystallized intelligence tended to plateau when people reached their 70s. That plateau, accompanied with declining fluid intelligence, might explain why older consumers made more financial mistakes than middle age ones in his study. "At that point, vulnerability increases," Professor Laibson said. "Our nation's wealth is disproportionately held by older adults, and they are exactly the group, particularly as they reach their 80s and 90s, that are most vulnerable. But our system has the fewest protections for those people." He said he wishes all 65 year olds would start by simplifying their financial lives, reducing the money clutter to just a few mutual funds at a reputable institution. Then there are the boilerplate tools, including wills, revocable living trusts, durable financial power of attorney, and health care directives. Financial institutions often want their own powers of attorney filled out, so it helps to put them in place before you need them. If ready access to more credit isn't important, advisers suggested freezing elders' credit files, so criminals cannot attempt to open accounts in their names. Automate bill payments. If adult children suspect a parent needs watching over, they can also ask financial institutions to send duplicate statements or notices if a parent misses a long term care insurance payment, for example. Monitoring can also easily be done from afar with online access to accounts, but that sort of access can be disastrous in the wrong hands. If the person does not have trusted family members or friends, a licensed fiduciary can be a good alternative to monitor accounts, said Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder lawyer and author who counsels families on aging related issues. Another financial adviser asks his clients to assemble what he calls a protective tribe, or a handful of people who are willing to step in and assist if and when the need arises. "The protective tribe is important because senior abuse is often committed by a close relative or trusted professional," said Jean Luc Bourdon, a certified public accountant who specializes in financial planning in Santa Barbara, Calif. "A tribe is needed to have checks and balances." Many estate planning lawyers and financial planners ask their clients to name a person they can contact if they suspect their cognitive skills may be on the decline. Sometimes called "a letter of diminishing capacity," the document typically authorizes the adviser to raise the issue with a trusted individual the client names. Bob Rall, a financial planner in Merritt Island, Fla., said it came in handy when a widow with modest assets asked if he could send her 50,000 so she could host an 80th birthday party. "I immediately called her daughter, who the client had previously given me the authorization to speak with," he said. "After a discussion, we decided to send her mom 15,000. She still had a pretty nice party." For many families, there isn't much margin for error. Ms. Clark's father in law still has the equity in his home; she intervened just as his wife was completing the paperwork for a reverse mortgage. "Although this is tragic for my father in law," Ms. Clark said, "what I am even more concerned about is the lack of accountability when fraud occurs across the board for elders in this position." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Your Money |
Wayne A. I. Frederick is the president of Howard University; Valerie Montgomery Rice is the president of Morehouse School of Medicine; David M. Carlisle is president of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; James E. K. Hildreth is president of Meharry Medical College. The global race is on for a vaccine to combat the coronavirus, but the question is: Who will be included? To date, several companies have reached Phase 3 trials for an experimental vaccine including Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and CanSino. AstraZeneca recently announced a pause in its process to check a complication with one participant. Despite this setback, the early results are encouraging. Yet these trials have not met an important challenge: recruiting an appropriately diverse group of participants even though Covid 19 has taken a disproportionate toll on communities of color and on Black Americans in particular. Drugmakers approved for Phase 3 trials have been slow to report the breakdown of participants. But Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN that Moderna deserved a C for recruiting minorities. As of Sept. 4, Moderna reported 26 percent of study participants from communities of color, including Black or African American, Latinx, American Indian and Alaskan Native. Granted, this is an improvement from most studies. In fact, in clinical trials overall, African American participation hovers around an abysmal 5 percent, despite being 13 percent of the U.S. population. Research participants should look like the population that would be 32 percent for those four groups. And Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has called for twice that number because of how hard Covid 19 has hit them. Questions surrounding the Covid 19 vaccine and its rollout. If Covid 19 isn't going away, how do we live with it? Katherine Eban writes that a clear eyed view is required to organize long term against an endemic virus. Why should we vaccinate kids against Covid 19? The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics explains how vaccinating kids will protect them (and everyone else). Jessica Grose spoke with experts to find out what an off ramp to masking in schools might look like. Who are the unvaccinated? Zeynep Tufekci writes that many preconceptions about unvaccinated people may be wrong, and that could be a good thing. The paucity of diversity in these clinical trials creates problems on two fronts: treatment and trust. On the treatment front, a vaccine with limited testing could have unanticipated effects on Black bodies. As with all drug trials, the impact of medication can differ significantly, depending on the genetic makeup of the population. This is even more so with vaccines that depend on altering the immune system. It is therefore vital that the trials, which usually hold about 30,000 participants, include as diverse a set of participants as possible. As it is, African Americans cope with higher rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. Because these conditions can put people infected with the virus at risk, it's extra important that African Americans play a critical role in testing. Trust is also an issue. Unsurprisingly, Black Americans are suspicious of leading philanthropists, the pharmaceutical industry and the American health care system. The litany of abuses committed by health professionals in the name of "research" that inflicted harm on thousands of Black Americans will forever be a stain on the soul of our nation. The African American community knows well the infamous racism of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks. Black doctors are the best way to build trust in our communities. But they need help. Without significant participation in clinical trials, there will be no proof that our patients should trust the vaccine. Morehouse School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College have been identified as clinical trial sites, and are in the early stages of volunteer recruitment. But an expansion is necessary. Researchers and the medical industry should engage the remaining two Black and minority serving medical schools Charles R. Drew College of Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine in the vaccine trials now. In addition, the 104 Historically Black Colleges and Universities can serve as credible messengers to distribute information and foster trust in communities throughout the country. Their involvement should include the recruitment of patients, participation in the science, and development of the plan to distribute the vaccine to the most vulnerable communities. Unlike what happened with the development of antiviral treatment for AIDS, the African American population should not be last to get access to the lifesaving medication. Economic barriers must also be lifted. Institutions must work with African Americans who can't take time away from work, by engaging with employers to provide time for employee participation as a health incentive. And because our communities suffer from a lack of reliable transportation, institutions must also conduct trials where we live. The African American community must also be willing to engage: ask hard questions and consult trusted sources in order to assuage legitimate concerns. The Black Lives Matter movement reminds us that we do not have to be confined by the ugliest parts of our nation's history or our fallen human nature. We have an opportunity to do something better in this moment. Simply put, the largest population being killed by Covid 19 should have a significant role in development of a treatment. The human rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer grew up under the brutality of Jim Crow in the Mississippi Delta that included forced sterilization an abhorrent practice so common it became known as a "Mississippi appendectomy." Mrs. Hamer reached a point where the status quo would simply not do, famously remarking "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." She demanded full inclusion in American democracy for all Black Americans. We find ourselves at another inflection point where the status quo cannot stand. True change requires that government and industry make every effort to achieve true diversity in clinical trials. Black lives depend on it. Wayne A. I. Frederick is the president of Howard University; Valerie Montgomery Rice is the president of Morehouse School of Medicine; David M. Carlisle is president of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; James E. K. Hildreth is president of Meharry Medical College. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter ( NYTopinion) and Instagram. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
When the Walt Disney Company undertakes construction projects at its theme parks, it displays signs with that message as a promise of the magic to come. The same request essentially hangs on Disney as a corporation at the moment. As Silicon Valley giants move deeper into Hollywood and the traditional television business unravels, Disney is trying to reinvent itself buying most of 21st Century Fox, building two streaming services, pouring billions into theme park expansions focused on its "Star Wars" franchise in pursuit of a new growth trajectory. But things may get a little messy in the meantime. Disney reported mixed quarterly earnings on Tuesday as losses associated with the development of the planned streaming services the first of which, arriving in the spring, will involve ESPN and cost 4.99 a month hurt Disney's cable television division, where operating income fell 1 percent to 858 million. Disney's movie studio also reported weaker results, as did the company's consumer products business. On the bright side, operating income increased 21 percent, to 1.35 billion, at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts because of higher attendance and ticket prices at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Paris, among other properties. (Disney is expected in the coming week to increase ticket prices again, particularly for peak vacation times, as a way to spread out attendance.) Disney Cruise Line also had a strong quarter. Analysts, however, were focused on Disney's various growth plans during a post earnings conference call, peppering Robert A. Iger, Disney's chief executive, with questions about the company's 52.4 billion offer for 21st Century Fox assets last month. He had few specific answers. "We don't really have any update on the regulatory front," Mr. Iger said, adding that he intends to be "patient" as antitrust officials scrutinize the acquisition. Mr. Iger did say that he had met with several Fox executives in recent weeks, "gaining insight that will be invaluable when it comes to integrating our organizations." When the conversation turned to ESPN Plus, Disney's sports streaming service, Mr. Iger emphasized that users would be able to personalize their experience. ESPN Plus will exist inside the ESPN app, which is being rebuilt. Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. "The changes will be dramatic," Mr. Iger said. He made no mention about the future management of ESPN, which has been operating under temporary leadership after the surprise resignation of John Skipper, who stepped down as president last month, citing substance addiction. Mr. Iger also focused on Disney's film pipeline, announcing that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, executive producers of HBO's hit series "Game of Thrones," would write and produce a series of new "Star Wars" movies. For the first time, Mr. Iger noted, Disney will release three Marvel movies in a single year, starting with "Black Panther," which is poised for a blockbuster arrival on Feb. 16, followed by "Avengers: Infinity War" in May and "Ant Man and the Wasp" in July. For its first fiscal quarter, which ended on Dec. 30, Disney had net income of 4.42 billion, or 2.91 a share, compared with 2.48 billion, or 1.55 a share, a year earlier. Most of the increase was attributable to a 1.6 billion one time tax benefit associated with the rewrite of the federal tax code. Excluding the tax benefit, Disney had per share results for the quarter of 1.89. Revenue totaled 15.35 billion, a 4 percent increase. Analysts had predicted per share profit of 1.61 and revenue of 15.45 billion. Disney shares increased about 3 percent in after hours trading, to 109.28. The company's vast television division, Disney Media Networks, has been buffeted by subscriber declines at ESPN, a problem that continued during the quarter as more people cut cable and relied on streaming services like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Advertising revenue at ESPN also dropped; Disney cited a timing shift in college football playoff games as one reason. Lackluster ratings at Disney owned ABC also caused headaches for Disney Media Networks, which reported a 12 percent decline in operating income, to 1.19 billion. Disney's movie studio had operating income of 829 million, down 2 percent from a year earlier. Box office successes in the quarter included "Thor: Ragnarok," which collected 852.7 million worldwide (26 percent more than "Doctor Strange" took in a year earlier). But Walt Disney Studios suffered from weaker home entertainment results "Cars 3" did not sell as well on DVD as "Finding Dory" did a year earlier. The company's smallest division, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, which is run by James Pitaro, who is considered a candidate to lead ESPN, reported a 4 percent decline in operating income. Revenue related to video games increased, Disney said, but not enough to offset setbacks including lower licensing revenue from merchandise based on "Frozen." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
The images are compelling: Fire trucks in Tehran or Manila spray the streets. Amazon tests a disinfectant fog inside a warehouse, hoping to calm workers' fears and get them back on the job. TV commercials show health care workers cleaning chairs where blood donors sat. Families nervously wipe their mail and newly delivered groceries. These efforts may help people feel like they and their government are combating the coronavirus. But in these still early days of learning how to tamp down the spread of the virus whether it's on steel poles in trains, the streets or the cardboard boxes delivered to homes experts disagree on how best to banish the infectious germs. "There is no scientific basis at all for all the spraying and big public works programs," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "It's at best wasteful, and at worst we're just putting disinfectants into the environment that we don't need." Most transmission of the virus comes from breathing in droplets that an infected person has just breathed out not from touching surfaces where it may be lurking. "Transmission of novel coronavirus to persons from surfaces contaminated with the virus has not been documented," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes on its website. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
This spring, Marcus Olin moved into a sprawling mansion in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles with seven other TikTok creators. His bedroom overlooked downtown Los Angeles, and waking up to the view every morning felt like a dream. "I was like, 'Man, that's my city,'" Mr. Olin, 21, said. "I felt like I owned it." The Kids Next Door, as Mr. Olin and his housemates are known, is one of many influencer collab houses that have formed in Los Angeles over the last year. Several of them have leases that are signed or co signed by talent management companies. In the case of the Kids Next Door house, that leaseholder was Ariadna Jacob, the founder and chief executive of a talent management firm called Influences. The deal was this: Ms. Jacob agreed to pay about half of their monthly rent of 18,500. In exchange, the tenants would produce content and fulfill a certain number of brand deals obtained by the company. That wasn't all. "We didn't have working Wi Fi for a month," said Jesse Underhill, 22, another member of the house. "We couldn't go live because our livestreams would cut out." He struggled financially after moving into the house. "I used to get three to five brand deals a week," Mr. Underhill said. "Since I moved in, it's one every two weeks, and they're lowballing." At the end of July, the influencers were told that they would have to cover a larger share of rent. They all felt the crunch, and the dream of living and working in a mansion with friends turned into "a living nightmare," Mr. Underhill said. By early August, half of the residents had moved out. The house itself has been re listed for sale on Zillow. For decades, young and creative people have come to Los Angeles with visions of fame, fortune and fulfillment. Some have found it; many more have learned that getting discovered isn't so easy. Over the past year, dozens of TikTok stars have had the rare experience of becoming household names at least in some rooms of the household overnight. Multinational companies now enlist them for campaigns, major Hollywood talent agencies have signed them, and managers are looking to cultivate them. There are several established management companies that work with influencers across the social media landscape. Many formed in step with the influencer economy in the 2010s, signing talent from YouTube and Instagram. More recently, a class of boutique firms has emerged to guide the careers of TikTok's young stars. Ariadna Jacob founded Influences in 2018, the same year TikTok merged with Musical.ly. The company's website names brands like Disney, Coca Cola and Johnson Johnson among its clients. By January of this year, Business Insider had named Influences and Ms. Jacob one of the top creator managers, and the company was working with some of the most notable influencers on TikTok, including Addison Easterling and Charli and Dixie D'Amelio. "Ari DMed me on Twitter and was like, 'I'm seeing this image of you going around a lot, have you made any money?'" Ms. Tomlinson, 22, said. She said that Ms. Jacob told her she owned an ad agency and could get her a deal with a kombucha brand. All Ms. Tomlinson needed to do was a sign a contract. Ms. Tomlinson signed a nonexclusive agreement with Ms. Jacob in August 2019. A month later, she signed a new contract, making the arrangement exclusive. Ms. Tomlinson flew to Los Angeles in September and stayed at Ms. Jacob's apartment. "She's buying me lunch and dinner. She claims she's mentored by Gary Vee," said Ms. Tomlinson, referring to the entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. "I met all these people who she said will help my career." (Mr. Vaynerchuk said he has no affiliation with Influences.) In December, Ms. Tomlinson moved to Los Angeles. She had started doing brand deals for companies like FabFitFun and GT's Kombucha and even filmed a Super Bowl commercial for Sabra hummus with Charli D'Amelio. "By January, I realized I hadn't been paid since Halloween," she said. In it, she claims Ms. Jacob is withholding 23,683.82 in fees; that Ms. Jacob "demanded unconscionable fees" of up to 20 percent commission; and that Ms. Jacob bought and is squatting on the domain name brittanybroski.com. "She tries to lock creators into contracts," said Ms. Tomlinson, who is now managed by Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Her case remains pending. "Ms. Jacob has conducted herself with the utmost professionalism and courage in the face of individuals who attack her both personally and professionally. These individuals attacking her don't want to play by the rules of decent individuals in society, but want to attack Ms. Jacob publicly from the shadows, talking to any individual who is willing to listen to them," said Ben Walter, a lawyer for Ms. Jacob. "In an ethical management talent relationship you should be able to part ways at any time," said Lisa Filipelli, a partner at Select Management Group, a digital talent management firm. "Any management contract with a creator should be at will. Less mature companies have manipulated what the word 'signed' means." Chas Stahl of Right Angle Management said that forcing a client to stay when their relationship with a manager has soured is unheard of. "Trust in the relationship is so key," he said. "Without that you can have all the paperwork between the talent and a manager, but if you don't have the trust in place it's not going to work." "Little did I know that I would be entering what would become one of the most competitive, cutthroat industries I've ever participated in," she said in the statement. "I had to make tough decisions, often unpopular, such as shutting down houses due to parties during the Covid 19 pandemic, working with uncontrollable adolescents, and a multitude of potential liabilities that I did not want to undertake." Ms. Jacob also said she wanted to protect creators from mistakes in the industry "the ugly part of Hollywood." "None of the creators who have left Influences were ever harmed," she said in the statement. "Instead some received free rent, a spot on a Super Bowl commercial, trips on jets, private estates, professional publicists and mentoring from the best in the business. None of them have yet been sued and we have not hindered any of their careers in any way whatsoever." Tianna Singer, 19, moved into the Girls in the Valley house, also managed by Ms. Jacob, in late May. "She promised brand deals, money and opportunities," Ms. Singer said. "Everyone was promised income, but that never happened." Members of the house said that Ms. Jacob asked them to create free branded content. "She said we needed to show brands that we deserve to work with them, and we needed to prove ourselves and it would help with industry connections," Ms. Singer said. Her housemates said that Ms. Jacob put a lot of pressure on them. "She would show up at all times of the night," Ms. Singer said. "She'd come as late as 1 a.m., and she'd be texting us until 3 a.m. and show back up at 10 a.m. She'd bring guests with her without telling us." There was a security camera in the kitchen of the house, which Ms. Singer said was installed "without our consent" and connected to Ms. Jacob's phone. Ms. Jacob said that the cameras were installed by the property owner for security purposes. The creators in the house said that on June 7, Ms. Jacob told them they would be thrown out if they didn't post on social media at least eight times a day. They felt unable to push back. "We were often very intimidated by Ari because the conversations became explosive," said Ms. Singer. In mid June, Ms. Singer and others left the house. They described a hectic move out day that involved an escalating verbal fight with Ms. Jacob which resulted in several calls to local authorities to intervene. The group documented the day's events on Instagram Stories; Ms. Jacob said she asked not to be filmed, but she recorded the events too. In an email from her lawyer, Ms. Jacob denied that a fight took place. Justin McWashington, 24, the live in house manager for the Girls in the Valley, said that the next day, he moved out. "These houses look like they're all sunshine and rainbows and gumdrops," he said, "but at the end of the day, it's toxic." Dayna Marie, 20, said that her months in the Girls in the Valley house were some of the most stressful of her life. Her share of monthly rent, which she paid, was 1,500, but she realized immediately that some bills weren't being paid. "Ari told me all utilities are paid for," Ms. Marie said. "But in April the water, Wi Fi and electricity went off. We were using water from the pool to flush the toilets." Ms. Jacob said that she had agreed to pay for utilities "up to a certain point," and that she "was under no obligation to pay the bills." "It's a very predatory environment," Ms. Singer said of the industry. "You have a situation where you have young vulnerable people with the potential to access a lot of money, then you have older people who are going to take advantage of the situation. Tianna's not going to be the first or the last." Sarah Zeiler, 46, met Ms. Jacob in April when Ms. Jacob attempted to sign Ms. Zeiler's 16 year old daughter, Ellie, to a management contract. Ms. Zeiler declined but soon discovered that Ms. Jacob had already added Ellie to the talent portion of an Influences marketing deck. Ms. Zeiler emailed Ms. Jacob and asked her to remove Ellie's name and image from the deck and to stop referring to herself as Ellie's manager. "Ellie had heard from a few different notable people to be careful because Ari will tell everyone she represents you, and that's exactly what happened," Ms. Zeiler said. Last week, Ms. Zeiler discovered that Ms. Jacob was still telling people that she had a management relationship with Ellie. "For any parent to know that someone is out there saying that they're close with your child and they represent them is uncomfortable and unsettling," she said, adding: "I didn't hire her for a reason." Many of Ms. Jacob's former clients are still in the process of extricating themselves from Influences contracts and finding more permanent housing. Most are wary of joining another content house. Mr. Olin said he and his fellow housemates still fear legal action from Ms. Jacob. "Anytime talent wants to leave, she goes straight to suing them," Mr. Olin said. "I have asked her to release me from the contract." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
WASHINGTON President Trump's public call for the Chinese government to investigate a political rival could complicate next week's trade talks, which are set to resume Thursday when American and Chinese negotiators meet in Washington to see if they can find a path to a trade deal. Expectations that this round of talks could produce some type of an agreement have been rising amid growing evidence that the trade war is exacting an economic toll on both the United States and China. Chinese and American officials had been separately charting paths toward easing trade tensions, potentially presaging an initial deal in which the United States agreed to roll back some of its tariffs in return for China strengthening its protections for intellectual property and purchasing American agriculture. But the president's public urging of China on Thursday to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family will only increase scrutiny of any agreement that Mr. Trump may reach with Beijing. Mr. Trump's request came just moments after the president discussed the upcoming trade talks and said that "if they don't do what we want, we have tremendous power." "The events of the past 24 hours have made it even more difficult for Trump to come to any resolution or any trade deal with China, if it isn't an extraordinary series of concessions from China," Jude Blanchette, a China scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Friday. At the negotiating table, officials are likely to still stick to trade issues when a high level delegation comes to Washington starting Thursday. Clete Willems, a partner at Akin Gump who served as a White House economic adviser until earlier this year, said he did not expect the president's comments on Mr. Biden to figure into the trade talks. "Our teams have been very good throughout the negotiating process at keeping unrelated issues out of the talks, and I suspect that will continue," he said. But the president's comments could change how a trade deal is viewed domestically, on both the right and the left. Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said Mr. Trump had just handed Democrats the "perfect criticism" about his trade deal that he accepted a lukewarm deal because he wanted the Chinese to help him get dirt on his political enemies. "Politically, is making a deal a good idea for the president?" Mr. Scissors asked. "My reaction is to what he did yesterday is, it just became a bad idea." A deteriorating situation in Hong Kong further complicates the appearance of striking a deal for the president, who might be criticized for entering into a pact with China at a moment when citizens in Hong Kong are under attack for trying to preserve their autonomy from Beijing. Mr. Trump defended his comments on Friday, saying that striking a deal with China had "nothing to do" with whether the Chinese agreed to investigate the Bidens, and that he would like to strike a deal if the terms were right. "I'd like to do a great deal with China, but only if it's a great trade deal for this country. One thing has nothing to do with the other," the president said. Most Republicans have been silent on the president's statement, but several were outspokenly critical of the request, including Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. "If the Biden kid broke laws by selling his name to Beijing, that's a matter for American courts, not communist tyrants running torture camps," Mr. Sasse said in a statement to The Omaha World Herald. The setback comes at a time when Chinese and American officials appeared to be making progress toward defusing, at least temporarily, a trade war that has been underway for more than a year. Mr. Trump and his advisers have begun looking for ways to find a compromise with China that would forestall another round of tariffs on Chinese goods that are scheduled for later this year, and perhaps roll back some of the existing tariffs, people with knowledge of the White House's strategy said. The United States has already placed tariffs on more than 360 billion of Chinese products. It plans to raise tariffs on 250 billion worth of Chinese goods to 30 percent on Oct. 15 and impose more levies in December. Chinese officials have scaled back their expectations for eliminating American tariffs by quietly dropping earlier public demands that any deal must immediately get rid of all of Mr. Trump's levies. They have also resumed buying American farm goods as a good will gesture to help establish a negotiating environment in which an initial deal may be possible. Still, an agreement is far from guaranteed. Both sides have come close to a deal in the past, including in May, only to have it fall apart at the last moment and tip the countries back into an escalating trade war. Mr. Trump and his advisers have insisted they are still pushing for a comprehensive deal that would require Beijing to loosen state control over China's economy. However, they have also discussed scenarios in which they would ease tariffs on roughly a third of the 360 billion worth of Chinese goods penalized so far and delay further tariff increases, in return for concessions on intellectual property, substantial agricultural purchases and other benefits, people familiar with the matter said. It is far from clear whether either Mr. Trump or Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, would agree to any interim compromise, or that the two sides' top negotiators could find enough common ground to work toward an initial deal when they meet next week. Even if they do, the broader trade war would continue to rage, leaving in place American tariffs on at least 250 billion in Chinese goods, plus some of Beijing's retaliatory measures on American farm products and other imports. But economic and political pressure is growing on both sides to ease the trade war. China's growth continues to slow, while American farm exports have slumped. Manufacturing in the United States continues to contract as businesses express concern about the uncertainty posed by the trade fight. Farmers and rural voters largely continue to back Mr. Trump, but their support is beginning to waver, and the president is eager to shore up that vote heading into the 2020 campaign. If China and the United States do not ease tensions before the end of the year, the United States will be taxing nearly every toy, shoe and laptop it receives from China. The Trump administration has denied that it is considering an "interim deal." But the issue may be one of semantics. In an interview on CNBC on Tuesday, Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, said that Mr. Trump wanted "a complete deal." But he also referred to the limited trade pact that the United States signed with Japan last week as "comprehensive." Unlike traditional free trade agreements, which cover dozens of industries and topics, the "mini deal" opens Japanese markets only for two industries digital trade and agriculture. Trade experts say it appears unlikely that the United States will have much short term success getting Beijing to make big changes to how it manages the economy. That means if the Trump administration wants to reach any sort of deal ahead the election, it will have to consider punting on difficult issues. Chinese officials have also been laying the groundwork for a potential agreement by subtly shifting their stance in recent weeks. After demanding since early May that any deal include the complete elimination of all tariffs, China has quietly stopped mentioning that point. Senior officials have shifted instead to much broader and more vague statements of their country's goals. "The two sides should find a solution to the problem through equal dialogue in accordance with the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," said Wang Shouwen, China's vice minister of commerce for North American affairs, at a news conference on Sunday. Internally, Chinese officials have also toned down their expectations on how quickly they can get the Trump administration to lift all tariffs even if the two sides strike a comprehensive deal, said people familiar with Beijing's thinking. The people, who consult regularly with government officials, were interviewed over the past month and asked for anonymity, citing the diplomatic and financial sensitivities. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
There have been more than 20 biographies of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, including one in 1951 by Muriel Spark and one in 2001, considered by many to be definitive, by Miranda Seymour, who had access to previously unpublished documents. There is even a Mary Shelley encyclopedia. But Mary's life has unending fascination her elopement as a pale, beautiful, brilliant 16 year old with Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married with a child; her starring role in Lord Byron's famous challenge to the assembled company that rainy night on Lake Geneva, that each produce a ghost story. Of course, Mary, not either of the male poets, won the challenge. Thus was born "Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus," about the creation of a desperately lonely monster who exacts vengeance on his maker by killing those closest to him, including his bride on their wedding night. Now, in time for the 200th anniversary of "Frankenstein," comes another biography, "In Search of Mary Shelley," by the British poet Fiona Sampson. In previous biographies, Sampson writes, Mary has often come off as "little more than a bright spot being tracked as she moves from one location to another"; her goal is to "bring Mary closer to us." In attempting this, Sampson writes mostly in the present tense. As previous biographers have, she sees Mary's turbulent life in the context of the Romantic Movement, and as part of an early wave of feminism that ended in the conservative Victorian era and its careful presentation of domestic contentment. In places, her book reads more like social history than biography. At almost every dramatic moment, Sampson digresses, filling in the picture with background information, some of it fascinating, some annoying. The horrifying story of Mary's birth in 1797, when a doctor's dirty fingers fatally infected her mother, the feminist thinker Mary Wollstonecraft, as he extracted the afterbirth, is interrupted by a history of the neighborhood real estate and the renewal of the Alien Act (regulating the influx of emigres in the wake of the French Revolution). Later, Sampson gives us details about the popularity of curtains in the early 19th century and the advent of "industrial rolled plate glass." Referring to the rainy weather on the night of the ghost story challenge, she notes that "the European climate has been cooling since the mid 14th century." (Once she mistakenly calls Byron's half sister his stepsister.) Yet even Sampson's most elaborate digressions can't dampen the attraction of reading about a life as rich with romance and tragedy. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
"I had only ever been myself, and found it lacking," declares 14 year old Cindy, the loner narrator of "Marilou Is Everywhere," the strange and powerful debut novel by Sarah Elaine Smith. Cindy lives in a crumbling house in rural Pennsylvania with her two older brothers, "basically feral," with a mother who comes and goes. The three are frequently hungry and powerless, both figuratively (they're just kids) and literally (the electricity bill hasn't been paid). The book begins with a mystery: One summer, a popular teenager named Jude Vanderjohn goes missing. Her mother, Bernadette, an alcoholic former back to the lander with a declining memory, only half grasps that her daughter is gone. Jude has friends and prospects everything Cindy does not. And yet, as different as their worlds seem to Cindy, owing to chance, to luck, they actually are not so dissimilar: Both of their fathers are absent; both of their mothers demonstrate their love imperfectly. Cindy herself is an odd, outcast narrator who reads catalogs (they're what she can get her hands on) and observes relentlessly, the way only a loner does. She has a keen eye for both the weird (she notes her brother's hands are yellow "like hard cheese"; a voice on TV "sounded like it lived in a lemon") and the lovely (she imagines "the abandoning tilt of a kiss"). Jude and Cindy's brother Virgil "had been quite the couple" years ago, when he was a senior and she was 14. They called themselves Marilou and Cletus; they were "adorable" together. When Jude disappears, Virgil takes it upon himself to check on Jude's disoriented mother, who "was not especially befriended in the community." After a day of drinking, Bernadette by sundown grows confused and fearful. At first Cindy tags along, doing what she can to help, mostly by pouring out Bernadette's bottles of gin. Things get increasingly bizarre from there: Bernadette mistakes Cindy for Jude, and Cindy lets her, beginning to dress and pose as the missing girl. "I stood in the place where Jude was supposed to be," she thinks. "And this, I thought, was a kindness." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
