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CLEVELAND When Donald J. Trump wanted to proclaim his doubts about President Obama's birth certificate, he went to Fox News. "A birther is a person that wants these are great Americans in many cases, in most cases they want to see the president was born in this country," Mr. Trump told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren in March 2011. "They want to see the president actually has a birth certificate." The network immediately seized on the birther controversy set off by Mr. Trump with a zeal unmatched at the other cable networks. Over the course of the next three months, the word "birther" was mentioned on the network by anchors or guests in more than 80 separate broadcasts, according to a review of available Fox transcripts. Ever since Roger Ailes helped found Fox News in 1996, the network has provided a strategic path for Republican politicians and candidates with a message: To raise an issue, set an agenda or change the talk around a charged topic, go to Fox News. Now that Mr. Ailes has stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Fox News in the aftermath of a sexual harassment lawsuit, the television news industry is bracing for a seismic shift. But the impact on the nation's political discourse may be just as significant. For more than two decades, the network helped legitimize political issues like birtherism and "death panels" and usher into the mainstream the shock jock language embraced by Mr. Trump. Without Mr. Ailes guiding the network, conservatives and Republican politicians are left wondering whether the talk might soften under new leadership. "Roger Ailes is the epitome of somebody that is not politically correct and has the guts to say a lot of what Americans are thinking," said Gov. Terry E. Branstad of Iowa, who used Mr. Ailes as a consultant in his early campaigns in 1986 and 1990. He added, "It will be interesting to see where we go from here." "I think back to when I was in the Bush White House, there was an issue with management of the ports being sold to a firm out of Dubai, and post 9/11 that was something Fox made an issue," said Alex Conant, a founding partner at Firehouse Strategies, a Republican consulting firm. (He was referring to a 2006 controversy over a state owned Dubai company seeking to manage operations at six major American ports.) Mr. Conant added, "Once Fox made it an issue, then all of the sudden Congress made it an issue, and it was something that the Bush administration hadn't seen as an issue, but suddenly became a big priority." With Barack Obama's election, the network grew even more vociferous in its coverage, and became a persistent thorn in the side of the president. Netflix buys a visual effects company in a move to support its global ambitions. 15 minimum wage for federal contractors will take effect Jan. 30. "I have this searing memory of sitting at my desk in the Senate office when the madrassa thing first came up, and it appeared on 'Fox and Friends,'" said Tommy Vietor, a former spokesman for Mr. Obama, recalling a false report from the 2008 campaign that Mr. Obama had been educated in a madrassa, or Islamic school. "I think that was the beginning of an incredible tortured relationship with the network," Mr. Vietor added. "There were times where it felt like every six months we were starting over with them with our approach." The White House and Fox often tried to repair tensions at times David Axelrod would meet directly with Mr. Ailes to address a flare up but those were not always successful. Many conservatives view the mainstream media networks with skepticism, if not outright disdain, and the advent of Fox News gave a voice to those who had felt ignored or forced into a state of self censorship. Using "illegal alien" when talking about immigration, for example, rather than the more politically correct "undocumented immigrant," became a regular part of political dialogue. "Without sounding paranoid, when you talk to people in the conservative world, and I'm part of that myself, you did feel that somehow it was stifling, that you could only go so far," Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, said of life before Fox News. "Roger Ailes provided an opportunity for that voice to come out. But I think we're over that no matter what." In particular, the network's prime time stars, like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, helped bring an in your face news presentation to the largest audience possible. Their shows rose to be among the most watched in all of cable television (Mr. O'Reilly's show is No. 1). In turn, the language on their shows often made its way to the stump speeches of candidates, and Fox News found itself playing host to those candidates night after night. "Obviously, when we were running in the Republican primary, you make your focus Fox News," said Corey Lewandowski, the former campaign manager for Mr. Trump and current CNN analyst. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
WALSENBURG, Colo. Over the past six years, Colorado has conducted one of the largest experiments with long acting birth control. If teenagers and poor women were offered free intrauterine devices and implants that prevent pregnancy for years, state officials asked, would those women choose them? They did in a big way, and the results were startling. The birthrate among teenagers across the state plunged by 40 percent from 2009 to 2013, while their rate of abortions fell by 42 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. There was a similar decline in births for another group particularly vulnerable to unplanned pregnancies: unmarried women under 25 who have not finished high school. "Our demographer came into my office with a chart and said, 'Greta, look at this, we've never seen this before,' " said Greta Klingler, the family planning supervisor for the public health department. "The numbers were plummeting." The changes were particularly pronounced in the poorest areas of the state, places like Walsenburg, a small city in southern Colorado where jobs are scarce and many young women have unplanned pregnancies. Taking advantage of the free program, Hope Martinez, a 20 year old nursing home receptionist here, recently had a small rod implanted under the skin of her upper arm to prevent pregnancy for three years. She has big plans to marry, to move farther west and to become a dental hygienist. "I don't want any babies for a while," she said. More young women are making that choice. In 2009, half of all first births to women in the poorest areas of the state happened before they turned 21. By 2014, half of first births did not occur until the women had turned 24, a difference that advocates say gives young women time to finish their educations and to gain a foothold in an increasingly competitive job market. "If we want to reduce poverty, one of the simplest, fastest and cheapest things we could do would be to make sure that as few people as possible become parents before they actually want to," said Isabel Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution. She argues in her 2014 book, "Generation Unbound: Drifting Into Sex and Parenthood Without Marriage," that single parenthood is a principal driver of inequality and long acting birth control is a powerful tool to prevent it. Teenage births have been declining nationally, but experts say the timing and magnitude of the reductions in Colorado are a strong indication that the state's program was a major driver. About one fifth of women ages 18 to 44 in Colorado now use a long acting method, a substantial increase driven largely by teenagers and poor women. An intrauterine device, which prevents pregnancy for several years, at a clinic in Walsenburg, Colo. A state program that provides long acting birth control has contributed to a sharp decline in birth and abortion rates among teenagers. Benjamin Rasmussen for The New York Times The surge in Colorado has far outpaced the growing use of such methods nationwide. About 7 percent of American women ages 15 to 44 used long acting birth control from 2011 to 2013, the most recent period studied, up from 1.5 percent in 2002. The figures include all women, even those who were pregnant or sterilized. The share of long acting contraception users among just women using birth control is likely to be higher. The methods are effective because, unlike the pill, a diaphragm or condoms, they do not require a woman to take action to work. And while an early incarnation, the Dalkon Shield introduced in the 1970s, had disastrous results, the modern devices are safe and have been increasingly promoted by doctors. Last fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines that for the first time singled them out as a "first line" birth control option for adolescents, citing their "efficacy, safety and ease of use." "There's been a big shift in the mind set," said Dr. Laura MacIsaac, director of family planning for Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York. "The demand is coming from everywhere now." In Walsenburg, studded with boarded up buildings and weedy parking lots, advocates have used the Buffett grant to help women get more control. Poverty erodes health here: Last year, rural Huerfano County, which includes Walsenburg, was ranked second to last for life expectancy in the state. "If you get pregnant here, you are stuck," said Debbie Channel, the manager of the Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center's Outreach and Women's Clinic, where Ms. Martinez, the nursing home receptionist, got her implant. "We're trying to keep them safe and baby free." Proponents say the program is working. The state health department estimated that every dollar spent on the long acting birth control initiative saved 5.85 for the state's Medicaid program, which covers more than three quarters of teenage pregnancies and births. Enrollment in the federal nutrition program for women with young children declined by nearly a quarter between 2010 and 2013. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
As Jay Z sees it, there is a clear solution to the problems facing musicians in the streaming age. They should band together behind him, of course. On Monday, Jay Z, the rap star and entertainment mogul, announced his plans for Tidal, a subscription streaming service he recently bought for 56 million. Facing competition from Spotify, Google and other companies that will soon include Apple, Tidal will be fashioned as a home for high fidelity audio and exclusive content. But perhaps the most notable part of Jay Z's strategy is that a majority of the company will be owned by artists. The move may bring financial benefits for those involved, but it is also powerfully symbolic in a business where musicians have seldom had direct control over how their work is consumed. "This is a platform that's owned by artists," Jay Z said in an interview last week as he prepared for the news conference announcing the service. "We are treating these people that really care about the music with the utmost respect." The plan was unveiled on Monday at a brief but highly choreographed news conference in Manhattan, where Jay Z stood alongside more than a dozen musicians identified as Tidal's owners. They included Rihanna, Kanye West, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, Alicia Keys, the country singer Jason Aldean, the French dance duo Daft Punk (in signature robot costumes), members of Arcade Fire, and Beyonce, Jay Z's wife. The stars stood side by side and signed an unspecified "declaration." Jay Z did not speak, but Ms. Keys read a statement expressing the musicians' wish "to forever change the course of music history." Jay Z's plan is the latest entry in an escalating battle over streaming music, which has become the industry's fastest growing revenue source but has also drawn criticism for its economic model. Major record labels, as well as artists like Taylor Swift, have also openly challenged the so called freemium model advocated by Spotify, which offers free access to music as a way to lure customers to paying subscriptions. Tidal, which makes millions of songs and thousands of high definition videos available in 31 countries, will have no free version. Instead, it will have two subscription tiers defined by audio quality: 10 a month for a compressed format (the standard on most digital outlets) and 20 for CD quality streams. "The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value," said Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. "Water is free. Music is 6 but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap it's a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist." As a superstar artist and influential executive through his company Roc Nation, Jay Z has unusual power in the music industry. He is said to be courting new artists aggressively to join the service and offer Tidal special material and "windows," or limited periods of exclusive availability. Yet Jay Z is entering the streaming fray as a boutique competitor against some of the most powerful companies in the business. Spotify has 60 million users around the world, 15 million of whom pay; Apple is expected to introduce a subscription streaming service this year. Last fall, Tidal's parent company, the Swedish technology firm Aspiro, said it had 512,000 paying users. In addition, the broader market for streaming music includes YouTube and the Internet radio giant Pandora. Tidal faces other hurdles, like whether Jay Z can attract artists from beyond his inner circle. And while Tidal may have the support of individual artists, in many cases the distribution rights to their music are controlled by record companies. Elizabeth Holmes Hones Her Defense in Day 2 of Testimony Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay 31 million to the 'House of Cards' studio after sexual harassment allegations. Lucian Grainge, the chairman of the Universal Music Group, said he welcomed Tidal's arrival. "We like lots of services and we like lots of competition," Mr. Grainge said. "Jay is an artist as well as an entrepreneur. He's a winner, and we like winners." Speaking by phone from Los Angeles where he was periodically interrupted by parenting duties for his 3 year old daughter, Blue Ivy Jay Z described his vision for Tidal as an outlet where musicians and fans "can all just camp out and listen to music," and where artists would "always be on album cycle," meaning in constant promotion mode. Music executives briefed on his plans were more prosaic, calling it a hub for entertainment content and social media. Other ideas, like links for concert tickets and merchandise sales, have been discussed as possibilities. Vania Schlogel, a Tidal executive, said that a majority of the shares in the service would be set aside for artists. She and Jay Z declined to reveal specifics about the equity deals. But one executive involved in the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deals were private, said that participating artists were being granted shares in exchange for their good faith efforts to supply exclusive content a sign, perhaps, of the confidence that the artists and their managers have in Jay Z's ability to get things done. In describing the service, Jay Z emphasized the question of fair play for musicians, calling the current system "criminal." "Everyone knows that the pay system is unfair to artists," he said. "Everywhere else, everyone gets compensated for their work. Music is everywhere you consume it every day, everywhere you go. The content creator should be compensated. It's only fair." Like other streaming services, Tidal pays a small royalty each time a song is listened to. Ms. Schlogel declined to comment on the company's rates other than that they would be higher than services that have free tiers supported by advertising. Last fall, Ms. Swift sent shock waves through the music business when she withdrew her music from Spotify, apparently because she did not want it offered free. About a month later, Jay Z approached the board of Aspiro, according to an Aspiro disclosure. Jay Z dismissed a suggestion that his interest had been prompted by Ms. Swift's move, saying that his plans "have been in the works for a year." Jonathan Prince, a spokesman for Spotify, said in response to a question about competition from Tidal, that "we think it's good for artists and labels to be on Spotify, because that's where the music fans are, and we are confident that's where artists and labels will want to be." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Q. What are the new recommendations about mammograms, and how do they differ from the old ones? A. The American Cancer Society issued new guidelines on Tuesday, recommending that women with an average risk of breast cancer have mammography starting at age 45 and continuing once a year until 54, and then every other year for as long as they are healthy and likely to live another 10 years. Previously, the society recommended mammograms every year starting at 40. But the cancer society said that women 40 to 44 should still "have the opportunity" to have mammograms if they want them, and that women 55 and older should be able to have them once a year if they choose. The guidelines apply only to women with an average risk of breast cancer, not those whose risk is high because of their personal or family history. Q. Why did the cancer society change its position? A. The changes were the result of an exhaustive review of the medical literature, something that the group conducts periodically to keep its screening guidelines up to date, and to balance benefit against harm. It found increasing evidence that although mammography can prevent deaths from breast cancer, it is less helpful in women under 45, and carries risks like false positives and, potentially, the diagnosis and treatment of small, unaggressive cancers that might never have bothered the patient if left alone. For younger women, the harms appeared to outweigh the benefits. Less frequent screening in women over 55 was considered sufficient because if they develop cancer, it is more likely to be slower growing and less aggressive than tumors in younger women. Q. What do the new guidelines say about clinical breast exams? A. They no longer recommend clinical breast exams, in which doctors or nurses feel for lumps, for women of any age who have no symptoms or abnormalities. Previously, the cancer society recommended them once a year for all women 19 and over. But the society said it found little evidence that they help, and some that they could cause false positives that would trigger more testing. Q. Do other health organizations agree with these new guidelines? A. No. Some recommend more screening, and some less. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of prominent cancer centers, recommends mammograms every year starting at age 40. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends mammograms every year or two from 40 to 49, and every year after 50. The United States Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services, recommends a later start and less frequent testing: mammograms every other year for women 50 to 74. Q. Given the conflicting advice, how are women supposed to figure out what to do? A. All the groups agree that mammography can reduce a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer, by about 20 percent. But when it comes to when to start and how often to screen, many experts say there is no one answer that suits all women. Those who want to find tumors when they are as small and as early as possible should screen earlier and more often provided that they can live with the high likelihood that at some point they will be called back to the clinic for more testing based on a false positive. Women who find screening onerous or nerve racking can take advantage of the opportunity to start later and undergo the testing less often provided that they can live with the possibility that if they do develop cancer, the tumor may be larger and more advanced than it would have been had they been screened more often. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
True bilingualism is a relatively rare and a beautiful thing, and by "true," I mean speaking two languages with the proficiency of a native something most of us will only dream of as we struggle with learning languages in school and beyond. Highly competent bilingualism is probably more common in other countries, since many children growing up in the United States aren't exposed to other languages. But the steps along the road toward bilingualism can help a child's overall facility with language. And early exposure to more than one language can confer certain advantages, especially in terms of facility with forming the sounds in that language. But parents should not assume that young children's natural language abilities will lead to true grown up language skills without a good deal of effort. Erika Hoff, a developmental psychologist who is a professor at Florida Atlantic University and the lead author of a 2015 review article on bilingual development, said: "For everybody trying to raise a bilingual child, whatever your background and reason, it's very important to realize that acquiring a language requires massive exposure to that language." Pediatricians routinely advise parents to talk as much as possible to their young children, to read to them and sing to them. Part of the point is to increase their language exposure, a major concern even for children growing up with only one language. And in order to foster language development, the exposure has to be person to person; screen time doesn't count for learning language in young children even one language though kids can learn content and vocabulary from educational screen time later on. "For bilingual development, the child will need exposure to both languages," Dr. Hoff said, "and that's really difficult in a monolingual environment, which is what the U.S. is." Pediatricians advise non English speaking parents to read aloud and sing and tell stories and speak with their children in their native languages, so the children get that rich and complex language exposure, along with sophisticated content and information, rather than the more limited exposure you get from someone speaking a language in which the speaker is not entirely comfortable. Parents come up with all kinds of strategies to try to promote this kind of exposure. Some families decide that each parent will speak a different language to the child. But the child will be able to sort out the two languages even if both parents speak them both, Dr. Hoff said. "There is certainly no research to suggest that children need to have languages lined up with speakers or they get confused." On the other hand, that rule could be a way of making sure that the non English language is used. If a child grows up with caretakers who speak a foreign language perhaps a Chinese au pair or a French nanny the child may see some benefits down the road in studying that language. But if a child grows up speaking that second language Korean, say with cousins and grandparents, attending a "Saturday School" that emphasizes the language and the culture, listening to music and even reading books in that language, and visits Korea along the way, that child will end up with a much stronger sense of the language. It does take longer to acquire two languages than one, Dr. Hoff said, and that, again, comes back to the exposure. "A child who is learning two languages will have a smaller vocabulary in each than a child who is only learning one; there are only so many hours in the day, and you're either hearing English or Spanish," Dr. Hoff said. The children will be fine, though, she said. They may mix the languages, but that doesn't indicate confusion. "Adult bilinguals mix their languages all the time; it's a sign of language ability," she said. Dr. Hoff works in South Florida, where there is a very educated and affluent population raising children in Spanish and English. "The children start out as baby bilinguals, but the older they get, the more English overtakes Spanish," she said. "The ones who are successful bilinguals as adults are still much better in English than they are in Spanish they didn't go to school in Spanish, they don't read books in Spanish, and when you actually measure the size of their vocabularies, or the grammar they understand, or the coherence of the narrative they produce, they are not as proficient as they are in English." Gigliana Melzi, a developmental psychologist and associate professor of applied psychology at New York University who studies language in Spanish and English speaking Latino families, agreed. "Parents will need to be mindful about introducing the child to literacy in that language," she said. "They will need to be thoughtful about ways they will encourage the child to maintain the language." It's also important, she said, to watch the individual child and make sure the child is not overloaded with demands because of parental expectations and ambitions; maybe three languages on top of a musical instrument and a serious sport is just too much. The languages you learn as a child are important, but so are the languages you learn later in life. "We all know people who make great contributions and do great science in English and are not native speakers," Dr. Hoff said. "The human brain is amazing, and the human capacity to acquire language is amazing." So what should parents do if they want to give their children a bilingual boost? "Find a native speaker and have that native speaker have fun, interesting conversations with your child, and your child will learn something," Dr. Hoff said. "Don't expect it will turn your child into a perfect balanced bilingual, but that's O.K." Whatever you do is an advantage. Dr. Melzi said that often, a child who has been fluent in two languages in the preschool years goes to school where English is spoken, and starts using English to describe what happens there. "There is a push worldwide where English becomes like the lingua franca, so it's important that the child be exposed to the other language early, and the younger you are, the more nativelike you're going to sound," she said. On the other hand, older children may learn more easily: "The younger you are, the more head start you have," she said. "The older you are, the more efficient learner you are, you have a first language you can use as a bootstrap." So true bilingualism may be rare, but parents shouldn't be discouraged on that account, since all the skills that children acquire along the way are very valuable, Dr. Melzi said. "It's worth it, but it's a lot of work." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Well |
Opinion is divided over who won the last Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And polls are awfully close in Iowa. But in one area at least, Mrs. Clinton appears to have already triumphed: She has finally, 23 years after she first stepped onto the national stage as first lady, stopped the conversation about her clothes. Consider: During and after the debate on Sunday, there was, for the first time I can remember, barely a whisper about what she wore. Can you even remember what it was? It was so nondescript, it was just not cause for comment. That's pretty extraordinary, given our obsession with whatever anyone in the public eye red carpet celebrities, royalty, even criminals puts on their backs. Last week, the news broke that the shirt El Chapo wore in his Sean Penn video had sold out online, and a hoo ha was created recently when Marco Rubio wore some fancy footwear (which also sold out online). But here's a sacrilegious thought: Is Mrs. Clinton's achievement one we should be celebrating? Has she won the battle, but not the real war? I know that as a woman I should be lauding the end of reductionism by fashion, the idea that finally a female of high achievement seeking high office is being judged not by what she wears but by what she says. But I can't help feeling that something important had been sacrificed in the process; that this isn't necessarily a giant leap forward, but a kind of chasse to the side. After all, how did she escape the issue of clothes? By taking a page from her opponents' playbook and making it her own. By boring everyone into silence. First debate: navy collarless suit, white tunic. Second debate: black pantsuit, black scoop neck shirt. Third debate: neutral burlap like coat jacket, khaki trousers. Fourth debate: black suit, blue shirt. Indeed, the outfit Mrs. Clinton wore on Sunday was almost indistinguishable from those of Mr. Sanders and the other debater, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Both of them wore similar dark suits and blue ties, with Mr. O'Malley in a white shirt and Mr. Sanders in blue. They were so matchy matchy that if you did not know they were opponents, you might have thought they were teammates. Gone were the tangerines and the verdant greens; the grape and the lemon yellow; the cherry, fuchsia and turquoise that once characterized her suit choices. There have been occasional bursts of red and blue, but they are now more the exception than the rule. She has almost, seemingly, tied herself not just to some of the policies of her former boss, President Obama, but also to his sartorial strategy: wear only gray or blue suits, every day. Gone is the big strand of costume pearls Mrs. Clinton wore at the second debate, which made all sorts of subliminal associations with first ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy to Barbara Bush and Michelle Obama, and which seemed an oblique reference to her own time in the White House. They have been retired in favor of subtler pieces that barely register on the bling o meter. I respect that. I think it's a pretty good example of her ability to take the temperature of the times and figure out how to solve the problem presented to her, a useful attribute in a president. But at the same time, I can't help being a little sorry about it. Because in sapping her clothes of potentially controversial content, Mrs. Clinton has also sapped them of personality. Yes, she does not look like a fruit basket anymore. And maybe she was really a black suit type all along. But whereas the quirkiness of her rainbow clothing coalition gave humor to her policy wonkitude, her clothes now say she will do what's necessary to get the job (i.e., getting elected) done. Fair enough. But they say nothing about her tastes, her sense of humor, her idiosyncrasies. They do not humanize her. They do not suggest multiple dimensions. Invert the clothing equation and it becomes a weapon you can use, as opposed to one used on you. And a pretty powerful one, especially for a woman. Mrs. Clinton seemed to understand this at the beginning of her campaign, with her Instagram joke about "hard choices" accompanying a red, white and blue pantsuit array, with her asides about dyeing her hair, even with her scrunchies, once upon a State Department time. She seemed to see fashion and our obsession with what our role models wear as opportunity and tool, or at least to have come round to that view, after carping early on about unfair gender related focus. That to me was the biggest advance: not complaining about fashion, not denying it, not ignoring it, but milking it for what it was worth. For what it could do for you: support your message. Underscore it. Add to it. People are interested in clothes. So what? They want to talk about them? Fine, let's talk. If that's the way to grab attention and engage if that's an entry point to a broader conversation and deeper connection it's at least as valid as discussions about, say, what sub sandwich is your favorite. And that is a lesson worth learning, one I would pass on to my daughters. It is one I wish female politicians and I hope there will be more and more of them would learn (male, too, for that matter). But it's no longer being taught. There are miles and months to go before the Democratic convention, even more until the general election. Things could change. Winning could give Mrs. Clinton the confidence to play a little or, conversely, convince her that bland is the way to go. (Losing comes with its own set of lessons.) Either way, she makes history. And she has the opportunity to change it. To really solve the clothing problem by showing that it's not a problem. It's a platform, by another name. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
A sophisticated penthouse at , configured as a duplex loft with 2,000 square feet of outdoor options and nearly 6,000 square feet of interior space, sold for 17.5 million and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records. The voluminous unit, No. 9A/8B, with more than 40 windows providing exposures in three directions, had been owned since 2005 by the television pundit Jon Stewart, the host of "The Daily Show." This time, the apartment traded privately, with Mr. Stewart reaping a serious profit. Records indicate that he paid 5.8 million in 2005, a year after the circa 1900 building underwent a conversion to 24 loft style residences. The building, at the corner of Hudson and Laight Streets, enjoyed previous notoriety as the site of Wetlands, a jam band venue extraordinaire that closed in 2001 to make way for what else deluxe TriBeCa condominiums that attracted celebrities including Mr. Stewart, the Mets catcher Mike Piazza and the actor Jeremy Piven. As he did when he acquired the unit, Mr. Stewart used a limited liability company, Stanley Monkey Trust, which was named after two of his pets. The buyer used the limited liability company Kisban. The runner up, selling for 13,695,462.50, was a five bedroom seven and a half bath sponsor unit at 737 Park Avenue, formerly a 1940s rental apartment house with a prime location on the northeast corner of 71st Street. The building was acquired in 2011 by Macklowe Properties and the CIM Group and transformed into 60 residences by Handel Architects. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night's highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. We're all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. With Covid 19 raging and the election less than 50 days away, late night hosts homed in on President Trump's decision to hold an indoor campaign rally in a Las Vegas suburb over the weekend, flouting Nevada's virus restrictions. Thousands attended, most without wearing masks or social distancing. "And now you can tell Nevada is on edge, because after the rally, the Bellagio fountain started spraying bleach," Jimmy Fallon said on Monday's "Tonight Show." "It looks like the next long term residency in Las Vegas will be the coronavirus." JIMMY FALLON "In violation of the state's Covid restrictions, there were lots of chanting and very little social distancing, and many refused to wear masks at all. If you were actively trying to get people sick, this is how you would do it. The only way he could spread the virus more efficiently is to hold a rally at a meatpacking plant and charge one French kiss for admission." SETH MEYERS "This was Trump's first entirely indoor event in almost three months. Yep, the event was attended by 5,000 people who watched Trump's Tulsa rally and thought, 'That, but less safe.'" JIMMY FALLON "The rally actually defied Nevada's 50 person limit on indoor gatherings. In response, the Trump campaign was like, 'Honestly, after Tulsa, we didn't think 50 people would show up.'" JIMMY FALLON "At his next rally, there's going to be one 'Make America Great Again' Kleenex that everyone has to share. imitating Trump 'Just blow your nose and pass it around. Trump fever!'" SETH MEYERS "How do you still trust this man after he admitted he's been downplaying the coronavirus this whole time? I don't get it. I really don't get it. What do you mean you trust him? This is like believing a Nigerian email scammer after he tells you that he's a Nigerian email scammer.'" TREVOR NOAH "And as for Trump, how are you going to call yourself the president of law and order when you're openly flouting the law? And not even for like a noble reason. No, it's just so he can spend 90 minutes ranting how vegetables were invented by the deep state and Hillary Clinton." TREVOR NOAH The Punchiest Punchlines (What Happens in Vegas Edition) "You know how bad you have to mess up to be known as the guy who made a bad decision in Vegas? Even old ladies smoking at the slot machines were like, 'I wouldn't set foot in there.'" JIMMY FALLON "This was such a bad idea, one doctor even said, 'President Trump's indoor rally in Nevada is negligent homicide,' making Trump's rally the dumbest political gathering since Bill Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination at Jurassic Park." STEPHEN COLBERT "Trump wasn't too concerned about hosting a super spreader event because he kept saying, 'Hey, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.'" JAMES CORDEN "Several major television networks, including CNN, reportedly decided not to send crews to cover President Trump's indoor rally in Nevada yesterday due to safety concerns, and not, as I had assumed, because it wasn't news." SETH MEYERS "And this isn't just about breaking the law. What Donald Trump is doing here is actually dangerous. The last time Trump held an indoor rally, he lost 25 percent of his Black friends." TREVOR NOAH, showing a photo of Herman Cain "Seriously, you know you're doing something crazy when the state that allows gambling and prostitution's like, 'You can't do that, bro.'" JIMMY FALLON Bob Woodward offered Stephen Colbert an exclusive excerpt from one of his taped conversations with Trump about the coronavirus. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
Tourism marketing for New York has emphasized a spirit that the city's tourism organization thought was missing in Washington, a spokesman said. Persuading international travelers to visit the United States never used to be difficult. But things have gotten a little more complicated. According to the Commerce Department's National Travel and Tourism Office, the number of international visitors in the first half of 2017 fell 4 percent from a year earlier. Those in the travel industry point to factors like a global market that gives tourists more possible destinations, the strength of the dollar and tightening visa restrictions. They also say the messages coming from the Trump administration the latest example being President Trump's vulgar comment about Haiti and African nations play a role. "Although the policy of the administration has not been targeted towards tourists, per se, tourists around the world are asking themselves whether they're welcome in the United States," said Daniel Korschun, associate professor of marketing at Drexel University, who focuses on the intersection of advertising and politics. "That's surely a factor in the sagging performance." This week, the United States Travel Association plans to announce that industry groups are forming the Visit U.S. Coalition in an attempt to combat the slump through advocacy, lobbying, advertising and other methods. Members include the American Gaming Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Christopher Heywood, spokesman for New York City's tourism organization, NYC Company, said "negative rhetoric coming out of the current administration" was a driving force behind the group's marketing last year, which featured the phrases "Welcoming the world" and "All are welcome." "We're not a political group," he said. "We're a marketing group, but there was so much at stake, we needed to be more engaged." The nonprofit tourism organization Brand USA will begin its new marketing campaign with a sweeping, 40 minute film that showcases the United States through the lens of musical history. It hopes the approach the will convey that the United States embraces individuals and cultures from outside its borders. "Travel has a way of transcending politics," said Chris Thompson, president and chief executive of Brand USA. "I think our ability to use music, because it's so compelling and inspirational, it really allows us to rise above any of that." The film will be shown at museums and similar locations in top overseas markets beginning next month, and will be augmented by digital and social promotion. 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. "That strategy could be a very interesting one because it gets across a lot of the wonderful cultural influences that have permeated life in the States from everywhere in the world," said Damien Eley, executive creative director at the ad agency Mistress, which has worked with the Los Angeles tourism board on its campaigns. "It's a nice device to be able to show the depth of culture and diversity in the States." Getting a tone of tacit recognition just right is a delicate feat. The destination marketing organizations of New York and Los Angeles, which ran campaigns explicitly highlighting their inclusivity last year, have employed similar strategies to evolve their messaging to be not anti Trump but pro destination. "Travel isn't about negativity at all," said Brian Tolleson, managing partner at the agency Bark Bark, which worked with Orbitz on a diversity focused campaign last year. Advertising that taps into negative sentiment risks alienating people, he said. "To stand up for positive values might be the best we can do in the face of whatever may happen in the political climate," Mr. Tolleson added. When NYC Company began its "True York City" campaign late last year, Mr. Heywood said, the intent was to draw attention to the city's diversity of people, neighborhoods and cultural offerings. The organization enlisted an array of designers, chefs, writers and other residents to endorse the city's hidden gems rather than just its iconic sights. Mr. Tolleson said, "The instinct to talk about travel on a person to person level is something that helps disarm some of the negative political discourse." Los Angeles is evolving last year's "Everyone Is Welcome" campaign to highlight eclectic cultural offerings as well as inclusivity in a campaign that will begin next month. "We want to drive visitation, too," said Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer of Discover Los Angeles, the city's destination marketing organization. "We have to pivot a bit." Although Los Angeles officials recently announced that a record 7.1 million people from outside the United States visited the city in 2017, Mr. Skeoch said appealing to millennial travelers with the promise of unique and personal experiences would keep the momentum going. "We'll emphasize high and low culture in this creative," he said. "We have museums, but we'll also look at street murals." In its promotions, Brand USA also works with travel and lifestyle personalities who have large social media followings in their countries, giving their endorsements more clout. "We've really gravitated more towards that this being on the ground and in touch," Mr. Thompson said. Mr. Eley of Mistress said making inclusivity and tolerance part of their public profile was a way for cities to stand apart from the political invective. "A city now has in their marketing armory a story of who they are and how they're different from the current administration," he said. "It's certainly something that's given L.A. a whole other avenue of their brand to fall back on and celebrate." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
The usual way to begin writing about Agnes Varda is to take note of her status as the only woman director associated with the French Nouvelle Vague. I've done it again just now for what I hope is the last time. Not because it isn't accurate to place Varda, who died at 90 on Friday, in the company of confreres like Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard, but because the habit reflects a distorted view of film history, one that obscures both the singularity of Varda's career and her place in the pantheon. We are accustomed and by "we" I mean ordinary cinephiles, male and female, as well as critics, scholars and list makers to thinking about the movie past as a chronicle of boys' clubs, one new wave of testosterone after another. Women who make their mark behind the camera, as agents rather than objects of its gaze, tend to be seen as anomalies and alibis, special cases rather than central figures. Their existence can be cited as an exception to the sexism that ensures their scarcity, and the master narratives that treat their stories as more than footnotes or sidebars have yet to be written. Varda's work might be the place to start. Not only because of her feminism which was consistent and complicated, unmistakable and impossible to circumscribe but also because of her individuality. Like her friend Chris Marker, she made movies that didn't so much transcend genre categories as ignore them altogether, finding possibilities for expression outside the usual classifications. She alternated between fiction and nonfiction, and also frequently combined them. Her essay films are also memoirs; her personal reflections are also political; her saddest movies are also her liveliest, and vice versa. "Documenteur," from 1981, combines the word documentary with the French word for "liar." It's the masculine version of that word, even though the protagonist (Sabine Mamou) is a woman and the movie incorporates images from a documentary directed by Varda herself. Some of her best known films concern the experiences of young women making their way, alone and together, through modern landscapes full of promise and peril: "Cleo From 5 to 7"; "One Sings, the Other Doesn't"; "Vagabond." Each of those movies from 1962, 1977 and 1986 is an essential document of its decade. But they don't stand alone. They connect. With one another, with Varda's other films, with the work of colleagues and friends, with the places and faces that inhabit them. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
In 2021, for the first time in its 118 year history, the race will begin in Denmark; it will be the northernmost start for the prestigious cycling race. Three Danish legs of the race, or stages, are planned for July 2, 3 and 4 that year. The Tour de France, divided into 21 one day stages covering approximately 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers), is often described as a dazzling travelogue. Its opening legs, known as the Grand Depart, change location every year and are occasionally hosted outside of France, usually in neighboring countries like the Netherlands, Belgium or Germany, though Monaco and Britain have also had the honor. (The finish always takes place along the Champs Elysees in Paris.) The Danish Grand Depart will be the largest sporting event ever organized in the country. More than three billion television viewers worldwide watch the Tour annually, said Jan Boesen Olsen, chief executive for VisitDenmark, the country's official tourism organization. He expects a boon to Danish tourism. "The longed for Grand Depart is a huge tourist draw bringing prestige and business," he wrote in an email. Alex Pedersen, a former professional rider and the director of Grand Depart Copenhagen Denmark 2021, the nonprofit overseeing the tour in Denmark, hopes for one million fans to gather along Danish roads and on the waterways. "Come early," he said. "Bring your picnic and your sausages to grill on barbecues by the roadside." Thinking about going? Here's what to expect at each stage: Copenhagen, the site of the Grand Depart, is a city with more bicycles than inhabitants. Almost half of its city dwellers commute to work or school by bicycles, with cargo bikes often carrying pets and furniture, as well as people. "The greatest cycling race in the world meets the best cycling city in the world" is the slogan of the Grand Depart 2021. While the exact route has not yet been announced, the Grand Depart will feature an eight mile (13 kilometer) inner city time trial lasting approximately 15 minutes. Racers will cycle through the heart of Copenhagen, passing landmarks such as the Royal Palace of Amalienborg and the harbor of Nyhavn, before finishing at Radhuspladsen (City Hall Square). Roskilde, the former Danish capital, 22 miles (35 kilometers), from Copenhagen, is the starting point of the Tour's second stage, a racing trial lasting 118 miles (190 kilometers). Riders will most likely pass the city's red brick cathedral, a Unesco World Heritage site and royal necropolis, and then sprint across the 11 mile (18 kilometer) Great Belt Bridge over the Baltic Sea to reach the finish line in Nyborg. This race is expected to be spectacular, with possible crosswinds adding pressure on the competitors. "Denmark has no mountains, but it has wind to challenge the riders and potentially create significant time gaps between contenders," Mr. Pedersen said. "Riders will not win the Tour in Denmark, but they can lose it." The final race in Denmark, a stage of 106 miles (170 kilometers), was also planned for maximum wind exposure, with a route close to the sea and along open fields. It will take place on the southernmost side of the Jutland peninsula, picturesque countryside dotted with livestock, grain silos and windmills. The riders will pedal along empty sandy beaches, fjords, Viking ruins, fortresses defending immaculate medieval towns, and the burial grounds known as the birthplace of Denmark . It is well off the beaten path. The Dybbol windmill, a Danish national symbol, is not far from from the Sonderborg finishing point. The finish is set for Sonderborg, a town on the island of Als by the Flensburg Fjord and the southernmost airport in Denmark . A few kilometers away is the Dybbol windmill, a Danish national symbol since a defeat by Prussia in 1864 that resulted in Denmark losing a significant chunk of its territory. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
VIENNA For an East European of my generation, watching the current protests in Belarus is like going through an old photo album. The scenes of striking workers call forth the shipyards of Gdansk, Poland, and the Solidarity movement of the 1980s. Moscow's dilemma whether to offer President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko's regime "friendly" support reminds me of Czechoslovakia in 1968, when Soviet troops entered the Czech capital to scotch the popular Prague Spring. And the West's striking incapacity to support civil society in Belarus screams of 1989 though not in Eastern Europe but in China. The question of the moment is whether Mr. Lukashenko will repeat the tragedy of Tiananmen. What I have been thinking most about is not a protest movement of my youth, but a natural disaster. The uprising in Belarus stands in the shadow of Chernobyl, the worst nuclear catastrophe in human history, which took place in the neighboring Soviet republic of Ukraine. Thirty four years later, citizens have realized that nothing has changed in their country, and that they are ruled by a government ready to sacrifice its people in order to hide the regime's decay. This spring, when all of Europe was in lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Lukashenko informed Belarusians that there is nothing to fear. The best thing they could do, he said, was ignore the global hysteria, head to football stadiums and cheer on their favorite clubs. Many did so; many also got infected with the virus and died. We can only speculate how many Belarusians would have taken to the streets were it not for Covid 19. But it is clear that the government's feckless response to the pandemic was a turning point. The protests in Belarus should force us to rethink the relationship between the pandemic and authoritarianism. Does the virus infect our societies with authoritarian governance or, alternatively, can it strengthen democratic immunity? Some fear that more than any other crisis, a public health emergency like this one will impel people to accept restrictions on their liberties in the hope of improving personal security. The pandemic has increased tolerance of invasive surveillance and bans on freedom of assembly. In several Western countries including the United States and Germany there were public protests against mask mandates and lockdowns. At the same time, the pandemic has eroded the power of authoritarians and the authoritarian inclined. The instinctive reaction of leaders like Mr. Lukashenko in Belarus, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Donald Trump in the United States was not to take advantage of the state of emergency to expand their authority it was to play down the seriousness of the pandemic. Why are authoritarian leaders who thrive on crises and who are fluent in the politics of fear reluctant to embrace the opportunity? Why do they seem to hate a crisis that they should love? The answer is straightforward: Authoritarians only enjoy those crises they have manufactured themselves. They need enemies to defeat, not problems to solve. The freedom authoritarian leaders cherish most is the freedom to choose which crises merit a response. It is this capacity that allows them to project an image of Godlike power. In pre Covid 19 Russia, Mr. Putin could "solve" one crisis by ginning up another. He reversed the decline of his popularity after the protest movement of 2011 12 by dramatically annexing Crimea. Mr. Trump could once claim that migrant caravans from Mexico are the greatest threat his country is facing, and disregard the civilizational threat of climate change. In the age of coronavirus, this is no longer possible. There is just this one crisis, here and now: the pandemic. And governments are being judged by how they manage it. Authoritarian actors not only loathe crises they have not freely chosen, they also dislike "exceptional situations" that force them to respond with standardized rules and protocols rather than with ad hoc, discretionary moves. Mundane behaviors like physical distancing, self isolation and handwashing are the best ways to halt the spread of the virus. A leader's bold stroke of genius will be of no help. Following rules is not the same as obeying orders. Even more threatening for authoritarian elites in the Covid 19 world is that they lack the key advantage all democratic leaders enjoy: The luxury to survive even when appearing weak. Imagine that Mr. Putin orders all Russian citizens to wear masks and half of the population elect not to. For a democratic leader, this would be an embarrassment; for an authoritarian it is a direct challenge to his power. The ubiquity of the disease also poses challenges for authoritarians. Because the pandemic affects every country in the world, citizens can compare the actions of their governments with those of others. Success or failure at flattening the curve provides a common metric, making cross national comparisons possible and putting pressure on governments that had previously succeeded in insulating themselves from public criticism. In this context, Covid 19 has become deadly dangerous for ossifying authoritarian regimes like Mr. Lukashenko's in Belarus. It is still possible that the patient will survive if it is put in an artificial coma in Mr. Putin's emergency room. But it is now clear that the virus is a curse rather than a blessing for authoritarians like him. In 1986, the Chernobyl tragedy made the people of the Soviet Union see the reality of the Communist system hidden behind the state propaganda: It wasn't all powerful. In fact, it wasn't even competent. The regime lasted only a few more years. 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 |
Sifting through teaspoons of clay and sand scraped from the floors of caves, German researchers have managed to isolate ancient human DNA without turning up a single bone. Their new technique, described in a study published on Thursday in the journal Science, promises to open new avenues of research into human prehistory and was met with excitement by geneticists and archaeologists. "It's a bit like discovering that you can extract gold dust from the air," said Adam Siepel, a population geneticist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. "An absolutely amazing and exciting paper," added David Reich, a genetics professor at Harvard who focuses on ancient DNA. Until recently, the only way to study the genes of ancient humans like the Neanderthals and their cousins, the Denisovans, was to recover DNA from fossil bones. But they are scarce and hard to find, which has greatly limited research into where early humans lived and how widely they ranged. The only Denisovan bones and teeth that scientists have, for example, come from a single cave in Siberia. Looking for these genetic signposts in sediment has become possible only in the last few years, with recent developments in technology, including rapid sequencing of DNA. Bits of genes from ancient humans make up just a minute fraction of the DNA floating around in the natural world. But the German scientists, led by Matthias Meyer at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tubingen, have spent years developing methods to find DNA even where it seemed impossibly scarce and degraded. "There's been a real revolution in technology invented by this lab," Dr. Reich said. "Matthias is kind of a wizard in pushing the envelope." Scientists began by retrieving DNA from ancient bones: first Neanderthals, then Denisovans. To identify the Denisovans, Svante Paabo, a geneticist at the Planck Institute and a co author of the new paper, had only a child's pinkie bone to work with. His group surprised the world in 2010 by reporting that it had extracted DNA from the bone, finding that it belonged to a group of humans distinct from both Neanderthals and modern humans. But that sort of analysis is limited by the availability of fossil bones. "In a lot of cases, you can get bones, but not enough," said Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University. "If you just have one small piece of bone from one site, curators do not want you to grind it up." Finding and analyzing ancient DNA in dirt is far more difficult than getting it out of bone. The idea was not new, noted Viviane Slon, a member of Dr. Meyer's group and the first author of the new paper. Other groups of researchers have found DNA in sediment, including Dr. Poinar and Michael Hofreiter, his former student. Using a tablespoon of dirt from a cave in Colorado, his team discovered traces from 16 animal species that had lived there. It took two weeks to do it. Researchers who had scoured that cave for bones had spent 20 years there and had sifted through two metric tons of dirt to find bones, teeth or skin of 20 animal species including the 16 that Dr. Poinar's group later identified. The new study involved searching for ancient DNA in four caves in Eurasia where humans were known to have lived between 14,000 and 550,000 years ago. Dr. Meyer and his colleagues figured out which DNA in the cave sediment was prehistoric by looking for telltale signs of degradation at the ends of the molecules. They then plucked out DNA from Neanderthals and Denisovans by using molecular hooks to snare genes in mitochondria the cells' energy factories that are unique to these humans. The scientists also built a robotic system to analyze the samples quickly; the old way, pipetting by hand, required several days to analyze only a fraction as many samples. The group needed that efficiency. From different dirt samples, they recovered between 5,000 and 2.8 million DNA fragments. The number of DNA fragments per sample that were from ancient humans was minuscule and ranged from 0 to 8,822, depending on the site in the cave. The discovery that it is now possible to do all this, Dr. Reich said, is just "an amazing, amazing thing." The questions that can now be addressed seem almost endless. Researchers could feasibly begin searching for bones in caves where DNA in the dirt indicates habitation by ancient humans. And they are likely to begin learning much more about human prehistory. The Denisovans, for example: Tiny pieces of genes inherited from them have been found in modern humans in Papua New Guinea. How did they get there? And why these people, and not humans closer to Siberia? With the new technique, one way to try to verify the presence of humans would be to look for ancient human DNA at the site where the bones were found or in areas nearby. "A natural thing to do is start looking in sediments," said Jonathan Pritchard, a professor of genetics and biology at Stanford. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
