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Women in short skirts dance at the bar with their hands in the air. Many don sashes that read "bride squad," and there is the occasional tiara wearing bride to be on her last fling in a V.I.P. area. Bartenders sling drinks to hooting patrons as musicians bound around the stage. The woman of honor may even join them if the Fireball shot kicks in. Outside, lights illuminate the main strip so it almost feels like daytime, or at least, twilight. Revelers wander the busy sidewalks in search of late night eats or their Uber drivers to take them to their hotels. The neon signs still flicker. No, this isn't Vegas. It's Nashville and it's possibly the hottest destination for bachelorette parties in the country. "The increase in bachelorette parties became evident about four years ago," said Jeff Eslick, the media manager for Tootsie's Entertainment, which owns popular spots in Nashville like Honky Tonk Central and Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. "The spring and summer weekends have Broadway filled with what seems like hundreds of packs of women wearing shorts, boots and shirts reading 'someone's last rodeo.'" Nashville hosted 14.5 million visitors last year, and that number continues to rise exponentially, according to Butch Spyridon, the president and chief executive of the Tennessee capital's Convention Visitors Corporation. The airport is now one of the fastest growing airports in North America, bringing in bachelorettes from nearby states and even revelers from international locations. The number of new restaurant openings doubled since 2015, and nearly 15,000 hotel rooms are in the development pipeline. But with all the changes, business owners and residents say, the city continues to feel local, laid back, and accessible for tourists to dine on Southern fare, peruse shops and art galleries, and experience the epicenter of country music. For evidence of this growth, look no further than the throngs of young people who pack Broadway, downtown Nashville's main drag of live music venues, bars, and restaurants. This is the home to the popular honky tonk, a term used to describe both the bar and the style of country music played within. Musicians have long descended upon this strip to show crowds and hopefully industry scouts what they've got. Nashville, after all, is known as Music City for its role in history of country music, and houses landmarks like the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Fame and Ryman Auditorium. Live music is the top draw, especially for bachelorettes. Talented performers, songwriters and aspiring stars provide endless entertainment at every turn. Most bars don't charge a cover, and the proximity of attractions means groups can effortlessly wander from place to place. Even if you aren't a fan of country music, the vibrant energy of the honky tonks exudes merriment. "Our performers are aware of the impact bachelorettes have on the tip jug, so they cater to them," Mr. Eslick said. "No bachelorette party is complete without getting on stage with the band." He also noted that many honky tonks and restaurants have V.I.P. areas that can accommodate large groups, and he fields questions weekly from inquiring bridesmaids organizing trips. Lisa Curry, the event sales manager of the 21c Museum Hotel Nashville, which opened last year, said that restaurants also crafts menus to delight female patrons. The hotel's Gray and Dudley, for instance, offers cocktails served in vintage beverage decanters or pitchers. Thompson Hotels also opened a property in town, with a trendy rooftop that features views of Nashville's chic Gulch neighborhood. The hip Pinewood Social functions as a craft cocktail bar, co working space, and bowling alley that can accommodate groups for anything from casual afternoon coffee to all night festivities. The part that makes Nashville stand out is the fact that locals partake in many of the same activities as the tourists, said Benjamin Goldberg, a managing partner of Strategic Hospitality, which owns Pinewood Social. Brunch at a neighborhood eatery may include booths of squealing bachelorettes but also young professionals grabbing a bite with friends. Some locals may not find the bachelorette boom as appealing as others, but the growth of Nashville continues. And, it's drawing in younger residents, thanks to the affordable lifestyle and opportunity to work on creative pursuits in music, art, and fashion. Boutiques like White's Merchantile, Judith Bright and Peter Nappi honor the city's artisans, and vibrantly colored murals have sprung up all over the city. The 21c Museum Hotel allows the public and guests to jointly admire their three floors of exhibition space showcasing 21st century works. "The art scene is absolutely booming," Ms. Curry said. "With Instagram, photo ops have become a huge draw for bachelorettes." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
There wasn't much to their dance a sequence of crouching, hopping, spinning and clapping, repeated four times and interspersed with meet your neighbor turnarounds though their fairly tight unison was somewhat impressive considering the spread of bodies. But the impish Mr. Aviles, who lives in the Bronx, is always compelling to watch. Here he was shirtless in a hoop skirt of fishing net, the crown of his bald head painted white. "Short stories," conceived and directed by David Thomson, who was born in the Bronx, was more complex and resonant. Chalking the wall of the subway station (below Romare Bearden designed stained glass high on the wall), Mr. Thomson wrote the words "what you call someone who watches you in your private moments," only he scrambled the phrase. It was a definition for the role the work offered to viewers and passers by: a voyeur. What we watched had the look of a story but one not so easy to unscramble. The dancer Emmanuelle Phuon began alone, moving gently. Brief eruptions of speed combined with gestures (hands wrung or put over her mouth, a secret smile) to suggest character and narrative. Soon she was joined by Jodi Bender, bouncing around like a puppy and at first separate. Then the two women met and went for a stroll that took them past Omagbitse Omagbemi, a marvelous dancer whose improvisatory motions had the potentially disturbing look of a person in an intense conversation with herself. The park was ordinary, Ms. Omagbemi was not. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
In The New York Times Book Review, Rachel Donadio reviews Domenico Starnone's "Ties," a novel translated from the Italian by Jhumpa Lahiri. Donadio writes: Starnone happens to be married to Anita Raja, the literary translator who was identified as Elena Ferrante last fall in a report effectively an unmasking by the Italian investigative journalist Claudio Gatti that provoked fury among many of the author's fans, who didn't want to know. . . . But in literature, unlike investigative reporting, the telling is more important than the takeaway. "Ties" responds to Ferrante's 2002 novel "The Days of Abandonment" the second book published under the name of Elena Ferrante, after "Troubling Love" 10 years earlier and turns it inside out. The books share the same universal plot: A man leaves his wife and children for a younger woman. But the two authors take the story in different directions, and have different prose styles. "Ties" is in some ways a sequel to "The Days of Abandonment," in other ways an interlocking puzzle piece or another voice in a larger conversation. On this week's podcast, Starnone and Lahiri talk about "Ties"; Mary Otto discusses "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America"; Alexandra Alter has news from the publishing world; and Parul Sehgal, Gregory Cowles and John Williams on what people are reading. Pamela Paul is the host. Here are the books mentioned in this week's "What We're Reading": "Poets in Their Youth" by Eileen Simpson | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
Apple Is Worth 1,000,000,000,000. Two Decades Ago, It Was Almost Bankrupt. SAN FRANCISCO In 1997, Apple was on the ropes. The Silicon Valley pioneer was being decimated by Microsoft and its many partners in the personal computer market. It had just cut a third of its work force, and it was about 90 days from going broke, Apple's late co founder, Steve Jobs, later said. On Thursday, Apple became the first publicly traded American company to be worth more than 1 trillion when its shares climbed 3 percent to end the day at 207.39. The gains came two days after the company announced the latest in a series of remarkably profitable quarters. Apple's ascent from the brink of bankruptcy to the world's most valuable public company has been a business tour de force, marked by rapid innovation, a series of smash hit products and the creation of a sophisticated, globe spanning supply chain that keeps costs down while producing enormous volumes of cutting edge devices. That ascent has also been marked by controversy, tragedy and challenges. Apple's aggressive use of outside manufacturers in China, for example, has led to criticism that it is taking advantage of poorly paid workers in other countries and robbing Americans of good manufacturing jobs. The company faces numerous questions about how it can continue to grow. "Could anyone really imagine this back then?" said Apple's former software chief Avie Tevanian, who joined Apple in 1997. "We hoped to make the company very successful and very valuable. But to think it would get to where it was today? Of course not. And Steve wouldn't have thought that, either." Apple was founded in 1976 with the mission of making computers then bulky, complicated industrial machines cheap, small and simple so they could become a mass market product. By the 1980s, the company was one of the world's best known brands. But in 1985, Mr. Jobs was ousted in a boardroom coup. In the following years, the company was increasingly outgunned and outmaneuvered in the personal computer market it helped invent. Apple, hamstrung by a lack of new ideas, failed products and leadership turmoil, had lost its way. Fred Anderson, Apple's former chief financial officer, said that shortly after he joined in 1996, he initiated a 661 million bond offering to keep the company afloat. "I didn't know how bad it was until I started digging in," he said. By the end of that year, Apple had lost 867 million and the total value of its shares was less than 3 billion. The ailing company decided to take a gamble. It bought Next, a tech firm run by Mr. Jobs, for 400 million. Mr. Jobs, still synonymous with the Apple brand, would return to the company he had founded. "It was on the rocks," Mr. Jobs later recalled. "It was much worse than I thought." Mr. Jobs slashed 70 percent of Apple's product plans, commissioned the company's "Think Different" ad campaign and reimagined how it put its products together. "We're trying to get back to the basics," a weary Mr. Jobs said in a 1997 internal meeting with staff. A video of the meeting posted online later showed him sporting shorts and sandals. "The question now is not: Can we turn around Apple? I think that's the booby prize. I think it's: Can we make Apple really great again?" The focus on simplicity became a hallmark of Apple, from the way Mr. Jobs dressed jeans and black mock turtlenecks became his uniform of sorts to the way his products operated to the eventual look of his company's retail stores. The company's revitalization was confirmed with the iPod, the portable music player that almost immediately changed consumers' relationship with music. The iPod, which debuted in 2001 and went on to sell more than 400 million units, showed that Apple wasn't just a computer company. The device was paired with iTunes, the company's music store, which would help upend the recording industry. And it portended a bigger product to come. "The iPod was a step a really important one," said Ken Kocienda, a longtime Apple software engineer who will soon release a book about Apple called "Creative Selection." "But the iPhone was really the definitive answer to the question: What comes next after personal computers?" The iPhone transformed the way society interacts with technology, and quickly became one of the best selling products ever: More than 1.4 billion have been sold since it was introduced in 2007. No product or decision was remotely as instrumental to Apple's rise to 1 trillion as the iPhone. When Mr. Jobs first announced the iPhone, Apple was worth 73.4 billion. Mr. Cook, as chief operating officer under Mr. Jobs, remade Apple's distribution pipeline to heavily rely on contract manufacturers in China, which gave it the flexibility, cost savings and scale to build such a big business. As chief executive, Mr. Cook has also overseen most of the rise in Apple's value. (The total value of the company's shares was 346 billion when he took the helm in August 2011.) Mr. Cook has been a steady, if unflashy, hand as chief executive, building the iPhone into a huge business, including sales of accessories and services off it. Now, with Apple reaching the 1 trillion milestone and the iPhone turning 11 years old, pressure is likely to increase for the company to develop a hit new product. There have been other popular devices, like the iPad, the Apple Watch and routinely updated versions of Apple's personal computers. But none have come close to the impact of the iPhone. The company also has been linked to self driving cars and augmented reality glasses, but Apple would face major technical and even social hurdles with either product. There are other challenges. Apple depends on China for a significant amount of its sales, as well as its manufacturing. It could be caught in the middle of the trade war brewing between China and the United States. "It's been one of the most miraculous corporate turnarounds in business history," said Tim Bajarin, a technology analyst and consultant who has tracked the company for nearly 40 years. "The question going forward is: Can Apple continue to innovate?" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
Update: Jeffrey Toobin Is Fired by The New Yorker The New Yorker said on Monday that it had suspended the staff writer Jeffrey Toobin after he exposed himself during a Zoom call last week with employees of the magazine and WNYC radio, according to two people familiar with the call. Staff writers at The New Yorker and employees from WNYC, which jointly produce the magazine's podcast, were on a video call prepping for election night coverage, according to Vice, which first reported the episode. During a pause in the call for breakout discussions, Mr. Toobin switched to a second call that was the video call equivalent of phone sex, according to the two people familiar with the call, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Asked Monday afternoon about reports that he had exposed himself, Mr. Toobin said in a statement: "I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co workers." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Read about the events that our other critics have chosen for the week ahead. NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC at David Geffen Hall (Dec. 17 19, 7:30 p.m.; through Dec. 21). Harry Bicket leads the Philharmonic in Handel's "Messiah" this year, and with a solid cast, too: Louise Alder is the soprano, Iestyn Davies the countertenor, Joshua Ellicott the tenor and Dashon Burton the bass baritone, while the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus makes its way down from Boston to sing all those holiday favorites. This is the season for "Messiah" fans, of course: You also can catch Kent Tritle and the Oratorio Society of New York, with a chorus that's several times larger than that of the Handel and Haydn Society, at Carnegie Hall (Dec. 19, 8 p.m.). 212 875 5656, nyphil.org 'DER ROSENKAVALIER' at the Metropolitan Opera (Dec. 13 and 17, 7 p.m.; through Jan. 4). Simon Rattle makes an all too rare appearance in the pit for the return of Robert Carsen's production of an opera it is impossible not to love. Camilla Nylund is the Marschallin, leading a cast that includes Magdalena Kozena as Octavian, Golda Schultz as Sophie and Gunther Groissbock as Baron Ochs. Also at the Met this week: the family friendly, English language production of "The Magic Flute" (Sunday, 3 p.m.; through Jan. 4). 212 362 6000, metopera.org TALLIS SCHOLARS at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin (Dec. 14, 8 p.m.). Making their annual appearance in Miller Theater's early music series, the singers of the Tallis Scholars present a clever program that compares how composers from different eras and different countries have set particular texts. Take your chance to see how Tallis's "O Sacrum Convivium" stands up to Messiaen's, how Byrd and Victoria compare in the Magnificat, and if Croce has any chance against the Allegri classic "Miserere." 212 854 7799, millertheatre.com | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
On a cold and damp Iowa evening last October, I sat in a tent and thought about Abraham Lincoln. More precisely, I thought about Lincoln signing a minor piece of legislation deeding the Yosemite Valley to the state of California. It happened in 1864, while the Civil War raged. It is important because of just a few words. California was given ownership of Yosemite on the condition that the land "be held for public use, resort, and recreation." This was the official approval of a remarkable and radical idea: Everyone should have access to nature. It led to our ecosystem of national and state parks, wilderness areas and nature preserves all generally committed to providing this access. And it came at a time when President Lincoln presumably had a lot on his mind. Did he realize his signature would transform America's relationship with nature? Waubonsie is a small state park in the southwestern corner of Iowa, near Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. I didn't know anything about it, except for reviews saying it was a good place for a picnic. I figured it'd be a few lonely trees surrounded by corn. What I found truly astounded me, and emphasized what I love most about state parks: You never know what you are going to find. In this 1,990 acre state park, I found an ancient forest on a plateau, an island of mysterious trees in the middle of a vast agricultural region. A secret in plain sight. Waubonsie, as it turns out, is the result of glaciers melting and rushing down the nearby Missouri River. Silt from these glaciers has piled up in mounds large enough to become their own landforms, here called the Loess Hills. There are only two places in the world where this topography exists: the region where I was camping, and the Yellow River valley in China. Driving into Waubonsie was like entering a hidden kingdom. Tall oak trees, their leaves gold and green in the fading sun, lined the main road. Trails circled along steep gorges thick with birds flitting in a temperate jungle environment. Mist curled along the tree line, and in the eerie stillness I felt the presence of something ancient. In a mad rush to investigate further, I bolted down a dinner of potato chips and cold coffee, pitched my tent, and spent the next two hours hiking through this fantasy of forested badlands. Every so often I came across hiking shelters built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps that looked like giant mushrooms. Back in the tent, I found a shivering mosquito that hitched a ride from my previous night's stop in Bentsen Rio Grande State Park in South Texas. Rain pattered against the thin blue fabric of the tent, steady and soothing like a heartbeat. I sat there, truly content, grateful for places like Waubonsie, where I could bound through secret forests and pay only 6 for the privilege of a night's rest within its boundaries. When I left the next morning, I drove down a state road and within minutes, I was back in the fields. I had to stop the car and look back at the forested gorges above me, just to make sure it wasn't all a weird dream. Not all state parks came out of nowhere like Waubonsie, but they are all rich with surprises, secrets and authenticity. Generally, they were off the beaten track, which made them all the more interesting. This was certainly the case in the first half of 2018, when I visited Eastern state parks. Another part of their intrigue is that state parks come in all shapes and sizes. They don't have that much in common, which makes a visit unpredictable. However, according to Linda Lanterman, president of the National Association of State Park Directors and director of Kansas State Parks, one common feature is their presence near our homes. "Not everyone is fortunate to go to a national park," she said. "Not everyone can take a week off. That's what makes the state park system so unique. It's close to home and close to nature." Ms. Lanterman said state parks generally are popular, and the number of visitors is rising. In 2002, total attendance at state parks was 758 million people. By 2017, that number had risen to 807 million. In the second half of the year, as I headed west, I was curious about the state parks near our best known national parks. If you're fortunate enough to live next to a national park, do you still go to a state park? Two of my test cases, Bannack State Park in Montana and Harriman State Park in Idaho, are within 100 miles as the crow flies from Yellowstone National Park. As it turns out, both are well loved and popular, but in their own way. Due west of Yellowstone, Bannack is one part idyllic campground alongside a river, two parts ghost town. It thrived in the 19th century as the site of a gold rush as well as Montana's first territorial capital, but when the 20th century came around, it fell into a long, slow decline. Today, "Bannack is the best preserved of all Montana ghost towns," according to the Montana State Parks website. Bannack's buildings are maintained in a state of "arrested decay," meaning they are prevented from deteriorating further, but are not improved in any way. It provided an unusual, still life view of the town. Grass covered a low slung rectangular jail. Insulation was cardboard packing boxes, a testament to the area's cold isolation. The entire short history of Bannack lay in front of us, from the raw log cabins on the outskirts of town to the cracked linoleum floors of the last occupied houses. Bannack's last inhabitant left in the 1970s. Just outside town lies the campground, where we spent the night. It occupies a small area alongside a creek, nothing more than a few curlicues of fire rings and grass protected by towering cottonwood trees. We gathered next to the fire as evening drew to a close, listening to the wind through the trees, the gurgle of the creek, and our campground neighbors reading books to each other. The Bannack campground was like so many I had been to during my year of visiting state parks. There was the crackle of wood in the fire, distant voices in the background, the sounds of nature and a palpable absence of stress. Chris and I huddled next to the flames and talked about everything and anything, what will never be, what just was. The creek rushed past, the stars shone, and I felt whole. The next day we drove to Harriman State Park in Idaho. Before it was given to the state, it was a working cattle ranch and retreat owned by the Harriman and Guggenheim families. The centerpiece is a series of ranch buildings alongside Henrys Fork, a tributary of the Snake River. When we visited, it echoed with the cheers and yells of a high school cross country meet. During the winter, trails are groomed for skate and classic cross country skiing, snowshoeing and fat bikes. I hiked through a sprawling meadow that spanned both sides of the river. Birds darted through the tall grass and the sounds of the cross country meet slowly fell away until all I heard was the wind and the water. I was excited to spot sandhill cranes, but later Chris's telephoto lens revealed they were actually pelicans. Oh, well. We still had a comfortable night's rest in one of Harriman's yurts. According to parents at the cross country meet, the yurts are a favorite spot for local residents to spend the weekend. Over the year, many people happily described to me their relationships with local state parks, whether it was a winter weekend in a Harriman yurt or Chicago friends reminiscing about their first time camping in Midwest state parks. These places are often beloved by nearby communities. This was the case even in a city surrounded by internationally renowned wilderness: Alaska's capital, Juneau. With Glacier Bay National Park and the Tongass National Forest as neighbors, Juneau is a favored destination for cruise ships and adventure tourists alike. But it is also a city of 32,000 people, and nearby state parks cater to them. Among the most prominent is Point Bridget State Park, an expanse of 2,850 acres about 40 miles from Juneau, near the terminus of the city's road system. According to the Alaska State Parks website, Point Bridget was founded in 1988, the result of a push by the citizens of Juneau "to have a state park for the state capitol ." The cabin was small and simple: sleeping loft, a table and benches, big windows and a bunch of leftover spices. Down at the shoreline, I clambered over mussel encrusted rocks, dodged the lapping of tidewater and followed the arc of bald eagles overhead. It was so peaceful and wonderful that even my inner thoughts quieted down. When I turned to face Blue Mussel, darkness was falling and the cabin's bright lantern in the window shone ever brighter, like a benevolent gaze. The next day we visited another Juneau area state park, a string of islands in Lynn Canal called the Channel Islands State Marine Park. These 14 mostly uninhabited islands are about 25 miles northwest of Juneau and can be reached by floatplane or boat. They get a lot of Juneau area picnickers in the summertime, especially since they can be reached with small watercraft. We motored over to Aaron Island, a small thumbtack of wilderness surrounded by water. There was a nice sand beach, a campfire ring, thick forest and a rope dangling from a Sitka spruce. Immediately I became 8 years old and ran over. I challenge you to find anything more wonderful than an unexpected rope swing. Even farther west, in Hawaii, I didn't find any rope swings. Still, it's no slouch when it comes to recreation. Hawaii state parks drew a mix of people, but judging from the many conversations about being off from work, visitors were mainly local. The beach at Kekaha Kai was perfect and the banyan tree at Wailuku River could have been the setting of a Guillermo del Toro movie, but Mahukona State Park was my favorite. It was rough around the edges; posted signs warned against abandoning animals and there was a fair amount of broken concrete. But the relaxed, Friday evening vibe was amazing. People sat on old lawn chairs along the break wall and shared food from their grills. The backdrop was untamed vegetation, a rusted dock and railroad tracks. A faucet jutting out of a wall served as the communal shower. Plus, the snorkeling was the best of my time in Hawaii. I swam into a small but deep bay, dove underwater and glided through hundreds of yellow triggerfish. They scattered like windblown leaves in the peak of fall color. In the distance I saw shadows of larger fish, but didn't dare seek them out. Afterward, I spoke with the regulars who sat in their lawn chairs and gripped beer in foam cozies. They talked about watching whales just offshore in the winter. In December, the winter of my state park year, I cheated and visited Yosemite National Park. I had been thinking about it for a long time, and my rationale was simple: it's originally a state park. In fact, after Lincoln deeded Yosemite to California, it was America's first state park, until California messed everything up and it was transferred back to federal control, becoming a national park in 1890. Of course, Yosemite was amazing. I pitched my tent in Camp 4, the traditional hub of climbing in the park and one of only a few campgrounds listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I hiked for miles through the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. Like the hordes of tourists before me, I took pictures of the massive trees and wondered why I couldn't ever capture their grandeur. I was thrilled to visit Yosemite, but it's not like it was a surprise. After all, it's the default picture on my laptop. But I am grateful for its ability to move people to do great things. The tag team of Yosemite and Abraham Lincoln led to pockets of wilderness springing up everywhere across the United States; places where we jump into hidden coves, discover primeval forests in the middle of cornfields, and come upon a rope swing on a deserted island. I will never visit all 8,565 state parks, but that's O.K. Each one I visit will be a gift. Peter Kujawinski is a Chicago based writer. He wrote the first article in this series, "Wherever You Are, There's a State Park Nearby." His latest book is the middle grade novel "Edgeland." Follow NY Times Travel on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Get weekly updates from our Travel Dispatch newsletter, with tips on traveling smarter, destination coverage and photos from all over the world. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