Gabrien Warren, 10, (left) who drew a crowd as a tap dancing unicorn in a sequin dress. At right, a performace as the Oregon Country Fair. Just past the entrance of the Oregon Country Fair, a three day summer festival held in Veneta, Ore., elaborately costumed fairgoers half clothed dragons, fairies and clowns crowded narrow alleys. A family of stilt walkers playing violins and dressed in Renaissance garb nearly careened into passers by. At " Fair ," improv abounds and those without scheduled acts make stages out of shady groves. "I love the community here and how people in society that can't do what they want to do, just because of societies thoughts, can do it here," said Gabrien Warren, 10 , who drew a crowd as a tap dancing unicorn in a sequin dress. This summer 45,000 people made the pilgrimage to the 49th annual gathering, which attracts a multigenerational community of artisans, performers, and new age hippies, many of whom spend months preparing their costumes and craft. Fair draws on the eccentric aesthetics and ideology of the 60s and 70s think Woodstock, or Burning Man without the tech crowd. As the festival expands, Fair community must reconcile it's countercultural identity with the increasing commodification of hippie ethos and critiques of cultural appropriation. Under a sparse canopy of trees, Rose G ., 18 deemed a "Fair Kid" for having attended since age 3 swung her hula hoop in a vertiginous orbit. This year she came without her parents. "I grew up here, these are all my people, and nowhere feels like home like here does," she said. One of her favorite acts at the festival thus far had been a lecture from the Psilocybin Service Initiative of Oregon pushing to legalize and regulate the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms. (No alcohol or drugs are sold or permitted at Fair.) I asked Rose how her experience had changed since she was younger. "I mean, I'm on psychedelics now," she said . By early afternoon, a line had formed around the stand operated by Springfield Creamery, a company from nearby Eugene, Ore., that was crucial in the gathering's nascent years. Sheryl Kesey Thompson, the company's 56 year old owner, inherited the creamery, and its booth at the gathering, from her parents. As she made ice cream, she recalled her first Fair decades ago, when she was accompanied by her uncle Ken Kesey, the author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and a member of the countercultural group the Merry Pranksters. In the early 1970s, when the creamery was struggling financially, Kesey asked his friends in the Grateful Dead to play a benefit concert. The show, called "Sunshine Daydream," took place near the fairgrounds on a hot day in 1972 and quickly became the stuff of legend. A decade later, when the band returned, the concert was lucrative enough for the Oregon Country Fair to make a down payment on the current property. Roger, a 67 year old who says he has no last name, is one of the people Thompson sees each year. When I met him, in a wooded meadow called Energy Park, he was peddling his handmade scroll saw. Roger is a few years away from gaining "Elder" status, which is reserved for people who have worked at Fair in some capacity for over 20 years and who are above the age of 55. He hopes that there will soon be a tiny village just for Fair Elders. He said that many of the Elders were so devoted to the festival that they would have their ashes spread on its grounds: "For a lot of people that's important they've been here for a long time." Environmental sustainability is an axiom of Fair. A large banner reads, "Reverence for the Land." The fairgrounds are considered an archaeological wetland , where cutting and digging are prohibited. The gathering features a reusable diaper service, and food booths use metal utensils. Later I tried to discard the remnants of my Springfield Creamery vegan ice cream in the trash and was reprimanded by a waste kiosk supervisor perched on a recycling bin, a teenage girl who was wearing wings and sparkle eye shadow. When I asked Roger (who has driven an electric car to the gathering for the past two decades) about Fair's environmentally inclined values, he said: "Who are we kidding? There are a gazillion cars out there. It's a gasoholics convention." Despite Fair's ragtag appearance , it is a nonprofit run by a 12 person board that creates a handful of committees. The gathering maintains the aesthetics of liberation but runs with an operational slickness that is both impressive and unnerving: While waiting in line for Indian food, I saw a small surveillance camera in the folds of a dangling tetragonal lantern. People kept telling me that real Fair is experienced after dark, and only by staff members. To participate in the festival, performers and vendors undergo a competitive application process. Volunteers are all grandfathered in. Staff members camp inside the fairgrounds, in clearings behind the vendor's booths. Everyone else stakes tents at designated sites beyond the gates. On Craigslist, last minute camping passes sold for 500 apiece. Normal festival hours are 11 in the morning until 7 at night. Each year there is a much anticipated midnight show. Shortly after close, "the sweep" begins festival staff members join hands to form a line that stretches the width of Fair. The line combs the grounds, expunging anyone who isn't a volunteer or performer. Some daytime fairgoers will do nearly anything to stay for the after closing fun, including hiding in outhouses. On the second day, Risk of Change, a theater troupe, teamed up with the L.G.B.T.Q. booth and marched through Fair in the dusty pinks and blues of the transgender pride flag, with wigs that looked as if they were from a Dr. Seuss book. Earlier the group was dressed as "Ru pollinators" pulling from RuPaul (the drag icon) and flower iconography. Parading in coordinated costumes, the queer led coterie used the volatile nature of performance to instigate conversations about inclusion. Wayne Bund, 37, told me he often uses the refrain: "There are a lot of people who feel comfortable in the traditions of Fair, and change has this risk of making things different." I met Wren Davidson, 70, seated in a camping chair, framed by her paintings. She said, "For a lot of us, this is our Easter, Christmas, Valentine." Having operated this booth for 37 years, she is privy to Fair traditions and drama. She recounted the controversy of the "story pole," a totem like structure that community members had spent a few years carving, but it ultimately was not erected. Davidson recounted critiques of cultural appropriation that had been voiced from some members within and outside of Fair community. She asked though: "Does that mean all of our moccasin makers, our basket makers, our weavers? I mean, where does cultural appropriation begin and end?" There was no end in sight of white people donning and selling the attire of minorities, some wearing dreads, others selling saris or moccasins. Little mention is made to the Kalapuya peoples, who formerly lived on th is land and who still live in the greater Eugene area. Overwhelmed and slightly heat sick, I searched for a place of respite. The yurt at the end of Community Village was covered in rugs. People sat in a circle, eyes closed, on meditation cushions. Shoes remained at the entrance so the smell of sweat and feet filled the darkened yurt. I'd entered a feelings workshop. We were told to partner up and really "let ourselves be seen." In silence I held the slippery hands of an older man, whose gaze was gentle and steady. I had to remind myself to maintain eye contact and breathe. Back in the afternoon light, Fair seemed to slow. In a field some people juggled while others sprawled sunburned and exhausted. Two teenagers, Aminta Skye and Rowan Brown, shared a carton of fries. I recognized Skye from earlier, when she performed an acoustic set on Youth Stage. Skye and Brown, who are both Fair kids, reflected on this year's gathering. Brown felt disillusioned with the festival's financial inaccessibility. "I saved up 100 to come here, but I couldn't really buy anything," she said. Skye said: "Growing up has exposed a lot of aspects of fairgoers I may not have seen. The hippie movement was not forefronted by people of color." As we talked, a white preteen crawled over to us and began to eat Skye's fries. "I feel bad not to make him ask," she said, and joked that the children at Fair were "free range." After the fries were gone, he went for her soda. "I'm sorry," she said, moving it gently out of his reach, "I'm not going to share this." Fairgoers packed their belongings and moved toward the exit. Members of "the sweep" gathered across the field, discarding costumes for security T shirts. Skye turned to the small fry stealer. "Does your dad know where you are?" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
On Thursday, the online vintage retailer Spark Pretty will open a shop in the East Village filled with colorful fashion finds like a neon Lisa Frank jacket ( 450) and 1960s patchwork bell bottoms ( 400). At 333 East Ninth Street. On Friday, drop by the pop up called Kate Spade x Man Repeller Leopard, Leopard, Leopard to receive cat eye tutorials from MAC as well as pro tips from Deborah Lloyd, Kate Spade's chief creative officer, and the blogger Leandra Medine on how to wear their favorite feline print. At 400 Bleecker Street. The designer Gabriela Hearst has pledged to donate 600,000 to Save the Children's famine relief efforts in Turkana, Kenya by making her popular handbags, which always have a lengthy wait lists on her website, available for one week beginning Sunday at Bergdorf Goodman and Net A Porter. By purchasing one of her signature geometric top handle Nina bags, in cognac calf leather ( 1,995), for example, you'll be helping provide food, livestock and clean water to help families survive the drought. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
An overwhelming majority of the employees eligible to unionize at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, have voted to join the United Auto Workers, becoming one of the latest bargaining units within a leading American cultural institution. Election results were tabulated on Friday, after a monthlong mail in election and nearly a year of organizing. "I find this redistribution of power meaningful," Jon Feng, a members and visitors services representative at the museum, said. "I believe in our ability to work together to negotiate and then uphold a more just workplace for all." The 133 14 vote comes as officials navigate the economic challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The Boston museum enacted a number of cost saving measures over the summer after projecting a budget shortfall of about 14 million. Those moves included executive pay cuts and a staff reduction of about 100 employees through layoffs or early retirement. The museum closed in March, then reopened in September with a work force that had decreased by 20 percent. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
At the end of a first date, Jamie Kolnick, a business owner in Manhattan, didn't want it to end. She walked her new companion home to keep talking. "I'd invite you in, but it's a mess," her date said. Except the two weren't on just any date. The afternoon was what Ms. Kolnick calls "a mom date," and a meetup between their 1 year olds. The women matched on Peanut, an app designed for like minded mothers to connect. On the app, users can swipe up to wave and swipe down to move to the next "mama." If two users wave, it's a match. Katie Cox, a mother of two young children who works in marketing in Dallas, said this gamelike quality was part of the reason she joined. "I never had the chance to experience any fun dating apps, so I wanted to check it out," she said. Similar to Tinder, Peanut users log in with their Facebook accounts, and a geolocation tool allows them to connect with mothers nearby. The free app uses an algorithm to match mothers with similar interests users can choose from cheeky badges like "Fitness Fiend," "Wine Time" and "Music Is My Medicine" and experiences, whether it's having a child with special needs or being a single mother. It also syncs with the calendar on a smartphone for easy scheduling. "I like that it doesn't take a lot of brain work," Ms. Cox said. "I can just sit there and flip through while I'm making lunch." She explained that although she has plenty of friends in Dallas, most of them have older children. Peanut has helped her connect and make fast friends with mothers in her neighborhood in the same situation. The app is the brainchild of Michelle Kennedy, a London entrepreneur who was integral to the start of the dating app Bumble (she named it) and a former executive of the highly successful Badoo, Europe's version of OkCupid. Ms. Kennedy, 34, created the app when she was a new mother and discovered she couldn't find mothers with similar interests to connect with. "From an emotional perspective, I felt quite isolated, and I don't think that's a very comfortable thing to say," Ms. Kennedy said. She decided to fix that by creating a digital space where women could form meaningful relationships while balancing the new, and often transformational, act of parenting. "When it's 2 a.m., you're feeding and your baby has been up for an hour, there are very few people who understand how scary and lonely that can be," Ms. Kennedy said. "But a mama who is on Peanut and using it at the exact same time, she gets it." She added that it's the kind of interaction you can't get by simply making friends with a neighbor, or even another mother from day care. Peanut, of course, is no substitute for meeting beyond a screen, and Ms. Kennedy said the app was created for people to meet in real life. But she noted that society had changed, that we no longer live with family and friends nearby. "They say it takes a village," she said. "We are helping you to find the village. What could be wrong with that?" Well, for Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, parent focused apps conjure unsettling images. Dr. Turkle has spent more than 30 years interviewing hundreds of children and parents (and has written two acclaimed books) as research into our relationship with technology. "I'm not saying that being a mom doesn't have some lonely times when adult companionship would be welcome." she said. "But right now the pendulum has swung away from finding companionship with your child." She described scenes of mothers texting while pushing their baby's stroller, and others too occupied with their phones to recognize that their child was trying to get their attention. She encourages mothers to check in with their children to be sure that they aren't feeling isolated. The child psychological researcher Yalda Uhls, the author of "Media Moms Digital Dads," has similar advice. "You have to make it clear to children that you are going to put away the device and be there with them," Dr. Uhls said. She also questions why Peanut is only for mothers. What about fathers? Caretakers? Grandparents? "It feels a bit gendered," she said. The question of fathers resonates with Meghan Springmeyer, who works in marketing and is the mother of a 2 year old. She recently moved from New York to Raleigh, N.C., and used Peanut to find a new community in a place where she didn't "know a soul." She said her husband was a little jealous that she kept making new friends. "I think he is starting to feel a little left out," Ms. Springmeyer said. "That could be Peanut Round 2: Peanut for dudes." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
When New York theaters reopen in January, or next spring, or when some epidemiological genius figures out how to make enclosed spaces with cramped seating even passably hygienic I have a suggestion: Revive Lorraine Hansberry's "Les Blancs." This drama, unfinished at her death in 1965, and completed by her former husband, had a monthlong run on Broadway in 1970. In 2016, the South African director Yael Farber, the dramaturge Drew Lichtenberg and Joi Gresham, the literary executor of Hansberry's estate, collaborated on a revised version of the script, which then ran at London's National Theater. Now National Theater at Home has made the production available for streaming on its dedicated YouTube channel, through Thursday. Haunting, haunted, devastating, it's a work of the past that speaks lucidly and startlingly to the confusions of the present. Set in Ztembe, a fictional African country, the play begins with the arrival of Charlie Morris (Elliot Cowan), a white American journalist, at a rural mission. Reporting on Ztembe's struggle for independence, he hopes to interview Tshembe Matoseh (Danny Sapani), an intellectual who has returned home to bury his father. Tshembe lives in England. He has a white wife and a young son. While he sympathizes with the revolt, he doesn't see himself joining it. But his time at the mission and his interactions with his brothers Abioseh, who is in training to become a Catholic priest, and Eric, the product of his mother's rape by an English officer make the conflict personal and necessary. In Farber's production, bathed in Tim Lutkin's tenebrous lighting, a skeletal outline of the mission revolves on a carousel. (The designer is Soutra Gilmour.) Around the mission stand the Black characters, including a group of women who sing in the Xhosa split tone style as they trail smoke and incense. Under Farber's direction, the play moves away from realism and toward expressionism, even as it becomes a kind of ghost story, in the sense that no one participating in colonialism as oppressor, oppressed or ostensibly neutral observer can ever be fully alive. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Just three months after Marc Porter started at Sotheby's, having moved there from Christie's, he is returning as Chairman of Christie's Americas, the auction house announced Wednesday. Though Mr. Porter will have the same title he held previously, the role has been expanded to include membership on the executive committee, direct responsibility for special projects and a direct line of reporting to the chief executive, Guillaume Cerutti, who in January replaced Patricia Barbizet. Mr. Porter only recently completed a noncompete year before starting at Sotheby's as chairman of the Fine Art Division, in January. He has no noncompete arrangement with Sotheby's and plans to start at Christie's shortly. "In my new job, I can mentor all of these people that I want to mentor, I can stay close to the art which I've really cared about, I can be involved with the private sale program and I'm on the executive committee," Mr. Porter said in a telephone interview. "It's just right for me." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
Who Should Compete in Women's Sports? There Are 'Two Almost Irreconcilable Positions' A restrictive Idaho law temporarily blocked by a federal judge Monday night has amplified a charged debate about who should be allowed to compete in women's sports, as transgender athletes have become increasingly accepted on the playing field while still facing strong resistance from some competitors and lawmakers. While scientific and societal views of sex and gender identity have changed significantly in recent decades, a vexing question persists regarding athletes who transition from male to female: how to balance inclusivity, competitive fairness and safety. There are no uniform guidelines in fact the existing rules that govern sports often conflict to determine the eligibility of transgender women and girls (policy battles have so far primarily centered on regulating women's sports). And there is scant research on elite transgender athletes to guide sports officials as they attempt to provide equitable access to sports while reconciling any residual physiological advantages that may carry on from puberty. Dr. Eric Vilain, a geneticist specializing in sexual development who has advised the N.C.A.A. and the International Olympic Committee on policies for transgender athletes, said that sports leaders were confronted with "two almost irreconcilable positions" in setting eligibility standards one relying on an athlete's declared gender and the other on biological litmus tests. Politics, too, have entered the debate in a divided United States. While transgender people have broadly been more accepted across the country, the Trump administration and some states have sought to roll back protections for transgender people in health care, the military and other areas of civil rights, fueling a rise in hate crimes, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In March, Idaho became the first state to bar transgender girls and women from participating in women's sports. The law, enacted in July by a Republican controlled legislature with no Democratic support, required athletes to participate in sports based on their sex assigned at birth. The law mandated that all participants, including transgender athletes, answer a form about their sex, surgical procedures, medications and even whether they have had organs, like testes, removed. Any dispute in an athlete's eligibility required a physical, genetic or hormonal exam conducted by a physician. The ban was challenged by a transgender athlete in federal court in Idaho, claiming it violated equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye temporarily halted the law on Monday, writing in an 87 page injunction that a "categorical bar to girls and women who are transgender stands in stark contrast to the policies of elite athletic bodies that regulate sports both nationally and globally," which permit transgender women to participate in women's sports in college and the Olympics under certain conditions. While the ruling was not final, it was a victory for Lindsay Hecox, who is transgender and challenged the law in April, seeking to become eligible for the women's cross country team at Boise State University. "I'm a girl and the right team for me is the girl's team," Hecox said Monday in a statement. "It's time courts recognize that and I am so glad that the court's ruling does." The Idaho case and a lawsuit in Connecticut that challenges the eligibility of transgender high school athletes have raised complicated questions about equitable access to sports, human rights and athletic advantages. Scientists have long said there is no single biological factor that determines sex, and the sex assigned at birth is not considered the sole determinant of gender. 'One group prioritizes inclusion. Another group says we want fairness and safety.' There is little or no scientific research regarding the performance of elite transgender athletes, experts say. But some evidence suggests that residual strength and muscle mass advantages largely remain when people assigned as males at birth undergo testosterone suppression for a year. Complicating matters further, medical and ethical questions have arisen about whether any women should be required to lower testosterone levels just to play sports. The United Nations has called required hormone suppression "unnecessary, humiliating and harmful." And there continues to be vigorous debate about the extent to which testosterone provides a decisive advantage in athletic performance. Guidelines regarding transgender athletes represent "sport's unsolvable problem," said Ross Tucker, a South African exercise physiologist who is helping World Rugby develop its eligibility rules. He said it seemed impossible to balance the values of competitive fairness, inclusion and safety because they conflict. "Therefore, you have to prioritize them," Tucker said. "That's the problem. One group prioritizes inclusion. Another group says we want fairness and safety" on the playing field. At puberty, male athletes generally gain physiological advantages for many sports, like a larger skeletal structure, greater muscle mass and strength, less body fat, greater bone density, larger hearts and greater oxygen carrying capacity. As a result, men and women mostly compete in separate divisions. At issue for scientists and sports officials is how much testosterone suppression regimens reduce those advantages. Even if transgender athletes retain some competitive advantages, it does not necessarily mean that the advantages are unfair, because all top athletes possess some edge over their peers, said Vilain, the director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research at Children's National Hospital in Washington. "It's like saying Usain Bolt's abilities are unfair because he wins by so much each time," Vilain said. Contrary to fears expressed by some, there has been no large scale dominance of transgender athletes in women's sports. One former athlete who expressed such fears, the tennis great Martina Navratilova, was widely criticized and walked back her comments after writing last year in The Times of London that it was "insane" and "cheating" to allow transgender women to participate in women's sports. She wrote without evidence that any man could "decide to be female," take hormones and become victorious and then reverse course "and go back to making babies." Veronica Ivy, who was known as Rachel McKinnon when she became the first transgender woman to win a world masters track cycling title, accused Navratilova of being transphobic and having "an irrational fear of something that doesn't happen." Olympic historians say that no athletes at the Winter or Summer Games identified themselves publicly as transgender when they competed. At least two announced that they were transgender sometime after competing, including Caitlyn Jenner. In recent years, transgender athletes have become more widely embraced and successful in sports from high school and college track to international weight lifting. The Tokyo Olympics, postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, could feature transgender women such as the BMX freestyle rider Chelsea Wolfe of the United States, the volleyball player Tifanny Abreu of Brazil and the weight lifter Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand. "All the biological females know who is going to win before we even start, and it's sad to see that all our training just goes to waste," Smith, one of the three plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in an interview. The Connecticut high school association's position is that multiple federal courts and government agencies have acknowledged in reference to Title IX that the term "sex" is "ambiguous" and historical usage of the word "has not kept pace with contemporary science, advances in medical knowledge and societal norms." Miller, the star transgender sprinter, said in a statement in February, "The more we are told that we don't belong and should be ashamed of who we are, the fewer opportunities we have to participate in sports." Today, about 200,000 athletes compete in women's college sports. Joanna Harper, a researcher and medical physicist, estimated that about 50 are transgender. Harper, who is transgender, said that different levels and types of sports should tailor policies to their unique circumstances, including testosterone suppression requirements for top transgender athletes beginning in high school, but with an eye toward inclusivity. "Where there's no professional contracts, no money, no Olympic glory, we should be very inclusive about that," Harper said. The N.C.A.A. policy says that issues of basic fairness and equity "demand the expansion of our thinking about equal opportunity in sports." The organization requires that transgender women undergo testosterone suppression treatment for a year before becoming eligible for women's events. But the N.C.A.A. says it does not set permissible limits of testosterone for transgender athletes. Four years earlier, Harper had published the first study on the effect of hormone therapy testosterone suppression and estrogen on the performance of transgender athletes. Her research found that a nonelite group of eight transgender distance runners was no more competitive as women than as men. Her findings suggested that a performance advantage was not always maintained over cisgender women as transgender women faced a reduction in speed, strength, endurance and oxygen carrying capacity. Harper noted, though, that her research applied only to distance runners and that transgender sprinters may retain an advantage over cisgender sprinters because they tend to carry more muscle mass to propel themselves over shorter distances. In May 2019, the first known transgender athlete won an N.C.A.A. track championship, when CeCe Telfer of Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire took first place in the Division II women's 400 meter hurdle race. Telfer's transition seemed to follow, at least partially, Harper's theory about sprinters. In two seasons for the Franklin Pierce men's team, Telfer did not qualify for the national collegiate championships, ranking no better than 200th in the hurdles event. On the women's team, she ran slightly slower in winning the 400 meter hurdles (57.53 seconds) than she had before transitioning (57.34). But Telfer was faster after transitioning in the 60 meter sprint (7.63 seconds compared to 7.67) and the 400 meter sprint (54.41 seconds compared to 55.57). Telfer attributed her success, in part, to a newfound motivation to compete, telling Outsports.com that she felt a release from gender dysphoria, which left her "uncomfortable in my skin." But Gregory A. Brown, a professor of exercise science at the University of Nebraska Kearney, wrote in an expert declaration for the state of Idaho in its case that Telfer's performance "provides some evidence that male to female transgender treatment does not negate the inherent athletic performance advantages" of a person who experienced puberty as a male. Some experts say the science undermines any hope for universal guidelines. A 2019 Swedish study of 11 transgender women found that, after a year of undergoing testosterone suppression, they experienced only a negligible decrease in strength in their thigh muscles and only a 5 percent loss of muscle mass. One of the researchers, Tommy Lundberg of the Karolinska Institute outside Stockholm, said in an interview that the participants were untrained and that it was difficult to speculate about physical changes to elite athletes because "there are no longitudinal studies." He added, "I'm not sure there will be any reliable data at any point." The International Olympic Committee allows transgender female athletes to compete in the Games if they reduce their serum testosterone levels below 10 nanomoles per liter for a year and maintain the lower levels during their careers. Transgender men can compete without restriction. According to World Athletics, track and field's governing body, the general testosterone range for cisgender women is .12 to 1.79 nanomoles per liter, compared with 7.7 to 29.4 nanomoles per liter for men after puberty. In other words, World Athletics says, the lowest level in the men's range is four times greater than the highest level in the women's range. Separately, track and field has guidelines specifically for intersex athletes, competitors born with biological factors that don't fit typical descriptions for males or females. Those who possess a rare chromosomal condition are required to reduce their testosterone levels even lower, to five nanomoles per liter, in races from the quarter mile to the mile. One of the athletes affected is Caster Semenya of South Africa, the two time Olympic champion at 800 meters, who was classified as female at birth, identifies as a woman and is challenging the track and field policy in an ongoing case. The I.O.C. has been widely expected to require transgender Olympic athletes to adhere to the five nanomole limit after the Tokyo Games. According to new research, which examines available studies of testosterone suppression, evidence shows that even a reduction to one nanomole per liter squarely within the average female range only minimally reduces the advantages of muscle mass and strength retained as men transition to women. That undermines the attempt of sports organizations to set universal guidelines, said Lundberg, a co author of the study, which is undergoing peer review. He recommends that individual sports set their own policies. "It is easy to sympathize with arguments made on both sides," Lundberg said of gender identity versus biology. But, he added, "It is going to be impossible to make everyone happy." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
If your house is like mine, the conversation will go something like this: In reality, few days are entirely fine, and none are entirely empty. So how do we improve on this perennial flop of an exchange? As adults we can often forget how stressful middle and high school can be. While some students are energized by school, most find their days taxing, even under the best conditions. Adolescents may have fun at school with their friends, but they are also in close quarters with scores of peers they didn't choose. The rough adult equivalent would be to spend nine months of the year in all day meetings with 20 or more random age mates and be expected to bounce home and share enthusiastic updates. Elementary has historically been more fun and less pressured than the later grades, but this is no longer true in many communities. We should bear that in mind on the days that our younger children seem worn down by school and when our teenagers seem altogether fed up with it. Many kids, having brooked a demanding day, are ready to leave it in the rearview mirror. They may receive the greeting "How was school?" as we would a cheerful: "Describe all the tedious things you did today!" In truth, "How was school?" is often short for, "I love you and miss you and would like to touch base." Throwing the door wide open by inviting teenagers to talk about any part of the day may seem like we are meeting them more than halfway in our conversational efforts. But seeing it from the teenager's perspective, our broad question may cover more ground than a weary teen can consider. Posing more specific questions usually helps. Asking, "How is that group project going?" or "Did you guys do sprints again in practice?" can move things in the right direction, especially when our tone conveys that we have no agenda or angle to pursue. Even better, drop your line of inquiry if your teenager puts a topic on the table. Should an adolescent say, "English was stupid today," a warm "How come?" can keep the conversation going. At my practice, I am often charged with engaging fragile adolescents on delicate subjects. Asking, "How come?" with genuine curiosity and without judgment has long been my most reliable ally in the effort to help teenagers open up. Sometimes "How was school?" gets a detailed answer, but not one the parent had in mind. Though teenagers will often share good or interesting news, they're just as likely to respond with a complaint, or an entire rant. Having held it together throughout the day, they may be primed to blow off steam when we unwittingly invite them to do so. When the griping begins, parents often step in with well meaning suggestions. "Did you tell the office about your jammed locker?" or "Have you let your teacher know that you didn't understand the assignment?" From here, the conversation almost invariably takes the same unhappy path: Parents try to convince the teenager of the wisdom of their guidance, and the teenager tries to convince the parents that they just don't get it. And the adolescent is often right. Teenagers, like adults, typically grouse to seek relief, not advice. If we can keep that in mind, asking "Do you want my help, or do you just need to vent?" lets us offer the kind of support our children are hoping for. Allowing teenagers to complain is not the same as endorsing their complaints. Healthy venting sessions usually let adolescents return to school (and adults return to work) less burdened the following day. At the literal end of the day, most parents simply want to connect with their teenagers. More than it may seem on the surface, our adolescents often want to connect with us, too. To help make this happen, we might set aside our terms and consider meeting them on theirs. Several months ago at a school I was visiting, I met with a group of ninth grade students. As I often do, I asked them, "When I meet with your parents tonight, is there anything that you want me to pass along?" A hand shot up, followed by its owner, an earnest girl who stood to say, "Please tell them that when I complain about my school day, the only thing I want them to say back is, 'Oh my God, that stinks.' " Her classmates nodded, and some even quietly applauded. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Well |
Hetty Berg in a pool in the Jewish Museum Berlin's garden. Ms. Berg took office in April while the museum was closed during the coronavirus lockdown; it reopened on Sunday. BERLIN On her first day as the director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, Hetty Berg sat alone in her third floor office, looked into a camera and introduced herself to her new team of around 160 people, most of them stuck at home because of the coronavirus lockdown. It was not how Ms. Berg, 59, had envisioned her start at the helm of one of Europe's leading museums. She was taking up the position nine months after its previous director had stepped down following a furor in which critics said the institution had become too political and had lost its focus on explaining Jewish history. "That was a very surreal beginning," she said of that virtual meeting in April. Still, it was important to reach out to her team, Ms. Berg said, to communicate who she was and to hear their ideas of where the museum should be going. It was the museum's stance on B.D.S. that ultimately cost Ms. Berg's predecessor, Peter Schafer, a widely respected German scholar of Judaism, his job: He stepped down in June 2019 after the museum's Twitter account shared an article criticizing German lawmakers for declaring the movement anti Semitic. This followed criticism of Mr. Schafer's decisions to invite a Palestinian scholar to give a lecture at the museum and to give a personal tour to the cultural director of the Iranian Embassy. Ms. Berg has said that she rejects the movement and does not intend to invite any B.D.S. activists to discussions at the Jewish Museum. (The museum has not yet given details of its exhibitions and programs for the coming season and Ms. Berg declined to comment before the announcement.) Meron Mendel, the director of the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt, said, "I do not envy Ms. Berg her position." "Certain aspects of what her predecessor chose to present were questionable," Mr. Mendel said, but, he added, so were the string of firings and departures that came as a result. "I think it is tragic that debates about important issues end up in calls for resignation," he said. Ms. Berg, who, unlike her predecessor, is Jewish, spent 30 years at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam and was involved in the creation in 2012 of the Jewish Cultural Quarter, including the historical museum, a children's museum, a functioning synagogue with a 200 year old library and a Holocaust museum and memorial. In those three decades in Amsterdam, Ms. Berg worked in a range of curatorial and administrative roles. "I really know museum work from inside out," she said, "from the collections, exhibitions, programming, branding, managing." Ms. Berg was very clear about whom the Jewish Museum Berlin was for. "This museum is a museum for everybody who is interested in Jewish history and culture and the events that we offer," Ms. Berg said. "It is for Jews and non Jews." The only way it can serve that mission is by insisting on its independence as a cultural institution, she said, and by fostering discussion on challenging issues through its temporary exhibitions and accompanying programs. "What I think is the problem at the moment is that everything is so polarized and discussions are conducted in such an aggressive way that it almost becomes impossible," Ms. Berg said. "I see it as quite a challenge for this museum." Mr. Mendel said that because debates in Germany on issues like anti Semitism, racism and far right extremism were so fraught at the moment, it was more important than ever for a prominent institution such as the Jewish Museum to provide a space for diverse voices. "I think it would be too bad if the Jewish Museum Berlin concedes this important role in fostering debate and just concentrates on Judaica from the 17th and 18th centuries," he said. Presented throughout is the idea that the Jewish experience has always involved being at home in multiple cultures simultaneously. Visitors first encounter the idea in floating letters from the Latin and Hebrew alphabets projected onto the stairway that leads into the building. These then form the names of places in Europe important to Jewish history. Diversity is another central theme, whether in the myriad objects from the museum's own collection that account for more than two thirds of what is on display, or the different interpretations of what it means to be Jewish in Germany today, heard in the voices of 21 Jews who talk about their lives in Yael Reuveny's video installation "Mesubin," or "The Gathered." "Our stance is that we tell culture and history from Jewish perspectives," Ms. Berg said, stressing the plural. "There is not just one Jewish perspective, and you will see that in the core exhibition." This is the first major refresh of the permanent collection since the museum was opened in 2001. Since then, its collection has grown exponentially and the new show draws on the wealth of those stores: More than two thirds of the roughly 1,000 objects on display including Torah scrolls, flamenco dresses and opera glasses belong to the museum. There is plenty of seating throughout the exhibition, which curators said was intended to encourage discussions among visitors. A special "debate room" aimed at school classes offers prerecorded arguments from sociologists and experts on opposite sides of an issue such as latent anti Semitism in German society. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