A Few Species of Frogs That Vanished May Be on the Rebound In 2013, two biologists named Jamie Voyles and Corinne L. Richards Zawacki spent weeks slogging up and down mountainsides in Panama. "We were bug bitten and beat up," recalled Dr. Voyles, now an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Near the end of their trek, they came to a stop. In front of them sat the object of their quest: a single gold and black frog. "I can't tell you what that moment was like," Dr. Voyles said. She had feared that variable harlequin frogs had disappeared entirely from Panama. As recently as the early 2000s, they had been easy to find in the country's high altitude forests. "They used to be so abundant that you could barely walk without stepping on them," Dr. Voyles said. But in recent years, Dr. Voyles and her colleagues started to encounter sick frogs, and then dead ones. And then they couldn't find any variable harlequin frogs at all. Many other species at Dr. Voyles's research sites in Panama suffered the same grim fate. As had frogs around the world. Dr. Voyles and other frog researchers found that many of the dead frogs were covered with the same aggressive skin fungus, known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd. As Bd spread from forest to forest, and continent to continent, researchers feared that amphibians might suffer mass extinctions. Today, many species of frogs and toads are still dwindling, and some have disappeared altogether. But scientists like Dr. Voyles have also found a little cause for hope: a handful of species appear to be coming back. After discovering variable harlequin frogs again, she and her colleagues have returned to their Panama research sites and found a few other species that had previously vanished. "They're not in large numbers their abundances are low," Dr. Voyles said. "But we think that as more time goes by, we'll find more species that we thought were lost." Now scientists are trying to figure out what accounts for these rebounds. On Thursday, Dr. Voyles and her colleagues published evidence suggesting that the frogs have gained potent defenses in their skin against the fungus. When Dr. Voyles rediscovered a few vanished frog species, she initially suspected that the Bd fungus was becoming less deadly. In outbreaks of other pathogens, they have sometimes evolved into milder forms that no longer wipe out the hosts they depend on for their survival. To test that idea, Dr. Voyles and her colleagues got hold of frozen Bd samples gathered in Panama in 2004, early in the epidemic. They infected frogs with the old fungus, and observed how it compared to new strains of Bd. "It's still pretty lethal over a decade later," Dr. Voyles said. "So I was wrong." Dr. Voyles was left with the possibility that the frogs themselves had changed. At first she found this idea unlikely, because there hadn't been much time for the frogs to evolve. While Bd can multiply in a matter of days, it can take many months for a frog to develop into a sexually mature adult. She tested the hypothesis anyway. Dr. Voyles and her colleagues knew that frogs fight infections with potent skin secretions containing pathogen killing molecules. Dr. Voyles and other researchers have found that when they add skin secretions to lab grown Bd, it slows down the fungus's growth. Dr. Voyles wondered if frogs had acquired more potent skin secretions, allowing them to rebound. To test that possibility, she and her colleagues collected skin secretions from captive frogs in the Maryland Zoo. The frogs descend from ancestors that had been captured in Panama before the Bd epidemic. The researchers added skin secretions from captive frogs to petri dishes of growing Bd. They then measured how much the frog's secretions slowed down the fungus's growth. They then carried out the same treatment with skin secretions taken from rebounding populations of wild frogs. The researchers found a big difference between the two trials. "We had multiple species that were between two and fivefold different in their effectiveness," said Dr. Voyles, "which is pretty striking." Dr. Voyles speculated that some species of frogs included a few mutants with skin secretions that were effective against Bd. While many other frogs died off, the mutants survived and passed down their defensive genes. James P. Collins, an evolutionary ecologist at Arizona State University, said he found Dr. Voyles's explanation compelling. "This would be the first candidate I'd put on the table," he said. But Karen R. Lips of the University of Maryland wasn't persuaded that the researchers made a convincing case for skin secretions. "They don't actually provide data that really supports that," she said. Dr. Lips's skepticism comes from her own research on frog defenses. In some of her studies, she focuses not on skin secretions, but on the genes involved in the frog immune system. She and her colleagues have found that some frogs respond to infections by switching on many of these genes and using them to make lots of immune related proteins. But those frogs all die, along with the frogs that have a weaker genetic response. "Their genes are going crazy, but it doesn't matter," Dr. Lips said. It's possible that the immune system of frogs will turn out to be a key to the rebound of some species, or their skin secretions or both. It's also possible that other factors matter. The Bd fungus can grow only in cool temperatures. If some frogs moved down to lower altitudes where it's warmer, they might be spared. "You wind up selecting for animals that like to live in some spots as opposed to animals that live in cooler, shady spots," Dr. Collins said. In some places, the frogs may not even have to move to gain this protection. In February, a team of Spanish researchers reported that three species of frogs in Spain are growing in numbers, even though Bd is present in the country and it can infect all the species there. They concluded that global warming is raising the temperature where the frogs live, keeping the fungus in check. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
A federal program that set aside millions of dollars to provide remedial help for struggling students from low income families quietly came to an end in Texas last month. During a news conference to announce that the state had been granted a general waiver from No Child Left Behind, the 2001 federal education law, Michael L. Williams, the education commissioner, cast the change as one of many that would give districts more authority over their underperforming schools. But his comments signaled more than a shift in policy. The state had also, intentionally or not, struck a blow against a once bustling and virtually unchecked commercial industry. A Texas Tribune investigation has uncovered years of inaction by state officials while money flowed to tutoring companies, delivering few academic results and flouting state regulations. As companies racked up complaints and school districts spent further resources investigating them the state agency responsible for administering the program repeatedly claimed it had no authority to intervene. "I look at it as an incredible opportunity that has been missed for our students," said Jon Dahlander, a spokesman for the Dallas Independent School District, which has spent 18 million on tutoring since 2009. "It's unfortunate all the way around." A provision in the federal education law requires poorly performing school districts to reserve 20 percent of the federal financing they receive for economically disadvantaged students to pay for "supplemental education services," or tutoring, in middle and high school. In the last six years, Texas school districts have spent 180 million on such services, primarily from private providers. As the academic standards that schools had to meet under federal law increased each year, the number of schools required to set aside money for tutoring grew, and so did their troubles with the private companies providing the services. As early as 2009, school administrators began reporting claims of falsified invoices, overly aggressive student recruitment and questionable instructional methods. They doubted the academic benefit of such programs something internal agency evaluations had already suggested and soon confirmed. They detailed the use of iPads, phones and laptops as incentives for students to enroll in the services. They described instances of company representatives paying students and teachers to recruit for their programs and showing up on school property without permission or criminal history background checks. One East Texas principal expressed alarm that the owner of a tutoring company working on campus was also listed on an adult entertainment Web site. But companies vigorously defended their practices, sometimes even filing complaints with the agency themselves. They said their gifts to students were "learning tools" permitted under the law and blamed school districts' lack of communication if they failed to comply with state procedure. On several occasions, they said complaints reflected the actions of individual employees, not companywide issues. Four years and more than 75 formal complaints later, the Texas Education Agency finally moved to bar some of the most egregious offenders including two companies operating with fake tax identification numbers and one that did not certify that its employees had passed criminal background checks from the list of approved providers, which until 2012 included a company using Scientology based instruction. Sally Partridge, the director of the agency's school improvement and support division, said the agency had re evaluated its approach after a "collection of data points" indicated there was a trend in complaints from both providers and districts. Because the federal program was set up with the state as a monitor and the districts as contractors, she said, it led to "difficulty in who should respond to such things as complaints." The program was intended to give low income parents equal opportunity to acquire private tutoring for their children. School districts were given little control over which companies the parents selected; the companies only had to be on the state list. Keeping track of the program at the district level was "a nightmare," said Ron Cavazos, the director of federal programs for the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District in the Rio Grande Valley. "The only thing the state said was that all those providers that are willing to provide services to your school have to be given that opportunity," he said. In 2011, the Edinburg district asked the agency to investigate one of the state's largest tutoring providers. It detailed a number of issues, including a lack of evidence that certified teachers conducted tutoring sessions or that instructional materials aligned with state standards or students' academic needs. Interviews with students, it said, indicated that they had been told they would be able to keep a company provided laptop and phone whether they completed the sessions or not. The agency referred the complaint back for resolution at the local level, saying the district had failed to give the tutoring company a chance to respond. The Houston school district, the state's largest, filed 13 complaints in 2010. Twelve received the same response: there was insufficient evidence to proceed. The agency found that the district had substantiated its claims in one instance in which a school administrator described repeated phone calls from parents asking to enroll their students in a tutoring program so they could receive a free computer. The agency asked the company to revise its parent outreach policies. When an annual audit revealed discrepancies in the invoices of a few tutoring providers in the Dallas I.S.D., it prompted a district level investigation of all tutoring companies that billed for services in the 2010 11 academic year. The district identified potential problems with the invoices of 12 providers including forms filled out in the same handwriting and misspelled names in student signatures. In all, 143,000 went for services that investigators said were not provided. Later on, it found another 500,000 in falsely billed services. The Dallas I.S.D. began refusing to pay the companies, prompting a lawsuit from one. The district also received a letter from the Texas Education Agency threatening to withhold the district's federal financing if it did not continue to provide tutoring. Jordan Roberts, the director of the district's office of grant compliance, said the Dallas I.S.D. had still not recouped any of the money it said it was owed by fraudulent providers. "Most of these companies, when we go after them, they dissolve," he said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Education |
In literal terms, Melina Matsoukas is a first time filmmaker her directorial debut, "Queen Slim," written by Lena Waithe and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner Smith, arrives in theaters Nov. 27. But it's hard to think of her as a rookie. As a young music video director in the 2000s and early 2010s, she was responsible for a string of vivid, otherworldly images that now seem like collective hallucinations: Snoop Dogg as a disco era sex symbol, Rihanna romping through a field with a Chris Brown look alike, Beyonce standing on a cop car in a flooded New Orleans. In 2016, her video for Beyonce's "Formation" won every award under the sun including a Grammy and a drawer full of VMAs and she served as an executive producer and primary director of "Insecure," created by noted Beyonce fan Issa Rae. Scripts for potential feature films soon found her, but none moved her initially. "It was like, 'Oh do you want to shoot this musical?' Or, 'Do you want to do this dance movie?' things that people would think were obvious," Matsoukas said, in a recent interview. "None of it sounded very interesting to me, and so I waited." "It was dramatic and it was a comedy and it starts off as almost a horror film," she said. "It straddles the line between so many genres of filmmaking, and I found that really intriguing and fulfilling." Matsoukas discussed where she found inspiration for the movie's many moods, from fine art photography to footage of Sandra Bland's 2015 arrest. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. This is my go to. I'm such a huge fan of Hype Williams and was very much guided by how he photographed black people and black bodies in motion: very beautiful and real but also stylized. For me, "Belly" had all of the elements of the culture in it, visually, musically, and aesthetically. I've always wanted to try to create the same thing in my work. For "Queen Slim" I especially looked to it as a lighting guide and a portraiture guide. Our movie opens with a diner scene, and in "Belly" there's a diner scene between DMX and Nas. I remember looking at that and really loving the light on their skin and how the fluorescents were kind of reflected off it. I'm really conscious of how we light black skin. There's a belief in the industry that black skin needs an incredible amount of light or a certain traditional way of lighting in order to be visible, and it's just not true. I kind of threw all of that away and just let people live in the environments. I love the way she captures the everyday black experience through a very intimate lens. I think it's really powerful. There's a sequence in our movie that takes place at Queen's Uncle Earl's, and I probably used her photography as a reference for that whole house. The way she shoots homes and the people in their homes with their real possessions, the possessions tell the story of who those people are. I actually have a piece of hers in my living room, so she inspires me every day. I like things to be rooted in authenticity and what's real, and then to try and sell that in a really beautiful way, even when it's ugly, even when it's dirty. He has a book called "Juke Joint," and that definitely was an influence not only on the juke joint scene in our movie, but on some of the Americana scenes as the car is driving through the South. He just has an incredible eye and is really able to capture black Southern life in a way that takes in the nuances and history of the landscape. I looked to these two movies for so many of the driving scenes. A lot of scenes take place in a car, and that was a major challenge. I wanted to give them a real progression so that we weren't just repeating the same angles and the same shots. And I wanted you to be able to feel Queen and Slim's intimacy and their connection growing as the road trip advanced. I knew I wanted to be in the real spaces and not on a stage using video projection. I wanted them to feel the pavement moving beneath them and see the passing landscape. It's difficult being in a car and locked up together for that long, and you can allow those emotions to effect how you deliver a line, or how you touch someone or don't touch someone. I watched that many times to understand who she was, and who she was in that moment. I wanted to try and characterize Queen in a similar way. I've been in that scenario myself, where I was pulled over in a senseless traffic stop. I felt like I wasn't going to hold my tongue because I was in the right and needed to stand up for myself as a person. You want the officer to see your humanity. And he couldn't see Sandra Bland's humanity; all he saw was a black woman getting loud with him. But she was standing up for her rights. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
The final scene of "La Boheme," performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 2019, offers lessons in both dying and grieving. In opera, death is an art one that might light the way to a more mindful conversation about the end of life. Two years ago, I heard the mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato sing the great final lament from Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" in Hamburg. Its text consists of just two sentences: When I am laid in earth, let my wrongs create no trouble in thy breast. Remember me, but ah! forget my fate. Purcell sets the words over a solemn, steady bass, the vocal line searching at first. On "remember me," the music grows confident and impassioned, only to buckle on the "ah," the melody wavering in a melismatic sigh. Ms. DiDonato vividly rendered this mixture of resolve and dread her posture upright and still, except for brief moments when she swayed like someone gripped by vertigo. The aria still echoed in my bones the following day, when I visited my father in his nursing home just outside the city. For years he has been largely confined to his bed in an advanced state of dementia, unable to walk or express himself with words or gestures. As I sat with my hand gripped by his, I found myself thinking of Purcell's Dido in a new light pity now mingled with envy. I was struck by the clarity and purpose of her farewell to life, the eloquence with which she shaped what she knew would be her last words. Compared with the mute and muddled twilight of Alzheimer's disease, Dido's death like so many others in opera seemed preciously clearsighted. I understand that operatic exit arias have been a popular target of ridicule. Scenes in which a character dies, and sings about it at length, are fun to lampoon, and contribute to the sense of artificiality that can alienate a first time listener. And feminist critics are correct to point out that the profusion of death scenes involving female characters cements patriarchal norms by ritualizing the destruction of exceptional women. But in recent months my thoughts have kept returning to what opera might teach us about death. As a society, we generally shy away from talking about passing and what it might mean to take leave of life with agency and grace. (There are exceptions like the Let's Reimagine initiative, which seeks to enrich the conversation around end of life issues.) This year has forced us to contemplate coronavirus victims who have died in sterile isolation, silenced by ventilators. It has forced us to watch the choked final minutes of a man suffocated under a police officer's knee. Perhaps more than ever, the ability to formulate and deliver a farewell message feels like a privilege. In opera, it's also an art one that might light the way to a more mindful conversation about the end of life. The artifice, far from alienating us, helps draw us in. Opera can both condense life and blow it up. Transformational processes that in nature are drawn out and messy are concentrated into (relatively) compact scenes. But at the same time, the stream of psychological affects and thoughts these experiences spark in us which in reality are so often ephemeral and unexamined are slowed down and magnified through music. "There is a kind of distance that beauty gives, in some way, and there is another kind of proximity," the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo said in an interview. "It's about getting closer to what you feel, but also being able to see it through a lens." When political figures, such as Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, die in opera, their exit arias are elaborate testaments that settle accounts, issue last orders and tie up personal threads with larger arcs. These characters take stock of their impact on society, their role in history, their legacy. Exit monologues like that of Brunnhilde at the end of Wagner's "Ring," before she rides her horse into a funeral pyre to join Siegfried in death, are so expansive because they close multiple story lines. Yet even these big, wordy and cerebral testaments funnel down to a single point: The tyrant begs forgiveness; love vanquishes the curse. That focus is what rings true, no matter the pomp and stylization. One of the most poignant scenes in opera comes at the end of Puccini's "La Boheme," when the lovers are reunited only minutes before Mimi succumbs to consumption. She senses that she has little time left. "There are so many things I want to tell you," she sings, "or really just one, but it's vast and deep and infinite like the ocean: You are my love and my life." The musicologist and conductor Will Crutchfield pointed out that a death like Mimi's undeserved and unexceptional, from a common illness was new to opera in the 19th century. In earlier eras, opera hewed close to the rules of classical tragedy, in which premature death is brought on by a character's tragic flaw. The Enlightenment brought operas in which death is meted out as just punishment to the wicked, like Don Giovanni. In both these cases, a listener's sympathies with the dying are guided by morality. In works like "La Boheme" and Verdi's "La Traviata," on the other hand, opera presented death "almost in the random way in which it happens in life, in that it doesn't discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving," Mr. Crutchfield said, noting that many 19th century operagoers would have lost loved ones to similar illness. The listener, then, was invited to identify more closely with both the victim and those left behind. "I think it evokes from the audience an idealization not only of how they will face death but how they will face grief," Mr. Crutchfield said. One opera that shows the interrelation of grieving and dying is Verdi's "Aida," which ends with the two central lovers, entombed alive, blissfully invoking the end of their suffering. A level above them, a chorus of priests and priestesses intones a prayer while the princess Amneris, who unwittingly destroyed both her rival and the man she loved, utters a despondent plea for peace. It's an example of many operas that idealize a process of peaceful surrender at the end. "It's not a death that is rooted in illness," Mr. Newbury said. "It's about him knowing that he probably won't survive this duel. And yet you compare that to tubercular heroines like Violetta and Mimi, who don't want to die and are holding on to dear life with every remaining breath. Whereas Lensky lets go." Whether characters rail at their fate or surrender to it, opera composers endow them with a clarity and eloquence that is inspiring and educational. The stages that opera characters model might be a helpful blueprint for a mindful exit from life: the conception of a personal legacy in a social context; the formulation of a single emotional message offered to another human being, a gift; and finally a reconciliation with death, a releasing of the grip on life. These lessons are most explicit in religious works like the cantatas of Bach. And art songs like Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" are beautifully compact objects of contemplation. But opera, with its combination of vivid drama and vast spaciousness, allows us to temporarily clothe ourselves in the experience of death. "We know from going through big moments, like a birth or falling in love, that they can feel very fast and slippery, and it can take a long time for us to understand them," said Mr. Costanzo, the countertenor. "Opera gives us a way to look at these moments and have this beautiful, aestheticized lens through which to confront the things that give us meaning." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
Clouds help amplify El Nino's effect on the atmosphere to a greater degree than once thought, a new study reports. In El Nino conditions, sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean become unusually warm and tall thunderheads, known as cumulonimbus clouds, form over the water. Above them, a layer of colder cirrus clouds also appears. The cirrus clouds trap heat. "They act as a blanket and further warm the atmosphere," said Thorsten Mauritsen, a meteorologist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany and one of the study's authors. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
The imaginations in question belong to the director Eli Roth and the writer Joe Carnahan, who move the action from New York City to Chicago, where Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis, in the role originated by Charles Bronson) is a trauma surgeon. The narrative remains roughly the same: When violent attackers murder Paul's wife and leave his daughter comatose, he buys a gun and a contraption for the home hilariously termed "tactical furniture" dons a hoodie and starts hunting down the perpetrators. Reveling in urban paranoia, the filmmakers present Paul as a locked and loaded hero in a city where weary detectives point to a wall plastered with unsolved cases and a radio jock in a tone typically reserved for describing home runs announces 48 murders in a single weekend. Yet where the original film (based on Brian Garfield's 1972 anti vigilantism novel) was a brutal psychological study of a bereaved man using random violence almost as a form of therapy, the tone here veers from rah rah to jokey. Mr. Roth, whose 2005 shocker, "Hostel," took a shrewdly offensive swipe at First World arrogance, may lack Mr. Winner's viselike grip on action scenes, but he can do better than give us dopey dialogue and vending machine villains. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Two major studies by leading research groups published on Wednesday independently identified mutations in a single gene that protect against heart attacks by keeping levels of triglycerides a kind of fat in the blood very low for a lifetime. The findings are expected to lead to a push to develop drugs that mimic the effect of the mutations, potentially offering the first new class of drugs to combat heart disease in decades, experts say. Statins, which reduce LDL cholesterol, another cause of heart disease, became blockbusters in the late 1980s. Since then, there have been no major new drugs approved for lowering heart disease risk. But experts caution that drug development takes years and that there are no guarantees that new treatments will work as hoped. Heart attacks are the leading killer in the United States, and about 720,000 Americans a year have them. Although statins are effective in reducing heart attack risk, many users still have high levels of triglycerides and go on to have heart attacks. So the results of the new studies are good news, said Dr. Daniel J. Rader, the director of the Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine and Lipid Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the research. "We've been looking for something beyond statins," Dr. Rader said. "After we have put people on high dose statins, what else can we do? Essentially nothing." Experts differ in their estimates of how many Americans might be candidates for a triglyceride lowering drug. If the eligible group included all adults with triglyceride levels of 200 or more the normal level is 150 or less that would mean about 20 percent of adult Americans. If it were just those with the highest levels, above 500, then 2 percent to 3 percent of adults would qualify. The discovery announced on Wednesday was hinted at in 2008 in a much smaller study of the Amish conducted by researchers from the University of Maryland's medical school. One in 20 Amish people has a mutation that destroys a gene, involved in triglyceride metabolism, compared with one in 150 Americans generally. The scientists were intrigued but did not have enough data to nail down the gene's role in heart attacks. Sam, a 55 year old Amish farmer who declined to have his last name published, saying he was uncomfortable about being conspicuous, has such a beneficial mutation. He recalls little heart disease in his family. On a cold day last fall, as an icy rain fell outside, he sat at a small wooden table in his daughter's house and laid out a sheet of paper that showed he had a triglyceride level of 45. The average in the United States is 147. "It's nice that something came out that is positive," he said. Triglycerides have long puzzled researchers, although they are routinely measured along with cholesterol in blood tests and are often high in people with heart disease. Many experts were unconvinced they caused heart attacks. Clinical trials of drugs that lowered triglycerides by a small amount added to doubts about their role: The drugs had no effect on heart attack rates. As for triglycerides themselves, "do they just keep bad company or are they independently doing something to risk?" asked Dr. Robert Hegele, a heart disease expert at Western University in London, Ontario, who was not involved in the new studies. Those studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the National Institutes of Health and the European Union, provide "a very, very strong type of evidence," Dr. Hegele said, that triglycerides are in fact a cause of heart attacks. The work began several years ago when researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T. started searching through an enormous data set drawn from 70 studies involving 200,000 people to see if there were tiny genetic changes near or in genes that seemed to lead to very high or very low amounts of triglycerides in the blood. They also asked whether people who happened to have a higher or lower triglyceride level also had a higher or lower incidence of heart attacks. The researchers discovered that people with a genetic predisposition to higher triglyceride levels had more heart attacks and those with genetically lower triglyceride levels had fewer. Their study, published last year in Nature Genetics, did not isolate individual genes, though. It just pointed to signposts on the long stretch of 30 million DNA letters that were near the genes. So the investigators began a hunt for the genes themselves. To that end, they mapped the genes of 3,734 Americans, about 2,500 of whom were white and the balance African American. The researchers reported the results of that effort on Wednesday. One gene, APOC3, stood out. The scientists found four mutations that destroyed the function of this gene. The Amish study had discovered that people with such a mutation could drink a big, rich milkshake, loaded with fat, and their triglyceride levels did not budge. For everyone else, they spiked. The new studies show what that means for people's health. "Those who carry the gene mutations have a 40 percent reduction in triglyceride levels and a 40 percent lower risk of heart disease," said Dr. Sekar Kathiresan of Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute. He is the lead researcher on the gene project. Now, he added, "there is a route to heart attacks that is independent of LDL," the form of cholesterol associated with heart disease. The other study, led by Dr. Anne Tybjaerg Hansen of Copenhagen University Hospital, used data from 75,725 subjects to learn whether low triglyceride levels were linked to a reduced heart attack risk. They were. The researchers also asked whether people who had mutations destroying the APOC3 gene had fewer heart attacks. They did. Those with such mutations had a 44 percent reduction in triglycerides and a 36 percent lower heart attack risk. The Danish data, Dr. Kathiresan said, "are eerily consistent with our data." "It is incredible how reproducible the finding is," he added. Yet the two groups worked independently, with The New England Journal of Medicine coordinating publication of their studies. For the University of Maryland scientists who conducted the 2008 Amish study, the new finding shows that their hypothesis about the gene was correct. Those with the mutation had less calcification of their arteries, an indication that they had less heart disease. But the Maryland group was not able to say if those people also had fewer deaths from heart disease. Toni Pollin, the lead researcher for the study, explained: "To really find out if it is related to heart disease, we'd need to follow people over time. And the Amish use hospitals a lot less than other people, so it is hard to document the cause of death." A small California company, Isis, also hit upon the gene when it was looking for ways to make triglyceride levels plunge in the small group of people with disorders leading to triglyceride levels so high they can be fatal. They made a drug that counteracts the gene and began testing it. It slashed triglyceride levels by 71 percent. "It is the most important drug in our pipeline," said Dr. Stanley Crooke, the chief executive of Isis. "Trust me, these data are really exciting." The company has no plans to test whether its drug prevents heart attacks in the general population. That sort of huge study, lasting years, would require the resources of a much larger company. But heart researchers see the Isis drug as, at least, proof that it is possible to come up with drugs in what could be a new class of pharmaceuticals to protect against heart disease. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
Wearable monitors measure heart rate, body temperature and other health indicators. For the first time, a flexible, wearable sensor can collect data about multiple chemicals in body sweat. The device could help people monitor conditions like dehydration and fatigue in real time, said Ali Javey, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the inventors. The sensor could provide an alarm, for instance, that alerts a patient to drink a glass of water or take some medication. Dr. Javey and his colleagues described their system in the journal Nature. "Lots of studies have shown how and why sweat composition changes, but it was very difficult before to measure this on patients," he said. "The beauty of this is that it is a comfortable and easy to wear system." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
In a video posted Monday online, a group of people calling themselves "America's Frontline Doctors" and wearing white medical coats spoke against the backdrop of the Supreme Court in Washington, sharing misleading claims about the virus, including that hydroxychloroquine was an effective coronavirus treatment and that masks did not slow the spread of the virus. The video did not appear to be anything special. But within six hours, President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. had tweeted versions of it, and the right wing news site Breitbart had shared it. It went viral, shared largely through Facebook groups dedicated to anti vaccination movements and conspiracy theories such as QAnon, racking up tens of millions of views. Multiple versions of the video were uploaded to YouTube, and links were shared through Twitter. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter worked feverishly to remove it, but by the time they had, the video had already become the latest example of misinformation about the virus that has spread widely. That was because the video had been designed specifically to appeal to internet conspiracists and conservatives eager to see the economy reopen, with a setting and characters to lend authenticity. It showed that even as social media companies have sped up response time to remove dangerous virus misinformation within hours of its posting, people have continued to find new ways around the platforms' safeguards. "Misinformation about a deadly virus has become political fodder, which was then spread by many individuals who are trusted by their constituencies," said Lisa Kaplan, founder of Alethea Group, a start up that helps fight disinformation. "If just one person listened to anyone spreading these falsehoods and they subsequently took an action that caused others to catch, spread or even die from the virus that is one person too many." One of the speakers in the video, who identified herself as Dr. Stella Immanuel, said, "You don't need masks" to prevent spread of the coronavirus. She also claimed to be treating hundreds of patients infected with coronavirus with hydroxychloroquine, and asserted that it was an effective treatment. The claims have been repeatedly disputed by the medical establishment. President Trump repeatedly promoted hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, in the early months of the crisis. In June, he said he was taking it himself. But that same month, the Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency authorization for the drug for Covid 19 patients and said it was "unlikely to be effective" and carried potential risks. The National Institutes of Health halted clinical trials of the drug. In addition, studies have repeatedly shown that masks are effective in curbing the spread of the coronavirus. The trajectory of Monday's video mirrored that of "Plandemic," a 26 minute slickly produced narration that spread widely in May and falsely claimed that a shadowy cabal of elites was using the virus and a potential vaccine to profit and gain power. In just over a week, "Plandemic" was viewed more than eight million times on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram before it was taken down. But the video posted Monday had more views than "Plandemic" within hours of being posted online, even though it was removed much faster. At least one version of the video, viewed by The Times on Facebook, was watched over 16 million times. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter deleted several versions of the video on Monday night. All three companies said the video violated their policies on sharing misinformation related to the coronavirus. On Tuesday morning, Twitter also took action against Donald Trump Jr. after he shared a link to the video. A spokesman for Twitter said the company had ordered Mr. Trump to delete the misleading tweet and said it would "limit some account functionality for 12 hours." Twitter took a similar action against Kelli Ward, the Arizona Republican Party chairwoman, who also tweeted the video. No action was taken against the president, who retweeted multiple clips of the same video to his 84.2 million followers Monday night. The original posts have since been removed. When asked about the video on Tuesday, Mr. Trump continued to defend the doctors involved and the treatments they are backing. "For some reason the internet wanted to take them down and took them off," the president said. "I think they are very respected doctors. There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it, that she's had tremendous success with it and they took her voice off. I don't know why they took her off. Maybe they had a good reason, maybe they didn't." Facebook and YouTube did not answer questions about multiple versions of the video that remained online on Tuesday afternoon. Twitter said it was "continuing to take action on new and existing tweets with the video." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
Q. How can I find out how big I can print a digital photo before it gets blurry? How do I find out the file's pixels and resolution? A. The "pixel" (short for picture element) is a tiny segment of visual data and the basic unit of measurement when talking about digital photo resolution. Rows of pixels create the image. In general, the more pixels per inch (p.p.i), the sharper that image tends to be, thanks to the "higher" resolution. On a Mac, you can quickly see the pixel dimensions and resolution of an image by selecting its desktop icon and pressing the Command and I keys to open the Info box; Windows users can right click the icon and look in the Properties box. You can also find the information by opening the image in a photo editing program. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
America's four major broadcast networks joined forces on Wednesday to sue a little known nonprofit organization that streams television signals at no charge, arguing that the service should be shut down for copyright violations and for failing to compensate them. The service, Locast, started last year and is available through a free app that relays broadcast feeds online. It has more than 200,000 users in 13 cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington. The networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, say in their complaint that Locast is eating into the licensing fees they get from pay television companies like the cable operator Comcast and the satellite TV provider Dish that carry the networks' programs and sports events. The networks are expected to receive more than 10 billion in such fees this year. "A rogue streaming service skirting the law for the benefit of telecom giants does nothing but threaten the very investments in content that consumers value," the networks say in the complaint, which was filed in the Federal District Court in Manhattan. David Goodfriend, a lawyer and professor who worked in the Clinton administration, introduced Locast in New York in January 2018. He said he had started the service specifically to challenge the broadcasters' interpretation of the country's copyright law. "We really did our homework," he said in an interview in January. "We are operating under parameters that are designed to be compliant within the law." Read more about Locast and its founder. Under federal law, broadcast stations must provide their signals free to the public, making networks like those that sued Locast easily available through the use of an antenna. But broadcasters won a provision in copyright law in the 1990s that required pay TV providers like Comcast and Dish to negotiate what are known as retransmission consent fees to carry those signals. 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. Locast argues that its service complies with copyright law because as a nonprofit entity, it is allowed to act as a so called signal booster for the broadcasters' programming. David Hosp, a lawyer for Locast, said in a statement that it "provides a public service retransmitting free over the air broadcasts," which is "expressly permitted under the Copyright Act." Locast is a nonprofit organization, but it has ties to companies that must pay licensing fees to the networks. In addition to his time in government, Mr. Goodfriend is a former executive at Dish, which has long chafed at having to pay the broadcast fees. Although Locast relies on donations from viewers, it also accepts money from corporations and recently received 500,000 from the telecommunications giant AT T. AT T is locked in a fee dispute with CBS that has resulted in the network's being blacked out since July 20 for more than 6.5 million of AT T's television subscribers. AT T has encouraged its users to try Locast during the blackout. The networks' lawsuit is in some ways similar to an earlier legal battle they waged against Aereo, a start up backed by the media tycoon Barry Diller. Aereo captured over the air TV signals and streamed them to subscribers for a monthly fee but did not pay the networks anything. Mr. Diller lost the legal challenge in 2014 when the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo had violated copyright laws, prompting the service to shut down. Locast's roots are in the Aereo case, which Mr. Goodfriend taught in a law lecture at Georgetown University. He wanted to show how the ruling might affect the public interest. "I had to teach them that more often than not, it's through huge stakeholders battling it out that change happens," Mr. Goodfriend said in January. "There should be something that challenges the broadcasters." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Since the outbreak began, researchers have rushed to publish new findings about the coronavirus spreading swiftly through the world. On Tuesday, for the second time in recent days, a group of clinicians and researchers has questioned the data used in studies in two prominent medical journals. A group of scientists who raised questions last week about a study in The Lancet about the use of antimalarial drugs in coronavirus patients have now objected to another paper about blood pressure medicines in the New England Journal of Medicine, which was published by some of the same authors and relied on the same data registry. Moments after their open letter was posted online Tuesday morning, the editors of the N.E.J.M. posted an "expression of concern" about the paper, and said they had asked the paper's authors to provide evidence that the data are reliable. The Lancet followed later in the day with a statement about its own concerns regarding the malarial drugs paper, saying that the editors have commissioned an independent audit of the data. Both of the studies relied on an analysis of patient outcomes from a private database run by a company called Surgisphere, which says it has granular information about nearly 100,000 Covid 19 patients from 1,200 hospitals and other health facilities on six continents. Many health care data experts say they knew nothing about its existence until recently. Both papers were published in May within a few weeks of each other in highly respected medical journals that subject studies to peer review before publication. Both had considerable impact, halting clinical trials of malaria drugs around the world and providing reassurance about the risks of blood pressure medications taken by millions of patients. But scientists have not seen the large data set that Surgisphere says it has built, and questions about its provenance are rising in scientific circles. In the open letter to the authors of the N.E.J.M. paper and to the journal's editor, Dr. Eric J. Rubin, more than 100 clinicians, researchers and statisticians demanded more detailed information about the patient data that served as the basis of the study, and called for independent validation of the work by a third party. The study was said to analyze 8,910 Covid 19 patients hospitalized through mid March at 169 medical centers in Asia, Europe and North America. The authors concluded that cardiovascular disease increased their risk of dying. But the paper also appeared to put to rest any concerns that people with high blood pressure might have about taking drugs called ACE inhibitors: Some people had wondered whether the drugs were playing a role in exacerbating the illness. Instead, the patients taking these drugs were more likely to survive than those who were not, the authors said. (Other studies have also reported that blood pressure drugs do not make people more susceptible to infection with the coronavirus, and do not increase the risk of more severe illness.) In the paper published in The Lancet, the authors said they had analyzed data gathered from 671 hospitals on six continents that shared granular medical information about nearly 15,000 patients who had received the antimalarial drugs and 81,000 who had not, while shielding their identities. The papers concluded that use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine may have increased the risk of death in these patients. The first author on both of the papers is Dr. Mandeep R. Mehra, a cardiovascular specialist and professor at Harvard Medical School. The second author is Dr. Sapan S. Desai, the owner and founder of Surgisphere. He also said he was arranging the terms of a nondisclosure agreement that would allow the editors of the N.E.J.M. to see the data they had requested. Dr. Desai had previously said that his contractual agreements with hospitals prevented him from disclosing any hospital level patient data, even though it was anonymized. "Surgisphere stands behind the integrity of our studies and our scientific researchers, clinical partners and data analysts," he said in a statement. In their letter to the N.E.J.M., critics of the work wrote: "Serious, and as yet unanswered, concerns have been raised about the integrity and provenance of these data." The letter points out "major inconsistencies" between the number of coronavirus cases recorded in some countries during the study period and the number of patient outcomes reported by the researchers over the same period. In particular, they said, it is "difficult to reconcile" the Surgisphere data from the United Kingdom with government reports. The paper reported on 706 patients hospitalized with confirmed Covid 19 in just seven of the U.K.'s 1,257 National Health Service hospitals. Yet a high proportion of coronavirus patients hospitalized in the U.K. early on were in London, and no London borough or hospital had more than 100 confirmed cases by March 16, the critics said. "The numbers from Turkey also appear incorrect," the letter says, adding that the first Covid 19 case in Turkey was diagnosed at Istanbul Faculty of Medicine on March 9, and the hospital did not see another case until March 16. By March 18, the Turkish Ministry of Health reported a total of 191 confirmed cases, yet Surgisphere reported data on 346 Covid 19 patients admitted by March 15 to just three Turkish hospitals. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. Many of the scientists who first raised concerns about the database are involved in clinical trials of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, and they were forced to pause the studies for safety reviews after The Lancet study was published. James Watson, a senior scientist with MORU Tropical Health Network, said his unit had to immediately suspend work on a large randomized clinical trial to see if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine can protect health care workers exposed on the job to the coronavirus from infection. "I saw very quickly this paper didn't hold up to much scrutiny at all," he said. "We started wondering, 'Who's been collecting this data, and where did it come from?' We were quite surprised to see a global study with only four authors listed and no acknowledgment of anyone else." The scientists then turned their attention to the paper about cardiovascular disease and blood pressure drugs that had been published in the N.E.J.M. on May 1. "We immediately thought, 'If there's something wrong with the database, it's going to affect both publications,'" he said. David Glidden, a professor of biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco, who reads all new publications about Covid 19 antiviral therapies as a member of a National Institutes of Health clinical guidelines panel, said he was immediately struck by the vagueness of the descriptions in both papers. There is a frenzy to publish research, he added: "Medical journals often feel pressure to be relevant and to be carrying the story that's going to be talked about, and I think they need to be responsive to the urgency of this pandemic but also to maintain their standards, which require caution." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
PHILADELPHIA Penn Museum, a venerable collector of antiquities, is opening revamped galleries and rebranding as a more public institution after more than a century of focusing on academic research. The museum, formally called the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, has been open to the public since its founding in 1887, but it was mainly used by researchers and academics. That started to change in 2012, when a new director made it a mission to be more accessible to everyone ; it has seen 180,000 visitors a year in the last several years. Now, 10,000 square feet of galleries have been redesigned to rehouse some of the museum's greatest treasures and provide fresh interpretations of its exhibits from around the world. Hundreds of objects from its collection of almost one million will go on public display for the first time when the new galleries open, on Saturday. The museum has also expanded a program in which immigrants and refugees guide visitors through collections that represent their native cultures. Guides from Africa, Mexico and Central America have been added to those from Iraq and Syria. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
OWLS OF THE EASTERN ICE A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl By Jonathan C. Slaght The wildlife biologist Jonathan Slaght first viewed the forests and mountains of the Primorye at 19 years old, when the wild terrain seemed to call him to explore and ultimately protect the inhospitable land from those who would plunder its timber, minerals and salmon. A veritable Noah's ark of animals coexist in this extraordinary habitat: tigers, bears, leopards, moose, wild boar, sable, fox, deer, elk and Slaght's chosen subject, Blakiston's fish owl. Slaght's hope, and the premise of his engaging tale, is that uncovering the secrets of this mysterious raptor will help win it protection. In conservation, saving one species often means saving many. Slaght's story begins in 2005, when he teams up with a motley Russian crew to conduct research and build a conservation plan for the owls. From the warmth of an office, it sounds straightforward enough. Slaght has spent years researching wildlife in the Primorye and is well accustomed to the region's peculiarities and privations. Still, he is not wholly prepared for what is to come. The best time to research fish owls is winter, when the owl's strange tracks lie etched on snowy riverbanks, and their feathers flutter visibly in bare branches. It is also a brutal season in the Russian Far East, one that continually threatens to annihilate Slaght and his team as they navigate frozen rivers and their deadly thaw, with massive cracking sheets of ice and sudden slush that could swallow man, beast and snowmobile whole. The Primorye can be pitiless, full of "quiet violence." Those who manage to survive have been ravaged by the elements, by scarcity and by the forest itself. Deep in the woods it gets strange, and Slaght's tireless search for owls is relieved by entertaining accounts of eccentric recluses, hunters and mystical hermits. Though "meeting a person in the woods was usually a bad thing," Slaght observes, his crew had little choice. On their shoestring budget they need all the help they can get and repeatedly endure the social bonding ritual of draining a bottle of vodka (or ethanol) to gain a welcome and possibly a floor to sleep on. Mostly this is a book about the rigors of fieldwork, about cohabitating in close quarters, being stranded for weeks by storms, floods and melting ice, rejiggering strategies, "aching" immobility, malfunctioning equipment and various other misfortunes, all vividly rendered. Slaght knows this life, but he has never burrowed so deep into its dark, silent heart. We are plunged along with him into "poking thorns, prodding branches and unexpected falls," into long frozen nights, meals of moose meat and hard candy, shredded clothes, endless paths and trails beaten, rivers forged, catastrophic weather and near death adventures. And waiting. Lots of waiting. Slaght has spent so much of his life waiting that waiting has long since evolved into a Zen like state of noticing, of presence. Keeping us tucked close, we discover what it feels like to become aware of every little thing, to fully inhabit a living landscape. For this reason and others, this is an unusual (and welcome) book for our times. Halfway through the story floats a feather from Slaght's other life, a brief sentence about a fiancee and a wedding to plan. As if we've found a mango in the snow, we pause, curious. But then it's back to the owls, and the unlikely (but very true) romance of nights waiting "in silence, like suitors," for them to sound their enchanting synchronized duets. The enigmatic fish owls, when they appear, are surprisingly un owl like, not gliding down from the trees so much as "dropping" like sacks. At a meter high, they are at once imposing and comical, a jumble of feathers with ragged, twitching ear tufts. Hunting underwater prey, they have lost their adaptation of silent flight, as well as the disk shaped face designed for maximum audio performance. They seem endearingly awkward creatures, stalking the riverbank like hunched feathery gnomes, peering for glimmers of fish, then hurling themselves talon first into the current. As the team members struggle to gain a working knowledge of their subject, chasing its calls in the dark of night, scanning trees for its bulky outline, they are often humbled, their theories upended. After managing to capture and tag a good number of birds, Slaght is flummoxed that the researchers still can't tell the male from the female. It is with heroic persistence and a bit of luck that they succeed in collecting enough data for a conservation plan. Some would run gleefully from this 20 month ordeal, but Slaght finishes the project with reluctance. It is a testament to his talents as a writer researcher that we appreciate why Slaght loves it here. The primal forces of the Primorye have drawn him close to his essence; to his strengths and vulnerabilities to his impermanence. There is peace and healing to be found in such a life, and perhaps just the right balance for his soul. After being away, Slaght writes upon his return: "I was truly comfortable here, alone among the trees, breathing in the cold air." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
This is an article from Turning Points, a special section that explores what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead. Turning Point: The death of George Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed and pinned down by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May, sparked demonstrations around the world. In 2020 we were not only hit by a global pandemic, but also by police batons. We watched as protesters around the world breathed in air thick with tear gas, lost their eyesight from rubber bullets and endured torture and, in some cases, death. We desperately tried to find our loved ones among those arrested and imprisoned for participating in peaceful protests. This was a year of radical political imagination: 2020 invited us to take our dreams seriously and inspired us to envision a better, alternative future. I've been an active part of the anti authoritarian, feminist and L.G.B.T.Q. communities since 2007. When I co founded the activist band Pussy Riot in 2011, I could only dream of a time when feminist and queer communities would thrive in Russia, and when mainstream performers would be involved in our anti Kremlin rallies. But global activists have achieved so much in recent years. My arrest and imprisonment with another Pussy Riot member in 2012, together with our stubborn refusal to back down after our release in late 2013, helped encourage our fellow artists and musicians to get involved in politics. I've learned that, while change may not happen overnight, in time small actions can build to something lasting and profound: One by one, police officers can be reformed or replaced, until the day arrives when the death of an unarmed man, woman or nonbinary person at the hands of law enforcement becomes a thing of the past. The tragic death on May 25, 2020, of George Floyd, while in police custody in Minneapolis, led to one of the biggest social movements in America's history. It reignited the Black Lives Matter movement, with polls suggesting that 15 million to 26 million people in the United States participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the weeks following Mr. Floyd's death. Black Lives Matter will have a profound influence on the way we view justice in 2021 and beyond. Justice must mean racial justice. It must also mean economic justice, gender justice and environmental justice. The mass social movements of 2020 taught us to think holistically and intersectionally, to ask big questions and imagine a better future. This year we began to imagine very different paths for our civilization: What if we radically rethought public security? Could we benefit from less policing in our lives? Should we redirect police funds and resources to programs in marginalized communities, redistributing some law enforcement responsibilities to social workers? What if the police, an institution that has lost our trust, were to be dismantled, and another more accountable social organization were to take its place? Whom do police officers serve, and whom do they protect? Do they protect me? Do we still need to lock people up? Has the prison system rehabilitated anyone? Isn't using practically free prison labor a form of slavery? Can we imagine a post police, post prison world? Governments, especially those with autocratic sympathies, have reacted nervously to the courageously radical political imagination of their citizens. President Trump has labeled social justice activists as "terrorists" and said he wants to "dominate" them. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin believes that if you're critical of him, you're an enemy of the state and must be silenced. In my country, Russia, the law enforcement system has been preoccupied for almost 10 years with arresting members of Pussy Riot. Our music videos focus on police violence, both at home and abroad, because we believe it's a widespread problem that can only be solved by the combined efforts of activists around the world. In February 2015 we released our first English language song "I Can't Breathe" in memory of Eric Garner, who had died the previous summer after a New York City police officer put him in a chokehold. In August, the Russian government attempted to murder the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, a friend of mine, by poisoning him with a nerve agent. At around the same time in Belarus, the regime of President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Mr. Putin's buddy, was overseeing the arrest, beating and torture of peaceful protesters which only made them more determined. When governments react with excessive force, as they have throughout the world, when they fail to protect peaceful protesters, it rightfully sparks more resistance. During 2020, anti government protests and mass movements against police violence broke out in Hong Kong, Chile, Lebanon, Mexico, Britain and France. Covid 19 has exposed cracks in the world's political leadership, and made us question the economic, racial and gender inequalities we all live with. The way our governments have handled the pandemic has left many of us struggling for our economic and physical survival. In the United States, millionaires and billionaires have received massive tax breaks from the government, while far too many ordinary people have been left without access to affordable health care or enough money to pay rent. The virus has sometimes limited our ability to protest in the streets, but we've learned new ways to perform our civic duties and have become more effective digital activists. Keeping in mind the possible damage that social media can cause to our mental health, we've been working on something I call "internet hygiene," the principled use of digital tools. Today, images and videos distributed online have an extraordinary ability to counter propaganda, fake news and the arrogance of those in power, with simple but telling visual facts. In Belarus, the Nexta channel on the popular messaging app, Telegram, plays a vital role in the resistance to Mr. Lukashenko's autocracy. Pussy Riot's media agency Mediazona and Mr. Navalny's YouTube channel "Navalny Live" are changing the minds of millions of Russians by exposing the corruption, incompetence and cruelty of Mr. Putin's political system. Our future has yet to be written. When Pussy Riot writes new music, we ask ourselves: What will activist punk sound like in 2030? What will it talk about? In the spring of 2021, Pussy Riot will release its first studio album "RAGE." The songs on the record reflect on global issues such as public security, mental health and the relationship of citizens to their government. Sustained, organized, creative, peaceful and smart activism will bring us closer to realizing a fully democratic world in 2021, and in the years to come. Nadya Tolokonnikova is an activist, artist and musician, and a founder of the feminist band and art collective Pussy Riot. She is the author of "Read Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism." 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 and Twitter, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