When Susan Zirinsky takes over CBS News in March, she will be the first woman to hold the job. She will also be the oldest person to assume the role, at 66. Her appointment was announced just days after Nancy Pelosi, 78, was re elected Speaker of the House of Representatives making her the most powerful elected woman in United States history and Representative Maxine Waters became the first woman and African American to lead the Financial Services Committee, at age 80. News of Ms. Zirinsky's ascension broke on the same evening that 71 year old Glenn Close bested four younger women to win the Golden Globe for best actress. It seems that older women, long invisible or shunted aside, are experiencing an unfamiliar sensation: power. There are more women over 50 in this country today than at any other point in history, according to data from the United States Census Bureau. Those women are healthier, are working longer and have more income than previous generations. That is creating modest but real progress in their visibility and stature. "Age don't worry about it. It's a state of mind," Ms. Zirinsky said on Tuesday when asked about the effect of her age on her new job. "I have so much energy that my staff did an intervention when I tried a Red Bull." Men, of course, have led major organizations well into their seventh and even eighth decades, retaining their power and prominence. But the MeToo movement has toppled some high profile males, from 77 year old Charlie Rose to Les Moonves, 69, who was ousted as head of CBS after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, creating unexpected openings for the elevation of women. And Susan Douglas, a professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan who is writing a book on the power of older women, said "a demographic revolution" was occurring both in the number of women who are working into their 60s and 70s and in the perception, in the wake of MeToo, of their expertise and value. "Older women are now saying 'No, I'm still vibrant, I still have a lot to offer, and I'm not going to be consigned to invisibility,' " she said. "These women are reinventing what it means to be an older woman." "I can assure you I did not like in fact I flinched when The Times wrote about my new show, and there it was in black and white, 'Christiane Amanpour, 60,'" said Ms. Amanpour, who replaced Mr. Rose on PBS last year and turns 61 this week. "But then I thought, no, this is cool! I'm 60 and a whole other chapter of my life is opening.'" Despite the excitement, it is still rare to find women in their 60s leading major institutions or taking center stage in other industries. In cinema, for example, a 2017 study from the University of Southern California found that just 2.6 percent of the speaking roles in 25 films nominated for best picture were women older than 60 and those women were far less likely to be depicted in powerful jobs. "I think this notion of who can lead and who can't is being completely upended," said Katie Couric, the longtime news anchor, who celebrated her 62nd birthday this week. "So to see someone like Glenn Close give the most moving speech of the night, and her experience and wisdom respected, or when you see Susan Zirinsky be elevated, I say, 'Bring it on. Let's have more of this.'" "Z should have gotten this job 10 years ago," Ms. Couric added, using Ms. Zirinsky's nickname. There is a joke often repeated among women of a certain age: You can walk into a grocery store and shoplift whatever you want, because nobody will notice that you're even there. Older women have long been expected to "fade into the background," as the scholar Joan C. Williams put it considered so far past their sexual prime that they were almost invisible. (Lest you think that notion is outdated, look no further than the French author Yann Moix, who told Marie Claire magazine last week that he doesn't notice women over 50.) And while men's value has long been perceived as rising with age, women's has often fallen. In her book, "The Beauty Bias," Deborah Rhode, a Stanford law professor, explained that while silver hair and furrowed brows made aging men look "distinguished," aging women risked marginalization or ridicule for their efforts to pass as young. It's no surprise, then, that according to one analysis, by Time, male actors hit their professional peak at 46, while female actors top out at 30. (As the actor Helen Mirren recently put it, responding to a report that, at 37, Maggie Gyllenhaal had been told she was "too old" for a role opposite a 55 year old man: "As James Bond got more and more geriatric, his girlfriends got younger and younger. It's so annoying.") Others say that the culture is slowly catching up to the reality of a broader, graying population that is not eager to step back from civic or public life. "I've embraced every birthday ... what's the alternative, bitch and moan?" Gayle King, 64, a co anchor of "CBS This Morning," said in an email. "I believe if your body and brain are healthy and you love what you do and the people in your life, what's the downside of THAT?! So I'll say it loud, I'm 64 and (oh so) proud!" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
The coronavirus erupted in South Korea in late January, six months into Yoo Yoon sook's new job. She had just moved from Seoul, where she spent three decades working in the same pharmacy, to open the Hankyeol ("Steadfast") Pharmacy in the city of Incheon, near the international airport. Ms. Yoo hadn't really gotten a sense of the neighborhood around her new pharmacy "before this all happened," she told me. It became all coronavirus, all the time. Incheon's 1,100 pharmacies, including Ms. Yoo's, began to sell out of KF 94 face masks, the equivalent of the American N95. So did corner stores and large retail chains like E Mart. As Koreans learned of the scale and aggressiveness of Covid 19, first from Chinese reports, then from a surge of cases at home, the mask with the weave and construction that proved most effective against the virus could not be found, except at exorbitant prices online. Customers grew angry waiting outside stores. One Incheon pharmacy posted a sign saying, "Regarding masks: Threats, physical violence and insults against employees are punishable under criminal law." Such was the extent of the "mask crisis" when the central government decided to intervene in production and distribution. At the end of February, it announced that it would purchase 50 percent of KF 94 masks from the nation's 130 or so manufacturers. The government began to ship these masks, at a discounted price of 1,500 won each (about 1.23), to some 23,000 pharmacies, in cooperation with the Korean Pharmaceutical Association. At Hankyeol Pharmacy, Ms. Yoo posted a sign on the door, telling customers that the sale of KF 94s would begin at 9 a.m. every morning. It was impossible to fill prescriptions or sell anything else during the mask rush. "All of us local pharmacists posted the various times of sale on our door and a map of all the nearby locations," she told me. Popular mapping apps from Kakao and Naver also showed information on pharmacies and real time numbers of available masks. Ms. Yoo was initially allotted 50 masks per day, six days a week, but this wasn't nearly enough. As South Korea's infection and fatality numbers grew, people felt desperate for protection. Across the country, pharmacists continued to face long lines and insults when masks sold out. On March 5, the government increased its share of mask purchases to 80 percent of national production. The following day, Ms. Yoo received a text message from President Moon Jae in, addressed to "the pharmacists of Korea." In addition to expanding mask manufacturing, the government was about to start a new rationing system. "Starting today, 70 percent of all masks acquired through the public distribution system will be sold at pharmacies," Mr. Moon wrote. "Pharmacies are the primary on the ground node in our public health system." All citizens and registered noncitizens could buy two masks per week on an assigned weekday, depending on their year of birth a system similar to one used in Taiwan since early February. The Incheon Pharmaceutical Association encouraged its members to stay open on Sundays, to receive as many daily shipments as possible, so Ms. Yoo began working seven days a week. Her daily shipment went from 50 to 400 masks, with more on the weekends. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is weighing whether to recommend that everyone not just health care workers and people infected with the coronavirus wear masks. If this advice is issued, Americans may finally embrace wearing face masks, something that has long been common in East Asia, not only during disease outbreaks, but also during cold season and whenever air pollution levels rise. Such guidance could also worsen the already dire shortage of N95 face masks and other personal protective equipment. 3M has promised to make more than a billion N95 masks by the end of the year. But without a vast expansion of complementary manufacturing or imports, supplies will be inadequate. South Korea and Taiwan responded to their mask crises with significant market interventions. America needs to do the same. The U.S. government, and state and municipal bodies, should immediately enter into large scale contracts to produce masks that can be sold at an affordable, standard price. These masks (and other personal protective equipment) should go first to health providers and hospitals, then to essential workers in sanitation, warehouses, transportation, food service, child care centers, and people in prisons and detention facilities. A distribution plan along the lines of those in East Asia could then get masks to the public, perhaps through pharmacies, corner stores and post offices. Some of those masks should also be allocated, free of charge, to people who are homeless or living below the federal poverty level. For most of us, an N95 mask is not strictly necessary. Last weekend, I used a free online pattern to sew masks for myself and family members, using old handkerchiefs, shirts and elastic hair ties. I wore my homemade mask, reinforced with a large gauze bandage, to the grocery store and bodega, while trying to stay six feet away from fellow shoppers. To survive this pandemic, we Americans must stop viewing masks as a sign of disease, and see them instead as a social kindness, a courtesy as common as "please" and "thank you." As Choi Gwi ok, a pharmacist in northern Seoul, told me, "Koreans wear masks to protect themselves from infections, but, even more important, to show consideration for others in public." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
Leading AIDS Researcher, 'Always Traveling,' Is Killed on His Way to a Conference AMSTERDAM As the airport lounge filled with passengers waiting to board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a renowned professor rushed to the gate while texting a colleague, saying that he was "superbusy." Veering into the business class line, Joep Lange, an AIDS researcher, passed a former election observer who had just returned from Ukraine. They were among 298 passengers and crew aboard the flight, which was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday. The disaster claimed the lives of a number of people headed to the International AIDS Conference, scheduled to begin on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, the International AIDS Society said on Friday. Dr. Lange, 59, was accompanied by his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren, 64. He was the executive scientific director of the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, and she worked as a communications director there. The World Health Organization confirmed on Friday that Glenn Thomas, 49, a communications officer, had also been aboard the plane. So had Pim de Kuijer, 32, a Dutch AIDS activist and former European Commission diplomat. "We are bracing ourselves to hear of the deaths of others who worked in the AIDS response," Michel Sidibe, executive director of U.N.AIDS, the United Nations agency fighting the disease, said in a statement. "The deaths of so many committed people working against H.I.V. will be a great loss." At a White House news conference on Friday, President Obama said, "These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others, and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence." News of the crash greeted other AIDS researchers as they made connections in Sydney and elsewhere. The apprehension and grief were "enormous and pervasive," Dr. Mike McCune, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an email. After checking into his hotel in Melbourne, Dr. McCune went for a run and returned to find scientists from all over the world milling about the lobby, many in tears. Dr. Lange, a former president of the AIDS society, began researching the epidemic in 1983 and had worked at the World Health Organization, heading clinical research and drug development in the mid 1990s. Even before the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria or the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief were created, Dr. Lange was a major advocate of affordable drugs for AIDS patients in poor countries. He argued that the private sector should lead the way, especially companies with factories, breweries or mines in developing countries and many employees there, said Dr. Catherine Hankins, who was Dr. Lange's deputy at the Amsterdam institute. Dr. Lange created programs that improved health care in remote regions of Africa, inspiring the health organization and the Global Fund to start programs. He had just returned from Tanzania, where he was setting up a program to get antiretroviral medications to patients, Dr. Hankins said. "My friend always tried to be there where politics and humanity were at odds with each other," said Onno Schellekens, managing director of the Investment Fund for Health in Africa. "Maybe I'm being philosophical, but dying by being shot down by rebels in a way symbolized his life." Dr. Lange was eulogized Thursday night in Melbourne at a dinner for AIDS researchers who had arrived for early meetings of the AIDS society. Dr. David Margolis, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who attended the dinner, said speakers had recalled a quotation by Dr. Lange: "If we can get a cold can of Coke to any part of Africa, we can certainly deliver AIDS treatment." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
A photo provided by Judge Edward R. Korman shows his induction ceremony in 1985. In the front row, from left, Edward I. Koch, Robert H. Bork, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and Judge Korman. The judge whose vehement ruling ordered the Obama administration to surrender and make the morning after pill available to all ages without a prescription is strikingly soft spoken, so much so that to hear him in chambers, a visitor must sometimes lean forward from the raspberry and chartreuse striped sofa that is a legacy from his parents' 1940s Brooklyn living room. And for a man who berated the government for acting in "bad faith" and placing politics over science, Judge Edward R. Korman's own politics are hard to pigeonhole. Conservatives outraged by his ruling might be surprised that he was appointed to his judgeship by President Ronald Reagan and his oath of office was administered by Robert H. Bork, the conservative who was Judge Korman's early mentor. Defenders of the Obama administration, which lost in a case that was not only a landmark for women's reproductive health but also a rare episode of a judge telling a federal agency what to do, might be startled that Judge Korman's previous job as a United States attorney came courtesy of President Jimmy Carter, and that another champion of his judicial appointment was Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. "There are people who are very confused" about where he stands politically, Judge Korman, 70, said. He likes it that way. And that is especially true in this case, which he calls the most politically charged lawsuit he has handled in 28 years of presiding over many high profile cases, including the Swiss Bank Holocaust reparations case and the 2003 crash of the Staten Island Ferry. He said he understood that the emergency contraception case was controversial because "most people did not rightly so believe that adolescents should be engaging in activities that required these pills, and because there was this view that it operated as an abortifacient." But his ruling noted that very few young girls would actually be using emergency contraceptives, and that scientific evidence undercuts the view that the drug can cause an abortion. He wrote that age restrictions made it difficult for all women to get timely access to a drug that must be used soon after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. He is a registered Democrat, primarily because in New York City, "most elections are decided in the Democratic primary and if you're not a Democrat, you're disenfranchised," he said. In legal philosophy, "I basically share Bork's view that the Constitution should be interpreted based on the understanding of the framers of Constitution." When his staff members question a softer than expected criminal sentence, saying, "Judge, we heard you were conservative," he responds with a Bush era term: "I'm a compassionate conservative." His compassion, notable in courtroom speeches that have moved his audience to tears, springs from two deep wells of experience that Judge Korman has rarely discussed publicly. One is his upbringing as a son of Jewish immigrants from the shtetls of Ukraine and Poland, who sacrificed their own education to give their only child opportunities. "My father he was always embarrassed about this he actually ironed shirts, not with a Sunbeam type iron, but a heavy iron," Judge Korman recalled. "He would be paid by piecework, long hours in a laundry in Manhattan, and one of the things he did, he made me come and see him working, so that I would know how important it was to get an education to make something of my life." The second source of what Judge Korman calls his rachmones, a Yiddish term for empathy, centers on his own two children, especially his 30 year old daughter, who is, he said, "severely autistic." Caring for his daughter, whose autism was diagnosed before much was known about it, has been consuming for the judge and his wife, Diane, and they visit her every Sunday in her group home on Staten Island. There, a man whose life's work involves intricate communication and analysis engages with a daughter who uses only a smattering of words. "I've never had a conversation with her," he said. A major victory has been teaching her to express "the difference between yes and no," so she could make preferences clear. "These sound like little things," said Judge Korman, his long, bony fingers raking through his white gray puffs of hair. But "one of the problems that children like that who have no language have is frustration, they become self abusive." Later, he sighed and said, "I don't want to describe how difficult it was at times." Judge Korman said in cases involving disabled children, he frequently increased damage awards not only for the child but for the family, so that "the child should not be viewed as a burden" and family members feel "they've also gotten some benefit." Lawyers and judges who know him say Judge Korman is no pushover on the law. Brian M. Cogan, a federal judge and friend, said Judge Korman ruminates on issues, going back and forth "like those old cartoons with the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other." Janet Crepps, a lawyer who represented the plaintiffs in the morning after pill case, said Judge Korman appeared to do his own research, even on scientific details in the case. "We heard that we should always be well prepared and expect that he would be extremely well prepared," she said. Judge Korman had a Bassett hound, Scooter, who "drove my wife crazy because it'd take an hour to walk him around the block it's like he never sniffed that spot before," he said. "But I enjoyed it because I'd call a case up in my head and think about how to change it." The judge's fondness for Basset hounds is evident in his chambers, where he has three dozen sculptures, stuffed animals and even salt shakers depicting the dogs. The judge seems disarmingly modest, saying, "I floundered through college" and "I don't use my time as efficiently as I should." Claiming that he had received too much credit for the 1.25 billion Holocaust settlement case, he said he was just "a catalyst not a cattle prod." Still, Judge Korman has repeatedly made a mark, frequently by criticizing laws he was statutorily required to uphold. "I've often written opinions that say 'this is wrong and doesn't make sense,' " he said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
MANCHESTER, England "Nirvana. You probably barely recognize the name, but by the time this page is ink on your fingertips, Nirvana will have sold 1,000,000 copies of their new LP." That's how I opened the most significant cover story I wrote for the NME, on Nov. 23, 1991. But there will be no more inky fingers for NME's readers. This week, what was once Britain's most important music newspaper and a taste maker on both sides of the Atlantic will put out its last print edition after 66 years. The NME opened the gateway to a musical universe far beyond my reach when I was growing up in rural northern England in the late 1970s. I remember the ritual of racing to the shop, sitting on the wall outside, wildly leafing though the ink smudged pages searching for news of one of my favorite artists. Later, making a second immersive reading of the music papers, from cover to cover, with a flashlight, in bed. I arrived at the NME in 1986, age 22, after a year spent living in a wooden shed in Hollywood, writing about artists such as Jane's Addiction and Metallica for another British music newspaper, Sounds. Bands in California would rush to buy the few copies of the NME that were stocked at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard, craving insight into what was happening in the British scene and a deeper understanding of how American artists' music was going down in Britain. At Sounds, I had worked with the writer James Brown, and when I returned to Britain in 1985, he had moved to the NME as its features editor. He called me and said, "We know a lot about the Smiths and Marxist politics, but we don't know enough about rock music. Can you come and write some stuff for us at the NME?" A front cover at the NME was considered a serious prize, both for an artist and for a writer. I fought hard to get the cover of the NME for Nirvana. In 1991, the band were breaking big in America, but they had yet to have the same impact in Britain. Before the age of high speed digital hype, a band could become a phenomenon in one part of the world, but remain underground and virtually unknown in other territories. The NME's editor, Danny Kelly, understood my belief in the band, and when two cover stories with Sonic Youth and the Cure fell through, he called me and said: "You have 48 hours to find Nirvana, get the interview and deliver 3,000 words to me. It better be the best thing you've ever written." Nirvana were touring in Britain, and I interviewed them in a shabby hotel in the Bayswater district of London. Dave Grohl was goofing around, tossing cigarettes in the air and trying to catch them between his lips. Kurt Cobain was in real pain with stomach ulcers, and only interested in talking about women's rights. Krist Novoselic made some very astute political comments. None of them wanted to talk with me about their new album, "Nevermind." At all. I raced home afterward and transcribed the interview word for word from my cassette recorder. I spread the pages all over the floor of my bedroom, and sat before the flickering green screen of an Amstrad word processor for the next 30 hours with a stash of Marlboro reds, Jack Daniels and black coffee, trying to temper my emotions and write something Mr. Kelly would consider incisive enough to make a cover story. The NME's office was situated on the 26th floor of an ugly tower block on London's South Bank. The place was loud, rowdy and full of joy. The wages were pitiful and the deadlines were brutal, but the NME was our whole world and we loved it. There was relentless sparring about headlines, about how much space on a page to give to photographs over written copy, and of course, about the artists we should be championing. Central to the remit of the NME was the idea that we wanted to tell our readers something they didn't already know. We had a rule about never putting the same band on the cover twice in a year. A furious row broke out about the suggestion that the Stone Roses, at their peak, may get a second cover within 12 months, which divided us completely. Should we make this exception? Or would it set a new precedent that nobody wanted. (The Stone Roses got a second cover; the band deserved it.) What united us as a team was a commitment to making what we believed was the greatest music paper on Earth. Our work was unapologetic, confrontational, progressive and poetic, and the unique identity of each writer gave NME its rich diversity of ideas and perspectives. I will still read everything on any topic that I see written by my teen hero Paul Morley, and also by Stuart Maconie, David Quantick, James Brown, Barbara Ellen and Steve Lamacq, all of whom I worked alongside. In 2018, it's very simple to access music media online: There are blogs, streaming sites, and even algorithms to hold your hand if you feel faint at all the choices you could make. But there will be a melancholy feeling among all of us who read the paper in its glory days to see the printed NME retired, because those dirty pages remind us of the fury of youth and of the feeling of belonging that comes with being present and physically engaged. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
Yusaku Maezawa sought love in the way only a lonely, 44 year old fashion billionaire could: asking the women of the internet to apply for a chance to accompany him on a spaceflight around the moon if they had "bright and positive" personalities and were over 20. But on Thursday, Mr. Maezawa's dream, and those, apparently, of more than 27,000 hopefuls, appeared to be in question after he called off a documentary about the weeklong, multimillion dollar journey. Mr. Maezawa apologized, saying on Twitter that he had asked for the show's cancellation "due to personal reasons." "Despite my genuine and honest determination toward the show, there was a part of me that still had mixed feelings about my participation," Mr. Maezawa said. "To think that 27,722 women, with earnest intentions and courage, had used their precious time to apply makes me feel extremely remorseful to conclude and inform everyone with this selfish decision of mine." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
A central problem with the choreographer Sarah Michelson is that the admirer who surrounds her with the greatest claims for Sarah Michelson's greatness is Sarah Michelson herself. In the four works of hers I've seen since 2009, her dances strike me as obviously limited, largely unoriginal, though not devoid of interest. But as theater works, especially in their use of recorded speech and music, they're vexing. And in "4," her new piece now showing at the Whitney Museum of American Art, she emerges as the most pretentious artist of my entire experience, and among the most self infatuated. The separate elements in "4" of music (recorded) and spoken word (live in this work), numbers on screens, costumes, decor and movement tug us, successfully, in multiple directions. The greatest tension, however, lies between the actual movement and (an extensive part of the aural accompaniment) an interview between Jay Sanders (curator of performing arts at the Whitney) and Ms. Michelson. This text is attributed in the program to the playwright Richard Maxwell. Ms. Michelson has worked with Mr. Maxwell before. "4" is the fourth and apparent last of her Devotion series (2011 14); the most gruesome part of the second, "Devotion Study 1" (2012, also at the Whitney), was her taped, scripted dialogue with him. By the end of "4" (just under 90 minutes on Friday afternoon), there could be no doubt how devoted she is to the sound of her own voice. The movement consists chiefly of somersaults (traveling in circles and arcs) and jumping on the spot (back to the audience, with fine gradations of physical nuance and dynamics, and occasional variations in angle). A friend rightly said after Friday's show, "Those somersaults were the most precise I've ever seen." It's that kind of show. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS 11 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). This live music show is resurfacing an episode from 2018 to honor the Grammy winning folk singer songwriter John Prine, who died of complications from the coronavirus on April 7 at the age of 73. Prine was revered by Bob Dylan, and in 2019, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. This performance, his eighth and final for "Austin City Limits," came 40 years after he made his debut on the show in 1978. It features a few classics, such as "Illegal Smile," off Prine's debut record; "Lake Marie," from 1995's "Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings," and seven tracks from his final album, "The Tree of Forgiveness," including "When I Get to Heaven." It's a joyful farewell, in which Prine makes peace with mortality and sings: "When I get to heaven, I'm gonna shake God's hand/Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand/Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock n roll band." ONE WORLD: TOGETHER AT HOME 8 p.m. on various networks. Alanis Morissette, Billie Eilish, Chris Martin and more than a dozen other stars will celebrate and support front line medical workers in the battle against the pandemic in this two hour special. Presented by the advocacy group Global Citizen, the telecast will feature musical and comedic performances, as well as stories from doctors, nurses and grocery workers, and will benefit charities working to help those most affected by the outbreak. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert will host. "One World" also includes an event with athletes, artists and social media influencers that will stream online from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. A full list of networks and digital platforms is available at globalcitizen.org. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