Eric Weissberg, a gifted multi instrumentalist whose melodic banjo work on the 1973 hit single "Dueling Banjos" helped bring bluegrass music into the cultural mainstream, died on Sunday in a nursing home near Detroit. He was 80. Juliet Weissberg, his wife of 34 years, said the cause was complications of Alzheimer's disease. Though the theme songs to the film "Bonnie Clyde" (1967) and the CBS sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies," both recorded by Flatt and Scruggs, preceded "Dueling Banjos" in exposing wide audiences to bluegrass, neither made it to the pop Top 40. "Dueling Banjos," which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1972 movie "Deliverance," fared far better, rising to No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. The soundtrack to "Deliverance" was also certified gold, for sales of more than 500,000 copies. But Mr. Weissberg who also played fiddle, mandolin and guitar produced much more than a one hit wonder. More than a decade before "Dueling Banjos," he had distinguished himself as a member of two popular folk groups, the Greenbriar Boys and the Tarriers, and as an in demand session musician in New York. As a session player he appeared on Judy Collins's "Fifth Album," contributing guitar to her 1965 version of "Pack Up Your Sorrows." He played banjo on John Denver's 1971 Top 10 pop hit, "Take Me Home, Country Roads." His fretwork was heard on albums like Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" (1974), Billy Joel's "Piano Man" (1973) and the Talking Heads' "Little Creatures" (1985). He collaborated with jazz musicians like Bob James and Herbie Mann as well. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
LINWOOD, N.J. It was the electronic monitor around a student's ankle that first gave Kelli J. Amaya serious doubts about the Harris School of Business. The young man with the monitor was studying to be a pharmacy technician, and Ms. Amaya, who worked at Harris, a for profit chain of trade schools, knew that the most widely recognized certification for pharmacy technicians excludes anyone convicted of a felony or even a low level drug offense. But the student received federal financial aid, and for the school to keep collecting it, he had to remain in the program and complete an internship. So Ms. Amaya said she was told to find him an internship, even if that meant deceiving the employer. "I saw students who never should have been there, students with whopping gaps in learning abilities and major psychiatric problems who were just not capable of doing the work," said Ms. Amaya, an administrator at Harris's Linwood campus, and then at its Wilmington, Del., campus, from 2009 to 2011. "The bosses were always like, 'Stop asking why they're enrolled, just get them to graduation however you can.' " Her charges are part of a federal lawsuit filed by seven former employees against Harris and its parent company, Premier Education Group, which owns more than two dozen trade schools and community colleges operating under several names in 10 states. The suit contends that while charging more than 10,000 for programs lasting less than a year, school officials routinely misled students about their career prospects, and falsified records to enroll them and keep them enrolled, so that government grant and loan dollars would keep flowing. Though they vary widely in quality, for profit schools have drawn scrutiny in recent years for aggressive recruiting, high prices, low graduation rates and heavy borrowing by students who often have poor job prospects afterward. They have been a particular target of overhaul efforts by the Obama administration. Much of the attention has gone to a handful of large, visible national chains, like the University of Phoenix, DeVry University and Corinthian Colleges, that are publicly traded. But like Premier, which had 17,000 students in 2012, most are privately owned and receive far less scrutiny. In a separate case in New Jersey, dozens of former Harris students say that the school lied about what professional certifications they would qualify for after completing their courses; some were given a brochure saying they could sit for a dental assistant certification exam an exam that had not been offered for years. Premier settled a similar case a few years ago before it went to trial. The former employees' federal suit also charges that the school enrolled people who should not have been in its programs like a student enrolled for massage therapy, though he had been convicted of a sex crime, which would prevent him from being licensed. They say the schools enrolled students who had not graduated from high school, though their programs required it, including some who presented diplomas from known fraudulent "diploma mills." The company's lawyers and executives flatly denied many of the charges, and said others, like phony diplomas, reflected only isolated instances resulting from having a hard to serve clientele. "It's a frivolous lawsuit," said Gary Camp, chief executive of Premier. "We're proud of the record we have. When you employ 1,500 people, you can't always make the best of decisions in the people you hire." Jonathan D. Farrell, a lawyer for the company, said some of the people suing the company "may have financial motives," while others are resentful over being dismissed, and "some are misguided." Some of the complaints against Harris, which has eight campuses in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, echo those made against other for profit schools, and were documented in investigations directed by the Government Accountability Office, Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, and others. Those include high pressure enrollment tactics and misleading promises about job prospects upon graduation. Compared with traditional, nonprofit schools, both public and private, for profit schools disproportionately enroll low income and minority students who qualify for significant government aid, and the schools rely far more on that aid for revenue. Federal records show that in 2011 12, Premier collected 112 million in federal Pell grants and federal student loans. For profit schools also spend heavily on advertising, their students are far more likely to borrow money to pay for tuition, and those who borrow rack up more debt and are more likely to default. Students at for profit schools often do not realize that cheaper alternatives exist through public community colleges and trade schools. A study published this month found that the majority of people who had attended for profit colleges and trade schools did not understand the distinction, learned of their schools through advertising and did not consider any other schools. The most striking allegations against Premier involve students who were not capable of doing the work because they lacked the mental stability, academic skills or English proficiency, yet were kept on the books so the schools could collect their federal aid, which requires that a certain percentage of students make progress toward completion. When teachers gave them failing marks, the former employees charge, administrators changed the grades and falsified the attendance records. Ms. Amaya said she was promoted by Harris, and then fired for insisting on following the rules. The former employees contend that school executives often skewed aptitude tests used to screen applicants by giving students extra time, letting them keep smartphones that could be used to help answer questions, and faking the scores by filling in correct answers after students had turned the tests in. Several students interviewed outside Harris campuses said that when they took the tests, they were told not to worry because the results did not matter, and one said that she was surprised that she was accepted because she had not understood or answered most of the questions. Most of the students said they found Harris through ads or by word of mouth, then met with recruiters who sometimes pressed them to enroll immediately, saying that space was limited. Premier's lawyers noted that no government agency requires the use of any aptitude test. "Maybe what they want is for Premier to discriminate based on disability," Mr. Farrell said. "We deny passing anyone who didn't deserve to be passed at a Premier school." The lawsuit is unusual in that it is filed under the federal False Claims Act, charging that the conduct of Harris and Premier defrauded the federal government. Under that law, a defendant can be found liable for triple the actual damages, potentially enough to put Premier out of business, and the whistle blowers can reap hefty paydays, collecting as much as 30 percent of any verdict award, which Premier's lawyers say is a motive for the suit. The case against Premier was filed in 2011, but was unsealed and available to the public last fall. Premier is bigger than most for profit chains but its name is not well known; it operates under eight different school names like Harris School, Branford Hall and Salter School, each relatively small and operating and recruiting in a limited region. And Premier, like most for profit school companies, is privately held, making information about its structure and finances hard to come by. The company is controlled by a single family based in the Philadelphia area; it is a limited partnership whose members are family trusts and individuals. At one time, a central figure in the company was a man named Andrew N. Yao, an entrepreneur who owned several companies including one making and servicing student loans and was headed to a spectacular downfall. Mr. Yao had airplanes, multiple estates, a wife, and a girlfriend who was a former centerfold model in men's magazines and would later testify against him. In two separate federal cases, in 2008 and 2009, Mr. Yao was convicted of fraud linked to the financial collapse of his businesses. Federal records show that he was released from prison last year; attempts to find him were unsuccessful. The Premier partners, including Robert L. Bast, a lawyer, and trusts for which his nephew, W. Roderick Gagne, was trustee, had invested millions of dollars in Mr. Yao's companies, and lent them millions more at high interest rates before they went into bankruptcy. It is not clear if that is how the family of Mr. Bast and Mr. Gagne, as creditors, gained control of Premier. Court documents and records filed with state regulators say that at one time Mr. Yao, or a company wholly owned by him, was the general partner of Premier in other words, its principal owner. Yet Mr. Camp, who acknowledged that as chief executive he used to report to Mr. Yao, insisted that Mr. Yao was never an owner of Premier, and Mr. Farrell, the lawyer, said he knew nothing about the company's ownership. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Education |
At Ralph Russo, Out With the Critics, in With the Clients As couture week began, 600 guests a well coiffed troupe of royal family members and socialites, politicians' wives and businesswomen flowed into the Grand Palais on Monday evening and excitedly took their seats for a fashion show. Dripping in diamonds and cocooned in furs, many with bemused looking husbands in tow, they beamed like small children at the collection, dozens of fantastical gowns with voluminous tiered silk skirts, or encrusted with hundreds and thousands of pearls, sequins and glass beads, or shivering delicately with cascading bouquets of 3 D pleated organza and tulle flowers. Plenty of women enthusiastically tapped on their smartphones throughout the show. But this being Ralph Russo, they were not just Instagramming. They were buying, too. "Often we get orders via What's App before models have even left the catwalk," Tamara Ralph, 35, the label's creative director, said from her London showroom. "We cater for clients who travel constantly, know exactly what they want and rarely think twice about making a purchase." And those purchases can be 50,000 and up. Michael Russo, 36, the label's co founder (and Ms. Ralph's fiance), echoed the comments: "These women are very particular and willing to pay that much more for clothes that no one else in the room can have. "Our offerings and aesthetic seem to be filling a market niche that few others have tapped," Mr. Russo, a former investment banker, continued. And what is this special niche? One that disregards what critics value, which tends toward the unexpected and unique, in favor of what clients want. Few brands illustrate the broadening gulf in couture between the popular and the critically successful better than Ralph Russo, which in 2014 became the first British couture company in more than a century to be deemed skilled enough to show its collections at Paris Couture Week . It was introduced 10 years ago in London by the young Australian couple, who then had little more than a sewing machine and a lot of ambition. Now beloved by Beyonce, the Kardashian clan, Angelina Jolie and Kylie Minogue, the brand was valued at more than 200 million pounds in 2014, introduced a sell out range of accessories in 2015 and, last November, scooped the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Walpole British Luxury Awards. But, while plenty of journalists from both sides of the Atlantic attend the Ralph Russo show, curious perhaps to see what has caused such a stir, few file the kind of gushing reviews that would theoretically coincide with clients' reactions. "The house stages a lot of client events to make it all very inclusive, and the designers are quite straightforwardly friendly, which accounts for a lot, I imagine, if you're, say, a newly minted billionaire looking for a way in to society," she added. Many designers see their role as guiding customers toward a new sense of self Marco Bizzarri, chief executive of Gucci, once said, "If you listen too much to your customers you will never do anything new" but Ms. Ralph is not one of them. "Ultimately our customers want to look and feel beautiful," she said. "And we are in the business of giving them exactly what they want." Ms. Ralph's mother and grandmother were couturiers for Sydney high society, and her work maintains a faithful leaning toward a classic and highly feminine silhouette that doesn't overwhelm the wearer. Wedding attire now makes up 30 percent of the house's revenue, largely because of the cost of individual gowns rather than the number that are sold, and many brides choose to have their whole wedding party dressed in Ralph Russo. Two hundred seamstresses work at the atelier in Hyde Park; there are two showrooms in London and Paris, as well as 10 international boutique openings planned during 2017 in locations like Miami, Macau and Dubai. Last summer also saw a pop up store at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. It's telling that retailers are fans of the approach. "We picked up Ralph Russo in 2010 just as the brand was emerging and at a time when it was relatively unknown," said Helen David, fashion director of Harrods, the luxury London department store that was the first retailer to stock the label. "It sells exceptionally well; they are also a younger house and therefore adding new categories constantly, which is exciting for the type of clients they work with." Mr. Russo said: "The intention has always been to build an empire that spans all product categories. We just decided that the smartest way to do that was from the very top of the pyramid. We want to get on par with those big names as quickly as possible." He shrugged off any suggestion of a gap in appreciation between old guard critics and new guard clients. "Our main focus is, and will always be, our customer," he said. "And our innate understanding of our customer allows us to be in this very fortunate position. We listen to our clients' needs and design with them in mind." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
How to Leave TV for 'Tootsie'? Get a Role in 'Tootsie' on TV None Sarah Stiles and Andy Grotelueschen on Broadway in "Tootsie," in which Ms. Stiles plays an aspiring actress. Matthew Murphy/Polk Co., via Associated Press "What's Gonna Happen" has long been entrenched in Sarah Stiles's muscle memory. She performs that frenetic number in Broadway's "Tootsie" eight times a week as Sandy Lester, a luckless aspiring actress whose audition insecurity manifests itself in rapid fire, lyrical tongue twisting. At this point, Stiles said, she can feel the song in her body. But when she took the stage one night in mid June, something was different. The couch on the set was bouncier; Stiles kept springing off it and banging her head on the back. She was singing to a different leading man. And she was in Vancouver, thousands of miles away from the Marquis Theater in Manhattan, where "Tootsie" is playing. Then there were the cameras not typically there to record her performance as Broadway's resident nervous wreck. On this night, "Tootsie" was the show within a TV show: the Epix series "Get Shorty," on which Stiles had been playing Gladys, another aspiring performer. (Which really amounts to a show within a show within a show, if you're familiar with the Broadway musical's already meta plot.) And Stiles wasn't just playing Sandy Lester anymore: For a few sleepless nights in Canada, Stiles was still portraying Gladys on "Get Shorty," and Gladys herself was playing Sandy Lester in "Tootsie." Go ahead. Read that again. Take a moment. Davey Holmes, the creator of "Get Shorty," knows you might need one. "This is a real actress who is playing a pretend actress who is playing another actress doing an audition," Holmes added. Through two seasons, Stiles had been Gladys on "Get Shorty," another take on Elmore Leonard's 1990 novel in which mobsters meet the movie business. She did a reading for "Tootsie" early on, while still in the television series, but when the musical started taking off, balancing two production schedules proved impossible. After she finished filming Season 2 of "Get Shorty," Stiles left for Chicago for the out of town "Tootsie" run in fall 2018. In "Get Shorty," on television, Ms. Stiles had been playing Gladys, also an aspiring performer. "I desperately wanted to keep her on the show," Holmes said. But unwilling to stifle her Broadway dreams, he thought, "Well, let's just embrace it." Holmes called Stiles and hatched a plan to write off her character. He wanted to cast Gladys in a Broadway show and he wanted that show to be "Tootsie." So he asked Stiles: Would the Broadway producers be into that? She thought back to the week before, when Scott Sanders, one of those producers, had sent her an email raving about the series his newest TV binge. "I thought, 'Oh, I should put them in touch,' and that's what happened," said Stiles, who mentioned a possible meeting to Sanders over dinner. " He dropped his fork." Days after the Tony Awards in June Stiles had been nominated for her performance in "Tootsie" she hopped on a plane to shoot her final "Get Shorty" scenes: Gladys, already harboring dreams of being a singer, auditions for "Tootsie" in the Season 3 premiere, which aired in October , and in the next episode, she hears the casting news. On Sunday's episode, Gladys makes it to the Broadway stage (in reality, the Vancouver theater) and performs "What's Gonna Happen." ("Get Shorty" even created a dressing room for Gladys without Stiles's pine cone lamp or what she calls its "woodland fairy vibe," but accurately minuscule.) "It was one of the weirdest things ever," Stiles said, "but also just so cool." Even with Sanders on board, securing the legal permissions to use "Tootsie" in the television series was a headache, Holmes said. The show had to get a green light from anyone who held any rights for the musical including Dustin Hoffman, the original Tootsie in the 1982 film that inspired the theatrical production. "No one seemed to know of any precedent," Holmes said. "Lawyers had never heard of it being done; the unions were confused; everybody was confused." The night before shooting the number, Holmes said, they still weren't sure it was possible. A backup plan was in place a different script and a different costume, for an alternate world in which Gladys lands a Betty Boop musical but at 6 a.m. on the second day of filming, Stiles said, everything officially fell into place. Matthew Murphy/Polk Co., via Associated Press "TV is so different from theater, because it feels very off the cuff and sort of last minute in a way," Stiles said. "There's less rehearsal, and it's so fly by the seat of your pants, but in that way, it was just thrilling to do." "What's Gonna Happen," though, is no vocal walk in the park and shooting multiple takes is very different from doing one go (and a reprise or two) onstage. "We told her, 'Look, do it once or twice, and then we'll have you lip sync it from different angles yourself; we'll play you back,'" Holmes said. "But truthfully, she didn't even need that. She sang it over and over. She probably went through the whole thing four or five times." Holmes would later hire an orchestra to play Stiles's accompaniment but, for the shoot, it was just her voice and the track playing through an earpiece. "This huge theater full of extras and all of the crew were listening to me do that song, if you can imagine, without the music, without the orchestration," Stiles said. "So it's just me, just singing a mile a minute, like a cappella. It was so weird. I'm like, is this crazy? I feel crazy." Holmes worked with the musical's designers to create costumes and props for TV that resembled their stage work, including Sandy Lester's red dress. To avoid having to build a replica of the "Tootsie" set, Holmes had Stiles sing in front of a green screen, and the apartment belonging to Michael Dorsey, the Broadway show's gender bending lead character, was recreated digitally. But for all the similarities, the "Get Shorty" version of the musical features one particularly hairy difference: The actor playing Michael, who shifts between himself and his female alter ego, has a beard. For a character with quick costume and makeup changes, the facial hair wouldn't exactly cut it on Broadway . "We could have had the guy that we cast shave, but I just liked the look of his beard," Holmes said. "I thought he looked good with it." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
When Hillary Clinton told her audience at a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday "Here's what I believe," she punctuated those words with not just a vocal flourish but a physical one. Up went her hand, placed over her heart. It's a gesture unfamiliar from her past campaigns, but it's a favorite this time around. In Columbus, Ohio, and Omaha, Mrs. Clinton spoke of her late father, and up went her hand, placed over her heart. At the Democratic National Convention, when she took the stage to wild applause, she cued the audience on how grateful, moved and humbled she felt by putting her hand to her heart, once, twice, then a third and fourth time. It's a subliminal message of sincerity that some language experts consider contrived. Bill McGowan, a communications coach and chief executive of Clarity Media Group, calls the hand on heart motion "the gesture du jour." He said he has noticed that other politicians have adopted the habit, and he doesn't think it's entirely artless. "Voters are more and more wise to the fact that speeches are carefully constructed and vetted, yet at the same time there is so much demand for a higher level of authenticity," Mr. McGowan said. "Candidates are looking for anything that makes them seem like they are speaking genuinely from the heart, and not from a thoroughly vetted key message document." Chelsea Clinton used the gesture when she introduced her mother at the convention. Michelle Obama put her hand on her heart multiple times when she mentioned her daughters. Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim United States soldier killed in combat, did the same when the crowd applauded his son's sacrifice. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada may have inspired the trend: He put his hand to his heart so humbly and so often before cheering audiences during his campaign last year, it became almost a trademark. Or, as Tristin Hopper, a writer for the Canadian newspaper The National Post put it: "Trudeau, however, manages not only a hand on his heart but moist eyes and a glowing expression, all delivered as a kind of silent 'For me? Oh my God, thank you.'" "If you are cynical, which I am not, you could say Hillary Clinton is trying to show audiences that she is warm and fuzzy and approachable," said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster. "But from my perspective, it's great shorthand: It conveys emotion and gratitude and humbleness. It reminded me of baseball players who point a finger up to the sky after a home run to say that it was God, not them, who made it happen." Ms. Greenberg noted that the hand to heart motion was especially effective for female politicians. "Men are rewarded for showing their feelings, but women are still judged differently," she said. "This is a way of showing emotion without crying." There is no way to pinpoint how or when the motion gained currency. When Angelina Jolie received a humanitarian award at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2011, she put her hand on her heart several times to show how moved she was by the honor. But it's rare at Hollywood awards ceremonies, possibly because movie stars holding statuettes don't want to risk whacking themselves in the thorax. The gesture is more common as a greeting or a sign of respect in parts of Asia and the Middle East, so it's possible Mrs. Clinton picked it up while traveling as secretary of state. She did put her hand on her heart during a visit to Saudi Arabia in 2010 but in that case, King Abdullah had inquired about former President Clinton's health, and she was explaining that her husband had two stents put in one of his coronary arteries. It could just be that the gesture is a nonverbal version of phrases that suddenly turn ubiquitous: "iconic," instead of "special," "granular" instead of "detailed," "I'm good" instead of "no thank you." At the moment, the use of "unpack" in lieu of "explain" is popular: When Chris Wallace in a Fox News interview last Sunday suggested to Mrs. Clinton that her economic plan would create more costly government programs, she replied, "Well, but let's unpack that." Sometimes, these expressions are infectious, but Mr. McGowan said he considered it unlikely that Mrs. Clinton adopted the habit unconsciously. (The Clinton campaign did not return calls asking for comment.) "There is probably no deeper analysis of the ways to communicate than in politics," Mr. McGowan said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the campaign tested it on focus groups." Sociologists have tested it. Michal Parzuchowski, an assistant professor at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Sopot, Poland, conducted empirical studies of the hand to heart gesture and concluded that not only does it make the user appear more truthful, it can also persuade that person to be more trustworthy. In his paper, "From the Heart: Hand Over Heart as an Embodiment of Honesty," Mr. Parzuchowski reported that the gesture "leads to increased perceptions of honesty in others and decreases one's own cheating (Study 4) and the telling of white lies (Study 3), compared to persons performing neutral gestures." There is another school of thought on the subject, most easily described as Science, Schmience. On his website, Nicolas Fradet, a consultant and body language specialist, puts hand on heart at No. 6 on his list of 13 revealing gestures. "This conveys a person's desire to be believed or accepted," he wrote. "Though intended to communicate sincerity, it doesn't necessarily mean honesty. It just means, 'I want you to believe me (whether or not what I say is true).'" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
The Sarasota Ballet announced this week that it had engaged the former American Ballet Theater principal dancer Marcelo Gomes to perform as a guest artist. The earliest of his appearances, at the Joyce Theater on Aug. 18, will be his first on a New York stage since he resigned from Ballet Theater in December. His departure, after a 20 year career with the company, came after an accusation of sexual misconduct. Mr. Gomes, in an interview on Friday, declined to discuss the matter, which he has never spoken of publicly. And a representative at Ballet Theater said on Friday that the investigation had ended. Mr. Gomes will be a guest artist with the company in four programs over the course of the 2018 19 season. Reached in Sarasota, the Ballet's artistic director, Iain Webb, said of Mr. Gomes, "these days it's hard to find people who have that level of artistry." "I really feel he's an incredible person, a great artist, and very generous in his work ethic," he added. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
Annie Ross, who rose to fame as a jazz singer in the 1950s, struggled with personal problems in the '60s, faded from the spotlight in the '70s, re emerged as a successful character actress in the '80s and finished her career as a cabaret mainstay, died on Tuesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 89. Her death was confirmed by her former manager, Jim Coleman. Ms. Ross acted on stage, screen and television and recorded several well received albums under her own name. But she remained best known for her tenure, from 1958 to 1962, as the high voice of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, probably the most successful vocal group in the history of jazz. Lambert, Hendricks and Ross were unusual in that they derived most of their repertoire not from Tin Pan Alley but from jazz itself. The group's specialty was putting lyrics to previously recorded jazz instrumentals, a practice known as vocalese. In witty and somewhat surreal words carefully matched to the jagged contours of the original recording, "Twisted," which begins with the memorable lines "My analyst told me/That I was right out of my head," tells the first person story of a neurotic patient who is convinced that she is wiser than her psychiatrist (because, among other reasons, "Instead of one head/I got two"). Despite its unorthodox subject matter, "Twisted" was one of the most popular numbers in the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross repertoire, and probably the most frequently covered: It has been recorded by Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler, Mark Murphy and others. In 1997, Ms. Ross was heard singing the song over the closing credits of Woody Allen's film "Deconstructing Harry." The critic Leonard Feather called Ms. Ross "the most remarkable female vocalist in jazz since Ella Fitzgerald." Few others went that far, but her voice, which could slip comfortably from a smoky contralto to a giddy soprano, proved ideal for handling parts that had originally been played by pianos or trumpets. It provided an attractive contrast to the gruff timbres of Dave Lambert and Mr. Hendricks, while her polished and glamorous stage presence was an important factor in the group's appeal to audiences otherwise uninterested in jazz. Annie Ross was born Annabelle Macauley Allan Short on July 25, 1930, in Mitcham, a town in Surrey, England, into a theatrical family. Her parents, Jack and Mary Short, were a Scottish vaudeville team; she claimed that her mother gave birth to her immediately after finishing a performance at a London music hall. When she was 3 she was sent to Los Angeles to live with an aunt, the singer and actress Ella Logan. She made her movie debut in 1938 in an "Our Gang" comedy short and graduated to feature films in 1943, playing Judy Garland's younger sister in "Presenting Lily Mars." She later moved frequently first to New York, where she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts; then to London, where she took the name Annie Ross and worked as a singer and actress; then to Paris, where she came under the spell of jazz, performing and recording with a number of expatriate American musicians. One of them, the drummer Kenny Clarke, became her companion and the father of her only child, Kenny Clarke Jr., who died in 2018. Ms. Ross recorded "Twisted" for the Prestige label during a brief return to New York in 1952. It became a minor hit, but she did not stick around long enough to savor its success, instead returning to Europe in 1953 to tour with Lionel Hampton's band and then settling again in London. She went back to New York to appear on Broadway in the British revue "Cranks," and in 1957 she joined forces with Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Lambert to record the album "Sing a Song of Basie," on which they sang Mr. Hendricks's lyrics to some of the Count Basie big band's most celebrated recordings, using multiple overdubs to make their three voices sound like a dozen. The album was a hit, and the three vocalists decided to make their partnership permanent. For four years, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross were a worldwide sensation, and Ms. Ross became a model for a new breed of jazz singers who could sing rapid fire, tongue twisting words with precision and clarity. But despite the group's success, she quit in 1962. At the time, her departure was attributed to poor health. In later years she acknowledged that it had been fueled partly by friction with Mr. Hendricks, but mostly by her increasing dependence on heroin. "Yeah, I had a hangup," she told The New York Times in 1993. "A little bit here, a little bit there, and that was it. It was the culture of the time the long hours, having to produce every night, needing stimulation. I guess you're young and fearless and think you're going to live forever." After Lambert, Hendricks and Ross finished a club date in London in May 1962, Ms. Ross stayed behind. "I kind of knew that if I came back to America I might die," she said. The group continued with other female singers. Dave Lambert died in a highway accident in 1966. Jon Hendricks died in 2017. Gradually, Ms. Ross straightened out her life. She married an English actor, Sean Lynch, with whom she briefly ran a London nightclub, Annie's Room. But by 1975 she had declared bankruptcy, lost her home and divorced Mr. Lynch, who died soon after in a car crash. The work had dried up as well. "They say that each of these is a traumatic thing well, boy, I had 'em all," she observed in 1993. With singing jobs scarce, Ms. Ross shifted her focus to acting. From the mid '70s until she returned to the United States in 1985, she appeared frequently on the London stage, in plays like "A View From the Bridge" as well as in musical productions like "The Threepenny Opera" and "The Pirates of Penzance." She also became a familiar face on British television. A role in the 1979 movie "Yanks" led to other film parts, including turns as a histrionic villain in "Superman III" (1983), an addled writing student in "Throw Momma From the Train" (1987) and an aging and temperamental jazz singer in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" (1993). "Short Cuts" and its soundtrack album offered Ms. Ross wider exposure as a singer than she had enjoyed since her days with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. But her singing voice was now harsh and ravaged, in stark contrast to the limber instrument for which she had once been known. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