SAN FRANCISCO Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber, is seeking a No. 2 executive to lend him a hand after a bumpy start to his year. Mr. Kalanick issued a one sentence statement on Tuesday saying, "We're actively looking for a Chief Operating Officer: a peer who can partner with me to write the next chapter in our journey." An Uber spokesman declined to comment beyond the statement. Mr. Kalanick's search for a chief operating officer follows several blows to Uber this year that have raised questions about the ride hailing company's workplace culture and business tactics. Some of the concerns have extended to Mr. Kalanick's character, and Tuesday's announcement shows how he intends to restructure the executive suite to get more help, while continuing to lead the company. Mr. Kalanick said last week that he needed to change as a leader "and grow up," adding that "I need leadership help, and I intend to get it." He spoke as part of an apology for berating an Uber driver in February, an incident that was captured on video and made public. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
A doctor retrieving bone marrow from a patient at the Nura Precision Pain Management clinic in Edina, Minn., for a stem cell procedure. The clinic is affiliated with Regenexx, which claims that many patients benefit from its treatments. Most researchers believe efforts to sell therapies involving adult stem cells have gotten way ahead of the science.Credit...Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times A doctor retrieving bone marrow from a patient at the Nura Precision Pain Management clinic in Edina, Minn., for a stem cell procedure. The clinic is affiliated with Regenexx, which claims that many patients benefit from its treatments. Most researchers believe efforts to sell therapies involving adult stem cells have gotten way ahead of the science. A surgeon recommended a hip replacement, but Kenneth Cevoli said no thanks. "They're really quick to try to give you fake joints and make a bunch of money off you," he said. At 71, Mr. Cevoli, a high school guidance counselor in Teterboro, N.J., coaches cross country, teaches mogul skiing, surfs and works summers as a lifeguard on Cape Cod. Despite pain in his left hip and knee, he questioned the need for major surgery, worrying it would sideline him for too long. Instead, he tried an increasingly popular treatment, in which stem cells are extracted from a patient's own bone marrow and injected into worn or injured joints to promote healing. Many people have become captivated by the idea of using stem cells to fix their damaged joints, and some claim to have been helped. But there is no clear evidence that these treatments work, and their safety has yet to be established. Most researchers, including those at the National Institutes of Health, think that efforts to sell therapies involving adult stem cells, which can develop into different types of cells to replenish tissue, have gotten way ahead of the science. Even so, hundreds of clinics have popped up around the country to meet the demand. Some of the clinics also inject joints with platelet rich plasma, a solution of platelets extracted from the patient's own blood. A few employers have even agreed to provide insurance coverage for the treatments. There is almost no regulatory oversight of orthopedic procedures using bone marrow extracts or platelets, which are regarded as low risk. While the Food and Drug Administration insists that it does have the authority to regulate stem cell treatments, it adopted an industry friendly approach in 2017 by giving companies a three year grace period in which to describe their products or treatments so the agency can determine whether they meet the criteria of drugs that would require agency approval. So far, few companies have submitted any information. In the meantime, rogue clinics offering other kinds of procedures have flourished, accused of blinding people by injecting cells into their eyes, mixing stem cells with smallpox vaccine to treat cancer or causing severe infections by administering contaminated blood from umbilical cords into patients' joints or spines. In some of the worst cases, patients had already been harmed before the agency took any action, and the patients took legal steps themselves, suing the clinics that injured them. "We had our day job clearly cut out for us," said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who was the F.D.A. commissioner until April. There is, he added, a lot of "really bad stuff." Mr. Cevoli was treated in December by a doctor in Wayne, N.J., affiliated with a company called Regenexx, one of the boldest players in the growing industry. Based in Des Moines, the company has dozens of affiliated clinics around the country, specializing in treating orthopedic problems with patients' own platelets or stem cells from their bone marrow. And Regenexx has persuaded some large, self insured employers to cover its treatments. The doctor in Wayne injected stem cells and platelets into Mr. Cevoli's knee, fitted him with a brace and sold him a vitamin supplement made by Regenexx to promote healing. The procedure cost 6,900, and was not covered by insurance. Four months later, Mr. Cevoli said he thought the procedure was helping. He skied during the winter, and has begun running a few times a week. "There was pain involved, and there is still swelling," he said. "The strength is starting to increase significantly in that left knee. I'm advised that there will be more of an improvement to come in the next couple of months." Although he's been told that the stem cell treatments are less successful in hips than in knees, he hopes to have his hip treated anyway, maybe in late summer or early fall. Some stem cell businesses have carefully navigated F.D.A. rules to stay just inside the lines. The agency regulates cell and tissue products, but treatments that use a patient's own cells do not require the agency's approval if the cells are "minimally manipulated," meaning that they have not been cultured or multiplied in a lab, and no drugs or other substances have been added. Platelets taken from a patient's blood and then reinjected are not regulated as a cell or tissue product, and procedures that use them are not considered high risk. Bone marrow transplants for blood cancers like leukemia are an established treatment, and the F.D.A. does not regulate them. Among the most avid customers for stem cell and platelet treatments are people with arthritis or sports injuries, who find that mainstream medicine does not provide lasting relief. More than 30 million people in the United States suffer from osteoarthritis, including 14 million with bad knees. More than 700,000 knees are replaced in the United States each year, and more than half a million hips, according to the Arthritis Foundation. But artificial joints can wear out, and younger patients may need repeat operations later in life. Hoping to avoid surgery or at least postpone it, many people are searching for other options. Regenexx was started in 2005 by Dr. Christopher Centeno, a pain medicine specialist in Broomfield, Colo., who had no background in stem cell research, but saw potential after reading about a study that hinted that stem cells could be used to treat spinal conditions in rabbits. The company is trying to commercialize stem cells and move them into mainstream medicine, while also seeking to distance itself from outfits that have injured patients and drawn fire from regulators. Regenexx points to a registry it keeps of its results and says it has published nearly two dozen research papers. It also cites a 2016 study concluding that its procedures led to no more serious side effects than other injection based therapies, and fewer side effects than more invasive procedures. Regenexx claims 40,000 patients have been treated with its techniques. Of the 90,000 procedures the company says it has performed to date, 70,000 involved only platelets. Many patients pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets. Although nearly all insurance companies have refused to cover the treatments, citing the lack of evidence that they work, some employers are covering the injections. The company says six million people are now covered, and Regenexx hopes to increase that number to 20 million over the next year, Dr. Centeno said in an interview. The company contends that employers can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by helping workers avoid more invasive, time consuming and expensive remedies like joint replacements or other orthopedic surgery. Regenexx is training doctors around the country to perform its procedures, and building a nationwide network of treatment centers that carry its brand. The company's website, loaded with impressive videos and testimonials from patients, is a major draw for aging gym rats searching the internet for relief from sore knees, shoulders, hips and backs. Through the website, Dr. Centeno regularly criticizes other stem cell businesses, and has acted as an expert witness for injured patients suing his competitors. The company did run afoul of the F.D.A. in 2008 over its use of cells cultured and multiplied in a lab to increase the stem cell count. After a protracted legal battle, Regenexx quit using that technique in the United States, but began offering it at a clinic on Grand Cayman. "This has always been about creating a less invasive orthopedic solution, what I call interventional orthopedics," Dr. Centeno said. He predicts a sea change in orthopedics similar to the revolution in cardiology, where much open heart surgery was replaced by less invasive procedures. While regulators may not consider them high risk, stem cell treatments involving bone marrow are not trivial. Collecting bone marrow involves forcefully puncturing the back of the hip bones in several spots, a painful process that requires local anesthesia. Then, pressure is applied to prevent bleeding, and the sites are bandaged to prevent infection. Injecting the bone marrow or platelet extracts into the knee takes skill, even with X rays to guide the needle. The injections can cause pain and irritation, and patients are usually sent home with leg braces that they will wear for a few weeks. "Whenever injections are administered to the joint, there is always a risk of introducing infection," said Dr. Kiran M. Perkins, who has investigated such illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With stem cell treatments, she added, "there are a lot of steps along the way where something could go wrong and you could have the introduction of microorganisms." "There's great potential," he said. "We are just not there yet. The marketing and use far outpace the science." Susan Solomon, chief executive officer of the New York Stem Cell Foundation, said that companies providing what she called "blood soup" treatments "are making a lot of money." She added: "We really need to have very significant clinical trials. That's something we are in discussions with some large institutions about doing. But it's hard to get funded, because there are a lot of doctors already doing it. What if we find out it doesn't work? Then you've got a very large revenue stream that's going to disappear." The lack of solid medical evidence has led health insurers to refuse to cover the treatments, said Dr. Elizabeth Burns, senior executive medical director for Regence BlueCross and BlueShield in Oregon. She is also concerned about patients' safety. "There is potential for the cells to grow out of control," Dr. Burns said. Mr. Hellickson, Regenexx's chief executive, downplays the insurance companies' reluctance to cover the treatments. One of the main reasons insurers won't cover them, he argued, is that there aren't enough doctors to treat the potential customers. "People are trying to avoid invasive surgery," Mr. Hellickson said. A former insurance brokerage executive in Des Moines, Mr. Hellickson came up with the idea of approaching area companies and 117 have agreed. Meredith, a media company that publishes People, Real Simple and other magazines, was among those signing up. In reviewing the research, the company found "nothing in any shape or form that could be negative or create any sort of medical risk for our employees," said Steve Lacy, Meredith's chairman, who has gotten the treatment for a knee injury. Jenny McCoy, 52, a Meredith employee, was one of those who took advantage of the new coverage. Years of running had taken their toll on her knees and hips. At a clinic in Des Moines, her blood was drawn and spun in a centrifuge to extract platelets, the cells involved in clotting. A day later, a doctor injected so called platelet rich plasma into the sore spots in her joints. The fact that the procedure was covered heavily swayed her to try Regenexx. "What the heck?" she recalled thinking. "It's on my insurance." She believes the procedure helped her pain, although she also received several months of physical therapy. "It could have gotten worse or gotten better, and it got better," she said. Another Iowa company, Hy Vee, the supermarket chain, is now requiring workers in some locations to get a consultation from a doctor who offers Regenexx before being eligible for a knee replacement. "There isn't anything that shows it's harmful," said Sheila Laing, an executive vice president. "Nothing says it makes you worse than it was." Dr. Centeno argues that the vast majority of orthopedic procedures performed today by mainstream physicians do not have any evidence that they work. Indeed, studies in recent years have challenged the value of many knee surgeries performed for torn cartilage. By persuading employers to offer Regenexx, the Des Moines clinic became a billboard for Regenexx's potential. Its procedure volume has soared to 1,234 in 2017 from 140 in 2014, according to the company. Mr. Hellickson, who had invested in the clinic, eventually merged it with the company in 2017. He replaced Dr. Centeno as chief executive and raised 10 million from investors and expects to rapidly expand the company. While Dr. Centeno emphasizes that the procedures taking place in the United States do not need F.D.A. approval, doctors and company executives tend to muddy the issue by claiming that competitors may need approval and could be operating illegally because they do not have it. As for clinical trials, Regenexx says it is conducting them now. But only one small controlled study has been published, in December. Patients with arthritic knees got either exercise therapy, or stem cell treatment. After three months, the patients given stem cells were doing better. But all the patients in the exercise group later got stem cells, too, so the results are hard to interpret. Most of the other studies Regenexx has listed on clinicaltrials.gov have either been abandoned or will not be completed until 2021 or later. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in a new study, found that 30 year olds with student loans were now less likely to have debts like home mortgages than 30 year olds without student loans even though most of those with student loans are better educated and can expect to earn more money over their lifetimes. The same pattern holds true for 25 year olds and car loans. "It is a new thing, a big social experiment that we've accidentally decided to engage in," said Kevin Carey, the director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation, a research group based in Washington. "Let's send a whole class of people out into their professional lives with a negative net worth. Not starting at zero, but starting at a minus that is often measured in the tens of thousands of dollars. Those minus signs have psychological impact, I suspect. They might have a dollars and cents impact in what you can afford, too." The weak economy and tight credit standards remain the main culprits preventing young people just establishing themselves from making major purchases. But millions now face putting a substantial share of their take home pay toward past debts rather than present needs. Student loan debt leaves them with less money for things like clothes and restaurant meals. And it is even more likely to suppress purchases of more expensive items that need to be bought with credit. A poor job market is compounding the problem: the educational debt burden of many so called millennials has sharply increased even as they are being forced to get by on significantly less income than the previous generation a decline of about 15 percent in real terms since 2000, with much of that drop coming from the recession. According to calculations by the Pew Research Center, the measure of debt to income for households under the age of 35 has ballooned to about 1.5 to 1 in 2010 from about 1 to 1 in 2001. The composition of that debt has shifted, too: more is tied to student debts, and less to homes. "Having a lot of student loan debt makes it harder to qualify for a mortgage and harder to save for a down payment," said Jed Kolko, the chief economist at Trulia. With the interest rate on some federal student loans set to double on July 1, House Republicans and Senate Democrats have both put forward proposals to try to hold them down. Representative John Kline, Republican of Minnesota, has proposed tying the rate on several federal student loans to the government's borrowing costs. Democratic senators, including Dick Durbin of Illinois, have made a similar proposal. Some have suggested going further: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, has proposed letting students borrow at the same "discount rate" that the Federal Reserve charges to banks, currently 0.75 percent. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
MIAMI BEACH The early bird special at Cafe Prima Pasta began last year after the restaurant's owner, Gerardo Cea, lost all his savings in real estate and began seeing his regular customers at the supermarket. He expected his offer of a 50 percent discount before 6 p.m. to attract the usual crowd of frugal retirees. But word kept spreading, and on most nights now, at least half the tables are filled with young families, singles or hip couples women in short skirts and men who prefer "dude" to "sir." Across Florida in fact, the early bird special is experiencing a revival. With that label and some newer versions, several restaurants have introduced early dining discounts since the recession started, and younger people are arriving in larger numbers at classic establishments that have been serving up free dessert for decades. Part of it is purely business promotions work when people have less money to spend but restaurant owners, researchers and patrons say it also reflects a changing mood. It is a sign, they say, of shifting priorities, as Americans respond to tighter budgets with a demand for value and a willingness to alter their habits to enjoy a little fun. Many restaurant owners, on Florida's east and west coasts, now report seeing behavioral changes that remind them of the generation that survived the Depression. In addition to coming in early for specials, they said, more customers have been using coupons, sitting down only after studying the menu and wasting less food. "The value of money has changed in America," said James Accursio, whose family has owned the Capri, an Italian restaurant in Florida City, since it opened in 1958. "We're not high rollers anymore." His restaurant is one of many experiencing a moment reminiscent of the movie "Cocoon." As Mr. Accursio scanned his main dining room on a recent Saturday just before the early bird expired at 6:30, he saw more young faces where only old ones used to be. To his left sat the Dawkins family, ages 47, 33, 23, 8 and 3; by the door, a man with a full head of dark hair checked his iPhone across from his date; and near the back were the Slaters, a family of 11 that crossed demographic lines. Early bird promotions, long popular with older diners, are now attracting a younger clientele at Cafe Prima Pasta in Miami Beach. Michael Francis Mcelroy for The New York Times Their ages ranged from 80 for Marty Slater, the matriarch, who said she had been coming to the Capri since she moved to Florida in the '50s down to 19. Economically, it was a middle class group. On one side of the table sat an architect, a social worker and a manager in manufacturing. And nearly all said they had been hurt by the recession. As a result, they said, old fashioned restaurants like the Capri think iceberg lettuce, not arugula had become especially appealing because they offered consistent value, and it was not just the early bird's filet mignon for 12.95. It was also the respectful treatment the waiters in ties, the greetings of "Mr." and "Mrs.," the effort to remember the orders of regulars, and letting everyone stay as long as they wanted. "When you go out now, you have to have a plan," said Gary Green, 34, who married into the family after leaving Jamaica. At the Capri, he said, "there's less risk." Katherine Slater, the restaurant's only diner with a nose stud and dyed red hair, said she had only recently begun to understand what her elders saw in such places. "When I was young, 18, I was like, why would I want to go out to dinner there with my parents and my grandparents?" she said. "Now I'm 21. I appreciate it." Nearly everyone in the state feels a little poorer these days with unemployment at its highest rate since 1975 and real estate values continuing to drop. That insecurity has reshaped the local mindset, say many Floridians under 55, and taken the shame out of scrimping. For instance, Cassandra Eriser, 35, an aesthetician with cover girl looks who works giving facials at a South Beach spa, is not what most people imagine when they think early bird. But there she was at Cafe Prima Pasta on a recent Sunday at 5:30 p.m., finishing up a meal of tilapia with her boyfriend, a musician with a shaved head. With wine and tip, the couple spent less than 25 each. "It's a great way to try a new restaurant without forking over a lot of money," Ms. Eriser said. A few nights later at Cafe Prima Pasta, the urge to splurge brought out a party of 13. Mostly employees of a nonprofit in their 20s and 30s, they laughed as they explained that they were eating early for a simple reason: "Because we're broke." Cafe Prima Pasta offered a 50 percent discount on meals before 6 p.m., expecting to increase its popularity among retirees. Michael Francis Mcelroy for The New York Times At the early bird for Tropical Acres Steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale, which opened in 1949, Edward and Denisa Wainwright said they were celebrating their anniversary there because it was affordable and still felt fancy. "This reminds us of the New England style," said Mr. Wainwright, 55. Even before the dessert cart arrived, he said he was full. A Harvard graduate, he said he taught at Kaplan Test Prep, making half what he used to make at a database company. "We've had to get used to it," Mrs. Wainwright, 52, said. "We don't go out as much because of the money." In some circles, of course, the early bird still carries a whiff of mothballs, thus the rebranding. When Benihana tried it last summer in South Florida, they called it "twilight dining." At Cafe Baci in Sarasota, which has also seen more young people lately, they use "early dining." Hudson Riehle, a senior vice president for research at the National Restaurant Association, said other restaurants around the country had tried "afternoon dining" or just ditched the label entirely, using "prix fixe" instead. "The term 'early bird' may be a little dated from a lexicon standpoint, like 'doggy bag,' " Mr. Riehle said. "But the concept has been and will continue to be an extremely effective marketing tool for certain restaurants in certain markets." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
The Super Bowl attracts more than 100 million viewers every year. Anheuser Busch is trying to connect with the texting and Snapchat and Instagram using millennials among them. The company, which usually buys more commercial time than any other advertiser during the Super Bowl, wants to appeal to a younger generation of 20 something beer drinkers, a large portion of whom it said had never tasted a Budweiser. "They are the future of the beer category," said Jorn Socquet, vice president for United States marketing at Anheuser Busch, the exclusive beer advertiser in the Super Bowl. "If we do not get Budweiser and Bud Light in the hands of those consumers, the beer category could become in serious trouble." On Wednesday, the company plans to announce that it is preparing three 60 second commercials, with corresponding digital campaigns, to promote its Budweiser and Bud Light brands during the game this year. The Super Bowl ranks as the biggest event on television each year, and advertising during the game is by far the most expensive. At 112.2 million viewers, last year's game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos was the most watched event in television history, according to Nielsen. Super Bowl XLIX, to be broadcast by NBC on Feb. 1, is no exception. Commercial time is selling for a record 4.5 million per 30 second spot or 150,000 a second. That is up 12.5 percent from the 4 million for last year's game on Fox and up 88 percent from 2.4 million a decade ago, according to Kantar Media, a research firm owned by the advertising conglomerate WPP. None Week 11 Takeaways: Here is what we learned this week. N.F.L. Tightens Covid Protocols: As cases rise and Thanksgiving approaches, the league is requiring masks inside team facilities and increasing testing. The Jets Lose Again: Falling to the Miami Dolphins, the Jets receiver Elijah Moore offered consolation. What Will the Giants Do With Daniel Jones? The team must evaluate the quarterback ahead of a contract decision. Playoff Simulator: Explore every team's path to the postseason, updated live. "It is still the only game in town. They can pretty much name their price," said Allen Adamson, chairman of the North American region of Landor Associates, a branding consulting firm. "There is no other single event that marketers can get as many eyeballs or as much potential buzz." Marketing executives said the steep price was worth it, given that the Super Bowl is one of the few events that attract a mass audience eager to watch commercials. Advertisers, including Pepsi, Snickers and Dove Men and Care, also plan to tap a range of social media to promote their spots. Mr. Socquet of Anheuser Busch said the game was one of the rare places that a marketer was guaranteed to capture the attention of a young adult. "The average span of attention for the millennial is eight seconds, but on the Super Bowl, they actually give you their undivided attention," Mr. Socquet said. Anheuser Busch, a division of Anheuser Busch InBev, is planning a series of traditional, digital and live promotions tied to the ads before, during and after the Super Bowl. The spots themselves will be released in the week leading up to the game. One ad, called "Coin," will follow a real life Bud Light drinker who is approached at a bar in Los Angeles and asked if he is "up for whatever," said Alexander Lambrecht, vice president of the company. He provided few details about the rest of the spot but said that an adventure would ensue that would involve a coin flip and a retro game that would "resonate extremely well with the millennial audience." Bud Light is in the middle of shooting the campaign this week. The marketer is also shooting video of the experience, which it will post across social media, as well as hosting a "Bud Light House of Whatever" party in Phoenix. Omnicom's BBDO is the advertising agency producing the spot. The campaign follows in the footsteps of a Super Bowl spot last year that recounted an "epic night" fueled by the beer. Other beer makers have experimented with similar themes. Heineken's "Legends" campaign, for instance, placed unsuspecting people in unusual situations to see how they would react. With the Budweiser spots, "the goal is to showcase the quality and the authenticity of Budweiser beer," said Brian Perkins, vice president of Budweiser. One called "Lost Dog" will feature the brand's iconic Clydesdales, which help a lost puppy, and will "tell the true meaning of friendship" The second campaign, which is yet to be named, will showcase the craftsmanship of the beer, with a healthy dose of pride, attitude and swagger, Mr. Perkins said. Anomaly is the ad agency for both Budweiser spots. Anheuser Busch will face steep competition from dozens of other advertisers. The number of commercials that networks pack into the broadcast has steadily increased in the last several years, making it that much harder for an individual brand to stand out. Since 2010, games have consistently clocked more than 47 minutes of commercial time, according to Kantar Media. Consumers are likely to remember a handful of the commercials in any year, ad executives said. "Whatever trends you see that are repeated from the past are a mistake and will bring back diminished returns," said David Lubars, chief creative officer at BBDO. "It is high stakes, high stress, but the returns when you do it right are so vast and almost always worth it." In November, NBC said that it had sold nearly 90 percent of the commercial time during the game. The pace of sales was slower than in previous years, reflecting soft demand across the broader TV ad market as well as the fact that marketers are less willing to make longer term spending commitments to ads. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
"In a league that doesn't have a lot of margin for error when it comes to roster management," Venables said, "I think you immediately get more than one person." In that, the 6 foot 4 Simmons counterbalances the raft of hybridized offensive players permeating the N.F.L. He has the build, speed and length to counter players like San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, who often cause mismatches for defenses. Modern defenses prioritize pressuring the quarterback and stopping the pass, and Simmons can do both. For Venables, one of Simmons's many highlights lingers longest. On fourth and 3 from Clemson's 34 yard line, in the second quarter of the Tigers' College Football Playoff semifinal victory two seasons ago against Notre Dame, Simmons lined up in man coverage opposite receiver Miles Boykin, who ran a fade up the right hash. Simmons recovered quickly after a brief stumble off the line, shadowed Boykin for about 15 yards and, instead of clumsily running into him, reached around him to deflect the ball with his left hand. It was, indeed, an excellent play made by a former safety playing cornerback who last season was selected as college football's best linebacker. Where he plays in the N.F.L. is intriguing linebacker, most likely but, in the end, irrelevant. For when Simmons was asked his position at the combine, he offered but one word: defense. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
As the documentary "Feels Good Man" tells it, when the cartoonist Matt Furie learned that his comic character Pepe the Frog had become an internet meme, he decided not to enforce his copyright. "I'm like an artist, so I don't like suing other artists," he explains. Initially, the meme seemed harmless, but Pepe evolved into symbol of white nationalism, anti Semitism and violence. When Jeremy Blackburn, a computer scientist, shows Furie data that suggest that Pepe has become an "entry point to radicalization," he asks Furie if he feels "any personal responsibility." The co opting of Pepe is not easy to trace, and "Feels Good Man" plunges into that ribbit hole with clarity, humor (when called for) and outright horror (frequently). The director, Arthur Jones, is also an animator, and vibrant cartoon sequences give the movie a refreshing rhythm and visual texture. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
The Menil Drawing Institute, the latest extension of the Menil Collection campus in Houston, will open its doors on Nov. 3 with an exhibition devoted to the drawings of Jasper Johns. "The Condition of Being Here: Drawings by Jasper Johns" will trace the career of Mr. Johns, who is now 87, across 41 drawings in graphite, ink, watercolor, pastel and other mediums. The drawings depict some of his most frequently used motifs targets and American flags as well as his reflections on the Vietnam War, and the most recent piece is from 2016. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Menil will also publish "The Jasper Johns Catalogue Raisonne of Drawings," a six volume book of his work. While the Menil Drawing Institute was created in 2008, it is just receiving a stand alone building now in part because of the difficulty of showcasing and preserving drawings on paper. The opening of the 30,000 square foot, 40 million building was delayed by nearly a year to allow for additional testing. "We feel it's extremely important to monitor the climate control and the humidity gauges for a number of months to make sure there are no deviations," Rebecca Rabinow, the museum's director, said in a phone interview. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
Follow our live coverage of the women's soccer U.S. vs. Sweden Olympic match. Twenty eight members of the world champion United States women's soccer team significantly escalated their long running fight with the country's soccer federation over pay equity and working conditions, filing a gender discrimination lawsuit on Friday. The suit, in United States District Court in Los Angeles, comes only three months before the team will begin defense of its Women's World Cup title at this summer's tournament in France. In their filing and a statement released by the team, the 28 players described "institutionalized gender discrimination" that they say has existed for years. The discrimination, the athletes said, affects not only their paychecks but also where they play and how often, how they train, the medical treatment and coaching they receive, and even how they travel to matches. The players' continuing battle with U.S. Soccer, which is not only their employer, but also the federation that governs the sport in America, has thrust them to the forefront of a broader fight for equality in women's sports. In recent years, players, teams and even athletes in other sports American hockey gold medalists, Canadian soccer pros, W.N.B.A. players have reached out to the United States players and their union for guidance in their efforts to win similar gains in pay and working conditions. "I think to be on this team is to understand these issues," Rapinoe said in a telephone interview. "And I think we've always dating back to forever been a team that stood up for itself and fought hard for what it felt it deserved and tried to leave the game in a better place." Friday's legal action is the latest flash point in a yearslong fight for pay equity and equal treatment by the national team, which has long chafed first privately, but increasingly publicly about the compensation, support and working conditions it receives while representing U.S. Soccer. The women's players argue that they are required to play more games than the men's team, that they win more of them, and yet still receive less pay from the federation. Sign up for the Sports newsletter. For decades, U.S. Soccer has been a world leader in its support for women's soccer; its investment of time and resources has made the United States, which is a three time world champion and a four time Olympic gold medalist, the dominant power in the women's game. But throughout that period, generations of women's national team players have complained that the federation's financial support and logistical infrastructure have lagged behind that of the more high profile men's team. Those grievances have never been far from the surface; an earlier generation of top women's players angry about their pay boycotted a tournament in Australia in January 2000, only months after a World Cup victory had made them the toast of American sports. The dispute between the team and the federation burst into the open more recently as an increasingly emboldened and activist women's team took on U.S. Soccer and FIFA, soccer's global governing body, over everything from artificial turf fields to World Cup bonus payments to refereeing standards. The players' prominence and willingness to leverage their profiles and enormous social media followings in support of their cause have paid dividends: FIFA doubled the prize money pool for this summer's Women's World Cup only after the United States team's complaints drew attention to how far it lagged behind the pool for the much richer men's event, and the team has not played a match on artificial turf, a surface many players disdain, since 2017. The United States women flew on a chartered flight once an unthinkable luxury for the squad between matches as recently as last week, and U.S. Soccer has eliminated other inequities on topics as disparate as meal money and hotel accommodations. The respect they have won has spread, too: Spain's national team rose up to demand the ouster of its coach after the last World Cup, and several prominent members of Brazil's squad quit their team to protest the ouster of a popular female coach in favor of a man. Players from Argentina and Colombia have gone public about mistreatment and meager pay, and Norway's players demanded and won equal pay with their men's counterparts. That, too, several United States players said, was part of their motivation to press ahead with their suit only months before they turn their focus to retaining their world championship. "We very much believe it is our responsibility," Rapinoe said, "not only for our team and for future U.S. players, but for players around the world and frankly women all around the world to feel like they have an ally in standing up for themselves, and fighting for what they believe in, and fighting for what they deserve and for what they feel like they have earned." U.S. Soccer did not respond to a request for comment. Direct comparisons between the compensation of the men's and women's teams can be complicated. Each team has its own collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer, and among the major differences is pay structure: The men receive higher game bonuses when they play for the United States, but are paid only when they make the team, while the women receive guaranteed salaries supplemented by smaller match bonuses. One of the biggest differences in compensation is the multimillion dollar bonuses the teams receive for participating in the World Cup, but those bonuses a pool of 400 million for 32 men's teams versus 30 million for 24 women's teams are determined by FIFA, world soccer's governing body, not U.S. Soccer. The bulk of the suit mirrors many of the issues raised in a wage discrimination complaint filed by five United States players with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016. Frustrated by a lack of progress on that complaint after nearly three years of inaction, the players received permission from the federal agency in February to sue instead. (One of the players on the original complaint, the former goalkeeper Hope Solo, filed her own gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer in August.) The suit offers a new forum but also new hurdles. The players, represented by Jeffrey Kessler, who has been involved in labor fights in nearly every major American sport, will have to prove not only that their team and the men's squad do the same work, but also overcome questions about the differences in their pay structures and their negotiated collective bargaining agreements. And the C.B.A. has already left them without one bit of leverage: The players cannot strike to press their case at least until it expires at the end of 2021. But to experts in gender discrimination and Title IX cases, the argument they are making is familiar. "These are the same kinds of arguments and claims that we still see at every level of education for women and girls, from K through 12 to college," said Neena Chaudhry, the general counsel of the National Women's Law Center in Washington. "It's unfortunately a sad continuation of the way that women and girls in sports are treated in the U.S." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
"Sometimes serious addiction needs to be coaxed down the stairs one at a time, not thrown off the top floor," said Dr. Abrams, who was not involved in the study. The study was funded by Pfizer, the drug company that makes Chantix, a treatment that costs about 250 a month. Federal regulators require companies to conduct studies proving the effectiveness of such therapies, and monitor them closely. The practice is common for smoking cessation therapies, said Robert West, director of tobacco studies at University College London, who was among the study's authors. If such studies were funded by the government, which sustains a lot of academic research, taxpayers would bear the burden for what the company would eventually profit from, he said. Still, some researchers not involved in the study said the topic required more work. "The approach taken here is a very reasonable one that appears to have been successful," said Gary A. Giovino, a professor of health behavior at the State University of New York at Buffalo. "But the findings from one study do not make a fact. We need more studies, funded by someone other than the company that makes the product." Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans a year. The smoking rate has declined substantially since the 1960s, but the pace of decline has slowed in recent years and health experts are trying to figure out how to get more smokers to quit. About 1,500 patients at 61 clinics in the United States and abroad participated in the study. None were willing to quit immediately, but all said they wanted to smoke less and to quit for good within three months. They were randomly assigned to two groups. One got Chantix, the brand name of the drug varenicline, which is taken twice a day by mouth as a pill; the other group got a placebo. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
EDEN, Utah One morning last month a group of roughly 60 people, including doctors, C.E.O.s and internet entrepreneurs, gathered under a big white dome to hear the mission statement of their host, a 45 year old man named Jamie Wheal. As he paced back and forth in front of an altar bearing shiny Buddha heads, Mr. Wheal talked about the perils of information overload in our content rich era. "A literate person in the European Middle Ages," he said, "consumed the same amount of content in their entire lives as we do reading a single edition of the Sunday New York Times." Sinewy and tanned from a life of outdoor pursuits, Mr. Wheal was offering attendees the chance to "upgrade" their nervous systems to meet this incontrovertible information overload. How? With "flow." First popularized decades ago by the Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow is an elusive state cultivated by artists, athletes and others, that of being so absorbed in what they're doing that they lose track of time and thought, finding themselves guided rather by instinct and intuition. It has also been referred to as the Zone not to be confused with the diet of the same name or just "being in the moment." And for those who have experienced it, there is no denying its magic. Mr. Wheal has taken a somewhat brisker, more commercial approach. He has advised members of the United States Navy Special Operations, top ranked athletes and executives of technology companies on "optimizing performance" through flow, receiving six figure fees for some of his consultations. His five day retreat, at a sprawling, privately held property known as Summit and convened the day before the solar eclipse, cost almost 5,000 and was a sort of beta test for spreading his gospel to a larger public audience. (He also offers free assessments and videos on his website.) Attendees were housed in white tepee like tents, with portable toilets set up down a dirt path. The camp had been erected quickly by the "glamping" company Aether Camp, to Mr. Wheal's specifications. Mr. Wheal, who said his father was a test pilot for the British royal navy, came to the United States from England at age 8 and speaks rapidly in a mash up accent, dropping idiosyncratic phrases and erudite references to the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, to Cincinnatus and Aldous Huxley. At moments he is given to phrases that are not immediately comprehensible, like "We are broaching the possibility of midwifing humanity into the infinite game." But his larger message came through clearly. In our digital age, loud with bottom feeder commentary, the ping of incoming emails and bleating social media, the pursuit of flow is all the more urgent. "Honestly, have we abdicated our purpose just because of these insistent micro asks?" Mr. Wheal said. "Have we just completely ceded our center, completely ceded clarity, and it was all just based on 20 something bro grammers trying to crack our attention spans?" It was his book, "Stealing Fire," written with Mr. Kotler and published earlier this year, that attracted many of the flow campers to Utah. In it, Mr. Wheal and Mr. Kotler consider the question of peak human performance, describing how so many powerful companies and individuals are now trying to optimize their own brains, in ways both legal and illegal. They offer case studies from the Navy SEALs and Google, arguing that what the world today faces "wicked problems," unprecedented and complex, that require creative solutions, the kinds that are most likely to come not from staid meetings in conference rooms but rather from "non ordinary states." "Flow," they write, is associated with six neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, norepinephrine, anandamide and endorphins. Knowing the neurochemical profile of flow means, in theory, people can devise ways of achieving it more often, more reliably and more quickly. The new generation of flowsters are excited, perhaps, that using the advances of neuroscience, they might not have to meditate every day for 10 years to gain access to these layers of their brains. Reading "Stealing Fire," Mr. Lang Willar said, he became convinced that nothing less than a "cultural awakening" was underway. By 8 a.m. each morning, the flow campers lay prone and shoeless in the Dojo Dome, moving back and forth on brightly colored foam rollers. Other daily activities included balancing and bouncing on big yellow balls; acro yoga, in which partners learn to lift each other in the air; and strapping into special contraptions, like Mr. Wheal's 360 Swing, which allows those courageous enough to propel themselves, standing up, all the way around the swing's axle in a complete loop. All of these undertakings were in the service of honing a crucial element in flow, what Mr. Wheal refers to as "embodied cognition": integrating our whole minds and bodies through specific exercise, based on the science showing that physical movement directly affects how we think and feel. "They are tapping into spiritual intelligence that before now was only really talked about in a religious context," Kristen Ulmer said, sitting outside the Dojo Dome one morning. Ms. Ulmer, formerly the top ranked extreme skier in the world, has also written a book, "The Art of Fear." On the third night of camp, attendees gathered in the Dojo Dome for a night of heavy breathing. On their backs, as the lights changed colors and music pulsed from the speakers, they practiced a technique developed by the psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, involving intense hyperventilation for 15 minutes. People were transported into altered states, gyrating their pelvises, bursting into peals of unrestrained, almost feral laughter, even leaping to their feet to dance. The group had succeeded, Mr. Wheal announced afterward, in "defragging our nervous systems." In addition to exercise, lectures and breathing, there were some fairly X rated activities on the program. One evening after dinner, Mr. Wheal spoke about a set of sexual practices that he has found particularly effective for transporting oneself well outside of humdrum daily rhythms. (They are further detailed in a chapter of "Stealing Fire" called "Taking the Kink out of Kinky.") All of these are what Mr. Wheal calls, apologetically, "hacks": techniques for busting out of the overwhelmed modern condition into a place of creativity, passion, focus, tranquillity, vitality and self refinement. "The genius of what we're doing here is we're combining ideas about how to get into flow with actually doing physical things to experience it," said Kora Kinard, 29, an orgasmic meditation practitioner from San Francisco who attended. "The flow state and the orgasm state are very connected." Indeed, Mr. Wheal, having wearied somewhat of the term "flow," prefers "ecstasis," an ancient Greek term for "stepping beyond oneself." The neuro chemicals that define flow or ecstasis are powerfully alluring, and Mr. Wheal warned they are not always used for good. He argues, for instance, that Donald J. Trump instinctively knew how to manipulate them in gathering support for his presidency. "Trump hacked ecstasis," Mr. Wheal said. "Light, sound, movement, repetition, scapegoating the other. People said if you haven't been to his rallies, you're missing what's actually happening in this movement. And what does Hillary say? 'I've got a policy binder.' While Trump pulled all the strings." Politics aside, Mr. Wheal suggests that we seek daily not a fleeting non ordinary hour or two, but rather, a permanently altered mind set. A trait, not a state, a means of incorporating these methods into our lives so that flow, or ecstasis, is threaded through all our months and years. Flow camp ended with a shoeless closing ceremony, with participants sitting cross legged in a circle passing a tiny sculpture of Tara, the female Bodhisattva, from person to person and sharing memories of their experiences that week. The room was thick with emotion and warmth. But the last thing Mr. Wheal wants to produce, he said, are more "bliss junkies and epiphany whores," for whom he reserves a particular antipathy. It's not enough, in other words, to eat magic mushrooms, experience oneness with nature and humanity, cuddle a Buddha statue and then go right back to how things were. Or, for that matter, to parachute into Burning Man where many of the flow campers were heading next melt down your ego on the playa, and then fail to integrate the experience into the rest of your life. "Everyone lines up for the peak experience," Mr. Wheal said. "But no one does their push ups on Monday morning." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
When New York went into lockdown, David Sedaris settled into his apartment on the Upper East Side and canceled his 45 city book tour. "I had bought all these outfits, and I was so looking forward to wearing them," he said, mentioning with particular wistfulness a lavishly ruffled black Comme de Garcons jacket "a cross between when Mammy was in mourning after the baby died in 'Gone With the Wind,' and something that P.T. Barnum would wear" now hanging in his closet, an artifact from an alternative reality. But Sedaris's realization that it's no fun dressing up in semi satirical garments when there is no one to see you is of course not the only thing he has had to contend with. The author of 10 books of autobiographical essays and short fictional pieces, Sedaris, 63, is a keen anatomist of the skewed intricacies of human behavior, and there has been a lot of behavior to sort through at the moment. First, his own. He has two books coming out: "The Best of Me," a collection of his favorite essays, in the fall, and "Carnival of Snackeries," a second volume of diaries, tentatively scheduled for next year. But his life, like everyone else's, is more or less on hold. "I figured out early on that there's absolutely nothing I can do about this," he said. "That should be obvious, and for some reason it wasn't. I kept thinking, 'I should be able to fix this or control it.' Whenever I feel sorry for myself, I think, 'Everyone in the world is going through this.' That makes it much easier." As he spoke, Sedaris sounded short of breath, a worrisome symptom in the current climate. In fact, he said, it was because he has not let the pandemic thwart his efforts to rack up miles on Fitbit, the physical activity recording device. "I'm walking in my apartment," he said into the phone. "Right now." 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. "I destroy everyone I'm a Fitbit friend of," Sedaris said. "Like, I might be walking 130 miles a week, and they're walking 30 miles a week." But recently he has made a new Fitbit friend, someone whose determination to see and raise him mile for mile has forced Sedaris to increase his own efforts. Some days he walks nearly 20 miles. "The other week I walked all the way to Astoria," he said. "Everywhere I go it smells the same, and it smells like my breath." He generally has two outdoor shifts, the second after midnight, so that he (or Fitbit) can apply those miles to the next day's tally. "I like to start the next day with six miles under my belt," Sedaris said. Although he is a compulsive collector of trash in the English countryside, where he lives much of the time, he has resisted the temptation to clean up the streets of New York. "I'm not against it," he said, "but everything changes once you start doing that you can't stop." These excursions have showed him the city at its best. He is constantly amazed, he said, at the high caliber of New Yorkers' discourse. "You'll be in the park, and suddenly you'll hear some very articulate person talking about what a horrible person Donald Trump is," Sedaris said. "They're so articulate and thoughtful, and they're not regurgitating what they've already heard. Usually people who come up with that stuff are writing for newspapers, or they're on TV." He has also seen the city at its most vulnerable, its late night streets dotted with the homeless and destitute; and occasionally at its weirdest. "I was at Times Square at 1:30 in the morning and there was a guy in a wheelchair who was pushing himself along and he said, 'Look at that clown,'" Sedaris related. "I thought he was talking about me. But then I followed his eyes and there was a clown, with purple hair and a red nose." More recently, he has walked city streets crowded with people, finding camaraderie and shared humanity in the Black Lives Matter protests. "The people are kind and thoughtful always distributing snacks and water," Sedaris said. "'Do you need sunblock? Hand sanitizer? It's nice to be part of a group, and I like walking down the center of the street. Over time I came to think of the marches the way I think of buses and subways. 'I'll just take this BLM down to 23rd,' I'd tell myself. Later I'd maybe get a crosstown BLM to Second Avenue, then walk home from there." Those who follow Sedaris's autobiographical writing, which has softened and become more emotional and self reflective in recent years, will recall that the author and his father have long had a contentious relationship. They made a kind of peace last year, Sedaris wrote in March, as his father lay dying in a hospice. In a quintessentially Sedaris move, though, his father did not die. He rallied, left the hospice and is now in an assisted living facility, in good health considering that he is 97 and a global pandemic is underway. "My goal is to get through this without ever going on Zoom or FaceTime or Skype," he said. "People are like, Can you record a message of hope for all the people who were going to come to your show?' and I'm like, 'No, because it's not like there aren't things to watch already.'" Sedaris himself subscribed to Netflix in January. "I was the last person on Earth to get it," he said. "Literally the last person. I thought we'd spend a lot of time watching things, but Hugh" that would be his boyfriend, Hugh Hamrick, an artist and a familiar character in the Sedaris oeuvre "falls asleep, so you can't watch anything with him." In normal times, Sedaris travels so frequently that the two are rarely in one place together for long. "For the past 20 years I've been gone every fall and every spring, and people said, 'It must be horrible to be away from Hugh for so long,' and I've always thought, 'No, it's actually kind of great,'" Sedaris said. "You've been with someone for 30 years, and it's great not to see them for a few months." But lockdown a deux has been a revelation. "The thing is," Sedaris added, "I mean, I've talked to people who said, 'We've been home trapped together and we're at each other's throats.' But in our case, we've never gotten along better. How am I supposed to write about that? I said to him the other day, 'I hope you die of coronavirus, so I can write about it.'" "It's been fantastic, it really has," Sedaris went on, in an unexpected burst of straight up emotional enthusiasm. "I was really afraid he'd get tired of me. Like this morning, I got up at 10 and at 10:30 Hugh said to me, 'I'm tired of you already.' So I said, 'OK, can we start over?' And we just started the day again." Follow New York Times Books on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, sign up for our newsletter or our literary calendar. And listen to us on the Book Review podcast. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
THE CLUB Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age By Leo Damrosch This was selected as one of the Book Review's 10 best books of 2019. See the full list. "O conversation the staff of life," the young T. S. Eliot wrote to his Harvard friend and fellow poet Conrad Aiken in 1914. "Shall I get any at Oxford?" A newcomer to England, Eliot looked to London as a city that once had been a center of civilization. There, conversation among thinkers fizzing with originality had its acme in a club founded in 1764 by the dictionary maker Samuel Johnson and the portrait painter Joshua Reynolds. They asked seven more friends to meet each Friday at the Turk's Head Tavern in Gerrard Street, to talk, dine and drink till midnight. In "The Club," the American literary scholar Leo Damrosch brilliantly brings together the members' voices. They air their opinions with the aplomb of thinkers who relish the English language, roll its tones and innuendos about their tongues and have the alertness to listen as well as speak. For, as Leslie Stephen remarked in 1878 (in a vivid chapter on "Johnson and His Friends" in his own biography of Johnson), "a good talker, even more than a good orator, implies a good audience." The nine founding members of the Club joined quite early in their careers. Johnson had yet to write his masterpiece, "Lives of the Poets" (prompted in part by a conversation with King George III, who, in Boswell's account, expressed "a desire to have the literary biography of this country ably executed"); Oliver Goldsmith had yet to publish the novel that would make his name, "The Vicar of Wakefield"; and Edmund Burke had yet to find renown as a parliamentary orator. Neither fame nor public position was required, and yet a surprising number of these friends would rise to lasting greatness. Elections were made by unanimous vote. Those of James Boswell, David Garrick and Adam Smith in the 1770s expanded the group to include the greatest biographer, the greatest actor and the greatest economist of the century. Beginning with the friendship between Johnson, the moralist, and Boswell, his promiscuous future biographer a connection that was initially forged outside the Club Damrosch breathes life into "The Friends Who Shaped an Age" (in his subtitle's phrase). As this stellar book moves from one Club member to another, it comes together as an ambitious venture homing in on the nature of creative stimulus. In his award winning life of Swift and, more recently, in "Eternity's Sunrise," his study of Blake, Damrosch approaches his subjects as creatures of their "world"; a group portrait is a logical sequel. Here are multiple, deeply researched biographies in one. Resonating beyond the well documented links among these leading lights, "The Club" captures their distinctly individual voices and invites us to feel the pulsations of contact over a period of 20 years. What made this collaborative pulse so strong across many fields? Although it's impossible to explain genius, and although not all members deserved that label, the question is implicit in Damrosch's portraits of the group's defining figures. "The Club" accurately recreates a milieu keen on character, egged on by the English taste for unashamed eccentricity. The impact of Johnson's sonorous pronouncements "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life" is in no way diminished by his compulsive tics, slovenly clothes and a wig singed from bending too close to a candle to examine a text. Damrosch is equal to his characters, considering their comments from our vantage point, especially our present awareness of women's lives. 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. Inevitably, certain opinions are alien, even offensive to modern ears: Johnson's invoking the phrase "barbarous nations" to describe the victims of Britain's imperial wars; his dismissal of the American colonists' protest against taxation without representation; and, despite sympathizing with Native Americans whose lands were being wrested from them, his refusal to suggest that these lands should be returned to them. Regarding women, all these 18th century British men endorsed a double standard. Women, Johnson said bluntly, must be taught to keep their legs together. The rationale was pragmatic: to secure the line of inheritance that kept property in male hands. We read on because we are drawn by the alluring drama of character. This drama is biographical, not political. Character includes ambiguity and defects. There is abundant evidence of Boswell's habit of abusing girls, many of them orphans and desperate for sixpence. Yet Damrosch rightly keeps the focus on Boswell the "impresario," who drew on his training as a lawyer to spark new topics of conversation, and, of course, on Boswell the avid recorder. His "Journal" is astonishingly candid about his failings and humiliations, as when Rousseau's partner, Therese, who once slept with Boswell while en route from France to England, tells him how clueless he is as a lover. (She advises him to use his hands.) The Club, eventually renamed the London Literary Society, has continued to this day but never again lived up to its glory years. Johnson died in 1784. Toward the end, he attended only about three times a year. It's telling that by 1783 membership had swollen to 35. Many of the members were highly gifted, including the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of "The School for Scandal," and the historian Edward Gibbon. No doubt the intimacy of the earlier, smaller group worked better for Johnson. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Club's members were largely politicians and other public figures. The poet laureate Tennyson was there, but not Dickens. The election of T. S. Eliot, in 1942, came rather late in his career as a poet. And then, too, as Damrosch points out, there was no George Eliot, no Virginia Woolf: "It never ceased to be a club for men." He compensates for this exclusion by focusing on the women who formed what he calls a "shadow club." The artist Frances Reynolds (Joshua's able but suppressed sister) affirmed that Johnson "set a higher value upon female friendship than, perhaps, most men." Among such friends were the bluestocking Elizabeth Carter and the novelist Fanny Burney. Johnson offered to teach Burney Latin, but her father (a member of the Club) refused. Burney's friend Hester Thrale said that Burney's father thought Latin "too masculine for Misses." Thrale became Johnson's closest confidante and "therapist" when spiritual terrors came to torment him. Aware how unbearable it was for him to be alone, Thrale took him to live with her and her wealthy husband, Henry, at Streatham Place, south of London. There, for the last 15 years of his life, listened to, respected and revered, Johnson could count on Thrale, who was, like him, a passionate moral being and literate companion. He was soothed by domestic affection and enjoyed the stimulus of mixed company, an alternative to the Club. Looking at this book's list of chapters, I wondered at first why the portrait of Gibbon comes toward the end. He was elected to the Club in 1774, while writing the first volume of his "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." The book was recognized at once as a classic, combining extraordinary breadth with what Gibbon calls "the art of narrating." As Damrosch puts it, Gibbon broke with "tedious chronicles of fact," maintaining a "storytelling momentum" that is "constantly enlivened by memorable incidents and characterizations." This could be a description of Damrosch's own achievement. The best historians, he goes on, invite readers to accompany them "behind the scenes." Damrosch does precisely that here, and the chapter makes a fitting near finale to a book that sustains a shared conversation, a terrific feat in keeping with that of the Club itself. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