The new drama stars Tom Hanks otherwise known as the nicest man in American history this side of Rogers and he appears to nail every aspect of his character, from his gently lilting voice to the careful way he put on his red cardigan and blue tennis shoes. The affecting trailer hits many of the same emotional notes as the documentary did. Matthew Rhys ("The Americans") plays a cynical journalist who's assigned to write a profile of the often mocked Rogers and finds himself surprised to discover a hero who represents the best of America. The screenplay, by Micah Fitzerman Blue and Noah Harpster, is based on a 1998 Esquire article by Tom Junod. Directed by Marielle Heller, who last year plumbed the darker depths of the human psyche in Melissa McCarthy's forgery drama, "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" will be coming to your 'hood on Nov. 22, just in time for Thanksgiving. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
LIVERPOOL, England Diego Simeone raced down the side of the field, hurtling toward Atletico Madrid's delirious fans. Alvaro Morata knelt in front of them, a picture of stillness, arms aloft. He looked out on a crashing, bounding sea of bodies, a whole section of the stands transformed into a single, writhing mass. Substitutes and coaches and sundry staff members poured from the bench. Players embraced. Marcos Llorente, who had done more than almost anyone else to make this moment real, slid by on his back. The grass was wet, after all: It was probably the quickest way to join the celebrations. Scenes like these have become the Champions League's calling card, every spring: intense, engrossing games, games that seem to twist and turn and defy prediction, hour upon hour of live action, cliffhanger drama, denouements that quicken the pulse and draw the breath. Anfield, on Wednesday night, more than fulfilled its mandate. Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, had warned Simeone and his team that while it might have frustrated the reigning champion in Madrid three weeks ago it had not yet faced the ace in Liverpool's pack: its stadium, its own turf, the place where Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City and Barcelona had all melted away in recent years. For 97 minutes, Klopp's prediction seemed like it would be fulfilled. Liverpool pummeled its visitor. Georginio Wijnaldum, just before halftime, canceled out Atletico's lead; only the dexterity of Jan Oblak, Atletico's goalkeeper, some wayward finishing and a healthy dose of luck took the game into extra time. Within four minutes, though, Atletico's resistance had been broken again: Wijnaldum crossing for Roberto Firmino, this time, to tap Liverpool ahead at the second time of asking. This is the sort of story Anfield has grown used to in recent years, of course: the nerves, the drama and then, at the end, a hero to acclaim and a victory to celebrate. Klopp had never lost a knockout tie as Liverpool manager; his team had reached the final in the last three European competitions it had contested. Liverpool should know by now, though, that the Champions League does not do straightforward. Within two minutes, Adrian, Liverpool's stand in goalkeeper, had misplaced a pass, and Llorente had put Atletico ahead on away goals; a few minutes later, he scored again. Suddenly, Liverpool was staring elimination in the face. At the last, Morata burst through, made it three, and confirmed one of the proudest nights in Atletico's history. Liverpool's fortress had been breached; for once, it had written a story that did not have a happy ending. Simeone, unchained, raced to be with his public. Anfield was consumed by quiet, and a feeling it had almost forgotten over the last two years: disappointment. Klopp, by his own admission a poor loser, could not stop himself suggesting that Atletico had ridden its luck. With the quality of player at Simeone's disposal, Klopp wondered aloud, why did he choose not to play "proper football"? Simeone's answer, of course, would be simply to point at the scoreboard, to point at the list of names in the quarterfinals of this competition. That is the magic of the Champions League: there is not one way to win it. Sometimes, it does not do what it is supposed to do. All the time, it does not do what you want it to do. That is its charm. That is what makes these nights special; that is what made those celebrations so frenzied. By the time Atletico's delighted players had departed the field, though, some more consequential news had been confirmed elsewhere: Daniele Rugani, the Juventus defender, had become the first player from a Champions League team to test positive for the novel coronavirus. Juventus announced that, though Rugani was "asymptomatic," its team would spend the next 14 days in isolation, in line with medical advice; a few minutes later, Inter Milan Juventus's opponent last weekend in a game played behind closed doors confirmed it would do the same. Inter's Europa League game against Getafe, scheduled for Thursday night, had already been postponed: the first leg was due to be held in Milan, judged impossible with Italy in lockdown. It was not clear when Inter, Getafe or UEFA intended the game to be held. Juventus, meanwhile, is scheduled to play Lyon in the Champions League next week. Juventus trails by a single goal after the teams' meeting in France two weeks ago. With the team in quarantine, and with little or no elasticity in the soccer calendar, it is difficult to know when that game might be played. If it cannot, then the Champions League like the Europa League, which has also seen Sevilla's meeting with Roma on Thursday called off must be at risk of being postponed or, perhaps, canceled. Simeone would not be drawn on that at Anfield on Wednesday; Klopp might have some sympathy for his opposite number in that case, as a man who has regularly bristled occasionally unnecessarily when asked for his views on the coronavirus crisis. It is, after all, above both managers' paygrade. It is for UEFA, the competition's organizer, to muster a cogent response, a coherent plan of action, a way through a situation that has exposed just how fine are the margins on which global soccer operates. The current approach of piecemeal measures, a miasma of games played without fans (including Paris Saint Germain's victory over Borussia Dortmund) and ad hoc cancellations cannot hold, not least because Rugani's positive test adds weight to the argument of the various players' unions that their members should not be presumed immune. There are options: None of them are especially appealing; none of them free from legal complications or financial considerations; and none of them especially important in the face of a pandemic. Easiest, perhaps, would be this summer's European Championships being postponed and the season extended to allow for a genuine break from action during the peak of the crisis. That would, certainly, be more palatable to UEFA than declaring this year's Champions League null and void. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
Charles Dickens created the most original, entertaining and memorable characters in English literature, but he was not "England's greatest novelist," as Robert Gottlieb said in his review of A. N. Wilson's "The Mystery of Charles Dickens" (Nov. 8). His characters were not real, complex people. George Eliot's novels are greater because, as noted by Fareed Zakaria's By the Book interview in the same issue, she wrote with "insight into people's inner lives." I respectfully disagree with Gottlieb's assertion that Charles Dickens has emerged "ever more conclusively as England's greatest novelist and literary figure." While this may be a matter of my own personal taste and subjective judgment, I was even more disappointed to see that he made no mention of George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans), the extraordinary 19th century novelist who certainly ranks with Dickens, Hardy, Meredith et al. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
A monthslong conflict over a plan to send eight chimpanzees from a laboratory in the United States to a wildlife park in England intensified this week when animal welfare groups and primate sanctuaries went to court for the second time to stop the move. The New England Anti Vivisection Society, an animal rights group, is leading the effort to block the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from allowing the move. After the society brought a similar lawsuit in November to stop the transfer, the wildlife service pulled back from its initial decision to grant the permit and reopened public comment. The chimpanzees in question are longtime residents of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta. Yerkes is trying to reduce the number of its chimpanzees because of a change in research focus. Also, medical experiments using chimpanzees have become almost impossible because of new regulations. Yerkes gave seven chimps to the Chattanooga Zoo in Tennessee, but still has more than 50 and arranged to donate eight to Wingham Wildlife Park in Kent, England. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
DRESSED in hard hats but cloaked in hedge fund millions, Harsh and Purvi Padia studied a 4,200 square foot penthouse with panoramic views under construction last year in TriBeCa and then stunned the listing broker, Fredrik Eklund, with their assessment: Too small. Three bedrooms wouldn't cut it, even with 4,000 square feet of outdoor space and a private rooftop pool. The couple wanted extra room for a private gym and larger, flow through spaces. "It's still not really where we would like to be," Ms. Padia told Mr. Eklund, a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman. Her husband added, "We take up a lot of space," though the couple had just one child. Then Mr. Padia, 33, who runs the hedge fund HAP Capital, made a suggestion. Why not combine the four floor penthouse with the full seventh floor below it to create five floors with 7,200 square feet of interior space? "Who are these people?" Mr. Eklund said on the recent episode of the reality show "Million Dollar Listing New York" that detailed his encounter with the Padias at 471 Washington Street. This was no reality show embellishment. Across Manhattan and in South Florida, developers have been scrambling to super size apartments to meet the surging demand of the highest stratum of luxury buyers, who continue to break sales records while paying premiums for more square footage. While the idea of combining residences is not new, real estate marketers and appraisers say the jumbo sizes of the combined homes are taking sales into uncharted territory. "I don't recall in my 25 years in the business seeing this sort of phenomenon happening with this size of a unit," Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraiser Miller Samuel, said of the Manhattan market. Even without combinations, the average high end apartment size has grown over the past decade as developers have recognized the demand for larger and larger. When the Time Warner Center opened for business in 2001, the average size of its apartments was 2,217 square feet. In 2003, at 1 Beacon Court, it grew to 2,362 square feet. Then, in 2005, the developers of 15 Central Park West built apartments averaging 2,655 square feet, according to Corcoran Sunshine. The latest is 157 West 57th Street (One57, as it is branded), which opened for sales this year with an average apartment size of 3,584 square feet. In fact, more than half of the condos in the building have 3,000 square feet or more, said Gary Barnett, the president of Extell Development Company, which is building One57. Yet even with 10 full floor apartments selling for about 50 million each and a duplex penthouse listed at 115 million, Mr. Barnett was finding that demand among the world's superrich for the largest apartments was heavier than he expected. The full floor apartments all bought by billionaires are almost gone. So two months ago, the developer combined smaller apartments into four apartments of 5,500 square feet each that could be configured with five bedrooms or with four bedrooms and a library. Asking price: around 35 million apiece. "As pricing has escalated," Mr. Barnett said, "you are reaching into a new class of buyer, a wealthier class of buyer, and they want to live graciously. It is not the amount of bedrooms that counts, it is the graciousness of the space that matters." Many of those buyers are from countries that are bubbling with newly minted centa millionaires and billionaires. In both Manhattan and South Florida, a lack of inventory and the strength of demand are pushing developers to find creative ways to satisfy a class of all cash buyers from places like Brazil, China, Russia and the Middle East. "Expectations continue to increase," said Vanessa Grout, the chief executive of Douglas Elliman in Florida. "Their budgets are unlimited, so why not demand the best?" Given the markets where many of the high end buyers are coming from, "luxury addresses in South Florida are still a value compared to a flat in London, an apartment in Sao Paulo or a home in Rome," said John Manrique, the vice president for sales and marketing of the St. Regis hotel condominium in Bal Harbour. Still, in Manhattan the scarcity of inventory at the highest end is especially acute, driving ever more combinations. As of Thursday, there were 195 apartments and 55 town houses in Manhattan for sale for 10 million or more, with a few dozen more in "shadow" inventory (officially unlisted but available), according to Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. But of that number, very few are of the scale and quality that the megarich demand. The super wealthy buyers have shown they are willing to finance ballooning budgets to combine already huge apartments into megaspaces. In recent days, news leaked that a pair of duplex apartments at 740 Park Avenue owned by Courtney Sale Ross, the widow of Steven J. Ross, the former chairman of Time Warner Inc., had gone into contract for a little over 50 million, a person familiar with the transaction confirmed. The residences, not currently combined, have a total of 30 rooms, including 8 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and 6 terraces. The sale, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and Michael Gross, the author of a book on 740 Park, would be the highest ever for a Manhattan co op. None Testing the Limits: Only three of New York's 25 tallest residential buildings have completed safety tasks required by the city. The Downside to Life in a Supertall: 432 Park faces some significant design problems, and other luxury high rises may share its fate. Luxury Developers' Loophole: Soaring towers are able to push high into the sky because of a loophole in the city's labyrinthine zoning laws. An Evolving Skyline: The high rise building boom has transformed the city's skyline in recent years. Its impact will echo for years to come. Hidden Feats: Our critic looks at some supertall N.Y.C. buildings and how the ingenuity of engineers helped build landmarks. In some cases, developers are building bigger to accommodate larger families, who are choosing to suffer the high cost of Manhattan or returning to enjoy all that the city has to offer. But sometimes children aren't part of the equation. One buyer, an American with an art and furniture collection spanning three centuries, went to Corcoran Sunshine recently looking for 6,500 square feet just for him and his partner. He was searching for major entertainment spaces, a dining room, a library, a large living room to host big cocktail parties associated with the art world, a huge master suite with dual bathrooms, sitting rooms, two offices, an extra large kitchen and pantry, maids' rooms and secondary bedrooms for guests. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Renee James, Intel's former president, is leading a new start up, Ampere, that will sell chips to handle calculations in server computers. She Was No. 2 at Intel. Now She's Taking Aim at the Chip Maker. SAN FRANCISCO Over 28 years at the giant computer chip maker Intel, Renee James climbed to its No. 2 position, becoming one of Silicon Valley's prominent female leaders. Now she is taking aim at Intel's most lucrative business, one that she helped build. Ms. James, who announced in 2015 that she would resign from Intel, on Monday revealed a start up backed by the private equity firm Carlyle Group to sell chips to handle calculations in servers. Those computers run most internet services and corporate back office operations. Intel dominates that market, accounting for 98 percent of the microprocessor chips sold for the most popular variety of server, the research firm IDC estimates. The group that sells such chips generated about 19 billion in revenue last year and nearly half of Intel's operating profit. Ms. James emphasized her respect for her former employer and played down potential competition. She said her new company, Ampere, was designing chips for new, specialized jobs at cloud services that aren't Intel's primary focus. "I think they're the best in the world at what they do," Ms. James said of Intel. "I just don't think they're doing what comes next." An Intel spokesman declined to comment. Analysts said the company had developed a variety of products to serve the kinds of companies that Ampere is courting. Intel, whose chips helped drive the personal computer revolution, was once the underdog in the data center. In the 1990s, the company gradually increased the power of its chips and added features needed for servers. The rising performance and much lower price of such machines eventually supplanted hardware from companies like IBM. Ms. James, 53, who received business degrees from the University of Oregon and started in marketing jobs at Intel, aided the server push by encouraging development of software needed to thrive in the market, among other efforts. Ms. James later spearheaded major Intel software acquisitions, including a 7.68 billion purchase of the security specialist McAfee in 2010. Six years later, Intel agreed to sell a majority stake of that business to the investment firm TPG. Ms. James was considered a candidate to succeed Paul Otellini, who stepped down as Intel chief executive in May 2013. Instead, she and Brian Krzanich successfully pitched Intel directors on a joint plan to run the company. She was named president, the highest ranking job ever held by a woman at the company, and Mr. Krzanich became chief executive. Ms. James later decided to seek a chief executive spot elsewhere, opting in early 2016 to first become an operating executive at Carlyle. Ms. James learned management skills from Andrew Grove, the acclaimed former Intel chief. Before he died in 2016, she said, Mr. Grove encouraged her to follow her dream of a chip start up a plan with parallels to the 1968 founding of Intel as a breakaway from a chip pioneer, Fairchild Semiconductor. "He said, 'I just want you to know, this is a really hard job,'" Ms. James recalled. "I said: 'I know. But it's so much fun.'" Her venture is the latest in a series of largely unsuccessful attempts, dating back more than seven years, to shake up the server market with technology licensed by ARM Holdings that is used as a mainstay of smartphones. One selling point is reduced power consumption, a hot topic in data centers. Ampere's underlying technology originated at Applied Micro Circuits, which built three generations of ARM based server chips. The Silicon Valley company was acquired in early 2017 by Macom Technology Solutions, which in October agreed to sell the business to what is now Ampere. Essentially all of Applied Micro's 300 person development team joined the new venture, Ms. James said. She declined to disclose how much Carlyle was investing but said Ampere was well funded. It has recruited Intel veterans and other engineers and completed its first chip, which is available in sample quantities, she said. The start up is based not far from Intel's headquarters. Ampere won't lack for competition. Besides Intel, a longtime rival, Advanced Micro Devices, has a new line of server chips that have landed some customers. Qualcomm, the biggest mobile chip maker, unveiled an ARM based server chip in November. Marvell Technology and Cavium, which have agreed to merge, also sell ARM server chips. Ms. James sounds undaunted. She said Ampere's chips topped rival products on price, speedy connections to retrieve data from memory and other features. More broadly, she said, the market has changed because of advances in software, manufacturing technology and renewed investor interest in start ups pursuing specialties such as machine learning. "There's a lot of excitement around silicon again," she said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
"Everyone's Fine With Virginia Woolf," a parody of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," will have its premiere next spring in a staging by the innovative troupe Elevator Repair Service ("Gatz"). The production is part of the coming season at Abrons Arts Center, a downtown home of adventurous performance and visual art, the organization announced on Sunday. This will be the first season programmed by Craig Peterson, who joined Abrons last September as its artistic director. In a statement, he said that the lineup was designed to confront "the issues that are shaping our lives." "Gun control, immigration and gentrification are central themes in the performances and exhibitions that will take over our stages and galleries in the coming months," he added. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
When 12 year old Nina Mones was in sixth grade last year, she struggled to keep up with her math class, getting stuck on improper fractions. And as the teacher pushed ahead with new lessons, she fell further and further behind. Then in the fall of 2019, her charter school, the Phoenix International Academy in Phoenix, brought in a program called Teach to One 360, which uses computer algorithms and machine learning to offer daily math instruction tailored to each student. Nina, now in seventh grade, flourished. "I'm in between seventh and eighth grade math now," she said, proudly. "It gave me more confidence in myself." And when the coronavirus shutdown occurred, she said, her studies continued uninterrupted, thanks to the program's online portal. "This is a model for personalized learning," said Sheldon H. Jacobson, professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and a risk assessment public policy consultant. The move toward a tech driven, personalized learning system, like Teach to One 360 from a nonprofit called New Classrooms, is long overdue, experts say. Other industries, such as health care and entertainment, have been shifting in this direction for years. Personalized medicine, for example, looks at DNA biomarkers and personal characteristics to map out a patient's most effective treatment, Professor Jacobson said. And experts say the Covid 19 pandemic might be the spark that finally drives schools out of their comfort zones and into the world of innovation and personalized learning programs. "We've seen an embrace of technology that was rapidly accelerated by Covid," said Bob Hughes, director of the K 12 Education in the United States Program at the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, which helps finance nonprofits like New Classrooms. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, backs such programs. "Innovations like this," she said, "can help educators meet students where they are and address their individual needs." A number of firms, like New Classrooms, Eureka Math, iReady and Illustrative Mathematics, have been working aggressively to bring personalized learning to the forefront. Joel Rose, a former teacher, and Chris Rush, a technology and design expert, are the brains behind Teach to One 360, which is based in New York. When Mr. Rose first started teaching fifth grade in Houston in the 1990s, he was stunned by the number of students whose math skills were two or even three grade levels behind. "Some students were as low as the second grade, and other students as high as the eighth grade, and others in between," he said. This one size fits all system is broken, he said, adding, "It is wildly outdated." So, in 2009, while working for the New York City schools chancellor, Mr. Rose partnered with Mr. Rush to create School of One (later renamed Teach to One 360), a technology driven math program for students in grades five through 12. Here's how it works: Students take a 90 minute MAP test, which is a standardized test measuring math skills, and a 60 minute diagnostic test to determine gaps and strengths. The program then uses algorithms and machine learning to identify problem areas and strengths, and creates a personalized daily lesson or "playlist." It also chooses the modality, or teaching method. Some may get their lesson through a traditional teacher led class; others will work in small peer groups collaborating with students who are at a similar skill level; and others will work independently, using online interactive videos, games and math programs. Each student is assigned at least two different modalities a day, and a team of at least four math teachers oversees the program. At the end of the day, students take a five question quiz, and the algorithm uses the results to determine the next day's lessons. The program was rolled out to 1,500 students in three public schools one each in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn as a pilot project. In 2011, Mr. Rose spun off the program into a nonprofit firm, called New Classrooms, and renamed the program Teach To One. New Classrooms faces competition from companies like Eureka Math, iReady and Illustrative Mathematics, which also offer programs to help teachers identify learning gaps and provide customized lessons. However, most focus on current grade year lessons and assume that students already know the previous grades' skills, Mr. Rose said. By contrast, New Classrooms gives every student access to multigrade curriculums and skills, which better addresses learning gaps in students who are several grade levels behind, Mr. Rose said. "Our assessment identifies which specific skills at each grade level the student does and does not know," Mr. Rush said. "A road map may say, go back and work on just these 10 fourth grade skills and these 12 fifth grade skills and 25 sixth grade skills." On the content side, New Classrooms has partnered with some of its rivals, as well as online content providers like Carnegie Learning, Khan Academy, EngageNY and IXL, so that students can have access to their math content through the Teach to One portal. Alfred Cordova, the principal at Taos Middle School in Taos, N.M., brought in Teach to One for his sixth grade math students in 2015 to turn around his school's dismal math scores. "Our scores had really tanked," he said, partly because of the large number of students entering from elementary school with poor math skills. "Very quickly, our sixth grade students started excelling and passing our seventh and eighth graders ability wise in math," Mr. Cordova said. "It's been a huge success." He has since expanded the program to all grades. Jade Parish, a 13 year old student at Taos Middle School, is in seventh grade but working on eighth grade math, thanks to the Teach to One program. She said she used to be bored in the old system, where one teacher taught the same lesson to every student, regardless of their skills. "Working at your own pace is a lot better," she said. Currently, 27 schools across 11 states have adopted Teach to One. Still, getting schools to sign on has been challenging. Cost, bureaucratic inertia, schools and teachers being set in their ways, and fears that technology could replace teachers are among the barriers, Mr. Rose said. Schools are often under pressure to follow a traditional curriculum with textbooks and teacher led classes to ensure that they cover the content needed for standardized tests. Many worry, Mr. Rose said, that veering away from traditional practices could affect test results, which would then affect school rankings and funding. "Innovation has always lagged in education, and we are slow to change and slow to respond as an organization," said Scott Muri, superintendent of schools at the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Texas, which brought the Teach to One program into three schools in 2019. Then there's the cost of purchasing the program itself, buying computers for students, adding math teachers and sometimes reconstructing classrooms to accommodate the different modalities. The total costs of such programs can vary substantially, and most school systems depend on grants to cover them. Sometimes, money simply has to be redirected. "In our country, we invest a tremendous amount in K 12 and many people criticize that the current model just is not working," Mr. Jacobson said. "So it's not a matter of spending more money it's spending money in different ways." And this can be tricky. Some teachers are reluctant to try innovative teaching methods, while others worry that technology could eliminate their jobs. But Mr. Muri pointed out: "The program is not stand alone. It's married to the teacher. Neither work by themselves you have to have both together." New Classrooms is expanding its program this month to include tools for schools currently not in the core program that want to help students learn from home. Its Teach to One Roadmaps Free program offers a free 90 minute virtual assessment and cranks out a road map of courses and content that the student needs to master the grade. In this free version, it's up to the student to find the online content recommended. Its Teach to One Roadmaps Plus goes one step further, giving students access to the tailored online content through its portal and charging schools 15 per student per year. Mr. Rose hopes to expand the Teach to One 360 program beyond math to other subjects within five years. "We are so underinvested in innovation in K 12 relative to every other sector of our society," he said. "And I think in moments like this we're now feeling the impact of all that." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Education |