East Coast slickness meets heartland folksiness in "Irresistible," a political satire so broad and blunt that it flattens every joke and deflates every setup. Movies like this should skip and jab; instead, this second feature from the writer and director Jon Stewart (after his impressively accomplished prison drama, "Rosewater," in 2014) lumbers and flails. Set shortly after the 2016 election, it feels like an artifact from a particularly contentious past, a stale corn chip trampled into Party convention carpeting. Steve Carell is Gary Zimmer, a smooth D.C. political consultant still stunned by his failure to steer Hillary Clinton into the White House. He desperately needs a campaign to help him recover his mojo; and when he sees a viral video of Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper), a widowed farmer and retired Marine, argue for immigrants' rights at a town meeting in Wisconsin, he believes he's found the perfect candidate to road test a message that will entice rural voters into the Democratic fold. Labeling his discovery "a Bill Clinton with impulse control," he jets off to the economically teetering town of Deerlaken, a place where Bob Seger rules the airwaves and everyone knows your pastry preference. But convincing Hastings to run for mayor as a Democrat only motivates Gary's archnemesis, Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne) a Kellyanne Conway type in lethal heels and curve cuddling separates to pull out every stop to defend the Republican incumbent. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Jonathan Finnoff became the chief medical officer of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee in January, taking on a job that typically focuses on the sports related injuries and risks of athletes who represent the country at international competitions. Lately, though, his job has been primarily about the coronavirus and the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where competition is scheduled to begin on July 22. Stakeholders in the Games athletes, coaches, sponsors, fans who have bought tickets want to know what to expect, what the risks are of athletic competition, even whether to avoid the customary postgame handshake with an opponent. The chief medical officers for all of the national Olympic committees plan to meet in Monaco later this month. They will have plenty to discuss. Dr. Finnoff has more than two decades of experience in treating sports injuries, and served as medical director for the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center in Minneapolis, where he has been a team physician for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx since 2014. In an interview Friday with The New York Times, Dr. Finnoff spoke about the effect of the coronavirus on sports events and other mass gatherings and said that the U.S.O.P.C. had no reason to believe the Olympics wouldn't happen this summer in Tokyo but that things could change quickly. "It is a dynamically changing situation," he said. "Two weeks ago there were no issues with travel to Italy, and now there are a significant number of cases in northern Italy." This interview was condensed and edited for clarity: You are obviously getting plenty of questions about what will happen and what people should do in preparation for the Olympics or whether there will even be an Olympics. What do you tell them? We are in constant contact with local governments, state governments, national governments and governing bodies and the World Health Organization. The last pandemic was in 2009, and there have been pandemics before the Olympics. We had H1N1 before Vancouver in 2010 and the issues with Zika before Rio. This is not new, but each situation is different. We are getting a lot of inquiries. There is no indication that the Games are not going to occur, but I tell them to listen to the appropriate recommendations in terms of safety. What are those recommendations? Try not to touch your face. Wash your hands frequently. Stay three feet away from someone coughing. If you have symptoms that include a fever, cough or fatigue, and if you have been in a high risk area, reach out to a local health authority. Check the Centers for Disease Control for travel recommendations. Athletes tend to be younger than the general population. The people who seem to be in the most danger from this virus are older and in compromised health. Could there be a shift that makes younger, healthier people more vulnerable? The epidemiology won't change. It probably will affect the older rather than the young population. It has affected enough people for us to see who is at risk. Sports are trying to adjust by doing things like banning traditional handshakes. Does that make a difference given all the contact people experience when they play sports? We have found it very unlikely that this is contagious when someone is asymptomatic. So if the people playing a sport are asymptomatic, then the likelihood of spreading the disease is extremely low. Every night there are professional sports events that qualify as mass gatherings. Do those events, whether they are N.B.A. games or road races, present a danger? The World Health Organization has issued guidelines for mass gatherings. They aren't saying don't have these events, but do so with precautions. There is no such thing as zero risk, and the risk is based on prevalence of disease in an area. If you are in a place where there is a high number of people infected, then even if it's a small gathering, the risk is higher. Studies that have been done in China indicate that the area where the greatest transmission has occurred is at home, because you've had close and frequent contact with someone who is infected. We have MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and yet we still have the large event known as the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. They try to mitigate the spread through education about social distancing, not shaking hands and avoiding touching the face. Is an indoor mass event more dangerous than an outdoor one? Intuitively, you would say an outdoor event has more potential for social distancing and the air moving, so that might reduce the risk. Indoors, if you are in close quarters, you may be next to someone who is sick. But to my knowledge, there is not a specific study that describes the difference between the two with coronavirus. What misconceptions exist about this virus? There is misinformation about when people are infectious. In flu, there is a period where you are contagious before you are symptomatic. With this, that does not appear to be the case. Coronavirus appears to be contagious primarily when you are symptomatic. Is it safe to use equipment at a gym? In areas where there is significant contact with surfaces, particularly in an area with coronavirus, then if you are touching the surfaces you want to mitigate risk. If you are touching something other people have touched, don't touch your face immediately after. Use hand sanitizer that has 60 percent alcohol content. Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds. Wipe down equipment at the gym. It's always a good idea for healthy hygiene to wipe it down before and after use. People talk about the Olympic Games as a petri dish and a perfect vehicle for spreading illness worldwide. Is that fair? If there was an unknown, emerging disease, and we were not prepared for it and not taking precautions, and you brought people from all over the world in close contact and not taking precautions, then I would agree that any mass gathering like that would have potential to spread disease. But the I.OC. and the W.H.O. and the local organizing committee are doing a great job working with the public health system to prepare not only athletes but staff and people coming to give them information. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
WASHINGTON Economic growth since the Great Recession has improved the fortunes of the most affluent Americans even as the incomes and wealth of most American families continue to decline, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. For the most affluent 10 percent of American families, average incomes rose by 10 percent from 2010 to 2013. For the rest of the population, average incomes were flat or falling. The least affluent families had the largest declines. Average incomes dropped by 8 percent for the bottom 20 percent of families, the Fed reported in its triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, one of the most comprehensive sources of data on the financial health of American families. The new report, broadly consistent with other data on the aftermath of the Great Recession, underscores why so many Americans think the economy remains in poor health. While the pie has grown, most people are getting smaller slices. The result is that wealth also is increasingly concentrated. While overall wealth barely changed during the survey period, the money sloshed from the bottom toward the top. For the top 10 percent of families, ranked by income, estimated average wealth increased by 2 percent to 3.3 million. For the bottom 20 percent of families, average wealth sharply declined by 21 percent to 65,000. There is growing evidence that inequality may be weighing on economic growth by keeping money disproportionately in the hands of those who already have so much they are less inclined to spend it. President Obama last year described income inequality as "the defining challenge of our time." The Fed's chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, said earlier this year it was "one of the most important issues and one of the most disturbing trends facing the nation." But the trend so far has provoked little more than public outrage and political debate, in part because there is no agreement about the causes, let alone potential remedies. Some economists point to the impact of mechanization and foreign competition. Others say that legal changes have undermined the bargaining power of workers. Still others think the economy is suffering from a drought of lucrative innovations. The French economist Thomas Piketty argued in his recent book that wealth concentration is a natural tendency in market economies. The Fed's report said the widening income gap represented a reversion to a long term trend that was disrupted by the recession. It said that the top 3 percent of families collected 30.5 percent of all income in 2013, up from 27.7 percent in 2010, but still slightly below their 31.4 percent share in 2007. The concentration of wealth continued without interruption, albeit at a slower pace during the recession. The Fed said that the top 3 percent of families held 44.8 percent of wealth in 1989, then 51.8 percent in 2007 and 54.4 percent in 2013. One signal of the growing divide is a decline in the share of families that hold assets. The share of families that directly own stock fell to 13.8 percent from 15.1 percent, the Fed found. The share of families with retirement accounts, savings bonds and life insurance also declined. Likewise, the share of families that owned homes, owned rental properties or had a stake in a business declined. In a more positive trend, debt burdens also fell. The debts of the average American family continued to exceed its annual income, but the ratio declined to 105 percent of income in 2013 from 125 percent of annual income in 2010. Importantly, the share of Americans probably struggling to pay those debts has also declined. Just 8.2 percent of households devoted more than 40 percent of income to debt payments in 2013, the lowest rate since the 1990s. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
Inuit who live in Greenland experience average temperatures below freezing for at least half of the year. For those who live in the north, subzero temperatures are normal during the coldest months. Given these frigid conditions, anthropologists have wondered for decades whether the Inuit in Greenland and other parts of the Arctic have unique biological adaptations that help them tolerate the extreme cold. A new study, published on Wednesday in Molecular Biology and Evolution, identifies gene variants in Inuit who live in Greenland, which may help them adapt to the cold by promoting heat generating body fat. These variants possibly originated in the Denisovans, a group of archaic humans who, along with Neanderthals, diverged from modern humans about half a million years ago. "As modern humans spread around the world, they interbred with Denisovans and Neanderthals, who had already been living in these different environments for hundreds of thousands of years," said Rasmus Nielsen, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley and an author of the paper. "This gene exchange may have helped some modern humans adapt to and conquer new environments." In this study, Dr. Nielsen's team focused on another distinct region in the Inuit genome, which seems to affect body fat distribution and other aspects of development. The researchers compared the genomes of nearly 200 Inuit with genomes of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern populations around the world. Strikingly, all of the Inuit studied contained the same genetic variants in this particular region of their genomes. Compared to the same region in Neanderthals and other modern populations, the Inuit region showed at most a partial match. But compared to the Denisovan genome, it "was almost a complete match," Dr. Nielsen said. The region in question contains genes that may play a role in dictating levels of brown fat, a type that is abundant in newborns and generates heat by burning calories. Researchers have studied brown fat for years as a possible target for obesity treatments. In Inuit, the gene variants might promote more brown fat as a special adaptation to the cold, Dr. Nielsen said, although more study of this mechanism is needed. Over all, the fact that the variants are present in close to 100 percent of Greenlandic Inuit could imply that they carry some type of evolutionary advantage. "We do see these variants in other populations, like in South America and East Asia, but nowhere do we see the same frequency that we see in Greenland," Dr. Nielsen said. "That suggests that natural selection occurred there." It's important to note that these variants may have played an entirely different role in Denisovans than they do in Inuit, said Iain Mathieson, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School who studies human evolution and was not part of this study. "It may have just been a normal part of their physiology because they had a different body shape," he said. Studies comparing modern humans with Denisovans are difficult, Dr. Mathieson added, because scientists have sequenced only one Denisovan genome. Researchers estimate that modern humans and Denisovans interbred around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, but where those interactions occurred remains a mystery. Traces of Denisovan ancestry pop up all over populations that have the most Denisovan ancestry today live in Australia and Papua New Guinea, but the genetic variants Dr. Nielsen's team studied were mostly present in Greenland, South America and East Asia. Two years ago, Dr. Nielsen and other researchers identified another Denisovan gene, in Tibetans, that helps them use oxygen efficiently at high altitudes. These studies are part of an emerging body of research that examines how DNA from archaic humans affects different populations today, said Sriram Sankararaman, an assistant professor of genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, who did not participate in this research. "Different populations have different levels of archaic ancestries. Some have more Denisovan ancestry, others have more Neanderthal, and clearly these contributions have different kinds of effects," he said. "The next big step is to look at more genomes across diverse populations." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
BEN BRANTLEY How are your eyes this morning, Jesse? I know we both attended the same performance of Daniel Fish's exciting interpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!," which opened on Sunday night at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn. And it's not exactly a "bright golden haze" to quote from that fabled musical's opening number that's hanging over the Western plains, but a light that scorches. How did you find the view? JESSE GREEN I would call it brilliant chiaroscuro. And not just literally though Scott Zielinski's lighting design goes from blindingly bright, as one imagines the prairie sun to be, to dead dark, the kind that exists in the unhappiest human hearts. Both are revealed to be part of this story that for a long time has offered only midlevel Broadway glitz. BRANTLEY Very true. Mr. Fish is providing a stark illumination that allows those homesteaders we once thought were so wholesome no place to hide, even when it's pitch dark. What's so thrilling about this exposure of what lies beneath is that you feel it was always there, waiting to be excavated. BRANTLEY And perhaps we should mention that wall of shotguns, the presence of which registers as increasingly important and ominous as the show continues. GREEN Yes, a wall of guns on one side and a wall painted to depict the romantic prairie on the other. Together they throw you right into middle of the story's archetypal conflicts: law versus freedom, enclosure versus openness, fury versus love. This has always been a very American story, of course, but has never felt like so much of one until now. Unless it was in 1943, when it opened, addressing wartime Broadway. BRANTLEY I too found myself thinking this was how the original audiences might have felt. How audacious "Oklahoma!" must have seemed not only for the reasons every student of musicals cites about its being "organic," with song and dance arising naturally from story but also in its sense of untapped hormonal energy in a land where there's the dangerous, heady sense of making up your own rules as you go along. GREEN You mentioned audacity, and mostly Mr. Fish is audacious in ways that feel dead on and delightful. The inclusive casting as well as the picnicky aesthetic (chili and cornbread at intermission!) makes this a kind of communitarian "Oklahoma!" something we are experiencing, and implicated in, together. Which I suppose makes it sensible for us to review it as a tag team. BRANTLEY Amen, pardner. The casting, by the way, is spot on and often illuminating. Let's start with Jud Fry, the resentful handyman on Laurey's ranch. Here he's played as a paranoid but oddly understandable stalker by Patrick Vaill, as a pale, weedy man with the kind of grudge that lands sociopaths on the front page and in prison. GREEN I've never seen Jud's pathos his need for love and his suffering as an outsider played so richly. By stripping the production down and peeling away its assumptions, Mr. Fish is getting to the deepest fears of people who, after all, live on a frontier and on someone else's land. In 1906, when "Oklahoma!" is set, this was Indian Territory. BRANTLEY The potential for violence that comes from being on edge in a big, borderless country is implicit throughout. The wonderful Rebecca Naomi Jones's virginal, apprehensive Laurey is steeped in a combination of dreaminess, raw terror and independent minded pragmatism that seems to say so much about where America was then and is now. GREEN The production expresses that most explicitly in Laurey's dream ballet. The choreography by John Heginbotham, as danced primarily by Gabrielle Hamilton, shocked me at first in its raw expression of Laurey's sexual dilemma, but then I recalled how shocking the Agnes de Mille originals were said to be. I came to see this dance, at the top of Act II, as a powerful and necessary resetting of the story. BRANTLEY The show moves off the rails, for me, only later, when Mr. Fish starts to impose rather than mine from within to make his points. GREEN Would you argue that the alterations at the end are unnecessary, that the point is already made without turning Curly into an active agent of prairie justice? BRANTLEY I would. The ending has been slightly altered since I first saw this production three years ago (part of Bard SummerScape at Annandale on Hudson) but not enough to change the sense that it's a bit of a cheat. The feel bad conclusion is the most open and most facile act of rebellion on Mr. Fish's part. GREEN And yet I understand what he was aiming for. With all its balancing of light and dark, his "Oklahoma!" is a rollicking good time: The jokes have never been funnier, the merry songs merrier. But there was no way he was going to leave us, in 2018, with an uncomplicated feeling about the workings of justice in America or about the wisdom of having formed a union from incompatible states. To that extent, I understood the crash landing he engineered. BRANTLEY Let's shift back to what feels so fresh about the show, and so true to its source at the same time. I felt the characters owned their songs and their story in a way I'd never seen before. How did you like the music (directed by Nathan Koci, with orchestrations and arrangements by Daniel Kluger)? GREEN It was a joy to hear how beautifully Rodgers's music adapted itself to the country sound coming from the seven musicians, who were also part of the stage community. The banjo, mandolin and steel guitar were right at home in a way that the traditional arrangements wouldn't have been. BRANTLEY And how about the rockabilly inflections of our still adolescent seeming Curly (a fabulous Damon Daunno). His performance conveyed the pure youth of this brave new world, with all its contradictions and energy. The same was true of our especially callow Will Parker (James Davis) and his love the one you're with girlfriend, Ado Annie. She's played by Ali Stroker, who turns her wheelchair into an all conquering tool that matches her sly, vanquishing smile. Michael Nathanson is refreshingly free of stereotypical cobwebs as her sometime fiance, a concupiscent peddler. GREEN I would just add that, for all its renovations and delicious youth, this "Oklahoma!" is also about acquiring wisdom. For me, the heart of the show is when the elderly (that is, 50 ish) Aunt Eller (Mary Testa, sharp and hilarious) consoles Laurey, and us, after the violence we have witnessed. She tells us we have to be able to handle the bitter of life or we don't deserve the sweet. We have to be "hearty." A good message right now. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
2. While the grains are cooking, stem the chard and wash thoroughly in two changes of water. Chop coarsely. If the stalks are merely thick, dice them; if they are stringy, discard them. 3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium high heat in a large, wide skillet or wok. Add the mushrooms and chard stems, if using, and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms sear and begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chard and raise the heat to high. Cook, stirring, until the chard wilts, which shouldn't take more than 3 minutes (you may have to add the chard in batches, depending on the size of your pan). Season to taste with salt and pepper. 4. Once the chard has wilted, add 3/4 cup of the cooking water from the rice or barley. Cover and simmer over low heat for 3 minutes, or until the chard is tender. Uncover, stir and if you wish to have more sauce with the vegetables, add more cooking water from the grains and stir until it reduces to the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning. Drizzle on the remaining oil and serve with the grains. Advance preparation: You can cook both the grains and the vegetables several hours ahead and reheat. Retain some barley water or rice water to add to the dish if desired. The cooked grains will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator, but the cooking water will keep for only a couple of days. Nutritional information per serving: 279 calories; 1 gram saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 46 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 193 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 10 grams protein | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
"Moses and the Brazen Serpent and the Transfiguration of Jesus," the 1683 canvas that the Mexican artist Cristobal de Villalpando painted for a chapel in Puebla Cathedral, has reputedly never been exhibited outside its place of origin. The work is striking for its juxtaposition of the Old and New Testaments. Atop is the transfiguration of Jesus' corporeal body into light. The lower image portrays the biblical story in which Moses used the image of the brazen serpent to heal snake poisoned Israelites. Starting Tuesday, July 25, the painting will go on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of "Cristobal de Villalpando: Mexican Painter of the Baroque," an exhibition that features 10 additional paintings, most of which have never been shown in the United States. Although perhaps best known for his ecclesiastical commissions, Villalpando was also an accomplished portrait artist famous for his 1695 painting of the main square of Mexico City, which depicts the capital's main buildings, market and canal. (Through Oct. 15, metmuseum.org.) | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
At Coach Inc., which is famous for its leather goods but has become the holding company of an increasingly ambitious fashion group, the name of the game is now ... Tapestry. On Wednesday, the accessible luxury group that owns Coach, Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade announced its intentions to change the name of its parent to Tapestry Inc., the better to express its new shape as a multibrand entity with a variety of unique properties, as opposed to one dominated by a single brand. "It's a wonderful metaphor for what we believe in, which is individual threads of different colors all working together to create a picture," said Victor Luis, the chief executive, waxing a little poetic. Such semantic change has become something of a corporate trend. The Coach Inc. rebranding follows Google's decision to restructure and name its holding company Alphabet in 2015 and Tribune Publishing Company's reinvention as Tronc last year. Next up will reportedly be the Weinstein Company, as it attempts to distance itself from its disgraced co founder, Harvey Weinstein. But in Coach's case, the change also reflects what has become an escalating race to create the first American Fashion Group or, as Mr. Luis styles it, "the first New York Fashion Group." The name change, after all, follows Coach's 2015 acquisition of the Stuart Weitzman shoe label for up to 574 million and its purchase of Kate Spade for 2.4 billion in May. And in July, Coach's rival Michael Kors acquired Jimmy Choo (a brand that Coach was reportedly also considering acquiring) for 1.2 billion. John Idol, the Kors chief executive, told The New York Times that it was "the beginning of a strategy that we have for building a luxury group that really is focused on international fashion brands." By rebranding Coach Inc., Mr. Luis is hoping to send a signal to potential targets in the 80 billion global premium fashion market that "this is a home that is not limited to any category, channel or geography." While Mr. Luis declined to say how many more threads he anticipated adding to his particular tapestry, he did note that one of the requirements for the new name was that it demonstrate inclusivity. "We embrace our differences, whether they be race, gender, sexual orientation or belief systems," he said. Mr. Luis added that while Tapestry was currently composed of brands based in the United States, he was open to acquisitions in Europe and Asia. To that end, the name was also intended to clarify the differences between not only Tapestry and Kors but also Tapestry and potential European competitors like LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (the owner of brands like Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and Fendi, and the world's largest luxury group by sales), Kering (Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, among others) and Richemont (Chloe, Alaia, Cartier and Van Cleef Arpels). "I'm not here because I'm anyone's son," Mr. Luis said by way of example an apparent veiled swipe at Francois Henri Pinault, the chief executive of Kering, whose father, Francois Pinault, founded that group. Then he said, "We are not a group that believes there is a single country where products have to be designed or manufactured," a reference to the insistence by European groups on the importance of origin that there is equity in "made in France" or "made in Italy." Finally, Mr. Luis said Tapestry would include the results of each of its brands in its annual reports, as opposed to lumping them together into a single entity, as LVMH and Kering do with some of their brands. Still, Tapestry is following in Kering's steps in at least one way: In 2013, the French group, too, changed its name (it had been PPR), to reflect its transformation from retail and luxury to a luxury and sports lifestyle group. Mr. Luis said it was important for Coach to find a name that, unlike those moves, "wasn't too corporate y or made up, that was easy for everyone to understand." The search took two to three months and was conducted by the Carbone Smolan Agency. A list of thousands of names was winnowed to "tens," which were then tested for legality and cultural associations in the brands' key global markets. "We were surprised Tapestry was still available," Mr. Luis said. The one catch: a concern that tapestries could be seen as old fashioned, and possibly even elitist, associated as they are with European history and palaces. Ultimately, though, the word's suggestions of craft and handwork outweighed the negatives. Of course, there is at least one other reference associated with "Tapestry." "For anyone who is aware of the album, Carole King does come up," Mr. Luis acknowledged, referring to the 1971 record. (He admitted that he had it at home.) "But we discovered most millennials had not heard of it." Besides, it is not turning "Tapestry" into its theme music. "We will not be playing it in the office," he said. The name change officially goes into effect Oct. 31. Tapestry will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TPR, as opposed to the former COH. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
JACKIE SARIL'S nickname is Marisa Tomei, not that the two look much alike. For starters, Ms. Saril, who co owns a public relations firm, has red hair. But her broad knowledge of vintage American cars reminds her friends of Mona Lisa Vito, Ms. Tomei's caricature of a fast talking, gum chewing, surprisingly car smart New Yorker in the 1992 film "My Cousin Vinny." "My grandfather babysat me," Ms. Saril recalled one recent rainy afternoon at Chat American Grill, a stylish restaurant here, about a half hour north of Manhattan. "I was 5 years old, and he lived down the street from me in Brooklyn." The two would sit in folding chairs in front of his house "typical Brooklyn," she says and he would identify the cars that drove past. "That's a Buick, that's an Oldsmobile, that's a Chevy," she recalled her grandfather saying. "By the time I was 6, I was making lists of cars. That was my fun." Ms. Saril says she has always wanted to buy a classic car. When her grandfather died, she considered his 1967 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight, even if it was not exactly a classic. But she was always too busy with her career or her family to entertain the idea seriously. Then, as her 40th birthday approached, she made a lowball bid on eBay for a blue and white 1961 Pontiac Tempest Custom Coupe. She won it for 3,500. "My husband said I could buy a car for myself," she said. "Then he went away on business. Three days later, I bought this. He said, 'Already?'" Ms. Saril arrived at the restaurant dressed in various shades of blue, perhaps in tribute to her car: blue jeans, a cobalt shawl collar sweater and royal blue suede boots. She was clutching a two inch plastic accordion organizer filled with Tempest ephemera. "It's not enough to have the car," she said. "You've got to have the stuff." The stuff included a copy of a Pontiac news release that announced the debut of the Tempest two door at the International Auto Show in New York in 1961. She pulled out a copy of the original order form for her car, which had been bought at a dealership in San Francisco. She quickly decoded the vehicle identification number and ran down the options list on the order form. "Didn't go for the air conditioner," she said. "Interesting. No power steering, no power brakes." Next, she pulled out a back issue of Motor Trend (in a clear plastic sleeve) that named the Tempest the magazine's Car of the Year for 1961. She had an original sales brochure and a Pontiac color chip chart to show how the Tempest looked from the factory (in Tradewind blue) and the color it had been repainted (a two tone of Bristol blue and white). Ms. Saril said some of her archive was found through the Pontiac Oakland Club International. Other memorabilia, like a 1978 issue of Special Interest Autos that featured a tribute to the Tempest, were found in eBay searches. To some, the Tempest moniker conjures images of the powerful GTO, which was based on later models of the Tempest. But the original 1961 model emerged from more practical needs. "It was General Motors' response to the Beetle," Ms. Saril said, telling a sadly familiar tale of a foreign automaker selling compact cars in America while Detroit, accustomed to building large gas guzzling vehicles, struggled to catch up. "In 1960, Volkswagen was having an impact on sales with its Beetle," Ms. Saril said. "Detroit had huge cars with huge tailfins. Volkswagen took advantage of that. The guys at General Motors looked at what was going on and realized they needed a car to compete with the Beetle." G.M. first came up with the Corvair, which shared the Beetle's rear engine layout. The Corvair was an immediate success, and the other G.M. divisions came up with their own versions of the small economy car, said Greg Walters, director of Little Indians, a chapter of the Pontiac Oakland club for 1961 63 Tempest and LeMans models. He was referring to G.M.'s Y Body cars, which included the Buick Special and Oldsmobile F 85. Mr. Walters said in an e mail message that Pontiac had a radical idea to use the same production line that built its V 8 to also make a new economy 4 cylinder in the same machining operation by simply using half of the 389 cubic inch V 8. And thus, the slant 4 engine was born. But the slant 4 wasn't the only mechanical oddity in the early Tempest. "They then tried an even more radical idea of using a rear mounted modified Corvair transaxle coupled to an amazing torque shaft that is bent in a three inch downward bow inside a tunnel that couples the entire drivetrain into one unit," Mr. Walters said. "The bow was needed to pre load it to eliminate vibrations." There were two benefits to the invention, which has since come to be known by the less than affectionate nickname of "rope drive." The first benefit was a balanced distribution of weight over the front and rear wheels, improving the handling. Second, according to Mr. Walters, the rope drive "allowed a nearly flat floor like the Corvair and VW had." The other G.M. divisions opted for a conventional driveshaft tunnel, with a hump in the floor and a more conventional drivetrain. For Ms. Saril, the slant 4 and rope drive fit the bill. "I knew I was looking for something quirky," she said. After lunch, Ms. Saril drove to see her mechanic, Joe Cermele, at Sal's Auto Service in Scarsdale, where her 1983 Mercedes Benz 380SL was being checked for an engine idling problem. "After I bought the Tempest, I got the Mercedes," she said, explaining that she had a temporary infatuation with buying vintage cars that ended with the Mercedes. "They just put a new idle relay in because the car was racing," she explained. "I self diagnosed the car on the computer and brought it in this morning. I said, 'I figured out what's wrong with the car.' And Joe said, 'We know.'" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
No one really denies that Cook, Kamara and the others are useful players who help their teams win. But the college ranks produce dozens of burly, speedy, determined and affordable rushers in every draft class, while the rigors of plunging into the teeth of N.F.L. defenses quickly wear down all but the rarest backs. The difference in marginal value between a 26 year old All Pro with 1,000 professional carries on his odometer and the typical midround rookie doesn't come close to the costs: roughly 12 million per year for the veteran, less than 2 million for the rookie. Furthermore, the rookie is more likely to produce positive results. Of the 15 running backs who rushed for over 1,000 rushing yards last season, 12 of them were on their original rookie contracts and 13 of them were 25 or younger. Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys was last season's only 1,000 yard rusher who was playing on a contract extension for the team that had drafted him. Thanks to his 90 million eruption of generosity toward Elliott, the Cowboys' owner, Jerry Jones, is currently searching for loose change in the cushions of his salary cap sofa so he can afford to pay quarterback Dak Prescott. Last weekend's action was full of examples of the folly of overpaying running backs. Cook rushed for 50 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, while his minimum wage backup, Alexander Mattison, rushed for an identical 50 yards on six carries. Malcolm Brown, Gurley's low cost replacement for the Rams, rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns, while Gurley gained 56 yards and had one touchdown for the Falcons. The Jacksonville Jaguars released Leonard Fournette rather than pay him Cook Kamara money in late August; he rushed five times for 5 yards for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, while the undrafted Illinois State rookie James Robinson gained 90 yards from scrimmage in Fournette's place in a Jaguars victory. General managers and coaches know that running backs rarely pay dividends on lucrative contracts. Yet they continue to convince themselves that each situation is an exception. Kamara is a key piece of the Saints' Super Bowl puzzle, so why not risk mortgaging the future? (Ask the Rams about Gurley.) McCaffrey and Kamara are versatile rushers and receivers, so they will age more gracefully! (So is/was Bell.) As for Cook, well, the Vikings simply enjoy paying retail for name brands. Some teams also just want to reward successful employees like Kamara and Cook for their hard work. That's a laudable policy in a league that rarely does anything laudable. Young running backs sell jerseys, spur the fantasy industry, provide thrills and inspire dreams; it's hard to criticize their big paydays without sounding like a grouchy, myopic bean counter. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
On Tuesday night, the interior of St. Mark's Church was a beautiful ruin. Shards of white plastic like crushed ice or shattered plaster were strewn in long lines from the altar to the exit, suggesting the wake of some powerful force. Two people entered in silence and stared at each other, as if to say, "What do we do now?" Those people were the dancer choreographer Jean Butler and the cellist composer Neil Martin. The most engrossing aspect of their duet at Danspace Project, "this is an Irish dance," is the sense of a search for a way to communicate, she with her body and bare feet, he with his cello. The work grew out of such an exchange, the pair improvising together in a church in Ireland, and it retains a fitful, improvisatory rhythm. It's nearly as fragmented as the plastic shards (designed by Frank Conway). For Ms. Butler, the violent force evoked by those shards could be "Riverdance." She was one of the original stars of that spectacle, which hit the traditional Irish dance of her Irish American upbringing like a meteor, and her career since has been an admirable quest for another path: quieter, experimental, exposed. (Anyone curious about the opposite course can catch the farewell performances of the other original star of "Riverdance," Michael Flatley, in his "Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games" at the Lyric Theater.) | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