Paul Mozur in Shanghai. China has an estimated 200 million surveillance cameras four times as many as the United States. How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Paul Mozur, a technology correspondent based in Shanghai, discussed the tech he's using. What are your most important tech tools for reporting in Shanghai, especially with a government known for surveillance? In China, evading the watchful eyes of the government sometimes feels like an exercise in futility. The place is wired with about 200 million surveillance cameras, Beijing controls the telecom companies, and every internet company has to hand over data when the police want it. They also know where journalists live because we register our address with police. In Shanghai, the police regularly come to my apartment; once they demanded to come inside. That said, China is big, and the government less than competent. Sometimes the police who come to my door have no idea I'm a journalist. Usually the higher ups who deal with my visa don't know about the house visits. The lack of coordination means one of the best things to do is to try to slip through the cracks. Basically, protect yourself but also leave an innocent trace. I use an iPhone because Apple tends to be more secure than Android. That's especially true in China, where the blocks against Google mean there are a huge number of third party Android stores peddling all kinds of sketchy apps. It's also important to realize that because Beijing controls the telecoms, your domestic phone number can be a liability. For secure apps like Signal, I toggle the registration lock so that if they try to mirror my phone, my account still has a layer of protection. To get around the Great Firewall, I use a few different VPNs, which I won't name because when we do bring them up they usually get new government attention. In some parts of China, the police will demand to check your phone, usually to delete photos. Having two phones helps with this to make it even trickier, I have the same case on both phones. But it's also good to have other ways to protect your data. I use a few apps that disguise themselves as something innocuous but in fact hide and protect data. It's also always handy to have a USB drive that can plug into your phone and be used to save stuff quickly. What do you do to keep sources secure? As my colleague Li Yuan noted, WeChat is a reporter's best friend in China. Everyone spends huge amounts of time on it. But WeChat is also closely monitored, so when a sensitive topic comes up, I try to guide people to use more secure apps. That can also be a problem, though, because setting up an encrypted messaging app can alert the authorities to the person. In light of that, personal meetings also work. Often that means leaving the phone at home, since a device's microphone can become a listening device. There are also special Faraday bags, which block communications signals and can help you go dark with your phone on you. Sometimes all the surveillance here makes me want to put one on my head. Let Us Help You Protect Your Digital Life None With Apple's latest mobile software update, we can decide whether apps monitor and share our activities with others. Here's what to know. A little maintenance on your devices and accounts can go a long way in maintaining your security against outside parties' unwanted attempts to access your data. Here's a guide to the few simple changes you can make to protect yourself and your information online. Ever considered a password manager? You should. There are also many ways to brush away the tracks you leave on the internet. In some cases, it's not possible to get around the government, and you have to make a judgment call about whether the source understands the risks and how severe the punishment might be. Sometimes we go places and it's not possible to safely interview people, so we don't. The government frequently wins. What is the oddest surveillance tech you've seen in China? China is a gadget loving nation. Often technology that doesn't totally work is embraced with alacrity. I think my favorite example was the facial recognition sunglasses that made the rounds last year. The police were rocking these glasses, with a camera that plugged into a smartphone like minicomputer. The idea was the glasses could identify people as the police looked at them. When I got to try them on, I found out they didn't work all that well. In some ways, that doesn't matter. If you convince people you know everything about them, they're less likely to break rules. The police officer told me about how they had used the glasses to intimidate a drug smuggler into a full confession. It shows you that tech doesn't always have to function in order to work. I actually was talking about that with my editor the other day. When he calls from Hong Kong, there's a pause of several seconds before the phone connects. It could be the government listening in, or maybe it's just a slow network. We can't be sure, but we sure are paranoid, and we often joke about it. What kind of protections do you take when you travel in China? The Chinese police are famous for showing up in hotel rooms. They don't always do it, but it happens enough that when you're in China, you shouldn't leave your devices in your room unattended. In 2009, when I returned to my room while reporting out of the western region of Xinjiang, I found a police officer reclining on the bed, smoking a cigarette and casually swiping through the photos on my digital camera. To avoid lugging a laptop everywhere I go, I now just travel with two phones and a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard I can use to quickly write up notes or articles directly on the phone. It's not entirely secure, since there are devices that intercept Bluetooth communications, so for passwords I type directly on the phone. Other than that, I figure that if the Chinese authorities want to intercept my Bluetooth keyboard signal, they'll just get an appreciation of how little work my editors have to do to my sterling copy. Amusingly, even the government doesn't trust the government. In reporting on data sharing between different ministries, I've found that it's not uncommon for one part of the government to distrust another to the point it won't share data. At other times, a government branch might not even trust itself to handle data. For a country trying to become a superpower of artificial intelligence, big data, cyberspace, innovation and whatever buzzword dominates tech next, it's a pretty big problem. Then again, when it comes to poor privacy protection, the United States seems to be doing its best to take on China. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
This interview contains spoilers for the Season 1 midseason premiere of "Prodigal Son." Michael Sheen has made cardigans dangerous. On the Fox drama "Prodigal Son," he plays Dr. Martin Whitly, also known as the Surgeon, a brilliant Manhattan doctor who is responsible for at least 23 murders, most of them gruesome. Convicted and confined to a psychiatric hospital, he spends his days swathed in a nubbly, oatmeal sweater, playing mind games with his son, Malcolm (Tom Payne), a profiler for the New York Police Department. Enjoying "Prodigal Son," which had its midseason premiere Monday, requires a hefty suspension of disbelief surrounding cops, journalism and secure psychiatric facilities. But it offers the grisly pleasures of a murder of the week procedural, as well as Sheen's twinkly, delirious performance all mad eyes and chipmunk smile and dad jokes. Told that a man has murdered 19 people, he says, "It's what they call a serial killer's dozen," then convulses in a wheezing laugh. "If you want to feel like a good writer, write a line of dialogue and have Michael Sheen say it," Sam Sklaver, one of the show's creators, told me. "Because all of a sudden you seem like you're Shakespeare. He's just so, so good." The Times critic Mike Hale reviewed it this way: "Sheen is just too much fun to watch." Some 8.7 million viewers across all platforms agree the weekly average, according to Fox making "Prodigal Son" the fall's top rated new broadcast series. A Welsh actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Sheen dominated the London stage before segueing into movies ("The Queen," "Frost/Nixon") and scripted series ("Masters of Sex," "The Good Fight," "Good Omens"). He combines impeccably average looks with a very un average intelligence and emotional volatility. On the surface: a protective camouflage of niceness, ordinariness. (On "30 Rock," he played Liz Lemon's "settling soul mate.") Underneath: something darker and weirder. As Sklaver put it, "He's delightfully disturbing." On a springlike morning several days before the midseason premiere, Sheen, 50, entered a cafe near a location shoot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, having traded Martin's prison scrubs and sweater for a plaid flannel shirt, a clashing tartan scarf and dad jeans. He was relaxed, affable or maybe that was just the protective camouflage working and he had the bags under his eyes that are the go to accessory for the father of a newborn. His daughter with the actress Anna Lundberg, Lyra, is nearly 4 months old. He also has a 20 year old daughter, Lily, with his former partner Kate Beckinsale. Over a plate of poached eggs and a flat white, Sheen cheerfully discussed the banality of murder and taking psychopathy home, while also revealing a huge knitwear related spoiler. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. Why do you think we have such a fascination with serial killers? We like to think that they're an aberration, an extreme version of what is possible. And yet, underneath, we know that they're not separate. They are a reflection of us in some way. They're the monsters we don't want to own. We have to integrate them, assimilate them in some way. To turn them into entertainment is one way to do it. That seems like such a perverse impulse to me. The alternative is to not engage with it, which would make it more frightening. I worked on a script about the Green River Killer. And I spent a lot of time in that world. No matter what aspects of it you look at, it's about really horrible, life denying things: destruction and grief and sadness and loss. And there is nothing romantic about it. I suppose that's the danger with a lot of this sort of stuff is that it can make evil seem somehow attractive. In "Prodigal Son," is there some romance around the idea of the killer's being so much smarter than everyone else? Well, I liked the challenge of playing someone who seems very likable, sort of charming. He uses that disguise like animals do: bright colors to lure prey. If you're a hunter, what you want is to be able to disguise yourself as something that will bring your prey to you. And so I came at it from that point of view maybe this is me just rationalizing with myself, but this is genuinely what I found interesting about it rather than looking at the character as someone who falls into that trope of the genius serial killer. So it's less about him being smart, and more about him being dazzling. Do you have a sense of why people are drawn to the show? On the one hand, you've got a procedural aspect to it every week. And then on the other hand, you've got something that's a bit more like shows you might see on streaming platforms that are threaded through. You can't just come in and watch a single episode and get it. It's got the police, a serial killer and also a domestic drama: What if Hannibal Lecter were Clarice's dad? Well, that's what the show is about. He represents himself and what he's done in a totally unreliable way. It's always squalid reasons. It's always furtive, secretive, shameful reasons based on trauma. What's it like to live with all of that in your head? When I was doing the Green River Killer stuff, I remember getting to the last page of the first draft and I sort of fell apart for a little while after. And that was just from working on the script. In a lot of our representations of that kind of world, it seems sort of exciting and exhilarating and frightening and titillating. But the real world of it is just depressing. So how do you make sure that you're not carrying any of that home from the set? I don't think you can, really. I think that's what you sign up for. I've found that if the subject matter has an innate risk to it, it doesn't matter how you approach it. It will affect you. It works on you. On an unconscious level, it just makes things happen. So you can either go with that and accept that and embrace that or not. But if you don't embrace it, it doesn't mean it's not going to affect you in some way. That seems like a weird energy to take home to your family. Well, that's the job. When I was younger, you kind of go: "Yeah, bring it on! I don't care, whatever." And then as you get older, you go, "Oh Jesus, this again." I mean, I don't do this stuff lightly. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. Tell me about Martin's cardigan. It's so nice! Well, this is a massive spoiler, but I may have a new cardigan. I know. I was shocked. There is something that happens that means that my old cardigan may get a little spoiled. That cardigan is comfortable and soft and part of his disguise. Yeah, you just want to go up and hug him, don't you? Which means you'd have to cross the line into his cell, which means he's got you! I resisted it, but the new one is actually better. During the midseason premiere, Martin learns that his son has been abducted by another serial killer. How does that affect him? He has a terror of not having control. Which of course is the ultimate challenge for parents: How do you negotiate your child wanting to have more independence from you? So, when his son is now in the hands of someone else, in a way it doesn't matter that it's a serial killer; it's scary for him. It manifests itself is as a panic attack. He may up until that point have thought that he was pretending to love Malcolm, but in that moment, it becomes clear that something else is going on. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
A 17 year old boy whose lungs were irreversibly damaged by vaping received a double lung transplant at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, a lifesaving measure taken when a patient's own lungs are diseased or damaged beyond repair and there is no other hope of survival, doctors said on Tuesday. Without the transplant, performed last month, the patient "would have faced certain death," Dr. Hassan Nemeh , who led the surgical team, said during a news conference at the hospital. The patient's lungs were scarred, stiffened, pocked with dead spots and extremely inflamed, he said. On a CT scan before the surgery, the patient's chest appeared almost empty, as if the lungs had vanished. Normal lungs look dark on imaging because they are full of air; the patient's lungs were not visible because they were not working. There was no air. "What I saw in his lungs is like nothing I've seen before, and I've been doing lung transplants for 20 years," Dr. Nemeh said. He added, "This is an evil I haven't faced before." He called the case a preventable tragedy caused by "a senseless type of product that needs to be fought." The patient is recovering well and is up and about now, but still in the hospital. His name is being withheld to protect his privacy, but he and his family wanted to release information about his case in the hope that it might persuade others to quit vaping or never start, hospital officials said. A doctor at the briefing read a statement from the family, which said, in part: "We asked Henry Ford doctors to share that the horrific life threatening effects of vaping are very real! Our family could never have imagined being at the center of the largest adolescent public health crisis to face our country in decades. "Within a very short period of time, our lives have been forever changed. He has gone from the typical life of a perfectly healthy 16 year old athlete attending high school, hanging out with friends, sailing and playing video games to waking up intubated and with two new lungs, facing a long and painful recovery process as he struggles to regain his strength and mobility, which has been severely impacted." Patients with organ transplants need a lifelong regimen of medicines to suppress the immune system to prevent rejection. Dr. Lisa Allenspach, a lung specialist at the Henry Ford Hospital, said that the median survival rate after a lung transplant is seven years, but that rate has been steadily improving. And second transplants are possible. The patient's youth and good health before this illness should work in his favor, she said, adding, "We're hopeful that he will be alive and well for a long time." The doctors declined to say what products the patient had been vaping, how long he had been doing it or how often. About 86 percent of the patients with lung injuries in this outbreak had vaped THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes people high. The case is the first transplant reported in the nationwide outbreak of vaping related lung injuries, and it highlights the severity of an illness that, as of Nov. 5, had sickened 2,051 people and killed 40. "I believe we are just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg," Dr. Allenspach said. Researchers have described the lung damage from vaping as chemical burns, similar to the injuries in people who have inhaled toxic fumes in industrial accidents, or in soldiers attacked with mustard gas in World War I. The patient was first admitted to a different hospital on Sept. 6 with what was thought to be pneumonia. His condition worsened and he was placed on a ventilator on Sept. 12. His health continued to deteriorate. On Sept. 17, he was transferred to a second hospital, where he was connected to a machine that delivers oxygen directly to the bloodstream. His health continued to decline, and on Oct. 3, he was transferred to Henry Ford Hospital, where he was put on the waiting list for a lung transplant. A national organization sets the criteria for eligibility, not individual hospitals. Several factors quickly pushed him to the top of the list, Dr. Nemeh said: He was a child, the lung damage was irreversible and he would die without the transplant. The surgery was performed on Oct. 15. The doctors said they could not reveal any information about the source except to say that the donor had been healthy. Health officials investigating the outbreak described a major advance last week: Researchers found a "very strong culprit," a form of vitamin E, in the lungs of patients who had the vaping illness. The substance, vitamin E acetate, is sometimes used by illicit sellers to "cut" or dilute THC and increase profits. Finding the chemical in the lungs meshed with earlier investigations that had already found it in vaping products. The vitamin compound is thick and sticky. Precisely how it might damage the lungs is not yet known, and health authorities say it is still possible that other chemicals added to vaping fluids may also contribute to lung disease. The doctors in Detroit did not say whether vitamin E acetate had been found in the patient's lungs. "We're going to see more of this," said Dr. Mangala Narasimhan, a lung specialist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Northwell Health's regional director of critical care, who has treated several severe cases of the illness. "We definitely see some patients who have such severe lung damage, we are thinking that some of it might not be completely reversible." None of her patients have needed transplants. In general, lungs for transplantation are difficult to obtain, she said. "A huge number of patients die waiting." About 2,500 lung transplants were performed in the United States in 2018, compared with more than 21,000 kidney transplants. Dr. Nemeh said he expected the patient to go back to school, and added, "I hope he'll be an advocate to stop this madness." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
As part of her research for "Portrait of Myself as My Father," the Zimbabwe born choreographer Nora Chipaumire learned to box, or at least picked up a few tips. In the new work, presented by Montclair State University's Peak Performances series, she explores African masculinity and the black male body with a boxing ring as her stage and the Senegalese performer Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye, better known as Kaolack, as her opponent. Their relationship, while tangled and further complicated by a third performer, Shamar Wayne Watt is not just about winning or losing. A magnetic dancer and audacious thinker, Ms. Chipaumire is less interested in binaries than in the spectra along which we negotiate identity. Adding to this complex look at heritage, gender, language, religion and power, Ms. Chipaumire offers a new film, "Afro Promo 1: Kinglady," created at Montclair State. (April 14 17, Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair, N.J.; peakperfs.org.) | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
Camping in the West? Like Everything These Days, It's Complicated In the West, cabin feverish parents yearning to take their children into the woods, couples trying to escape quarantine pods and all campers who miss their beloved outdoors will this summer find a complicated camping landscape, one of new and conflicting laws, closings and reopenings, and strict requirements on social distancing and hand washing. When the pandemic hit the United States in mid March, Western states shut down in a staggered fashion, leading to the unprecedented closure of national and state parks. There were so few visitors that rarely seen pronghorn antelope in Death Valley grazed near a visitor center and bears roamed in public areas at Yosemite. Some parks now have recently reopened, in limited ways, but the experience will look "very different from what you might be used to," as Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said earlier this month. The reopening rules and phases not only vary according to state, but also whether the park is state or national, on private or public land, or federal land belonging to the National Park Service, Forest Preserve or Bureau of Land Management. Campers might consider creating spreadsheets to keep track of these reopening dates. Zion National Park in Utah reopened, but only one of its three campgrounds is operating. Colorado's state park campsites are open, at half capacity and requiring advance reservations, while its Rocky Mountain National Park plans to phase in its Moraine Park and Glacier Basin campgrounds in early June. Montana's state parks are open for camping, but the Montana side of Yellowstone National Park remains completely closed. (The Wyoming side, including Old Faithful and other landmarks, is open, but not for camping.) In California, the 700,000 acre Angeles National Forest, home of Mount Baldy, Mount Wilson and a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, is scheduled to reopen its campgrounds over the next few weeks, but state camping remains prohibited. State parks in Washington and Oregon are also closed indefinitely, though public camping is available at out of the way, B.L.M. run "dispersed" sites, and only for two weeks or less. The tricky part is getting there as many parking areas and trailheads have been closed for weeks. "It's really designed for the tent camper or backcountry camper who has skills," said Chris Havel, a spokesman with Oregon's state parks and recreation department. "It tends to be a little more primitive." Whether directed to these rugged woodspeople or car campers stuffing sleeping bags into S.U.V.s, almost all reopening public campgrounds are broadcasting the same messages: Stay close to home; bring water, food and whatever else you need; and avoid taxing local resources. Even before the pandemic changed all the rules, interest in camping was booming. The number of households in the United States that camp increased to 39 million in 2018 from 32 million in 2104, a bump of more than 20 percent, according to a KOA Kampgrounds' North American Camping Report. Parks officials say they are receiving a spike in inquiries this summer. "It has been super, super stressful," said Bob Mergell, an administrator for Nevada's state parks, which are closed for camping until the state announces the second phase of its reopening plan. "For every phone call or email that I get thanking me for trying to keep stuff open, there's another email telling me I'm an idiot for keeping stuff open," Mr. Mergell said. With international border restrictions, a vastly reduced number of domestic and international flights, and many hospitality businesses, including amusement parks and resorts, still closed, this is a travel season that's never been seen before. Some parks anticipate that summer vacationers will flock to campgrounds and other outdoor recreational areas, especially those close to home, to get away. Some types of camping sites are ideal for social distancing, some officials say, because they encourage families to stay within their own sites and vehicles. And as Mr. Mergell, who has worked for parks for 30 years, said: "More than anybody, I recognize the benefits to physical and mental health to be outdoors and go out in nature and decompress." "We believe this is the summer of the great American road trip," said Betsy O'Rourke, chief marketing officer for Xanterra, which manages campsites for Yellowstone and operates lodges and concessions facilities in Grand Canyon, Zion and other national parks. "People can control the environment in their cars and R.V.s and vans." The interest can be see in private campgrounds and R.V. sites such as Soledad Canyon, in Acton, Calif., near the San Gabriel Mountains, which offers water and electricity for 73 per day. "All private parks in California are open and have been all along," said Dyana Kelley, chief executive and president of CampCalNOW, a trade group for R.V. parks and campgrounds. "The phone has been ringing like crazy." For those willing and able to pay more, glamping may be an option. Seven miles north of Moab, Utah, outside the gradually reopening Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Under Canvas rents private luxury tents, including linens, lounge chairs and high end takeout meals, with nightly rates ranging from 300 to 400. "Social distancing is a fundamental part of how we are designed," said Matt Gaghen, Under Canvas's chief executive. The company will open its Utah location June 4 and plans to reopen locations near Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon the following week. This summer Under Canvas has made some significant changes, including allowing guests to check in electronically, and providing hand sanitizer and wipes, as well as "deep cleaning" of personal restrooms. Maintaining a clean environment is vital for public parks too, requiring more staff and funding to sanitize the campsites and enforce social distancing requirements. And this comes at a time where travel constraints are hampering the hiring of new workers. Zion National Park, in Utah, has had to delay hiring 32 seasonal staffers, one reason the park is reopening just one campground. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
Her current exhibition, "Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths," is on view at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J., through April 1. It might seem that hand threaded beads and blown glass wouldn't lend themselves to depicting rank ugliness. Nor to provoking unruly laughter. But Joyce J. Scott's art angry, raucous and shamelessly gorgeous proves just how sharp glass can get. The exhibition of her work now at Grounds for Sculpture, in Hamilton, N.J., is a revelation, inviting covetous attention to what often turn out, on close inspection, to be brutal subjects: vicious racism, violent misogyny. And it signals a marked change of direction for a sculpture garden that had long deserved a reputation for being a little lonesome, and a little odd. Called "Harriet Tubman and Other Truths," the show is the largest to date for Ms. Scott, a recent MacArthur "genius" award winner. It surveys decades of art making, from the exuberant jewelry for which she is best known to the figurative sculpture to which she is now most committed. The exhibition also includes a focused homage to Ms. Tubman, the fearless Underground Railroad "conductor," organized with the guest curator Lowery Stokes Sims. (The main survey was curated by Patterson Sims, no relation to Lowery.) The work they assembled, Gary Garrido Schneider, the Grounds for Sculpture director, said, is a "catalyst" for transforming an institution not previously associated with politically pointed art. Tubman is also represented in two monumental outdoor figures, a new mode for Ms. Scott, whose work is generally modest in scale. The first is armed with a long rifle, and further fortified with a bronze colored patina (over high density foam) and piercing eyes. But shadowing her from behind are "haints," or ghosts, in the shape of obscure objects netted in beads, hung high on nearby trees. The second Tubman, bigger and rougher, is formed of rammed earth meant to erode over the course of the exhibition, "just as our memory of Tubman has dissipated over time," the artist said in a phone conversation from her home in Baltimore. Again, there is a massive rifle, this one made of resin studded with assorted trinkets; similarly, the pseudo bronze one bears flowers. Beat those swords into plowshares, Ms. Scott suggests. Or, like a latter day flower child, fix their attitude problem with daisies. Ms. Scott's two heroic Tubmans may bring to mind David Hammons's searing Nelson Mandela sculpture (1987) in Atlanta, with its granite head and barbed wire hair, and, inevitably, Alison Saar's bronze portrait sculpture of Tubman, installed in Harlem in 2008. But Ms. Scott suggests another connection. "Harriet Tubman makes me think a lot about my mother," she said, referring to Elizabeth Talford Scott, a quilter whose glorious work is sampled in this exhibition "picture books made of cloth," as her daughter has described them. She was "a forthright person," Ms. Scott said. "I do believe she would have run to freedom on the train." She was also, Ms. Scott said, "my first art teacher." Having made beadwork in grade school "sewing beads into fabric or using that Girl Scout/American Indian loom," she explained Ms. Scott worked with textiles early in her career, weaving, quilting and making garments. By the mid 1970s, she was creating free standing sculptures of beads, a pioneer in the now thriving realm of art that raids the territory of craft. But a major motivation for her loyalty to handcraft is sustaining a tie to forebears who were blacksmiths, woodworkers and basket makers (and sharecroppers, picking cotton and tobacco) and, most important, to her mother, with whom she lived until her death in 2011. Family in general and motherhood in particular are primary subjects in the main survey, starting with a 1983 quilt made by Joyce and Elizabeth Scott that offers a loving portrait of the extended clan. But many of the younger Scott's representations of maternity are more barbed. A small 1991 figure of a woman fashioned (uncharacteristically) from black leather bends over backward literally to support a silvery white beaded baby who dances on her chest; nearly lost against her dark skirt is a brown child, its tiny hands extended in an unanswered gesture. The deep scarlet, bead crowned blown glass figure in "Breathe," seated cross legged and imperially calm, has pulled a clear glass baby out of her body by its triumphantly outstretched arms. Mother regards child quizzically; it's not clear whether rapture or heartbreak is afoot. If Ms. Scott's engagement with maternity is full of ambiguity, the sculptures in the series "Day After Rape" are simply, uncompromisingly harrowing. Made of dainty seed and glass beads, they show one woman hog tied, another impaled on a barked branch. Bright red beads of blood puddle beneath exposed genitals; small white eyes are frozen wide. A couple of these sculptures employ tobacco pipes: the pipes' bowls become buttocks; stems serve as legs. In a discussion of this series, Ms. Scott emphasized that the pipes, which had belonged to a friend's grandfather, had been sucked long and hard. Close inspection confirms it. Indeed you can't make out what these sculptures are about without coming closer than you feel you should and seeing things you won't soon forget. Three years ago, the Johnson family transferred the real estate and art at the site to the nonprofit entity that runs its sculpture park and 20,000 square feet of exhibition space. Mr. Schneider, then newly hired, is shepherding its transformation. Situated between Princeton and Trenton, it serves a wide public, including a range of African American and immigrant communities. By reaching out in advance to both the Grounds for Sculpture board members and those in the community about Ms. Scott's work, Mr. Schneider has successfully assuaged (so far) any concerns about its most violent representations of racism and misogyny. Clearly Ms. Scott, whose work is too little known, was a bold choice. But her work is anything but inaccessible. For one thing, some of it is very funny, as in a tableau positioning two porcelain figurines of colonial era gentry before a regal, glowering jet black face looming above them, their graceful postures bespeaking total incomprehension. Irresistible, too, is the sheer beauty of so many of the sculptures, especially those recent examples involving blown glass components (many made at the Berengo workshop on the Venetian island of Murano). The jade green "Buddha (Earth)," its chest inflated as if by an awed intake of breath, is characteristically sublime. The Buddha appeals to Ms. Scott because "he wasn't a god," she said. "He worked really, really hard to evolve and have this greater enlightenment." But the artist, who remains fiercely devoted to the Baltimore neighborhood where she grew up, refers just as often to Christianity. "I was raised in a Pentecostal Apostolic church," she explained. "A storefront church. My godparents were the preachers. When I became obstreperous in the congregation as a child, my godfather would pick me up and preach with me on the pulpit. I did street ministry with them, playing the tambourine and singing. Now, that has a lot to do with me as a performer" notably, as half of the combustible, hilarious Thunder Thigh revue, most active in the early 1990s "but it has also always grounded me very much in the spirit in the joy of it. And the truth." That word, featured in this exhibition's title, is key. Ms. Scott, discussing the "Day After Rape" series, emphasized that it was a very important subject for her to take on. "Because it's challenging?" she was asked. She replied without hesitation, "Because it's the truth." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
ATLANTA Tyler Perry hears voices in his head, and they have made him wildly popular, divisive and very rich. The voices created the Paynes, the Browns, the Cryers and countless other characters and caricatures that peopled Perry's plays, movies and television series. And they unleashed his golden goose, Madea, the smack talking, purse wielding black Southern matriarch that Perry depicted, in tent dresses and a pendulous prosthetic bosom, in dozens of plays and films before retiring the character earlier this year. Now, with Madea behind him he was fed up with playing her Perry's cultural legacy remains complex, ever evolving, and dependent on what he does next. In the short term, that means opening sprawling new studios here with a big, glittery party this weekend. The studios will serve as the home for an astonishing six new shows, all of which he has written and will direct part of a major content deal with Viacom. Is he sacrificing quality for quantity? Perry said he was not aspiring to great artistry. "It's a business," he told me. "And key in this business is to deliver to this audience, to superserve them and give them everything they want that you can give them." In many ways, Perry still feels like the most successful mogul Hollywood has ever ignored. "If I was a white man and had done these things, and had this success, they would have had a much different reaction to me," Perry said one late September day, sitting in his huge, plush office in the Dream Building, the center of the new studios south of downtown. "No one, black or white, has been able to do what I've been able to do." Perry started out creating plays for black audiences, moving from stage to screen and amassing more than 1 billion in ticket sales so far. His ballooning fortune and fame has been met with criticism that he peddles, as the writer Jamilah Lemieux put it in 2009, "buffoonish, emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women." Perry's response now is the same as it was then: that his millions of ardent fans would disagree. "What all of that tells me is my black, my version of my stories, my experiences and my culture are not relevant to some of the critics and some of those people that don't understand it and don't like it," he said. Undisputed is his employment of scores of black actors, particularly women, who struggled to find work in mainstream Hollywood, an achievement Perry deftly referenced in June when he collected the Ultimate Icon Award at the BET honors. The crowd leapt to its feet, the performer Lizzo among them. It was a measure of the reverence for Perry's achievements, and the recent warmer embrace of his work. Spike Lee, who once infamously described Perry's work using a racial slur, has since distanced himself from that comment. (For what it's worth, aside from "Inside Man," Perry told me, "there's not a lot of Spike Lee films that I get or understand.") And Perry is no longer one of the very few black voices in film and television. The rise of power brokers like Ava DuVernay, Donald Glover and Issa Rae, Perry said, has "lifted all of the pressure." Many of the stories Perry tells adhere to his tried and true formula; threaded with moralizing, they confront tough issues like abuse before shifting to levity, all of which proved deeply cathartic for audiences, and for Perry himself. Perry grew up in New Orleans with an abusive father, and was sexually molested by several adults. To cope, he learned to slip into a rich, imaginary world. "It would bring me so much joy, no matter what was going on with me as a kid," he said. It was only recently that Perry realized that he goes to that same place to write. "I literally have to push them out of my head to go on to the next show, to make them stop talking," he said. He wrote all six new Viacom shows, along with a new season of "The Haves and the Have Nots," for Oprah Winfrey's OWN network 200 episodes in all in six months. The writing overlapped with the 43 city Madea farewell tour earlier this year, and I caught a glimpse of what that workload looked like at Radio City Music Hall in May. A capacity crowd cheered Perry's longtime castmates, Tamela Mann, Cassi Davis and David Mann, reserving the biggest whoops for Madea herself. Backstage, Perry spent every moment at his laptop, in full Madea regalia, working on one of the new Viacom shows, typing as if possessed. "I'm on autopilot," he told me. He stopped to issue stage directions, punk the other actors by messing with their props, and, of course, to star in the show. He spent exactly zero seconds in repose. This voraciousness was why he left his exclusive deal with OWN in 2017, he said, to sign with Viacom, which owns Paramount, his new distributor, and BET. Perry sought limitlessness, and felt the bandwidth at OWN was too narrow. He said he and Winfrey, who, along with Cicely Tyson, is a godparent to his 4 year old son, remain close. Both women are expected to attend the opening party for his new studios, which might more accurately be described as a kingdom. They occupy 330 rolling acres of a decommissioned Army base that Perry bought for 30 million in 2015, after outgrowing smaller studios six miles away. Some 250 million went into restoring the new site's stately 19th century homes, erecting soundstages named for black luminaries, and building production offices and sets. While the unveiling is this weekend, Perry has produced his shows and movies here for a few years, leasing out space to productions like "Black Panther" and "The Walking Dead." There have been calls for films and television shows to boycott Georgia, a major production hub, in protest of the state's highly restrictive law ruling out abortions once doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat. Perry said his heavy investment here made it impossible for him to leave. He also does not want to. Perry said he did not agree with the law. "I don't think it's a man's place to tell a woman what she should do with her reproductive organs," he said. But he also opposes a boycott, saying many people holding the state's tens of thousands of film and television jobs are against the new law too, and that their votes "can change a whole election." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Q. Can I make my own emoji if I don't see a character on my phone that fits my needs? Where do the ones on the phone keyboard come from? A. If you want to start at the beginning, the original set of 176 emoji pictographs were first created for a Japanese telecommunications company by Shigetaka Kurita in 1999 and are now in the Museum of Modern Art. These days, an organization called the Unicode Consortium maintains the standard set of emoji used by apps and platforms, and now counts more than 2,700 characters in Version 11 of the set, with more on the way. But if you don't see the exact character you need in the current bunch, yes, you can create your own. Both the Google Play store and the iOS App Store have a selection of emoji making apps that guide you through creating your own characters. Some, like inTextMoji for iOS, can insert custom characters into messages through their own built in emoji keyboards, while other apps create small images you can send, like pictures. (Before installing a third party emoji keyboard on your phone, read its reviews and permissions requests first, as security companies warn that some of these apps can be dodgy or want a lot of access to your information.) Communications tools like Slack may allow you to create custom emoji for use in the software. You can design emoji in drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator and share the finished images through text and email. Online emoji generators can also be found around the web, like Google's Made With Code emoji project. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
DALLAS On the January day that 10k.Caash released his latest mixtape, "Planet Swajjur," he skipped throwing a big party and instead holed up at Legacy Music Group, a recording studio in Dallas's Deep Ellum neighborhood. His hair, styled in the mullet adjacent local style known as the shag, was two tones of green aquarium chemical aqua at the top, nuclear neon at the tail and he wore a Kanye West "Jesus Is King" sweatshirt. In between snacking on Sour Patch Kids and Fritos Flavor Twists, he repeatedly headed into the recording booth and asked his small circle of producers to run through an increasingly odd collection of plinks and bloops. When he heard one he liked, 10k.Caash, 18, began spitting out loose splurts of words "Pixie sticks!" "Move your muscles!" "Everything geeked up, I'm saying Urkel!" He hurled words against the beat, rapping as if he was learning to rap without knowing that rap music already existed. After one particularly squelchy number, his friend and mentor, the rapper G.U.N., shouted, "This beat making me want to slam my head into the wall. It's a 10k beat for sure!" "Every song should have its own twist, every song should be different," he said the following afternoon at Geekletes, an e sports facility in DeSoto, about a half hour south of Dallas, where he'd come to play Fortnite. On the wild, 16 minute roller coaster that is "Planet Swajjur," his inputs are video game circus chirps, vertiginous alarm peals, flatulent bass slaps that sound like they're stuck to the ground and so on. It's a more polished take on the slapstick demolition derby energy of his debut, "The Creator," one of last year's most preposterously engaging albums, full of quasi nonsensical, punk space rap redolent of the early, rowdy Beastie Boys. This is the sound of modern virality the soundtrack to it, really. 10k.Caash's music exists somewhere near the intersection of songcraft, dance clips, buzzy video and Foley art. The results are, technically speaking, songs, but they don't function like songs typically do. They're exceedingly short, jolting, humorous and designed for interaction: The perfect set of noises to accompany a video of someone who looks like they're trying to dance their way out of a box. Which is to say, viral videos on apps like TikTok and Triller (also Instagram and, to a lesser degree, YouTube), where his music is most at home. The rapper Rico Nasty, one of 10k.Caash's close friends, said she sees him as a multifaceted performer. "I never look at him as just an artist. He does so much," she said. "He can come up with a different dance every month if he wants." These days on the global viral song charts, you'll find conventionally successful hip hop and pop songs, and also obscurities and spoken sketches. But the social internet is like one long interwoven dance challenge. It is its own medium, and the music being made specifically for it is becoming its own style, breaking down the traditional song format into components and amplifying the loudest and stickiest parts. G.U.N. is frequently in the studio with 10k.Caash, and said he initially found his approach confounding. "I'd be like, 'Yo, you got to make it more like a song.' He'd be like, 'Nah G.U.N., watch this.' And at the end product, I'm just like, damnnnnnn he taught me something new: Everything doesn't have to make sense for it to be good." The optimal sound of TikTok or Triller is also shaped by the strictures of the medium it requires immediate shock, catchiness and lighthearted inclusivity. "Think of the deliberateness behind a video that would be played on MTV in the beginning of MTV," said Justin Duran, Def Jam's senior director of marketing and 10k.Caash's project manager. 10k.Caash and his peers are "consciously making music that's built for a platform," he said. "They know what the sensibility is for that it's deliberate but almost intuitive." Viral hip hop dance videos are what catapulted 10k.Caash from a teenage time killer into a formidable member of hip hop's rookie class. Built like a stack of gumdrops, he dances in concise, herky jerk movements, slithering and then stopping as if he suddenly had his plug pulled. A couple of years ago, he honed a dance that had been circulating around Dallas and added a hard locking motion. It became the Woah, one of the most widespread and easiest to emulate viral dances of recent years. (As with most viral phenomena, the exact origin point is contested.) But even before that, 10k.Caash, who hails from the Oak Cliff neighborhood, had been a dancer in a city that had always found overlap between dance and hip hop the Dougie, the Ricky Bobby, the Stanky Legg. A few years ago, however, when he and his friends were making dance videos, "Nobody thought it was cool to be a dancer," he said. "Everybody stopped, everybody felt like we should be hood." Still, he danced, and people began to take note. He was one of the dancers in the viral video that catapulted Ugly God's "I Beat My Meat" to broad attention. And he and his friends steadily made Woah videos, dancing along to local rap hits. Through dancing, he met Lil Uzi Vert now an idiosyncratic Garbo like superstar, but then a more accessible aspirant. Uzi appeared in some Woah videos with 10k.Caash, and eventually suggested that 10k.Caash try rapping, making songs of his own rather than, in essence, using his popularity to promote other people's music. 10k.Caash released his first song, "Dip Swag Dip," in the summer of 2018. That November, he self released "The Creator." Soon after, he signed to Def Jam, the foundational hip hop label, which rereleased "The Creator" last May. ("He's an overall internet sensation who just happens to make music," Duran said.) Many of his early stage performances were at festivals, coming out for a song during other people's sets. His ubiquity online also created opportunities to film dance videos with more established artists like Trippie Redd or Chance the Rapper who, Duran said, treated 10k.Caash like a kind of muse: "He was bull horning his music through 10k." A hallmark of those clips is their evident joy, as if 10k.Caash had allowed those performers to reach something childlike inside themselves. "A lot of people hit me up when they're going through things," 10k.Caash said. "I naturally make people happy." Rico Nasty said his open hearted disposition is a rarity: "He genuinely wants to build friendship. Most people in the industry just do that when they need you for something." For an artist from Dallas, a city with a long hip hop history but not many breakthrough successes, 10k.Caash has had a rapid, unlikely ascent, bypassing the local rap hierarchy. But he still has a devoted following in the city's underground scene, which was clear the night after the studio session, when he appeared at a hybrid rap/wrestling event at a dingy banquet space in an industrial strip mall on the city's northwest side. It was a loosely hinged scene, a gathering of the subcultures. A disco ball dangled over the squared circle as 10k.Caash rapped and danced his way through an abbreviated set. When he was done, he didn't speed off, but stuck around, sitting on the top turnbuckle to watch his friends perform. His earliest engagement with music was through promoting parties and dancing with friends, but the music business is less communal than that. Artists have invited him to collaborate, and then removed him from songs, he said. He's released snippets on Instagram, only to have the sound or words copied by others. "A lot of people that make songs like me, they don't even have the confidence to put me on the song," he said. "I outrap them." Though he's recorded approximately 500 songs, and hopes to release a third project in April, "I might be done after that," he said. So he has backup plans. He's a freshman at Texas A M University Commerce, majoring in accounting. He knows how to code in Python. He's made friends in FaZe Clan, the powerhouse e sports collective. "Sometimes his heart's not in the music," G.U.N. said. "He's happiest when he's playing a game." Which is maybe where 10k.Caash will end up, after moving on from the way station of the record business. Now, he's a successful rapper, dancer and social media savant. Tomorrow who can say? "I hope it all transfers," he said, "and I just can play games all day." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
For years, it has been a truism of the Broadway economy: The vast majority of tickets are purchased by visitors from outside New York City. But the last theater season saw a higher percentage of New Yorkers attending Broadway shows than at any time over the last 15 years, according to an annual demographic report released Tuesday by the Broadway League. New Yorkers are still a minority among Broadway patrons, making up just 21.5 percent of the audiences during the season that ended last May, the League said. But that percentage has been rising for three years in a row, contributing to a boom in Broadway audiences. There are a variety of possible explanations for the rise in interest among New Yorkers. It could be that, as the overall popularity of musical theater rebounds, cynical urbanites are reconsidering the art form. "We're making more things that more people like a plethora of musicals of every stripe," said Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer of "Hamilton." "Hamilton" itself is an obvious factor it became so much a part of the cultural conversation that it refocused attention on Broadway. New York is also home to a lot of wealth a possible factor given that Broadway tickets are often expensive. And it may be that rising quality and a more diverse array of shows has broken through to some New Yorkers who thought they no longer had room for Broadway in their entertainment diets. "There's a better buzz around Broadway as not a stale old timey thing," said Emily Hammerman, a vice president of TodayTix, a theater ticketing app. "When you look at 'Dear Evan Hansen' or 'Hamilton' or 'Fun Home,' these became major award winners, but they were not brand names before they existed on Broadway, so you had to be local and in the know to know that this was the next big thing." The uptick of New Yorkers comes as Broadway is thriving the last season was the third in a row with more than 13 million patrons, and box office revenue was a record 1.4 billion. In addition to those from New York City, 18 percent of the audience was from New York's suburbs, 46 percent from elsewhere in the U.S., and 15 percent from another country. Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the Broadway League, said "the return of New Yorkers" is important because, she said, an overreliance on tourists had made the industry more vulnerable to fluctuations in visitorship to the city. "Tourism is always going to be a factor, but there are times when tourism is up and tourism is down," she said. "The core of our business is our local and suburban theatergoers." Among the other highlights of the audience demographics report, which is based on surveys distributed in theaters: The Broadway audience remains predominantly white (77 percent) and female (66 percent), as well as affluent (average annual household income of 194,940) and educated (80 percent of those over 25 were college graduates and 39 percent had a graduate degree). The Broadway audience is older than the American population the average age of theatergoers was 41.7 years old. But League officials saw hope in a growing number of younger patrons 25 percent of their respondents were under 25 years old. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
This year's Whitney Biennial, considered the country's most important showcase of contemporary art, has 75 participating artists and one who has already withdrawn. The biennial, no stranger to controversy, is an indicator of currents in the field as well as a career booster for the artists included. Past editions have sparked debates over identity and representation, but this year, before the list of participants was even released, a Chicago based artist, Michael Rakowitz, pulled out of the exhibition in a protest against a museum vice chairman, Warren Kanders. Mr. Kanders is the chief executive of a company that manufactures equipment, including body armor and tear gas, for law enforcement agencies and militaries. The New York Times received a copy of Mr. Rakowitz's letter to the curators, dated Dec. 18, withdrawing from the show. The exhibition's curators, Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta both of whom work at the Whitney said in an interview Sunday that they respected Mr. Rakowitz's decision and regret that he won't be involved in the biennial's 79th iteration, for which they tried to bring together "as broad a range of artists as we could in all kind of senses of that word, whether that's medium wise, interest wise, geographically, demographically, generationally," in Ms. Hockley's words. Indeed, the list of participants, which The Times has previewed, is very diverse. Among the more high profile names are Nicole Eisenman, Jeffrey Gibson, Barbara Hammer and Wangechi Mutu. People of color are a majority, and it's one of the youngest groups in the biennial's history, with three quarters of the participants under the age of 40. Only five have ever exhibited in a Whitney Biennial before. For most artists, inclusion in the 2019 Whitney Biennial is not only a tangible milestone but also an affirmation of their work and an encouragement to keep going. "It's a huge deal, because it allows me to move forward in a greater way," said Brendan Fernandes, whose installations and performances combine visual art and dance. For the biennial, Mr. Fernandes, a former ballet dancer who is based in Chicago, will present a new version of a piece titled "The Master and Form," which consists of archaic looking wooden scaffolding and devices that allow performers to hold the five basic ballet positions for long periods of time. "For me it is a social political space, a piece that questions the agency of the body, the agency of the dancer and our labor," said Mr. Fernandes. The Los Angeles based artist Ragen Moss is also concerned with the body and how it functions within society what she describes as the "beautiful tension that we each experience as this round, awkward, spatial, embodied being that is also inscribed by language." Ms. Moss makes hanging, transparent sculptures that she embeds with layers and paints and that are evocative of human forms. For the Whitney Biennial, she made nine sculptures representing types, including a lawmaker, a laborer and a rule breaker, that were her answer to the question, "What are the characters or ways of being that our particularized moment are forcing us to reckon with?" To its curators, the 2019 biennial feels very much like a product of its time, with artists "grappling with questions about race, gender, financial inequality, gentrification, the vulnerability of the body," said Ms. Panetta. But she added that the work in the show mostly strikes a tone that's less "agitprop like or angry" than one might expect in 2019. "It's really work that feels more productive, forward looking, with a kind of optimistic and hopeful tenor to it." Her hopeful tone is somewhat at odds with the controversy that has been dogging the Whitney in recent months and that led Mr. Rakowitz to pull out of the biennial. The protests over Mr. Kanders's presence on the Whitney's board began last November, when Hyperallergic reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had used Safariland's tear gas on asylum seekers at the Mexican border. In response, 95 members of the Whitney staff signed a letter to the museum's leadership demanding that the board of trustees "consider asking" for Mr. Kanders's resignation and requesting "the development and distribution of a clear policy around trustee participation." Ms. Hockley signed the letter; Ms. Panetta did not. Adam Weinberg, the Whitney's director, responded with a letter to the staff and trustees that said the institution "is first and foremost a museum. It cannot right all the ills of an unjust world, nor is that its role." Mr. Rakowitz, who makes conceptual art projects that often focus on vulnerable people and communities, saw the photographs from the border as a disturbingly clear visualization of what he called "toxic philanthropy." "I felt like I'd be betraying everything that I've ever cared about in the work that I make" had he participated in the exhibition, he said in an interview. "You wouldn't compromise the integrity of a work on paper by showing it in unsafe conditions. You should not compromise the integrity of an artist and ask them to show with funding and permission from people that make conditions unsafe for others." Commissioned for the biennial to create new work for a project re creating the artifacts and sites destroyed in the Iraq War, Mr. Rakowitz said he decided that the best way to support the Whitney's employees was to withdraw from the show as an act of both protest and solidarity. "I felt like the only way to truly leverage any kind of voice was to say that often times what an artist doesn't do is more important than what they said they will do," he explained. There has been closer scrutiny in recent years of whom museums pick to serve on their boards. In January the labor focused organization Working Artists and the Greater Economy (WAGE) put out a call inviting artists in the 2019 Whitney Biennial to "put their exceptionality to work" by withholding their art from the show until they got paid for their participation and the demands laid out in the Whitney staff letter were met. The Whitney confirmed that participants in the 2019 biennial are being paid. (The Times later learned the amount is 1,500, the fee WAGE suggested.) The activist movement Decolonize This Place has also been leading protests at the Whitney, beginning with a gathering and burning of sage in the museum's lobby in December. The following month, the group held a town hall meeting that was attended by more than 200 people, including employees of the Whitney. In an interview, Amin Husain, an organizer with the group, called the Whitney Biennial "a Band Aid of representation." His co organizer, the artist Nitasha Dhillon, said, "What we're saying is that this structure needs to change, and it needs to begin somewhere." Asked about the protests, Mr. Fernandes said that they had resonated with him, leading him to ask, "What is my responsibility as an artist that's in this biennial within this museum?" Ultimately, though, he decided he could be most effective by remaining in the exhibition and speaking through this work. "I am an artist that has a political voice, and my voice needs to be heard," he said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