Until recently, Kenya's Diani Beach was a well kept secret for a cultured international crowd that has been vacationing on the coast since the 1970s, fueled by a passion for the sparkling white gold beaches, rare sea safaris and luxury hotel scene that characterizes this strip of coastline on the Indian Ocean . But with the arrival of new dining, shopping and drinking spots, and a celebrity following, Diani Beach is now the trendy escape for tourists looking for respite after safari trips in the Samburu and Maasai regions. At only an hour's domestic flight away from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the golden stretch of beach is becoming one of the most popular sun, sea and sand destinations in the country. Founded in the late 1970s and rediscovered by travelers, this seafood spot is in a cave believed to be between 120,000 and 180,000 years old. Its candlelit tables are dotted across a subterranean warren of small caves. A cocktail bar carved from stone makes this the perfect spot for an aperitif. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
Christina Horsten and Felix Zeltner tried not to panic when they were hit with a 400 rent hike on their Park Slope, Brooklyn, apartment in 2016, and realized they would have to move for the second time in two years. But rather than despair about the unanticipated upheaval, they hit upon an unconventional idea: Why not embrace the disruption and move to a new neighborhood every month for a year? The more they thought about it, the more sense it made. Since Ms. Horsten's work as a journalist for German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur had brought them to New York in 2012, she and Mr. Zeltner, a freelance journalist and a founder of Work Awesome, a company that organizes conferences, trips and workshops, had both loved the long days they spent exploring far flung corners of the city. Moving to a new neighborhood every month would be something of a logistical nightmare, especially with their toddler, Emma, in tow, but it might also transform an unavoidable hassle into an adventure. "And then the weekly FaceTime call with our parents came up, and the responses were not so good. They hated the idea," Mr. Zeltner said. "But all our New York friends loved it," Ms. Horsten said. And a friend's generous offer of a free month in a Long Island City, Queens, loft building that he owned tipped the scales in favor of the experiment. The family pared down their possessions to little more than a few large boxes and pieces of furniture which they would store at the Long Island City building for the year and took along one suitcase each and a milk crate of toys for Emma. "My favorite day was when we got rid of all the stuff in our Park Slope apartment," Mr. Zeltner said. "In Park Slope, there's this culture of putting things out on the stoop. In one year, we'd ended up with so many things." Ms. Horsten added: "We put it all back out on our stoop, and it disappeared in minutes. It was so liberating." Long Island City charmed them, so much so that as the end of the month neared they wondered if maybe they shouldn't just stay. "Long Island City is such a strange place, but living there, this area of taxi depots and Chinese cake factories really came to life," Mr. Zeltner said. "We discovered the village underneath it." But the success of their first month pushed them to continue. "Waking up someplace is so different from visiting," Ms. Horsten said. "You get a much better feel for it." They decided on a few terms: They would try to live in all five boroughs. And to get to know each new neighborhood, they would have a dinner party in their apartment, as they had in Long Island City, inviting local business owners, neighborhood activists, people mentioned in newspaper articles and any other likely candidates who crossed their paths. Occupations: Ms. Horsten is a New York correspondent with a German news agency; Mr. Zeltner is a freelance journalist and a founder of Work Awesome. Children: Emma, 4, and Lily, newborn Rents during the project: On average, 2,800 a month including 2,700 in Harlem; nearly 4,000 in Chinatown and Dumbo, Brooklyn; a free month in Long Island City, Queens; and a free two week sublet in Hell's Kitchen. Favorite neighborhood: "It's really hard," Mr. Zeltner said. "But the neighborhood that maybe stuck to our minds the most was St. George. You could see the ferry coming as you walked down the hill and estimate how much time it would take to get there." At first, things went remarkably well. They found their next apartment, a beautiful loft in Chinatown, on Listings Project, a free weekly email of real estate and related opportunities, serving artists and the creative community. The loft "was like something out of a movie," Mr. Zeltner said. And while the price was substantially over their 2,900 a month budget, they figured they could even things out over the course of the year, paying less for subsequent apartments. Befriending a family in Chinatown, they also found a comparatively affordable preschool for Emma: a bilingual Mandarin English center that she still attends. The next months brought stops in Staten Island (a house in St. George, where they lived with the owner, an Antiguan immigrant who had gone to school across the street from the property as a child and vowed to buy it one day) and Harlem (a studio, where the idyllic summer days and their good luck so far lulled them into a sense of ease). As September approached, their next sublet proved difficult to find. "We started out in a time when people were leaving, so it was easy," Mr. Zeltner said. "But work really picks up for New Yorkers in the fall." When their Harlem sublet ended, they bided their time by taking a road trip, then fell for a scam in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, when an apartment they found advertised online wasn't actually available to rent. (They eventually got their move in fee refunded through PayPal.) "That was rock bottom," Ms. Horsten said. "Fortunately, we have good friends, and we crashed in Long Island City while we planned things out." Rather than just responding to ads, they decided to submit their own post to Listings Project, describing what they were doing. They also started a newsletter for friends and family. A flood of offers followed. Over the remainder of the year, they spent time in a townhouse in Mott Haven, in the Bronx, as well as apartments in Chelsea, the East Village, Hell's Kitchen, and Williamsburg, Bushwick and Dumbo, in Brooklyn. They lived in an oceanfront home in Sea Gate, Brooklyn, and amid thousands of books in a garden level apartment of an antique bookseller in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Hamilton Heights. "In the end, we were like, 'Why should we even stop doing this?'" Ms. Horsten said. But then a lease takeover on Listings Project caught their attention: a two bedroom, two bathroom duplex on the top of an Upper West Side townhouse. "It was more than we thought we could afford, and more than we'd ever paid," Ms. Horsten said 3,900 a month. "But we saw the roof deck, and after all the crazy moving, we thought, 'Let's just enjoy this oasis for a while.'" Since they moved in, a little over a year ago, they have written a book about their experience, Stadtnomaden, which will be published in Germany in April. A second daughter, Lily, was born in January. And with a newborn, they have no intention of moving again anytime soon. Still, many aspects of their adventure have remained with them. "In the same way that we've tried to keep minimalism in our life, we try to stay in touch with all the people we've met," Ms. Horsten said. "We realized it was a lifelong project to try to get to know New York City," Mr. Zeltner said. But there is one member of the household agitating for a repeat: Emma. "I think she loved it the most," Ms. Horsten said. "At all the places we stayed, she found stuff I never noticed: children's books, a dollhouse, a drum set. Even now, she's like, 'When are we moving to a new home?' And we're like, 'We kind of like it here.'" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
I'm not sure he achieves this goal because he doesn't seem to have grasped the magnitude of the change that swept America in the election of November 2016 a result arguably as radical as the one in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected the country's first black president. Trump's win by a comfortable margin in the Electoral College (albeit not the popular vote) showed that a large number of Americans had no qualms about voting for someone who had made explicitly misogynistic and racist comments. Indeed, racial divisiveness, whether in talking about banning Muslims or building a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, was central to Trump's campaign and clearly a draw for many voters. None of the books I've read since the election have considered what this means or says about America in 2018. There have been endless analyses of the campaign itself while the press has devoted its attention to breathless reporting on the possibility of collusion with Russia and the latest sensational developments from Robert Mueller's investigation. Yet there has been a tectonic shift in America: The unsayable is now regularly said, and often by the commander in chief himself. If, as expected, Trump runs again in 2020, his opponent will have to find a way to eat into his support if he or she is to retake the White House. Pfeiffer advocates taking the high ground. "Hate worked for him; it won't work for us," he writes. "It requires being audacious, authentic and inspirational." In other words, be like Obama. Still, he remains optimistic. Democrats, he says, lost sight of the most important aspect of a successful campaign: "No matter how precise the data or advanced the technology, campaigns will always be decided by who tells a more compelling story about America." He lists five "building blocks" for a successful campaign attitude, scaling, culture, strategy and branding but neglects to mention policy positions. (When did policy become secondary to branding? And did anyone tell Bernie Sanders?) | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
FRANKFURT As it moved boldly in recent months to avert a credit squeeze and a rash of bank failures, the European Central Bank might also have subsidized the market rollout of Volkswagen's newest subcompact. Volkswagen Financial Services, a unit of Europe's largest carmaker, borrowed 2 billion euros ( 2.6 billion) from the central bank at the end of February, one of numerous car company credit units to avail itself of the cheap, three year loans. Volkswagen said it would, in turn, lend the money to customers to buy cars, including the new fuel efficient Up. The industry infusion has been done without the fanfare or testy debate of Washington's bailout of Detroit three years ago. In fact, helping Europe's hard pressed auto industry move cars off dealers' lots was probably not what Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank's president, had in mind when the bank issued a total of more than 1 trillion euros worth of cheap three year loans in December and February. Mr. Draghi was clearly more concerned about a severe banking crisis caused by dysfunctional money markets. But one consequence of the loan program was to give automakers, through their in house consumer finance units, a chance to raise low interest money they could lend to customers to buy cars. The European auto industry can use all the help it can get. Carmakers are suffering from a surplus in production capacity at a time when the market for midprice cars is slumping. As long as their financial services units have banking licenses, automakers are eligible for European Central Bank money, just as any other bank. The central bank is lending the money at an interest rate of 1 percent. Volkswagen said it planned to pass the benefits on to customers, and is enticing Up buyers with financing at a relatively low annual interest rate of 3.9 percent. Mercedes Bank, a unit of Daimler, said it also borrowed from the central bank, while PSA Financing, a unit of the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, hinted that it did so as well. Neither disclosed amounts. "I think everybody does it," Mr. Witter said of his competitors. The central bank's money could be crucial for the European car industry, which appears to be headed for its second big downturn since the beginning of 2009. Registrations of new cars in Europe were down 8.3 percent in January and February compared with the same period in 2011. The slump is particularly ominous for brands sold primarily in Europe, like Peugeot or Opel from General Motors. The European Central Bank's loans cannot solve the problems those companies have with underused factories, but it at least ensures that customers who want cars can get financing to buy them. But the automakers' borrowing also illustrates the extent to which the central bank's loan program was something of blind leap of faith by policy makers. The flood of money has clearly lowered tensions in the euro zone but there was also a risk the cash might be put to use in ways that the bank did not intend and might not regard as positive. Today in On Tech: Imagine not living in Big Tech's world. Dollar Tree will raise prices to 1.25 by the end of April. So far, for example, the commercial banks that were the main intended recipients have not shown much enthusiasm for putting the money to use in ways many economists might have liked by stepping up interbank lending, or lending to businesses or snapping up large numbers of the bonds issued by European Union member governments. And in the case of the car companies, it is not clear whether Mr. Draghi and the central bank are happy that the auto credit banks joined the queue for cheap loans. Asked his views earlier this month, Mr. Draghi was noncommittal. "I don't really have any reaction to that," he said at a news conference. "They are acting within the law." Licensed and regulated as banks, the car companies' credit arms cannot escape the same headwinds facing other institutions, like investor hesitancy to buy corporate bonds issued by banks. Mr. Witter of Volkswagen Financial Services said the money borrowed from the central bank "goes straight into financing our core business." The European Central Bank said it could not provide a breakdown of how much the car companies borrowed in recent months, but Mr. Draghi said he did not think the sums were "awfully relevant." The bank does not disclose the names of its borrowers. If the central bank does have concerns about the auto companies, it might be that their lenders are skewed toward a particular product and customer. Theoretically, a traditional bank plays an important role in the economy by allocating capital to whatever companies will use it most productively. "It takes away the question mark whether the banks will lend on to the economy," said Nick Matthews, senior European economist at Royal Bank of Scotland. Volkswagen and Mercedes, both of which are profitable and less vulnerable to the industry slump, borrowed from the European Central Bank for the first time in February. But other carmakers had done so before. FCE Bank, a financing arm of Ford Motor, borrowed from the central bank in 2009 and 2010, and has continued to borrow small amounts, said Christopher Makin, a spokesman for FCE. But Ford does not need to depend on the central bank, Mr. Makin said in an e mail message, noting that FCE raised PS250 million selling five year notes on the debt market in February. "An expansion of E.C.B. funding is not part of our present funding strategy," Mr. Makin said. For Volkswagen, by far the biggest automaker in Europe, central bank financing is more a matter of opportunity than necessity. But there is no question that the central bank money became particularly attractive to carmakers starting in December, when the bank's usual one year loan limit was expanded to three. The time period coincides nicely with the term of an auto loan. "It is perfectly matched," Mr. Witter of Volkswagen Financial Services said. Banks tied to car companies or other manufacturers make up a small percentage a few dozen at most of the more than 6,000 credit institutions in the euro zone. But virtually every car company has an in house financing arm, as do as other manufacturers like Caterpillar, the maker of bulldozers and other heavy machinery. Caterpillar, however, did not borrow from the central bank, said Jim Dugan, a company spokesman. Carmakers' financing units encourage demand for a company's products and allow the companies to collect lending profits that might otherwise go to banks. And though they tend to be relatively small, the car company banks are forces to be reckoned with. Volkswagen Financial Services made a profit in 2011 of 658 million euros more than Commerzbank, Germany's second largest bank, which has eight times as many employees. The 2 billion euros that Volkswagen borrowed will amount to, at most, about 20 percent of the total funds that the bank raises this year to lend on to customers, Mr. Witter said. He said Volkswagen had no trouble raising money on capital markets. Earlier this month the bank sold 1 billion euros in debt in the credit markets. The debt, secured by receivables from outstanding auto loans, carries a variable rate currently about 1 percent, the same as the central bank cash. Still, Volkswagen Financial and other banks could get the European Central Bank money just by requesting it and posting collateral. They did not need to hire investment banks or go on investor road shows, as is usually the case when marketing debt. And the money ensures that Volkswagen is not too dependent on any one source of funds, Mr. Witter said. "It's a piece of the puzzle." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Global Business |
When Joanna Lau and her husband signed a sales contract for a two bedroom condo during the conversion of a historic TriBeCa building last year, Ms. Lau, 31, figured that her days as a New York renter would soon come to an end. She was mistaken. After selling furniture, jettisoning old kitchenware and packing up her rental last July, she learned her new home might not be ready for more than year. "I was really surprised," said Ms. Lau, who bought a unit at 108 Leonard, an 1898 office tower known as the Clock Tower Building. "Then everyone I talked to was like, 'That's typical of new development.' They actually have a clause in there that they could take years after the expected completion date I think until the end of 2020." As she hadn't prepared for this eventuality, Ms. Lau had a matter of weeks to secure a furnished rental for an indefinite number of months. She and her husband didn't want to sign a yearlong lease, buy furniture and housewares, then deal with the fallout of leaving early. They had to run through a series of options before finally finding something that suited them. She contacted a number of hotels, hoping that monthly rates might yield a significant discount, but with full service perks like daily housekeeping factored into the cost, the bill came to around 9,000 or 10,000 a month. Ms. Lau, who worked as a trader on Wall Street before starting JEMMA, a handbag company that makes functional bags for professional women, and her husband, who works in finance, were looking to pay about half that. Hotels also presented another problem: Full kitchens were rare. "Usually the most you can find is a wet bar," she said. "And I love cooking I needed a kitchen. Eating out every day feels weird." Next she looked into Airbnb, but found long term rentals of entire apartments to be expensive, especially for what was offered. "A lot of people in New York are trying to do Airbnb as a job," she said. "But they're also not trained in the hospitality industry, so you come across things like apartments with no towels." The extended stay rental companies operating in the city didn't appeal either. "Some, like AKA, were like hotels, with daily cleaning services, which meant paying a lot more a month," she said. "Or else they were very old spaces, with old furniture, no attempt to make it nice." In either case, she felt that the spaces were intended for out of towners who would not personally be footing the bill. "I wanted it to feel like a home, not a hotel," she said. And then one day a former colleague popped up on her LinkedIn feed. He had a new job at a company called Blueground, which offers flexible leases of furnished apartments in luxury buildings. "It looked like what I needed," said Ms. Lau, who liked that the apartments could be rented for as a little as a month or for more than a year, and were in Manhattan rental buildings occupied by other New Yorkers, not in extended stay complexes filled with business travelers. Occupation: Chief executive and founder of JEMMA, a direct to consumer brand that makes bags for working women, with compartments for laptops, toiletries, shoes and features like sleeves that allow you to slip the bag onto an extended suitcase handle. How she started it: "When I was working on Wall Street I realized there was a whole industry built around men's work accessories and women had nothing. It was always a trade off between function and looking good. I wanted it, myself." On New York's limited flexible stay options: "I'm from Singapore and have studied in London. I thought service apartments were something that existed everywhere. It was bizarre to me. In Europe there are multiple companies, you can rent furnished spaces for as little as a week." What she looks forward to: Getting her golf clubs out of storage. Although Ms. Lau, who played golf for New York University, admitted, "I don't play too much anymore." After touring one unit, Ms. Lau felt confident enough in the quality of the space to select a one bedroom in Battery Park City based on the photos. At 4,800 a month, it was within budget and a short walk to the new condo. The building also had a 60 foot indoor lap pool, which Ms. Lau, who likes to swim, was excited about. She and her husband moved in last summer. Walking into the apartment, they encountered yet another surprising real estate situation: The apartment had a stunning view of the Hudson River, which the listing hadn't bothered to mention. "It turned out to have the best view, which you couldn't see in any of the photos," Ms. Lau said. She was also delighted to discover, upon moving in, that the kitchen was not only stocked with basics like plates and cups, but also with baking dishes and wine glasses. The decor, she said, is comfortable and pleasing, without being too over the top something she encountered a lot in sales galleries. "Our friends were really impressed. I think people were surprised that it actually looks so good," she said. And while she was relieved when the condo developer confirmed in January that the new apartment would be ready to move into by mid February, the rental detour worked out well in a lot of ways. Over the past six months, it's been possible to settle into the area without having to worry about setting up a new apartment. She has also enjoyed the sojourn with a view the new apartment doesn't have one and living with a full slate of amenities, which won't be completed at the condo building for some time. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
The artist Sally Helmi, far left, with the five members of the Land Collective (Alliyah Allen, Nene Aissatou Diallo, Jillian M Rock, Chrystofer Davis and Gabe Ribeiro), in front of the 2019 mural "Newark is for Artists" by Mr. Ribeiro. Credit...Simbarashe Cha for The New York Times The artist Sally Helmi, far left, with the five members of the Land Collective (Alliyah Allen, Nene Aissatou Diallo, Jillian M Rock, Chrystofer Davis and Gabe Ribeiro), in front of the 2019 mural "Newark is for Artists" by Mr. Ribeiro. NEWARK This city prides itself on its resilience, and its artists share in that spirit. Ever since the coronavirus arrived, Newark's creative community has been on the front lines, responding to the crisis and, now, the catharsis. Like elsewhere, the shock was abrupt. Anchor institutions closed their doors in mid March, among them the Newark Museum of Art and Rutgers University Newark, with its Paul Robeson Galleries and its Express Newark incubator for arts, entrepreneurship, and social justice projects. The artist run gallery and studio complexes Index Art Center, Gallery Aferro, and Project for Empty Space, which had just moved into a former school in the heart of downtown were drained of activity. Chrystofer Davis, a photographer often found in the Newark Print Shop darkroom or at the Black Swan coffee shop, an artist hangout, recalls watching his city's energy get extinguished in the cold early spring. "There was a lot of emptiness and sadness," Mr. Davis said. "I've always known Newark to be a lively place." But he also sensed an urgency, prompting him to make portraits of fellow Newarkers experiencing this time. "As soon as the pandemic happened, it needed to be documented," he said. "These stories need to be archived because there's a historic moment that's happening." As Covid 19 has receded here, the sense of history has heightened, especially amid the insurrectionary national energy sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In overwhelmingly Black and Latinx Newark, where the mayor, Ras Baraka, grew up in the radical tradition, the moment resonates less as confrontation than as vindication, confirming American realities that are well understood here. Newark's artists have applied their imagination to both cope with the time and seize its possibilities. Many have been documenting public and personal lives, and some have contributed their skills to activist campaigns. Their output is now coming into view in multiple forms, including exhibitions online and getting ready for in person reopening as well as zines, posters, and resources such as a citywide artists' database. The city government, meanwhile, has issued 750,000 in grants to 120 artists and arts organizations, the only city initiative of its type in New Jersey. And on June 27, two days after the city took down its Christopher Columbus statue, artists and residents gathered to make "ground murals" in bright yellow paint, of the kind that is now a trend, but with added Newark militancy. (One reads "All Black Lives Matter." The other, in front of Essex County Courthouse, says "Abolish White Supremacy.") The occasion had a festive energy, with music, dancing, and people burning sage. "Art is part of the commentary of this moment," said fayemi shakur, Newark's art and cultural affairs director. "It's very affirming when space is created to tell the truth about how you feel." As much as Newark's creative community is energized, its material outlook is perilous. Covid 19 has thrown incomes and sustainability into uncertainty like never before. The Newark Museum of Art has lost one third of its revenue, said Linda Harrison, its director. At Symphony Hall, a once opulent prewar theater scheduled for revival through a 40 million capital campaign, event rental income has vanished, said Taneshia Nash Laird, its executive director, adding that some of her staff lost family members to the virus. At Akwaaba Gallery, which opened last year in the West Ward, the owners, Laura Bonas Palmer and Ray Palmer, likewise watched revenue disappear. The gallery is a rare commercial art endeavor in the outer neighborhoods, which have drawn little benefit from downtown reinvestment and Newark's renewed cachet. "But for the fact that we own the building, we would be out of business now," said Ms. Bonas Palmer, who contracted Covid 19 herself, along with her husband. Even before the pandemic, beloved art institutions were closing. "I'm 100 percent worried," Mr. Baraka said. "Artists have a difficult time as it is to stay true to their craft and make a living. Cities benefit from an art scene and culture, but not really the artists themselves. We have been trying to figure that piece out." He added: "It just means we have to be more creative." In many ways, Newark's artists are already there. Cesar Melgar, a photographer, produced a zine of 27 black and white photos from the peak of the pandemic, showing empty streets, the grimness of socially distanced shopping, and the circumstances, he wrote, of "essential workers as the media calls them, whose jobs are too necessary for society to function without." Mr. Melgar, the son of immigrants from Colombia and Peru, counts as mentors the Newark sculptor Kevin Blythe Sampson (who turned to painting during the pandemic), and the Newark raised artist Manuel Acevedo, who is now Bronx based, who share his proletarian sensibility. The intensity of the Covid 19 experience has put that project on hold for now, she said. The replies, however, stuck in her mind. Seen from Newark, at least, the pandemic and issues of structural racism ultimately raise the same questions of rights, and of safety. And the city's big protest after the death of George Floyd a peaceful gathering, led by Mr. Baraka, with the police out of view not only contrasted with the violence in other cities but offered a glimpse of healing. For one thing, according to the five artist Land Collective Alliyah Allen, Nene Aissatou Diallo, Gabe Ribeiro, Jillian M Rock, and Mr. Davis, the photographer the protest was the first time to gather in person, with each other and with the broader Newark community. "It gave me so much energy just seeing everyone there," Ms. Diallo said. Ms. Rock, who has two teenage daughters, fretted at first about the health risk. "I wasn't sure if I wanted them to come, but to bear witness is their right," she said. For now, Newark is slowly reopening, though the process may stall as New Jersey reassesses the risks from Covid 19 surging in other parts of the country. And the political and economic outlook is just as fraught. In other words, the Newark artists are in their element. "There's a lot of uncertainty, but we're energized to think creatively about how we're going to reimagine this," Ms. shakur said. "We have not given up. The solidarity in our community is strong." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