Two drug companies that are leading the race to develop coronavirus vaccines bowed to public pressure on Thursday, abandoning their traditional secrecy and releasing comprehensive road maps of how they are evaluating their vaccines. The companies, Moderna and Pfizer, revealed details about how participants are being selected and monitored, the conditions under which the trials could be stopped early if there were problems, and the evidence researchers will use to determine whether people who got the vaccines were protected from Covid 19. Companies typically share these documents after their studies are complete. The disclosures while the trials are still underway, a rare move, are aimed at addressing growing suspicion among Americans that President Trump's drive to produce a vaccine before the election on Nov. 3 could result in a product that was unsafe. The plan released by Moderna on Thursday morning included a likely timetable that could reach into next year for determining whether its vaccine works. It does not jibe with the president's optimistic predictions of a vaccine widely available to the public in October. Pfizer's plan does not appear to estimate when its results could be available. Its chief executive has said repeatedly that the company hopes to have an answer as early as October. Moderna has said only that it could have a result before the end of the year. Moderna's 135 page plan, or protocol, indicated that the company's first analysis of early trial data might not be conducted until late December, though company officials now say they expect the initial analysis in November. In any case, there may not be enough information then to determine whether the vaccine works, and the final analysis might not take place until months later, heading into the spring of next year. Moderna's timeline meshes with the cautionary estimates from many researchers, including Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who told senators on Wednesday that a vaccine would not be widely available until the middle of next year. Hours later, Mr. Trump sharply contradicted him, making unsubstantiated projections that a vaccine could become widely available weeks from now. On Wednesday, Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, said in Wilmington, Del., that the process used to evaluate and approve a vaccine would have to be "totally transparent" to win public confidence. He has said that Mr. Trump's calls for companies and regulators to speed the process have shaken the public's faith in vaccines and that politics has no place in vaccine development. Researchers in particular have been urging vaccine makers to share the detailed blueprints of their studies so that outside experts can evaluate them. At least one expert, after reading the plans, has already raised questions about the way the trials were designed. Here's what you need to know about Pfizer's Covid 19 Vaccine. "I want to acknowledge a good deed done," said Peter Doshi, who is on the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore and an editor with The BMJ, a medical journal. He previously requested the plans from Moderna and Pfizer. "They have opened up, for the first time, the ability for researchers not involved in the trial to form their own independent judgment about the design of this study." Until now, none of the nine companies that are testing vaccines in large clinical trials had released this level of detail. Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer, which is collaborating with the German company BioNTech, are among the front runners in the global race to produce a vaccine to fight the pandemic. A spokeswoman for AstraZeneca said the company intended to publish its protocol shortly. Novavax, which is expected to start a large, advanced clinical trial later this year, also did not comment. Johnson Johnson, which has said it plans to begin a large trial this month, said it would have "more information to share" when the trial starts. AstraZeneca's trial was stopped temporarily because of serious illness in a participant. It has resumed in Britain and Brazil, but not in the United States. Earlier studies of both vaccines in small numbers of people found that after the second shot, they developed so called neutralizing antibodies, which can inactivate the virus in lab tests. The vaccines also produced a favorable response involving T cells, another part of the immune system. Dr. Tal Zaks, chief medical officer for Moderna, the first coronavirus vaccine maker to release its detailed plan, said pharmaceutical companies were usually reluctant to do so, for competitive reasons. "I'm proud of doing that," he said in an interview. "I don't think there's much there that we're disclosing that hasn't already been spoken to, but let the public be the judge of that." Dr. Zaks said Moderna had consulted an outside ethics expert who advised the company that the only way to win trust was to be "transparent to the point of discomfort." Who should get a booster shot? It depends, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says. In a statement, Pfizer said it did not usually did not release its protocols, adding, "We recognize, however, that the COVID 19 pandemic is a unique circumstance and the need for transparency is clear." Dr. Eric Topol, a clinical trial expert at Scripps Research in San Diego, gave Moderna "big kudos" for sharing its plan but said that he was disappointed that Moderna intended to include in its data people who had developed relatively mild cases of Covid 19. He said more compelling evidence of the vaccine's effectiveness would be produced if the company counted only moderate to severe cases. Moderna's plan also allows for the possibility of stopping the trial early after a relatively small number of cases, potentially leading to an exaggerated perception of the vaccine's efficacy and missing safety problems that could turn out to be significant later if the vaccine were given to millions of people, he said. Dr. Topol was more critical of Pfizer's plan because it allowed even milder cases than Moderna's to be counted and provided more opportunities to stop the trial early based on few cases, which he called troubling. In both Moderna's and Pfizer's studies, half of the participants receive the vaccine, and half receive a placebo shot consisting of salt water, with neither the volunteers nor the doctors treating them knowing who gets which. Two shots are needed, four weeks apart for Moderna and three weeks apart for Pfizer. The participants are then monitored to see if they develop symptoms of Covid 19 and test positive for the virus. Side effects of the vaccines are also tracked. In earlier studies, both vaccines have caused transient reactions like a sore arm, fever, chills, muscle and joint pain, fatigue and headaches. To determine the vaccine's efficacy, Moderna counts Covid 19 cases only if they occur two weeks after the second shot. Pfizer starts counting them seven days after the second shot. A total of 151 cases of Covid 19 from among the tens of thousands of people participating in the trial spread between the vaccine and placebo groups would be enough to determine whether the Moderna vaccine is 60 percent effective. Pfizer's case count for 60 percent efficacy is 164. The Food and Drug Administration has said any coronavirus vaccines must be at least 50 percent effective. Many outside researchers have been watching for details about how the trials could be stopped early, given the push to bring a vaccine to market as soon as possible. That could happen only when outside panels of experts examine the data while the trials are underway. If the vaccine is extremely effective, they could stop the trial because it would be unethical to continue giving some participants a placebo. The panel, called a data safety monitoring board, will perform its first analysis of Moderna's efficacy data once 53 cases of Covid 19 have been diagnosed. Pfizer's first analysis will be done after 32 cases. The board could recommend stopping the Moderna trial after 53 cases if it was found to be 74 percent effective. In the case of Pfizer, the effectiveness would need to be better than about 77 percent. Moderna has two more analysis points; Pfizer has four. Dr. Topol said studies often allowed only one look at the data partway through, and he had sharp words for Pfizer's use of four. "It's programming the trial to have so many looks that it might stop early," he said. Moderna's chief executive, Stephane Bancel, said the company would report publicly on the results of the first so called interim analysis, and the next one, when they are conducted. Pfizer has said that it will share information about the analyses only if a decision is made that the trial should be stopped, either because it is very effective or because it does not appear to be working. The safety board can also put the trial on hold if there is evidence that a participant may have been harmed, as occurred recently in AstraZeneca's vaccine study. Dr. Zaks and Mr. Bancel said in interviews that the first analysis would probably not take place before November. In theory, the vaccine could be found effective at that point, though the odds of that are not high, Dr. Zaks said. If the data are not conclusive, the panel would look again after there had been a total of 106 cases. If there were still no answer, the next and final analysis would occur after 151 people had contracted Covid. How long it takes to reach any of those case counts depends on the trajectory of the pandemic and how likely participants are to be exposed to the virus. Whether or not the vaccine is effective, the participants' health will be monitored for two years after the second shot, the plan stated. Moderna and other companies have already begun making their vaccines "at risk," meaning financial risk, because if the products are found not to work, they will have to be thrown away. Both Moderna and Pfizer have projected that millions of doses will be ready early in 2021. But the world's population is seven billion, and for a number of these vaccines, everyone would need two doses. "In the first half of next year, at least maybe until Labor Day next year, I anticipate that the world is going to be massively supply constrained, meaning not enough vaccine to vaccinate everybody," Mr. Bancel of Moderna said. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
"We Are Still Watching," by the Croatian born choreographer and author Ivana Muller, is less a show than a script, or sociology experiment. Everyone who goes to watch it, as a small group did in the third floor studios of New York Live Arts on Tuesday, is randomly handed a number corresponding to one of the seats arranged in an inward facing square. Under some seats are copies of a script, each with a different role highlighted in yellow. The only outside guidance, apart from the text, is instructions on how to begin reading aloud. Presented as part of French Institute Alliance Francaise's Crossing the Line festival, "We Are Still Watching" is about the experience of "We Are Still Watching." The lines are those of people conversing about what might happen as they read the scripts, which are passed around in accordance with stage directions, and what it might mean. The roles have personalities or attitudes: optimistic, skeptical, lecherous, resistant. Someone raises the question of why they are all paying to do this. Someone says he hates participatory theater. The script, in other words, is self aware and funny, and the humor is cleverly designed to be heightened by amateur readings. On Tuesday, there was sometimes comedy in the chance combination of line and person, but the work's humor is at no one's expense. There's none of the coercion or humiliation endemic in participatory theater. The text is ingenious enough to induce choral chanting, even in canon form, but the work's most remarkable effect is the speed with which it creates a community. Everyone is in it together. In other cities, Ms. Muller has said, participants have gone off script or objected to what they were supposed to say. On Tuesday, there was low level anxiety, particularly in the silence when someone missed a line, but the suggestions in the text to abandon it or make up something else never felt like real possibilities. For better and worse, everyone seemed to feel safe sticking to the script. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
Josh Nyer's New Year's Eve blowout is going to be just that: a colossal fest, with 30 friends, rivers of Champagne and vodka, cases of 1942 Don Julio tequila and Caymus wine. By the time 2015 rolls in, chances are Mr. Nyer will have sufficiently overindulged and be grappling with a brutal headache and more than a little nausea. But Mr. Nyer, 29, a residential mortgage banker in Manhattan, believes he is well prepared for his post party depression. He has already booked an appointment with the I.V. Doc, a mobile hydration service that will deliver a hangover treatment directly into his arm via a needle, all from the comfort of his own couch. "I love it," Mr. Nyer said of the 229 "detox," which consists of 1,000 milliliters of saline solution and electrolyte replacement fluid, and a choice of nausea, heartburn or anti inflammatory medication. Mr. Nyer has been known to send the service to clients after a night of heavy drinking and schmoozing. "I'm not a degenerate, but I have to entertain clients a lot. And if we're out until 3 or 4 a.m., and we've got to be up at 6:30, I take this, I feel I can go about my day," he said. "I don't have to do anything. I let them in, I turn on the TV, I sit on the couch and lie there." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
"Yes, Michael Bloomberg, former New York City mayor and world's richest house elf is on the verge of jumping into the Democratic primary because he doesn't think any of the current candidates can beat Trump. And you have to admit, that's such a billionaire thing to do, right?" TREVOR NOAH "Like, why do billionaires always do this, you know? It's not just him look at Bruce Wayne. Gotham's crime was out of control. Instead of complaining about the cops, he was like, 'Alfred, build me a car that shoots grenades I'll do it myself!'" TREVOR NOAH "And I see what Bernie and other Democrats are saying. The only reason it's even possible for Bloomberg to jump into the race so late isn't because he has like a groundswell of popular support behind him, it's that he has 53 billion to spend. Yeah, 53 billion. With that amount of money, Bloomberg could keep cloning different versions of himself until he finds the most electable one. He could be like: 'How about a tall Bloomberg? Or how about a buff Bloomberg? What about a black Bloomberg? Oh no! Now I have to stop and frisk myself!'" TREVOR NOAH "Why doesn't he just tell everyone if they vote for him they get 20?" DESUS NICE "You've been watching the rampant corruption of the Trump presidency, the catastrophic failure of the Trump administration and the destructive influence the wealthy have had on politics and you're saying to yourself, 'You know what can fix this? A different rich guy.' Because if we've learned one thing from the past decade of politics, from the financial crisis to the Trump presidency, it's that rich people, with zero exceptions, know what they're doing. That's why they always do smart, sane things like leaving all their money to their cats or going on a podcast and smoking weed like Elon Musk." SETH MEYERS | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
As the area around the High Line park continues its transformation from industrial hub to upscale housing district, a gas station is giving way to a boutique condominium. In a trendy submarket, creating something original and unconventional seemed important for the team behind the Getty, a partnership of the developers Shvo and the Victor Group, and the architect Peter Marino. Different types of stone finishes will be used in different apartments, and stone will also vary in the kitchen and baths of each unit, said Michael Shvo, the chief executive of Shvo, adding that various types of marble, limestone and onyx from overseas quarries will be favored. Likewise, the window panes for the condo will all be different sizes, Mr. Shvo said, giving each window a distinctive look. "This building goes against the theory of development where you build things for the economies of scale," Mr. Shvo said during a recent tour. Like a large scale sculpture, perhaps, the Getty has been slow to take shape. It broke ground in November 2014, and is not expected to open until summer 2017. Similarly, the Getty's offering plan, which was submitted in July 2015, was still awaiting approval by the state's attorney general as of Aug. 24. The delays can be explained by a design change, said Ran Korolik, the executive vice president of the Victor Group. This tenant will be the Hill Art Foundation, which plans to operate a 6,400 square foot two story museum on the Getty's third and fourth floors showcasing the private collection of J. Tomilson Hill, the vice chairman of the Blackstone Group private equity firm, and his wife, Janine. Multiple works by Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol are included in their collection. Joining the foundation in the building will be the third New York location of the Lehmann Maupin gallery, which will occupy the Getty's basement and first two stories. Above the galleries, each of the apartments will have two elevators, Mr. Shvo said, plus at least one fireplace. Also, five of the six units will have terraces, including the duplex penthouse, which, according to Mr. Shvo, has a ceiling that stretches to 24 feet. Mr. Marino, who designed the Getty's checkerboard metal and glass facade, achieved early fame as a designer, in the 1970s, of one of Warhol's "Factories," on East 66th Street. Through the years, he has enjoyed a roster of prominent clients, like Louis Vuitton, for which he designed a boutique on Fifth Avenue, and Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone's chief executive, for whom he designed an apartment. But except for 170 East End Avenue, a condominium on the Upper East Side, Mr. Marino doesn't have many multifamily projects in New York. Adding his name to the so called Design Row that the High Line has become, however, could quickly enhance his profile, according to Mr. Korolik. For Mr. Shvo, the project is part of an attempt at a comeback. A high flying real estate broker who took a multiyear break after the housing industry collapsed, Mr. Shvo now has a handful of projects underway in Manhattan, like 565 Broome SoHo, a 115 unit condominium he is working on, along with Bizzi Partners Development, Aronov Development and Halpern Real Estate Ventures. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Just over one million Americans filed new claims for state jobless benefits last week, the latest sign that the economy is losing momentum just as federal aid to the unemployed has been pulled away. Weekly claims briefly dipped below the one million mark early this month, offering a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy job market. But filings jumped to 1.1 million the next week, and stayed above one million last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. "It's devastating how stubbornly high initial claims are," said Julia Pollak, a labor economist at the employment site ZipRecruiter. "There are still huge numbers of layoffs taking place." Other recent indicators also suggest that the recovery is faltering. Job growth slowed in July, and real time data from private sector sources suggests that hiring has slumped further in August. On Tuesday, American Airlines said it will furlough 19,000 workers on Oct. 1, the latest in a string of such announcements from major corporations. "It is worrying because it does signal that these large companies are pessimistic about the state of the recovery and don't think that we are going to be returning to normal anytime soon," said Daniel Zhao, senior economist at the career site Glassdoor. Unemployment filings have fallen sharply since early April, when 6.6 million applied for benefits in a single week. But even after that decline, weekly filings far exceed any previous period. Close to 30 million Americans are receiving benefits under various state and federal programs. The rate of job losses remains high as government support for the unemployed is waning. A 600 a week federal supplement to state unemployment benefits expired at the end of July, and efforts to replace it have stalled in Congress. President Trump announced this month that he was using his executive authority to give jobless workers an additional 300 or 400 a week, but few states have begun paying out the new benefit. Economists warn that the loss of federal support could act as a brake on the recovery. Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist for the forecasting firm Oxford Economics, estimated that the lapse in extra unemployment benefits would reduce household income by 45 billion in August. That could lead to a drop in consumer spending and further layoffs, she said. The benefit initiated by Mr. Trump would use federal emergency funds to provide 300 a week in extra payments to most unemployed workers. (States can choose to chip in an additional 100 a week, but few are doing so.) As of Wednesday, 34 states had been approved for grants under the program, known as Lost Wages Assistance. Arizona, the first state to turn the grants into payments, sent 252.6 million to about 400,000 recipients last week, a sum that included retroactive payments for the first two weeks of August. Texas this week has paid out 424 million and expects to deliver nearly 1 billion more to cover the first three weeks of benefits. A handful of other states are paying benefits or expect to begin doing so within days. Most, however, said it could take until mid September or later. Once the money starts flowing, it may not last long. Mr. Trump's order authorized spending up to 44 billion, which federal officials said last week would cover four or five weeks of payments. That means jobless workers in many states may receive a lump sum covering several weeks of retroactive benefits, but nothing more without congressional action. The wait for the 300 benefit can depend on a state's computers. Those kinds of adjustments would be trivial on a modern computer system. But many state unemployment systems are running on computers that are anything but modern. Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. In Oklahoma, for example, the unemployment system uses a 40 year old mainframe computer that turns even minor adjustments into a major programming task. As a result, even though the state was among the first to apply for the 300 benefit this month, it doesn't expect to begin paying the new benefit until late September. "The fact that I'm working with a mainframe from 1978 to process claims is just crippling to the agency," said Shelley Zumwalt, interim executive director of the agency that oversees Oklahoma's unemployment system. "We are just holding that system together with masking tape and chewing gum." When the pandemic hit, Arizona, too, was stuck with archaic computer systems. It built a new system virtually from scratch to begin paying out federally funded emergency benefits, and it was among the last states to do so. But the approach left Arizona better able to handle curveballs like the new 300 benefit. "Through that chaos, we created a pandemic unemployment system," said Michael Wisehart, director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security. Since the 600 a week benefit lapsed, her savings have been dwindling. Ms. Miller, 49, is a standup comedian in New York, where comedy clubs have been closed since March. She is also a personal trainer and an amateur power lifter activities she has had to give up because gyms, too, remain closed in the city. The 600 a week supplement to her unemployment pay didn't just allow her to pay rent and buy food. It also freed up the time and mental energy for her to learn video production, podcasting and other skills to help her survive the pandemic driven shutdown of her industry. "I would give up the 600 a week any day for this coronavirus to go away and get back to work," she said. "But the 600 has allowed me not to be homeless, to learn more computer stuff that I never would have learned or had the time to learn." None of those ventures are producing much income yet, though. She saved as much of her unemployment benefits as she could, and has enough to cover rent through the end of the year. But other bills are another matter. And there is little guarantee that her business will bounce back before her savings run out. "If they don't fix this pandemic thing, I may have to leave New York because I can't afford to stay here," she said. Even getting back to work doesn't always bring security. Kris Fusco is finally back at work. That doesn't mean her coronavirus worries are behind her. When Ms. Fusco's employer a small, family owned business in Massachusetts that rents musical instruments to students laid her off in March, she expected to be out of work for a couple of weeks. That got extended to April, then to June. Eventually one of the owners called her to tell her they didn't know when they could reopen. "I said, 'You do what you need to do to keep your business afloat, and I'm just going to hold on as long as I can,'" she said. Fortunately, her employer called her back shortly after the 600 supplement expired. She returned to work last week, and, despite some nervousness about going into the office with the virus still spreading, she said she was grateful for the paycheck. But Ms. Fusco, 50, doesn't know how long her good fortune will last. With many schools still teaching remotely or canceling activities like band, she worries that her company's business will suffer. Already, she has noticed a large number of instruments being returned. "It's very worrisome for me because I can see the snowball effect from Covid 19 all around me," she said. "It's always lurking right behind my eyeballs that in six months I might be out of a job again." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
Our guide to new art shows and some that will be closing soon. 'MAUREEN GALLACE: CLEAR DAY' at MoMA PS1 (through Sept. 10). Win big by going small. This unshowy New York painter has spent 30 years refining her visions of rural Connecticut and the coast of New England, and six dozen of her concentrated paintings will force you to slow down, look hard and find the profound in the everyday. Ms. Gallace's best works depict houses, barns or cabanas, often missing their windows and pared down to simple polygons; the landscapes they lie in, by contrast, can be worked so hard they appear almost finger painted. Each one is as sober and strange as a Morandi still life, and an antidote to an art world lately beholden to spectacle. (Jason Farago) 718 784 2084, ps1.org 'MAKING SPACE: WOMEN ARTISTS AND POSTWAR ABSTRACTION' at the Museum of Modern Art (through Aug. 13). The work in this show, dating from the end of World War II to the beginning of second wave feminism, is all abstract and all by women. And although it starts in what feels like honorable mention mode Lee Krasner is here, for instance, but not in the museum's permanent galleries of Abstract Expressionism it doesn't stay there. Instead, it goes for difference and stays with it, introducing us to artists of diverse geographic and ethnic backgrounds whom we may not know, or have an institutional context for. Among them are such luminaries, present and past, as Etel Adnan, Ruth Asawa, Lina Bo Bardi, Bela Kolarova, Anne Ryan and Lenore Tawney. (Holland Cotter) 212 708 9400, moma.org 'IRVING PENN: CENTENNIAL' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through July 30). In this crystalline exhibition, nearly every gallery exhales its own delicious breath, offering up concentrated views of Penn's innovative still life and fashion work for Vogue; his portraits of cultural luminaries and tradesmen, as well as of indigenous Peruvians; his nearly abstract close ups of voluptuous nudes; and his colossal cigarette butts, with their tragicomic evocations of Roman columns, tombstones and even corpses. Also on display: his perfectionism, curious eye and innate classicizing style. (Roberta Smith) 212 535 7710, metmuseum.org 'AGE OF EMPIRES: CHINESE ART OF THE QIN AND HAN DYNASTIES (221 B.C. A.D. 220)' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (closes on July 16). No one does epic better than the Met, and this hypnotic, glow in the dark exhibition of 160 objects from 32 museums in mainland China is in that line. Of the museum's several recent showcases of Chinese antiquities, this may be visually the most dramatic and emotionally the most accessible. It features a type of art the Met is a bit too comfortable with: imperial bling. But here the material feels purposeful, evidence of a time in China when the very idea of empire, and branding, was an experiment. (Cotter) 212 535 7710, metmuseum.org | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
Employees of Brooklyn Borough Hall emerged from their offices on Wednesday afternoon to the unlikely sounds of dancehall music pulsing through the building. Down in the light filled lobby, the dancer and choreographer Blacka Di Danca was leading a free demonstration and class in that Jamaican born style. "I'm going to put you all in my next music video," he shouted in time with a step called the Willie Bounce, addressing a few especially lively onlookers in the balcony. The eventful lunch hour was part of the BEAT Festival, which brings performing arts to nontheatrical sites in Brooklyn parks, warehouses, galleries highlighting artists with strong ties to the borough. (The acronym stands for Brooklyn Emerging Artists in Theater.) Blacka Di Danca was born and raised in the Crown Heights section of the borough, though these days he spends much of his time teaching and choreographing internationally. The BEAT organizers aren't always prudent in their pairing of artist and site; last year's nocturnal performances in Green Wood Cemetery, for instance, underutilized that locale. "Dancehall in Borough Hall" at first seemed like another mismatch, the bureaucratic vibes at odds with the dynamism of Blacka Di Danca and his sidekicks, Janelle Garvey and Aliyah Ali. But as they settled in for a 15 minute show, followed by a 45 minute class for adventurous audience members (the rest of us could just observe), the sterility of the space fell away. And it didn't matter that only a few people were watching; a wiry, daring dancer with unlimited charisma, Blacka Di Danca can work a crowd of any size. He seemed most in his element when teaching, breaking down the dipping, swaying, gyrating steps we had seen in his opening performance: how to do them, what they mean. The back stories were as compelling as the movements themselves. The Tek Weh Yuhself a pattern of side to side, front to back footwork, animated by pulling and pushing arms has its roots in "taking yourself away from a negative situation," he said. In the Nuh Linga (No Linger), the foot draws an S shape on the floor while the upper body snakes and fingers snap. Down the Flank resembles the act of kicking a soccer ball and the Gully Creeper that of sneaking out at night. In one final demonstration, we learned about the links between Ska an arm waving, torso bopping 1960s move and its 21st century incarnation, Syvah. Excited to the point of giddiness by the history of his form, Blacka di Danca is keeping it very much alive. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
MUNICH As theaters here tentatively start to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown, now seems a good time to take stock of the artistic responses in the German speaking world after two and a half months of drawn curtains and empty stages. When theaters began to shut down in mid March, many companies worldwide rushed to put their archives online, inundating cyberspace with video recordings that could scarcely do justice to live performance. Several theaters, however, jumped at the opportunity to innovate with fresh online productions. In the United States, "Viral Monologues" from "The 24 Hour Plays" and Richard Nelson's "What Do We Need to Talk About?" from the Public Theater have been among the sharpest theatrical responses to the coronavirus. Cannily written and cast, they are particularly astute attempts at finding new formats for compressing conventional theater inside the screen of a smartphone or computer. In the German speaking world, where contemporary theater is constantly deconstructing itself and redrawing aesthetic boundaries, some directors, not content merely to work at a distance, have taken up new lines of inquiry. What possibilities exist for theater at this moment? Created and consumed by people who never meet face to face, mediated by devices that both engage and distract, how does digital theater resemble analog theater? How can it? Perhaps it makes more sense to think of it as cinema. Or what if it's a different beast altogether? Since the pandemic struck, many have turned to Albert Camus's 1947 novel, "The Plague," as a literary manual and moral guide to making sense of our new reality. The novel, therefore, was not an unexpected choice for Bert Zander, a video artist who directed a five part adaptation for Theater Oberhausen in northwest Germany. Made in various locations around the depopulated city of Oberhausen, the production features specterlike projections of actors who were filmed remotely, then beamed onto surfaces indoors and out, including window shutters, armchairs, blank walls and even weeping willows and reeds, bringing Camus's pestilence narrative to life. The episodes, each less than half an hour, are available to stream from the German provider 3Sat until November. (The fifth and final episode premieres on Saturday.) Zander effectively crowdsourced the lengthy narration by recruiting dozens of (mostly older) locals who filmed and uploaded their own contributions. Like the theater's ensemble actors, who inhabit the main roles, the amateurs appear holographically. The production therefore became something of a communal project for the culturally curious who were trapped at home. The result is a faithful and narratively straightforward adaptation that often seems dutiful. No doubt, Zander has found a clever and unusual solution to working within the constraints of social distancing, but how does the mini series relate to theater? With the low fi projections, tight editing, use of title cards and arpeggio heavy soundtrack, "The Plague" has a far greater affinity with film or TV than with the stage. In both aesthetic and tone, it often resembled a police procedural. In Zurich, another mini series showed a vastly different approach. Christopher Ruping, an in house director at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, has called his coronavirus era production of "Dekalog" a "theatrical production for the digital space." Ruping's chosen subject, a 10 part 1988 series of television films by the great Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski, might not appear to have the same level of immediacy as Camus's classic text. This isn't the first time Ruping has sifted through "Dekalog," in which the themes of the Ten Commandments are explored through stories of ordinary people and their ethical quandaries. He directed a version in Frankfurt in 2013. The episodes, each roughly half an hour, were streamed over four weeks starting in mid April. In each, a member of the Schauspielhaus ensemble performed a semi improvised monologue, trailed by a roving, often hand held camera on one of the theater's smaller stages. The actors crawled through eccentric sets designed by Natascha Leonie Simons and Ann Kathrin Bernstetter, which featured balloons, plants, swings and kitchen appliances. Sparse or cluttered, these installation like environments framed the performers effectively. In contrast to the polish of "The Plague," "Dekalog" was insistently rough around the edges, with room for experimentation and error. Live, unscripted and unedited, it was digital theater without a safety net, and often left the actors exposed. In the eighth episode, "Thou Shalt Not Lie," Josh Johnson, an American dancer, spent half an hour fielding viewers' questions in English. "Yeah, I'm extremely nervous," he answered to the camera at one point. If Johnson was lying, he's a very good actor. The interactive element was the most unusual aspect of "Dekalog." Ruping incorporated tools like a chat sidebar and voting, and the episodes could be seen only as they were being made, so that they would be "live theater and not like Netflix's ugly brother," Ruping said in an interview. For the time being, a short recap trailer can be seen on Vimeo. The director has floated the possibility of encore screenings, possibly as a binge watching marathon. If the connection between "Dekalog" and our virus hit world was less than apparent, Ruping's insistence on telling these stories nevertheless seemed a way of focusing viewers on their individual responsibilities as moral actors. "Corona put us in a place where we are constantly tested in making decisions for the greater good or our self gratification," the director explained. During the livestreams, viewers could vote on what courses of action the characters should take, ranging from seemingly minor choices to full blown ethical decisions. The interactivity became a way of putting moral responsibility in the audience's hands. With this "choose your own adventure" approach to Kieslowski, I suspect that Ruping trusted his audience the streams attracted an average of 1,000 viewers per episode to make choices that would propel the plot forward. (Yes, she should listen to her dead mother's message!) Before each episode, the director explained how to vote and gave his suggestions for maximal enjoyment (close all tabs, turn off cellphones). "'Dekalog' is a format for the curious, the treasure hunters and for fans of the incomplete," he said at the beginning of Episode 2, which bore the modified title "Thou Shalt Not Play God" and starred the excellent Karin Pfammatter as a doctor forced to make a prediction with life or death consequences. "Anyone who's in a less adventurous mood," Ruping continued, "and wants something more complete and less provisional should turn this off now and watch 'Stand by Me' from 1986 which is a really great film." For all their differences, "The Plague" and "Dekalog" shared an insistence on the social aspect of art in performance. At a time when we have been robbed of much of our fundamental human contact, it seems appropriate that directors are finding ways to satisfy our craving for connection. The professional and nonprofessional cast members of "The Plague" have never met, but they were brought together in the artistic world of the project. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Last week, a handful of museums decided to postpone a retrospective of the painter Philip Guston over concerns that Ku Klux Klan imagery in his work, intended to criticize racism, anti Semitism and bigotry, would upset viewers or that the works would be "misinterpreted." On Wednesday, a letter drafted by the art critic Barry Schwabsky addressed to those museums the National Gallery of Art in Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Tate Modern, London and signed by nearly 100 artists, writers and curators, was published by the Brooklyn Rail, protesting the postponement. To date, more than 2,000 names have been added young and old, Black, Asian, Persian, Arab, L.G.B.T.Q. For people outside the art world, however, the question remains: Who is Philip Guston and why did this postponement (already delayed by Covid 19) raise such a furor? The simple answer is that Guston (1913 1980) was an artist's artist. The influence of his deceptively simple subjects and emphatic brush strokes still ripples through the work of many painters who signed the letter: Henry Taylor, Ellen Gallagher, Nicole Eisenman, Amy Sillman, Mickalene Thomas, Peter Doig and others. Guston's enduring influence was also evident in his lifetime. He was famous in the 1940s, but exerted a large influence in the 1970s. Moreover, part of the reason he is embraced by artists in the current moment is that he stood up to the bullies in the art world who wanted art to be a certain way notably writers like Clement Greenberg, one of the most influential art critics of the 20th century, who thought that serious, modern painting should be abstract, rather than representing humans, landscapes or still lifes. Born in Montreal in 1913 to Russian Jewish emigres, Guston moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1919. He attended the same Los Angeles high school as Jackson Pollock, who would become a friend, and in the 1920s and '30s was captivated by Mexican art, Picasso and Cubism introduced to him by a high school teacher. (In 1936, he and Pollock made a pilgrimage to New Hampshire to see the Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco's graphic new 24 panel mural "The Epic of American Civilization" in the Baker Berry Library at Dartmouth College.) His childhood was marked, however, by the suicide of his father, who hanged himself on the back porch of their house. (Another tragedy occurred in 1932, when Guston's brother died after being crushed by his own car.) The specter of violence hangs over Guston's early work although it is often the politically incited conflict of the period. In 1932 Guston and some friends painted murals for a local John Reed Club in Los Angeles part of a group of Communist clubs started by New York writers for the journal New Masses. The subject of the fresco murals was the Scottsboro Boys, nine young Black men falsely accused of a rape in Alabama and sentenced to death. However, the murals were vandalized by a band of raiders known as the Red Squad who went after Communists and strikers, a unit associated with the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the National Gallery's Guston catalog. They entered the club with pipes and guns. In 1934, with the artists Reuben Kadish and Jules Langsner, and arranged by the famed Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, Guston began "The Struggle Against Terrorism" (1934 35). This fresco in Morelia, Mexico, which depicts tyranny from the Spanish Inquisition to 1930s Fascism, includes the hooded figures that became a lifelong symbol of bigotry for the artist. Guston later created the disturbing "Bombardment" (1937), a maelstrom of figures, one with a gas mask, that he painted after reading a newspaper article about the atrocities carried out during the Spanish Civil War. It would be another few years until Guston had his first exhibition of completely abstract works in New York no human figures, no objects in sight, marked by clusters of color at their centers. In works like "Voyage" (1956) or "Native's Return" (1957), urgent brush strokes coalesce into hovering almost orbs that dominate the painting. In his 40s he was fighting battles with his own mental health as well as the long arm of Western art history from the Renaissance to de Kooning. Then, still another shift, back toward representing objects and people. Human heads slowly started returning to his paintings, as in "Painter" (1959), which served as a kind of abstract self portrait. It would take the spring and summer of 1968, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the attacks by police and National Guardsmen on crowds outside the Democratic Convention, to push Guston over the edge. "I got sick and tired of all that Purity!" he said in a 1977 interview, referring to abstraction. "Wanted to tell Stories!" In paintings like "Bad Habits" (1970), with its crudely drawn hooded goons in a dungeonlike space one of them brandishing a whip or some other torture device Guston showed a return to his obsessions of the '30s; they demonstrate how our civilization's "bad habits" (violence, racism, oppression) had hardly disappeared in the ensuing decades. Guston could turn the brush on himself, as well, in works like "The Studio" (1969), where a silent hooded figure paints a self portrait suggesting the racism ingrained in all of us. The artist Glenn Ligon offers a more sympathetic reading of this painting in the National Gallery's exhibition catalog; however, he writes, "The comedian George Carlin once said, 'The reason they call it the "American Dream" is because you have to be asleep to believe in it.'" "Guston's 'hood' paintings, with their ambiguous narratives and incendiary subject matter, are not asleep," Mr. Ligon goes on. "They're woke." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