President Trump has threatened to demote Jerome H. Powell, right, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, even as the coronavirus crisis coursed through financial markets. WASHINGTON President Trump has spent two years publicly attacking the Federal Reserve and undercutting its chair, Jerome H. Powell. That animosity is making it difficult for Washington to project a united front as it stares down the most significant economic threat since the Great Recession. The Fed has moved at breakneck speed to try to alleviate economic harm from the coronavirus pandemic, which is closing businesses, knocking workers off payrolls and almost surely plunging the economy into a downturn. Within weeks, the central bank has slashed rates to near zero and enacted many of the programs developed during the 2008 financial crisis. That pervasive sense of insecurity comes in part as Americans struggle to decipher what kind of coordinated economic response Washington is staging. During the 2008 financial meltdown, Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chair at the time, seemed to be moving in lock step with the Treasury Secretary and the White House. But that sort of comity has not been emanating from Washington during the current crisis. Instead, Mr. Trump increased his criticism, even threatening to demote Mr. Powell as the crisis coursed through financial markets. "One way to read the markets is, the markets don't have confidence in governments to respond to this," said David Wessel, the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "President Trump's repeated attempts to attack Jay Powell can't help but have made that worse." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mr. Powell have a good relationship and talk daily. But the two have yet to appear together during the crisis, and Mr. Powell has not been at any of the White House events where Mr. Trump discussed the economic response to the virus. Mr. Powell has also been absent from the airwaves except for a call in news conference on Sunday. That is strikingly different from 2008, when Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. coordinated closely with President George W. Bush to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The trio were pictured together after key meetings, and a New York Times headline from early 2008 reads "Bush and Bernanke back economic stimulus." Later, Mr. Bernanke worked with President Barack Obama and his Treasury Secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, to deal with fallout from the crisis. "Whatever differences they may have had in the past should be put behind them to deal with the war on corona," said Hal S. Scott, the director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. Mr. Scott said it was critical that Treasury and the Fed coordinate closely, adding that it was time for Mr. Powell to be more visible. Many economic policymaking veterans from past administrations have privately criticized Mr. Mnuchin and other Trump advisers for mismanaging the crisis. Several of Mr. Trump's top aides publicly played down the threat that the virus posed to the economy, even as it began to spread rapidly in China, Italy and parts of the United States. Until recently, when the administration pivoted to proposing large doses of fiscal stimulus to fight a contraction in economic activity, many administration officials and, repeatedly, Mr. Trump placed the onus for action on Mr. Powell and the Fed. Mr. Trump suggested as recently as Saturday that he was still considering demoting Mr. Powell, and on March 10 he called the institution "pathetic, slow moving." Days later, he wrote on Twitter that "The Federal Reserve must FINALLY lower the Fed Rate to something comparable to their competitor Central Banks." After the Fed cut rates to near zero on Sunday, Mr. Trump grudgingly congratulated the central bank. 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. "That brings us in line with what other countries are," he said. "They actually have negative rates, but look, we got it down to potentially zero. That's a big step, and I'm very happy they did it, and you will not hear anything bad about me unless it's a month or two from now." The current White House rarely communicates with Mr. Powell. Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, has a monthly lunch with the Fed chair, but he and Mr. Mnuchin have only tepidly defended Mr. Powell in the face of presidential criticism. The crisis response has been further complicated by a lack of top staffers at Treasury, along with a dearth of expertise managing such crises. Currently, the department does not have officials overseeing two top divisions, domestic finance and sanctions. Treasury's acting assistant secretary for international finance, Geoffrey Okamoto, is departing to be the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund. And Brian McGuire, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs, is expected to leave this spring. A senior Treasury official noted that Mr. Mnuchin had been speaking with Mr. Powell by phone multiple times a day and into the evenings in recent weeks. His deputy, Justin Muzinich, has also been in regular communication with counterparts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Treasury has developed an internal task force to assess the economic fallout of the virus. Mr. Muzinich, who had been overseeing the terrorist and financial intelligence unit, has shifted much of his focus domestic finance. Treasury's markets room now has nine full time staff members providing updates to the secretary and, according to the official, the department is open to bringing in additional reinforcements as needed. But the light staffing has made it hard for any one official to communicate to the American public that the nation's economic leaders stand ready to do what it takes to calm markets and safeguard prosperity. Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the administration was failing to bolster markets. "Everywhere you would look for reassurance, for leadership, for policy action, for reliable information, all are absent," he said. Those perceptions have obscured what has been a fast paced response from the central bank. The Fed is often a first responder when something goes wrong in the economy. It is able to change interest rates and buy bonds much faster than elected officials can pass legislation and mail out checks. This time is no exception. The central bank has gone from making its first emergency rate cut on March 3 to slashing interest rates to near zero. It has beefed up programs to keep money markets functioning and rolled out an emergency lending scheme to help businesses access short term funding. Late Wednesday, the Fed said it would offer loans to money market mutual funds, the vehicles that millions of Americans use to save money that can be readily tapped. Those lending programs were done in coordination with Treasury, an indication that a partnership does exist, even if it is not readily apparent. On Thursday, the Fed said it would also extend currency swap lines to nine more countries on top of the five relationships it already has in an attempt to keep dollars flowing to banks around the world. Officials are "completely willing to do what it takes, to do what is necessary" to support the economy, said Mary C. Daly, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. "We learned a lot during the financial crisis about what tools are at our disposal." She added, "But we did not stop learning." The Fed is throwing a kitchen sink of policies at the financial system to keep it operating smoothly, because short term economic pain could turn into long term suffering if credit crunches prevent companies from getting the cash they need to continue operating. Markets are not yet soothed. Investors continue to sell everything to raise cash, roiling Treasury markets, making corporate debt more expensive and challenging state and local financing schemes. Some have questioned whether the Fed is falling behind. Officials point out that it takes some time to get programs in place, and it will take time for them to work. "These facilities are hard work, to get all of the operational aspects correct," said Eric Rosengren, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and an overseer of the money market program. The central bank is taking communication partly into its own hands. It held a media blitz on Wednesday and Thursday, with regional presidents on television and press calls to pound out with one key message: The Fed is moving quickly, and it stands ready to act and willing to get creative. "We should keep an open mind as to what else we have to do," Mr. Rosengren said in an interview. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
SUSAN GRAHAM at Alice Tully Hall (Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m.). With Malcolm Martineau at the keyboard, Graham weaves songs by Grieg, Strauss, Faure, Mahler and many more composers through the eight songs of Schumann's "Frauenliebe und leben." Be sure to hear that even if you somehow manage to find a ticket to the other big vocal recital, on Friday evening at Zankel Hall, in which Peter Mattei sings Schubert's "Winterreise." 212 721 6500, lincolncenter.org Read about the events that our other critics have chosen for the week ahead. NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC at David Geffen Hall (Feb. 5 6, 7:30 p.m.; through Feb. 11). All power to the Philharmonic for its Project 19, a multiyear effort to commission new works from 19 women composers, in honor of the passage of the 19th Amendment. The first fruit is Nina C. Young's "Tread Softly," appearing here along with Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 and Mozart's "Great" Mass. Carter Brey is the cello soloist, and the vocalists in the Mozart include Miah Persson and Nicholas Phan. 212 875 5656, nyphil.org ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S at Carnegie Hall (Feb. 6, 8 p.m.). Baroque music from this orchestra and its principal conductor, Bernard Labadie, who deliver two works by Handel and four by Vivaldi, including two settings of the "Salve Regina." They are joined by the violinist Daniel Hope and the contralto Marie Nicole Lemieux. 212 247 7800, carnegiehall.org CAROLINE SHAW at Miller Theater (Feb. 6, 8 p.m.). Shaw's music is plenty familiar now, so we might see this composer portrait as a celebration of her recent success. There's a nod to the past with performances by the Attacca Quartet of three string quartets, "Punctum," "Entr'acte" and "Blueprint," two of which are featured on a widely heralded recording on New Amsterdam/Nonesuch. And there's a nod to the future: In addition to joining So Percussion for her song cycle "Narrow Sea," Shaw performs songs created with that quartet for a future recording project, "Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part." 212 854 7799, millertheatre.com | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
I have listened to the presentations by both sides in the impeachment trial. As a lawyer, I am perplexed by President Trump's defense. First, most legal scholars agree that impeachment does not require a crime, despite arguments otherwise by Mr. Trump's lawyers. Second, a Ukrainian investigation of Joe Biden and his son has already been conducted, with no finding of misconduct on the part of either of them. Third, how is the Mueller investigation relevant to the impeachment case against Mr. Trump? President Trump's attorneys have argued that it is inappropriate to impeach Mr. Trump so close to an election. Whether or not Mr. Trump remains in office is, so they say, a decision that should be reserved to the people and not to the Senate. For the people to make an informed decision in November, we are entitled to hear all relevant information. If the president's team truly believes that this matter is best decided by the people, it should have no objection to the people hearing from all relevant witnesses and seeing all relevant documents. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
If you're going to add a new version of "Little Women" to the dozen or so film and television adaptations that have already been made, you'd better have a pretty good reason. It's not as if Katharine Hepburn and Winona Ryder have left the world in need of a definitive portrayal of Jo March. The two night, three hour "Little Women" that PBS is showing Sunday and May 20 as part of "Masterpiece" came about for a fairly specific reason: The BBC needed a festive production for the holidays. (It was shown in Britain last year on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.) The call went out to Heidi Thomas, creator of "Call the Midwife," whose tenure on that show has given her cred as both an adapter of literary properties and a writer of stand alone Christmas episodes she's done six for "Midwife." Ms. Thomas and the director Vanessa Caswill may have met the BBC's needs, but they haven't made a strong case for yet another adaptation. The gift for broad, somewhat florid melodrama that Ms. Thomas has shown in "Call the Midwife" doesn't match up with the delicacy of the emotions and the subtlety of the relationships in "Little Women," Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel about the four March sisters of Massachusetts. What we get is a fairly faithful rendition of the book's events that lacks the warmth and depth of feeling that make the book worth reading. There are some flat footed attempts at lyricism, or modernization, through the intrusive use of music, or short passages when the cuts come more quickly and the camera moves in for off center close ups. Some jarring comic absurdism is added through the unusually obtrusive presence of Aunt March's parrot. But mostly the production just marches through the story, giving everything equal weight Amy falls through the ice, Beth gets scarlet fever, Meg marries, and each crisis feels pretty much like the others. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
LONDON There should be no more attractive job in the sports business than being chief executive of the Premier League. England's top division, after all, is not just a soccer phenomenon, but a cultural one, too. Its chief executive sits at its apex, leading negotiations on the dozens of television contracts that generate billions of dollars in revenue for the league and its clubs every year; arbitrating disputes between teams and owners used to getting their way; and keeping the biggest soccer league in the world ticking. And yet for more than year, and despite an extensive search, that post sat vacant. Two candidates accepted the job, only to fail to take office. The first, a woman hailed as a groundbreaking choice, withdrew for reasons that were never made clear. The other resigned before he had even started work after news reports accused him of inappropriate workplace conduct. And in a previously unreported episode, a third candidate was offered the job, accepted it, and only then was told the league had changed its mind. In the end, the Premier League chose the man who was holding the fort, its managing director, Richard Masters. A consensus pick, Masters, 53, represented a safe choice after an embarrassing recruitment process that reflected poorly on a league that has long prided itself on getting its immensely lucrative business done with minimal fuss. Last week, in his first news media interviews since assuming his new role, Masters projected the air of a modest middle manager, an Everyman happy to coach his children's soccer teams on the weekend and then return to one of the biggest jobs in global sports on Monday. "We will develop the league in a slightly different direction," Masters said of his approach to the job held for more than two decades by his predecessor, Richard Scudamore. But not too different, it seems: Masters quickly added that he was already keeping one of Scudamore's mantras in mind. "It's all about the football," Scudamore liked to remind people. "Never forget the football." Still, the turbulent search and long wait that ended at last with Masters's hiring in December exposed brittle fault lines in the Premier League's power structure that may prove difficult to repair. The Premier League has always prided itself on its egalitarianism. It credits its collectivist approach of balancing the interests of smaller clubs with those of the so called Big Six of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal as the source of almost three decades of worldwide success. But in a series of interviews with executives familiar with the league's search for a new chief executive, a different picture emerged: of a rift in which the priorities of the Big Six clubs and their colleagues no longer align; of a league struggling to contain the ambitions and financial demands of its most powerful members; and of a competition in which, increasingly, some teams are more equal than others. "There's challenges that come up every day in terms of protecting the integrity of the league, the value of the league," Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, said. "We're in a very competitive world." Werner expressed confidence in Masters last week, and he emerged from the Premier League's first board meeting under its new leader on Thursday declaring it "business as usual." But the road to putting Masters in the job was anything but. By May 2019, the Premier League had been without a chief executive for six months. It had missed out on two top candidates. The first, the television executive Susanna Dinnage, had accepted the post in the fall of 2018 and then, unexpectedly, reversed her decision without explanation weeks later. The next candidate was Dave Howe, a top executive at NBC Universal. Howe appeared to fit the bill: He worked for one of the league's most important broadcast partners in one of its key markets, the United States, and he came from impeccable soccer stock. Not only had he worked for 15 years at the BBC, but his father, Don, was a former England player and respected coach. Howe impressed the nominating committee then made up of Bruce Buck, the chairman of Chelsea; Burnley's chief executive, Mike Garlick; and Leicester City's chief executive, Susan Whelan and was told the job was his. Presented with details of the financial package he could expect, terms he was said to have found agreeable, there was just one final hoop to jump through: an informal meeting with representatives from Liverpool and Manchester United. Howe met with Liverpool's Werner and Ed Woodward, Manchester United's executive vice chairman, and another Premier League executive in May. They discussed his vision for the future of the league, and what he saw as its most pressing challenges. Howe told associates that the meeting went well. Liverpool's feedback to Buck, the head of the nominating committee, was positive. Soon after, though, the headhunting firm working on the search, Spencer Stuart, was told to inform Howe that the Premier League would be looking elsewhere. No specific explanation for the change of course was offered Howe, like Dinnage, has made no public comment and Spencer Stuart was later replaced by another search firm. To those tracking the search, though, it appeared that Liverpool and United had been offered an unofficial veto on the nominating committee's choice. That is not how either Liverpool or United saw it: Executives at both insisted they did not believe they had unilateral power to decline a candidate. But Liverpool and United had met privately with Dinnage, too, and after Howe was cast aside they also were given a chance to assess the next contender: David Pemsel, the chief executive of the Guardian Media Group. By the time of that meeting, in October, United's Woodward as well as the chairman of Crystal Palace, Steve Parish had been formally added to the nominating committee. Pemsel was offered the job, and accepted, but was forced to relinquish it months later after a British newspaper reported he had acted inappropriately with a female subordinate. A few weeks later, and now more than a year into its search for a chief executive, the Premier League announced that Masters, who had been doing the job on an interim basis, would have the role permanently. The special treatment dispensed to Liverpool and United, though, did not go unnoticed by other teams. Though the Big Six clubs are rivals on the field, they often act in concert off it, sometimes meeting privately to discuss strategy related to board proposals or rules changes. Last week, the split between the big clubs and their rivals was again apparent. A group of Big Six executives held a private discussion before joining the others for the first board meeting under Masters. The meeting yielded an immediate victory: In the first vote under Masters, the Premier League approved a plan to align the closing of the summer transfer window with other top European leagues, an extension sought by the biggest clubs. The formidable challenge of balancing the needs of the elite with the rest of the league now falls to Masters. He must find a way to convince clubs who believe their brands are stronger than the league's particularly in the expanding, emerging markets of Asia that their self interest is best met by submitting to the growth of the collective. That approach has worked spectacularly well over the last three decades, turning English soccer's top league from a forgotten backwater into a market leader, the producer of some of the most valuable live sports content in the world. The Premier League's current cycle of domestic and overseas broadcast deals is worth 11 billion, revenue that has helped the income of even minor Premier League clubs outstrip some of continental Europe's oldest and most decorated clubs. And yet Masters has taken the post, almost by default, at a time when the sports media landscape is changing and as the Premier League still without peer financially has failed to display anything like the innovation of some of its rivals. La Liga, the Spanish top flight, has worked to close the gap by opening offices around the world to try to build its audience. It has struck a deal to show its games in India through Facebook, and in January announced the start of an in house network that will beam its matches to British viewers. Germany's Bundesliga not only produces its match broadcasts and sends a constant stream of promotion into the world, but it has also found ways to sell its archive to companies hoping to find analytical insights. The Premier League continues to lead the way financially. It recently completed a six year, two billion pound (about 2.58 billion) TV rights agreement in four Nordic countries. The figure suggests the appetite for the Premier League is still enormous. Masters said last week that he would continue to expand the league's operations to serve those audiences. "It has to change a little bit," he said. "We have to open ourselves up more." Persuading every club to go along is the challenge. For several years, the Big Six, in particular, have prioritized growing their own commercial revenues abroad and ensuring a greater portion of television income is distributed according to performance in effect, to them. To date, the rest of the league's clubs have been happy to ride with what has felt like an ever rising tide. It is, perhaps, Scudamore's greatest achievement that he managed to convince the sharks that what they really needed were healthy fish around them. The problem that overshadowed the search process the one that changed Dinnage's mind, that cost Howe the job, that Masters now must solve is what happens when that no longer works. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
The global news organization Al Jazeera said on Sunday that it would cut an estimated 500 positions as part of a reorganization that it attributed to shifts in the media landscape. The news came on the heels of the network's announcement that it would shutter its cable news wing in the United States, Al Jazeera America, which had struggled to gain a meaningful viewership since it started two and a half years ago. The company, which said it had conducted a review of its work force over the last few months, cited the changing global media industry for the reductions but did not give more specifics. "Based on this review, we have embarked on a work force optimization initiative that will allow us to evolve our business operation in order to maintain a leading position and continue our recognized commitment to high quality, independent and hard hitting journalism around the world," Mostefa Souag, the acting director general of the network, said in a news release about the decision. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
John Prine was an Army veteran walking a U.S. Postal Service beat in Chicago and writing songs on the side when Kris Kristofferson heard him and helped spread the word about Prine's gifts. Pretty soon, he resigned as a letter carrier; his supervisor snickered, "You'll be back." Nearly 50 years later, this January, he was given a lifetime achievement Grammy for his contributions to songwriting. The singing mailman almost always had the last laugh. Prine, who died on Tuesday from complications of the coronavirus, was legitimately unique. He took familiar blues themes my baby left me but filled them with whimsy and kindness. He liked a saucy lyric, and wrote movingly, in character, of the quiet lives and loneliness of humdrum people. He seemed like a Zen sage and offered an uncynical live and let live morality in his songs, writing in a colloquial voice that revealed a love of the way Americans speak. He showed how much humor you could put in a song and still be taken seriously. He had less in common with any other songwriter than he did with Mark Twain. He grew up in Maywood, a western suburb of Chicago, and was reared by working class parents from Kentucky, where he often spent summers with relatives and fell in love with country music and bluegrass. By 13, he was performing in rural jamborees. When he debuted in 1971, in his mid 20s, he sounded like an old man already, so years later, when he got old and went through two cancer treatments, he still sounded like himself. From his first to his last, he wrote songs that were tender, hilarious, and wise, without grandstanding any of these traits. Here are 15 of the best. Some fans and critics are put off by this song and its slightly lesser companion, "Sam Stone," which they see as performative displays of sensitivity toward the vulnerable, or what we now call virtue signaling. Yet somehow, we don't ever criticize singers for signaling vices and meanness. Prine sings in the voice of an old married man with a dead son, who spends his days in silence and loneliness, and who at the end of the song, asks people to be kind to the elderly. For his second album, "Diamonds in the Rough," Prine assembled a small, mostly acoustic band and pursued a front porch, Appalachian simplicity. Like a lot of his songs, this one takes a lighthearted view of domestic complications: A man comes home and discovers his wife has run off with a traveling salesman. He cries miserably, recounts what he loved about her ("I miss the way she used to yell at me/The way she used to cuss and moan"), and full of pride, comes to the wrong conclusion: Never leave your wife at home. For people who love Prine's music, there's some small solace in listening to his songs about death, which have the same sense of mischief and acceptance as the ones about broken marriages. (Try "Mexican Home" or "He Was in Heaven Before He Died.") The narrator is dead, and as angels explain to him how it happened, they also recap his last wish: to not be dropped into a cold grave, but to be put to practical use, as an organ donor: "I'd druther have 'em cut me up/And pass me all around." A kind of recycling anthem from his terrific third album, "Sweet Revenge." Prine seemed to have an unlimited ability to expand and vary songwriting structures and perspectives. This track, which has been covered by Miranda Lambert and Norah Jones, has two verses: In the first, the narrator describes a drunk who "beats his old lady with a rubber hose," and in the second, the narrator gets stuck in a frozen bathtub (it's hard to explain) and imagines the worst until a sudden sun thaws him out. Both verses illustrate the refrain: that's the way the world goes round. Even when circumstances are bad in Prine songs, he favors optimism and acceptance. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
The J.D. Salinger Literary Trust. Photograph by Vincent Tullo for The New York Times The J.D. Salinger Literary Trust. Photograph by Vincent Tullo for The New York Times Credit... The J.D. Salinger Literary Trust. Photograph by Vincent Tullo for The New York Times J.D. Salinger's sketch for the cover of "Catcher in the Rye." When J.D. Salinger was 18, unpublished and spending long hours at his typewriter, he received an encouraging letter from an admirer. "I accept your story. Consider it a masterpiece. Check for 1,000 in the mail. Curtis Publishing Co." It wasn't really from a publisher those notices wouldn't arrive for years. It was from Salinger's mother, who slipped it under his bedroom door one night when she heard him typing. He kept the note for 73 years, until his death in 2010. The handwritten note is now on display at the New York Public Library, in the first public exhibition from Salinger's personal archives. Some items give new insights into Salinger's creative process. Others offer a rare window into his private life. There are notebooks where he jotted down passages from spiritual texts he was studying. There are shelves of books that he kept in his bedroom at the end of his life because he wanted them to be close at hand: titles about Eastern medicine and acupuncture; books by Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Michael Gilbert, Ivan Turgenev, Penelope Fitzgerald and Anton Chekhov; and spiritual tomes from Hindu, Taoist, Christian Science and Zen Buddhist traditions. There are photos of him beaming at his grandchildren, and heartfelt letters to his son Matt Salinger, who helped organize the exhibit. 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. J.D. Salinger, who was fiercely protective of his private life and abhorred the spotlight, would likely have objected to having aspects of personal life on display. But his son said he wanted to show sides of his father that have long been overlooked or misrepresented. "It ended up being a little more personal than I thought it would be," said Matt Salinger. During a tour, he explained what some of the items meant to his father and their family. One of the items on display is an addendum for an affidavit from Salinger's 1982 lawsuit against Steven Kunes, a con artist who attempted to sell People magazine a fake interview with Salinger. (It was never published.) "It was important to me that I not only present the warm and fuzzy stuff," his son said. "This shows his very principled, prickly nature. He could be prickly as hell with people, professionally. He was fiercely protective of his work. Having some letters like that was important, to have that balance. "Each one of these entanglements took a toll on him. As much as spiritually he was detached from the world, these things would yank him back into it." 'You're given things to share by whatever God you think is operative' Salinger detested representational cover art on his books and preferred plain, abstract designs. So he created his own minimalist one and sent it to his agent, Phyllis Westberg, and requested it be used for all four of his books. "He sat down in his leather chair in the living room. I remember it was winter time. And he sketched it out. He was focused," Matt Salinger said. "He writes about distrusting the word 'creativity.' He always thought it was a space you're allowed to enter. You're given things to share by whatever God you think is operative. There's a release in that, and an ease. It's not the tortured artist, pounding things out. That was not his affect at all when he was writing. There was joy in it." "I debated whether to include these for a while, just because it's certainly something he would not have included," Matt Salinger said. "But this exhibit is to show sides of him that have not been shown, or that have been misrepresented. I think the best way to do it was to present factual pieces. He was loving and humorous and thoughtful." "He always had a couple of these tucked away in his pocket. He kept passages from whatever spiritual text he was reading," Matt Salinger said. "He'd write them in bed by hand and he'd then go back to them and highlight things that jumped out at him. He had about 20. I would love to do something with them one day. He thought they would be particularly useful in prisons where people can't have a normal life, so where can they go, but inward." "It's not the image anyone has of my father," Matt Salinger said. "It was the rare reader, the rare letter, that struck a chord. But if he felt their need, if he felt their authenticity, especially if he felt their distress, he would try to respond. It puts the lie to so much of what has been written about him. And look, he could be an S.O.B., but more often than not he was not, and was a hugely thoughtful and sensitive and caring man." Follow New York Times Books on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, sign up for our newsletter or our literary calendar. And listen to us on the Book Review podcast. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
On Nov. 9, 1989, the East German government made a surprising announcement: It was easing up travel restrictions on its citizens. East Berliners flocked to the nearest border crossings at the Berlin Wall, especially at Checkpoint Charlie, the famed crossing between the divided Berlins. Not long after that, Berliners from the east and west began chipping away at the literal and metaphorical wall that had separated them for nearly three decades, since the Soviet backed East German government erected the concrete slabs that split the city in two. The Cold War was over. Well, sort of. Today in Berlin you can still go back to that world by eating and drinking in restaurants and bars dedicated to the German Democratic Republic G.D.R. for short, or D.D.R. in the local parlance as well as learn about the former East Berlin via fascinating museums, architecture and shops. Ever wonder why East Germans had a proclivity for hanging out in public stark naked? Or what it was like to drive a Trabant the cult East German made automobile with a Formica like Duroplast body around East Germany in the 1980s? Or what an interrogation room looked like? You can find out at the DDR Museum, a fascinating, immersive, hands on experience that serves as an excellent introduction to life in East Germany. The museum, which opened in 2006 and is housed in a modern building on the Spree River, recently welcomed its six millionth visitor. Admission: 9.80 euros, or about 10.80. Named for the "People's Chamber," the lower house of parliament in the G.D.R., Volkskammer tries to revive East Germany on a daily basis by cooking up gruel for the odd local with a case of "ostalgie" nostalgia for the old East and curious tourists willing to punish their palates with hearty slop like Falscher Hase, or counterfeit rabbit: a dense, gravy smothered meatloaf hiding a hard boiled egg and cured pork knuckle with kraut. Dinner for two is about EUR50, including beer or wine. If you can't stomach Soviet era cuisine, try nearby Michelberger (in the hotel of the same name), which serves up excellent farm to table, uber seasonal fare such as venison pie or wild boar schnitzel with pumpkin. Dinner for two is about EUR75, with wine. Opened in 1992, just three years after the Wall fell, Die Tagung, a bar in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, celebrates the G.D.R. with a sense of humor. The owner, a longtime Friedrichshain resident, scoured a local abandoned train repair complex for former East Berlin era signs that now grace the walls, along with tapestries bearing the image of Karl Marx, and a large bust of Vladimir Lenin who was, on a recent visit, sporting headphones and aviator glasses. There are also enough red stars and hammer and sickle symbols to inspire a collective May Day parade. Imbibe a Russian Cocaine, EUR3: a shot of vodka that comes with a slice of lemon coated with sugar on one side and coffee grinds on the other. Built on the rubble of World War II, the wide boulevard known as Karl Marx Allee started life as Stalinallee, Stalin Boulevard, but was renamed after Marx in 1961. Between Frankfurter Tor in Friedrichshain and Alexanderplatz just under two miles the 300 foot wide street is lined with monumental, wedding cakelike, Stalinist style structures, built to be "workers' palaces," a place for East Germany to showcase the glories of Socialism. The Italian architect Aldo Rossi called it "Europe's last great street." Placards are positioned along the way to explain the history of noteworthy buildings, such as Kino International, a still working movie theater and a gem of functionalist architecture, and the dual towers, Frankfurter Tor. Named for a popular G.D.R. era magazine, Cafe Sibylle is one of the few businesses on the Karl Marx Allee that still exists from the Cold War days. About halfway along the boulevard, the cafe is nicely positioned for a rest. After taking in the permanent exhibition on the evolution of the boulevard, complete with text, photos and household objects from the 1950s and 60s, plant yourself at a table and sip coffee or a beer and graze on a salad or a sausage. The wooden tables and high ceilings invite visitors to stay awhile. Lunch for two costs about EUR25. Good news, comrade! Both ends of Karl Marx Allee or at least between Frankfurter Tor and Alexanderplatz are book ended by Humana Second Hand Vintage shops. The outlet at Frankfurter Tor is the largest secondhand shop in Berlin: four floors of vintage and used duds. The top floor focuses on clothes from the 1950s to the 1990s, and there are often select racks for G.D.R. clothes at either or both locations. If you like your Socialist souvenirs even more kitschy, head to Ampelmann, south of Alexanderplatz, a shop that sells images of the "traffic light man," an East German symbol that has become iconic since the fall of the Wall, on everything from golf balls to coffee mugs to T shirts. The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain; the long stretch of the Berlin Wall that is clad in colorful iconic images; and the Wall Museum: These sites all get ample visitors. But the most sobering way to get a sense of what it was like to live in Berlin during the time of the Wall is at the Berlin Wall Memorial in Prenzlauer Berg. This portion of the wall and the harrowing section known as the "death strip" with its booby traps, armed guards, towers and trenches allow visitors to see the most preserved swath of the remaining wall complex. Admission is free. Opened in 1994 and located in the former East Berlin neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg, Restaurant Pasternak serves dishes from around the former Soviet Union, particularly from Russia and Ukraine; many of the options have an Eastern European Jewish bent. The restaurant is named after the Nobel Prize winning Russian poet and author of "Doctor Zhivago," Boris Pasternak. Start off with a bowl of soljanka, a creamy, dill spiked soup that has Russian origins, but was one of the most popular dishes in the former East Germany; then move on to sauteed calf's liver and latkes accented with a spicy apple jam. And don't forget to have a few shots of the house vodka. Dinner for two, about EUR85 with wine or vodka. You could go to the Museumswohnung, a three bedroom apartment so perfectly preserved you'd almost expect the Stasi, the official East German state security apparatus, to be bugging the place. Or you could spend your Saturday night dancing at Salon zur Wilden Renate, a techno club that took over an abandoned apartment building in Friedrichshain and sort of left things as they were, including 1970s wallpaper, couches and beds. Opening times vary, so check the club website before heading out. Entrance is EUR10 to EUR15, depending on the night and event. 10) 11 a.m. The lives of others The Stasi's main job was spying on ordinary people who were not in line with party policies and values, hauntingly depicted in the 2006 German film "The Lives of Others." The Stasi Museum is in the agency's former headquarters in Lichtenberg . The three floors hold hundreds of artifacts, such as bugging devices, hidden cameras and lock picks, as well as placards detailing nearly every aspect of the organization, including the fact that up to 180,000 East German "unofficial informants" were working with the Stasi by 1989. The tour ends on the third floor at a cafe and bar after the museum, you might need a stiff drink. There are free 90 minute guided tours in English at 3 p.m. on Thursday to Monday. Admission is EUR8 and the tour is free. PILA is a restaurant on Friedrichshain Volkspark that also bills itself as a museum dedicated to the former East Germany. The interior is bedecked with all manner of G.D.R. minutiae enough East Berlin flags and portraits of former dear leaders to bring tears to the eyes of those nostalgic for five year plans and collective farming. This is a place for those craving dishes like schnitzel atop fusilli pasta with a few splotches of ketchup spiked tomato sauce and plus size plates of currywurst, which is better than you'd think. Even the light, flimsy forks and spoons are legit G.D.R. throwbacks. Lunch is about EUR40 with beer. A Stadtbad, or public bathhouse starting in 1902, this ornate building in pretty Prenzlauer Berg became a hotel in 2016. Hotel Stadtbad Oderberger (Oderberger Strasse 57; 49 (30) 780 089 760; doubles from 117 euros per night) has 70 rooms, five suites and two apartments. Rooms have oak floors, TVs and coffee makers. The bathrooms have rain shower heads. The handsome in house restaurant, housed in a former thermal power station, cooks up German dishes with modern flair and offers a fair number of vegan and vegetarian options. And don't forget your swimming suit. The original pool is now the hotel pool. Ostel (Wriezener Karree 5; 49 (30) 2576 8660; doubles from 42 euros per night) is an East Berlin themed hotel near the Ostbahnhof, or East Railway Station, in Friedrichshain. The 36 single and double rooms are, as one would expect, dripping in Communist era kitsch, complete with groovy, colorful wallpaper and bedspreads. All rooms have G.D.R. era radios. But be careful! It would be easy to think that the Stasi is secretly listening to you. Some rooms have shared bathrooms. If you want to go the private apartment rental route, base yourself in pretty Prenzlauer Berg where studios and one bedroom apartments may cost around EUR75 per night. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
A neighborhood known for its diversity and with its own 'New Chinatown' can be a competitive place to find a house. SAN FRANCISCO Andrew and Natasha Sinyaver probably should have hired a real estate agent when they were buying a new home in San Francisco's Richmond District, but their 12 year old daughter beat them to it. The couple, who are originally from Russia, were living in a three bedroom condo in the Richmond with their three children and 140 pound St. Bernard when their middle daughter declared that she was done sharing a room with her younger sister. "There was no search," said Ms. Sinyaver, 43, who works as the planning supply manager for a vitamin company. "I really loved our old house and I always told her we're not moving anywhere." But their daughter had been scoping out real estate on the internet and found a four story, gut renovated house for sale in the neighborhood. It was modern and light filled, with a roof deck, ocean views and a wide, fenced backyard. Best of all, it had five bedrooms and six bathrooms, meaning none of the children would have to share. "We were not looking," said Mr. Sinyaver, also 43 and the founder and chief executive of iConnect Consulting. "But we walked in and realized we really liked it." Two weeks later, they were in contract. In those six years they had two children, and their budget increased as they moved up in their careers (she is a strategy director at Salesforce; he helps lead business development at LinkedIn). They wanted several bedrooms; to be within walking distance of restaurants, bars and open space; and they didn't want to have to do any remodeling. By the end of their search they were renting in nearby Buena Vista Park, which they appreciated for its green spaces and proximity to Golden Gate Park. But they couldn't find a home within their budget that they loved there. "We really did not want to compromise on having a yard and having four bedrooms," said Ms. Maheshwari. "So when you don't want to compromise on those things, you have to compromise on where you are." They focused on the Inner Richmond, which sits east of Park Presidio Boulevard and is packed with more restaurants and shops, offering 3.186 million for an Edwardian rowhouse with a remodeled interior. It ticked all the boxes in terms of budget and size, it was three blocks from the bustling main drag of Clement Street, and best of all, it sat less than a block from Golden Gate Park. The Richmond District is large in terms of San Francisco neighborhoods, sandwiched for 50 blocks between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio national park site, and stretching west from the University of San Francisco to the rugged coastline of the city's northwest corner. The Inner Richmond, at its eastern edge, is historically Asian American, and so rich with Chinese restaurants, shops and businesses that it is often referred to as New Chinatown. To its west, the Outer Richmond offers quieter streets and a more residential feel, although both Geary Boulevard and Balboa Street hum with diverse shops and businesses that pay tribute to the area's multicultural heritage. 696 FIFTH AVENUE A two unit house with two bedrooms, one bath on the first floor, and three bedrooms, one bath on the second floor, built in 1914 on 0.05 aces. is listed at 1.995 million. 415 682 2614 Peter Prato for The New York Times After a period of increases, home sale prices are relatively flat. Prices are generally higher in the Inner Richmond than the Outer Richmond, sometimes significantly so, and highest along Lake Street, the area that borders the Presidio. In 2017, 114 homes were sold in the Richmond, at a median home price of 1.65 million, according to the San Francisco Association of Realtors. In 2018, 134 homes were sold in the neighborhood at a median price of 1.8 million. So far in 2019, there have been 122 home sales, at a median price of 2 million. For renters, studios and one bedroom apartments run in the 2,000 to 3,000 range; larger units will cost around 4,000 or even 5,000 a month. Edward Young was born in China before coming to the Richmond from Hong Kong with his parents in 1962. The Fair Housing Act was several years off. At the time, he said, his parents were regularly told by real estate agents that Asian families were not welcome in the Richmond District. 795 EIGHTH AVENUE, No. 201 A two bedroom, one bath condo, built in 1996 on 0.3 acres, is listed at 975,000. 408 483 1391 Peter Prato for The New York Times "There have been so many changes," said Mr. Young, 73, a real estate investor and retired electrical engineer who still owns several apartment buildings in the neighborhood. In the early 1960s, the Richmond was populated mainly by Russian, Jewish and Irish American immigrants; today Asians make up close to half of its residents, according to figures compiled by city data.com. The area's vibrant Asian heritage is on full display along Clement Street, which cuts through the district and in Inner Richmond becomes crowded with shops and restaurants. What it's not crowded with, though, are tourists. "Everybody knows about Chinatown in San Francisco, right?" said Heather Stoltz, a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway whose Irish and Norwegian family has had roots in the district since the 1800s. "When you think about where to go for authentic Chinese food or products, it's either Chinatown or right here." 678 39th AVENUE A three bedroom, one and a half bath house, built in 1924 on 0.07 acres, is listed at 1.695 million. 415 656 6779 Peter Prato for The New York Times Sarah Bacon, 47, who owns a vegan cafe in the neighborhood and manages a local blog, richmondsfblog.com, says the mix of cultures in the Richmond is one of her favorite things about life there. "From both a resident perspective and a restaurant perspective, the Richmond District is very ethnically diverse," she said. "You can always find something interesting in the Richmond District, but it's definitely not pretentious. Some areas have really nice real estate, but it has working class roots and the overall vibe is very down to earth." The Richmond is a 20 minute drive from downtown San Francisco and a one hour drive from Silicon Valley. A number of public buses serve the area; a ride to Union Square takes 40 minutes and costs 3 each way. The area is served by dozens of bus lines, including the No. 1 California, which runs on an express route that cuts the ride time to downtown by half, as well as the Nos. 28 and 38, which connect riders to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Long before the Richmond District was populated by young families, it was filled with spirits. The area was referred to as "Outside Lands" because it was beyond the boundaries of San Francisco when California became a state in 1850; instead, its land was used for cemeteries, a practice that lasted decades beyond its incorporation into greater San Francisco in 1866. George Turner Marsh was one of the Richmond District's first developers; he named his home after his birthplace of Richmond, Australia. The name Richmond District was formally adopted by the San Francisco board of supervisors in 1890. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
'TARSILA DO AMARAL: INVENTING MODERN ART IN BRAZIL' at the Museum of Modern Art (through June 3). The subtitle is no overstatement: In the early 1920s, first in Paris and then back home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this painter really did lay the groundwork for the coming of modernism in Latin America's most populous nation. Tired of the European pretenders in Brazil's art academies, Tarsila (who was always called by her first name) began to intermingle Western, African and indigenous motifs into flowing, biomorphic paintings, and to theorize a new national culture fueled by the principle of antropofagia, or "cannibalism." Along with spare, assured drawings of Rio and the Brazilian countryside, this belated but very welcome show assembles Tarsila's three most important paintings, including the classic "Abaporu" (1928): a semi human nude with a spindly nose and a comically swollen foot. (Jason Farago) 212 708 9400, moma.org 'BIRDS OF A FEATHER: JOSEPH CORNELL'S HOMAGE TO JUAN GRIS' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through April 15). This small, hyper specialized, stunning exhibition brings together a grand total of only 13 works a dozen shadow boxes by Joseph Cornell, the Queens based assemblage artist, and the Cubist masterwork that he cited as their direct inspiration, Gris's "Man at the Cafe" (1914). It might seem like a surprising obsession for Cornell, who was not a painter nor a Frenchman. He and Gris never met. But Cornell was deeply moved by Gris, the overlooked, tag along third wheel in the Cubist movement that also included Picasso and Braque, and the show succeeds in tracking the fluttery ways of artistic inspiration. (Deborah Solomon) 212 535 7710, metmuseum.org 'DIAMOND MOUNTAINS: TRAVEL AND NOSTALGIA IN KOREAN ART' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through May 20). Mount Kumgang, or the "Diamond Mountain," lies about 90 miles from Pyeongchang's Olympic Stadium, but it's a world away: The august, multipeaked range lies in North Korea and has been impossible to visit for most of the past seven decades. Featuring stunning loans from the National Museum of Korea and other institutions in Seoul, South Korea, this melancholy beauty of a show assembles three centuries' worth of paintings of the Diamond Mountain range, and explores how landscapes intermingle nostalgia, nationalism, legend and regret. The unmissable prizes here are the painstaking paintings of Jeong Seon, the 18th century artist who is perhaps the greatest of all Korean painters. And later impressions of the mountains, including a blotchy vision from the Paris based modernist Lee Ungno, give a deeper historical weight to very live geopolitics. (Farago) 212 535 7710, metmuseum.org 'THE FACE OF DYNASTY: ROYAL CRESTS FROM WESTERN CAMEROON' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through Sept. 3). In the African wing, a show of just four commanding wooden crowns constitutes a blockbuster in its own right. These massive wooden crests in the form of stylized human faces with vast vertical brows served as markers of royal power among the Bamileke peoples of the Cameroonian grasslands, and the Met's recent acquisition of an 18th century specimen is joined here by three later examples, each featuring sharply protruding cheeks, broadly smiling mouths and brows incised with involute geometric patterns. Ritual objects like these were decisive for the development of Western modernist painting, and a Cameroonian crest was even shown at MoMA in the 1930s, as a "sculpture" divorced from ethnography. But these crests had legal and diplomatic significance as well as aesthetic appeal, and their anonymous African creators had a political understanding of art not so far from our own. (Farago) 212 535 7710, metmuseum.org 'THE JIM HENSON EXHIBITION' at the Museum of the Moving Image. The rainbow connection has been established in Astoria, Queens, where this museum has opened a new permanent wing devoted to the career of America's great puppeteer, who was born in Mississippi in 1936 and died, too young, in 1990. Henson began presenting the short TV program "Sam and Friends" before he was out of his teens; one of its characters, the soft faced Kermit, was fashioned from his mother's old coat and would not mature into a frog for more than a decade. The influence of early variety television, with its succession of skits and songs, runs through "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show," though Henson also spent the late 1960s crafting peace and love documentaries and prototyping a psychedelic nightclub. Young visitors will delight in seeing Big Bird, Elmo, Miss Piggy and the Swedish Chef; adults can dig deep into sketches and story boards and rediscover some old friends. (Farago) 718 784 0077, movingimage.us 'PETER HUJAR: SPEED OF LIFE' at the Morgan Library and Museum (through May 20). It's hard to say which is more surprising: that Peter Hujar's photographs of underground life in New York in the 1970s and '80s have found their way to the Morgan Library and Museum, or that the classically minded institution has become unbuttoned enough to exhibit them in this heartbreaker of a show. Hujar (1934 87) lived most of his professional life in the East Village and, through studio portraits and cityscapes, captured a downtown that has since been all but erased by time, gentrification and AIDS. Although he was little known by the mainstream art world in his lifetime, this show, startlingly tender, reveals him to be one of the major American photographers of the late 20th century. (Holland Cotter) 212 685 0008, themorgan.org 'THE INCOMPLETE ARAKI' at the Museum of Sex (through Aug. 31). It remains a bit of a tourist trap, but the for profit Museum of Sex is making its most serious bid yet for artistic credibility with a two floor exhibition of Japan's most prominent and controversial photographer. Nobuyoshi Araki has spent decades shooting Tokyo streetscapes, blossoming flowers and, notably, women trussed up in the baroque rope bondage technique known as kinbaku bi, or "the beauty of tight binding." Given the venue, it's natural that this show concentrates on the erotic side of his art, but less lustful visitors can discover an ambitious cross section of Mr. Araki's omnivorous photography, including his lastingly moving "Sentimental Journey," picturing his beloved wife, Yoko, from honeymoon to funeral. (Farago) 212 689 6337, museumofsex.com 'ZOE LEONARD: SURVEY' at the Whitney Museum of American Art (through June 10). Some shows cast a spell. Zoe Leonard's reverberant retrospective does. Physically ultra austere, all white walls with a fiercely edited selection of objects photographs of clouds taken from airplane windows; a mural collaged from vintage postcards; a scattering of empty fruit skins, each stitched closed with needle and thread it's an extended essay about travel, time passing, political passion and the ineffable daily beauty of the world. (Cotter) 212 570 3600, whitney.org 'LIKE LIFE: SCULPTURE, COLOR AND THE BODY (1300 TO NOW)' at the Met Breuer (through July 22). Taking a second run at the splashy theme show extravaganza, the Met Breuer has greater success. This one is certainly more coherent since it centers entirely on the body and its role in art, science, religion and entertainment. It gathers together some 120 sculptures, dolls, artist's dummies, effigies, crucifixes and automatons. Many are rarely lent and may not return any time soon. (Roberta Smith) 212 731 1675, metmuseum.org 'THE LONG RUN' at the Museum of Modern Art (through Nov. 4). The museum upends its cherished Modern narrative of ceaseless progress by mostly young (white) men. Instead we see works by artists 45 and older who have just kept on keeping on, regardless of attention or reward, sometimes saving the best for last. Art here is an older person's game, a pursuit of a deepening personal vision over innovation. Winding through 17 galleries, the installation is alternatively visually or thematically acute and altogether inspiring. (Smith) 212 708 9400, moma.org 'MILLENNIUM: LOWER MANHATTAN IN THE 1990S' at the Skyscraper Museum (through April). This plucky Battery Park institution transports us back to the years of Rudy Giuliani, Lauryn Hill and 128 kilobit modems to reveal the enduring urban legacy of a decade bookended by recession and terror. In the wake of the 1987 stock market crash, landlords in the financial district rezoned their old skyscrapers for residential occupancy, and more than 20 towers were declared landmarks, including the ornate Standard Oil building at 26 Broadway and the home of Delmonico's at 56 Beaver Street. Battery Park City flowered; yuppies priced out of TriBeCa came down to Wall Street; a new Guggenheim, designed by a fresh from Bilbao Frank Gehry, nearly arose by South Street Seaport. From this distance, the 1990s can seem almost like a golden age, not least given that, more than 16 years after Sept. 11, construction at the underwhelming new World Trade Center is still not finished. (Farago) skyscraper.org 'OUTLIERS AND AMERICAN VANGUARD ART' at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (through May 13). Tracing the interaction of taught and untaught artists over the past century, this exhibition tackles an impossibly immense subject and starts stronger than it finishes. But it presents quantities of stunning art in all mediums, revealing the vastness of American creativity and the many attempts by museums to do it justice. It proves more forcefully than ever that the distinction between the works of the self taught and that of the professionals has outlived its relevance. (Smith) 202 737 4215, nga.gov 'REBEL SPIRITS: ROBERT F. KENNEDY AND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.' at the New York Historical Society (through May 20). Delve into the ties that bound these progressive standard bearers through photographs that document their rise to the national stage in the 1950s and '60s and the struggle for the societal changes they championed, and ephemera such as magazines, campaign buttons, protest placards and an R.F.K. M.L.K. spinning pendant. You can even listen on a transistor radio to the song Dick Holler wrote after their assassinations in 1968, "Abraham, Martin and John." (Danielle Dowling) 212 873 3400, nyhistory.org 'ALBERTO SAVINIO' at the Center for Italian Modern Art (through June 23). The paintings of this Italian polymath have long been overshadowed by the brilliant work of his older brother, Giorgio de Chirico. This show of more than 20 canvases from the late 1920s to the mid '30s may not change that, but the mix of landscapes with bright patterns and several eerie portraits based on family photographs are surprisingly of the moment. (Smith) 646 370 3596, italianmodernart.org 'SCENES FROM THE COLLECTION' at the Jewish Museum. After a surgical renovation to its grand pile on Fifth Avenue, the Jewish Museum has reopened its third floor galleries with a rethought, refreshed display of its permanent collection, which intermingles 4,000 years of Judaica with modern and contemporary art by Jews and gentiles alike Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman and the excellent young Nigerian draftswoman Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze. The works are shown in a nimble, nonchronological suite of galleries, and some of its century spanning juxtapositions are bracing; others feel reductive, even dilletantish. But always, the Jewish Museum conceives of art and religion as interlocking elements of a story of civilization, commendably open to new influences and new interpretations. (Farago) 212 423 3200, thejewishmuseum.org 'STEPHEN SHORE' at the Museum of Modern Art (through May 28). Not staged, not lit, not cropped, not retouched, the color photographs of this American master are feats of dispassionate representation. This must see retrospective curated with real wit by Quentin Bajac, MoMA's photo chief opens with Mr. Shore's teenage snaps at Andy Warhol's Factory. Then it turns to the road trip imagery of "American Surfaces" and the steely precision of "Uncommon Places" landmarks in photographic history that scandalized an establishment convinced the camera could find beauty solely in black and white. Mr. Shore is revealed not only as a peripatetic explorer but also a restless experimenter with new photographic technologies, from stereoscopic slide shows to print on demand books. The only flaw is his recent embrace of Instagram, allowing museumgoers to lazily flick through images on MoMA's smudged iPads. New technologies are great, but not at the expense of concentration. (Farago) 212 708 9400, moma.org '2018 TRIENNIAL: SONGS FOR SABOTAGE' at the New Museum (through May 27). This Bowery museum's fourth triennial exhibition, "Songs for Sabotage," is the smallest, tightest edition of the show so far. Immaculately installed, it's also the best looking. There's a lot of good work, which is global in scope and not by a list of prevetted up and comers. (Zhenya Machneva, Dalton Paula and Daniela Ortiz are artists to look for.) Less admirably, it's a safe and unchallenging show. Despite a politically demanding time, it acts as if ambiguity and discretion were automatically virtues. In an era when the market rules, it puts its money on the kind of art easily tradable, displayable, palette tickling objects that art fairs suck up. (Cotter) 212 219 1222, newmuseum.org 'THE VIETNAM WAR: 1945 1975' at the New York Historical Society (through April 22). In contrast to the PBS series "The Vietnam War," this exhibition delivers historical data, a lot of it, quick and dirty, through labels, film and audio clips and objects, some of which fall under a broad definition of art. Along with paintings by contemporary Vietnamese artists, there's graffiti style drawings on combat helmets and Zippo lighters, and period design in album covers and protest posters. Words and images work together in murals labeled "Home Front" and "War Front" that put you in the middle of the war's primary issues and events. (Cotter) 212 873 3400, nyhistory.org 'DAHN VO: TAKE MY BREATH AWAY' at the Guggenheim Museum (through May 9). This is the first museum survey of the Vietnam born Danish artist, who draws his art from his life and the history he has lived through, recycling family mementos, found letters and artifacts, as well as random materials, into a very spare, poetic and astute study of power, colonialism, and the lives of refugees and of objects. The Guggenheim's rotunda looks nearly empty at times, and there are lots of labels to read, but it is ultimately worth it. (Smith) 212 423 3500, guggenheim.org 'GRANT WOOD: AMERICAN GOTHIC AND OTHER FABLES' at the Whitney Museum of American Art (through June 10). This well done survey begins with the American Regionalist's little known efforts as an Arts and Crafts designer and touches just about every base. It includes his mural studies, book illustrations and most of his best known paintings including "American Gothic" and "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Best of all are Wood's smooth undulant landscapes with their plowmen and spongy trees and infectious serenity. (Smith) 212 570 3600, whitney.org 'ZURBARAN'S JACOB AND HIS TWELVE SONS: PAINTINGS FROM AUCKLAND CASTLE' at the Frick Collection (through April 22). More devout than Velazquez, more shadowy than Murillo, Francisco de Zurbaran was little known outside Spain until the mid 19th century, when Manet and his friends found the seeds of modernism in his frisky, open brushwork and streamlined form. The Frick is now showing a baker's dozen of the Spaniard's biblical portraits, of an aged, hunched Jacob and the sons who would become the founders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, with most of the paintings on loan from a castle that until recently belonged to the Church of England. The gents pose in a startling variety of crisp, supple fabrics, whose glamour or grittiness echoes Jacob's foretelling of their destinies in Genesis. Two are especially compelling: Judah, child No. 4, decked out in a fur trimmed coat and vamping alongside a kindly lion, and Joseph, who forgoes the Technicolor dreamcoat for a blue sash and a belt stitched with gold. (Farago) 212 288 0700, frick.org 'THE BEAUTIFUL BRAIN: THE DRAWINGS OF SANTIAGO RAMON Y CAJAL' at Grey Art Gallery (through March 31). The first United States museum exhibition devoted to the scientific illustrations of this Spanish giant of neuroscience is among the year's best so far. Its 80 freehand renderings of different brain cells, as viewed through a microscope, helped prove that they are unconnected, communicating across tiny gaps called synaptic clefts, which earned Cajal a Nobel Prize in 1906. His exquisite images, still used in textbooks, ignite synaptic charges throughout 20th century art, from Surrealism onward. (Smith) 212 998 6780, greyartgallery.nyu.edu 'JOYCE J. SCOTT: HARRIET TUBMAN AND OTHER TRUTHS' at Grounds for Sculpture (through April 1). The work of this recent MacArthur fellowship winner, Nancy Princenthal wrote in The Times, "proves just how sharp glass can get." Ms. Scott uses hand threaded beads and blown glass to create art that is "a revelation, inviting covetous attention to what often turn out, on close inspection, to be brutal subjects: vicious racism, violent misogyny," Ms. Princenthal added. Among the exhibition's highlights are three sculptures of Harriet Tubman, including one armed with a flower embossed rifle and one made of rammed earth that is meant to erode over time at this Hamilton, N.J., sculpture garden. (Dowling) 609 586 0616, groundsforsculpture.org | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