When friends visiting Mexico for the first time ask me where to begin, I tell them: Go to Oaxaca, one of the most scenically beautiful, historically interesting and simply enjoyable cities south of the border. Go now. It's never seemed more important than it does at this current moment, to enjoy, to admire and to learn about our nation's near neighbor to the south. I can't think of a better way to counter the "alternative facts" we have been hearing in the political discourse about Mexico and Mexicans than to go there and see for ourselves, to experience firsthand the country's physical beauty, its rich traditions, the hospitality and kindness of its people. And I can't think of a better place to start than Oaxaca, an easy trip of less than an hour, by air, from Mexico City. At least partly because of its pleasant climate, temperate all year round, Oaxaca has become an appealing tourist destination. A lovely colonial city that has been designated by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, located in the scenic highlands of the Sierra Madre del Sur, Oaxaca (where archaeological ruins, churches and museums range across the centuries of the country's past) offers a concentrated education in Mexico's culture and complex heritage, an immersion course sweetened by a succession of pleasures and delights brightly colored houses, pleasant public squares and stately churches, all set in the midst of a gorgeous desert landscape. Oaxaca was the first place in Mexico to which I traveled with my family, 30 years ago, and the place to which I returned most recently, with husband, our grown son, our Mexican daughter in law and three grandchildren in tow a city that seems remarkably unchanged, despite the fact that its area and population have grown, over the decades. Even at the busiest times, the mood in this city of under 300,000 people is relaxed, the traffic manageable, and one never feels mobbed by hordes of sightseers and shoppers. Though there are periodic eruptions of political tension several buildings, including the law school, still bear the scars of a teachers' strike in 2016, and seven months of unrest accompanied an earlier strike in 2006 Oaxaca continues to feel friendly, safe and welcoming. The recent earthquakes that so damaged Mexico City and its environs (including Oaxaca State) shook buildings in Oaxaca City, but failed to do serious damage, and the city continues to welcome tourists, on whom a significant portion of its economy depends. Though the exact date of its initial construction is uncertain, we know that Mitla thrived from the 8th century until the Spanish conquest, in the early 16th century. Yet what's most striking about Mitla is not so much its age as its beauty. Decorating its walls, its pillars, lintels and archways are fragments of brightly painted frescoes, as well as remarkably well preserved and stunningly elaborate geometric designs made of mosaics of small stones set into the stucco around them an architectural feature unique in all of Mesoamerica, the area encompassing much of Mexico and Central America. Even the grandchildren were excited by Mitla, by the sensation of being able to move from one enclosed space to another, almost like going from outdoor room to outdoor room in a magnificent ruined house. On the outskirts of the city and easily accessible by road atop a mountain overlooking the suburbs that have sprawled out to meet the site, Monte Alban also built by the Zapotecs and dating from 500 B.C. is a vast complex of pyramids, a palace, a shrine, a ball court and a variety of carved bas reliefs. Standing in the central plaza, it's impossible not to feel awe struck and even slightly overwhelmed by its sheer monumentality, its grandeur and its scope. The Museum of Oaxacan Cultures near the entrance to the site, contains a small selection of artifacts and documents the history of this archaeological marvel. In Oaxaca itself, most notably in the city's hilly, cobblestone paved historic centro, are dozens of churches that exemplify the ways in which the Spanish conquistadors imported their religion and culture, while employing the talents (and in some cases the imagery) of the indigenous population. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, on the edge of the city's pleasant, shaded zocalo which is itself a terrific place for watching local families and groups of teenagers is by far the largest, the grandest and the most exuberant of these structures. But arguably the most beautiful (and certainly my favorite) is the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman, which was built by the Dominican friars in the 16th and 17th centuries. The ornately gilded interior of the church features a ceiling decorated with bright polychrome figures, including a lively representation of Santo Domingo's family tree that evokes pre Columbian images of the Tree of Life. The bas reliefs on the western facade were done by local sculptors, descendants of the artisans responsible for the carving at Mitla, and in one chapel is the statue of a saint dressed in an indigenous costume. The church complex includes a convent, a library, a botanical garden and the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures, which exhibits some of the most significant treasures gold jewelry, jade figures, stone statues, ceramics and masks discovered at Monte Alban. Meanwhile the plaza that fronts the church functions as a fascinating and vibrant public space, filled with families, musicians, vendors selling souvenirs and snacks. A few blocks from the cathedral, the Rufino Tamayo Museum showcases an extensive and exquisitely curated collection of pre Columbian art, gathered over a lifetime by Tamayo, one of Mexico's most celebrated 20th century artists another reminder of how deftly and how frequently the cultural riches of Oaxaca bridge distant and disparate eras. There's a lot to see in Oaxaca, but it's a place that can also be enjoyed by those with only a limited interest in archaeology, history, architecture and art. Above all, Oaxaca is a wonderful place to be, to stroll, to shop, to spend time in the food, flower and handicrafts markets, and not insignificantly to eat. And it's a great walking town. Around nearly every corner in the historical center, you may come upon a bright blue, yellow or orange wall, stenciled with the inventive advertising posters for which Oaxaca is known. By far the most crowded (and to me, the most colorful, vibrant and thrilling) section of the city is the covered 20th of November market, a few blocks from the zocalo, where, amid a circuslike atmosphere of smells and sights and sounds, one can buy spices, chocolate, vegetables, tropical fruits and even roasted and ground crickets, a local delicacy. I bought several woven tote bags decorated with Mexican folk motifs perfect for carrying books, papers and (small amounts of) groceries. I also found a mask made from straw that, as the vendor helpfully showed us, could be rolled into a sort of tubelike parcel and easily stowed in a suitcase without damage. At one end of the market, farthest from the zocalo, is the section where as in all the greatest Mexican markets one can eat at counters and small stalls. Here, the adventurous can sample tropical fruit juices and an enormous range of delicious foods. In the market, one can browse the glittering displays of mezcal bottles, many with gorgeous labels advertising their origin in small local distilleries. Agave, from which mezcal is made, is grown throughout the Oaxaca Valley and is one of its most important crops. Driving along the well marked roads surrounding Oaxaca, one passes agave farms, lined with attractive orderly rows of plants that resemble a cross between an aloe and a pineapple top. Travelers with an interest in sampling the local product (served straight up or in elaborate cocktails) can do so at one of the many stylish mezcal bars that have sprung up throughout the centro. Several smaller and more low key markets selling crafts beaded purses, embroidered shirts, woven belts, filigree earrings, as well as the painted, whimsical wooden animals made in the nearby village of Arrazola are near the Templo de Santo Domingo, on the other side of the zocalo and a 20 minute walk from the 20th of November market. And throughout the centro are dozens of small, inviting boutiques featuring clothes, accessories and household goods that combine traditional craft with high design. If one ventures further afield, it's possible to visit nearby villages known for their particular specialties. San Bartolo de Coyotepec is celebrated for its unique black glazed pottery. In the village of Teotitlan del Valle, nearly every household appears to be involved in weaving gorgeous woolen rugs, and it can be visited on the way to Mitla. Oaxaca is justly famous for its mole, a piquant sauce with a complex blend of spices and flavors including (in one of its more familiar iterations) chocolate. In fact there are many variations on the theme of mole that one can try around Oaxaca, where large numbers of talented chefs, inspired by the region's culinary heritage, have dedicated themselves to reinventing traditional dishes, and to preparing elegant yet unpretentious food served in surroundings ranging from funky and cool to luxurious, stylish and ultramodern. One of the most popular of the high end restaurants (which, due sadly to the devaluation of the Mexican peso, are not all that expensive) is Los Danzantes. Housed is a spacious courtyard shaded by huge translucent panels that can be retracted at night, with a glamorous bar, the Los Danzantes is at once relaxed (our group of four adults, two children, and a baby in a stroller were made to feel completely at home) and elegant. Among the dishes we tried were subtle little tostadas of tuna tartare, chiles stuffed with corn fungus, a green leaf herba santa, which tastes a bit like shiso leaves rolled around locally made white cheese, candied pork ribs and coconut shrimp. Slightly more formal but equally pleasant is Catedral, which, like Los Danzantes, is in the center of the city, and where a range of dishes sauced with a variety of moles can be ordered. Sipping the chocolate, I think about Oaxaca and feel ever so slightly warmer as I imagine walking its cobbled streets, past its painted houses, its shaded plazas and Baroque churches. And I watch the video which we took on New Year's Eve in the courtyard of the Templo de Santo Domingo. Behind those bright swirls of light inscribed on the dusky twilight are two granddaughters with twirling sparklers, celebrating the joy of being in this magical place, with their family, on a perfect holiday evening. IF YOU GO There are several direct flights daily from Mexico City to Oaxaca, an hourlong trip. Quinta Real Oaxaca. Formerly a 16th century Dominican convent, this luxurious and welcoming hotel is close to the zocalo and the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman. It has comfortable rooms, a swimming pool set in a beautiful garden, and serves a sumptuous breakfast buffet. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
BEACON, N.Y. Of all New York's museums, none has a stronger house style than the Dia Art Foundation. It committed early on to supporting a small number of artists, such as Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, and presented their work in uncommonly long exhibitions of up to a year. It also undertook permanent installations in New York and in the American west, where Dia commissioned Walter De Maria's "The Lightning Field" and now maintains Robert Smithson's monumental earthwork "Spiral Jetty." Most of Dia's chosen artists were Americans and Germans, working in minimal and conceptual idioms that privilege processes, materials, phenomenology and environment. By 2003, when the foundation moved its permanent collection to a renovated box factory in this Hudson River town, my colleague Michael Kimmelman bestowed these artists with a new sobriquet: "The Dia Generation." This year the foundation turns 45, and discreetly, deliberately it has been rethinking just what that Dia Generation looks like. Over the last four years under its British director, Jessica Morgan, who took the reins in 2015, and its chief curator, Courtney J. Martin, who is leaving this summer to direct the Yale Center for British Art Dia has been introducing new artists into its permanent collection, and telling a fuller story of postwar art without turning its back on its essence. Come to Beacon now and you can see this larger Dia Generation coming into focus in two assured presentations. The larger is the first full American retrospective of Charlotte Posenenske (1930 1985), a German artist whose factory made sculptures and wall reliefs are a natural fit here. After early, improvised "art informel" paintings made with a palette knife or spray gun, Posenenske in 1967 and 1968 turned to industrially inspired sculptures of aluminum, steel or cardboard, whose modular components could be combined and reproduced at will. She showed these serial sculptures alongside works by American colleagues like Judd and Sol LeWitt but Posenenske abruptly quit making art in 1968, and devoted the rest of her short life to sociology. Dia has filled two of its largest galleries with all her major sculptural series, including simple reliefs made of two steel sheets joined at an angle, or human scale aluminum boxes that support large panels on hinges, which viewers can open like doors. Her most important series was the "Vierkantrohre," or "Square Tubes" : free standing pipes, articulated out of any number of cuboid or trapezoidal chutes, that look almost exactly like commercial air ducts. First made of sheet steel, later made of cardboard, these standardized parts can be combined in any shape you like several trapezoids can be joined into an X that sits on the floor, or a dozen pieces can climb and curve in on themselves, like in the classic Snake arcade game. The Posenenske exhibition, which has been organized by Ms. Morgan and the Dia curator Alexis Lowry, commands us to reassess other art using serial forms, whether Flavin's rhyming arrangements of fluorescent bulbs, LeWitt's exhaustive variations of crossed lines, or On Kawara's day by day paintings. Unlike them, Posenenske saw seriality as a tool to cede authorship of her art to the workers who would fabricate its components, as well as to the collectors or curators who would arrange them. To see them here in Beacon, in the postindustrial minimal architecture beloved by cultural mandarins and plutocrats worldwide, also highlights certain economic tensions that eventually led Posenenske to abandon art for sociology. Where Judd, Flavin and others made small editions that now sell for elevated sums, Posenenske's were unlimited and sold at cost. They still are today. At Dia, some lightly patinated prototypes of the Square Tubes stand in the same gallery as freshly fabricated sculptures each as much a "Posenenske" as any other. Smaller than the Posenenske retrospective, but more radical in its implications for the museum, is a stellar presentation of five sculptures by the Paris based Korean artist Lee Ufan. While Posenenske has been a specialist's name up to now, Mr. Lee is among Asia's most renowned living artists, with a permanent museum devoted to his work in Japan and a major retrospective up now at the Centre Pompidou's satellite in Metz, France. Yet Asian art was well out of Dia's initial purview, and his introduction here should prompt a serious rethinking of the aims of elemental sculpture in the years around 1970. The largest work here by Mr. Lee, from 1969, comprises some 20,000 reedy steel poles planted in a foot tall beach of golden sand, and resonates with Smithson's "non sites" of dirt and gravel, made the very same year and on display nearby. The rods are packed so densely that they scramble your vision; most of them stand upright, but some have succumbed to gravity and droop or collide. Mr. Lee initially called the work "Iron Field," but later retitled it along with every one of his sculptures with the philosophical term "Relatum," which means an element in relationship with others. Mr. Lee initially first made this and all the other works here in Tokyo, where he moved in the mid 1950s; most have been refabricated in the last decade. Though Korean, he was the prime mover of Japan's Mono ha art movement ("School of Things"), which favored unadorned materials, both natural and industrial, arranged in modest and contingent alliances. Another "Relatum" here, initially made in 1974, offers a prime example. A weathered log is suspended from the ceiling by a rope, and rests at a 60 degree angle on a large steel plate; the plate itself is lifted slightly from the floor by dozens of small stones. Contrast these with Smithson's non sites, or perhaps with Richard Serra's splashes of molten lead chucked against the wall, and you'll notice that Mono ha places much less emphasis on the artist's processes or the physical context of the gallery. Rather, Mr. Lee is more concerned with presenting materials in their most elemental states, and pushing our perception of them into a pure realm beyond language or meaning. And showing Mr. Lee's art here underscores that the Dia Generation's approaches to sculpture industrial fabrication, minimal forms, undisguised processes were not the summit of art making circa 1970, but just a few ways among many of pushing past tradition. That marks this presentation, even more than the Posenenske show, as a quiet and laudable broadening of the museum's vision. More changes are coming. Later this summer Ms. Martin, Dia's departing chief curator, will organize a presentation of free hanging paintings from 1969 by Sam Gilliam, another innovator never before shown here. And there remains ample room for Dia to globalize its view of elemental sculpture of the 1960s and 1970s pivoting to Arte Povera in Italy, say, or the New Art Practice of Yugoslavia, or the Neo Concretists of Brazil. It should do so, though, only if it can devote the same time and resources that it has afforded Posenenske and Mr. Lee. For what's most impressive about these current shows is that they are not tokenistic one time invitations (too common these days), but arise from deep commitments over the long term. Dia acquired these major works by Mr. Lee (and by Kishio Suga, another Mono ha artist exhibited at Dia's Chelsea space in 2016 17) for the permanent collection two years ago, but waited until now to show them. The museum has also acquired 155 works by Posenenske, both archival and newly fabricated. Ms. Morgan and her team work slowly, without fanfare. Blockbusters are not their thing. But don't let the hush of the Beacon galleries mislead you; a profound transformation is afoot. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
WASHINGTON Louis DeJoy's move to halt changes that were viewed as a threat to mail in voting did little to quell the outcry over his leadership as postmaster general, with lawmakers calling on Wednesday for his removal and one top Democrat demanding more answers about the secretive process that led to a major Trump donor running the Postal Service. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, called on the Postal Service board of governors to release information about the selection process that resulted in Mr. DeJoy's appointment in May, saying that the changes made under his watch underscored the need for more details. In a separate letter to Mr. DeJoy, Mr. Schumer also requested more information about the changes that had been put in place and which ones would be suspended. Mr. DeJoy, who will face lawmakers at two separate hearings in the coming days, said on Tuesday that he would suspend cost cutting and operational changes that have slowed mail delivery and fueled worries about mail in voting in the November election. But Mr. DeJoy did not commit to reversing changes already put in place, including the removal of hundreds of mail sorting machines, some of which have already been destroyed, according to union officials and postal workers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who spoke with Mr. DeJoy on Wednesday, said in a statement that the postmaster general "frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed, and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works." Lawmakers plan to question Mr. DeJoy, who previously ran a logistics and transportation company, at a Senate committee hearing on Friday and at a House oversight hearing on Monday. House lawmakers are also expected to vote Saturday on legislation that would reverse the changes put into place by Mr. DeJoy, prevent any further changes before the end of the pandemic and provide 25 billion for the beleaguered agency, with 15 million of that going to the Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Top House Republicans, who conferred on Wednesday by phone with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, are formally urging members of the conference to vote against the measure, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Close to 100 Democrats called for Mr. DeJoy's removal from the position of postmaster general, writing to the agency's board of governors that Mr. DeJoy "has already done considerable damage to the institution, and we believe his conflicts of interest are insurmountable." Mr. Schumer, along with other Democrats and some Republicans, have expressed concerns about the changes being put in place that have resulted in some Americans going days or weeks without receiving mail, including critical medications and Social Security checks. In a letter sent Wednesday to Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of the board of governors, Mr. Schumer demanded more details about Mr. DeJoy's selection, saying that the board had repeatedly denied lawmakers' requests to gain access to that information. Mr. Schumer said the postal board had blocked lawmakers from questioning the firm involved in the selection of Mr. DeJoy, Russell Reynolds, by refusing to release the firm from a nondisclosure agreement. Mr. Schumer said that his office had sought a briefing from Kimberly Archer, a leader of the firm's global nonprofit practice, and information from the firm so "Congress could satisfy its oversight obligations to better understand the selection of Mr. DeJoy," but that the postal board in July had deemed much of the information sought by lawmakers to be confidential. "This administration has repeatedly pointed to the role of Russell Reynolds to defend the selection of a Republican megadonor with no prior postal experience as postmaster general while at the same time blocking the ability of Congress to obtain briefings from the firm and concealing the role of Secretary Mnuchin and the White House in its search process," Mr. Schumer wrote, referring to Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary. A spokesman for the Postal Service directed inquiries about the search to a news release announcing Mr. DeJoy's selection and to previous remarks by a Postal Service governor, John M. Barger, who has said candidates were extensively vetted. In an interview, Mr. Barger, who spearheaded the search, said that the board's decision to select Mr. DeJoy was unanimous and included the board's sole Democrat at the time, Ron A. Bloom. 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. One Democratic member of the board, David C. Williams, resigned in April, shortly before the announcement of Mr. DeJoy's selection, over concerns that the Postal Service was becoming increasingly politicized by the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Mr. Barger said he was "surprised" by the resignation and had "never heard an objection from David Williams about any of the candidates, other than the ones we did not hire." "I don't recall him ever having objected to anything," Mr. Barger said, "or I would have asked him why. And it would have been considered." Mr. Williams is expected to testify on Thursday before lawmakers from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Mounting pressure prompted Mr. DeJoy to backpedal on many of his changes, saying post office hours would not be shortened, mail processing equipment and mailboxes would remain, and overtime would continue to be approved, as needed. But state officials, postal workers and union representatives said some damage has already been done. Hundreds of sorting machines, union officials and workers said, have already been destroyed. Since the changes were put in place, large institutional Postal Service customers have reported mass mailings routinely arriving at home addresses a day or two later than their intended delivery date, said Michael Plunkett, the president of the Association for Postal Commerce, or PostCom. His group represents catalog makers, banks, phone companies and other businesses that produce and send large quantities of mail. He attributed the delivery delays to the cutting of overtime and truck trips between processing plants and post offices. "It appears as if they made these changes without taking into account the effect that it might have on service," he said. More than 20 states announced Tuesday that they would sue the Trump administration over the changes, claiming that they were unlawful, disadvantaged residents and disenfranchised voters. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's attorney general, who plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of the state on Wednesday, said in an interview that Mr. DeJoy's changes have caused delays for small businesses and veterans and people who receive their prescription medicines in the mail. In some cases, he said that medicines that require temperature control have taken three times as long as usual to arrive, potentially compromising their potency, and that the delays have been particularly problematic for veterans. Mr. Shapiro said the state had found evidence of mail left in boxes and trucks because of cutbacks on overtime pay for postal workers. The lawsuit will claim that the changes are illegal because they did not go through the normal postal regulatory commission process and are undermining the right of Pennsylvanians to vote. "I want to see evidence and binding agreements that roll back the illegal changes they've already made and concrete commitments to not make any other changes going forward that don't go through the regulatory process," said Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat. A lawsuit filed Tuesday by Washington and 13 other states included similar accusations of delays and disenfranchisement. Among the accusations contained in the lawsuit: Baltimore residents have gone weeks without mail, and dozens of trailers filled with packages have been left behind in the Milwaukee area. Rent, food and child support checks have arrived late. And seniors have received delayed Social Security checks, the lawsuit states, adding that veterans have experienced weekslong waits for medications. In Connecticut, voters across the state received their mail in ballots after the August primary. Many were postmarked at a least a week or up to 10 days prior. Some voters who requested ballots weeks in advance received them too late to return via mail. Some Minneapolis residents also found themselves without their ballots, within days of the state's primary. The states maintain that they will continue their lawsuit until Mr. DeJoy agrees to rescind all of the changes that have resulted in widespread delays. Several attorneys general said that they did not trust that Mr. DeJoy would restore the Postal Service to what it was before his changes. Emily Cochrane, Hailey Fuchs and Kenneth P. Vogel reported from Washington, and Jessica Silver Greenberg from New York. Nicholas Fandos, Catie Edmondson and Alan Rappeport contributed reporting from Washington. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