Don Campbell in action in an undated photo. He was acknowledged as the inventor of locking, a style that came to permeate hip hop dance. Don Campbell invented locking, a style that eventually permeated hip hop dance, because he had a hard time doing the robot. He was practicing the robot with friends in his college cafeteria in 1970 when he forgot the next step. He locked his joints and froze for an instant, dramatically accentuating the dance and captivating his spectators. That move became the cornerstone of Campbellocking, later shortened to locking, a form of dance that presaged popping, b boying and other styles that are often collected under the label hip hop. Mr. Campbell died on March 30 at his home in Santa Clarita, Calif. He was 69. His son Dennis Danehy, a dance teacher, performer and locking expert in his own right, said the cause was cardiac arrest. Mr. Campbell did not go straight from the cafeteria to center stage; he spent 1970 and much of 1971 honing his technique in discos and nightclubs in Southern California, clad in colorful attire that helped him stand out in the crowd. Night after night, he developed a flair that wowed spectators, dominated dance contests and in time attracted a group of talented dancers who adopted his style. Locking, based on several central movements including Mr. Campbell's signature locking of his joints, is a personal expression with moves that can vary from dancer to dancer. Mr. Campbell's style involved interacting with the audience through stylized hand slaps, pointing and tricks with his hat; intricate footwork and rapid, sinuous upper body motions; and acrobatics, like knee drops and perilous swan dives, performed seemingly without effort. One of the dancers who joined Mr. Campbell was Fred Berry, who told The Los Angeles Times Magazine in 1995 that Mr. Campbell had taken him to every dance contest in Los Angeles, but that eventually "they'd just give him money because no one would dance against him." "Don taught me how to use the light, to dance in front of the judges, to slap the floor like you're trying to break the wood, the showmanship," Mr. Berry said. "Once you did that, you couldn't help but win." Mr. Campbell appeared for the first time on the television show "Soul Train" in 1971, shortly after it had moved to Los Angeles from Chicago. He danced with Damita Jo Freeman, and they stole the show. Mr. Campbell became a "Soul Train" regular, more dancers took up locking, and the style became an audience favorite. In 1972 he recorded a funk single, "Campbell Lock," under the name Don (Soul Train) Campbell, to capitalize on his growing recognition. The song found popularity in nightclubs, and Mr. Campbell briefly toured in support of it, but it did not receive widespread radio play. Dancing became his full time pursuit, and his parents asked him to leave their home because he did not have a paying job. He was homeless for a time, and often sneaked into a movie theater to sleep. Mr. Campbell hoped to make a living from locking, but that desire cost him his tie to "Soul Train." Mr. Berry said that lockers were effectively banned from the show after they asked to be paid. In 1973, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Berry and Toni Basil, a choreographer, formed the Campbellockers with four other dancers and appeared that year on an ABC special, "Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever." More TV and live performances followed. The group later shortened its name to the Lockers. The Lockers became one of the first commercially successful street dance groups. They appeared at the Grammys ceremony with Aretha Franklin and opened for Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall; performed at Radio City Music Hall and Disneyland; and appeared as characters in Ralph Bakshi's cartoon feature "Hey Good Lookin'" (1982). The original Lockers broke up in 1977 when the other members left to pursue other opportunities. (Mr. Berry played Rerun on the sitcom "What's Happening!!"; Ms. Basil, who was also a singer, recorded a version of the song "Mickey," which became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1982.) Mr. Campbell toured with different dancers under the Lockers name until 1984, then worked as an exotic dancer before falling on hard times. He spent much of his time caring for his children until the 1990s, when dancers and choreographers began recognizing him as an innovator. Becoming more involved in the hip hop dance scene, he appeared in stage shows about the history of street dancing directed by Rennie Harris; one of them, "Legends of Hip Hop," was on Broadway in 2004. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
Carrie Underwood and others perform at the Academy of Country Music Awards. And "The Walking Dead" ends its eighth season. THE 53RD ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS 8 p.m. on CBS. Few genres romanticize rags to riches stories the way country music does. This show, hosted by Reba McEntire, will recognize promising newcomers and impressive veterans from the past year. Chris Stapleton, Garth Brooks, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban are among those nominated for top awards. The broadcast will feature performances by Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean, among others. RIO (2011) 5 p.m. on FXM. This animated feature, set in the director Carlos Saldanha's native Rio de Janeiro, brings affection and fun to a story about a kidnapped bird adjusting to a new culture. Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg voice a pair of macaws. Jamie Foxx and will.i.am voice a canary and a cardinal. "Rio 2" (2014) follows at 7. THE WALKING DEAD 9 p.m. on AMC. A final episode wraps up the eighth season of AMC's zombie megahit. Right after, at 10, a new season of its spinoff, "Fear the Walking Dead," begins. Morgan (Lennie James), a character in the main series, appears in the first episode of the spinoff's fourth season. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
Horses snooze in their stalls. Fish take their 40 winks floating in place. Dogs can doze anywhere, anytime. And even the lowly worm nods off now and then. All animals, most scientists agree, engage in some form of sleep. But the stages of sleep that characterize human slumber had until now been documented only in mammals and birds. A team of researchers in Germany announced in a report published on Thursday, however, that they had found evidence of similar sleep stages in a lizard: specifically, the bearded dragon, or Pogona vitticeps, a reptile native to Australia and popular with pet owners. Recordings from electrodes implanted in the lizards' brains showed patterns of electrical activity that resembled what is known as slow wave sleep and another pattern resembling rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, a stage of deep slumber associated with brain activity similar to that of waking. Some researchers had argued that these stages were of relatively recent origin in evolutionary terms because they had not been found in more primitive animals like amphibians, fish, reptiles other than birds, and other creatures with backbones. But the new finding, said Gilles Laurent, director of the department of neural systems at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and the principal author of the study, "increases the probability that sleep evolved in all these animals from a common ancestor." He added that it also raised the possibility that staged sleep evolved even earlier and that some version of it might exist in animals like amphibians or fish. The report appeared in Thursday's issue of the journal Science. Other researchers said the study could help scientists understand more about the purpose and mechanisms of sleep. But the finding, they added, is bound to generate more controversy about whether the resting state of primitive animals is really the same as sleep, and whether the brain activity seen in a lizard can be compared to that in mammals. "Like any good science, it raises more questions than it answers," said Matthew Wilson, a professor of neuroscience at M.I.T. who has studied sleep and learning. Daniel Margoliash, a professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, said the study provided "extremely strong evidence that the patterns of structure of sleep that we've seen in a broad range of species is reflective of something that evolved very early in vertebrate evolution and is shared across many perhaps all vertebrates." Tired of tossing and turning? There are some strategies you could try to improve your hours in bed. None Four out of five people say that they suffer from sleep problems at least once a week and wake up feeling exhausted. Here's a guide to becoming a more successful sleeper. Stretching and meditative movement like yoga before bed can improve the quality of your sleep and the amount you sleep. Try this short and calming routine of 11 stretches and exercises. Nearly 40 percent of people surveyed in a recent study reported having more or much more trouble than usual during the pandemic. Follow these seven simple steps for improving your shut eye. When it comes to gadgets that claim to solve your sleep problems, newer doesn't always mean better. Here are nine tools for better, longer sleep. He added: "It forces us to think about the earliest evolution of these phenomenon. When did these aspects of sleep start, and what were they for?" Dr. Margoliash said he found especially intriguing the idea that in the lizard, sleep might play a role in the consolidation of learning and memory, as studies have suggested it does in mammals. The research team studying the bearded dragon described its sleep patterns as a simpler, "stripped down" version of mammalian sleep. The entire sleep cycle was completed in about 80 seconds, and the proportion of REM stayed the same throughout. In contrast, human sleep cycles take an hour or more to complete, and the percentage of REM increases over the course of a night. The scientists also found bursts of brain activity during the lizard's slow wave sleep that they proposed were the equivalent of what are known as sharp wave ripples in mammalian sleep patterns. The ripples which, in mammalian sleep, have been observed in a brain area called the hippocampus have been associated in rats with the replaying of recent tasks while the animals were awake. And scientists have theorized that they represent the transfer of information from the hippocampus to other areas of the brain, like the cortex. In the lizards, the sharp wave ripples came from a different brain area called the dorsal ventricular ridge, not the reptilian equivalent of the hippocampus. Dr. Wilson said it was possible in an evolutionary sense that there might be "a deep, common mode of off line processing that got elaborated and refined in these other vertebrate systems like mammals," expanding into the hippocampus. But Gyorgy Buzsaki, a professor of neural sciences at New York University, said the study presented convincing evidence of an earlier evolutionary timeline for staged sleep: "It's a wonderful study," he said. But he questioned whether the bursts of activity seen by the researchers were sharp wave ripples or simply part of the lizards' slow wave sleep. "This rhythmic pattern reminds me very much of the up and down shifts that are the hallmarks of slow wave sleep," he said. Dr. Laurent said that his team had stumbled on the sleep stages by accident; their research was intended to look at cortical function in the lizards more generally. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
"It's like time travel, how the island looked decades ago before the restorations began." That's how my guide, Beno Atan, described our trek as we carefully picked our way through a vast stretch of basketball size lava rocks on the isolated north coast of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island as it was named by a Dutch navigator who sailed there on Easter Sunday 1722. I understood completely why my guide, a stocky, dreadlocked resident who can trace his island roots back 14 generations to a Polynesian warrior named Ororoine, described this trek as a journey through time. We were just a few minutes into an eight and a half mile hike that was taking us along a primordially rugged coastline, and there already was a sense of deep isolation and separateness from the rest of the island. We were trekking under the shadow of the island's highest peak, Maunga Terevaka, a 1,600 foot extinct volcano in a section of Rapa Nui National Park, a collection of protected areas that together make up a Unesco World Heritage site. It's an uninhabited, roadless and raw landscape that, Beno said, is essentially an open air museum, filled with ancient structures and relics dating to the arrival of the first Polynesian navigators 1,700 years ago. This was exactly the type of experience I was hoping to encounter when I arrived on Rapa Nui a day earlier in search of off the radar adventure after some time spent in Chile. When a Santiago based friend suggested a little known hike along the island's northern coast, I was in. But first there was the 2,300 mile, six hour flight from Santiago straight out into the Pacific. Halfway between Tahiti and the South American continent, Rapa Nui is technically part of Chile, but in many ways worlds apart. The singular identity of islanders is marked by cultural differences like the common use of the indigenous Rapanui language and its colloquial mixing with Spanish, which locals call Rapanol. Once I arrived, I settled in at Explora, a discreet upscale lodge near the main town of Hanga Roa that was a pricey proposition ( 950 a night), but ultimately worth it because of the extensive menu of adventures included with each stay. Poring over the lodge's extensive collection of trail maps on my first afternoon, I chatted with Beno in Explora's airy, stylish living area about my interest in taking on the most challenging trek on offer. He said that Rapa Nui is considered the most isolated inhabited island in the world and that most visitors (and locals) never make it to that rough hewn side of the island. With a slight grin I couldn't quite decipher, he confirmed it was also a personal favorite and he would be happy to take me. Early the next morning, after driving a two lane road that turned to a red dirt track after 15 minutes, we parked and set out near an ancestral platform called Ahu Te Peu, its fine stonework marking the site of a once thriving community. Heading north, we walked through pastures, at first an easy amble shaded by occasional stands of eucalyptus trees. Open grassland then gave way to seemingly endless obstacle courses of lava rock. It was hard to focus on the trail, with striking views of the cerulean Pacific churning in torments to our left, and on the right, the otherworldly slopes of Terevaka. As we crested every rise, it became impossible not to anticipate the singular sighting that can be experienced only on Rapa Nui: the island's rock stars the massive, brooding monoliths known as moai. They were quarried and skillfully carved out of a porous volcanic rock called toba, beginning around A.D. 1000, to serve as sacred ancestral totems. Unlike other parts of the island, the region we were exploring this day is notable for the fact that everything is still as it was before the restorations mentioned by my guide began 60 years ago. That's when the adventurer Thor Heyerdahl initiated the first reconstructions (assisted by Beno's great grandfather Pedro Atan) of a few of the more than 800 moai spread across the island, all of which had been toppled several centuries earlier during inter tribal conflict and following contact with outsiders. What the Terevaka region offers instead is the undisturbed heritage that is the essence of Rapa Nui, a place once ravaged by war, waning resources and colonial era pillaging by the likes of Peruvian slavers. It looked for all the world like a natural feature of this rugged terrain. Beno informed me that it was a moai, about 20 feet long, most likely toppled accidentally when its carvers were moving it from the quarry to its stone platform, known as an ahu. Moving closer, he indicated the neck, head and still visible details of an ear of this sad figure, forever face planted in the rich volcanic soil of Rapa Nui. There are no ropes or glass cases protecting this archaeological treasure on a gusty slope in the middle of the Pacific, so I got close and examined the fallen moai. Our only witnesses this day were a few caracara birds wheeling overhead. I asked Beno how he felt about leaving these and the many other undisturbed moai toppled in this area in a state of gradual decay. "I don't agree with restoring the moai and platforms continually," he said. "They will never be restored as they were before, and they hold our ancestors." The idea of archaeologists, or anyone else for that matter, clambering over what are essentially ancestral burial sites clearly disturbed him. In addition to these sphinxes of the Pacific, I was struck by a silence in which the cry of a caracara soaring in the distance was clear and piercing, and the click of a camera as disruptive to a meditative thought as a car horn. For the first three hours we saw no one. It was utter solitude, punctuated by gusts of bracing, salty wind and the insightful comments of Beno, such as how the distance between the lower lip and chin of the moai determine the different epochs (those with longer chins are more recent). Near an area called Vai Mata, we encountered another remnant of early Rapa Nui history, the stone foundations of "canoe houses," ancient shelters for the royal clans who lived in this area centuries ago. An untrained eye would have trouble deciphering these oblong outlines of large carved stones set firmly into the sod, but Beno walked me over to an exposed example and explained that they were the foundations of dwellings that were shaped like upside down canoes, echoing the attachment to the sea of the local culture. Centuries ago, these dwellings would have included roofs made of wooden beams and thatch of hau hau, a native plant, and even featured lanais made of ocean smoothed rocks. Showing the reverence Polynesians have for stones and their living mana (or energy), Beno explained that foundations like these were named and passed down through generations. In what became a pattern throughout the day, we would encounter something striking or unusual, like an ahu platform with a strange prow structure set in the front, and Beno would provide a thoughtful explanation. In this case, it was Ahu Poe Poe, one of the few boat shaped ahus, a true rarity. A few minutes after we left the site, we caught sight of the only other hikers we would see all day. From a distance we watched as they approached, looked around briefly, then left. They most likely had no idea what they had just experienced. Something similar happened a short time later when we neared a cluster of large volcanic rocks sprouting ferns. I had walked right by, but Beno called me over and, with a stick, pushed aside one of the ferns, revealing the narrow entrance to a cave, one of a countless number of such subterranean passages throughout the island. In centuries past, the caves were used as refuges such as during the inter tribal wars and 19th century slave raids. A few miles on and halfway through our journey, we rounded blustery Cabo Norte. If you look at the island as an arrowhead, we were at the tip, pointing due north into the Pacific. A sharp wind buffeted whitecaps below and clouds raced across a dramatic horizon, summoning a vastness that gave me a true sense of the isolation of this place. It also deepened my respect for the skilled navigators who reached the island at a time when some other cultures dared not venture into the open ocean for fear of falling off the edge of the earth. We placed our rucksacks down and took a break at this mystical spot. Beno spoke of varua, or local spirits. He shared how, when he was younger and planning to camp in remote areas like this, his grandmother would offer prayers related to specific spirits and ask permission for him to be there, so there would be no problems. I assumed this had been taken care of, because we were having an amazing day. Stops were frequent, sometimes just to soak up the views and the palpable mana that seemed to vibrate everywhere. Other times, there were notable relics to examine, like centuries old landmark stones to mark boundaries and fishing spots or ancient petroglyphs, like one particularly well preserved example of a tuna that faced the sea. The route eventually became a gentle downslope through pastureland where curious cows stared at us stoically. After cresting the last of a series of lava strewn gulleys, we caught a glimpse of our destination a stretch of shell white sand called Anakena Beach, one of only two white sand beaches on the island. Tradition holds it was here that the first navigator discovered Rapa Nui, a great chief named Hotu Matua, who landed with his sailing canoes and started the first settlement. Home to a grouping of towering moai restored by Heyerdahl's team, the beach was simultaneously welcoming and jarring after a seven hour hike on Rapa Nui's wild coast. Small, colorful dots came into view: people and cars, which seemed incongruous, implausible even, after the wind, water and ancient relics that had been our touchstones all day. I had definitely crossed the invisible threshold back into the modern world. It made sense to make the best of it, so after reaching the beach, I dropped my bag and swam into the surf. Gliding in the clear water, it occurred to me how prescient my guide's time travel reference had been. Sure, I was back in the modern world I had a cold Mahina beer waiting for me on the beach. But I had also traveled more than 1,000 years in a day, and I had the pictures to prove it. IF YOU GO Explora's Rapa Nui lodge (explora.com/hotels and travesias/rapa nui chile) pairs upmarket amenities including refined, locally sourced cuisine and spacious, well appointed rooms with an impressive list of adventures. More than 20 explorations are available to guests, like island treks and bicycle and boat tours led by multilingual local guides. All activities, meals and alcoholic drinks from the bar are included in the price, which starts at 2,300 for a three night minimum stay. For information on Rapa Nui, check resources offered by Unesco (whc.unesco.org/en/list/715) and Chile Travel (chile.travel/en/where to go/easter island), the country's official tourism board. The Unesco website has photos, videos and a detailed overview of the historic and cultural significance of Rapa Nui National Park, a collection of noteworthy sites covering approximately 40 percent of the island. Chile Travel's website has a photo gallery, suggested Rapa Nui itineraries and a travel planner. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
The short "Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish)" was posted Friday on YouTube as a fund raiser for World Central Kitchen. LOS ANGELES I thought I was retired. After 40 years of making movies, I felt done. I was planning to travel more, start reading more. I wanted to buy a hammock. You know, all the regular stuff retired people want to do. Then Covid 19 came to America. When I heard it had reached Seattle, I feared life was about to change. That's when I started buying medical supplies, cans of beans, boxes of pasta and jars of almond butter. It was on March 8 that I thought I had better get that pneumonia shot my doctor had been telling me to get for the past five years. I asked the pharmacist if she'd meet me in the parking lot so I didn't have to go inside and potentially be near sick people. She kindly came out with the shot on a tray. She wasn't wearing a mask. But I was. Two of them. I held my breath, got the shot and drove home. I haven't ventured out much since. My children say I'm a person who needs a project. Unable to see friends and staying socially distant from my kids and grandkids, I made my home my project. I became a dedicated house cleaner. In May, after two months of mopping, wiping, washing, disinfecting and endlessly buying new cleaning tools on Amazon, I knew I couldn't go on like this. I needed an escape. I needed to go back to work. I recognized how lucky I was to be able to stay home while others couldn't. On the news, there were families waiting in line for food in 2020 America. It was heartbreaking. What could I do? What can I do? I wondered. That's when I emailed Steve Martin and asked him if he had time to chat. He wrote back, "I have nothing but time." I told Steve I had an idea to write a short Part 3 to "Father of the Bride," a movie my former partner, Charles Shyer, and I had made with Steve nearly 30 years ago (followed by a sequel, "Father of the Bride Part II"). Steve played the title role of a father who resisted letting go of his daughter and misplaced all of those difficult emotions into fighting the cost and hullabaloo that goes into making a wedding. At least, that's how I always saw it. I told Steve I thought his character, George Banks, a self admitted overreactor, was ripe to revisit during the pandemic. I explained I'd like to make the film as a fund raiser for World Central Kitchen to help those who were struggling. I said all the actors would shoot from home, and I would direct from my computer and we'd get it online somehow. At the time, I wasn't sure how to do any of that, but I asked Steve if I could figure it out, would he do it? Without hesitation he said yes. So did Martin Short, Diane Keaton and the rest of the cast. I hadn't written the "Father of the Bride" characters in decades. I was a little nervous. I watched both movies, made some notes and got that excited feeling in my stomach that I hadn't felt in a long time. It was fun and comforting to think about the Banks family and where they might be today. George and his wife, Nina (Keaton), would now be in their 70s. I wondered what they were like 50 years into their marriage. Did they still live in the big white house? And how did their son, Matty (Kieran Culkin), turn out? We last saw him at 12 years old. Then I thought about "Father of the Bride Part II" and the two babies born on the same day one to George and Nina and the other to their daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams Paisley), and her husband (George Newbern). When I realized those babies would now be 25, I thought I must've done the math wrong. It felt like when you see friends' kids you haven't seen in a while, and you can't believe they're grown ups. I couldn't wait to get started. Thinking about how George Banks might respond to sheltering at home kept me up at night. I was no longer awake at 4 a.m. because the news was so frightening, but because I was thinking of all the "what ifs" I could write into this screenplay. The pandemic brought me back to being a writer. I started to feel grateful, then a bit guilty about feeling that. The work was giving me a sense of calm and purpose. As long as I was in the Bankses' world, I wasn't in this one even though the story was set in August 2020. When we shoot nighttime interior scenes, we call that kind of lighting "movie night" because you can still see faces in the dark. I was writing the pandemic like that. Not quite as dark. I gave all of my worries and concerns about the pandemic to Steve's character, and by channeling myself into his naturally over the top personality I could finally laugh at some of what I was putting myself through. I mean, I was using up 50 pairs of disposable gloves a month, and I never left my house. I was forwarding so many emails about the virus to my kids that they finally stopped answering me. I decided this was how I was going to write George Banks. There would be a bigger piece of me in him this time. There was Zoom location scouting with all the actors showing us around their homes. The rooms needed to fit their characters but also had to be suitable for shooting. When one of the actors didn't have a space that worked, we sent them green screens and found appropriate backgrounds to put in later. Kieran, for example, lives in New York, but his character is supposed to live in Los Angeles, so we gave him a green screen and used a photo of my daughter's dining room as his background. The actors and I figured out their costumes mostly from their own closets. Steve and I thought he should be in sweats. I went online and sent Steve a dozen different sweatshirts, which he tried on for me over FaceTime. None seemed exactly right. Then Steve showed me an old one of his, and it was very George Banks. Steve later told me, "When you asked me to do this I thought, this will be a pleasant two hours. Then we shot for four days and tried on sweatshirts for six days." Our producer sent a box of equipment to each actor (lights, a mic and an iPhone). With help from husbands, wives, significant others and kids, our sets were lit and we were ready for the July shoot. It all felt a bit like those old films where everyone in town helps put on a show, except these were movie stars, and I could not have been more grateful for their efforts. The actors recorded themselves while I watched their slightly blurry iPhone images via Zoom. They couldn't easily see one another, but they could hear each other. At one point, there were 10 blurry actors on my computer screen. I couldn't tell if a hair was out of place or if someone had tears in her eyes, so I did enough takes to cover all of the "just in cases." It was challenging to say the least, but it was a fun challenge. I think the actors would agree. We had none of the usual crew or tools at our disposal. No one was there to touch up their makeup, fix their hair, move a light, adjust their mic or straighten their wardrobe. We had no monitor to play anything back to see how something worked. Even editing was a unique experience. We had the same amount of footage as on a small film. After all, there were 10 cameras rolling for almost four days. My film editor worked in his home and shared his screen with me in mine. As I think about it, this unusual process reduced filmmaking to what it ultimately comes down to: performance and telling our story. Even though we were never in the same room or even the same time zone, the camaraderie was still there. When it was over, it felt like all movies feel when shooting ends a little sad. For me, I guess I always do need a project. This one, with its positive themes and love of family, made me feel whole at a time when I needed it most. And if our efforts lead to a little relief for someone else, then it was a summer well spent. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
A local investor has bought this five story walk up in Central Harlem with 10 apartments seven four bedrooms and three three bedrooms. The 8,825 square foot building sold for 14 times the rent roll, with a cap rate of 5 percent. Sanidas Academy is to open on the upper floor, which is setback, in this two story blue and white building at 10 29 48th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. Sanidas Academy has signed a three year lease to open its first location in January, in the 1,250 square foot second floor space in this two story blue and white building, built in 1931 and renovated in 2013. Classes to be offered include preparation for the SATs, Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (Toefl). Also available will be after school tutoring and Mandarin Chinese lessons. The ground floor is occupied by the Chabad Community Center. This 29,934 square foot elevator 2004 eight story building offers 14 apartments 13 three bedrooms and one two bedroom of which half are occupied and rent stabilized, and half are vacant and market rate. All apartments include stainless steel appliances, washers and dryers and a video intercom. There are also two vacant community spaces, one that is 3,581 square feet on the ground floor; the other 3,022 square feet in the basement. The cap rate is 4.5 percent. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
"Have you ever tried cryotherapy?" my friend Karyn asked me while we were waiting for a yoga class to begin at Sky Ting in TriBeCa. I hadn't, but she was the third friend to ask me about it in a two week span. Our teacher, Chloe, had tried it. Her verdict: "I'm really more of a heat person." I think I'm a heat person, too. Put me in some kind of sauna or steam room and let me sweat out shared bottles of pinot noir, a poor night's sleep, emotions, and I will emerge elated and more alive than before. I once got straight off an early flight to Los Angeles and took a taxi to Shapehouse in Santa Monica, where I was wrapped in an infrared blanket like a human burrito and sweat profusely while I watched a documentary about mountain climbing. That's my idea of an ideal morning. Shapehouse just opened on the Upper East Side, so now I don't have to save it for trips to California. Cryotherapy, on the other hand, is about subjecting yourself to really, really cold temperature as cold as minus 300 Fahrenheit, which is colder than anything naturally appearing on this planet in order to help the body recover from injuries, reduce pain and give you a jolt of happiness. It's the kind of thing championed by elite athletes including LeBron James. We all want to train like professionals, have bodies that look that good, and now we can recover like them, too. Has the Food and Drug Administration recognized the potential benefits of cryotherapy? No. It is, like so many wellness fads, unregulated there was a death associated with full body cryotherapy in 2015 and, at 75 for three minutes, wildly expensive. But I had a strain in a muscle in my shoulder, and Karyn had a sore back, so we decided to try it together. We met up a week later at the Fuel Stop, a Central Park South establishment that bills itself as "Your Urban Anti Spa." Karyn had arrived first and was making her way through a lengthy release form on an iPad that asked about things like heart or vascular issues. "What is my pain threshold between one and 10," she read aloud. "Well, let's see. I was in labor three days with Louis, but at the end I got a baby." We both checked 7. There was one other person in the waiting area, a lean and muscular man in his 40s who was also a cryo virgin but who seemed much less nervous than either one of us. We were led into a small locker room, where we took off all our clothes except for underwear and put on disposable bandeau style bras no underwires allowed in the cryo chamber because the metal can freeze and burn the skin white cotton athletic socks, white cotton gloves an archivist might wear, a white robe, disposable surgical masks to protect our mouths and noses, ear warmers, black rubber sandals and giant wool mittens. A sprightly employee named Yvonne said we could burn 500 to 800 calories and asked what we wanted to listen to. I wondered if our soundtrack should include a song that might be in an inspirational training montage in a movie, like "Eye of the Tiger." In the end, we settled on Rihanna. The cryotherapy chamber is a small room that's cooled to minus 230 Fahrenheit. Really, it looked like a walk in freezer with a large window through which I could see only what looked like steam wafting in the air. Karyn and I took off our robes and stepped into a cold antechamber. We counted to five, then I opened the door to the cryotherapy room. I didn't think it was that bad about as cold as walking my dog on the coldest, windiest winter night. Not pleasant but not painful or capable of inducing panic. (And just in case we did freak out, Yvonne had pointed out that the door didn't lock and we were free to leave at any time.) It was too cold for sudden movements, so we slowly jiggled and danced in place to keep warm. Yvonne was barely visible on the other side of the window calling out how much time had elapsed and shouting: "You're doing great! You got this!" After about a minute, the cold seemed to move into my body. Chatting to pass the time was not an option. Moving around was difficult. We started moaning in pain as Yvonne counted off the last 30 seconds. Karyn and I ran outside, where we put our robes back on and stood on vibrating plates for a few minutes, which was supposed to help our now red bodies warm up. Then the staff brought us hot tea, and we sat down. That's when we both started feeling strangely hyper and euphoric. "I feel like I had three espressos and could run six miles," I said. Karyn said, "I'm going to tell the sober people in my life to try this." We babbled about clothes and movies. A regular client emerged from the chamber and onto the vibrating plates. "I would do this every day if I could," he said. Maybe I would. The strain in my muscle wasn't completely gone, but it felt noticeably better all day. Supposedly you sleep well the night after, but neither of us did. I was still so wired that I spent half the night listening to Tina Brown read "The Vanity Fair Diaries" audiobook and thinking about how Ms. Brown managed to get so much done every day. Imagine if I could do cryotherapy every morning? I would be insufferable and broke but, maybe, unstoppable. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