It often seems like safety first on Broadway, but the commercial stage has historically been home to shows that push buttons and ring alarms. The marketing campaign for the Broadway bound "Slave Play" is following the time honored tradition of leaning into its controversy, with pull quotes like "Gaudily transgressive" and "Gruesomely sexy." Assuming the transgressions and sexiness carry through to the Golden Theater, "Slave Play" will find itself part of a rich history of productions many of them transfers from the more licentious lands of Off Broadway and London that shocked audience members upon opening on Broadway. To this day, classics like "Lysistrata," "Tartuffe" and (as any Fox News viewer can attest) "Julius Caesar" can raise hackles centuries later. Here are several more plays that caused controversy and frequently made sure to point that out in their ad campaigns. "It's much my best play," George Bernard Shaw once wrote, "but it makes my blood run cold." Temperatures ran a good bit higher during a protracted war of words in the press between one of the performers and the much feared Anthony Comstock of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. The profession in question was the running of a brothel, after all, and the cops busted up the first United States performance of this play. New York's police commissioner supplied what would have been the perfect pull quote "revolting, indecent and nauseating where it is not boring" had he not canceled every subsequent performance . The police may have been there at opening night for "Mrs. Warren," but it wasn't until Sholem Asch's Yiddish drama also about a brothel keeper and her daughter, and this time featuring a lesbian relationship transferred uptown to the Apollo Theater that its producer, Harry Weinberger, and the cast members were indicted on charges of "an indecent, immoral and impure theatrical performance." Weinberger, a well known lawyer who had defended the likes of Emma Goldman, agreed to represent himself and the cast in the subsequent obscenity trial. Paula Vogel's "Indecent" would dramatize the proceedings almost a century later. Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the police wagon that hauled away the cast members of both "The Captive" and this lurid Mae West dramedy on the same night. "Sex" had been running for almost a year at that point and got a huge bump in publicity from this run in, although West earned that publicity by serving a 10 day sentence at a Roosevelt Island workhouse. She then took the play on the road, armed with this "warning" in the advertisements: "If you cannot stand excitement see your doctor before visiting Mae West in 'Sex.'" As with "God of Vengeance" and "The Captive," homosexuality was at issue in this Lillian Hellman drama. It was banned in Boston the following year , and the New York Drama Critics Circle sprang into existence in the wake of the Pulitzer Prize committee's refusal to award Hellman. The play was so incendiary that Hellman not only removed any mention of lesbianism but even changed the title to "These Three" for the film version in 1936. Drug use and irreverence toward the American flag had as much to do with the furor that rose around this "American tribal love rock musical" as its famous and famously brief nude scene. Not one but two Supreme Court decisions weighed in on contested productions (including one in, you guessed it, Boston); the Apollo 13 astronauts made headlines by leaving at intermission; and members of the touring casts were issued an eight page guide on how to handle the local police. The "Hair" director Tom O'Horgan struck again with this freewheeling adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Tim Rice concept album. But there's a thin line between boisterous and blasphemous, and both Christians (who didn't like seeing Judas as a protagonist) and Jews (who worried about the villainous depictions of Herod and Caiaphas) ended up protesting the work. Charges of impiety would also arise in later years over "The Book of Mormon," "The Testament of Mary" and especially the Off Broadway play "Corpus Christi." A few dimly lit seconds in "Hair" gave way to lots and lots of nudity a mere three years later in this revue with segments written by John Lennon, Jules Feiffer, Sam Shepard and (before he pulled the rights) Samuel Beckett . Since American audiences quickly adopted a been there seen that attitude in the 1970s "There is no more innocent show in town," reported The New York Times critic Clive Barnes the producers actively courted foreign audiences, spending about 35,000 a year solely on Japanese language advertising for its long running 1976 revival. Just as "God of Vengeance" yielded its own dramatic adaptation in "Indecent," this pop opera "Madame Butterfly" update which starred a heavily made up Jonathan Pryce in the role of a Eurasian pimp called the Engineer spawned David Henry Hwang's "Yellowface." The producers did away with Mr. Pryce's makeup before the transfer from London, but it wasn't enough to mollify the protesters who gathered outside the Broadway Theater. Every subsequent Engineer on Broadway and on national tours has been played by an actor of Asian heritage. The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2002) Edward Albee's plays have rankled everyone from Maoists ("Box and Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse tung") to the Pulitzer Prize board ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"). But it wasn't until this Tony Award winning drama, in which Bill Pullman and Mercedes Ruehl's characters find themselves in a love triangle with the titular ruminant, that death threats started coming to the theater. "I wanted to write a play examining the limits of our tolerance," Albee told The Hartford Courant, and he soon found out. He was nonplussed that a climactic father son kiss proved too much for some audience members who had previously handled the vividly described (though not actually depicted) bestiality: "What are we, all Republicans or something?" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
A host of illustrious composers clamor for attention in the overture for "Prince of Broadway," which opened on Thursday night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. Fragments of bizarrely cohabiting songs cozy up and collide in lush orchestral swirls. And before you can name who wrote one naggingly familiar splinter of a tune (Bernstein? Sondheim? John Kander? Andrew Lloyd Webber?), another jostles into the foreground. You start to feel as if you're listening to some A.D.D. afflicted D.J., with a passion for all flavors of musicals, going manic at the turntable. Then projected titles (32 of 'em!) start flashing before your eyes, a procession of supernovas, from the immortal ("Cabaret," "Evita," "Company") to the all but forgotten ("A Doll's Life," "Tenderloin"). And what could connect these disparate sounds and words? If you have come to see this Manhattan Theater Club production, you presumably already know the answer. Which is Harold Prince. But is a name even one as perfumed with success and creativity as Harold Prince enough to hold together a show whose point of view seems to begin and end with the royal epithet of its title? Watching this production's overtaxed ensemble perform vignettes from different musicals, in an oppressive succession of themed wigs and costumes, is like hearing a rushed raconteur drop name after famous name, without bothering to explain their significance. Now you might expect that the target audiences for the long aborning "Prince of Broadway," previously seen in Japan, could fill in many blanks for themselves. But there was a moment toward the end of the first act that made me wonder. We were being treated to selections from "Cabaret," the 1966 show (based on Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories") that established Mr. Prince as a musical theater revolutionary. As with most of the scenes performed here, an effort has been made by the designers including Beowulf Boritt (sets) and William Ivey Long (costumes) to summon the look of the original show. And there, leading a seedy onstage band of nightclub musicians, is a ringer for Joel Grey as the cabaret's M.C. The man behind the makeup (and slipping coif) is Brandon Uranowitz, whom we have previously seen in this production as a dispirited baseball player (from "Damn Yankees") and an anxious Budapest shop clerk (from "She Loves Me"). Now, in black tie and satanic clown face, he is dancing with someone in a gorilla costume, to whom he is declaring his love in song. It's all quite blithe until the final lyric, when the M.C. sings that if we could see the gorilla "through my eyes" pause, then a fierce whisper "she wouldn't look Jewish at all." But since the anecdotal setup for this number had been minimal, some theatergoers seemed truly rattled and confused, especially with the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., still fresh in the memory. I suppose it's encouraging to discover that a 51 year old song can still shock. But presented as just another page in a nostalgic scrapbook, the number feels even uglier than it should. A quality of randomness is perhaps appropriate to a show that begins with the observation, "Never underestimate luck." That's Mr. Uranowitz speaking, pretending to be Mr. Prince. (All the cast members take turns pretending to be Mr. Prince, wearing black and white, oddly mod outfits, with glasses perched on their heads, a signature of their director; David Thompson's script also has them deliver unilluminating maxims on success and failure and the importance of hard work.) What follows has the feeling of a work assembled by dice roll, and I don't think Dadaism was anybody's intention. The individual numbers nearly all feature literal minded scenery, such as a bank of candles and a wrought iron gate for the "Phantom" sequence, and they are performed with the high earnestness of audition pieces. One thing in common among the diverse musicals overseen by Mr. Prince from the frisky "The Pajama Game" (1954) to the morally admonitory "Parade" (1998) is their status as frames for complex character portraits. Think of the stars he has directed in career high performances: Mr. Grey in "Cabaret," Patti LuPone in "Evita," Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou in "Sweeney Todd," Brent Carver in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and pretty much everybody from the original "Follies" in 1971. For theater fanatics, these performances are indelible. It just isn't cricket to ask other singers to claim such star turns as their own, amid sets and costumes that directly summon the originals. The intimidation factor may be why some cast members are so combatively fierce in attacking their solos. They're a likable group, and I don't fault them for the impression I often had that I was at a dinner theater. They include Tony Yazbeck (who brings a pugilist's aggression to tap dancing in a "Follies" number); Chuck Cooper (who here becomes both Sweeney Todd and Tevye the Milkman from "Fiddler on the Roof"); Bryonha Marie Parham (a feverish Sally Bowles from "Cabaret"); Janet Dacal (Evita); Michael Xavier (bachelor Bobby in "Company" and the masked Phantom); and Kaley Ann Voorhees (Maria in "West Side Story" and Christine in "Phantom"). The two standouts are the Broadway veterans Karen Ziemba and, especially, Emily Skinner. Ms. Ziemba brings a gripping philosophical weariness to "So What?" from "Cabaret." And Ms. Skinner (of the original "Side Show") delivers such an electrifying and individual take on "The Ladies Who Lunch" that every casting director in town should make a point of seeing it. That angry paean to empty affluence is from "Company," the pioneering concept musical of 1970 about commitment phobia in Manhattan and the first of a landscape altering series of collaborations between Mr. Prince and the composer Mr. Sondheim. One of Mr. Prince's onstage alter egos admits a special fondness for "Follies," a ravishing elegy to dashed dreams and a bygone era of showbiz. With its opulent original production design and intricately drawn studies in ambivalence, "Follies" is an unlikely candidate for re creation in a quick take anthology show. But watching Ms. Skinner and Ms. Ziemba, as middle aged former showgirls being reintroduced to their youth, I was shivering. And not just because the 1971 "Follies" was the first Broadway show I ever saw. Even more, my excitement came from watching two fine actresses capture their characters' echoing feelings of loss with originality and immediacy. I recalled how often in my years of theatergoing performances in Mr. Prince's shows have evoked similar shivers. If only such reminders came more frequently in this motley production. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Paris, Chicago and Beyond: How to Have a Luxury Trip for Much Less Than You Think Luxury travel can be experienced in two ways: by paying top dollar or by paying less. Given the choice, wouldn't you pick the latter? Of course, the idea of what luxury travel is can differ depending on the person. For some, it means hotels with butlers and fancy sheets and flying first class; for others, it's about hitting three Michelin starred restaurants and hiring the occasional private guide and car with a driver. Ultimately, it doesn't matter how you define high end travel. What matters is that it doesn't have to be had at a premium price. Looking for a luxury vacation to Barcelona without paying top dollar to have one? Done, says Virginia Irurita, the founder of Made for Spain and Portugal, a Madrid based company that sells upscale trips. "Barcelona has become much more affordable in the last year, and a high end trip on a limited budget is now attainable," she said. When to Go Hotels in Barcelona have the highest prices from April through October. From November through March, rates are at least 25 percent lower. Many five star hotels also offer attractive packages during this low season. Where to Stay Accommodations in residential neighborhoods offer better value than ones in touristy areas. Les Tres Torres, for example, has a few locally run, upscale properties like Primero Primera, on a quiet, tree lined street. Indulge in Lunch Locals make lunch their biggest meal of the day, and visitors should too, because they can take advantage of well priced set menus at top restaurants. A starter, main course, dessert, wine and coffee is around 20 euros (about 23 dollars), for example, compared with 50 euros at dinner. Ms. Irurita enthusiastically recommended lunch at the Michelin starred eatery Caelis, where a three course meal with wine is 42 euros. Buenos Aires isn't an expensive destination to begin with, and travelers seeking an upscale vacation to the city can have it without too much effort, according to Jennifer Gillmore, an Argentina expert at Travel Beyond, a travel company in Wayzata, Minn. "I know from personal experience that you can get luxury in Buenos Aires without paying luxury prices," she said. When to Go Peak season in Buenos Aires runs from November through March, Argentina's summer, but Ms. Gillmore prefers visiting from May to September, when hotel prices drop by 15 percent or more (and temperatures are also mild). Luxury hotels such the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt frequently offer promotions during these months: one example is paying for two nights and getting to stay for three. Breakfast is typically included. Culture Is a Bargain Buenos Aires is part of the micro theater movement, where a series of short plays is performed over the course of the evening at small venues; tickets are usually 10 or less a person. And instead of spending money on a touristy and overpriced tango show, visit a milonga, or tango hall, where you can watch locals dance and also participate for between 137 and 219 Argentine pesos, or 5 to 8 a person . There's good news for travelers to Chicago who want a high end trip: Shawna Owen, the president of Huffman Travel, a Chicago travel consultancy, said that compared with other large cities, the Midwest metropolis is relatively wallet friendly. "Your money will go far here, but there are ways to stretch the dollar even more," she said. When to Go Chicago's upscale hotels offer great deals and their lowest rates during the first quarter of the year. In 2018, for example, the Peninsula Chicago had a promotion where guests who paid for two nights got a third night free. Nightly rates during those months started at 399, which is more than a 50 percent savings from peak season rates. Ms. Owen said that hotels also tend to offer promotions in August. Eat Affordably Enjoying some of the city's most popular restaurants doesn't have to break the bank, Ms. Owen said. And, since the food portions are generous, it's possible to split dishes and save even more money. Her top picks for reasonably priced eats include Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza, Small Cheval for burgers and Publican Anker, a vibrant gastropub with creative dishes. Soak Up Culture Chicago has a fantastic and affordable culture scene, Ms. Owen said. Admission to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which has groundbreaking exhibits from global artists, is only 15, and some theaters have discounted tickets for same day shows. Steppenwolf, for example, allots 20 tickets priced at 20 each for some performances. Walk or Take the L Regardless of the time of year, Chicagoans love to walk, and Ms. Huffman recommended that visitors do the same. As an alternative to walking, the L, the city's rapid transit system, is an efficient and inexpensive way to get around. Hong Kong can be a cost prohibitive vacation destination, according to Brooke Lavery, a Southeast Asia specialist and an owner of the New York City luxury travel company Local Foreigner. "Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but also offers a great high low balance which can be optimized," she said . When to Go Hotel rates stay steady in Hong Kong throughout the year with the exception of June, July and August; these are the city's hottest and most humid months, and hotel prices drop. However, they're not the ideal time to visit, Ms. Lavery said, unless you don't mind steamy weather. Stay in Lesser Known Hotels Hong Kong has plenty of upscale independent and small chain properties that are a fraction of the cost of hotels from well known luxury brands. Examples include The Pottinger, on a stone slab street, and East HK, in the buzzy Taikoo Shing neighborhood. Save on Food, Splurge on Cocktails Ms. Lavery recommended a Cantonese fine dining experience, like Seventh Son in Wan Chai, for lunch because the tab is lower compared with dinner. For dinners, stick to inexpensive, casual joints that serve noodles or curry balls, and post meal, head to a bar for a cocktail. "Drinks can be pricey, but you're spending a lot less than you would on a high end dinner," Ms. Lavery said. Shop for Custom Clothes Hong Kong is known for its incredible tailors, and an article of bespoke clothing is a fantastic souvenir; most tailors can turn around a piece in 48 hours. Custom shirts generally cost 314 Hong Kong dollars (about 40) while suits can run 3,924 Hong Kong dollars (about 500). The Central area is full of talented tailors like Jantzen Tailor. Walk and Take a Boat The ideal way to see the city is to stroll through its many back alleys and get lost. Or book a walking tour; Little Adventures in Hong Kong, for example, has walks limited to five people that are led by local journalists and chefs and cost 115. A luxury trip to London on a limited budget isn't hard to pull off, says Nicola Butler, the owner of NoteWorthy, a London travel company specializing in upscale vacations in Britain. "The favorable exchange rate between the dollar and the pound make the city an affordable vacation choice," she said. When to Go Hotel rates in London soar from May through July. From early September to the end of February, however, they drop slightly. If chilly days don't bother you, January is the cheapest month to visit. "The hotels have the lowest prices, and restaurants, theaters and museums offer deals to boost business during a quiet time," Ms. Butler said. Splurge on Tea, Save on Lunch and Dinner Enjoying the famous London tradition of afternoon tea at a luxury hotel like Claridge's is 50 percent less expensive than dinner in a pricey restaurant but has the same sense of extravagance. For lunch, grab an inexpensive and tasty meal at a food hall such as Bang Bang Oriental, specializing in Asian cuisine, or hit one of the food markets such as Borough Market. Come dinnertime, try a pub to sample hearty British cuisine like fish and chips. Culture Is a Bargain Many of London's museums, including the Tate Modern, have free admission. Art galleries are also free, while popular attractions such as St. Paul's Cathedral have inexpensive entry fees, and some theater houses sell discounted tickets for same day shows. Skip Cars and Taxis Chauffeured cars and taxis in London can cost a few hundred pounds a day. Save money, soak up the city and get some exercise all at the same time by using walking as your main mode of transportation. For longer distances, rely on the Tube. There's never been a better time to take a luxury for less vacation to Mexico City, according to Lillian Aviles, the director of business development for Journey Mexico, a Mexico travel company that sells upscale trips to the country. Ms. Aviles, who lives in the city, said that the peso is weak compared with the dollar, and prices, in general, are low. "You can get a lot without spending too much," she said. When to Go Mexico City is a corporate driven market, so weekends are the time to go; weekday hotel rates can be twice as much. Prices also dip between May and September, when the weather is hot, but given the temperatures, the savings may not be worth it. Eat Like a King High end dining in Mexico City is a bargain compared with other large cities. Ms. Aviles's tops picks include Limosneros, which uses pre Hispanic ingredients like the leafy greens called quelites in modern dishes (the average dinner per person without a drink is about 466 Mexican pesos, or about 25) and Los Danzantes, which serves upscale Oaxacan cuisine (the average dinner per person without a drink also about 466 Mexican pesos). Dining at a taco bar is another option: two or three tacos with wine will set you back between 5 and 10 a person. Take Uber "Uber is inexpensive and efficient," Ms. Aviles said. Italy's fashion and business capital of Milan isn't necessarily the ideal destination if you're on a budget but enjoy high end travel. Luca Finardi, the general manager of the Mandarin Oriental Milan, said that the city's five star hotels, designer stores and well known restaurants can be expensive. But he also said that there are ways to save. When to Go Hotel rates in the city are up to 30 percent lower in November and December compared with the rest of the year. These months are Mr. Finardi's preferred time to be in town. "The temperatures are mild, the holiday decorations are up and the atmosphere is lively," he said. Dine Smart Michelin starred or otherwise pricey restaurants are common in Milan, and travelers who want to experience them should go at lunch, when the cost of a meal is substantially less than at dinner. At the two Michelin starred Seta, for example, a three course lunch with an amuse bouche and petits fours is 70 euros (about 82), compared with 150 euros for a similar meal at dinner. And don't miss the Milanese tradition of going to a bar for aperitivo hour, usually from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Drink orders are typically accompanied by free food. Shop Local and Hit Sales Travelers can find well priced fashionable ware from local designers in the many boutiques in the Isola and Brera neighborhoods. If you're on the hunt for goods from Italy's many internationally known luxury brands, come in January and February when they have their sales. Walk, Bike and Use Public Transportation Mr. Finardi said that the center of Milan is small and walkable, and the public transportation system of metro lines, buses and trams is efficient and clean. To explore more expansive areas such as the scenic Parco Sempione, consider renting a bike from the bike sharing service BikeMi; daily rates start at 4.50 euros ( 5.25). A luxury trip to Mumbai, India's largest city, on a wallet watcher's budget isn't hard to pull off, according to Fiona Caulfield, the founder of the India travel book series Love Travel Guides, who also lives in the country. "If you have some basic know how, you can get a lot for your money without spending too much," she said. When to Go Mumbai hotels rates are highest from October to mid April. Prices drop at least 30 percent until the end of September, but Ms. Caulfield said that May and June are uncomfortably hot while July and August is heart of monsoon season. "The end of April and September are the most value friendly and ideal times to visit," she said. Also, many properties offer 10 to 15 percent discounts on stays of three nights or more. Avoid Eating at Luxury Hotels Mumbai's many five star hotels are full of pricey restaurants that usually aren't worth the expense. Ms. Caulfield said that travelers can save substantially by sticking to independent places. Her favorite is The Bombay Canteen, which serves regional contemporary Indian food. Time Out Mumbai has an expansive list of options. Shop at Bazaars and Markets The city's bazaars and markets sell high quality, unique goods, and haggling to get the lowest prices is the way to go. Colaba Causeway has several street stalls that sell fashionable handcrafted leather sandals for men and women, and Chor Bazaar has vintage finds. Hire a Private Guide Compared with other large cities, private guides are a manageable expense in Mumbai. You can find a guide through an online search and on TripAdvisor.com. No Foot Prints and Bombaywalla are well regarded local tour companies. Get Around Like a Local Avoid taking expensive hotel cars; taxis are safe, inexpensive and easy to hail, and Uber is also popular and affordable. A luxury vacation to New York City on a budget can be done, according to Eric J. Gordon, the owner of Beyond Times Square, a company that plans high end New York City trips. "New York is expensive, but there are ways to have an upscale getaway without paying premium prices," he said. When to Go Hotel room prices in New York are highest from September to the first week of November, and from Thanksgiving to New Year. They're also high in the spring and summer. In early November and from January through early March, however, they drop by around 20 percent. The city's hotel industry is driven by business travelers so nightly weekday rates at upscale hotels are as much as 150 more than weekend rates. Eat Strategically If high end dining is a priority for you, Mr. Gordon said to plan your visit during Restaurant Week (usually at the end of January through early February, and at the end of July through early August), when a three course lunch at some of the city's finest restaurants is 29 and a three course dinner is 42. And, at any time of the year, many pricey restaurants like Estiatorio Milos offer comparatively affordable prix fixe lunch and dinner menus, usually during certain hours . Culture Is a Bargain Some of the best sightseeing in New York is inexpensive. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has 25 admission, and your ticket is also valid that day for the Met Cloisters, in Upper Manhattan, and the Met Breuer, a 10 minute walk away. The city also has free festivals and street fairs throughout the year, and Central Park and Hudson River Park host free concerts in the summer, spring and fall. Time Out New York lists events in town. Skip Cars Relying on taxis or car services for transportation can add up to 100 or more a day. Take the subway or walk instead. Mr. Gordon also recommended the NYC Ferry: a one way ride is 2.75, and the boats have Instagram worthy views of the skyline. If a car is a must, try the ride sharing app Via, whose rides are usually a moderately priced 5 to 7 a person. When to Go Get the best value on hotels by visiting Paris between November and April, when they have their lowest rates. Some high end properties offer further discounts if you book a stay several months in advance and also have attractive packages that can include meals and other amenities during these months. Arrive in Style The all business airline La Compagnie flies direct from Newark Liberty International Airport to Orly Airport and has fares starting at 1, 000 round trip. Also, some travel agencies, including Local Foreigner and Skylark, have access to discounted business class tickets to Paris on large carriers. Choose the Right Accommodations Families traveling to Paris should consider booking a luxury apartment through a company such as OneFineStay or Paris Perfect. It's less expensive than booking multiple rooms at a high end hotel, and having a kitchen to cook meals on occasion helps cut food costs. The city also has several affordable but upscale boutique properties including Maison 1400, in one of the oldest houses in the Marais district, and Le Roch Hotel Spa, set in a 19th century house in the heart of the city. Eat Smart Dine at one of the city's renowned restaurants at lunch, when the tab is much lower compared with dinner. Several popular places offer affordable midday prix fixe menus. For dinner, Ms. Hickox recommended going to restaurants in residential neighborhoods such as South Pigalle, the Haut Marais and Montmartre, where a meal with wine can be between 35 and 50 euros a person. The blog Paris by Mouth has advice on more off the beaten path restaurants. In warmer weather, pick up a baguette, cheese, pastries and wine and head to Luxembourg Gardens or another park for a decadent but wallet friendly picnic. Ditch Taxis and Cars Ms. Hickox's favorite way to explore Paris is on foot. "You can fully appreciate the city's beauty by walking, and it's designed for walkers because there are walking paths and sidewalks everywhere," she said. For longer distances, she suggested using the city's bike share system, Velib or the Metro; both are inexpensive. Shivani Vora is a frequent contributor to the Travel section of The New York Times. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
Before the coronavirus lockdowns, Matt Majesky didn't take much notice of the fees that Grubhub and Uber Eats charged him every time they processed an order for his restaurant, Pierogi Mountain. But once the lockdowns began, the apps became essentially the only source of business for the barroom restaurant he ran with a partner, Charlie Greene, in Columbus, Ohio. That was when the fees to the delivery companies turned into the restaurant's single largest cost more than what it paid for food or labor. Pierogi Mountain's primary delivery company, Grubhub, took more than 40 percent from the average order, Mr. Majesky's Grubhub statements show. That flipped his restaurant from almost breaking even to plunging deeply into the red. In late April, Pierogi Mountain shut down. "You have no choice but to sign up, but there is no negotiating," Mr. Majesky, who has applied for unemployment, said of the delivery apps. "It almost turns into a hostage situation." Even as apps like Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash have cast themselves as economic saviors for restaurants in the pandemic, their fees have become an increasing source of difficulty for the establishments. From Chicago, Pittsburgh and Tampa, Fla., to Boise, Albuquerque and Richardson, Texas, restaurant owners have taken to social media to express their unhappiness. Some restaurants have shut down, while others have cut off the apps and are looking for other ways to take orders. Complaints about the fees that the apps charge to both restaurants and consumers are longstanding, but the issue has become heightened as many restaurants have shut down in room dining. Even as they begin reopening, delivery is likely to remain a bigger part of their business than before the pandemic. Several restaurants have also publicly worried that they will soon have even less power in pushing back against the fees. That's because Uber has been in talks to acquire Grubhub, potentially creating a delivery app heavyweight. Peter Land, a spokesman for Grubhub, said Mr. Majesky paid higher fees than normal because he had chosen to take part in marketing programs that increased his restaurant's visibility. "We recognize this is a difficult time for independent restaurants," Mr. Land said. "We have redoubled our efforts to support them." Restaurant owners are concerned about more than the apps' fees. In 18 interviews with restaurant owners and industry consultants, plus in lawsuits and social media posts, many said the apps also engaged in deceptive practices like setting up websites with inaccurate information for the restaurants, all without asking permission. A Denver restaurant, Freshcraft, sued Grubhub last month, accusing it of creating websites for restaurants without their consent and then labeling them on those sites as closed or "not taking online orders" when they were open and taking online orders. "The fact that they misrepresented my brand in these times, and pushed Grubhub clients toward other restaurants it's deplorable," said Erik Riggs, who owns Freshcraft. He is seeking class action status for the lawsuit. After The New York Times contacted Grubhub about the same issue at restaurants in Pittsburgh and Chicago, it took down the incorrect language. The company declined to comment on the lawsuit or the language on the sites. The gap between the success of the apps and the pain of the restaurants is striking. Spending at restaurants in recent weeks dropped about 35 percent from a year earlier, while revenue for the delivery services rose about 140 percent, according to data from M Science, a firm that analyzes transaction data. At the heart of the issues is some basic math. For the typical restaurant, fixed costs such as labor, food and rent eat up around 90 percent of the money coming in. That leaves little room for the base fees that the large delivery services charge small restaurants, which generally are 20 percent to 30 percent of what customers pay for each order. Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and San Francisco have recently put into effect legislation or emergency rules to cap the apps' fees until the lockdowns are over. But even with the caps, 62 percent of local restaurants in San Francisco said in a survey last month that they were losing money on delivery and takeout. The fees have taken on a particularly bitter taste as delivery apps have begun campaigns proclaiming they will help save local restaurants. One ad proclaimed: "Grubhub believes that together, we can help save the restaurants we love." George Constantinou, who owns four restaurants in the New York area and uses DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub, said: "Everyone is trying to help us our landlord, New York City, our customers. But these companies who are supposed to be our partners take more money than anyone else and try to get us on every charge they can." He said a Grubhub employee had recently called one of his restaurants, Bogota Latin Bistro, to check an order. When no one answered the phone, Grubhub canceled all 10 outstanding orders, charged Mr. Constantinou for the meals and their associated fees and declined to give the restaurant a refund even though some of the orders were already being delivered, according to records and an email exchange with Grubhub shared by Mr. Constantinou. After being contacted by The Times, Grubhub paid back Mr. Constantinou for the charges from that night and more recent instances when the same thing happened. The company did not have a comment beyond saying it had fixed the issues. Beverly Kim, the chef at the Michelin starred Parachute in Chicago, signed up to offer delivery through the Caviar app in March after the lockdowns began. Caviar offered her a month of service without taking any commissions. But after a few days, Ms. Kim noticed that Caviar was charging the full fees of about 25 percent of an order. It took her staff days to get a response and eventually a refund from Caviar, she said. More recently, she noticed that on the website the service had created for her restaurant was a prominent orange label that said, "Only on Caviar." That was wrong, Ms. Kim said, because she was also taking delivery orders through her own website, with few fees. Caviar, which is owned by DoorDash, took down the sticker after she complained at a Chicago City Council meeting last month. Once Caviar begins charging the full fees, Parachute will lose money on orders taken through the app, Ms. Kim said. She said she had recently told Caviar that she was canceling the service. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
Technology has upended where we work. The line between work and play has been blurred, and the difference between the office and home has all but disappeared. As a result, there's a new class of white collar workers (or no collar, to be precise) who roam the earth looking for places to get their jobs done. Some of them work from home, curled up on the couch or in a home office maybe with a drone hovering nearby. Others camp out at expensive cafes, refilling their mugs of fancy coffee throughout the day. (Yes, I'm referring to myself.) But increasingly, these untethered employees are gathering in a new kind of office known as the co working space. Surely, you've heard of these places. But their numbers have multiplied across the country in the last few years, filling a niche for those who need more than a cafe, but less than an office. They now come in a wide range of options. Some are fancy; some are not. Some require memberships; some do not. Some target technology workers; others are for writers or small businesses. And in the Los Angeles area, there seems to be a co working option for every neighborhood and every profession. West Hollywood has WeWork, the start up that is now in almost two dozen cities worldwide (it's also estimated to be worth 10 billion, though many believe it's drastically overvalued). Memberships are 45 to 450 a month, and the diverse clientele includes accountants and tech entrepreneurs. Beverly Hills has the Soho House, a private club that courts the Hollywood crowd (and can sometimes be a bit of a scene). Membership has to be approved by a committee and costs 1,800 a year. Santa Monica has Coloft, at 35 to 395 a month, and is popular with tech workers. It offers search engine optimization and programming classes, and tries to sound hip by turning its name into a verb (for example, "We were colofting last night"). These have been joined by even newer and hipper co working spaces, including RVCC, which stands for the Reserve Vault City Club. This club occupies the old Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles, costs 88 a month, offers free coffee and feels more like a speakeasy than an office space. (Sticking with that secret feel, RVCC proudly doesn't have a social media presence or a website.) And the newest is NeueHouse, a beautifully designed co working space in Hollywood, in the 1938 CBS Radio Building on Sunset Boulevard. Opened last October, NeueHouse, which has branches in New York and London, puts a huge emphasis on cultural events, including Q. and A. sessions with musicians, writers and entrepreneurs. Memberships are 200 and 1,250 per month, depending on space. Before you rush out to join a co working space, there are pros and cons to consider. Some believe working away from a traditional office improves productivity. A study published last year in the journal The Quarterly Journal of Economics examined Ctrip, a 16,000 employee Chinese travel agency, where call center employees were randomly assigned to work in either the office or home. Those who worked from home were 13 percent more productive, the report found. When Ctrip gave all its workers the option to work from home, productivity grew even further, to 22 percent. Another study published last year in the journal Sleep Health, found that people who had flexible work schedules slept better than those who had to report to the office at specific times. But there are studies that raise doubts about working remotely. "How Effective Is Telecommuting?," published last year in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, found that working from home can make people feel sad. The report says that this is likely because of the social and professional isolation experienced from being home alone for too long. This is where co working spaces seem to fit in. NeueHouse, for example, has two restaurants, a coffee shop and meeting rooms. There are also rows of desks equipped with headphones for those who want to work alone, and open offices for those who want to work in a collaborative setting. When I spent some time at NeueHouse last week, I saw waiters rushing to and fro with coffees and pastries, dropping them off at members' desks or offices. It looked like a hotel with room service, but no beds. The space seemed open and simple, as in, there wasn't a lot of fuss (unlike some other spaces I've tried out). Though I could see the 7 parking fee at NeueHouse easily adding up. "Given the changes in the economy, and the changes in the attitude around work, we felt like it was the ideal time to pull out a blank piece of paper and rethink what the ideal work space would be for people," said Joshua Abram, a founder and chief executive of NeueHouse. Mr. Abram added that he sees NeueHouse as not only a place for people to work, but also a place to network and interact with other creative minds. If NeueHouse is about connecting people, then RVCC is the opposite. The founder, Chris Adams, said that "we now live in a world of over connections," and he wanted to create a "sanctuary like space" that allowed people to work in solitude. "These days, our culture is changing so much," Mr. Adams said. "There are no regular work hours anymore, or socializing hours, so we wanted to set a platform for whatever you want to do. So if you're working late at night, and no cafes are open, you can come here and get a cup of coffee or an old fashioned, and just work." After trying out of dozens of spaces in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, I realized I want to join them all. Which, like wanting to date more than one person, can become very expensive. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
LOS ANGELES It is impossible to miss the long moribund Santa Barbara Plaza, a collection of mostly boarded up retail buildings in South Los Angeles across the street from a shopping center that just underwent a 30 million overhaul. After some costly missteps that only worsened the blight, plans to transform the ugly 19.2 acre site into a mixed use development called Marlton Square finally seemed to be gathering steam, and the city redevelopment agency started clearing the land last summer. But now Marlton Square, like many urban development projects in California, is in limbo. The state's 397 community redevelopment agencies, including the one that was shepherding Marlton Square, went out of business on Feb. 1, victims of the state's fiscal crisis. Legislation enacted last June to eliminate the agencies was upheld in December by the California Supreme Court. California's community redevelopment agencies were created in the 1940s to encourage urban renewal. The agencies could acquire property, including through condemnation, finance infrastructure improvements and sell the land to private owners at below market prices. Their dissolution has thrown into question the fate of hundreds of projects, including housing developments intended for low and moderate income people. In California, it is relatively rare for developers to be offered tax abatements, density bonuses and other incentives for building in places that are considered risky. Instead, the redevelopment agencies could use the additional property taxes that were generated by enhancing the value of the land, and this so called tax increment financing became the primary redevelopment tool. This year the incremental tax would have amounted to 5 billion, or 12 percent of all of the property tax collected throughout the state. Since February, local officials throughout the state have been sifting through billions of dollars' worth of projects to determine which ones qualify as enforceable obligations entered into before June 29, 2011, the date the legislation was signed into law. "We have very specific goals and instructions: to complete the unwinding as expeditiously as possible and to maximize value," said Nelson Rising, a prominent Los Angeles real estate developer. Mr. Rising is one of three board members appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to lead the so called designated local authority, which will review pending projects in Los Angeles and try to dispose of land that it is not committed to develop. Redevelopment agencies proliferated after 1978 and the passage of Proposition 13, the ballot measure that severely limited revenue for cities by capping property taxes. Los Angeles County alone had 71 of these agencies. The agencies have been credited with many successful efforts to revive neighborhoods, including downtown Los Angeles, the Mission Bay section of San Francisco and the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego. But critics have long argued that the agencies operated without sufficient oversight. Particularly in smaller cities, redevelopment officials have been accused of mismanaging the money or financing projects that have nothing to do with alleviating blight. Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said the redevelopment funds were a "honey pot" that were often used merely to enrich developers or build sports stadiums rather than fulfill the agencies' original mission. "The reason the governor made a run on the redevelopment agencies is that they had ceased to be faithful to the purposes of redevelopment," Mr. Yaroslavsky said. Dismantling the redevelopment agencies may have been the least controversial action Mr. Brown could have taken after inheriting an operating deficit of 25 billion, several real estate specialists said. Many Californians believed that the money was more urgently needed for schools and the police. In voting for dissolution, the California legislature also approved a compromise measure that would have kept the agencies alive if they shared some of their tax increment revenue with cities and counties. But the League of California Cities, a lobbying group for municipalities, refused to accept this compromise and challenged both laws. The court struck down the revenue sharing measure, a double loss for the league. "It became an all or nothing thing, and they got nothing," said Dan Rosenfeld, a senior deputy to Mark Ridley Thomas, a Los Angeles County supervisor and a proponent of redevelopment agencies. Supporters say they have had a crucial role in creating affordable housing, and stimulating economic development and improvements to public transit. "A lot of these projects would not otherwise pencil out without subsidy" from the redevelopment agencies, said Tim Kawahara, the executive director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles. Of greatest immediate concern is how dissolution will affect the development of housing for people with low and moderate incomes. Since 1979, 20 percent of the property taxes diverted to the agencies had been set aside for this purpose. But Mr. Kawahara said lawmakers seemed determined to make up for the loss of as much as 1 billion a year in subsidies. Thomas L. Safran, a leading developer of affordable housing in the Los Angeles area, said he wondered whether he would be able to build a small apartment building on a site on Sherman Way in the San Fernando Valley community of Reseda, replacing a movie theater that has been closed for decades. "It's up in the air," Mr. Safran said. The redevelopment board had given his company the exclusive right to negotiate for a small loan and the land, but no development agreement was signed before the bill became law on June 29. Also up in the air are the plans by Trammell Crow, a Dallas based developer, to build a factory in downtown Los Angeles that would make light rail cars, batteries for electric cars, solar panels and other renewable energy products. The factory, called the CleanTech Manufacturing Center, would be on a contaminated 20.6 acre site where buses were once produced. Last fall, the community redevelopment agency approved the sale of the land to Trammell Crow for 15.4 million; the developer would have to pay off the maturing bank loan that had financed the acquisition of the land. Bradley Cox, who runs Trammell Crow's Los Angeles office, said several tenants had expressed interest in occupying the center's 400,000 square feet of space. Even if the new designated local authority group approves the post June 29 purchase agreement, Trammell Crow will not necessarily have the deal sewn up. The decision will be reviewed by an oversight committee representing the taxing agencies. That committee's ruling could be rejected by the state Finance Department. Mr. Cox said he was optimistic. "We think we're the right developer," he said. "We have a lot of experience with environmentally challenged properties." Though no deal had been completed for Marlton Square in South Los Angeles, the project to replace the derelict shopping center is not necessarily dead, said David Bloom, a spokesman for the new designated local authority. Kenneth T. Lombard of Capri Capital Partners, a Chicago company that owns the neighboring Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, said moving forward with the Marlton Square project was essential for the long term success of his shopping center. "We've got a much better story to tell," he said, "but that story will be even stronger when I can eliminate the question, 'What's going on across the street?' " But Mr. Bloom said it was hard to see how Marlton Square could come together in the absence of the guiding hand of a redevelopment agency. What has been lost, he said, is the means to look way beyond the terms of current officeholders to bring about change. The community redevelopment agency "was charged with taking a very long term view on the recovery of challenged neighborhoods," he said. "It allowed for continuity. That's not easy to achieve in government today." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
On May 29, four days after George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police, Theresa Ruth Howard posted a call to action on Instagram: We don't need shadow heroes, step into the light ..." Ms. Howard, a former ballet dancer who founded the digital platform Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (or MoBBallet), was addressing the institutions she has worked with for the past few years, in a role she sums up as "diversity strategist and consultant." Those institutions, which include some of the world's most prestigious ballet companies and schools, are predominantly white, onstage and behind the scenes. They know they need to evolve, and she is helping them. So when protests against systemic racism and police brutality began sweeping the country, she found their silence disconcerting. "You can't say you want us, and when we are in peril, not be there for us," Ms. Howard, 49, said in an interview. Over the next few days, companies answered her call, or tried, posting statements of support with a hashtag she had started: balletrelevesforblacklives. (Releve, a ballet term, is a way of saying "rise up.") Their messages drew both appreciation and criticism, with many commenters demanding action, not merely words. In an opinion piece for Dance Magazine, Ms. Howard expanded on her thoughts about what leadership should look like in this moment, under the headline "Where Is Your Outrage? Where Is Your Support?" On Aug. 14, leaders from more than a dozen ballet companies and schools will convene for an online discussion titled " balletrelevesforblacklives ... Or Does It?," a chance to reflect, beyond social media, on the Black Lives Matter movement and its impact on their institutions. The public event is part of Ms. Howard's second annual MoBBallet symposium, a series of conversations and lectures that, in her words, "centers Blackness but welcomes all." Virginia Johnson, Dance Theater's artistic director, says that Ms. Howard has been "a force of change" for years: "She's done her research, she knows her methods, and she is relentless in not letting people off the hook. And that's what's needed." "Now that people are ready," Ms. Johnson added, "she is flying, and they can join her." As a writer, public speaker and social media presence, Ms. Howard is one of the most vocal proponents for racial equity in ballet. But she's not alone in shaping a more inclusive field. In addition to her independent work as a diversity strategist, she was part of a team of consultants for the Equity Project, a three year initiative led by Dance Theater of Harlem, Dance/USA and the International Association of Blacks in Dance. The project, which involved directors from 21 North American ballet organizations, ended in June. While some ballet schools, over the years, have developed internal diversity initiatives, the Equity Project had more holistic aims. Ms. Johnson described it as "focused on bringing African Americans to the field of ballet in all aspects onstage and behind the stage, in the wings, in the administrative offices, in the schools." It sought to ensure "that these organizations are not bastions of whiteness," she said. "Or if they are, they've decided that is what they want, and they are not just ignorantly moving forward." Through the Equity Project, Ms. Howard met some of the people with whom she now works closely, like Barry Hughson, the executive director of the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto. Like many of her colleagues, he appreciates Ms. Howard's directness. "I need someone to be brutally honest with me, and to do that in a way that inspires us all to keep pushing forward," he said. "That's her spirit." Their conversations, he added, have helped him to think more deeply about equity in all dimensions of the National Ballet, not just in hiring dancers. "For a while we were focused on representation, on the company looking more racially diverse, and it does look more racially diverse," he said. "But now it's like turning inward and saying: What do these artists need to feel support and safety, and to see themselves on a path through and up the ranks? That's the work at hand, and that's where Theresa's been standing by our side as we imagine the future." In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the future can be hard to imagine. Ellen Walker, the executive director of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, said that despite the challenges facing the company, there is also opportunity in this break from business as usual. Ms. Howard would probably be pleased to hear this. As a diversity strategist, she strives to bring directors "from their head space, which is that organizational lens, into their heart space, that more empathetic human lens," she said. She wants them to understand, as much as possible, how it feels to be Black in ballet's white spaces, "the added pressure the brown body takes on." For a Black ballet dancer, "It's not just an arabesque, it's not just a pirouette," she said. "You're the Black girl doing the arabesque, you're the Black girl doing the pirouette. Which says that either Black people can do this, and they're capable, or they're not. That's something white dancers, white students, don't carry with them." Ms. Howard speaks from firsthand experience. Growing up in Philadelphia, she was one of few students of color at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet. She remembers feeling entirely welcome there until the year she was cast in "The Nutcracker" in a coveted party scene role or so she thought. She'd seen her name on the cast list next to the "Bootmaker's Daughter," but when the time came for children to pick up their costumes, hers went instead to a white girl, someone who looked more like the rest of the fictional family onstage. She recalls breaking into tears as she told her father what had happened. ("I had a dance father, who did the driving, sewed the point shoes," she said.) He spoke with the company's artistic director, and she ended up splitting the role with the white student. "I don't know if that changed me," she said, "but it might have solidified my desire to dance with Dance Theater of Harlem." (She had seen the company perform a few years before, when she was 8.) "In my mind, that would never happen in a place like that." After performing with Dance Theater from 1989 to '92, Ms. Howard danced with choreographers including Karole Armitage and Donald Byrd. Mr. Byrd, now her close friend, said that about five years ago, he noticed that she "was in a real funk." Around that time, the idea for MoBBallet came to her, springing from a blog post she had written on Misty Copeland, the American Ballet Theater star, and lesser known Black ballerinas who came before her. Suddenly, Ms. Howard was reinvigorated, Mr. Byrd said. "It seemed like she felt that she was definitely on the right track, that she had discovered the thing that she could do, and that she needed to do, and it just kind of took over." While Ms. Howard said that lately she feels like a "very former" dancer, her ballet roots deeply inform her work, even something as simple as the way she walks into a room. In 2017, she gave a rousing and eye opening keynote address at Positioning Ballet, a convening of 40 international company directors in Amsterdam. "The moment she enters a stage, you can see and feel that she understands ballet," said Peggy Olislaegers, an artistic consultant for Dutch National Ballet, which hosted the conference. "She has this embodied knowledge. She loves ballet, and that gives her a clear authority within the field of ballet directors." These days Ms. Howard is as much a resource for ballet dancers a mentor and an advocate as she is for company directors, though she stresses that she is "still learning and evolving" in her work. Sebastian Villarini Velez, a New York City Ballet soloist, said that when he recently met with Ms. Howard, seeking her guidance about organizing a group of dancers of color at City Ballet, he was struck by how attentively she listened. "I know it sounds cliche," he said, "but I felt heard, for one of the first times." Chyrstyn Fentroy, a Boston Ballet soloist, has enjoyed popping into Ms. Howard's Instagram Live sessions, which invite candid discussion among dancers. Ballet, Ms. Fentroy said, tends to train dancers not to speak up. "You take the correction, and it doesn't matter if it hurts your feelings, you just nod your head and keep dancing." But Ms. Howard is helping to change that: "I think she's allowing people to learn where their voices are." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