At Hudson Yards, One Mall for the Rich, and One for Everyone Else One recent afternoon, I took a cab down to Hudson Yards from the Upper West Side. With little prompting, the driver lamented how the development had taken away two things he'd held sacred: the relative calm of the neighborhood before development started and the view eastward of the Midtown skyline, now obscured. After a rueful few seconds, he mumbled, "I feel choked." Certainly, there is a falsity to the Hudson Yards complex, which sits atop an active train yard and shoots up to the sky impressively but generally thoughtlessly. But to be fair, the whole of 11th Avenue is a zoo of gauche intrusions, from the residential developments in the 60s to the car dealerships in the 50s all the way down to the renovated industrial buildings in the 20s. There's never been a true neighborhood along it. Why start now? Agita of that sort is why, so often in recent weeks, you've heard that Hudson Yards is New York City's Dubai. That's a grave insult to Dubai, where there are indoor surfing waves and artificial islands shaped like all the countries of the globe. When you come up the escalator from the 7 train station, what you see first aren't artisanal food trucks, but regular coffee and hot dog carts. From the front, the building that houses the Shops Restaurants at Hudson Yards is shiny but unremarkable; look up and you're greeted by the posteriors of Lululemon mannequins. The Hudson Yards shopping complex is two malls in one, really. The first is at the top and bottom: The fifth floor (and above) has the first New York outposts of two Dallas multibrand retail forces Neiman Marcus, the 110 plus year and 40 plus store luxury specialist, and Forty Five Ten, a forward looking emporium just beginning to develop a national presence. The ground level features stand alone storefronts for Fendi, Coach, Tory Burch, Dunhill and others, as well as Rolex, Cartier and Piaget. And then there's everything in between, largely of spick and span versions of chain stores available at dozens of other places in the city. The result has the feel of one of New York's 80/20 buildings, where a certain percentage of apartments in new construction are given over to affordable housing as a make good for a whole heap of market rate chicanery. I would not be surprised to learn that there is a secret elevator that goes straight from a private car entrance to the fifth floor. Up on 5, the diversity of rich people on three recent visits was staggering: people with 300 sneakers, and also with 1,200 sneakers; art gallery owner chic, and Upper East Side matriarch chic; people who D.J. for bottle service clubs, and people who buy bottle service; young people with designer fanny packs who looked like Jerrika Karlae, or Jimin, or Davido, or Anuel AA and Karol G. By contrast, on the third floor, a smiling kid wearing a hoodie from Anuel AA and Karol G's tour was going up and down the escalators, having a great time. NEIMAN MARCUS AND FORTY FIVE TEN together make for a worthy addition to the city's retail landscape. Forty Five Ten is broken into four distinct storefronts, making the fifth floor feel like a theme park. There is a well stocked women's designer section, a cluster of emerging designers, some vintage and a men's section. The Forty Five Ten in Dallas is so effective because it has the most forward looking brand mix in the city. Here, though, in the men's department, the thick scrums of Rick Owens, Thom Browne and Stone Island feel predictable, a selection salvaged by a handful of stunning pieces: an oversize yellow print parka with aviator hood from Takahiromiyashita the Soloist ( 2,500) and a ruggedly cut military style jacket with detachable liner by Jil Sander ( 2,750). The emerging designer space had less ornate forms of cleverness: diffusion prairie dresses from Batsheva, stern folk art slides from Nicole Saldana, nu basics from Sandy Liang and Eckhaus Latta. And in the vintage shop, there are framed copies of Avant Garde magazine, from the company president's personal collection. (Not for sale, sadly.) On a recent Saturday, Neiman Marcus, which begins on the fifth floor and rises two more, felt like a true amusement park. In the men's section, there was a foosball table, an arcade game and a Skee Ball game all getting loads of use. But at any given time, only a handful of clerks were working, eyeing the huge floor like a center fielder at Fenway. The selection was wide but not particularly deep. Some fine enough Balenciaga and a Burberry collection that could plausibly pass for bootleg. There were generous helpings of Kiton and Brunello Cucinelli. Even though this Neiman Marcus is vast, it's less a space for serious clothes shopping and more for superluxe trinkets, which is why the whole of the fifth floor is given over to bags, shoes, scarves and other low hanging fruit of wealth signification, whether it's a saddle bag from the Row ( 1,980) only a few will be able to identify or a graffitied kitten heel from Balenciaga that will lose half its value the moment it leaves the store. A woman walked up to the display of exquisitely brittle looking Rene Caovilla sandals and whispered to her partner, "Cinderella shoesssss." You will never miss Phoebe Philo more than when looking at the spiceless wall of Celine handbags here. ONCE YOU GO BELOW THE FIFTH FLOOR, however, things change radically. Given the size of this building, there is surprisingly little shopping to be done. I've never been somewhere where the ratio of people walking through the halls to those actually in a store was as high as it was on the middle floors here. Those spaces feel more like tourist attractions, especially given the large scale art installations scattered throughout. Even though there are plenty of attractions and distractions, the act of actually accommodating people still feels like a challenge. The mall is curiously under bathroomed, and trash and recycling bins aren't prominent. The music can be comically loud, like the hi NRG goth SoulCycle assault that defied Shazaming. That tension, between being a place for people to shop and a place for people to merely linger and marvel, is the clearest on the ground floor. Cartier, Piaget, Rolex inside, they're beatific, and there are guards at the doors to ensure they remain that way. Out in the corridors, greeters in black suits and blue ties enthusiastically guide lost tourists to the escalators, perhaps hoping they'll be sated by some H M or Athleta, or some ice cream from Van Leeuwen (which always had a line). The grimmest space in the whole building is the art store near the exit, Avant Gallery, which sells overpriced, absurd post graffiti canvases that would be gauche even in the middle of a third tier suburban mall. For a development whose idea of an art installation is the staircase to nowhere Vessel, as conceptually rigorous as the sprinkle pit at the ice cream museum, this perhaps isn't much of a surprise. But as a barometer of the level of sophistication the owners expect of their customers, it's telling. They're counting on the fact that money doesn't know where it came from, and it doesn't care where it goes all the way to the sky, or buried deep in the ground. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
Thousands of municipal governments nationwide and nearly two dozen states that sued the pharmaceutical industry for the destructive opioid crisis have tentatively reached a settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, members of the Sackler family. The deal is a landmark moment in the long running effort to compel Purdue, the company whose signature opioid, OxyContin, is seen as an early driver of the epidemic, and its owners, the Sacklers, to face a reckoning for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people from overdoses and the calamitous systemic costs. Specifics of the settlement have yet to be hammered out, but according to two people involved in the negotiations, the broad contours of the deal would involve Purdue filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company would be dissolved, and a new one would be formed to continue selling OxyContin and other medicines, with the profits used to pay the plaintiffs. Purdue Pharma also would donate drugs for addiction treatment and overdose reversal, several of which are in development. Under the deal, the Sackler family would pay 3 billion in cash over seven years. The settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing. The tentative deal emerged after at least a year of talks, which had been intensifying in recent weeks. The agreement must still be approved by Purdue's board as well as a bankruptcy court judge. In a statement, the company said, "Purdue Pharma continues to work with all plaintiffs on reaching a comprehensive resolution to its opioid litigation that will deliver billions of dollars and vital opioid overdose rescue medicines to communities across the country impacted by the opioid crisis." But the agreement does not appear to put to rest claims by a majority of the nation's states, whose attorneys general quickly denounced the proposal. They vowed to pursue the Sackler fortune to try to recover vast sums that their governments spent in treatment, care and enforcement as the drug scourge ensued for years and years. Their resistance casts a shadow over whether a bankruptcy judge will sign off on the plan. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. The tentative deal was reached scarcely six weeks ahead of the start of the first federal trial in the sprawling opioid litigation before a federal judge in Cleveland, in which Purdue was a defendant. The judge, Dan A. Polster, recently issued tough pretrial rulings against groups of defendants in that case drug manufacturers in addition to Purdue, as well as drug distributors and chain retailers. Although other manufacturers have already settled in that case, as well as in an earlier state opioid trial in Oklahoma, the Purdue agreement is the first so called "global" arrangement. Negotiated by a team of five lawyers representing plaintiffs in nearly 2,300 lawsuits in federal court, as well as by lawyers for the states, the resolution would end most of the cases against Purdue. Richard Sackler, former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, in a screengrab taken from a 2015 video deposition. In addition to the plaintiffs in the federal litigation, which include city and county governments and hospitals, some 23 states and a handful of territories are said to favor the deal. Lawyers supporting the proposed settlement said that they prefer to have an agreement with Purdue rather than face the uncertainty of drawn out litigation with no guarantee of a better outcome. Paul Geller, a plaintiffs' lawyer working to resolve the federal cases, said: "Nobody walks away from a tough negotiation feeling like a winner. But one thing was certain during difficult, protracted negotiations a bankruptcy filing by Purdue was inevitable." Lawyers for states that favor the agreement in principle said it had symbolic implications. Ashley Moody, the state attorney general of Florida, which was particularly hard hit by opioids, called the deal "historic," and said, "Sadly, this agreement cannot bring back those who have lost their lives to opioid abuse, but it will help Florida gain access to more life saving resources and bolster our efforts to end this deadly epidemic." Herbert Slatery, the Tennessee attorney general, said the plan "would secure billions of dollars nationwide to go toward addressing the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic and will result in the Sackler family divesting themselves of their business interests in the pharmaceutical industry forever." And a spokesman for Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, said that "we are proud to participate in the nation's most significant step in addressing this deadly crisis." But because the deal falls short of what some state attorneys general were seeking, many have said that they will continue to pursue the Sacklers. In recent weeks, perhaps in anticipation of legal fortresses built by the Sacklers to guard their fortune, which Forbes estimated to be about 13 billion, more states, including Virginia, New Mexico and Delaware, filed cases against members of the family. States have used an array of legal tactics, hoping to win an even bigger payout from the Sacklers and to force them out of the pharmaceutical business altogether. A critical sticking point has been the timing of the family's sale of its global pharmaceutical business, Mundipharma, and the contribution the family would make from the proceeds. Some attorneys general, including those from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, who have not signed on to the settlement, had been pressing the family to sell Mundipharma immediately and to discontinue manufacturing drugs for international markets. In addition, the attorneys general said, they wanted the Sacklers to commit an additional 1.5 billion up front. The attorneys general for several states vowed to push on. Letitia James, New York's attorney general, called the deal "an insult, plain and simple." Gurbir S. Grewal, New Jersey's attorney general, said, "If Purdue cannot pay for the harm it inflicted, the Sacklers will." And Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's attorney general, who also did not support the deal, said his office was now preparing to sue the Sacklers. Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney general, who was the first to sue members of the Sackler family, said in a statement, "It's critical that all the facts come out about what this company and its executives and directors did, that they apologize for the harm they caused, and that no one profits from breaking the law." William Tong, Connecticut's attorney general, said in a statement "I cannot predict whether Purdue will seek bankruptcy, but all I can say is we are ready to aggressively pursue this case wherever it goes whether it is in the Connecticut courts or through bankruptcy." Often when a company goes into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, all litigation against it is stayed. The deconstruction and evolution of Purdue would be overseen by a bankruptcy judge and, eventually, trustees appointed to assemble a new, transparent board, which would not include any of the Sacklers. Still unclear is what the distribution of any Purdue and Sackler money would look like for individual parties that have signed on to the deal, as well as for the federal government, which has been investigating the company. Hospitals, insurers and a group representing infants born exposed to opioids have also brought lawsuits. Another significant question to be resolved is where, legally and practically, the settlement would leave the Sacklers. Whether they would be legally insulated by the settlement is in dispute. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
Blue chip art adorns many suave Manhattan addresses these days: Jeff Koons's "Balloon Rabbit (Red)" at 51 Astor Place, James Turrell's glowing "Light Box" at 505 Fifth Avenue, Yayoi Kusama's giant bronze pumpkin at the Sky building on West 42nd Street. But few have taken it to the extreme that Sterling Ruby, one of the most dazzling contemporary artists to emerge out of Los Angeles in recent years, has done at the Calvin Klein headquarters at 205 West 39th Street. Under the patronage of Raf Simons, the brand's chief creative director, Mr. Ruby has transformed the towering Art Deco building in his kaleidoscopic vision. The first three floors of the facade have been painted black. An assemblage of pompoms, chrome buckets and Calvin Klein briefs (Mr. Ruby's own) hangs over the ground floor space where a runway show was staged last month. The top floor showroom, once a minimalist white cube, is swathed in hand painted wallpaper and fabrics with Mr. Ruby's signature mix of bleach stains and red and blue splotches. "Raf kept saying, 'I'm getting nervous, there's so much red,'" said Mr. Ruby, 45, who is ruggedly handsome and has a sweep of long hair tucked behind his round face. "But that's why I love working with him: Both of us can vent and come to terms with what our differences are." And that is only for the office. In a highbrow reinterpretation of Calvin Klein's iconic ads, the brand's current campaign features underwear clad models standing in front Mr. Ruby's oversize tapestry, "Flag (4791)." But his most visible project will be unveiled this summer, when Mr. Ruby reimagines Calvin Klein's flagship store on Madison Avenue, as was first reported in a recent article for Surface magazine. At first glance, it might seem odd for an artist of Mr. Ruby's rarefied stature (he currently has a show at the Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue, and his works can fetch 1 million and higher) to wade in the comparatively shallow waters of retail architecture. But for Mr. Ruby, whose multidisciplinary, genre fluid artworks encompass such diverse mediums as autobiographical quilting and male pornography, Calvin Klein is just one more addition to his toolbox. "If we're talking about gender, sexuality, highs, lows, politics all of those things can be played within the context of this massive corporate American brand, too," said Mr. Ruby, who typically employs the psychoanalytic method when explaining his art. "Maybe these spaces could be a platform for the hypocrisies of both the art and fashion worlds." Mr. Ruby's foray into the fashion industry is inextricably tied to Mr. Simons. The pair met in 2005 during a studio visit orchestrated by Mr. Ruby's former gallerist in Los Angeles, Marc Foxx. There was an instant creative spark between the two outsiders who found refuge in punk music. "I know that I share something with Sterling: an aesthetic sensibility, a thought process, something in our backgrounds," said Mr. Simons, who is an avid collector of contemporary art. "But I never forget that Sterling is an artist I greatly admire and I am not an artist. He is a separate entity who works in a different way, in a different field." Mr. Ruby, for his part, rarely acknowledges any distinction between making art and making clothes. For nearly a decade, his wardrobe has consisted largely of clothing that he makes himself, including paint splattered black hoodies and bleached denim jackets constructed from salvaged fabrics in his 120,000 square foot studio in Vernon, Calif. "I am just cannibalizing my own work that I wanted to wear," he said. Their shared interests quickly grew into a prolific partnership. In 2008, Mr. Ruby helped design a Tokyo boutique for Mr. Simons's namesake label, spattering the stark white space with splashes of blue paint. The following year, they produced a denim collection incorporating the artist's bleach pattern. Two years later, they designed a small batch men's wear line, Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby, that included a hand painted canvas parka with a reported 30,500 price tag. But their latest collaboration is arguably the most involved. For Mr. Simons, who left Antwerp, Belgium, and now lives in New York for the first time, Mr. Ruby not only acts as an unofficial brand ambassador and image consultant for Calvin Klein, but also serves as a kind of cultural translator. "I suppose I understand what Calvin Klein means from the outside," Mr. Simons said, "but Sterling understands what Calvin Klein means from the inside he's American." "It was an invitation for him to imagine something, and I had total trust in what he might imagine," he added. "That relationship, that complete trust in somebody, that's what evolves over time." Creative marriages between fashion designers and artists may not be new, but they speak to a modern sentiment wary of a celebrity saturated culture. Andy Warhol did a silk screen portrait of Yves Saint Laurent in 1974. Vanessa Beecroft worked with Helmut Lang in 2002 and, more recently, Kanye West. Takashi Murakami created monogram handbags for Louis Vuitton in 2003. Gucci commissioned GucciGhost, a Brooklyn street artist, for multiple collections last year. It's rare, however, for an artist and designer to collaborate as exhaustively and continuously as Mr. Ruby and Mr. Simons have. Their current alchemy involving high art with low waisted underwear gives Calvin Klein, arguably one of today's most influential (and commercially successful) American fashion houses, a distinctly European flair. The timing has never been more right. "The industry is tiring of the Hollywood embeddedness in fashion where you can see the dollar signs all over the actress who was paid X amount of dollars to sit front row," said Nicole Phelps, the director of Vogue Runway, a part of the magazine's web portal. "By equating fine art with celebrity, Raf is putting Sterling's work on the same level as these faces that are so overexposed." Mr. Ruby's fascination with clothing goes back to childhood. Growing up on a farm in New Freedom, Pa., he created his own patchwork fashion inspired by the D.I.Y. look of post hardcore bands like Black Flag. In 1999, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago and soon after met his future wife, the photographer Melanie Schiff. In 2003, he moved to Los Angeles to attend a master of fine arts program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., where he was a teaching assistant for the artist Mike Kelley and had also amassed 300,000 in debt. (Mr. Ruby still lives in Los Angeles with his wife, their two children and his daughter from a previous marriage.) His fortunes changed with his first solo show, "Supermax 2005," at the Marc Foxx Gallery in 2005. Mr. Ruby's gritty pastiche of graffiti techniques and allusions to prison surveillance jump started his metamorphosis into a mercurial art star of the highest order. Three years later, a solo show at Metro Pictures in Chelsea featuring amorphously shaped ceramics garnered exalted praise. Roberta Smith, the art critic of The New York Times, in her review called him "one of the most interesting artists to emerge in this century." His works have continued to mutate and turn more wildly imaginative, and have taken such disparate forms as pillowlike sculptures shaped like vampire mouths, dripping polyurethane structures, spray paintings, videos, and monumental works made from submarine parts and other found materials. In 2014, he was included in the Whitney Biennial and his beanbag size ceramic basins, which resemble deformed ashtrays, were declared best in show by Jerry Saltz, the art critic for New York magazine. As Mr. Ruby's reputation and the work's scale grew, so did the value of his pieces. At a Christie's auction in 2013, one of his acrylic and enamel paintings went for over 1.7 million about five times its estimate. His anarchic work is now in the private collections of Ingvild Goetz, Maurice Marciano and other notable collectors. But it hasn't been all roses. Mr. Ruby is quick to point out that there has been the occasional gatekeeper who scoffs at his entanglements between art and fashion. "There are so many different levels of hypocrisies that are involved in both worlds," he said. "I've never cared, but they have." But for the most part, he appears to be exempt from any real snobbery. "The art world might be suspicious of an artist working hand in hand with any kind of industry," said Philippe Vergne, the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. (A selection of Mr. Ruby's sculptures from the museum's private collection opens on April 2.) "From the commercial side, it will always be someone's job to make sure that an artist is neither underexposed or overexposed." "But everything I've seen from Sterling and Raf working together is a creative dialogue rather than using the artist as an added value," Mr. Vergne added. "It's not like Sterling is jumping from house to house." "We're not making a distinction between his art and fashion practices," she said. Getting Things Just Right On a balmy Wednesday earlier this month, three hours before his latest show opened at the Gagosian Gallery, Mr. Ruby was characteristically low key. He had just finished installing the show, which includes new sculptures and paintings among them a ceramic basin that resembles an ashen dinosaur nest. With the gallery quiet, he walked to one of the smaller fabric paintings "CRUX. YELL." and spoke softly about how it had taken a dozen attempts to get the forest green hue just right. But as always, his work is not confined to just the gallery's walls. As Mr. Ruby prepared for the opening night, he wore one of his black hooded sweatshirts and dark denim jeans with a backside label that read "S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA." "It's nice to play a brand," Mr. Ruby said, before quickly adding, "not necessarily become one." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
So I missed the eclipse. It turned out that in early July something equally cosmic would be happening likewise accompanied by crying, laughing, drinking and a last minute, nail biting weather watch albeit something more local and hopefully far more lasting. I performed a wedding. In all, I've witnessed eight total solar eclipses, from 35 seconds of noonday darkness on a soccer field in Siberia to seven minutes of coronal magic time enough to drink an entire bottle of Corona and shoot a whole roll of film on a beach in La Paz, Mexico. The eclipse on July 2 in Chile would have been my ninth. I'd long planned on dragging my family and friends down to the Atacama Desert, where the moon's shadow would pass directly over some of the world's leading observatories. But when our old friends Tony and Millicent announced last fall that they would be getting married on July 6, just four days after the eclipse, my personal calendar stones shifted. I had taken a paternal interest in their relationship ever since the couple met, at a party at our house on election night in 2012. Tony, a professional juggler and teacher at the New England Center for Circus Arts, had tagged along with another friend. Millicent, one of my wife Nancy's oldest friends, is de facto godmother to our daughter , Mira. Sign up to get reminders for space and astronomy events on your calendar. One happy outcome was that Mira learned to juggle. Another was one of those unlikely romances you wouldn't have dared to predict or arrange. So I couldn't miss the wedding. Moreover, they planned to marry at the Ashokan Center, a center of music, arts and crafts near Woodstock, N.Y., where I once lived for a dozen years writing books. I quickly rented a big house where a large group of us could stay for the Fourth of July weekend and the event. A few weeks before the wedding, Millicent and Tony asked us to stand by for an important phone call. I grew briefly worried: Had they changed their minds and were calling it off? Or maybe they just wanted Mira to be in the ceremony. But it was me they wanted, to officiate. I'm not particularly religious, although I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, in a typical Scandinavian upbringing that included being dragged to a Lutheran church on the occasional Sunday. The only time I use the word "God" is when I'm quoting Einstein, who used it as a metaphor for the mysteries of nature. Then again, I've been know to digress on the subjects of free will and the death of the universe, perhaps earning myself a reputation for gravitas, at least on paper. Also I am, shall we say, seasoned. Also, their first choice, an old friend of Tony's, had politely declined . I am not an accomplished nor even a happy public speaker, but I will agree to anything if it is far enough in the future. And I knew it could be done. I've attended weddings presided over by ministers ordained online by the Universal Life Church and even stranger sounding outfits Dudeism, anybody? Such ceremonies are entirely legitimate, documented in the Sunday weddings section of this very newspaper. The Universal Life Church website was easy to find. (Their slogan: "We are all children of the same universe." Who could argue with that?) Completing my ordination as a minister took all of 15 minutes, and was free. For 39.99 , I ordered the Classic Wedding Package , which soon arrived in the mail: a booklet about weddings, sample wedding certificates, name tags, bumper stickers and windshield placards proclaiming me a member of the clergy. I could now perform baptisms and funerals and start my own church. The pamphlet advised that my job was to make sure all this was legal in the eyes of local county and city ordinances. So I went to the City Clerk's office in Manhattan, where Tony and Millie had obtained their marriage license. After sitting in a lobby for several hours, watching couples and their friends come and go in wedding dresses and formal attire , I was assured by a clerk that my signature on the license would be fine. Now I had to think of something to say. The material was familiar, I soon realized. My day job largely involves writing about things that are dark, deadly, vast and doomed, and reminding readers of the many ways that humanity, Earth and even the universe could die. A black hole could swallow us. An asteroid could fall crashing from the sky. The Higgs field, which permeates space and determines the properties of elementary particles, could sigh and shudder, causing us and the cosmos as we know it to flicker out like a dream. But the other half of my job consists of reminding people of all the wondrous, even miraculous, things that atoms and elementary particles can do: form stars, planets, cat videos, the aurora borealis, us. Just because these things are not permanent doesn't mean they aren't worthy of our awe and love. I quoted Einstein only once, on the illusory nature of time: " For those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present and future is only an illusion, however tenacious. " We live on borrowed energy that will be repaid one way or another. All we have is now. Early July is prime gardening season in the Hudson Valley, when Edens bloom behind eight foot high deer fences and my Siberian irises would blaze in deep blue glory. The flowers will be gone by fall, but we don't feel defeated by that. We plant and nurture them anyway, for their transcendent, transient and fragile beauty. Naturally, as I was about to pronounce the couple man and wife, it rained. The moisture killed my microphone, so I had to shout out the last words. The photographer made a point of taking a close up of the raindrops on my eyeglasses. And so it went for that complex, ecologically compromised and very delicate bloom called marriage, a hopeful flutter in the local cosmos. Life and love are to be nourished, and I was happy to hold a watering can. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