Dana Canedy, who spent more than 20 years at The New York Times, is the new publisher of the flagship imprint at Simon Schuster. Simon Schuster on Monday named Dana Canedy senior vice president and publisher of its namesake imprint, putting a former journalist in one of the biggest jobs in book publishing. Since 2017, Ms. Canedy, 55, has been the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, overseeing a period when the awards have acknowledged an increasingly diverse body of work, including the music of Kendrick Lamar. Under Ms. Canedy's watch, the Pulitzer board also issued a posthumous award to the pioneering Black journalist Ida B. Wells and presented a special citation along with 100,000 to The Capital Gazette, a small daily newspaper in Annapolis, Md., where five people were killed in the newsroom in 2018. Before that, Ms. Canedy spent 20 years as a reporter and senior editor at The New York Times, where she covered business, politics, race and class. She was part of a Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for the series "How Race Is Lived in America." While Ms. Canedy has never worked for a publishing house, she has written a book: a memoir called "A Journal for Jordan," about her partner, First Sgt. Charles M. King, and the journal he wrote for their son, Jordan, in case he did not return from the war in Iraq. He was killed in combat there in 2006. A movie based on the book, starring Michael B. Jordan and directed by Denzel Washington, is scheduled to begin production this fall. Ms. Canedy is a producer on the film. Ms. Canedy, who will begin her new job on July 27, said she reads books in bed late at night wearing tortoiseshell glasses fitted with tiny lights on either side, which she bought years ago so she could read in the dark when her son would sleep beside her. Jordan, now 14, affectionately calls his mother "word nerd," she said. Want to keep up with the latest and greatest in books? This is a good place to start. None Learn what you should be reading this fall: Our collection of reviews on books coming out this season includes biographies, novels, memoirs and more. See what's new in October: Among this month's new titles are novels by Jonathan Franzen, a history of Black cinema and a biography by Katie Couric. Nominate a book: The New York Times Book Review has just turned 125. That got us wondering: What is the best book that was published during that time? Listen to our podcast: Featuring conversations with leading figures in the literary world, from Colson Whitehead to Leila Slimani, the Book Review Podcast helps you delve deeper into your favorite books. "The ultimate goal of the job is to champion the work of our amazing authors," Ms. Canedy said of her new position, "to bring in new authors, and to commission books that I and my team think are important. And basically, when you boil all that down, that means applying news judgment." Ms. Canedy and Jonathan Karp, the chief executive of Simon Schuster, said they began talking about the possibility of her joining the company over a long lunch two years ago. At the time, Mr. Karp was the publisher of the Simon Schuster imprint, and he asked her if she would be interested in working there. She said yes, but having been at the Pulitzers for only about a year, she didn't feel it was the right time. In May, Mr. Karp was promoted to chief executive, replacing Carolyn Reidy, who died earlier this year. Just a few days after his new position was announced, he emailed Ms. Canedy to see if she was interested in his old job. She becomes the third woman and the first Black person to hold the position. "Jon should get credit for the fact that in an era of racial reckoning, when suddenly everybody is looking for people of color and women to add to their boards and to bring in to their companies he started talking to me two years ago," Ms. Canedy said. "That's the way you want to go into a company. I wouldn't be taking this job if I thought he just wanted a Black publisher." Mr. Karp said that while Ms. Canedy doesn't have experience at a publishing house, not every publisher does. He was at Random House when Harold Evans, a former editor at The Sunday Times of London, came on as publisher in the 1990s. Ms. Canedy, he added, knows what a prizewinning book looks like from her time at the Pulitzers. She also understands the needs of authors, he said, because she is one. "I think the first thing you have to be able to do is to attract authors, to cultivate authors and to champion authors," Mr. Karp said. "I wanted somebody who was going to be a magnet for the best talent." Simon Schuster has been active in publishing headline making books about the Trump administration. In just the past few weeks, it has published "The Art of Her Deal," a biography of Melania Trump by the Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan, and "The Room Where It Happened," John Bolton's memoir about his time in President Trump's administration. This month, it plans to publish "Too Much and Never Enough," by Mary L. Trump, a niece of the president. Like Bolton's book, which was published over objections from the White House, "Too Much and Never Enough" is facing a legal battle before it can hit shelves. "I think they're leading on the publishing of political books in this moment, and that's important," Ms. Canedy said of her new company. "I'm particularly proud to be joining them at a time when they're doing that, and I will continue to help in that effort." Ms. Canedy will take over the imprint, the company's largest and its biggest revenue generator, at a challenging moment, while the publishing house is up for sale during a pandemic. In March, ViacomCBS, which owns Simon Schuster, said it would sell the publishing house to focus on other components of its business like sports content. But Ms. Canedy declared herself undaunted. "Look, life is going to happen while the world moves, so you can either move with it or get left behind," Ms. Canedy said. "You might as well do it." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
Choosing a residential treatment program for eating disorders can be challenging. Websites may show scenic landscapes and comfortable interiors, but there is an absence of industry standards and research indicating which types of programs are effective. Specialists who treat eating disorders illnesses that affect an estimated 30 million Americans at some point advise looking for centers that: Place a priority on therapies that focus on behavior, rather than on identifying the roots of the eating disorder. "Unless you can change the behavior, no amount of insight oriented therapy is helpful," said Dr. Angela Guarda, the director of the eating disorders center at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Provide information about the average weight gain per week for anorexic patients at the center and the percent of adult patients discharged with a body mass index of 19 or above, indicating a normal weight. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
Brock Crouch has learned a lot since surviving an avalanche almost two years ago. Getting back to doing big tricks on his snowboard is only a small part of it. A California native, Crouch grew up surfing, and upon discovering a love for snowboarding, quickly climbed up the professional ranks. By age 13, he was a top contender in slopestyle, the judged competition in which athletes launch themselves off a series of large jumps and rails. By 2017, he was competing in the X Games. But in April 2018, Crouch, then 18, was heliboarding snowboarding on avalanche prone slopes after being dropped off by a helicopter on the high, wild peaks outside of Whistler, British Columbia, with a group of friends and a film crew. He was standing atop a steep, narrow chute, looking over what he thought was a 10 or 15 foot cliff. It turned out to be a massive cornice, an enormous blanket of snow folded over the chute. He was still planning where to point his board for a 1,500 foot vertical journey between rock faces when a more violent sort of journey suddenly enveloped him. Accompanied by what sounded like a thunder crack, the ground beneath him broke away and Crouch went tumbling down the slope amid a gushing torrent of snow and boulders. The helicopter pilot flew along the slide down the chute, alerting the crew to the spot where Crouch had been buried. Following the slide path, his friends used tracking devices to find him and dig him out. Crouch was buried for about five minutes. When a friend got to him and fished snow out of his mouth so he could breathe, Crouch bit his hand. Crouch's back was broken. His pancreas was ruptured, and the bone between his nose and mouth shattered. All of his front teeth had been knocked out. One of his eyes was swollen shut, apparently from slamming his knee into his face while tumbling. But he was alive. Crouch put himself on the fast track to recovery. "I was walking with a cane to the gym two and a half weeks after the avalanche," he said. "I wanted to get better as soon as I possibly could." That meant long, long hours in the gym, extensive physical therapy, endless doctor's appointments and 28 dental procedures. After less than seven months, Crouch was healthy enough to get back on his board. The first thing he wanted to do was head once again to the unpredictable slopes of the backcountry. "After my accident, me and my dad were talking one day," Crouch said. "He was like, 'Hey, here's a time for deciding what you want to do.' I decided if I don't go film in the backcountry, I'll probably be very timid from it for the rest of my life." Crouch armed himself with as many tools as he could before re entering avalanche country. "What I did was go and get my first aid, did a bunch of avalanche courses, and started taking things a lot more seriously," he said. He spent most of last winter filming on steep slopes outside of ski area boundaries. There were some demons to overcome, but none in the form of deadly sliding snow. "In Tahoe was when it really started kicking in again," he said of his nerves. "We were riding big lines and it was springtime. The crew I had with me helped me through a lot of stuff. Every time I'm out in the backcountry and I see a cornice, I think of that day and what happened. But the only thing you can really do is move on and keep looking forward and trying to progress." Back on the competition circuit this season at age 20, Crouch has progressed. Twenty months after the avalanche incident, he is riding better than ever. In the Winter X Games in January, he just missed the podium, finishing fourth. Earlier this month at a Dew Tour event, Crouch was second, beaten only by one of his best friends, the Olympic gold medalist Red Gerard. Crouch ranks the experience among the best in his life, and Gerard said it marked a huge step for his friend, and for their sport. "For a while there, we weren't seeing Brock at contests," Gerard said. "It was such a long recovery for him, and his old tricks were really scary. The X Games and Dew Tour were surprising to me, really exciting to see that he made his way back to doing some of his old tricks, that he had gotten over his fear. You could see he was getting over that hump. He was on it. It's exciting to see him back." This week, Crouch and Gerard are back in avalanche territory outside of Jackson Hole, Wyo., spending their days snowboarding avalanche zones and filming before competing in the last major contest of the season, the Burton U.S. Open. Crouch is going into it as he does all things these days, physically stronger and mentally transformed. "When an accident like that happens to people, it changes their life drastically," he said. "For me, it changed in a very good way. I'm a lot more serious now about my physical health, trying to take care of my body as much as I possibly can, eating healthy and even treating my friends the right way." Yes, he is more cognizant of avalanche dangers, but he is also more mindful of the world around him in general, and believes a mortality check could benefit anyone. "I feel for people in this world who haven't had something like that," he said. "Sometimes even hearing the way my friends talk to their moms or something like that, I'm like, 'Dude, what are you saying?' I feel like knowing your life can be taken at any second really changes everything. It definitely changed my life a lot. It made me a better human." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
Chuck Lorre has been called the "angriest man on TV" because of his battles with network executives, actors and critics. He has also been called the "King of Comedy," having created one hit network sitcom after another since the early '90s. One title he has only recently grown accustomed to, however, is "old." "Internally I don't think of myself that way, but boy, I am," Lorre, 66, said in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. "So I'm dealing with it. It's a universal feeling like, Wait, what's happening to me?" That experience is one reason he feels so close to his Netflix comedy "The Kominsky Method," he said, about an aging acting coach named Sandy (played by Michael Douglas) and Sandy's wisecracking, recently widowed agent, Norman (Alan Arkin). Other than their friendship and professional history, what binds the two men together is their struggles with the often unpleasant problems ( dying loved ones , prostate flare ups) that arrive with age. Before "Kominsky," Lorre was known best for creating more traditional, so called multicamera sitcoms like "The Big Bang Theory," "Cybill," "Dharma Greg" and the CBS newcomer "Bob Hearts Abishola." But "Kominsky," with its cinematic aesthetic and looser constraints no studio audience, no commercial breaks, no censorship offered him a much sought after new experience. It also won a Golden Globe for best musical or comedy series. Ahead of the second season of "Kominsky," which arrives on Netflix Friday, Lorre discussed what he learned from Douglas and Arkin, why the term "sitcom" is a misnomer, and why he still shudders at the memory of Charlie Sheen's exit from "Two and a Half Men." These are edited excerpts from that conversation. A half hour network sitcom has tried and true plot structure, but don't you have far more room to experiment on "Kominsky"? First of all, I don't really think plot is a driving factor in anything I do. I think character is the primary asset. You don't remember your favorite half hour sitcoms because of the plot. You remember them because you love those characters. You love Norm and Cliff and Sam and Woody and Kramer. I think that's because a character is a combination of writing and great acting. And if you're lucky enough, you find the right actor for the part. Isn't there an overarching plot in "Kominsky" about how Sandy comes to terms with aging? What I was interested in exploring was just the minutiae of getting older. There's not a lot of plot in that; that's just life. That's just human entropy. That's true. I don't have to make this stuff up. On "The Big Bang Theory" we would be regularly talking to our astrophysicist consultant David Saltzberg at U.C.L.A. to make sure we got the math right or the science right. I didn't need to have a consultant on this one. Laughs. So much of the success of "Kominsky" hinged on the chemistry between Douglas and Arkin. What was it like bearing witness to their dynamic? I really like the phrase "bear witness." Because that's what it felt like. I had a front row seat to watch two masters of their craft. They approach the work very differently, but they both arrive at a performance that's startling and every time surprising. When you write something, you have an image in your mind as to how it's going to look, how it's going to sound. And then you go to the stage and actors like Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin read it and have other ideas. And they spin it differently, and the syncopation is different, the tone is different. Inevitably, it's better. The most inspired moments involve little more than the two of them just exchanging barbs. One of the things I learned in the first season is I could actually write less and do a better job. When we first started this I didn't understand the kind of power that both of these men have over the camera. A gesture, a look, a raised eyebrow, even a pause on their part communicated more than words. And especially for comedic purposes. A bunch of clever words weren't needed. "Kominsky" is your first non network show. Could this show have worked on network TV? Or was the plan always for this to go to a streaming platform like Netflix? Would this have been possible on a major broadcast network? I don't know. I really never thought of it that way. I wanted from the beginning to have an opportunity to work in a different environment with a different palette. So I could learn. I had a steep learning curve because I had been doing the studio audience, four camera approach for decades. So you're saying you welcomed the challenge? I sought it out. I wanted to learn a new trick, says the dog who's a bit older. How then should we view this in relation to your other work? Or is this the future of what we've come to know as sitcoms? Well, let's break down the word. Because it comes from "Situation Comedy." There's no situation here other than the fact we get older. And we deal with health issues, and we deal with the loss of loved ones, and we deal with the feeling of being irrelevant and disenfranchised and to some extent uncomprehending of things as the culture changes. So I think you're hard pressed to call those situations. The situation is just life. So is the sitcom as we knew it dead? Well, that word is really just a misnomer. It's an anomaly. It really doesn't belong anymore. The word really made a lot of sense when a guy married a witch. Or when an astronaut came back from outer space with a genie. I'm going to call that a situation. Laughs. When a Martian is living with you and you have to keep it a secret that's a situation. But getting through the day and dealing with people at work, dealing with family, that's just life. And the comedy of life is not plot driven. It's just the reality of what we do every day. It's universal. It doesn't matter if the characters in "The Big Bang Theory" are quantum physicists. Because loneliness is loneliness. It doesn't matter what you do for a living. Fear, jealousy. the Seven Deadly Sins: They play for all of us. So that's what you write about in TV. For me, anyway. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
UNLESS you live under a mushroom, you are likely to know that one of the biggest computer gaming events last year was the arrival of Nintendo's Super Mario Run on iPhones and iPads. While versions of the game have been available for consoles for years, Mario had never made the leap to non Nintendo devices before now. So how big a deal was it? It was 40 million record breaking downloads in four days big. Super Mario Run is popular for two reasons: It is built around the exploits of everyone's favorite computer game plumber, Mario, who has been a franchise over the years. It is also extremely good fun. The iOS game is an auto runner, meaning Mario keeps running throughout the game, jumping small obstacles and bad guys. Your one control is to tap the screen to make Mario jump higher, or perform spins and other stunts as you tackle ravines, squash baddies, collect coins and so on. It really is easy to do but this doesn't mean the game is easy. It needs careful timing to jump, plus knowing what to jump onto to complete each level with maximum points. The full Nintendo trick book has been employed to turn what is a simple game into a rewarding experience. The graphics and animations are cute. The retro designed bleeps and tunes in the game are exactly right. There are a few extras, like competition runs against other players. That is not to say everything is Princess Peachy. Annoyingly, the app needs a constant internet connection, ostensibly to prevent piracy. The first time I played it, I got a warning to try to move to an area with "better connection." Also the app is free up to a point after a while, you have to pay 10 for not very much more gameplay. Plus, Nintendo has said it is not going to release more content for the app, meaning the game is effectively dead in an era in which we are used to constantly evolving apps. The app is iOS only for now, with an Android edition due soon. All of this got me thinking about other games that had made the leap from consoles and personal computers to mobile devices. A classic is Tomb Raider 2, featuring the adventurous character Lara Croft. Square Enix, the maker of Tomb Raider, took a different route to Nintendo when it ported the game from consoles to iOS and Android: It didn't reinvent anything apart from the controls. Most of Tomb Raider 2's original graphics, sounds and challenges from the PlayStation 2 game are right there in your pocket, including the square looking terrain and the rattling tea tray sounds of Ms. Croft's elderly butler. Still, you can forgive the slightly aged looking graphics and slow reaction to the touch screen controls as you move Lara around the mazes and puzzles in all those tomblike locations because the game is fun to play. The game costs 1. When it comes to first person shooter games, I focused on Max Payne. This game, which debuted in 2001, was the first of its type to incorporate bullet time like special effects, much like those that amazed us in the "Matrix" movies. And, yes, that whole graphical look and feel is part of the mobile gaming port of this classic film noir like PC and console game. The graphics of this game look even better on the high resolution displays of modern devices than in other versions, but the onscreen controls don't quite match up to the finesse one can achieve with real physical gaming controllers. You may find your fingers slipping all over your phone's screen as you try to make it through tricky combat sequences. Nevertheless, it remains fun. Max Payne is 3 on iOS and Android. It's hard to talk about classic computer games without mentioning Grand Theft Auto, which took shoot 'em ups and driving games and mashed them up into something weird and wonderful. There are several mobile ports of the original console games, but Grand Theft Auto Vice City is the best in my mind, because it has a dash of 1980s neon coloring in it to add to the retro feel. The original game's console graphics have been tweaked for today's high powered mobile devices, but the gameplay and story of the original are still there. There is also a nice modern feature in that you can listen to your own playlist as you smash your way through the city. Violent, strange and fun, this is a 5 iOS and Android download that is really not for youngsters. Lastly, who can think of classic computer games without that grinning three quarter yellow circle popping into their mind with a ba doing sound? I refer, of course, to Pac Man. There is an amazing reinvention of the game available on iOS and Android for free in the form of Pac Man 256. Forget the 2 D simplified mazes of the original; this game uses modern tech to turn Pac Man into an infinite game, with mazes that generate in real time as you race through them. It's Pac Man on steroids, with the adrenaline turned all the way up because it just keeps going. The Snow Fox is an amazing new app that transforms reading a story to your children into something new. The app listens as you read the short story aloud, and the simple and beautiful graphics on the screen react as the story unfolds. The story can even be personalized to match your child's gender and name. It is a way to introduce some story time magic into a child's life, and the iOS only download is free. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
Reginald K. Brack Jr., who as a top executive at Time Inc. helped shepherd the company's sometimes uneasy transformation from a primarily journalistic enterprise into a multimedia and entertainment company, died on Oct. 4 at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 79. The cause was complications of progressive supranuclear palsy, a brain disorder, his family said. Mr. Brack began at Time Inc. as an ad salesman at Time magazine in 1962 and rose to chief executive in 1990. He was the first person to run the company who had not gone to an Ivy League college, and the first who had begun his career in sales and not journalism or finance. In his nearly four decades at Time Inc., Mr. Brack, who was known as Reg, helped usher in a renaissance of the company's book sales operations and of its stable of magazines as they were becoming not just publications but brands. He was the original publisher of Discover, and several titles dedicated to lifestyle and culture were introduced under his leadership, including Entertainment Weekly, Martha Stewart Living, InStyle and Vibe. Not all of his experiments were successful. In 1988 Time Inc. invested 185 million in Whittle Communications, which created advertiser driven media for schools and doctors' offices; it collapsed in the mid 1990s. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Francoise Raynaud, a Parisian architect, has created a 30 story condo designed both to loom over and blend in with its fast developing downtown neighborhood. Despite all the construction cranes that can be spotted around New York City, it is still the rare woman who gets to design a major building in this town. Annabelle Selldorf and the late Zaha Hadid realized various high profile New York projects. Now, as the lead architect for Greenwich West, a 30 story condominium rising in Hudson Square, Francoise Raynaud joins the select group. Mrs. Raynaud, 59, is based in Paris and relatively unknown here, but she has made a name for herself at home with public and private projects, including libraries, cinemas, corporate headquarters and housing. She founded her own firm in 2005, after nearly two decades working for starchitect Jean Nouvel, much of it heading up his projects in Asia. "I was the specialist of towers in the office," she said in an interview in Greenwich West's sales gallery, which will open in late October. The new building will indeed loom over its neighbors in tiny, fast changing Hudson Square, which is tucked into the western edge of Manhattan between Greenwich Village, SoHo and TriBeCa. Once a manufacturing district known for its printing plants, the area has lately attracted media, technology and advertising firms. Disney is relocating its New York headquarters there, and a 2013 rezoning intended to encourage residential development has spawned a wave of luxury projects. When the developers couldn't buy buildings on either side of their site, they purchased air rights on the block that enabled them to build 30 stories. Greenwich West's developers Strategic Capital, Cape Advisors and Forum Absolute Capital Partners sought as large a footprint as possible for their building, which fronts on both Charlton and Greenwich Streets. When attempts to purchase low and mid rise structures on either side of their L shaped site were unsuccessful, they bought up air rights on the block so they could maximize the size of their building. The entrance will be on Charlton, opposite the Children's Museum of the Arts. Retail space will occupy the ground level on Greenwich, facing the multi block UPS building, whose low rise profile is one reason half of the 170 apartments in Greenwich West will have Hudson River views. Height aside, Mrs. Raynaud whose firm is named Loci Anima, Latin for "the soul of place," reflecting her interest in designing buildings that relate to their surroundings sought to make Greenwich West feel like a part of its neighborhood. Its classic New York setback form will be faced in brick and have a regular grid of oversize windows. The bricks will be light gray, extra long, and assembled in geometric patterns that the architect calls "a kind of scarification." Darker, metallic looking glazed bricks will frame the window openings. The building has rounded, or squircle, corners for a softer effect and, perhaps, a whiff of Art Deco which, after all, originated in France. Rounded motifs will continue inside the building, where another French architect, Sebastien Segers, has overseen the interior design. Baseboard moldings, kitchen counters and even electrical switch plates will all have curved edges and corners. The apartments, which range from 500 to just over 2,200 square feet, are mostly one and two bedroom units. They start at 965,000 and currently max out at 5.5 million prices the developers call "affordable," at least when compared with those of some other luxury buildings nearby. Greenwich West is expected to top out before the end of the year and be ready for occupancy in early 2020, according to the developers. And Mrs. Raynaud isn't the only woman working to make it happen. Plaza Construction, the general contractor for Greenwich West, said that 25 percent of its employees are female which exceeds the proportion of women working in construction nationally (9.1 percent) and locally (around 7 percent). Plaza recently reworked the standard construction sign to be more inclusive. Instead of "Men at Work," Plaza's diamond shaped orange and black sign, affixed to the construction shed at Greenwich West, proclaims, "Men and Women at Work." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Each week, Kevin Roose, technology columnist at The New York Times, discusses developments in the tech industry, offering analysis and maybe a joke or two. Want this newsletter in your inbox? Sign up here. Hello again! I'm finally getting back to a somewhat normal existence after last week's Facebookpalooza. I even filed my taxes with several hours to spare, which is a first for me. This week, as Mark Zuckerberg presumably took a very long nap, we heard from another tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, whose empire (and net worth) makes Mr. Zuckerberg's look relatively modest. Every year, Mr. Bezos' shareholder letter is treated by many Amazon fans as a kind of papal encyclical an update on company news, interspersed with nuggets of management advice and details of Amazon's inner workings. This year's letter, which was released on Wednesday, has already drawn glowing reviews. Noting that he reads a lot of shareholder letters, my colleague Andrew Ross Sorkin called it "one of the most engaging I've ever seen." The CNBC host Jim Cramer said it may have been "the best I have ever read by any C.E.O." What was so special about it? Well, for one, it underscored just how unfathomably big Amazon is. Amazon has 560,000 employees, and the company added 130,000 jobs in 2017 alone. For context, that means that Amazon added more than a Facebook's worth of employees during every quarter last year. The company also disclosed, for the first time, the number of Prime subscribers it has: more than 100 million. Those members bought five billion items in 2017, making it the company's biggest year on record. While the median salary at Facebook, a company full of well fed engineers, is a whopping 240,430, Amazon's median worker salary is only 28,446, reflecting its reliance on an army of low paid workers at its fulfillment centers. Amazon has been criticized for grueling labor conditions and creepy employee tracking practices, but the workers keep showing up. As a result, Amazon has become America's second largest private employer, behind only Walmart. As Jason Del Rey at Recode noted, many of Amazon's fulfillment center employees likely aren't Prime subscribers, since the service has "skewed way more popular among higher income households" than among working class families. Amazon is trying to broaden its appeal beyond the mass affluent by introducing monthly payment plans and discounts for people on government assistance, but there is still room for competition on the lower end of the market. (Personally, I'm fascinated by Wish, the online dollar store that has given American consumers direct access to a flood of cheap goods produced in China.) Mr. Bezos spent a lot of time talking about his standards specifically, high ones. "I believe high standards are domain specific," he wrote, "and that you have to learn high standards separately in every arena of interest." He continued: "You can consider yourself a person of high standards in general and still have debilitating blind spots." Mr. Bezos gave updates on Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods, and said Amazon was working on ways to "recognize Prime members" at Whole Foods checkout counters, which sounds both exciting and extremely creepy. Mr. Bezos took inspiration from an unlikely source a "handstand coach" who helped a friend of his learn how to do a full handstand. The coach, he wrote, warned his friend that realistically, she would need to spend six months practicing. The story taught him that "to achieve high standards yourself or as part of a team, you need to form and proactively communicate realistic beliefs about how hard something is going to be." One thing notably absent from Mr. Bezos' letter was any mention of HQ2, the company's much ballyhooed search for a second headquarters. Amazon officials reportedly visited Newark this month, and have also visited Philadelphia and other finalist cities as they try to make a final decision this year. Amazon's economic dominance made clear by the staggering facts and figures in Mr. Bezos' letter makes the billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives that have been offered to Amazon by job hungry cities look even more ridiculous. If there's one company that doesn't need your city's largess, it's Amazon. A few other tech stories of note this week: Cambridge Analytica, the sketchy political data firm that has been at the center of Facebook's recent privacy scandal, has sought to develop its own cryptocurrency and conduct an initial coin offering, because of course it has. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
And Dr. Sexton still has many fans not only among trustees, who have continued to support him, but also among some faculty members. To make a point, professors at the law school, where Dr. Sexton was the dean for 14 years, held their own vote on the president, which came out in his favor, 59 to 2. But faculty members who oppose Dr. Sexton say that in the pursuit of growth, he has adopted a model of governance better suited to a corporate board room than to an academic setting, creating a star system with a few lavishly compensated faculty members making far more than everyone else, and prioritizing size at the expense of educational substance. Dr. Sexton wrote a letter on May 2 to the N.Y.U. faculty acknowledging recent votes, as well as one cast in his favor by the Dean's Council. He wrote that measures were under way to improve communication and faculty involvement. With other votes forthcoming, including one next week at the Silver School of Social Work, he wrote, "Whatever the result, I look forward to continuing to work together." Martin Lipton, chairman of the board of trustees, released a statement calling the Steinhardt school's vote "disappointing," and declared, as he has in the past, that "the board of trustees fully supports and has full confidence in John Sexton and his leadership." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Education |
Nepal may be known for being home to Mount Everest, but its wildlife is an attraction as much as the snow peaks. A new lodge from the Mumbai, India based Taj Safaris, Meghauli Serai, is situated in Chitwan National Park in south central Nepal and has 30 rooms and an infinity pool overlooking the Rapti River. The park is home to 550 native bird species including the great hornbill and more than 60 species of mammals such as leopards, wild dogs and Bengal tigers; a greater one horned rhinoceros is also a big draw. In addition to safaris, guests have the option to take guided jungle walks, canoe on the Rapti River and hike in the Himalayan foothills. Prices from 535 per person, per day, including meals and most activities. In time for the American Hiking Society's National Trails Day, June 4, Mendocino County in Northern California will open two new hiking trails. The 2.3 mile Peter Douglas Coastal Trail routes hikers through redwood groves known as Shady Dell featuring trees with branches that have split off into candelabra shapes. The land, just south of Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, is owned by the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League. Farther south in Fort Bragg, a new one mile link will connect north and south portions of the coastal trail at Noyo Headlands Park to create a 5.5 mile trail. Guides to the trails can be found at trails.mendocinolandtrust.org, a site from the Mendocino Land Trust offering free maps that can be downloaded. The trails are part of the planned 1,200 mile California Coastal Trail, which is about halfway to its goal of edging the state's entire shore in a continuous hiking trail. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
In Cave in Borneo Jungle, Scientists Find Oldest Figurative Painting in the World On the wall of a cave deep in the jungles of Borneo, there is an image of a thick bodied, spindly legged animal, drawn in reddish ocher. It may be a crude image. But it also is more than 40,000 years old, scientists reported on Wednesday, making this the oldest figurative art in the world. Until now, the oldest known human made figures were ivory sculptures found in Germany. Scientists have estimated that those figurines of horses, birds and people were at most 40,000 years old. Researchers have found older man made images, but these were abstract patterns, such as crisscrossing lines. The switch to figurative art represented an important shift in how people thought about the world around them and possibly themselves. The finding also demonstrates that ancient humans somehow made the creative transition at roughly the same time, in places thousands of miles apart. "It's essentially happening at the same time at the opposite ends of the world," said Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia and a co author of the report, published in the journal Nature. Archaeologists have been discovering cave paintings and ancient sculptures for centuries, but it was only in the mid twentieth century that it became possible to precisely determine their age. Traces of radioactive carbon are present in some types of art, and scientists gauge their age by measuring how long the carbon has been breaking down. In the 1950s, radiocarbon dating on paintings in the Lascaux Cave in southern France showed that the images of horses and other animals were made 15,500 years ago. On further investigation, the Lascaux paintings were shown to be 18,000 years old, making them the oldest artwork known at the time. Eventually even older art came to light. Another French cave, called Chauvet, is decorated with drawings of animals that researchers estimate date back as far as 37,000 years. In 2003, Nicholas Conard of the University of Tubingen in Germany discovered the ivory figurines, which turned out to be far older: up to 40,000 years old. For years, those sculptures stood out as the oldest figurative artworks on the planet. "It was very lonely for a long time," said Dr. Conard. In recent years, scientists have developed a new dating method. When water trickles down cave walls, it can leave behind a translucent curtain of minerals called a flowstone. If a flowstone contains uranium, it will decay steadily and at a predictable rate into thorium. In 2014, Dr. Aubert and his colleagues dated the age of a flowstone that covered a picture of a pig like animal called a babirusa in a cave in Sulawesi. They discovered that the image was at least 35,400 years old. That ancient age stunned Dr. Aubert and his colleagues, and they grew eager to use their method on other cave art. Pindi Setiawan, an archaeologist at Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia, invited Dr. Aubert and his colleagues to try it in Borneo. Dr. Setiawan and Adhi Agus Oktaviana, of the Indonesian National Center for Archaeological Research, had spent years studying drawings in remote mountain caves there. Getting to the site was not easy. The team had to travel upriver by boat into the rain forest, then to backpack up mountains for days, hacking a path with machetes. Over the course of two field seasons, the researchers visited six caves. They removed bits of flowstone overlying paintings and used the samples to date the minimum age of the artwork underneath. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. The scientists discovered flowstones underneath some images, as well; these samples allowed them to determine a maximum age. The earliest art in the caves, the researchers found, were reddish orange hand outlines and drawings of animals. The oldest of all was covered by a flowstone that formed 40,000 years ago. That drawing depicts a four legged animal that Dr. Aubert suspected was a species of wild cattle called a banteng. Since the 40,000 year old flowstone covers the banteng image, the artwork must be older than that and thus the oldest known figurative art on the planet. It's hard to say when people first began to make these cave drawings, but one intriguing clue comes from a hand stencil. A flowstone atop it is 23,600 years old, while another underneath is 51,800 years old. Combining the evidence from this stencil and the banteng image, it's possible that people started making art in the Borneo caves sometime between 52,000 years ago and 40,000 years ago. The new discovery indicates that people in Borneo were already making figurative images at the same time as people in Europe or perhaps even thousands of years beforehand. Or perhaps the drawings helped joined people as a group, encouraging them to cooperate "a kind of glue to hold these social units together," he said. If that's the case, then ancient figurative art may yet turn up in other places where early humans reached dense populations, including Africa, Asia or Australia. There are many examples of early cave art that have yet to be dated with the latest flowstone method. "They're just everywhere," Dr. Aubert said. For now, however, he just wants to go back to the caves of Borneo and figure out how ancient humans made those remarkable images. Aside from their artwork, no one has found a trace of the people who once lived there. "We want to go there and dig," said Dr. Aubert. "We want to know who those people were. We want to know how they lived. We want to know everything." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