At 87, Noam Chomsky, the founder of modern linguistics, remains a vital presence in American intellectual life. An emeritus professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he still teaches, he has a dual identity, reflected in his several dozen books. Many are on theoretical linguistics and the philosophy of mind. Others are sharp, leftish polemics on American politics. Dr. Chomsky is back in the news, thanks to a pair of high profile attacks. In "The Kingdom of Speech," Tom Wolfe pairs Dr. Chomsky ("Noam Charisma") with Darwin as the malign Ur theorists of evolution. In "Decoding Chomsky: Science and Revolutionary Politics," the British anthropologist Chris Knight explores "the Chomsky problem" the paradox of a thinker who belongs to the "professional and scientific elite" even as he espouses populist political ideas. It will soon be 60 years since your first book, "Syntactic Structures," was published. Where was the study of linguistics then and what did you see that could be done? The belief at the time was that languages can vary arbitrarily, so when you study a new language you should come to it without any preconceptions. Such views are still held, although the evidence to undermine them, I think, is simply overwhelming. Studies have shown that the diversity and complexity is superficial, while the internal system, which yields the fundamental properties of language as a system of thought, may be close to uniform among humans basically following very simple genetically determined properties and general laws, like principles of computation. Some of the most exciting work in the field is going in that direction. Are you as convinced now as when you were younger that understanding language is essential to understanding the human mind? I think that's clearer and clearer. The emergence of language as a system of creative thought was sensed by Descartes and Galileo. But it was not really addressed till the mid 20th century because the tools weren't available to formulate it properly. You needed the modern theory of computability, which was developed by Alan Turing and other great mathematicians of the 1930s and '40s. I was lucky that I was becoming an undergraduate at just the time that all these great insights were emerging. It's so uninformed and distorted that it hardly rises to the level of meeting a laugh test. In the Harper's Magazine excerpt, there's exactly one paragraph that is accurate, quoted from an interview we had in which I explain why his crucial example, the Amazonian language Piraha, is completely irrelevant to his conclusions and claims because what he says about Piraha correct or not is about the language itself, not about the common human faculty of language. To take an analogy: If some tribe were found in which everyone wears a black patch over one eye, it would have no bearing on the study of binocular vision in the human visual system. How about Chris Knight? He connects your theory of language to Pentagon funded work you did at M.I.T. during the Cold War. The Pentagon was the means by which the government carried out industrial policy and developed the high tech economy of the future. M.I.T. was almost entirely funded by the military, including the music department. Does this mean we were doing military work? There was a study in 1969, the Pounds commission I was a member of it to investigate whether any military or classified work was being done on campus. Answer? None. Why do you think we're seeing this resurgence of analysis? You must tire of defending your work. I've been defending the legitimacy of this work, extensively and in print, for 60 years. In earlier years, the discussions were with serious philosophers, linguists, cognitive scientists. I'm sorry to see that the resurgence you mention does not begin to approximate that level one reason why, unlike earlier years, I don't bother to respond unless asked. I supported Bernie Sanders. The most important issue we face, a real question of species survival, is climate change. I've been criticized for advocating a politics of fear, which is correct. That's not a criticism. That's sanity. What do you make of the political climate today? Of the student protests? Humans face critical problems that have never arisen before in their history, problems of survival of organized human life on earth. They are barely mentioned in the current electoral extravaganza and the voluminous commentary about it. Fortunately, young people are often deeply concerned and directly engaged. You'll be teaching two classes next semester at the University of Arizona. Yes. An undergraduate course will focus on the current stage of globalized state capitalism and ways of approaching "the common good" as it has been conceived in various ways since the Enlightenment. The graduate seminar will explore critical topics at the boundaries of current inquiry into the nature of language, its acquisition and use, its evolution. Every class is a challenge and often leads to rethinking and exploration of new directions. How do you account for your amazing stamina and energy level at age 87? The bicycle theory. As long as you keep riding, you don't fall. Bono of U2 called you the Elvis of academia. Students wait hours to hear your lectures. Then there's all that Chomsky memorabilia mugs, T shirts, even luggage tags. Seems strange to me. It can only mean that my activist engagements and professional work somehow relate to what many people are looking for and don't appear to find elsewhere. Do you own a Chomsky coffee mug? No. But I get things from friends. The one I like is one my grandchildren like. It's a little figure of a gnome you can put in a garden. "Gnome Chomsky." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Education |
In between eating breakfast, bouncing her teething 10 month old baby in her arms and fielding text messages from her "Little Women" group chat, Greta Gerwig stepped away from the madness on Monday to talk about the six nominations for her second feature film. Calling from Los Angeles, she also delved into the unseen forces that kept her out of the best directing category, an omission that seems to enrage Twitter far more than it angers her. Here are edited excerpts from our chat. Congrats on the six nominations. Is any of the recognition specifically gratifying? Honestly, best picture because it represents the collective who've been working on this movie. It's for every single person who contributed such great work. The "Little Women" text chain is blowing up. What do you make of the fact that this is only the third best picture nominee to be produced, written, directed by all women? (The previous two are "Winter's Bone" and "The Piano.") Was that intentional on your part? In terms of the creative team I work with, I always want the very best people. It was the very best people. I'm thrilled that they are women. I think part of it was I went to an all women high school and an all women college, so it just doesn't seem that strange to me that an entire team would be led by women. It makes perfect sense to me. You were quoted by Vanity Fair about the hierarchy of stories: you believe that the top of that hierarchy in Hollywood is male violence, either man on man, or man on woman. Is this something you've always felt or something that has become more crystallized this year? In truth, I'm always thinking about the narratives we turn to again and again. What are the shape of stories, not just the content but also what do we consider worthy and why? I think it's interesting what feels important. What Louisa May Alcott did with writing this is one of the first examples I can find about the lives of girls and women written in a way that gives it a lot of real estate. That act of creativity has long lasting effects because I think stories are how we organize what we think is important. What do you make of the fact that men were saying they wouldn't see a film called "Little Women"? That there were male critics out there begging men to go see the film. I have talked to a lot of really wonderful men who have loved this movie and so I think I have a skewed data set. No man would just walk up to me and say, "Hey, I'm never going to see your movie." My data set indicates that men love "Little Women" and they can't wait to see it again. Honestly, I've talked to so many men who have told me about watching it with their wives and their daughters. But many men have talked to me about watching it alone and crying, and that makes me feel really good. Laughs In this year where female filmmakers were ignored in the directing category, has anyone presented you with any ideas that could actually change things in a way you think makes sense? I think the thing that changes the narrative are sheer numbers. And the numbers are all moving in the right direction. According to the Annenberg study, this year is better than any other year. So you want to see the work acknowledged on the largest stage possible, and there is so much beautiful work done by female writers, producers, directors, creators. But in terms of it all moving in the right direction, that's all we can do: continue to make the work, make the work, make the work. So is it just that the academy is lagging behind? There have been great strides and we've got to keep going: keep writing, keep making, keep doing. It's all there. Has it gotten any easier? Making a film is something that is slightly impossible in any circumstance because it's a giant undertaking, everything is unlikely, all signs point to this is a silly thing to do with your time and money. So any movie that gets made is against all odds, but I think that at this moment, there is just so much more of an effort on the part of the studios who are doing the hiring to hire women to be writers and directors and producers. And also, independent film functions differently and there is a real push by producers to make movies written and directed by women. And there is a ripple effect, because we are paying more attention to festivals, programmers and how they program, what the distributors buy and what they promote. I keep going back to the work, the work is great and the audiences love it. That's the whole ballgame and that's what's so important and what gives me so much hope. What's unfortunate though is what the Annenberg School often points out, which is that there are economic and commercial advantages that Oscar nominees receive from their nominations. It's not just an accolade. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Along the meandering industrial peninsula of Aliaga on Turkey's Aegean coast, the contents of gutted vessels lay strewn on the dusty roadside, scattered among clusters of orange lifeboats that tower so high they obscure the dramatic scene unfolding in the shipyard below. There, five mammoth cruise ships sit crammed into a muddied cove, as hundreds of workers chip away at their hulls and bows, exposing the intricate anatomies of the boats that once carried thousands of people around the world. Now, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the cruise industry, companies are downsizing their fleets and selling the ships for scrap. "We've never seen anything like this," said Kamil Onal, chairman of the Ship Recyclers' Association of Turkey. "Before the pandemic we mainly dismantled cargo ships, but now this has become the fate for cruise ships after months of sitting idle without passengers." The ship breaking operation is evidence of how deeply the coronavirus pandemic has damaged the 150 billion global cruise industry. After widely publicized outbreaks on ships worldwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no sail order effective March 14 for all United States cruises, leaving nearly 350 vessels idled in open waters or in ports. The order is set to expire on Oct. 31, after the White House intervened to keep it from being extended until February. But the C.D.C. recommends that travelers defer all cruise travel worldwide. "Cruise passengers are at increased risk of person to person spread of infectious diseases, including Covid 19, and outbreaks of Covid 19 have been reported on several cruise ships," the agency said. The outbreaks took place on boats that had resumed operations in Europe, with heightened health protocols and a requirement for testing, and included eight people on board the Costa Diadema who tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month. Taken apart, piece by piece A cacophony of screeching metal, banging and clunking engulfs the shipyard as the ships are ripped apart deck by deck, with stateroom walls torn away and the amenities gyms, theaters, discos broken into pieces and carted away. Nearly 2,000 workers have been employed to strip the five cruise ships of machinery, electronic equipment, glass, wood and other materials that can be reused or repurposed. "Everything is taken out piece by piece, from the light bulb to the piano and swimming pool to the golf course," said Mr. Onal, looking out his office window at a group of workers cutting metal scraps from the ships. "It's a momentous task that will take up to eight months for each ship and they will continue until there is nothing left." He pointed to a single square of steel bobbing up and down in the water the remains of an engine room in a cargo ship. "That's what the cruise ships will look like toward the end," he said. After an intensive review, the Carnival Cruise Line group said it had selected two ship recycling facilities in Turkey to dismantle its ships because of their track records of compliance with national and international environmental agreements, including the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. Mr. Onal said there was also a financial incentive because the Turkish recycling firms made a better offer than other global ship recycling facilities, but neither party would disclose how much the shipyard paid. The shipyard will then sell off the more than 1.1. million tons of steel it expects to remove from the ships by the end of the year. "Our highest responsibility and top priorities are compliance, environmental protection, and the health, safety and well being of our guests, the communities we visit and our crew," Bill Burke, chief maritime officer for Carnival Corporation, said in an email. "That commitment extends to our cruise ships, starting from the moment a ship becomes part of our fleet and continuing all the way through to its retirement." Last year, Carnival Corporation and its Princess subsidiary paid a 20 million fine for illegal dumping and other environmental violations. The contents of the dismantled ships are in high demand among antiques brokers and private collectors in the area, who have been placing bids on the most valuable items. "Don't take notice of how the ships look now on the outside," said Noyan Yurttas, co owner of the Iskele Marine, a nautical antiques store opposite the shipyard. He was referring to the giant gashes torn out of the ships' hull. "It's a treasure chest in there." Hotels and corporations have bought most of the furniture from the ships, including tables, chairs and room fittings, Mr. Yurttas said, but antiques brokers have their sights set on the baroque lighting fixtures and wardrobes that weigh nearly 100 pounds. "These are not regular ships; they are luxurious floating museums with many precious items inside," he said with an excited smile as he sat in his store full of shiny bronze nautical antiques, including clocks, ornate light fixtures and maps. Other brokers in the area have collected articles like life jackets, lamps, sinks and art for people interested in purchasing cruise memorabilia. "We have mainly seen local collectors and customers this year because of the pandemic, but normally tourists come here from all over the world to buy the items from the ships," Mr. Yurttas said. Photos and videos of the ships' dismantling have been circulating on social media, and for cruise enthusiasts it has been hard to watch, even from a distance. At 30 years old, the Carnival Fantasy is the oldest vessel in the Carnival Cruise line fleet, and was popular among older people for its smaller scale and familiarity. "I was heartbroken to see the ships sold off and scrapped like that," said Maggie Hetherington, 74, a retired nurse from Norwich in southeast England who has taken several cruises on the Fantasy and its sister ship Inspiration. "They look like they've been attacked by a pack of wolves." Ms. Hetherington said she understood the economic considerations of the cruise companies but believes there will still be a demand for older ships once the pandemic is over. "Not everyone is into the big new high tech ships, as impressive as they may be," she said. "The Fantasy's decor may be a little dated, but there is something appealing about walking into a smaller ship, hanging your hat and knowing your way around," she added. "There's also the element of nostalgia." Derek Watson, 69, an avid cruiser from Liverpool in northern England took his first Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy. He said that such iconic ships should be phased out gradually and fans of the vessels should be allowed to take tours or book final excursions before they are scrapped. "It's just sad that these ships are being dismantled before having one last hurrah," Mr. Watson said. "It's hard to stay optimistic and get excited about future cruises when so many are being retired at the same time." When exactly those future cruises will sail is hard to predict. Royal Caribbean Cruises, another of the industry's biggest companies and which also sent two ships to be recycled in Aliaga this year, has teamed up with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and a panel of medical experts to establish safety measures that would allow cruising to return. Last month, the panel submitted a list of 74 detailed recommendations to the C.D.C., including testing, capacity reduction, face coverings and enhanced sanitation procedures. The cruise executives said they were confident that cruises could resume safely if all the health and safety protocols were applied. But the cases aboard the Costa Diadema cropped up despite testing after passengers took shore excursions on the Greek Islands. The guests were asymptomatic and tested positive upon re entry into Italy. And the optimistic outlook from executives as they prepare to bounce back from the crisis is at odds with the backdrop of destruction and debris at the Aliaga shipyard. Mr. Onal said they were expecting more cruise ships to arrive over the next few months. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
The Metropolitan Museum of Art laid off dozens more of its workers on Wednesday and reduced its ranks even further through furloughs and voluntary retirements, leaving the museum with a staff that is about 20 percent smaller than it was before the pandemic. The coronavirus has kept the museum closed since March and prompted an initial wave of more than 80 layoffs in April. Adding on this new wave of staff cuts means that the Met will have an employee count of about 1,600, a dramatic drop from about 2,000 in March. According to a memo sent out to the Met's staff on Wednesday, 79 staff members were laid off, in addition to 93 who took the option to voluntarily retire. Another 181 employees were furloughed. The museum told staff that they expect that the furloughs will last no longer than six months. The museum made the decision on the number of people furloughed based on the fact that even after it opens its doors, the number of visitors will likely be significantly lower than before the pandemic. The museum plans to open for five days a week, for example, compared to its typical seven day week before the shutdown started. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
TO Americans, they look familiar, yet strange. Their brand names don't ring a bell: Mayfair, Frontenac, Acadian, Meteor, Monarch, Fargo, Laurentian, Beaumont. These are among the cars once created specifically for Canada, and usually built in Canada, by the Detroit based automakers. In their heyday, from the end of World War II until the late 1960s a period of true mechanical distinctions between, say, Chevrolets and Pontiacs the Canadianized cars shamelessly borrowed parts and styling from their sister divisions. Once common on Canadian roads, such cars have become, even here, largely forgotten historical footnotes. When Denise Cote, a retired government secretary in Ottawa, went to register her 1957 Monarch Lucerne, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation would have no part of it. Until Ms. Cote commissioned an auto historian to provide the government a history of Ford Canada's Monarch brand, the license bureau would register her car only as a Mercury Monarch, a model that wasn't produced until the late 1970s and was sold on both sides of the border. "It is a Monarch Lucerne; it is not a Mercury," said Ms. Cote, a longtime car fancier. Referring to the bureaucrats, she said, "They wouldn't change it for the world, and they eventually had to call Toronto to do it." A variety of factors inspired the Canadian subsidiaries of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler to create Canada only models. But the sometimes oddball results came into being, and then faded away, largely because of import tariffs. Until the United States and Canada signed an agreement in 1965 creating cross border free trade in cars and auto parts, vehicles imported to Canada from the United States were subject to duties of as much as 35 percent. To avoid the duties, automakers struggled to find economical ways to squeeze a wide range of models onto single assembly lines in their Canadian factories. The models were not adapted to Canadian roads, which aside from the snow and ice, were generally poorer, at the time, than American roads. "Was there any design or engineering done?" said Sharon Babaian, curator of transport at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. "No, not really. It was very, very cosmetic. I think they probably put more money into the marketing than they did into the actual changing of the style of the vehicle." Canadians' disposable income has generally lagged that of Americans, but the gap was particularly wide in the 1950s and '60s. So automakers created less costly premium models for Canada even as they sold more or less the same base models in both countries. General Motors of Canada and Ford Canada often took the same approach: they would drop a mildly redesigned body of a more costly Pontiac or Mercury onto the chassis of a similar Chevrolet or Ford. The less expensive car's engine and drivetrain would be kept, along with most of its interior. Chrysler Canada often went with a hybrid approach, grafting the front end of a Dodge, then considered a more premium model, onto a Plymouth. American Motors and Studebaker largely dealt with the situation by offering fewer models, although Studebakers continued to be made and sold in Canada after the company ended American production in 1963. The mix and match approach had some disadvantages. Starting with 1959 models, the wheels of American market Pontiacs were set further apart in what was heavily promoted as "wide track" design. As a result, Todd St. Clair of Ingersoll, Ontario, who runs Canadian Poncho, a site for Canadian Pontiac enthusiasts and collectors, said that when Pontiac body shells were placed on Chevrolet chassis in Canada, the cars' wheels were noticeably, and awkwardly, inset. Mr. St. Clair added, however, that although Chevy powertrains were seen as more prosaic, Canadian Pontiacs offered a wider range of engines, including high performance versions. And Canadianized Pontiacs often outsold Chevrolets in Canada. Pontiac dealers also carried a separate Acadian brand, comprising compact Chevys that had been slightly reworked. Joe Lizon, a collector in Ortonville, Mich., owns two Acadians and bought two others for his adult children. He said the absence of a Pontiac badge meant that "I can go to Pontiac shows and the Chevrolet shows" to exhibit them. While the Canadian models were primarily a product of trade restrictions, they also helped the American automakers counter a sentiment in postwar Canada that the United States held too much sway over the national economy. A television commercial heralded the 1960 Mercury Meteor Montcalm, a modified Ford Galaxie, as "Canada's idea car of the year." An announcer repeatedly boasted that it was "distinctively Canadian," without further explanation. For most manufacturers, making a car "distinctively Canadian" amounted to screwing on some token symbols. In an apparent homage to the nation's British roots, the exterior door locks on Ms. Cote's Monarch Lucerne have covers shaped like tiny gold crowns; there are more crowns on the hood ornament, steering wheel and trunklid. Other favored additions to hubcaps or steering wheels were maple leaves or the fleur de lis symbol of Quebec. Grilles were often redesigned and headlamps got distinctive, though not necessarily prettier, housings. Where those designs originated is unclear. But R. Perry Zavitz, the author of "Canadian Cars, 1946 1984" (Bookman Publishing/Motorbooks International), said most of the design and engineering changes came from the head offices in the United States. Mr. Zavitz said that several of the designs seemed based on styling cues from concept cars that were ultimately rejected for the American market. That seemed particularly true, he said, of the 1960 Frontenac, a reworked Ford Falcon with a bizarre grille: it featured a circular bull's eye, two chrome spears and lozenge shaped sections with, of course, an ample scattering of maple leaves. "The Frontenac only lasted a year, which is some credit to Canadian consumers," said Ms. Babaian, the curator. Canadianization was not limited to cars. Chrysler revived the Fargo name from its distant past to rebadge Dodge trucks for Canada's Plymouth dealers; Ford offered a line of Mercury trucks that were not sold in the United States. After the auto trade agreement was signed, Canadian auto plants were integrated with their American counterparts and gradually began producing just a single line of vehicles, most of them destined for the United States. Many Canadian models, however, persisted long after the trade agreement came into effect, if in ever less distinct forms. Eventually, Mr. Zavitz said, Ford started rebadging some Mercurys as Meteors and shipping them north from American factories. "I don't know the reason why," Mr. Zavitz said. "It seems kind of silly to ship a Canadian model from the United States." Because the Canadian models were generally budget versions of American cars, Mr. St. Clair, the Canadian Pontiac admirer, said they were long ignored by collectors, particularly in the United States, who viewed them as inferior. Ms. Babaian said that like many economy cars, they were more likely to be scrapped than saved, so they are relatively scarce today. The paucity of surviving Canadian models and their novelty factor has led many collectors to re evaluate Canadian models, Mr. St. Clair said. "In the years past, the Canadian Pontiacs were kind of shunned," he said. "Now we're starting to see more interest." Interest is also coming from collectors in Australia and Britain, where Canadian models were often exported. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
Even by the tweeting habits of the 45th president of the United States, it was a puzzler. Until you examined it. Then it started to make sense. A Twitter post on Sunday night showed Mr. Trump in the middle of the longest federal government shutdown in American history reveling in the lurid revelations surrounding the impending divorce of Jeff Bezos and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos. In attacking the founder and chief executive of Amazon, President Trump praised The National Enquirer for publishing an article in its Jan. 28 edition with the all caps headline: "BEZOS' DIVORCE! THE CHEATING PHOTOS THAT ENDED HIS MARRIAGE." In the same tweet which made use of the sarcasm and schoolyard style nicknaming that has endeared him to his base of supporters the president saw fit to insult The Washington Post, the newspaper Mr. Bezos has owned since 2013. "So sorry to hear the news about Jeff Bozo being taken down by a competitor whose reporting, I understand, is far more accurate than the reporting in his lobbyist newspaper, the Amazon Washington Post." Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. Bezos, Amazon and the newspaper since his presidential campaign, suggesting in the most un Republican of ways and falsely that Mr. Bezos uses the newspaper as a lobbying arm to stave off higher taxes and antitrust enforcement for Amazon. To hammer home his unfounded theory, the president has referred to the paper as the Amazon Washington Post more than a dozen times since 2015, although Mr. Bezos, not the company, is the owner. That Mr. Trump would slap a childish sobriquet on a man he perceives as a threat is not news. (See Schiff, Adam, whose name the president spun into a vulgarity in a November tweet.) Nor is it news that he went after The Post a newspaper that has been a thorough and aggressive chronicler of his presidency and the various investigations it has drawn. The news contained in the tweet on Sunday was something that, at first glance, may not seem like news at all: his praise for The Enquirer. Sure, The Enquirer turned itself into an effective cheering squad and opposition research shop for Mr. Trump before, during and after the presidential campaign. As part of the effort, the tabloid's owner, American Media Inc., arranged to effectively silence Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump, with a 150,000 payout. And David J. Pecker, the chairman of American Media, was famously close to Mr. Trump. In recent weeks, Mr. Pecker has emerged as a cooperating witness in the federal investigation that prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are pursuing into the schemes to pay six figures to Ms. McDougal and Stormy Daniels, another woman whose story of an affair with Mr. Trump was buried by the company. 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 the Sunday night tweet, Mr. Trump was effectively vouching for the credibility of Mr. Pecker and his newspaper whose name in the Trump era hasn't exactly been equated with accuracy. To wit, Hillary Clinton is still alive, proving that The Enquirer's campaign year reports of her imminent death were a bit of an exaggeration. Mr. Pecker's word is of high value to prosecutors and highly dangerous to Mr. Trump. Mr. Pecker provided vital corroboration for the story told by Mr. Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, when he pleaded guilty last year to arranging the payments to Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal. Mr. Cohen said he had arranged them with the full knowledge that they were equivalent to illegal campaign disbursements, because they were intended to help Mr. Trump win the election. He also said he had made the payments at Mr. Trump's direction, essentially accusing his former boss of being the driving force behind the whole thing. In December, Mr. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison on those charges and others. In a court filing provided ahead of that sentencing, the New York prosecutors disclosed the extent of American Media's cooperation. The company's willingness to help is why there have been no charges against those involved with the running of the tabloid, prosecutors said. The cooperation of American Media officers was highly significant, because Mr. Cohen made for a flawed witness. His long track record of lies meant anything he said to law enforcement officials would require corroboration, if it were to be of any real value. After months of public denials that the payment to Ms. McDougal had been coordinated with Mr. Trump or Mr. Cohen, American Media flipped the script, telling prosecutors that it had coughed up the cash "in cooperation, consultation and concert with, and at the request and suggestion of, one or more members or agents of" Mr. Trump's campaign. The publisher also explained why it had done so so that Ms. McDougal "did not publicize damaging allegations" and "thereby influence that election." Further placing Mr. Trump at the center of the scheme, American Media told prosecutors that all the way back in August 2015, Mr. Pecker had met with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen and "offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided." Mr. Cohen was Mr. Trump's point man in the effort. That helped bolster the argument that Mr. Trump was effectively an unindicted co conspirator, making Mr. Cohen, in Trump parlance as well as that of Al Capone "a rat." That's why the unreported speculation on cable news and social media last week that The Enquirer's coverage of Mr. Bezos had been cooked up between Mr. Trump and American Media seemed out of whack to those of us who have covered the story. If facts come to light confirming that such a collaboration existed, it will be another jaw dropper of a story. But for now, sans evidence, it seems that The Enquirer was fulfilling its traditional role of digging up dirt on the rich and famous when it went after Mr. Bezos. The president had other reasons to compliment the paper, however. American Media's agreement with prosecutors extends for three years and Mr. Pecker, as we've reported, is sitting on decades of Trump dirt that it refrained from publishing during the campaign. That means that he remains someone the president may want to keep on his good side, despite their recent differences. It's worth noting that Mr. Trump has not publicly called Mr. Pecker a "co rat," at least so far. And there is this key dictum of Mr. Trump's brand of politics: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, if only for a news cycle. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
The art installation on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is always a much anticipated rite of spring. This year, the Pakistani artist Huma Bhabha has been selected to create a site specific work for the roof garden, the sixth in a series of commissions for the outdoor space, which will be on view from April 17 through Oct. 28. "Huma Bhabha's work is powerful and arresting, informed by a deep and sophisticated engagement with art history, architectural space, an interest in popular iconographies and keenly responsive to political narratives, both historic and current," said Shanay Jhaveri, an assistant curator of South Asian art at the Met, "which makes her the right artist at this time for the commission." For the multipart installation, "We Come in Peace," Ms. Bhabha has "choreographed a dramatic mise en scene" of monumental sculptures, Mr. Jhaveri said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
LONDON Hector Sants, the chief of Britain's financial regulator, pledged last year to reverse his agency's reputation as a toothless tiger. He wanted to spread fear across the financial services industry by stepping up the aggressiveness of its inquiries and by pursuing more prominent fraud cases. His opportunity has arrived, and its name is Goldman Sachs. On Tuesday, his agency, the Financial Services Authority, started a formal investigation of Goldman Sachs. It said it was working closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed suit against Goldman last week claiming that the firm defrauded investors in a mortgage related deal. The bank, which is based in New York but has large operations in London, reiterated its response to the S.E.C. suit by denying any wrongdoing. It issued a statement saying, "We believe the S.E.C.'s charges are completely unfounded in law and fact and look forward to cooperating with the F.S.A." The Goldman investigation comes at a pivotal time for the British regulator. The F.S.A.'s reputation, like its American counterpart's, was damaged badly by the financial crisis. The Conservative opposition party, which holds a slight lead in national polls, said it would dissolve the agency if it won the general elections in two weeks because of its mistakes ahead of and during the financial crisis. The pressure to deliver results is heightened further because ABN Amro was one of the banks that lost money in the Goldman deal under scrutiny. The bank was acquired in 2007 by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is now controlled by the British government after a series of bailouts. London has also attracted attention from around the world as the birthplace of many of the exotic mortgage related investments, created by American and foreign banks alike, that set off the financial crisis. Even before the Goldman investigation, the F.S.A. had embarked on an unusually aggressive campaign involving dawn raids, arrests and large fines to crack down on insider trading and repair its reputation. "The F.S.A. was looked upon as a huge bureaucracy, handing out huge discussion papers and starting huge procedures resulting in relatively small fines," said Rowan Bosworth Davies, a fraud prevention consultant and a former fraud squad detective at New Scotland Yard. "Now it's turning the other way," he said. "There is a lot of public anger and political support to go after white collar crime, and there is also the concern at the F.S.A. that it could be dissolved. They want to prove that they are tough crime fighters." When the F.S.A. was created as an independent agency in 1997, its focus was on regulating financial services firms rather than investigating white collar crime. Fines were relatively small, and the regulator's officers were known for their friendly relationship with executives at banks they were supposed to watch. Hector Sants, chief executive officer for the Financial Services Authority, in Britain. But that started to change about three years ago when Mr. Sants, a former Credit Suisse banker, and Margaret Cole, who joined the agency from the law firm White Case in 2005, decided to crack down on insider trading and market abuse. Since then Ms. Cole, the agency's head of enforcement, has more than doubled her staff and recruited more experienced lawyers. She has also worked more closely with law enforcement and with the Serious Organized Crime Agency, which is known for going after drug lords and those involved in human trafficking. The F.S.A. has increased fines to PS34.9 million ( 53.2 million) from PS5.3 million ( 8.1 million), and Ms. Cole increased her budget to PS66 million ( 101 million) from PS38 million ( 58 million). And she borrowed tactics from her American counterparts, like offering plea deals. In 2008, she started her "credible deterrence strategy" to go after "criminals in suits masquerading as City professionals." The F.S.A. would no longer shy away from filing criminal cases and would increasingly go after individuals rather than companies. "We decided the biggest deterrent, especially for insider dealing offenses, would be the risk of going to jail," Tracey McDermott, the agency's head of wholesale enforcement, said in an interview Tuesday. The changes are becoming more visible. At 5:30 a.m. on March 23, on a quiet, tree lined street in Oxford, a handful of agents with the F.S.A. and the organized crime agency arrived at the home of Julian Rifat, a trader at Moore Capital in London. Mr. Rifat, who turned 41 that day, was questioned and arrested on suspicion of insider trading. Before the day was over, Ms. Cole had sent 143 agents to 16 addresses across London and the south of England. In all, six people were questioned, including a Deutsche Bank employee. The arrested people were released on bail and the regulator has yet to file formal charges. Mr. Rifat's lawyer declined to comment. Some analysts said the regulator's new approach was not without risks. Prosecuting criminal cases is much harder than pursuing civil suits because for criminal matters the F.S.A. needs to prove that a defendant knowingly passed on insider information. "If the F.S.A. takes these cases forward and then loses them, they would get a real rough ride in the public," said Philip Parish, a partner at the law firm Lovells in London. The F.S.A. is running out of time to repair its image. If the Conservative Party and its leader, David Cameron, win the election, they may abolish the agency on the ground that it failed to adequately regulate banks ahead of the financial crisis, and merge its main supervisory division with the Bank of England. By contrast, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Labor Party leader who is running for re election and who created the F.S.A. when he was chancellor of the exchequer, has said he would widen the agency's powers to allow it to "quash" bankers' contracts if they encourage reckless risk taking. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Global Business |
Each week, we review the week's news, offering analysis about the most important developments in the tech industry. Greetings from San Francisco. I'm Kate Conger, your reporter for this week's newsletter. Lawmakers say there is plenty of blame to go around Lawmakers and academics agree: They have not done enough to curb major technology companies from rising to dominance. On Capitol Hill this past week, lawmakers accused the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department of letting the companies off with wrist slaps and pressed them to be more aggressive. And at the University of Chicago, where academics have for decades set the tone for antitrust regulation, one professor has been wondering if they got it wrong, my colleague Daisuke Wakabayashi reported. Regulators and researchers were unprepared for the rocket ship growth of Facebook and Google, and the companies have successfully argued that they're providing a benefit to consumers by offering services at little or no cost. Historically, that has been enough to keep them out of antitrust trouble; regulators usually look for signs that monopolies are exploiting their power to skim more money from consumers. The University of Chicago helped shape this ideology, while the F.T.C. enforced it. Now the consensus is clearly shifting. Experts are beginning to believe that tech companies aren't healthy for their users, even if they don't cost much money to use. "Our antitrust laws cannot do anything against these types of monopolies," said Luigi Zingales, a finance professor at the University of Chicago, during a convocation address in June. "The world has changed, and inevitably the Chicago position has to change, too." After months of pressure from a group of employees, Amazon increased its commitment to fighting climate change. A day before more than 1,500 of its employees planned to walk out of their offices in protest of Amazon's climate policies, the company said it would become carbon neutral by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris climate agreement schedule. To meet its climate goals, Amazon will start migrating to electric trucks for deliveries. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive, sad the progression of climate change had become "dire." Still, he resisted several of the demands that his workers had made. Employees wanted Amazon to reach zero emissions by 2030, sever its cloud computing contracts with oil and gas companies, and freeze donations to politicians who deny climate change is happening. But Mr. Bezos said he would not consider cutting ties with companies that used Amazon's cloud technology to find and extract fossil fuels. However, he did say the company would take a "hard look" at its political donations to determine whether any funds were routed to "active climate deniers." "We know that the Paris agreement, by itself, won't get us to a livable world," Amazon employees involved in the walkout said in a statement. "As long as Amazon uses its power to help oil and gas companies discover and extract more fossil fuel, donates to climate denying politicians and think tanks, and enables the oppression of climate refugees, employees will keep raising our voices." In a spot of good news, Apple introduced its new iPhones. The iPhone 11 comes in a variety of colors, adds a third camera for better nighttime shots and pet portraits, and provides the faster speeds and longer battery life we've come to expect from every smartphone update. But our personal tech reporter, Brian X. Chen, cautioned against whipping out your credit card to preorder Apple's latest device. Sure, the phone is nice. But the older phones are nice, too. There's not a compelling reason to go out and upgrade your phone every two years, he argued in his review of the iPhone 11. Rather than a two year upgrade cycle, Brian recommended getting a new phone only if your current one is more than five years old. If you can't restrain yourself from buying at least one new device, Apple also released a new iPod Touch. The iPod Touch hadn't received an update in about four years, and it's a good option for parents who want their child to have a device with limited abilities. "It's not about restricting; it's more about knowing what types of technology they have access to and setting a limit on how much access they have," Janine Anderson, a mother of two from Racine, Wis., told The Times. None A Wall Street Journal profile of WeWork's chief executive, Adam Neumann, is absolutely bananas, and you must read it. There's a cereal box stuffed full of drugs and stashed on a private plane and that's only the beginning. None Speaking of WeWork, a start up's entire staff was locked out of its co working space by a rogue umbrella, and the experience went viral on Twitter. After several days, the employees finally managed to break back in. The umbrella's owner recounted an oral history of the experience to Vice. None More and more cafes have swapped out their cash registers for iPads, confronting consumers with a touch screen full of tipping options and setting off a heated debate about when and how much consumers ought to tip. None The M.I.T. Media Lab meltdown continues, with a prominent Harvard professor arguing that taking money from disgraced donors like Jeffrey Epstein might, in some circumstances, be the right move. And the free software pioneer Richard Stallman has stepped down from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after making comments defending an associate of Mr. Epstein's. None Vaping once seemed like a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, but a string of mysterious deaths have led to increased scrutiny of vaping technology. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
With more people spending more time at home these days, dining chairs are getting a workout as seating for meals, but also as improvised places to sit while working or home schooling. In the face of such a multiplicity of demands, durability and comfort are at least as important as style. "Most people don't change their dining chairs very often, so the durability of the materials and quality of construction are very important," said Dolores Suarez, who founded Dekar Design in Manhattan with Caroline Grant. "It's something people should look forward to using for many years." Ms. Suarez and Ms. Grant have researched a number of hard wearing dining chairs over the years, while designing the interiors of New York restaurants like Claudette, Bobo and Rosemary's, as well as private homes. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
As Austin is to Texas, Tucson is to Arizona. In this outspoken university town, artists, intellectuals and athletes share their passions for good food and outdoor fun. In Tucson's case, its location in the southern Sonoran Desert divides two sections of scenic Saguaro National Park where cactuses reside in multi limbed groves. Two years ago, Unesco cited Tucson as the nation's first City of Gastronomy, highlighting its mix of Native American, colonial Spanish and border Mexican influences. That recognition seems only to have lit the fuse on new and adventurous breweries and distilleries as well as restaurants. With challenging urban hikes, other, more remote, trails nearby, and a new bike share system, Tucson makes for a calorically balanced weekend. Reliably dry weather and a variety of terrain has made Tucson, newly home to a bike share system, popular with cyclists. For an overview of the city from the saddle, take an introductory ride with Tucson Bike Tours ( 50). The owner, Jimmy Bultman, provides bright orange upright Civia bikes, helmets and commentary on city history and culture as he guides cyclists through neighborhoods of vintage adobe homes that ring downtown. The route surveys Tucson's history pre and post railroad arrival in 1880, when the city transformed from a sleepy town with a Spanish fort into a shipping center. Risk adobe envy in restored residential quarters such as Presidio and Barrio Viejo and cruise through the palm filled campus of the University of Arizona. To beat the reliable heat, Tucson is an early rising town. Join the jocks in a hike up Tumamoc Hill, an 860 acre ecological preserve operated by the University of Arizona and Pima County that functions as a public gym (free). Some run the 1.5 mile route that switchbacks uphill, but most find the 700 foot rise aerobically demanding enough to keep to a brisk hiking pace. A series of transmission towers and signs that say "Stop Walking" mark the top, but the views of Tucson and its surrounding mountains plus the groves of saguaros picketing the hillside help distract from the challenge of the ascent. With whitewashed walls and a brick paved courtyard, the Mercado San Agustin resembles a Spanish colonial era market, though it was built in 2010 to 21st century environmental standards. The mix of restaurants and retailers includes the popular La Estrella Bakery, known for Mexican pastries and Presta Coffee. For a fuller meal, order the substantial chilaquiles ( 9) from Seis Kitchen. After eating on the patio, browse the shops at the market, including Mast for locally made leather bags and jewelry, and San Augustin Trading Company for handmade leather moccasins. To gain a fuller sense of Tucson's agricultural heritage one of the key reasons the city won its Unesco designation make a stop at the Mission Garden. Open on Saturdays, the nonprofit four acre urban garden recreates a walled Spanish Colonial mission garden with desert adapted orchards and vegetable beds that span local cultures from the ancient Hohokam people onward, representing more than 4,000 years of cultivation in the area. Explore the city's bohemian side along North 4th Avenue, where a series of independent boutiques and restaurants line the blocks between roughly East 8th and East 4th Streets. Spacious Antigone Books combines reading recommendations with gifts like notebooks and children's toys. Tiny Town Gallery sells art prints, cards and T shirts. Pop Cycle deals crafty goods from ceramic mugs to jewelry featuring mini horseshoes. Hit pause at Boca Tacos. The chef and owner, Maria Mazon, makes everything from the tortillas to the salsas, of which there are generally four daily, from scratch. Don't miss the bistek ( 3.60), featuring beef simmered in a savory ranchero sauce, and the Don Pancho, chopped steak atop a crunchy tortilla ( 3.55). Among its many strengths, which includes the high tech Mirror Lab producing massive telescope mirrors, the University of Arizona operates two small but significant museums. The photographers Ansel Adams and Harry Callahan are among the luminaries who have donated their archives to the Center for Creative Photography. Its ground floor gallery (free) features rotating exhibitions from its archives. Across the street the University of Arizona Museum of Art (admission, 8) holds an impressive Renaissance collection as well as a modern collection including a custom lit Mark Rothko painting and a work by Jackson Pollock done on the back of a game board. The skies above the southern Arizona desert attract stargazers both amateur and professional (Kitt Peak National Observatory is about an hour's drive from town). To gain an appreciation for what's up there, visit Flandrau Science Center Planetarium (admission 16). Shows projected in the newly renovated theater explore the solar system in general, the night sky above Tucson specifically and sometimes veer off into the psychedelic arena with a Pink Floyd soundtrack. Don't miss the basement where the University of Arizona Mineral Museum houses fantastically colorful rocks with names like Variscite and Mimetite, as well as pieces of meteors. Ten years ago, downtown Tucson had a handful of restaurants and a lot of parking space. Now the equation has been flipped and the city's most walkable neighborhood makes it easy to taste and tour on foot. Dine on the Baja gardeners tostada ( 12), grilled quail with roasted tomatoes ( 25) and a serrano infused gin Vietnam ( 9.50) at Downtown Kitchen Cocktails from the chef Janos Wilder. Then take a digestif tour of some of the city's more interesting cocktail bars, including the Tough Luck Club in a basement once used as a morgue. Have a gin and port Tin Lizzy ( 9) and a seat in a pew at the Owls Club lodged in a former funeral home. The raucous Hotel Congress, earsplitting as a hotel but essential on the night life circuit, offers four bars, a spacious outdoor patio and even a coffee shop for late night tacos ( 3). | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
DOCTOR SLEEP (2019) Stream on HBO Max. This film adaptation of Stephen King's 2013 novel of the same name offers a look at the horrors that Danny Torrance encounters after his ill fated stay at the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining." Danny (played by Ewan McGregor), now an orderly at a home for the elderly, has managed to keep those old demons at bay by harnessing special psychic abilities. He teams up with a young girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran), who possesses similar gifts, to protect her from a secretive cabal that kills traumatized children like her. "'Doctor Sleep' is a not a Stephen King scares the pants off you kind of movie," A.O. Scott wrote in his New York Times review. "It's a Stephen King invites you to ponder the nature of evil kind of movie." GLOBAL GOAL: UNITE FOR OUR FUTURE THE CONCERT 8 p.m. on NBC. The coronavirus pandemic has placed a halt on many live concerts and events. But some of the world's biggest performers will come together to raise more awareness about the pandemic specifically the communities that are disproportionately affected by the disease. Hosted by Dwayne Johnson, this two hour special will feature performances from Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Shakira, Usher, J Balvin, Quavo and others, as well as special appearances by Olivia Colman, Charlize Theron, Chris Rock, David Beckham and Billy Porter. The concert is part of a larger campaign from Global Citizen and the European Commission that's aimed at supporting the development and distribution of tests, treatments and vaccines against Covid 19, and ensuring their access to vulnerable populations. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
From taking cooking classes in the home of a local to learning traditional crafts from Indigenous people, much of travel up until March 2020 was all about connecting with others. Now, in the Covid 19 era, travel is fraught with the demands of social distancing and hygiene. As people start thinking about taking trips, either by themselves, or with close family or friends, travel companies are pivoting with new offerings and ways to offer distance from the crowd. In pursuit of the great outdoors Pre pandemic, less than 20 percent of Americans spent time outdoors more than once a week, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. Since then, adult bike sales have risen 121 percent nationally; in Vermont, sales of fishing licenses have gone up 50 percent. In a recent McKinsey survey on how behaviors are changing because of Covid 19, 18 percent say they are spending more time outdoors, where transmission rates of the virus are believed to be lower. Now, even endeavors that seem to mandate a team are offering self guided options. Rowing The World is introducing self guided rowing tours for individuals and small groups in Seattle, Sarasota, Fla., northern Michigan and Maine. Llamas help carry the loads on picnic hikes and multi day treks with Paragon Guides in Vail, Colo. This summer, the company will continue to offer the guided trips, but those who seek to avoid all human contact can rent a llama and go it alone (llama rentals start at 100 a day; lunch hikes cost 490 for two). Camping where no one will find you It can be hard to get a prime camping spot in summer through Recreation.gov, the reservation website that represents 12 federal agencies managing public land, including the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. The anticipated surge in domestic outdoor travel may only tighten the squeeze. One solution: Seek private land. Websites and apps like Hipcamp and Campspace connect campers with landowners. "Getting outside is essential for human health and happiness, and in this current moment in time of stress and anxiety, the outdoors are more important than ever," said Alyssa Ravasio, the chief executive of Hipcamp, which manages bookings at more than 300,000 sites in the United States. About a third of the sites have canvas tents, yurts or tree houses. Another service, Tentrr, offers sites on private land with glamping style furnished tents and outhouses. Sites range from a brewery in the Finger Lakes region of New York (from 145) to a farm in Tennessee (from 75). "I don't want the average camper who has all the stuff," said Ken Ford, who recently built a Tentrr site on family property near Wevertown, N.Y., in the Adirondacks ( 150 a night). "I want a person who drives up in a motorcycle with nothing, and it's turnkey." Hand sanitizer has long been on the buses of group trips. Now those buses will be scrubbed, their occupancy reduced and new routes established as tour companies like Collette and G Adventures reboot post pandemic, which includes offering generous cancellation policies. Active tour companies like Backroads think naturally socially distanced forms of travel such as biking and hiking lend themselves to current demands. In July, Backroads plans to resume trips in the United States in places like Sedona, Ariz., and the Florida Keys. The company is taking the temperature of all travelers at the start of a trip, reducing group sizes to an average of about 10 and planning fewer group meals. For some companies that are looking ahead to international travel getting its footing back, the crisis offers an itinerary reset. Geographic Expeditions plans on altering its walking tours to avoid crowded destinations in places like Japan. "It's a challenge," said Don George, who will guide three of the company's trips to Japan, including Kyoto, next spring, "but it's also exciting to think about off the beaten path places that we can visit that will illuminate the spirit and soul of Kyoto." By renting cabins, villas, R.V.s or houseboats, small groups can practice social distancing in isolation. Families and friends who decide to travel together in the near future will find resorts and services scaling to suit them. When the prospects for event travel fell off the coronavirus cliff, the owners of Cedar Lakes Estate, a 500 acre compound in New York's Hudson Valley that normally relies on weddings and meetings in summer, decided to pivot from catering to large groups to reopening as a resort that offers plenty of social distancing. Now, travelers can rent its 18 cottages, which sleep two to 12 people, and enjoy mountain hikes, sports like volleyball and tennis, and swimming in two lakes. Guests order meals to be delivered and arrange activities via a concierge using text or video conferencing (rates from 1,180 a week). In June, the New York City based travel agency Embark Beyond started Camp Embark, a private camp program based at luxury resorts from Rhode Island to Montana, with a dedicated camp counselor organizing children's activities (prices from about 1,200 a night, plus 1,000 to 2,000 a week for camp counselors). Adventure International, which specializes in private tours to places like Mount Kilimanjaro, has found that interest in trips in the United States is surging. Six days at its private glamping site near Yellowstone National Park, including meals, excursions and a guide, starts at 2,900 a person. Roadies, which offers itineraries in top of the line buses modeled after rock star tours, is offering the coaches to private groups of up to 10, spending a week visiting U.S. Open golf courses, ski resorts in the Rockies or California wineries (prices start around 4,000 a person). The couple's bubble just got cozier Images of empty beaches and sunset drinks for two: In many ways, the travel industry already caters to couples with the promise of shutting everyone else out. "We've been doing social distancing for years. It's what we've built our brand on," said Adam Stewart, the deputy chairman of Sandals Resorts, which operates 15 all inclusive properties in six Caribbean countries. "Romance requires privacy." The resorts, most of which are reopening this summer, cater to couples with two person soaking tubs, hammocks for two and private dinners on the beach. When the resorts reopen, their restaurant tables will be spaced farther apart. Elevator trips will be limited to one couple. Thirty passenger buses that transfer guests from the airport will take a maximum of 10. Beach parties with rum drinks and reggae remain but, added Mr. Stewart, "We will not be having the conga line." Restricted to employees and guests only, all inclusive resorts offer more privacy. "With everything being contained to the resort itself, I truly don't have any fears," said Bobbie Mergenthaler, a home health care worker in Kouts, Ind., who booked a weeklong trip with her husband in November to celebrate their anniversary at the all inclusive Secrets Cap Cana Resort Spa in the Dominican Republic. Resorts consisting of stand alone guest quarters, from the high end Bluefields Bay Villas in Jamaica that come with their own chef (villas start at 980) to the glamping tents at Collective Vail in Colorado (from 249) and the budget friendly tiny house rentals at Canoe Bay Escape Village in Wisconsin (from 125), say they are naturally configured for the Covid 19 travel era. "The homes are not near others, you have little to zero contact with other people and you're in a wilderness setting where you can decompress," said Dan Dobrowolski, the owner of Canoe Bay Escape Village, adding that most summer weekends are sold out. In May, moderators of the Facebook page Solo Travel Society asked their 260,000 some members, "Has the pandemic changed your outlook on how you will travel solo going forward?" Within three hours, nearly 200 responses ran the gamut from fear of getting the virus on a flight to impatience with travel restrictions. But most hewed in the resilient direction of Chris Engelman of Ottawa, Ill., who wrote, "Traveling makes me happy. I'm going to continue to live a life of joy." "People are looking at road trips in your bubble, in your car," said Janice Waugh, the founder of the website SoloTravelerWorld.com who also runs Solo Travel Society on Facebook where members are also talking about solo camping and self guided walking and cycling trips. Solo travelers often join tours, and companies like Tauck have catered to them by dropping single supplements on some trips. But with trips abroad on hold because of border restrictions, and group trips a potential health threat, Audley Travel, a custom tour operator, said the private trips it has designed for solos have doubled since mid March, indicating a shift away from group departures. For summer and fall, Caren Kabot, the founder of Solo Escapes, plans to replace small group trips to places like Morocco with weekend trips in the rural Northeast where many of her clients can drive until they get comfortable with the safety of air travel. Hiking, boating and culinary activities may be on the agenda. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