There's an electricity in the air at New York City Ballet in September. On a recent day, wan cheeked young women carried limp practice tutus over their arms, scurrying down fluorescent lit hallways like Alice's White Rabbit, perennially pressed for time. The bustle has been particularly intense this year, with four new works scheduled, three at the company's opening night gala at the David H. Koch Theater on Tuesday. (A new ballet by Alexei Ratmansky will be unveiled next month.) Even more notable, two of these were created by young men who still dance in the company. (Yes, they are all by men. The dearth of ballets by women continues to confound the field.) One is by the soloist Justin Peck, recently named resident choreographer. The second is by a newcomer to the company's choreographic roster: Troy Schumacher, a member of the corps de ballet. (The British choreographer Liam Scarlett created the third new work on the gala program.) There seems to be a surge of creativity within the company ranks. "It's a really exciting time," Andrew Veyette, one of six dancers who will perform in Mr. Schumacher's first work for City Ballet titled "Clearing Dawn" said in a telephone interview. "They bring out the best version of us. They see us as we really are." A City Ballet member since 2005, Mr. Schumacher has danced a variety of roles, from Puck in Balanchine's "Midsummer Night's Dream" to one half of the frisky male twosome in Mr. Ratmansky's "Concerto DSCH." He also appeared in a 2010 film adaptation of Jerome Robbins's "New York Export: Opus Jazz" made by two City Ballet colleagues. Robbins's fascination with the way dancers move when no one is watching seems to have rubbed off on Mr. Schumacher. "I love watching a ballet dancer doing everyday things: walking across the stage or drinking from a water fountain," he said last month over burgers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he lives. He is an avid backstage photographer; his photos capture the introspective moment just before a dancer plunges into the brightly lit illusion of the stage. In his chamber ballets, which, until now, have been created outside the walls of his home company, he eschews geometric pattern and the hierarchy of soloists, demi soloists and corps. He combines a natural classicism crisp footwork and crystalline shapes with awkward movements that go against the classical grain: bent lines, jabbing arms, casually held poses. His pas de deux have an eroticism born out of impermanence: a touch, a glance, a mix of fear and tenderness. Mr. Schumacher, 27, has been making dances for five years. After creating a short quintet for trainees of the Atlanta Ballet, where he studied before entering the School of American Ballet, he founded the ensemble Satellite Ballet with a visual artist and poet, Kevin Draper. The dancers were his City Ballet colleagues. The model was unusual. Instead of grabbing a dancer or two, choosing a favorite piece of music and going off to create a work, he developed complex scenarios based on Mr. Draper's surrealistic poetry. The effect was intriguing, but also, at times, perplexing. Over time, Mr. Schumacher has refined the process. The quality of his collaborations has also improved. Since forming his own ensemble, BalletCollective, in 2013, he has worked with the poet Cynthia Zarin, the young, classically trained composer Ellis Ludwig Leone and, more recently, the painter David Salle. Mr. Schumacher is still committed to the cross pollination of ideas. "Using outside sources helps me go in a different direction than I would on my own," he said. But the rules are looser now, perhaps because he trusts himself more. The seed of "All That We See," a new ballet that will be performed by BalletCollective on Oct. 29 and 30 at the Skirball Center, was a series of semiabstract details from larger painting by Mr. Salle, which he provided. Riffing on certain features a line, a color, a texture Mr. Ludwig Leone composed a suite of syncopated, rough hewed musical miniatures, which in turn inspired Mr. Schumacher to create a series of choreographed portraits for five dancers. He is still unsure whether the original painting will form part of the ballet's visual element. Another area of interest is the use of music by living composers. The piece he has chosen for his City Ballet commission, "Clearing, Dawn, Dance," is a sextet for strings, woodwinds and trumpet created in 2011 by Judd Greenstein, part of the generation of post Minimalist composers that includes Nico Muhly. The chamber piece consists of 10 minutes of excitable, accented rhythms, drawn forward by sustained melodic lines, passed around from instrument to instrument. Mr. Schumacher, who reads (and occasionally writes) music, worked from the score. The dance's structure reflects the dynamic of the musical conversation; gestures ricochet, are taken up by two or three dancers, and disappear, only to return later. The ballet's youthful vibe will be accentuated by the costume designs, tailored prep school uniforms by Thom Browne. (The City Ballet gala has a fashion focus.) With luck, this preppy look won't make the ballet feel too much like an outtake from "The Catcher in the Rye." Two dancers in the piece, David Prottas and Claire Kretzschmar, are also on the roster of BalletCollective. Another two, Ashley Bouder and Mr. Veyette, are among City Ballet's most dynamic performers. To capitalize on this, Mr. Schumacher, usually reticent about displaying obvious virtuosity, has slipped in a few showstopping moves. Ms. Bouder, in particular, has been given a section of fast small jumps and whipping turns that push her just about as far as she can go. If Mr. Schumacher seems surprisingly poised for someone who is about have his choreographic debut at one of the world's top ballet companies, it is in part because he has worked so hard for it. He has put on entire seasons for BalletCollective on his own, courted donors, calculated budgets. In 2012, he was invited to create his first work for City Ballet's dance laboratory, the New York Choreographic Institute. All this activity eventually caught the eye of the company's ballet master in chief, Peter Martins, and persuaded him to give the budding choreographer a chance on the main stage. "Nothing has been handed to him," said Ashley Laracey, a fellow City Ballet dancer whom Mr. Schumacher married this summer. She is a founding member of BalletCollective and part of a small circle of colleagues whose opinions he seeks out. "I'm not doing this so people think I'm a genius," he said during an interview last year. "I just want to create works and add something meaningful to dance." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. Let me take you back to a time when Democrats and Republicans could breathe the same air without choking on it. It was in 2002 that they worked together to make the ads that flood the airwaves every election season a little less nasty. That year, the "Stand By Your Ad" provision was passed as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Ever since, anyone running for federal office has had to utter this brief refrain as part of every commercial: "I'm so and so and I approve this message." The lawmakers' idea was simple. A mix of shame and self preservation would make candidates less inclined to put out ads that were false or just plain ugly. Flash forward to 2018. In the final week of the midterm campaigns, President Trump tweeted a 53 second video that interspersed footage of the caravan with a courtroom scene featuring Luis Bracamontes, an undocumented immigrant and convicted murderer. After Mr. Bracamontes boasts of killing two police officers, these words appear onscreen: "Democrats let him into our country. Democrats let him stay." As numerous fact checkers have pointed out, the ad is false. Mr. Bracamontes was deported after entering the United States during Bill Clinton's presidency and came back during the years George W. Bush was president. He was deported once again, only to return and kill two sheriff's deputies in California in 2014. He had even passed through the infamous Maricopa, Ariz., jail system of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a Republican, before being released on drug charges that were never resolved. The video was so demonizing of Latino migrants and so defamatory of Democrats that it took a place alongside the infamous Willie Horton ad that helped George Bush defeat his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 presidential election. The Horton ad was a race based attack centered on the rape of a white woman by Mr. Horton, who is black, while he was free via a Massachusetts weekend furlough program that Mr. Dukakis had supported as the state's governor. Recently released political ads reveal the Republican Party's two pronged election strategy: one message for skeptics and swing voters, and a very different one aimed at President Trump's base. Days before the midterm elections, President Trump released two videos to try to convince voters to cast their ballots for Republican candidates. One is only on Twitter. The other is running on TV. Both are designed to stoke fear, but in very different ways. And they reveal the G.O.P.'s two pronged election strategy. The latest one was posted and pinned to the top of Trump's Twitter account, a platform that the president regularly uses to provoke controversy. It stokes racist fears and carries an inflammatory message that falsely links crime and immigration: "Attempt of murder " It presents no numbers or facts, and takes specific aim at a caravan of migrants and asylum seekers currently moving toward the U.S. border. It also features a twice deported Mexican immigrant, who was convicted of killing two law enforcement officers, and falsely links his case to the Democratic Party. The add feels like an amateur YouTube video, with quick cuts, a mix and match of fonts, and news clips and stock footage lifted from various sources. It's in contrast to this slickly produced cinematic TV ad released days earlier. It cost millions to air and doesn't showcase Trump's likeness or voice. The protagonist is a white professional woman, a demographic that recent polls show Trump needs to win over. "The biggest issue, which are jobs " It focuses on an economic message. The ad's lullaby like tone is sporadically interrupted by dark hectic flashbacks of the 2008 financial crisis. To support the idea that "now" is better than "then," statistics are presented: "23,000 net new jobs " But the ad leaves out key facts. Sources are obscured, like here, where the "CNN" has been erased, and numbers are framed misleadingly, like here, where an illustration of unemployment in January 2010 suggests that joblessness was rising. Yet the rate sharply dropped in the following years ending at 4.7 percent, by the time President Obama left office. The two videos showcase the crux of Trump's midterm strategy: Targeting different demographics with different messages about different fears. For swing voters and those who are hostile to Trump, it portrays casting a ballot for Republicans not Trump per se as the right decision for those who want economic stability and the American dream. "Because the future worth fighting for is not guaranteed." And for his hardcore base, he ratchets up a virulent message that America is being overrun by brown skinned men and criminals. Recently released political ads reveal the Republican Party's two pronged election strategy: one message for skeptics and swing voters, and a very different one aimed at President Trump's base. None of this even accounts for social media, which has gone unregulated because Facebook and other platforms managed to get themselves exempted from the advertising disclosure requirements of television and radio. The drafters of the "Stand By Your Ad" rule thought they would bring about a more civil brand of campaign discourse. But perhaps naively they did not foresee a time when candidates, following the lead of a self described "nationalist" president for whom insults and falsehoods are political weapons of choice, would see no downside in attaching their names to racially incendiary messages. One of the architects of the "I approve this message" provision, the longtime Representative David E. Price, Democrat of North Carolina, told me he still believes in it enough to propose something similar for social media ads. The challenge now, he said, is that the crudest tactics are being rewarded with votes. "It's not only beyond shame, it's also seeing this as a political asset in some quarters," Mr. Price said. "It's about the general coarsening of the political discussion, and the calculation that 'I'm the baddest, meanest, most politically incorrect guy in town and will say whatever pops into my head and I regard that as a political virtue.'" The tenor this year was "most obviously about Trump," he added. From the first day of his presidential campaign, during which he referred to Mexicans as "rapists," Mr. Trump has often pushed a message of racially tinged nationalism. Now, he and his allies are employing the same strategy in the midterms, only with more confidence. Take a look at the Twitter feed of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., which featured a message this weekend that Senator Angus King of Maine would "repopulate" the state with Syrian and Somalian refugees. Will this kind of thing work in 2018? I put the question to Carter Wrenn, a Republican strategist from North Carolina. He helped make an infamous commercial in 1990 for that state's long serving Republican senator, Jesse Helms, that featured a pair of white hands crumpling the application form for a job that went "to a minority, because of a racial quota," as the narrator put it. Mr. Wrenn, who has since repudiated the ad, said that while hyperpartisans "eat up all that stuff," the most incendiary ads don't "have any credibility with most voters, and especially with swing voters." Mr. Wrenn is not alone in saying that key voters will reject this year's ugly tactics. I wish I could say I approved that prediction. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Death becomes no one, surely. Still, I was surprised when, halfway through "Peace for Mary Frances," a psychologist reassured the title matriarch's brood that they weren't "the worst family" he'd ever dealt with in hospice. But what about in the theater? The Davidians the family in question are nastier than just about any stage clan you can name, including the Tyrones, the Serebryakovs, the Wingfields and the Macbeths. And though unpleasantness may be a condition of drama, in "Peace for Mary Frances" it is also the result. That's what happens when awfulness isn't poetic or funny or touching but tedious, as is the case with the three adult children of Mary Frances (Lois Smith). Eddie (Paul Lazar) is an oblivious jerk who leaves all the hard work to his sisters; Alice (J. Smith Cameron) is massively passive aggressive; Fanny (Johanna Day) is a recovering addict and ongoing underminer. Alice's two daughters Helen (Heather Burns) and Rosie (Natalie Gold) seem better adjusted; even so, Helen winds up fulfilling the audience's unspoken wish by throttling Fanny in the stairwell. No wonder Mary Frances wants to die as soon as possible. That turns out to be harder than anticipated in Lily Thorne's play, a New Group production that opened on Wednesday at the Pershing Square Signature Center. A 90 year old widow with end stage pulmonary disease, Mary Frances is still sharp enough to sniff out Alice's overspending and notice when Eddie botches her taxes. At times it seems she is sticking around only because her family is so dysfunctional; when a hospice nurse says that people don't typically "leave this life until their unfinished business is taken care of," you may find yourself checking your watch. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Before the pandemic, Aya Raji's days were jam packed. She woke up at 6:30 a.m. and took the subway to school. At night, she practiced kick flips with her skateboarding club and hosted "Twilight" movie nights for friends. Once her school in Brooklyn turned to remote learning, starting last spring and continuing this fall, the days grew long and lonely. Nothing could distract her from the bleak news, as she stared at her laptop for hours during virtual class. She couldn't sleep, up until 4 a.m., her mind racing with anxiety. "I felt like I was trapped in my own little house and everyone was far away," Aya, 14, said. "When you're with friends, you're completely distracted and you don't think about the bad stuff going on. During the beginning of quarantine, I was so alone. All the sad things I used to brush off, I realized I couldn't brush them off anymore." Students like Aya felt some relief earlier this fall, when their schools opened with a blend of remote and in person learning, although the rigid rules and social distancing required during the pandemic still made it rough to connect. And now, with coronavirus caseloads at record levels across the country, many schools are returning to remote classes, at least temporarily through part of the winter. The social isolation of the pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of many Americans. But the impact has been especially severe on teenagers, who rely on their friends to navigate the maze and pressures of high school life. Research shows that adolescents depend on their friendships to maintain a sense of self worth and to manage anxiety and depression. A recent study of 3,300 high school students found that nearly one third reported feeling unhappy or depressed in recent months. And while it might seem counterintuitive for a generation used to bonding with friends via texts, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, more than a quarter of those students said they did not feel connected to teachers, classmates or their school community. "A lot of adults assume teens have it easy," Aya said. "But it's hitting us the hardest." Last week researchers at the University of Amsterdam and Emma Children's Hospital released a study on the mental health of adolescents in the Netherlands, which found that young people reported a significant increase in severe anxiety and sleeping problems during the country's lockdown period. Children were more likely to report mental health problems if they had a parent who lost work or personally knew someone infected with coronavirus. Granted, for some students, the beginning of quarantine brought a measure of relief. They no longer had cliques to impress or bullies to ward off. But that "honeymoon phase" passed quickly, according to Dr. Cora Breuner, a pediatrician. As stressful as adolescent relationships can be, they are also essential for the formation of personal identity. "Individuation and development of independence is thwarted or slowed way down when they're sitting at home all day with parents in the next room," said Dr. Breuner, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. An important part of teenage development is the realization that peers, not just parents, can be a source of emotional support. The twin crises of the pandemic and the economic downturn have imposed new personal hardships on students. Some are taking care of family members who have fallen sick with Covid 19; others have been thrust into dealing with their parents' unemployment or financial strain. Being holed up at home makes it tough to lean on friends. When school turned remote last spring, Catherine Khella, a health teacher in Brooklyn, asked her students to keep journals, which she read for signs of mental distress. Many were struggling but hesitant to reach out. One student wrote about feeling unmotivated to do schoolwork, getting frustrated with family members and experiencing emotions "like no other I have ever felt." Another student, Adolfo Jeronimo, wrote about living in a home with 15 people and becoming nocturnal to find some peace and quiet. "I'd sleep all day because my sister was up crying and there was barely any food," said Adolfo, 15, a classmate of Aya's whose father was hospitalized with Covid 19 and was unable to work for four months. "Usually my friends would've helped me, but I didn't have them, so it was harder to deal with. I felt like I was suffocating." The activities that young people previously relied on for stability and joy have been disrupted. Extracurricular clubs and birthday parties are mostly canceled. So are rites of passage like prom and homecoming. Students spend vast portions of their weeks staring at Zoom screens. Without school events and traditions to anticipate, many say they are struggling to get out of bed in the morning. "Everything is stagnant now," said Ayden Hufford, 15, a high school sophomore in Rye, a suburban area north of New York City, whose school now has blended in person and remote learning. "There's nothing to look forward to. On virtual days I sit on the computer for three hours, eat lunch, walk around a bit, sit for three hours, then end my day. It's all just a cycle." Ayden identifies as an avid "theater kid," and was looking forward to his school play and science Olympiad. With those out of the question now, he turned to a recent online meeting for student leadership council for inspiration. But that proved demoralizing because he had trouble staying engaged with the Zoom conversation. "I laid down with my camera off and waited for it to be over," he said. "It's sad and somewhat lonely." And he added that forming new connections with classmates is nearly impossible in a virtual setting: "Unless you try extremely hard, there's no chance to make new friends this year." The isolation has been particularly challenging for young adults who struggle with chronic anxiety or depression, and who would typically rely on their social circles for comfort. Nicole DiMaio, who recently turned 19, developed techniques to manage her anxiety over the years. She talks to friends, hugs her mom, exercises and reads books so many that her family calls her Princess Belle, like the "Beauty and the Beast" protagonist. But nothing seemed to work during the early months of the pandemic. Nicole's mother fell sick with Covid in late March after caring for a patient with coronavirus at Coney Island Hospital, where she works as a nurse. Nicole became her mother's caretaker, and her family's. She woke up daily at 5 a.m. to clean the house, watch over her younger sister and cook protein rich foods, which she deposited outside her mother's bedroom door, while squeezing in schoolwork. Her mother did not want to be ventilated if her lungs failed, so each time she went to the emergency room seeking treatment, Nicole feared she might never come back. Normally, Nicole would turn to her friends. But she couldn't see them in person, so instead she had to vent to them on Instagram and Snapchat. "Being 18 and taking it all in is a lot," she said. "My chest would get really heavy and everything inside my body would be jumping," she said. "The tears would start coming. I would hyperventilate and pace the house until my sister brought me back to reality and said, 'Hey you're here, relax.' She's stronger than I am." Tips for Parents to Help Their Struggling Teens Are you concerned for your teen? If you worry that your teen might be experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts, there are a few things you can do to help. Dr. Christine Moutier, the chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suggests these steps: Look for changes. Notice shifts in sleeping and eating habits in your teen, as well as any issues he or she might be having at school, such as slipping grades. Watch for angry outbursts, mood swings and a loss of interest in activities they used to love. Stay attuned to their social media posts as well. Keep the lines of communication open. If you notice something unusual, start a conversation. But your child might not want to talk. In that case, offer him or her help in finding a trusted person to share their struggles with instead. Seek out professional support. A child who expresses suicidal thoughts may benefit from a mental health evaluation and treatment. You can start by speaking with your child's pediatrician or a mental health professional. In an emergency: If you have immediate concern for your child's safety, do not leave him or her alone. Call a suicide prevention lifeline. Lock up any potentially lethal objects. Children who are actively trying to harm themselves should be taken to the closest emergency room. Resources If you're worried about someone in your life and don't know how to help, these resources can offer guidance:1. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1 800 273 8255 (TALK) 2. The Crisis Text Line: Text TALK to 741741 3. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Researchers have begun investigating how today's high school students will bear the long term consequences of the pandemic, in terms of their education and economic futures. Some psychologists speculate that socially, too, this young adult cohort could be stunted by the amount of time they have been forced to spend alone. Children typically learn the basics of making friends at a young age, but high school is a crucial period for developing nuanced communication skills. "Learning how to navigate the inner webs of relationships happens in high school," said Dr. Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis. "When you retreat behind a computer, you lose some of those social skills." High school counselors and teenagers are exploring a few creative coping strategies. Nandini Ahuja, a social worker at Leadership and Public Service High School in New York, asked her students to write letters to someone or something they are grieving, whether a family member or a concept like senior prom. Ayden said his mental health improved when he got a pet hamster, which he named Astrid. Teenagers said the opportunity to confide in their teachers and school counselors has been essential, particularly because their parents might be more likely to dismiss mental health symptoms as standard adolescent mood swings. Dr. Gabrielle Shapiro, chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families, recommended that schools put in place lessons to teach students how to share their emotions. And whenever possible, teenagers need to see their friends. "Kids need time to be kids again without thinking about all the worries going on in the world," said Jennifer Rothman, senior manager of youth and young adult initiatives at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. As the months wear on, Aya is rebuilding healthy habits spending time with friends outside, getting to sleep at a reasonable hour so she can feel energized for school. She has started meditating and listening to indie rock songs to calm her nerves. But she still wrestles with the amount of time she spends alone in her thoughts. "Being in another person's presence makes you feel OK," she said. "When I can't see my friends, I feel like the world is caving in." Experts offered several resources for teenagers seeking assistance for mental health issues, including the resource center of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Crisis Text Line or the National Alliance on Mental Illness. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