MY interest in cars these days is pretty basic: they have to hold children and dogs and they can't be a minivan. Clearly, I'm not a car guy. Nonetheless, there I was last weekend at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Connecticut, struggling to resist the siren call of the beautiful roadsters, muscle cars and concept cars. I wasn't there to buy. I wanted to know whether they had real value. Or, to put it another way, could they be considered an investment or a collectible like art, or were they money pits like a yacht? "People turn me off when the first thing they say is 'What is this worth?' " said Ralph Marano, a car dealer and collector from Westfield, N.J. "It's not about the price. It's about, I love the cars." That love has driven him to buy 85 classic cars 70 of which, he said, are one of a kind, or at least the only one left. I had no doubt that his collection was valuable, but it was also idiosyncratic: 48 of the cars are Packards, from the first fiberglass model to a station wagon. Like anything else, rare cars like the 1954 Packard Panther that Mr. Marano entered into the Greenwich Concours will hold their value: he said it was one of only four made. But there are plenty of other classic cars that are just old. Wayne Carini, a classic car restorer and host of the Velocity Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars," said new collectors' enthusiasm needed to be defined if they wanted the collection to appreciate. "We try to point them toward quality and not quantity," Mr. Carini said. "For investment, we want to round someone's collection out so that A, they are happy and B, they've got a great investment. We hate seeing people buy too many nothing cars that don't make any sense." These "nothing cars" were often widely produced. But they may also be falling out of favor because buyers' tastes are changing. Sedans from the 1920s and 30s, with their Art Deco styling and graceful lines, are losing value because the people who can remember riding in them are dying. (Convertibles, he said, are an exception.) Mr. Carini said the upper end of the collecting market was where the action was today. One make that is much sought after is Ferrari. (Forget the Camaros and Corvettes if you want to make real money.) At the auction at the Greenwich Concours, a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB was sold for 1.25 million, a record price for a car sold in New England., according to Bonhams, the company that held the auction. A 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB that was once owned by the rock star Rod Stewart came in just shy of its estimate but sold for 330,000, including the auction house commission. "The one thing I always tell people who are collecting cars is that if you go out for a drive and you're not having fun, if you don't look back at the car when you park it, then the love is gone," Mr. Carini said. "It's time to sell it." Many collectors are drawn by memories of a car they once owned or coveted. "Our market is all about nostalgia," said Rupert Banner, head of the motoring department at Bonhams, the auction house with offices in New York. Right now, for sellers, this can be good, he said. "In troubled times, people look backward more than they look forward." But what that longing does to value is tougher to say. Mr. Banner said showing a car in events like the Greenwich Concours did not necessarily increase its value. What may help it, though, is knowing that the car was in such good condition that it stood out for the judges and won a prize. (Mr. Marano's Packard won best in show for American cars.) For the most part, Mr. Banner said, classic cars have been steadily increasing in value. But, he added, the vast amount of information available on each model makes pricing fairly consistent. The car has to be exceptional to fetch a price that exceeds similar models. Last year at the annual classic car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., a 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing sold for 4.2 million ( 4.62 million with the auction house premium). It fetched such a high price because it was one of only 29 made with an aluminum body. Once you own one of these cars, the costs start to mount. For many investors looking for a bargain, restoration is a big expense. Curt Ziegler, an investment adviser in Denver, said he bought a 1956 300 SL Gullwing in 2006 for 500,000. The previous owner had done a complete restoration, he said. Now, that restoration would cost 450,000 to 500,000. Then, there is the insurance. Jim Fiske, the United States marketing manager for Chubb Personal Insurance, said classic cars were an asset that people could generally insure for what they believed it was worth, within reason. "If I bought a car for 500,000 and put 400,000 into it to restore it, then we'll insure it for 900,000," Mr. Fiske said. "Of course, if someone comes in with a 1979 Volkswagen Bus and they want to insure it for 250,000, we'll say, 'Why?' because it's only worth 10,000 to 15,000 and you couldn't spend that much restoring it." Collecting at this level is also intensely social something that makes it more expensive still. Mr. Marano said he liked to go to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance each year but it cost him at least 12,000 to send one of his cars to the show and that was if nothing went wrong. Mr. Ziegler, who just returned from a car show in Monaco, said the racing and even the driving of these cars made it difficult to treat them like regular collectibles. If they are being driven, they also are taxed at the higher ordinary income tax rate when they're sold, not the collectible rate like a piece of art. But the biggest issue is what a collection is worth, for both insurance and estate planning. "You'd be shocked to know the people who have owned these cars for 10 years and have them woefully underinsured and don't know the value of them," Mr. Ziegler said. And then, you have to figure out what to do with them. Nancy LeMay's husband, Harold, had collected more than 3,300 cars by the time he died in 2000. (It was later winnowed to 1,500 or so.) She said the couple started a museum in 1998 because they had to figure out what to do with so many cars. "If we divided our cars up, each of our kids would have had 500, so that was unreasonable," she said. But it took 12 years and 65 million from fund raising to create LeMay America's Car Museum, which opened last weekend in Tacoma, Wash. David Madeira, chief executive and president of the museum, estimated that the LeMay collection was worth 100 million today and said that 770 of the cars were destined for the museum. That still leaves the fate of hundreds of cars to sort out. While this certainly shows the investment potential of cars, it also shows the big downside of collections: what do you do with them when you're gone? | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Your Money |
"Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise," the unlikely offspring of a Chinese American opera impresario and the writers of "Kung Fu Panda" with songs by Sia aims to show just how high the Shed can fly. Can a Kung Fu Musical Get (Way) Off the Ground? Half a dozen warriors gathered at the base of a striated plateau, cracking jokes and letting off steam before the moment of truth. "You ready?" said Abdiel Jacobsen, tall and muscular, turning to Xavier Townsend, whose slight frame bloomed into a mop of dreadlocks. "I'm ready," Xavier said , knowing his time had come. He raised both fists high above his shoulders and stepped toward the spotlight, where he was surrounded by a throng of technicians in black shirts and headsets. One was holding a rope that shot straight up to the ceiling, a vertical distance of more than 10 stories . The plateau wasn't God's handiwork, but that of the Shed the 500 million arts complex at Hudson Yards on Midtown Manhattan's far west side. It was part of the custom built, multilevel stage for a new multimillion dollar "kung fu musical" called "Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise," which begins previews on June 22. And cast members, consisting almost entirely of contemporary dancers who were given a crash curriculum (martial arts training, aerial choreography and singing lessons) to transform them into futuristic warriors, faced an even steeper challenge. "Remember: If you want to come down, just say 'Down,'" an aerial coordinator with a loose bun of gray hair said to Xavier. It was June 12, a little more than a week before audiences would be watching, and for the first time the dancer turned warrior was strapped into a nylon harness that would raise him 80 feet into the air. The technician with the rope fastened him in. "You better pray!" Abdiel howled from the base of the stage, drawing laughs from the crowd that had gathered there. "X is about to go to the mother planet!" A month before Abdiel and Xavier arrived, Alex Poots, the CEO and artistic director of the Shed, was sitting in the same spot, clicking at his laptop. Another custom stage, this one built for Bjork, occupied the space where the plateau is now, at the center of this highly flexible 1,200 seat theater, the McCourt. Before joining the Shed, Mr. Poots, one of the contemporary art world's most exuberant and prolific matchmakers, served as the artistic director of the Park Avenue Armory and the founder of the Manchester International Festival in England. In those roles, he commissioned an opera that paired the artist Marina Abramovic with Willem Dafoe, and a ballet, adapted from a Jonathan Safran Foer book, that featured a score by the electronic music producer Jamie xx and choreography by Wayne McGregor. "Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise" is his most ambitious undertaking yet. It was developed as a kind of proof of concept for the new building, engineered to dazzle audiences with name brand artists, staggering physical scale and blockbuster pyrotechnics not found anywhere else in a city well steeped in audacious spectacle. But achieving liftoff won't be easy. The last such high profile, high flying attempt was the Broadway musical "Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark," a notoriously unwieldy enterprise that left a cautionary legacy of comic one liners, broken hearts and sunk capital when it closed in 2014. On his laptop in the McCourt, Mr. Poots found the video that started it all, and pressed play. It was a black and white clip of a young Bruce Lee in 1964, wearing a trim black suit and tie to audition for the television series "The Green Hornet." In the audition, Lee demonstrates an array of kung fu moves with astonishing velocity and force, introducing each with the workaday nonchalance of a flight attendant giving safety instructions. The video had arrived in Mr. Poots's inbox in 2015, with a note from Mr. Chen expressing his desire to bring Lee's physical dynamism to the stage. "It was an entry point into something that was artistic, that had real rigor, but was at a juncture of art, sport and spirituality, which I thought was such a potent proposition," said Mr. Poots, who had previously worked with Mr. Chen on the acrobatic opera "Monkey: Journey to the West," a collaboration with the band Gorillaz. Mr. Poots, who had been dreaming up ideas for what was then to be called the Culture Shed, asked Mr. Chen how he could help develop the show. The director said that his wife had been a big admirer of the "Kung Fu Panda" movies. Mr. Poots opened his Rolodex. The ensemble members, each carrying a seven foot bamboo staff to practice the show's climactic fight scene, stood single file in a rehearsal space on 42nd Street. Cued by the score, a thunderous refrain composed by Bobby Krlic, who records as the Haxan Cloak, they snaked across the floor in a skewed figure eight before coming to rest in a semicircle that spanned the room. The musical, which takes place in Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, in the near future, tells the story of an exiled sect of kung fu warriors that guards an underground spring infused with the power of eternal life. The fugitive daughter of the sect's grand master, who eloped with a mysterious outsider, gives birth to twins who are separated at birth, only to reunite 18 years later to save the sect, and the world, from a powerful enemy. Mr. Chen, 56, with boyish black hair and a gentle manner, looked on during the rehearsal from a chair on the sidelines, his chin buried deep in his palm. The ensemble pounded the floor in unison with their staffs, creating a resounding pulse. The grand master, played by David Patrick Kelly ("Twin Peaks" on TV, "Once" on Broadway), entered the center of the semicircle with PeiJu Chien Pott, a principal in the Martha Graham Dance Company who portrays his daughter, and two of the show's villains. Then the fighting began a brutal ballet complete with swords and a bullwhip. After a few run throughs of the scene, Mr. Chen halted the action and approached Ms. Chien Pott. Her kicks hadn't been landing as they should. "It doesn't read," he said, showing the actress how to properly position herself. "You're hitting his shoulder, but you want to hit his face." Mr. Chen was born in Changsha, China, and trained as a youth in baguazhang, an early form of kung fu that intoxicated him. "I've always found martial arts to be one of the most beautiful kinds of movements the precision and the energy and the line of the body," he said. "I'm always shocked that it's not used more on the stage." He came to New York in 1987 to pursue an M.F.A. in experimental drama at New York University. In 1999, he earned international acclaim for his three day, 20 hour production of "The Peony Pavilion" at the Lincoln Center Festival, and went on to direct other idiosyncratic work, including "Monkey" (which had mixed reviews but toured the world) and a Chinese adaptation of "High School Musical." Though wrapped in pop packaging, the core themes of "Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise" geographical and spiritual dislocation, hybridized identity and the weight of heritage are deeply personal. "I wanted to create a modern myth about immigrants in America and how they survive," Mr. Chen said. "When I came to this country in the late '80s, it was cool to be different. But lately I've been feeling so much hostility, and that kind of subconsciously went into the plot." He spent more than a year on casting, searching for performers who could match the show's multidisciplinary ambitions. But the musical theater actors he saw didn't make believable fighters, and the martial artists couldn't pull off the requisite acting and dancing. He decided to narrow his focus to the dance world largely hip hop, modern, and classical figuring he would get an actor's stage presence and a martial artist's core strength and agility in the bargain. But mastering the fight choreography, even for a cast with extraordinary physical discipline, took longer than expected. That meant less time to practice other aspects of their performances. And more to worry about. "We were trying to find people who could do the martial arts and the acting and the singing, but we failed, in a way," Mr. Chen acknowledged. "I'm hoping the physicality and the energy will carry us through." On the plateau in the Shed's McCourt Theater, just over a week before "Dragon Spring" was scheduled to open, a technician gave Xavier final instructions. It was the first, and only, week of full rehearsals for the show's three aerial sequences, which, for logistical reasons, hadn't been possible outside of the Shed. For Xavier and the rest of the ensemble, learning to fly in the harnesses was the last and riskiest piece of the puzzle. Directly above him was a ring shaped platform suspended 80 feet in the air, from which he and six other performers were to dive in a dramatic rescue scene. Below him were live fire pits capable of shooting flames, and water spouts that could flood and drain the plateau on demand. Mr. Poots estimated that the stage had cost around 650,000 to construct, money that, along with the rest of a budget that he said was in the low millions, had been offset by fund raising, and which he hoped to recoup with ticket sales and rentals to other theaters and presenting organizations. (Unlike "Spider Man," the show is being presented by a nonprofit.) "We thought very carefully about designing the show so that it could have a life after the Shed," he said, adding that producers from London, Paris, Beijing and Berlin were among those expected to attend its four week run. On the plateau, the technician, who wore a controller around his neck the size of a 12 pack, flipped a switch and hoisted Xavier aloft: 15 feet, 30 feet, 50 feet. "Whaat!" Xavier shouted, weightless and grinning with delight, as the rope pulled him high above the stage, above his castmates, above everything. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
This unoccupied commercial warehouse is set up as a single retail unit with 3,600 square feet of retail space. The building is a single floor with no basement, and the property has 7,200 total buildable square feet. The Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund is moving to the 14th floor of a Chelsea office building. The Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund is moving from 125 Park Avenue to a 6,566 square foot space on the 14th floor of this 20 story Chelsea office building. The foundation focuses on education, early childhood development and neuroscience research. The new lease covers 10 years, and the space has views of the West Village and the meatpacking district, and a large conference room for board and donor meetings. A walk up building with 22 apartments on four upper floors and six ground floor retail spaces is for sale in the Bronx's Little Italy neighborhood. The building is close to Fordham University, and the owners have been upgrading the apartments and focusing on renting more of them to students. The neighborhood has many other student housing complexes. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
This new movie from the Belgian filmmaker Bas Devos opens with a static shot of an apartment's living room and its window. No one is there. The shot holds as the room goes from fully lit to completely dark. "I see the time that has gone by," a woman says in voice over. "How would a stranger feel here?" The woman is Khadija (Saadia Bentaieb), a middle aged Maghrebi immigrant living and working in Brussels. She's part of a corporate cleaning crew, on the night shift. We see her operating machinery in a building lobby and laughing with co workers over coffee in a conference room. On the metro home, she oversleeps and is stranded at the end of the line. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
This article is part of our latest Learning special report. We're focusing on Generation Z, which is facing challenges from changing curriculums and new technology to financial aid gaps and homelessness. MANCHESTER, N.H. Cruising to class in her driverless car, a student crams from notes projected on the inside of the windshield while she gestures with her hands to shape a 3 D holographic model of her architecture project. It looks like science fiction, an impression reinforced by the fact that it is being demonstrated in virtual reality in an ultramodern space with overstuffed pillows for seats. But this scenario is based on technology already in development. The setting is the Sandbox ColLABorative, the innovation arm of Southern New Hampshire University, on the fifth floor of a downtown building with panoramic views of the sprawling red brick mills that date from this city's 19th century industrial heyday. It is one of a small but growing number of places where experts are testing new ideas that will shape the future of a college education, using everything from blockchain networks to computer simulations to artificial intelligence, or A.I. Theirs is not a future of falling enrollment, financial challenges and closing campuses. It's a brighter world in which students subscribe to rather than enroll in college, learn languages in virtual reality foreign streetscapes with avatars for conversation partners, have their questions answered day or night by A.I. teaching assistants and control their own digital transcripts that record every life achievement. The possibilities for advances such as these are vast. The structure of higher education as it is still largely practiced in America is as old as those Manchester mills, based on a calendar that dates from a time when students had to go home to help with the harvest, and divided into academic disciplines on physical campuses for 18 to 24 year olds. One of these would transform the way students pay for higher education. Instead of enrolling, for example, they might subscribe to college; for a monthly fee, they could take whatever courses they want, when they want, with long term access to advising and career help. The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the places mulling a subscription model, said Richard DeMillo, director of its Center for 21st Century Universities. It would include access to a worldwide network of mentors and advisers and "whatever someone needs to do to improve their professional situation or acquire a new skill or get feedback on how things are going." Boise State is already piloting this concept. Its Passport to Education costs 425 a month for six credit hours or 525 for nine in either of two online bachelor's degree programs. That's 30 percent cheaper than the in state, in person tuition. Paying by the month encourages students to move faster through their educations, and most are projected to graduate in 18 months, Mr. Jones said. The subscription model has attracted 47 students so far, he said, with another 94 in the application process. However they pay for it, future students could find other drastic changes in the way their educations are delivered. S.N.H.U., in a collaboration with the education company Pearson, is testing A.I. grading. Barnes Noble Education already has an A.I. writing tool called bartleby write, named for the clerk in the Herman Melville short story, that corrects grammar, punctuation and spelling, searches for plagiarism and helps create citations. At Arizona State University, A.I. is being used to watch for signs that A.S.U. Online students might be struggling, and to alert their academic advisers. "If we could catch early signals, we could go to them much earlier and say, 'Hey you're still in the window' " to pass, said Donna Kidwell, chief technology officer of the university's digital teaching and learning lab, EdPlus. Another harbinger of things to come sits on a hillside near the Hudson River in upstate New York, where an immersion lab with 15 foot walls and a 360 degree projection system transports Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute language students to China, virtually. The students learn Mandarin Chinese by conversing with A.I. avatars that can recognize not only what they say but their gestures and expressions, all against a computer generated backdrop of Chinese street markets, restaurants and other scenes. Julian Wong, a mechanical engineering major in the first group of students to go through the program, "thought it would be cheesy." In fact, he said, "It's definitely more engaging, because you're actively involved with what's going on." Students in the immersion lab mastered Mandarin about twice as fast as their counterparts in conventional classrooms, said Shirley Ann Jackson, the president of Rensselaer. This "digital trail" would remain in the learner's control to share with prospective employers and make it easier for a student to transfer academic credits earned at one institution to another. American universities, colleges and work force training programs are now awarding at least 738,428 unique credentials, according to a September analysis by a nonprofit organization called Credential Engine, which has taken on the task of translating these into a standardized registry of skills. Unlike transcripts, I.L.R.s could work in two directions. Not only could prospective employees use them to look for jobs requiring the skills they have; employers could comb through them to find prospective hires with the skills they need. "We're trying to live inside this whole preindustrial design and figure out how we interface with technology to take it further," said Dr. Kidwell of Arizona State. "Everybody is wrangling with trying to figure out which of these experiments are really going to work." This story was produced in collaboration with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Education |
The photos are spread over more than 300 pages in a hefty, glossy coffee table production. "Magnum" refers, of course, to the photographic cooperative founded in Paris and New York in 1947 by Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson (with George Rodger and David "Chim" Seymour), and gradually expanded to embrace select artists around the world. The black and white images Capa's of the Sino Japanese War, and the post 1945 work of Cartier Bresson remain the most startling in the collection, reminders of the pre Communist era. Capa traveled to China in 1938 on the heels of his brilliant work during the Spanish Civil War. He captured the Japanese occupation, the haughty Madame Chiang Kai shek and a Chinese boy soldier, in uniform, whose stern face appeared on the cover of Life magazine with the title: "A Defender of China." He spent less than a year in China, a short stint for a photographer who liked to dig in. Capa wrote of the experience to a friend: "Everybody suspects that you are a spy or that you want to make money at the expense of other people's skins." These are sentiments sometimes felt by foreign correspondents today as they travel the country under intense surveillance. After the Communist takeover, the Frenchman Marc Riboud turned his camera onto everyday life. A 1957 image of a Chinese woman wearing a long black cape trimmed with white fur captures the remnants of the late 1950s bourgeoisie (Riboud himself describes the figure as "one of the last aristocrats"). Behind her, pedicabs and workers in drab proletarian gear make their way along Wang Fujing Street, now the center of a bustling business district. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
Most of the boat is asleep when we pass through Ballard Locks in Seattle shortly before midnight. Blotchy, heavy clouds are stacked like anvils above a purple horizon. Stars wink here and there, a promise of a clearer night. Salmon still run freely between the fresh water of Lake Washington and the salt water of Puget Sound, through a fish ladder integrated within the locks. Two workers from the Army Corps of Engineers man the locks this evening; they wave and throw lead lines to our crew working the deck. Capt. Tate Grant sticks his head out on the bridge wing to monitor our 120 foot long, 234 ton vessel as it is pulled closer to the dock, fenders given the lightest of kisses. We drop 20 feet over 20 minutes to match the water level outside the locks. Then they open, and we are released. So began my first cruise a weeklong stint on the 22 passenger Safari Quest as it made its way around the moody, mercurial Pacific Northwest islands off the coast of British Columbia last fall. Seattle fell away as we entered the inky dark of Puget Sound, our wake slicing away at 45 degree angles from the hull as we picked up speed. If a typical cruise ship is a floating city, this was a floating small town, owned and run by Seattle based Un Cruise Adventures, which specializes in small boat exploration to places larger cruises can't go. The company's biggest vessel carries just 88 passengers. The Safari Quest seemed like the right kind of boat for me, because I wanted the main attraction to be outside, not on board. For my mom and her three sisters two of them retirees and the other two not far behind big, traditional cruises are a great way to get around. They love the nonstop entertainment, the traveling without the hassle of travel, the towers of food. Me? I fear splashy spectacles. I worry about claustrophobic, sedentary boat life with thousands of others. I think of death by all you can eat buffet. Here are more fascinating tales you can't help but read all the way to the end. None Getting Personal With Iman. The supermodel talks about life after David Bowie, their Catskills refuge and the perfume inspired by their love. A Resilient Team for a Broken Nation. With the Taliban in control, what, and whom, is Afghanistan's national soccer team playing for? The Fight of This Old Boxer's Life Was With His Own Family. A battle among Marvin Stein's family over his fortune broke out, and he suddenly found himself powerless to fight for himself. There is truth in these expectations, even on a cruise so diminutive. Almost every traveling resident in my floating small town was upward of 60 and retired. The food was spectacular and abundant. There was an open bar. The real surprise was that boat life could be as active as I wanted it to be, despite the range of ages and abilities on board. The size of this vessel just 29 feet wide, with four levels from top to below decks means you can't help but be immersed in the people and workings of the boat that's taking you places. And I found that I quite liked small town life in this place, where everyone knows your name. Anita from Michigan was also a frequenter of cruise vessels, and she liked the small ones best. "With the 2,000 passenger boats you're on for a week and you get off before you've ever been in the fitness center because you never could find it," she confided one evening as we waited for cocktails by the bar in the boat's wood paneled main salon. "It's a more anonymous experience." Then there was Joan, who actually hailed from the same tiny Massachusetts town that my husband grew up in. She enjoyed our little yacht just 19 passengers on this departure because it suited her and her husband's different travel styles. "Doug likes the outdoors and the hiking, but I like the Four Seasons," she said on the second floor stern deck, her feet up, as we gazed out over the glassy waters that surrounded us. "I like to sit on the boat and be taken care of. They let me do that here." It sure didn't hurt that the views from the boat were varied and excellent. From Vancouver Island, we headed up into the tiny inlets along the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia; when the tide rushes out through particularly slim channels on this part of the coast, white water rapids and whirlpools form. A huge volume of water heads back to sea at Skookumchuck Narrows some 200 billion gallons on a 10 foot tide. Here, we jumped in a couple of skiffs to get a closer look at the region's rich intertidal life. While speeding up to track a bald eagle, one of our boats nicked the edge of a whirlpool and nearly lost a passenger overboard. A sea lion frolicked in the current, its big brown head like a bear's, laughing at us. Up on a little island there was a haul out point for seals. There they lay, dozens of little brown lumps shiny as slugs. Seals are shy. We cut the engines hundreds of yards out, but still their heads came up and a handful of them fell clumsily into the water. A few of the pups were fuzzy and spotted. On land they wiggled comically on their tiny forefins. But in the water the seals were smoothly confident, fluent in the medium. They swam circles around us and disappeared. Though it was late in the season, there were still tangles of bull kelp in the water. We gathered up a long, whip shaped frond to sample this varietal of seaweed (tasting notes: crunchy and herbaceous, and not as salty as I'd imagined it to be). Pam Navis, our expedition leader, sliced the bulb at one end of the frond to release the carbon monoxide within, then played the sawed off tube like a mini trumpet. What came out sounded something like the call of a dying moose. At the edge of another rocky island not far from the haul out, fat purple sea stars a constellation of them sprawled along the intertidal zone, gorging themselves on tiny mussels. We held the hand size stars in our palms and watched their guts work to spit out the shells. Down in the clear, dark water, I spotted a little moon jellyfish, its milky white outlines pulsing like an accordion over the violet stars and crescent shells below. A moon and stars, suspended in a tidy little universe below the water. Some facts about our little boat and its character filled crew: Mr. Grant, the captain, has been with the company for 13 years. He still gets seasick. He lives in Seattle and his favorite itinerary is summertime in Alaska. The expedition leader, Ms. Navis, spent 20 years in Maui and knows everything about humpbacks; she plays the harmonica and once sang in a two woman band that opened for Hootie and the Blowfish and the Doobie Brothers. Mike Morrissey, the night pilot, drove a tugboat around San Francisco Bay and helped build the new section of the Bay Bridge. Monica Barber, the boat's flame haired hotel manager, always brings her fiddle and plays Irish jigs and reels; she also makes a mean, extra spicy Bloody Mary. Lucas Campbell, the engineer, had a habit of talking thermodynamics with Rob Buccigrossi, the mate, while the two were on deck. The Safari Quest is Mr. Campbell's favorite boat to work because it's so small. "It's a baby boat," he said with affection. "Everything that needs fixing I can hold in my hand." Huddled in the narrow galley with the tattooed pastry chef, Justin Rightwood, I learned that he was a sponsored semipro skateboarder and BMX biker when he was 12. Joe Pienody, the talented head chef, turned out a string of gorgeous dishes from that tiny kitchen: delicate pork belly, perfectly seared wild Chinook salmon, tender spears of grilled asparagus and carrots. He is a die hard sports fan and weeps a little inside every time he misses a football game while at sea. But, like the rest of the crew, he does love to be at sea. And why wouldn't he? At lunchtime in Jervis Inlet, a humpback whale surfaced lazily, spouting and waving a fin. Later that day, after we rode the slack tide through the Malibu Rapids a narrow, shallow channel safely accessible only to even a small boat like ours every six to eight hours we dropped anchor at Princess Louisa Inlet, a glacier cut gorge with provincial marine park status and a series of waterfalls spilling over 5,000 foot granite canyon walls. It's one of the most glorious spots in this part of British Columbia, and a place where we could stand up paddleboard, kayak and hike. The water there was so calm and clear that we could spot the blood orange frills of a lion's mane jellyfish pulsing under the surface, and a seal's wake from several hundred yards out. At sunset in Princess Louisa, the crew built a bonfire in a wood pavilion onshore, at the foot of Chatterbox Falls. Stands of old growth hemlock and cedar were draped with dewy lichen. The hemlocks' treetop canopies reminded me of velvety moose antlers. Pam and Lucas began to strum their guitars and sing; Monica mixed margaritas for the rest of us, then took out her fiddle to join them. Accompanied by music, the wood smoke wafted dreamily through the slanted late afternoon light. I spent the next two days stand up paddleboarding the waters there and in the Harmony Islands, 26 miles south of Princess Louisa as the crow flies. There's a quiet magic to paddling around an endless expanse of mirrored water for hours, with just a seal or two tailing you and the occasional barking sea lion for company. But the most electrifying experience of all was made possible one evening only once the sun had set. In complete darkness, I joined a couple of crew members at the back of the boat. We jumped, whooping, into the 45 degree water. I did it for one reason: I had always wanted to make phosphorescent snow angels. Clouds of glowing bioluminescence bloomed around us as we treaded water a kind of aquatic light show for observers on deck. When I finally climbed out of the water and vigorously rubbed my arms, sparks flew. Glancing up, I saw the starry froth of the Milky Way, that night a mirror for the glitter of the undersea world. Later, as we cruised back down the Strait of Georgia toward the San Juan Islands and Seattle, we came across two humpback whales, a mother and her calf, swimming and spouting along. We paused to watch them as they rolled and played, diving down to show us their distinctive tail patterns, as unique to them as our fingerprints are to us. Then the mother leapt into the air, breaching just to the right of our bow. This was my type of spectacle, and my type of crowd. What comes of being confined to a boat with 20 odd people for seven days? By the end of the week, we were all busybodies in one another's lives. We had nicknames and huddled in cliques. On a phone call with my husband near the end of the cruise, he marveled at the fact that we had all had enough time to form posses and gossip about one another. The intensity of time spent with the others on this boat was familiar to me. Perhaps it was like the first week of college, but for retirees. At the end of the trip, we exchanged email addresses and photos, promising to stay in touch, to do this all again sometime. It turned out that a couple of guests didn't have to say goodbye, or unpack. They were already headed straight to their next cruise. Un Cruise Adventures destinations include Alaska, Central America, the Galapagos and Hawaii; the seven day Pacific Northwest yachting itinerary starts at 3,695 a person. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
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