"Killers Anonymous" is the kind of movie that makes critics despair and otherwise decent actors rue their involvement. Those with the highest name recognition, however (Gary Oldman, Jessica Alba), mostly keep to the periphery, maintaining a judicious distance from the movie's soft, sticky center. That would be an excruciatingly lengthy meeting of Killers Anonymous, a support group for assassins modeled along the lines of A.A. Seated in a circle, six odious lowlifes recount their murderous memories while their leader, Joanna (MyAnna Buring), strives to control the free floating hostility. As they yammer through meandering monologues featuring soy milk and the C.I.A., the director, Martin Owen, tarts up the tedium with stylized lighting and quirkily staged flashbacks. Cutaways to a character known only as The Man (Oldman) a sort of universal sponsor release us from the members' solipsism, if not from our pain. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
The landscape has changed since the first Powerpuff Girls series began in 1998, when TV was the focus and brand extensions came later. "There was too much linear thinking in the past, with less planning and more reaction," Ms. Miller said. Now, the Powerpuff Girls will have a slow rollout and pop up in a variety of places in a runway show, for instance, and on mobile devices. "The last time, we launched a show," Ms. Miller said. "This time, we are launching a franchise." She says the strategy has evolved because viewers are seeking more engagement. "The difference between a fan and an audience is that fans want to do other things: play games, buy products and participate on social media," she said. This time, the digital world will play a bigger role for the Powerpuff Girls, including appearances on the Cartoon Network Anything app, a network with 15 second videos, quick games and other bite size activities. Even though only micro content is offered on the app, the average use time is 10 minutes, Ms. Miller said. The digital approach is being used for other Cartoon Network properties, including "OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo," which made its debut as a mobile game and was later opened up to hackers at Game Jam, a gathering of artists and developers. The network is also pushing into virtual reality with its "Adventure Time" series. The network's rethinking of its properties involves collaboration with content creators and licensing partners like Lego and Spin Master, Ms. Miller said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Plates, bowls and other serving dishes are critical to the success of any dinner party whether they're lined up neatly along a buffet or scattered around the dining room. "I always, always, always try to have some family style dining going on," said Bronson van Wyck, a New York event planner whose book "Born to Party, Forced to Work" was published by Phaidon in October. "It goes to that idea of the basic human need that we have to break bread with each other." And the key to choosing the right serving dishes, Mr. Van Wyck said, has to do with visual balance. If you have an elaborate floral centerpiece on your table, for example, plain serving dishes are the way to go. On the other hand, "if you don't have anything in the center that's beautiful or catches the eye," he said, "you'd better have some great serving dishes" with compelling shapes, materials or patterns. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
No matter how much distance there is between yourself and seventh grade, that outcast feeling never really disappears: Dumbo lives inside us all. That realization takes on special resonance when you're part of the audience of "Dumbo" a flawed new performance piece by Bailey Nolan, presented at Jack and are on the receiving end of a botched hula hoop trick or being pelted by miniature candy bars. Dumbo, a sweet, sad and ridiculed elephant with big ears, discovers that his unsightly appendages are actually his gift they allow him to fly and becomes the star of the circus. Ms. Nolan and her performance collective, BabySkinGlove, tell the story from the point of view of Dumbo's mother (Ms. Nolan, with a winning under the breath sass), a retired showgirl. Seated high on a ladder, she first appears with blue lips and outlandish ears, approximating something Bob Mackie might have created for Carol Burnett. That visual could have been taken further, like many elements in this chaotic glitter bomb of a show, which is too derivative to produce much pleasure. Just about everything falls short of expectations. The performance artist Ann Liv Young, with whom Ms. Nolan often dances, is thanked in the program: the similarities to Ms. Young's work are undeniable and don't do Ms. Nolan any favors, from a table of objects for sale to the use of pop songs and the cast members. Where, in this mess and I love a good mess! is the real Ms. Nolan? | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
As New York City's luxury buildings wage battle over who can deliver the most outsize amenities to residents, some are expanding their focus to include the doormen who quietly usher in residents, handle the packages and hail the cabs. For older buildings in neighborhoods that used to be solidly middle class, like the Upper West Side, keeping up with luxury standards also means rethinking how staff members should treat tenants. Newer, well heeled residents often expect customer service more commonly found in a five star hotel than a prewar apartment building. Gone are the days of the doorman who doubled as a buddy at the desk, chatting about the Yankees game or asking how the children are doing. Residents expect white glove service in buildings that, a generation ago, were much less fussy. To keep up with changing demands, some older upscale buildings are training staff members, updating uniforms, installing concierge desks and adding high tech communication systems. For the roughly 10,000 doormen working in 3,200 buildings in the city, the changes in recent years have reset the relationships they have with the residents who pass them by each day. "Younger people with money are moving into buildings," said Frank Monaco, a retired doorman who also worked as a representative for Local 32BJ, the service workers union, "and they want to make it a white glove building. One of the things I hear from management is they want the staff to be very attentive. They don't want them to be distracted by reading the paper. In the past it was different. People were a little bit more laid back, but that's changing." Doormen often start out as porters or handymen and work their way up through a building, staying there for decades. Unlike staff members in the hotel industry, which has long invested heavily in customer service training, doormen are generally trained in house. But many newer luxury buildings have embraced the hotel industry's hospitality model not always to the delight of doormen, some of whom have only begrudgingly participated in training sessions. The Related Companies, which owns and operates luxury residential high rises, spends more than 100,000 a year on employee training and spent more than 1 million when it overhauled its training program a decade ago, according to the company. New hires take a weeklong course to learn how to color code residents based on their personality type. A red coded resident needs to be validated and heard, whereas a blue resident simply wants the facts. Building staff members wear ear buds, so that if, for example, a porter spots a resident leaving his apartment, he can radio the front desk to suggest that someone hail a cab. Residents can sign up for a service called the Invisible Butler, for watering plants, supervising the housekeeper and even packing and shipping items that a resident forgot to bring on a trip. "It really is like walking into the Ritz Carlton," said Gus Michael Farinella, who lives at One MiMa Tower, where a three bedroom rental apartment was recently listed for 22,995 a month on Streeteasy.com. "I feel like I live in a hotel, but it's home." When he moved in, Mr. Farinella was greeted with a bottle of Dom Perignon. Residents of buildings whose staffs have had training programs describe eager, attentive service. Seven months ago, after they sold their five bedroom apartment on LaGuardia Place for 5.725 million, Richard Allan and his wife, Lee, moved to the Strathmore, a Related high rise rental on the Upper East Side, where service outshone the lackluster treatment they had experienced in other buildings. The couple enjoy the newfound attention. Tar Beaty noticed a marked improvement when he moved to 201 West 85th Street, a rental owned by Argo Real Estate, which has recently retrained its staff. "Compared to the old building, this is a gem," Mr. Beaty said. At his previous residence, also on the Upper West Side, the doormen paid little attention to the residents and instead chatted with friends. But a one bedroom apartment at his new building rents for nearly 3,000 a month, significantly more than the 1,100 a month he paid for his previous one bedroom. Rising housing costs certainly contribute to changing expectations. The average sale price for a condominium in Manhattan was 1.78 million in 2013, up from 795,911 a decade ago, according to CityRealty. The average rent in Manhattan was 3,797 a month in November, according to MNS. Older buildings are also stepping up their training, at least in part to help maintain property values. In 2013, the number of buildings that requested customer service training from the service workers' union rose to 35, from 10 in 2012. At the Churchill, a midcentury co op in Murray Hill, the board recently trained its 30 employees. "It's a 45 year old building that needs to keep up with newer buildings," said Ronald Kaslow, the president of the co op board, which also invested in new uniforms. Although about half the staff initially resisted the training, Mr. Kaslow said he noticed "a dramatic change" once they had completed it. Staff members were more patient, friendlier and more service oriented. "We always put on a good show," he said. "Now we put on a better show." Since his retirement last spring, Mr. Monaco has offered customer service training for Brown Harris Stevens and Argo Real Estate. At a recent Argo seminar at the Beacon Hotel on the Upper West Side, more than 100 doormen sat in folding chairs listening to Mr. Monaco lay out the new rules of engagement. First on the list: Residents are not your friends. In an atmosphere that was at times boisterous, doormen expressed frustration with the demands. "They treat us like we're their personal slaves," shouted one audience member. Several complained of residents with outsize expectations, asking doormen to park cars like a valet; accusing them of stealing jewelry; refusing to open a door for themselves under any circumstances; or expecting instant results to complicated problems. "We have residents who are just as bad as children," lamented another audience member. One doorman shared a story of two tenants nearly coming to blows over their dogs. As the dogs started fighting in the lobby, the residents began a fight of their own. One of the residents demanded that the doorman come to her defense and help fend off her neighbor. To all these complaints, Mr. Monaco, who has an earring, a shock of black hair and a graying soul patch on his chin, offered the same response: Keep your cool, keep your distance and call your boss if there is a problem. "You are the captain, you are the general of the lobby," he said. "You are in charge, regardless of what they say." As residents get wealthier, the divide between the doormen and the people they serve grows. Doormen are typically working class immigrants who live in the outer boroughs, according to the book "Doormen" (University of Chicago Press, 2005) by Peter Bearman. The average doorman's salary is 44,387 a year, according to the service workers' union. By comparison, the median annual income on the Upper West Side from 2008 to 2010 was 97,087, according to the city Planning Department. "The environment has changed tremendously," said Kyle Bragg, the secretary treasurer for Local 32BJ. "The vast majority of these buildings housed middle class folks, and now they are home to the super well off, and so the demands have changed, the interaction between members and this new tenancy has changed." Wealthier residents may have different expectations than their middle class predecessors. Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology who studies wealth, class and power at the University of California, Berkeley, theorized that "with increased income disparity and class distinction, there is this sense of entitlement and disconnect and a narcissistic desire to be catered to." In addition to offering the training seminars, Argo has designed staff uniforms and set up an email work order system allowing staff members to alert residents to package deliveries or update them on repairs. The company is considering adding the system in nondoorman buildings. In one building, elevator operators became doormen after the elevators were automated. The newly minted team was trained to interact with the residents in a more formal manner, according to Julie Zuraw, the chief operating officer of Argo, who said, "We had to instill a more upscale mind set about how they approached their work." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
BERLIN Germany's lower house of Parliament approved the bailout package for Cyprus on Thursday, bringing to an end to months of debate in Berlin. Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance minister, warned lawmakers ahead of the vote that despite its tiny size, Cyprus could still endanger the broader economy of the European Union if its troubles were ignored. "We must prevent that the problems in Cyprus become problems for other countries," Mr. Schauble said. He added that if Cyprus were allowed to go bankrupt, there was a "significant risk" of contagion to Greece and other vulnerable countries in the euro zone. As expected, a clear majority of 487 out of 602 lawmakers casting ballots voted in favor of the package, which includes EUR9 billion, or 11.7 billion, in contributions from European Union members. The International Monetary Fund is to contribute an additional EUR1 billion. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Global Business |
It may be the impossible dream: Terry Gilliam has been trying to get his comic fantasy film "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" made for 18 years. A 2000 production with Johnny Depp was aborted after it was plagued by floods, illnesses and financial issues. Its troubled making supplied the material for a 2002 documentary, "Lost in La Mancha." After several more starts and stops, the movie went into production again last year with Jonathan Pryce starring as a modern day man who claims to be Don Quixote and Adam Driver as his would be Sancho Panza, a cynical TV commercials director. Now the international trailer has been released, but that still doesn't mean the film is headed to theaters soon. It was reportedly scrapped from this year's Cannes Film Festival lineup due to legal issues with one of the film's former producers. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Seventy five years ago, the art critic Clement Greenberg wrote the lastingly celebrated essay "Avant Garde and Kitsch," defining them as two opposite poles in art. Although they have always overlapped, it's depressing how far kitsch (mass produced or widely popular art) now masquerades as avant garde (challenging experimentalism in art). As proof, just check out the current American Realness festival. Anyone who has attended festival fringe theater in recent decades will be accustomed to a high quotient of ego, pornography and fatuity. Still, those things aren't anti art: artists have employed them to make works of real value or high entertainment or both. Over all, though, the fringe scene can prove tiresomely jejune. And so it is with American Realness, which is in its fifth year and continues, largely at the Abrons Arts Center, through Sunday. I hasten to say that two of the nine productions I've caught there so far Dana Michel's "Yellow Towel" and Juliana F. May's "commentary not thing," both seen at their first performances last Friday have been remarkable: peculiar, puzzling, yet compelling and valuable. But they aren't enough to make American Realness the cutting edge festival it claims to be. Instead, it's thoroughly fringe and largely kitsch. Characteristic is the "Sherry Art Fair" foyer display of tacky knickknacks personally displayed by the gratingly flamboyant performance artist Ann Liv Young or her aggressive alter ego Sherry. (As the festival's website puts it: "Sherry will help you find that special gift for that special someone or that not so special someone. Include a note saying how you feel. Express yourself. If you don't believe in consumerism then give a donation so less privileged people can have free Sherapy. Sherry Art Fair will change your life.") Showcase kitsch with a wiseguy attitude and you've staked your claim to be avant garde. The word "realness" in the name of the festival is deliberately ambiguous, its organizers have said. In drag culture, "realness" is a term about successful illusion or impersonation. If you go to the Realness festival looking for drag, however, you may be disappointed; you have a higher chance of encountering nakedness, aspects of sex, pop and rock music, impersonation, silliness and, above all, various kinds of camp. One abiding characteristic of American Realness, as in much fringe performance, is its effort to make the audience complicit. Audience participation is encouraged, spectators may be brought onstage, performers enter the auditorium, and nakedness is placed close to the viewers. You're inveigled into joining the club. Still, I refuse to be complicit in Rebecca Patek's "ineter(a)nal f/ear" an hourlong show I watched on Tuesday evening in the Abrons Underground Theater. Managing to be both boring and extreme, it combines nakedness, conventional hard core pornography (both filmed and live), H.I.V. drama, a joke about incompetent or amateurish artistic pretentiousness and popular musical cliche (notably an anthem from the musical "Rent"). Ms. Patek means principally to be comic or satirical or absurd. She carries on, talking blandly about her artistic aims ("it's about shame") as she and her co performer, Sam Roeck, go through one sexual act after another. As fun goes, however, her show proves extremely thin. Here was all this sex happening before my eyes, yet my mind kept wandering wearily elsewhere. Adam Linder in "Cult to the Built on What." By contrast, Ms. Michel's "Yellow Towel" was engrossing. Offbeat in the extreme, it cast an imaginative theater spell that recurrently evoked the great New York performance artists Eiko Koma, while showing Ms. Michel's intense individuality. Like them, she at once creates a world, strange, enthralling and often consisting of small movements. Unlike them, she talks, is sometimes funny, and changes persona. A Canadian artist, Ms. Michel has a manner onstage that is largely oblique. She often moves and speaks as if either act were problematic. But every stammering noise, every strained movement demonstrated powerful imagination and psychological force. Ms. May's "commentary not thing" has grown considerably since a workshop showing at last year's Realness festival. For two men and a woman, it's a collage of dance and spoken theater, with several sequences of speech and movement obsessively recycled a la Gertrude Stein. Its choreography alternates high energy rhythmic phrases and pedestrian movement, and its spoken drama indicates a marital dispute. Large parts of it are performed naked. Multiple expressive ambiguities open up: are we watching images of bisexual adultery, a surreal menage a trois, what? The sense of multiple dramatic layers fascinates, the urgent rhythm excites, and the three performers are excellent. Ben Asriel a more electrifying performer each time I see him glows in particular. Other shows, however, have been sub fringe. Adam Linder's 60 minute "Cult to the Built on What" (seen on Tuesday) was a wholly unremarkable solo show featuring speech, rap, upper body undulations, long still poses and a movable lectern. In "Out of and Into" (seen on Friday), Moriah Evans and Sarah Beth Percival, seldom on their feet, moved on the floor, screamed and shouted for 45 minutes. If this was student choreography, you'd have encouraged them to save the best 10 minutes (the most rhythmically taut) and start again from there. But even from students, the long opening section both dancers crawling on all fours along the peripheries and diagonals of the space and eyeing each other like dogs would have been gauche. If other productions at the festival are as good as "Yellow Towel" and "commentary not thing," it will have achieved enough; Ms. Michel and Ms. May are artists from whom I want to see more. But the labored cheapness of the offerings by Ms. Young, Ms. Patek and others drags the festival into the determinedly banal. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
The Atlantic said on Tuesday that it had named Jeffrey Goldberg, a correspondent for the company since 2007, its next editor in chief, drawing an extensive search to a close. The role had been vacant since the end of April, when James Bennet left the magazine to rejoin The New York Times as its editorial page editor. David G. Bradley, the chairman of Atlantic Media, received nearly 500 recommendations for the position, and he and Bob Cohn, president of The Atlantic, considered several dozen candidates. "It is fair to say that, together, we met a great deal of the nation's top editorial talent," Mr. Bradley wrote in a memo to employees. "But, at least for us, Jeff is something set apart." Since joining The Atlantic nine years ago, Mr. Goldberg has written 11 cover stories, won numerous awards, and has become known for his coverage of foreign affairs. He shaped The Atlantic's recent editorial endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, only the third presidential endorsement in the magazine's nearly 160 year history. The endorsement, which was published last week, called Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, "the most ostentatiously unqualified major party candidate in the 227 year history of the American presidency." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Tonie Marshall in 2018. "Sometimes when I try to make a film and things get tough, I tell myself, 'Remember, you aren't mad. Maybe people will see something in it too,'" she said. "Or maybe they won't. It's a lottery." Tonie Marshall, a French American filmmaker and actress and the only female director to win a Cesar award, France's equivalent of the Oscars, died on Thursday in Paris. She was 68. France's Equalities Ministry, which oversees matters of gender equality, confirmed the death but gave no further details, The Associated Press reported. Ms. Marshall was not well known outside of France, but at home she was a prominent woman in the male dominated French film industry. Though she resisted being labeled a feminist, she confronted sexism head on in her later movies. She became a vocal supporter of the French MeToo movement and helped open up the industry to more women. After 30 years as an actress and 10 as a director, Ms. Marshall created a sensation in 1999 with her movie "Venus Beauty Institute," about three women who work in a beauty salon and their search for love and happiness. It swept the top three Cesar awards for best film, best director and best original screenplay (by Ms. Marshall) and one of its protagonists, Audrey Tautou, won the Cesar for most promising new actress. Ms. Marshall researched the film by frequenting her local beauty salon, watching the interplay of clients and employees and listening to their dialogue. One day, a woman came in, removed her top and bra and sat there naked in what Ms. Marshall saw as a display of power, not exhibitionism; the scene is replicated in the movie. Her cinematic style was deeply influenced by the director Jacques Demy, who most famously directed "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964) and "The Young Girls of Rochefort" (1967). But in "Venus Beauty Institute," Ms. Marshall paid direct homage to another French film that examined love from a woman's point of view "Belle de Jour" (1967), directed by Luis Bunuel and starring Catherine Deneuve. Ms. Marshall was especially enthralled with a famous scene in "Belle de Jour" in which Ms. Deneuve, playing a bourgeoise wife who is secretly a prostitute, is given a small, lacquered box by a client. She opens and closes it, without the audience seeing what is inside. Another character asks her how she can have sex with the unappealing man who gave it to her. "What do you know about love?" Ms. Deneuve responds. Ms. Marshall said she had been embarrassed to be the only woman ever to receive a Cesar for directing in a country that had so many talented female directors. But she had also been ecstatic for herself, she said, finding the honors a vindication of sorts, since the film had had little financial backing and took four years to make. "Success felt good, considering so many people had spat on this film for so long," she said in an interview in 2018 with the French journalist Marion Sauvebois. "Sometimes when I try to make a film and things get tough, I tell myself, 'Remember, you aren't mad. Maybe people will see something in it too,'" she said. "Or maybe they won't. It's a lottery." Ms. Marshall was born on Nov. 29, 1951, in Neuilly sur Seine, just west of Paris. She grew up in the movie business, the daughter of Micheline Presle, a French film actress, and William Marshall, an American actor, director and producer who was once married to Ginger Rogers. Ms. Marshall started out as a television actress in 1971. She later landed a bit role in Mr. Demy's "A Slightly Pregnant Man" (1973), a star studded comedy in which she acted alongside her mother as well as Ms. Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. She made her directorial debut with "Pentimento" (1989), a comedy that she also wrote in which a boy and girl meet during a funeral. Her other directing credits include "Nearest to Heaven" (2002), starring Ms. Deneuve and William Hurt; "Sex, Love and Therapy" (2014); and "Number One," her last feature film, which was released in 2017 in the United States and the United Kingdom as "Woman Up!" The movie tells the story of an ambitious corporate manager who faces vicious sexism as she aspires to become the first female managing director of a major French company. Ms. Marshall said it took several years to make the film. Her original idea was to follow a network of eight influential women working in industry, politics, media and sports and their ambitions and confrontations with men, she told Eye for Film, a British film publication, in 2017. "Not a single TV channel showed any interest," she said. "So I put it on the back burner." As time went by, though, she added, she found herself stewing over society's attempts to put women "back in their place," which to her meant "at home looking after children and keeping quiet." So she dusted off her idea. This time, instead of telling the stories of eight women, she narrowed her focus to one. Just as she had researched "Venus" in a real beauty salon, she researched "Woman Up!" through in depth discussions with female corporate executives. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
If you think you've heard it all before, then you need to listen more closely. Watching Simon Stephens's "On the Shore of the Wide World," the stealth heartbreaker that opened on Tuesday night at the Linda Gross Theater, you may at first feel a tug of impatience. Surely you've already met every one of the characters here, in domestic dramas, novels, even television series: those discontented husbands and wives, parents and children, all mired in stagnant lives. You know more or less where they're headed, too, which would be nowhere. And it's not as if the dead end road they travel is paved with sparkling dialogue or fiery confrontation. The three generations of a working class family portrayed in this British work, which won the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Play, are mostly quiet spoken and liable to reach for the closest cliche to fill a silence. Yet by the end of the Atlantic Theater Company production directed with gentle care by Neil Pepe you've discovered that this dribbling, homespun prose has shaped itself into patterns of profound poetry, as if words in invisible ink had been held up to a flame. You may also experience the sense that something rich and strange, even cosmic, defines these unexceptional lives. That you can't find the words for what that something is and who can? makes you one with Mr. Stephens's characters. While he has also collaborated effectively with boldly experimental directors like Ivo van Hove (in "Song From Far Away"), Mr. Stephens mostly leans toward more self effacing stagecraft. His plots, at least in outline, seem to have been pulled from a bin of recyclables tales of restless runaway wives ("Harper Regan," staged by the Atlantic in 2012), and odd couples gambling on improbable relationships ("Heisenberg," seen on Broadway last year in a Manhattan Theater Club production). "On the Shore of the Wide World" is, on the surface, a classic family drama, and rather less dramatic than most. Or so it would seem, judging by the restrained tones, whether fond or quarrelsome, in which people converse. There is so little conspicuous display of emotion that it takes awhile to learn that a tragedy has taken place. And when a character cries (quietly), it has the impact of a dam bursting. The family, in this case, is named Holmes and has long resided in Stockport, a suburb of Manchester and a frequent setting for Mr. Stephens's work. Peter (C.J. Wilson), a house restorer, lives with his wife, Alice (Mary McCann) and their two teenage sons, Alex (Ben Rosenfield, very fine) and Christopher (Wesley Zurick). Peter's parents, Ellen (a wonderful Blair Brown) and Charlie (Peter Maloney), live nearby. Their overlapping existences are routine driven and cozy to the point of claustrophobia. Small wonder that each of them talks about fantasies of going elsewhere, of moving to a different town, or even occupying a different bed. Most of them seem destined, though, to stay only on the shore of the wide world that looms beyond. Scott Pask's single, multipurpose set has a look of oppressive solidity, with its heavy doors and sturdy central staircase. Christopher Akerlind's discreet lighting transforms the stage into a place of different homes and rooms, of city buses and bridges. There is also the abandoned hotel where the Holmes brothers meet up with Alex's new girlfriend, Sarah Black (Tedra Millan), who pops anti depressants as if they were candy. The hotel is the favorite hangout of Christopher, the more verbal and flamboyant of the siblings, who develops an instant crush on Sarah. You wouldn't thank me if I told you much more of the plot. The story unfolds over months, and the life altering events that occur are revealed slowly and by indirection, sometimes as if they were conversational afterthoughts. People are opaque to one another in Mr. Stephens's world, and they are never sure how much they can discuss with others, even (or especially) those closest to them. Yet you infer an astonishing amount about all the characters, who also include a pregnant book editor (Amelia Workman), who is a client of Peter's and quotes the Keats ode that gives the play its title; a big talking, London based chum of Alex's (Odiseas Georgiadis); and a well spoken man (Leroy McClain) who strikes up an unexpected and initially unwelcome friendship with Alice. Certain words and phrases crop up in different contexts, accumulating and shedding weight. "Coward" recurs frequently, appropriate to a work in which people are often paralyzed by ambivalence. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
When Latrish Oseko lost her job last spring, government aid helped prevent a crisis from becoming a catastrophe. A 1,700 federal stimulus payment meant that when her 26 year old car broke down, she could replace it. The 600 a week in extra unemployment benefits from the federal government allowed her to pay rent and buy food. When her day care provider closed, she was able to get her 4 year old daughter a subscription to ABCmouse, an online learning app. But the federal money ran out at the end of July, and politicians in Washington have been unable to agree on how to replace it. So Ms. Oseko, 39, is spending much of her time sitting in the Delaware hotel room where she has lived since her landlord kicked her out at the end of July, applying for jobs on her phone while watching the debate play out on the local news. "I'm glued to it because I want to know, is there going to be hope for me?" she said. "They're fighting, and I have to watch them fight, but they have a place to sleep at night." On Saturday, with negotiations in Congress stalled and on the verge of collapse, President Trump signed four directives aimed at providing economic assistance, including financial help to the unemployed. But it was unclear if Mr. Trump had the authority to act on his own on matters requiring federal spending, or how long it would take for money to start flowing if he did. Congress may yet agree on a new emergency spending bill that would include extra unemployment benefits, perhaps including retroactive payments for the period when the program lapsed. But for many of the 30 million Americans relying on unemployment benefits, it could already be too late to prevent lasting financial harm. Without a federal supplement, they will need to get by on regular state unemployment benefits, which often total a few hundred dollars a week or less. For many families, that will not be enough to pay the rent, stave off hunger or avoid mounting debt that will make it harder to climb out of the hole. Households and the broader economy are particularly vulnerable at this moment. Eviction moratoriums are expiring or have expired in much of the country. The Paycheck Protection Program, which helped thousands of small businesses to retain workers, ended Saturday. There are already signs that the economy has slowed down this summer as virus cases have surged in much of the country. On Friday, the Labor Department reported a net gain of 1.8 million jobs in July, a smaller increase than in May or June. Many economists warn that layoffs could begin rising again without more government support. Food banks say they are bracing for a new wave of demand. Before the pandemic, Ms. Oseko and her family were making ends meet, albeit with little margin for error. She earned 15 an hour as a contractor doing data entry. Her boyfriend earned a bit less cleaning dormitories at the University of Delaware. They were able to rent a two bedroom house near a park where their daughter could play. When the pandemic hit, Ms. Oseko's hours were cut and her boyfriend was furloughed. Then, in May, she lost her job altogether. In the midst of that crisis, another one appeared: Their landlord sold her building and gave them 60 days to leave. They moved out at the end of July and are burning through their meager savings at a rate of 76 a night at a Delaware motel that is filling up with families in the same predicament. Without a job, Ms. Oseko hasn't been able to find a new apartment; without an apartment, it has been hard to find a job. 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 jobs that I am qualified for want me to work from home, but I have no home," she said. The economic crisis caused by the pandemic has disproportionately affected low wage workers like Ms. Oseko who have little in savings. Research from the last recession found that when unemployment benefits ran out, people cut their spending on food, medicine and other necessities, suggesting they were able to do little to prepare for the drop in income. The more generous benefits offered during this recession may have allowed families to save some money, but those savings won't last long, particularly when food prices are rising at the fastest pace in years. As a result, families are being forced to make decisions with lasting consequences. When Jason Depretis and his fiancee lost their Florida restaurant jobs in early March, they started falling behind on their rent and their car payment. The 600 unemployment supplement was a lifeline, allowing them to hold on to their home and their car. But on July 28, that lifeline snapped: The repo man showed up for the car on the day that their landlord delivered a three day notice of eviction. With the extra 600 a week, Mr. Depretis, 42, would probably have been able to pay enough to hold off both creditors. Without it, he had to choose. He paid his landlord 650 to stave off eviction, and watched the car be towed away. But it was a terrible time to lose the car. He had found a job starting in September at a restaurant, but it is 45 minutes away, and there is no bus service that corresponds with his hours. The closest food bank is 30 minutes away, and he can't get there without a vehicle. He said he didn't know how he and his fiancee would put food on the table for themselves and their two children. "Without the 600, there's absolutely no way that my family's going to make it," he said. For families like Mr. Depretis's, even a temporary loss of income can be the start of a downward spiral, said Elizabeth Ananat, a Barnard College economist who has been studying the pandemic's impact on low wage workers. Wealthier families may be able to draw on savings to get through until Congress reaches a deal. But for lower income households, even a temporary lapse in benefits can have lasting consequences. An eviction can make it hard to rent in the future. Having a car repossessed can make it hard to find another job. And for children, periods of hunger, homelessness and stress can have long term effects on development and learning. "Children cannot smooth their eating over the year," Ms. Ananat said. "Families that do not have access to credit cannot smooth their food, their electricity, any of their necessities." Many Republicans argue that the extra benefits were keeping recipients from looking for work, especially because many were getting more on unemployment than they had made on the job. Business owners have complained that they are struggling to fill positions. But several studies have found no evidence that the supplement was discouraging job hunting, and many workers appear to be accepting jobs even when the pay is less than their unemployment benefits. And by injecting billions of dollars into the economy each week, the benefits almost certainly prevented even more layoffs. When the pandemic hit, Enrique Guzman, a fleet service clerk at Los Angeles International Airport, was given the choice: to keep working or to stay home and receive a portion of his income, the equivalent of 10 hours a week. Mr. Guzman, 27, decided to stay home. He has asthma, which puts him at a higher risk of complications if he were to catch the coronavirus, and he lives with his girlfriend and her mother, whose age, 51, makes her vulnerable to the virus. Between unemployment benefits and the partial paychecks from the airline, he was able to bring in 1,050 a week less than he earned working full time, but enough to support his girlfriend and her mother. But without the extra money, Mr. Guzman can no longer afford the 1,875 rent for their two bedroom apartment in Montebello, Calif., plus the cost of utilities, food, and his student and car loan payments. On Monday, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, he put on his uniform and returned to the airport for his first shift since the pandemic started. Mr. Guzman said he had no other choice. "It wasn't something that I wanted to do, but I'm the only income in my household now and I needed to go back to work so we can afford to pay our rent, afford to pay our bills," he said. "I'm putting myself at risk so that we can afford to stay afloat." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
Maybe it was the ridiculously detailed penis doodles that hooked me. There's a scene in "Superbad" in which Seth (Jonah Hill, in his breakout role) admits to his best friend Evan (Michael Cera) that when he was younger, he had an obsessive habit of drawing penises everywhere. In flashback, a classmate discovers one of those pictures and tells the principal and Seth is forced to see a therapist, forbidden from eating phallic shaped foods. "You know how many foods are shaped like expletive ?" Seth asks. "The best kinds." Or it could have been the uber nerdy Fogell (Christopher Mintz Plasse) showing off his fake ID card, and a flabbergasted Seth and Evan dissing his choice to go by the singular name McLovin. "What, are you trying to be an Irish R B singer?" Evan groan s. Whatever it was, after I saw "Superbad" in the summer of 2007, when I was 19, it promptly became a favorite of mine. I bought the two disc "unrated" special edition DVD. I quoted the movie in casual conversation. ("Samesies!" " I'm going to be there, for sure. Full throttle. 'Charlie's Angels 2.'") At a time when Facebook was little more than a bulletin board on which to declaratively pin the facets of your personality through the groups you joined and the pages you liked, "Superbad" earned its place on my profile. During a more recent rewatch a couple of years ago it might have been around the dawn of the MeToo era I was hyper aware of the inherent bro iness of the film: The piggish jokes the police officers, played by Bill Hader and Seth Rogen, make about Hader's character's wife (and ex wife), whom we never see onscreen. Seth's horndog remarks about women's body parts that suggest both fixation and revulsion. ("Have you ever seen a vagina by itself? Not for me.") The woman Seth dances with at a house party, credited as Period Blood Girl. The flatness of Jules (Emma Stone) and Becca (Martha MacIsaac), who exist solely as the objects of Seth and Evan's affections. Yet "Superbad" was far from ruined for me. It's still fun, and what I probably appreciate the most now is the film's surprisingly progressive (for its time) view that taking sexual advantage of drunk women is really not O.K. But as I've gotten older, I've also re examined why I was drawn to certain things when I was younger. When it came to "Superbad," it was all about optics. At some point as a kid, I unconsciously inherited the belief that to be a girl was to be less than, and thus undesirable. Classmates mocked throwing/kicking/running "like a girl" in gym class. The boys and men in the movies and TV shows I consumed were usually the protagonists, the ones the audience is supposed to identify with from beginning to end. Girls and women were often outnumbered and peripheral, siloed as the love interest. For every "Never Been Kissed" or "Love and Basketball," there's a seemingly infinite supply of "American Pie." And so I attempted to identify with the male heroes of these stories, perhaps to the point of overcorrection. I couldn't feign even a passing interest in ESPN, but when I became obsessed with all things movie related around middle school, it was easy enough to channel my own version of the "cool girl" (as Gillian Flynn so astutely defined women who assume the identity of a demeaning male fantasy in "Gone Girl") into film nerd dom. When you're an impressionable teen entering that vast world, you'll look to devour the canons and seek out the so called authoritative voices on film. The "definitive" lists of the "best" and "must see" movies. You might date guys who insist Wes Anderson is God and Quentin Tarantino's gender and race politics aren't up for debate. Your film history class may only devote one session to female filmmakers for the entire semester. And if you're a woman or a person of color, you may not immediately notice that hardly any of the movies or filmmakers in these collections speak directly to your existence, because the erasure is so deeply woven into the fabric of pop culture that it seems unremarkable. You're just reveling in your obsession. I saw and still do, to some extent one's movie preferences as a deliberate form of sartorial display. As much as I enjoyed "Superbad," there was also a bit of performance to my enjoyment. It was a way for me to both conform and stand out as a black girl who could love a raunchy, cartoonishly violent buddy comedy relying heavily on penis jokes. Putting, say, "Mean Girls" on my dating profile when I was in my early 20s was to be expected. (Based on its cross cultural popularity in the mid '00s, "Anchorman" was also predictable.) "Superbad" was a "cool" and edgy choice; it showed men that I was chill. Or so my regrettable thinking went. I couldn't help but feel sad that I didn't have more films like "Booksmart" when I was actually a teenager, movies that centered girls' perspectives and friendships but still had that spike of raunchiness and subversion. "Superbad" was surrounded by cohorts all of the Frat Pack films, "Napoleon Dynamite." Yet even in 2019, "Booksmart" feels like an outlier in the same way "Bridesmaids" did in 2011 and "Girls Trip" did just a couple of years ago. T he number of women with leading roles in major film releases remains abysmal, and were I younger now, I might still buy into the lie that women's stories just aren't that important. I don't blame my younger self, though. I've grown wiser now Hollywood could stand to catch up. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Twenty five years ago, Cal Ripken Jr. made history simply by doing his job. Ripken, the Baltimore Orioles shortstop, played in his 2,131st game in a row, breaking Lou Gehrig's hallowed record. The active leader, Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals, had played in 285 consecutive games through Friday. "If I can do it, somebody else can," Ripken said by phone the other day. "Now, it'll take 17 years without missing a game, and the definition of an everyday player has changed a little bit." On Sunday, Major League Baseball will commemorate Ripken's streak with a ceremonial first pitch to be played on scoreboards and broadcasts before all the day's games, as well as special features on its network. Ripken filmed the pitch at Camden Yards with his son, Ryan, who had the good sense in utero to keep his father's streak alive. Ryan Ripken, now an infielder in the Orioles' farm system, was born on July 26, 1993, more than two years before his father broke Gehrig's record. He is the second child of Ripken and his former wife, Kelly, after a daughter, Rachel, who has a November birthday. No such luck with Ryan. "He was going to be born at the end of July, and you could make an argument that's probably the worst time to have a child if you're a baseball player," Ripken said. "But Ryan was so big he was almost nine pounds and he was a week early. The doctor wanted to get him out, so it became a scheduling thing." Ripken flew home for the birth on an off day after a game in Minnesota. He rejoined the Orioles for their next game, in Toronto, and ripped a three run homer. He also homered on the night he tied Gehrig's record in Baltimore, and again when he broke it, both against the Angels. Ripken ended the streak on his terms, at 2,632 games, finally sitting out against the Yankees in 1998. Naturally, he has stayed active since retiring in 2001. The Babe Ruth League named its youth division for Ripken, and he runs tournaments, camps and a college summer league from facilities in Maryland, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida with his brother, Billy, a former major league infielder. Ripken also called games for Turner Sports for a decade, and has partnered with Topps on a new set of trading cards to mark the anniversary of the streak. He serves on the board of the Cal Ripken Sr. foundation, which builds fields for at risk children. Cal Sr. was a longtime Orioles coach and manager. "I had a dad who was the encyclopedia of baseball," Ripken said. "I wanted to promote the goodness of the sport and try to get more kids to play baseball." Those efforts will solidify a long lasting legacy for Ripken, who turned 60 last month and confronted his own mortality early this year. After a routine checkup showed slightly elevated levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen), Ripken met with an urologist. A biopsy in February revealed early stage prostate cancer, and Ripken had surgery in March. He did not plan to share the news publicly, he said, because he did not want people feeling sorry for him. But he let it slip on a Zoom call with Baltimore reporters last month, and said he was glad he did. A subsequent test assured him he is now cancer free. "As baseball players, we have it all done for us when we play. As we retire, we've got to make our own appointments and sometimes you get a little lax," Ripken said. "Men in particular, like me, can stick our heads in the sand and say everything's going to be all right. Well, it might not be all right. But if you're proactive and they do find it, you have options." It is sobering when a deadly disease afflicts someone known for health and durability. But that, of course, was part of the backdrop to Ripken's pursuit of the consecutive games record. Gehrig was forced from the field by A.L.S. in 1939, and died less than two years later, at age 37. In the summer of 1995, as baseball sheepishly returned from a devastating strike, Ripken's link to Gehrig colored him in sepia tones. Whatever fans thought of the players and the owners, they could relate to a player who simply showed up every day, ready to work. They shared stories with Ripken, who made a habit of returning to the field after games to sign autographs. "I was trying to figure out a way to say you're sorry," Ripken said, referring to the strike. He never apologized for playing every day, and rejected critics' notion that resting for a day or two could help him shake slumps. Ripken struggled at times in 1990, when his average dipped to .209 in mid June. His manager, the Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, told Ripken later that he nearly benched him but always reconsidered. For one thing, Robinson liked to write his lineup before players arrived at the ballpark rather than waiting to check on their availability. He knew Ripken would always be ready, and even if his bat was cold, Robinson valued his other contributions. Ripken shined on defense that season, making only three errors, and hit so well in 1991 that he captured his second Most Valuable Player Award. The streak would endure, and Ripken learned to use aches and pains to his advantage. "Sometimes an injury would make you stay within yourself, and then you'd play better," he said. "I remember a slide in Minnesota; I avoided a tag and slid into second, and I grabbed the bag with my left arm and my elbow went in. I hyperextended it, and it really hurt to swing a bat. "When I came up that night, I took a gingerly swing at a ball in the dirt; it really hurt to the point where I wasn't sure I could swing. And I stepped out and said, 'OK, make sure you get a good pitch, just put a short swing on it.' I hit a line drive to the second baseman on one hop, and as I was running to first base, I realized that when I made contact, it didn't hurt, and when I swung and missed, it did. I got so hot, just because I made sure I got a good pitch to hit." He would finish with 3,184 hits, 19 All Star selections, Gold Gloves, Silver Slugger awards, a championship ring and a plaque in the Hall of Fame. But the consecutive games record should stand forever as Ripken's singular achievement with apologies to Merrifield, who still has more than 14 seasons to go. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
The premise for Travelogues, a series at Abrons Arts Center, is simple and wide open: The curator Laurie Uprichard, formerly the director of Danspace Project and the Dublin Dance Festival, presents work that she has seen and admired, whether it's from down the block or across the ocean. For the second installment, which opened on Wednesday (the first was in January), she selected two New York choreographers, Kimberly Bartosik and Dylan Crossman, both former members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. While both employ the clarity of Cunningham technique, their more direct connection is that Mr. Crossman, a disarming performer, is one of Ms. Bartosik's dancers. That means we had the pleasure of seeing him twice: in his own solo, "Bound," and in Ms. Bartosik's "Ecsteriority4 (Part 2)," along with Melissa Toogood (another Cunningham alum) and Marc Mann. Both pieces, each a premiere, used the small dimensions of the Experimental Theater at Abrons Arts Center, which in less capable hands can feel cramped, to intriguing effect. "Bound" was in progress when the audience arrived, with Mr. Crossman sitting on a stool and a bulky contraption protruding from the back of his jacket. Strings radiated out from this curious apparatus part costume, part installation tethering him to the walls. At the center of this asymmetrical web (designed by Hubert Lafore), Mr. Crossman could get tangled up or ignore the restraints or matter of factly remove or reconfigure them. He did all of the above, never making too much of potentially obvious metaphors. The strings could be traps and they were, as he thrashed in the gap between two of them or they could simply be lines in space, extending and intersecting the lines of the body. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and am undecided as to which Democratic Party candidate I will support in 2020. However, I find Mrs. Clinton's comments about Senator Bernie Sanders to be meanspirited and divisive. Nobody likes him? Millions of people supported his campaign in 2016 and are doing so again in 2020. Furthermore, Mr. Sanders supported and campaigned for Mrs. Clinton after she won the nomination. What a bizarre way to repay that support. Mrs. Clinton would do well to make fewer public comments during this campaign, and when she must comment, she should think before she speaks. We must work for party unity and keep our eyes on the prize defeating President Trump. Personal attacks against a leading Democratic candidate will only increase Mr. Trump's chances of winning re election. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
Because marriage is an ever evolving experience, we constantly shift, change and, in some cases, start over. In It's No Secret, couples share thoughts about commitment and tell us what they have learned, revealing their secret to making it work. (Answers are edited for context and space.) Occupation The couple own and run 5001 Flavors, a custom apparel and accessories brand that caters to people in the entertainment industry, and Harlem Haberdashery, a bespoke clothing boutique, both based in New York. The couple have a daughter, Sydney, 12. Mr. Wood has two sons, Jordan, 22, and Guy Jr., 31, and a daughter, Brittny, 33, from previous relationships. Sharene Barnett and Guy Wood met in 1989 at a diner in the Bronx. "I didn't notice him, but he noticed me," she said. "He approached me and introduced himself. He asked for my number and called the next day." Their first date was at a restaurant in the East Village. She liked him, but was only 18 at the time and not ready for a relationship. Her sights were set on applying to colleges. He was almost 10 years older and had two children from past relationships. So rather than date, they became friends. A year went by. She was accepted to Columbia. In 1991, their friendship evolved into dating. "I wasn't thinking marriage, but I realized we were very like minded and we loved being together," she said. During this time Mr. Wood was approached by a record producer to start a clothing company for people in the music industry. He brought Ms. Barnett on board. By the summer of 1993, the pair moved in together. While the business was moving forward, the relationship was not. "Guy wasn't behaving well or making good relationship decisions," she said. "He wasn't ready to commit. Our romantic life fell apart. Only the business was sustaining us." The couple broke up in 1996. She moved out and found her own apartment, and herself. "I stepped into who I was," she said. 'I wasn't dating, I was enjoying my independence." Mr. Wood saw other people. He had another child. Years went by. Both the business and their friendship continued to grow. In June 2006, during dinner at a restaurant in Harlem Mr. Wood had a sobering moment. "He said, 'Everything I'm looking for you are. It took me a long time to realize that,'" she said. "I was so relieved and happy. I realized he'd grown into who I wanted him to be." They became a couple again that night. Ten months later they were married. Sign up for Love Letter and always get the latest in Modern Love, weddings, and relationships in the news by email. Mrs. Wood Guy is creative, resourceful and brings joy and energy into a room. He lights up my world. I'm very practical and rigid. I've given him vision and clarity around his life. He's taught me to dream more. His carefree ability has made me less stressful and unburdened me. When I was single, I learned I could stand on my own. Sometimes you have to pick loving yourself over the relationship. That makes it easier to come back to a relationship. We always had this human connection and I've always loved him. But he wasn't my husband until he grew into it. Now that he has, life with him has been amazing. I've learned friendship and love can coexist in the same place and space, that we're strong in our own way, but together we're more so. Marriage taught me people really can change and for the better. It is an evolution of self, and this other person you're with. I've learned who you are when you get married is not who you are in the marriage. You have to love and trust each other in order to go to the next level of your life. Partnership is not always 50/50. There are days, weeks, even months when it's not. Sometimes one person takes the lead. That it's a "we," and how does this help "we" rather than how does this help me. In this marriage, Guy blossomed into the man and father I knew he could be. Marrying him was the right decision. I'm happy; I love this man. I love how we weathered a storm and came back together. Our breakup was part of the journey. If we didn't take that break, we wouldn't be where we are, and be who we are. Mr. Wood I was very immature when I met Shay. I'd been in a lot of bad relationships. I'd been hurt. I'd been cheated on. Then I did that same thing to someone else. It took me time to realize I didn't like who I was becoming. Shay was nothing like that. I knew I was hurting her, which is why we broke up. I didn't want to destroy her or our friendship, especially when she was the only one who had been there for me. She was my best friend. I'd never had that before. I was waiting for her to put her foot down. And when she did I realized I needed to grow up. That took 10 years. Since we got married, I've learned how to be a we, not an I. I've learned to stop running after the shiny stuff; to be honest with myself and with her; to step up, become trustworthy and accountable. She's given me confidence and made me a better person. She taught me how to make a plan and to care enough to have one. She's taught me how to be the man I'm supposed to be for her and our family, not the man the world thinks I am. I've learned to take a walk, rather than run away. If something didn't go the way I wanted I was gone. I don't need anything but my family, who I now put first. I make sure she's good. I've learned that's not hard to do. I thought it was, but I've learned seeing her happy is everything. Like so many roommates, partners spouses and families, the couple and their children have been staying at home because of the coronavirus. Mrs. Wood We're trying to be optimistic in terms of living with the virus. We're home trying to process and reassess everything that's happening. It's a lot to digest. We're both home now, and our daughter is doing home schooling. Rather than panic, we're trying to take it all in and remember how much we love each other. I realized I could do more with less, and be more financially responsible and resourceful. Mr. Wood When the coronavirus started, I didn't take it seriously. Now I do. It's given me a greater appreciation for life and for having a close family. It's made me hold onto my family tighter because it took me so long to get there. This has been a time of contemplation and for gratefulness. Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
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