While 1970s dramatic and genre cinema overindulged the insensitive "psychotic Vietnam vet" trope, there's still time, if we petition studios or maybe just pray, to head off a slew of "lovable old codger Vietnam vet" movies. "Never Too Late," an Australian production directed by Mark Lamprell, is a sometimes dire portent of what we might be in for if we don't do something. James Cromwell stars as Jack Bronson, a rebellious nursing home resident. Coming out of a physician's consultation, he runs into his long lost love, Norma (Jacki Weaver). Are they reunited? No she's on her way to a different nursing home. The facility where Jack is bivouacked restricts his movements, and he fears he won't reunite with Norma, who has dementia, before she loses all memory of him. As it happens, back in 'Nam, Jack led a band of soldiers American, Australian and British called "The Chain Breakers," on account of their daring escape from captivity at the hands of the Viet Cong. And his brothers in arms just happen to be in the same home as he. Consider the possibilities. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Sometimes you don't need an analyst's report to get a look at the future of the media industry and the challenges it will bring. On New Year's Eve, I was one of the poor souls working in Times Square. By about 1 p.m., it was time to evacuate, and when I stepped into the cold that would assault the huddled, partying masses that night, a couple was getting ready to pose for a photo with the logo on The New York Times Building in the background. I love that I work at a place that people deem worthy of memorializing, and I often offer to help. My assistance was not required. As I watched, the young couple mounted their phone on a collapsible pole, then extended it outward, the camera now able to capture the moment in wide screen glory. I'd seen the same phenomenon when I was touring the Colosseum in Rome last month. So many people were fighting for space to take selfies with their long sticks what some have called the "Narcissistick" that it looked like a reprise of the gladiatorial battles the place once hosted. The urge to stare at oneself predates mirrors you could imagine a Neanderthal fussing with his hair, his image reflected in a pool of water but it has some pretty modern dimensions. In the forest of billboards in Times Square, the one with a camera that captures the people looking at the billboard always draws a big crowd. Selfies are hardly new, but the incremental improvement in technology of putting a phone on a stick a curiously analog fix that Time magazine listed as one of the best inventions of 2014 along with something called the "high beta fusion reactor" suggests that the seance with the self is only going to grow. (Selfie sticks are often used to shoot from above, which any self respecting selfie auteur will tell you is the most flattering angle.) There are now vast, automated networks to harvest all that narcissism, along with lots of personal data, creating extensive troves of user generated content. The tendency to listen to the holy music of the self is reflected in the abundance of messaging and self publishing services Vine, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, Apple's new voice messaging and the rest all of which pose a profound challenge for media companies. Most media outfits are in the business of one to many, creating single pieces of text, images or audio meant to be shared by the masses. But most sharing does not involve traditional media companies. Consumers are increasingly glued to their Facebook feeds as a source of information about not just their friends but the broader world as well. And with the explosive growth of Snapchat, the fastest growing social app of the last year, much of the sharing that takes place involves one to one images that come and go in 10 seconds or less. Getting a media message a television show, a magazine, a website, not to mention the ads that pay for most of it into the intimate space between consumers and a torrent of information about themselves is only going to be more difficult. I've been around since before there was a consumer Internet, but my frame of reference is as neither a Luddite nor a curmudgeon. I didn't end up with over half a million followers on social media Twitter and Facebook combined by posting only about broadband regulations and cable deals. (Not all self flattering portraits are rendered in photos. You see what I did there, right?) The enhanced ability to communicate and share in the current age has many tangible benefits. My wife travels a great deal, sometimes to perilous regions, and WhatsApp's global reach gives us a stable way of staying in touch. Over the holidays, our family shared endless photos, emoticons and inside jokes in group messages that were very much a part of Christmas. Not that long ago, we might have spent the time gathered around watching "Elf," but this year, we were brought together by the here and now, the familiar, the intimate and personal. We didn't need a traditional media company to help us create a shared experience. 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. Many younger consumers have become mini media companies themselves, madly distributing their own content on Vine, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. It's tough to get their attention on media created for the masses when they are so busy producing their own. And while the addiction to self is not restricted to millennials boomers bow to no one in terms of narcissism there are now easy to use platforms that amplify that self reflecting impulse. While legacy media companies still make products meant to be studied and savored over varying lengths of time the movie "Boyhood," The Atlantic magazine, the novel "The Goldfinch" much of the content that individuals produce is ephemeral. Whatever bit of content is in front of someone text messages, Facebook posts, tweets is quickly replaced by more and different. For Snapchat, the fact that photos and videos disappear almost immediately is not a flaw, it's a feature. Users can send content into the world with little fear of creating a trail of digital breadcrumbs that advertisers, parents or potential employers could follow. Warhol's 15 minutes of fame has been replaced by less than 15 seconds on Snapchat. Facebook, which is a weave of news encompassing both the self and the world, has become, for many, a de facto operating system on the web. And many of the people who aren't busy on Facebook are up for grabs on the web but locked up on various messaging apps. What used to be called the audience is disappearing into apps, messaging and user generated content. Media companies in search of significant traffic have to find a way into that stream. "The majority of time that people are spending online is on Facebook," said Anthony De Rosa, editor in chief of Circa, a mobile news start up. "You have to find a way to break through or tap into all that narcissism. We are way too into ourselves." Facebook may be dominant, but Snapchat is growing much faster, over 55 percent in the last six months, whose younger skewing audience tells you where things might be headed. Selfies are the dominant metier of Snapchat, an art form so addictive that New York State passed a law, to take effect in February, that outlaws self portraits with tigers and lions, one trend that would seem, um, ill advised. Later on New Year's Eve, along with more than 10 million others, I settled in with friends to watch the ball drop as Ryan Seacrest hosted the countdown on ABC. Aside from Taylor Swift, the big star of the evening was Hearst Magazines, which distributed pink top hats and balloons branded with the logos of Cosmopolitan magazine and CoverGirl cosmetics. Clearly, live broadcast television events still draw a crowd, and Cosmopolitan's name was everywhere you looked, so in that sense, the old order had been restored. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Heidi Schreck's "What The Constitution Means To Me" will transfer to the Greenwich House Theater, where it will run from Nov. 27 to December 30, the New York Theater Workshop announced Sunday. The play, written by and starring Ms. Schreck, a two time Obie Award winner, examines the effect of the United States Constitution on women's bodies, particularly in her family, a topic made even more relevant by recent news developments: Just last week, President Trump expressed his desire to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional guarantee. And a few weeks earlier, a battle raged over the confirmation of the president's nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual misconduct allegations. Ms. Schreck's play, directed by Oliver Butler, opened at the New York Theater Workshop in September. Its last performance in the space was on Sunday. Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton attended the show the night before. The work, an intensely personal one based on Ms. Schreck's life, originated in the summer of 2017 at the Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks Festival. Through several generations of women, the play tracks gender inequality in power dynamics through the years, and serves as a critique of the Constitution. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
WASHINGTON The Justice Department's case to block AT T and Time Warner's 85 billion blockbuster merger heads to trial this week, with opening statements expected on Thursday. The case is being billed as one of the most important antitrust trials in years. The deal, if approved, would create a media giant that combines AT T's nationwide mobile and satellite distribution networks with Time Warner's huge collection of popular movies and television offerings, including "Game of Thrones" on HBO, news on CNN, and college and professional basketball on TNT. The central question of the trial: Would that combination hurt consumers or help them? Here's what you need to know. When does it start, how long will it go and when will there be a decision? Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday, with the Justice Department and AT T getting 45 minutes each to lay out their main arguments. Expect lots of colorful claims and defenses from both sides. Top officials from the Justice Department, including the head of its antitrust division, Makan Delrahim, are expected to show up in United States District Court in Washington to watch. AT T's chief executive, Randall Stephenson, and Time Warner's chief executive, Jeff Bewkes, will be there, too as will scores of other media, telecom and tech executives, as the outcome of the trial could reshape the media industry. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks unless there is a settlement with each side calling about 30 witnesses and presenting reams of evidence. The Justice Department alone plans to show 519 exhibits. It could take many weeks longer for Judge Richard J. Leon to make a decision on the 85 billion merger. What are the main arguments of both sides? The Justice Department sued to block the merger because it believes the combination of AT T with Time Warner would hurt competition and lead to higher prices for consumers. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Technology |
Her living room wall is hung salon style. Ms. Berke, an adjunct professor at Yale since 1987, can't remember the name of the student who did the green and blue abstraction, but she liked it enough to include it, along with a lithograph of Robert Indiana's 1969 image "Skid Row." The author and artist Edwin Schlossberg, a friend, gave her a text piece. "His work always has to do with words, and I like that it says 'structure' good for an architect," she said. Two works depict urban infrastructure: a monoprint of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, by Rachel Burgess, and a linocut of a power line, by Ondine Wolfe Crispin. They reflect Ms. Berke's appreciation of what she called "the built environment, beyond just famous monuments." Here are edited excerpts from our conversation. It's probably embarrassing for an academic, but I have no books in this apartment, other than the one I am reading at the time. Here, the art is the thing that gives me the calm and that sense of a welcoming environment. The apartment is peaceful and restorative for me. All these pieces have meaning, and they greet me when I come in. Did you think a lot about this arrangement? I see like an architect. I like things that are lined up and graphic. The grouping has a ground plane. It builds a skyline from that. The pencil sketch is by the Italian architect Paolo Soleri, and I bought it online. His settlement in the Arizona desert, Arcosanti, is the place where they cast wind bells to pay for everything. When I dropped out of college briefly in the '70s, I went there to work construction. It's part of my architectural heritage. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
EVEN though sales of pricey, high end apartments tend to get the most attention, New York at its core is a city of renters. About 75 percent of Manhattan dwellers write monthly checks to the landlord. While it can sound odd to talk about the advantages of renting in a city that is prohibitively expensive for most Americans, there are benefits. Renters don't have to lay down massive deposits, suffer the headache of dealing with condo and co op boards, or pay taxes, common charges and big repair bills after signing away their savings. Most of us have no choice but to rent, given the hefty deposits required. But in the world of high end real estate, there are some renters who clearly can afford to buy multimillion dollar residences but choose to rent instead. They're a small segment of the market, these "super renters." Or, given some of the new rental properties including the penthouses at New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street perhaps it's better to call them "sky high renters." Starting in September, the development, which is currently one of the tallest residential structures in the Americas at 870 feet, hopes to rent the three penthouses on the 76th floor for 45,000 to 60,000 a month. For those doing the quick math, that means an annual cash outlay of 720,000 for the largest, north facing penthouse, which is 3,800 square feet spread over four bedrooms, or about 16 per square foot per month. Will they get any takers? Especially when the undulating window design by the starchitect Frank Gehry lets you see and be seen by your penthouse neighbor, and possibly even by a neighbor below? These are some of the questions that arose from my tour of the penthouses this week. The monthly rent might seem shocking to some. But as I learned, there are already enough renters in New York City paying more than 30,000 a month that some real estate brokers actually specialize in renting to the very wealthy. Dennis Hughes, a broker with Corcoran, is one of them. In April he rented an apartment on Broadway in SoHo, which is owned by an actor, to a foreign couple for 40,000 a month. It is a 4,000 square foot home with three bedrooms and a home office. It is the renter's third residence in the United States, and the other two are in Texas and Beverly Hills. "They do not own anything in the U.S.," Mr. Hughes said. "They prefer for tax reasons to rent." He has also been trying to help an investment banker from New York to land an 8,000 square foot apartment in Carnegie Hill. The banker, who bid 100,000 a month after the owner asked for 135,000, is waiting to hear back. A good number of town houses are renting for more than 50,000 a month, and some penthouses in condo buildings are also going for 50,000 or more, brokers say. "There are so many different scenarios why people choose to rent and not buy," Mr. Hughes said. But one overarching reason is that the wealthy often don't want to downgrade their lifestyle, even briefly. A movie actor from Los Angeles recently rented a 3,200 square foot apartment on the Upper East Side for more than 33,000 a month while he appears in a Broadway show. Another investment banker client is willing to spend as much as 100,000 a month on a rental while he searches for a large home to buy in the area, Mr. Hughes said. Top athletes and musicians who live a lot of their lives on the road often choose the convenience of renting, at least for a while. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees paid 30,000 a month in 2009 and 2010 to live in a two bedroom apartment owned by Leroy Schecter on the 35th floor of 15 Central Park West. Then there are the home renovators. About four years ago, when the market was considerably softer, a family paid 30,000 a month for a year to rent a Fifth Avenue apartment while a central air conditioning system was installed in their Park Avenue residence, Mr. Hughes said. But the idea that an all rental building could command rents exceeding 20,000 a month is relatively new in New York, brokers say. For the moment, at least, the only one that seems to be trying is One MiMA Tower in Midtown, where three residences on the 63rd floor have been listed for 20,000 to 25,000 a month. None Testing the Limits: Only three of New York's 25 tallest residential buildings have completed safety tasks required by the city. The Downside to Life in a Supertall: 432 Park faces some significant design problems, and other luxury high rises may share its fate. Luxury Developers' Loophole: Soaring towers are able to push high into the sky because of a loophole in the city's labyrinthine zoning laws. An Evolving Skyline: The high rise building boom has transformed the city's skyline in recent years. Its impact will echo for years to come. Hidden Feats: Our critic looks at some supertall N.Y.C. buildings and how the ingenuity of engineers helped build landmarks. The largest, Penthouse C D, which was combined, has three bedrooms and four bathrooms spread over 2,200 square feet. One penthouse has already been rented since coming on the market in mid May, but two remain, said Daria Salusbury, a senior vice president of the Related Company, the building's developer and manager. One MiMA apartments were originally built as condos before the decision was made to rent them. In addition to open West Side views of the Hudson; 44,000 square feet of amenity spaces; and fairly high end finishes, "you have privacy," Ms. Salusbury said. "You can't see other apartments; you can't even see your own neighbors." That isn't true at New York by Gehry, where you can stand at the window of the master bedroom of the north penthouse, renting for 60,000, and look to your left and see part of the west penthouse. You can see into the window of the apartment below that as well. "There is the whole vertical living thing here," said MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president of the Forest City Ratner Companies, the building's developer (and the developer of The New York Times building). "There are a lot of social connections in the building. There are little pieces and slivers of the building where you are looking into other units." To each his own, but to me that seems the biggest downside of the Gehry penthouses, along with interior finishes that, while supposedly designed by Mr. Gehry himself, don't seem quite up to the standard of the top flight condo buildings Ms. Gilmartin says they are competing with. There may be some room for improvement. Officials said they were open to allowing renters to make changes, in the kitchen and closets in particular. "We recognize that clientele at this level might desire a different look and feel in the kitchen," she said, "and we are open to those types of changes." She also said that a few celebrities and sports figures had already asked to see the penthouses. One potential bonus of renting the north penthouse: a 500 square foot studio apartment on the same floor, which Forest City Ratner is currently thinking will be included with the 60,000 a month rent. As I stood in the penthouse's sprawling main room, where the ceilings reach 13 feet near the undulating windows that fan out from west to east, I realized these sky high rentals could draw a crowd for their truly spectacular views alone. The apartment seems almost level with the new World Trade Center, and you can see the Santiago Calatrava designed Transportation Hub still under construction; the 57 story Woolworth Building is a neighbor, and the rest of Manhattan disappears over the horizon looking north from downtown. "You have a perspective of Central Park" at the 15 Central Park West building, said Bruce Ratner, the chairman and chief executive of Forest City Ratner, who took in the view with me. "But there is no perspective I am aware of that you live in that is a perspective of New York. This is it." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Jeremy O. Harris, second from right, and the cast of "Slave Play" at the Black Out performance of the play in September. A handful of playwrights, directors, filmmakers and film lovers have created spaces for black audiences to crack jokes and clap back without apology and, afterward, process complex, nuanced race related issues. In recent years, there have been many conversations about the importance and impact of positive, multidimensional representation in Hollywood and on Broadway. But white audiences still represent the majority of audiences: 75 percent of Broadway, according to a 2018 report from the Broadway League, and 55 percent of moviegoers, according to a report by the Motion Picture Association of America. Although there are all black movie audiences, either self selecting or neighborhood and film based, people have made this explicit, presenting the idea that seeing one's self reflected not only on the silver screen or on a stage, but also in the audience can lead to a deeper validation. In September, "Slave Play," a Broadway show, hosted a "Black Out" performance as labeled by the show's playwright, Jeremy O. Harris reserving all 804 seats in the theater for black students, artists, journalists and performers. (On any given night, black theatergoers usually make up 2.9 percent of Broadway audiences, according to the 2018 Broadway League report.) Chalia La Tour, who plays a therapist named Tea in "Slave Play," said the performance was a "huge affirming moment" for her as an artist and a person, especially when it came down to subtle expressions, gestures and phrases that didn't need to be translated. "To hear the play where every black body onstage is the most understood character on the stage was such an uplifting experience that I know we're holding on to throughout the entire run," Ms. La Tour said. Joaquina Kalukango, who plays Kaneisha in "Slave Play," echoed her cast mate, and realized the advantage her white actor peers have by performing in front of overwhelmingly white audiences a majority of the time. "You can create new emotions and tactics because your audience is going to get them," Ms. Kalukango said. "I was like, 'Oh! You understand this head roll. You understand this silence in a deeper way.'" The Black Out performance reaffirmed the "cultural and sensory differences" Ms. Kalukango noticed when she began starring in black narrative shows, like "The Color Purple" and "Holla if Ya Hear Me," for mostly white audiences in commercial theater and on Broadway. That viewing inspired Maurice Parent, a founder of Front Porch Collective, a theater company in Boston, to organize a blackoutBOSTON performance for a local production of Tarell Alvin McCraney's play "Choir Boy." The play centers on an effeminate gay black boy trying to find his voice at a prestigious prep school. Mr. Parent compared the "magical night" to a family reunion, or "coming home," recalling how audience members sang and clapped along to the various gospel songs and spirituals sprinkled throughout the Tony nominated play. "It's very healing, to be in a space where you're feeling so loved and seen," he said. Robert O'Hara, the director of "Slave Play," said, "We as black people have always had to find a space inside whiteness." He said that viewing a performance among an all black audience "sort of allows you to put off some of the trauma that you carry around every day in the world, just having to live inside a black body, and certainly a black, queer body." As for Black Out cinema screenings, Jordan Peele and Universal Pictures held a series of UsFirst screenings earlier this year for black media professionals and influencers to view Mr. Peele's second horror movie, "Us." Blackout Cinema, a Los Angeles meet up group with more than 2,500 members on meetup.com, hosts events where members watch and then discuss black narrative films of past and present. Lyn Rae, who started the group alongside Kingslee Purcell in 2014, said that the post film discussions play a critical role in Black Out's mission to foster community. Sheri Johnson, a 41 year old therapist, recently attended a screening of "Harriet," the new Harriet Tubman biopic starring Cynthia Erivo, traveling from her own neighborhood to see it, on its opening weekend, at a cinema in Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw, a predominantly black neighborhood. She could have easily watched the film at the closest cinema to her, Ms. Johnson said, but she would have felt uncomfortable in the "very white space." Tashia Chambers, 35, a social worker who recently moved to Los Angeles, said she appreciated how that afternoon's Blackout Cinema discussion covered "a lot of bases," including intergenerational trauma, mass incarceration and ally ship. Lisa Jenkins, a 62 year old secretary, who was sitting with Ms. Chambers at a food court, said that events like this help people realize they are not alone or isolated, but instead "all in the same boat." Jacqueline Stewart, a film scholar who recently became the first black host of Turner Classic Movies and who has explored black spectatorship in her book "Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity," said that spatial separation of black communities through segregation up to modern day gentrification has resulted in a drastic decline of cinemas in cities with large black populations. These include Magic Johnson Theaters and Inner City Entertainment cinemas, in predominantly black neighborhoods where audiences would reflect the residential makeup. Ms. Rae said: "As black people we can sit around the table and really delve into 'How far are we from that moment in time? What do we still have to deal with now? How has our community been impacted by us not being made whole with our 40 acres and a mule? What are we going to do about it?'" What experts say about how to process this experience The ability to process seeing traumatic experiences displayed in the movies or theater is something Jamaal Scott, a psychologist, uses in Reel Talk, a group cinema therapy curriculum that he developed out of his 2010 postdoctoral thesis. He works with incarcerated adolescent black males in North Carolina, screening pre edited clips from films like "The 13th," "ATL," "Boyz N The Hood" and "Juice" and hosting discussions on topics including the privatized prison industry, recidivism and father absenteeism. Just be certain that inclusivity is not forced not all black people feel most comfortable in predominantly black settings and is intersectional, crossing multiple identities and multiple cultural backgrounds, Dr. Shim said. "From a personal experience, I saw 'Black Panther' in two settings: one in a majority black audience and one in a majority white audience," she recalled. "I personally had a much more enjoyable experience watching it in a majority black audience than in a majority white audience just because there was so much cathartic enjoyment." "The film was just experienced on a different level with that audience," she said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
The lighting technician Joshua Dirks was on the road with Kiss last week. A few days later, he was working on a lighting plan at his home in Mount Juliet, Tenn. Joshua Dirks began last Thursday in Tulsa, Okla., as a lighting technician on Kiss's arena tour. He ended the day on a bus home to Nashville as that tour along with the rest of the multibillion dollar concert industry came to an abrupt halt. Last week, Live Nation Entertainment and AEG Presents, the two biggest powers in the industry, put their shows on hiatus amid growing concern over the rapid spread of the coronavirus, sending stars like Billie Eilish, Jason Aldean and Cher to social media to apologize to their fans for the scuttled shows. Behind the artists who appear onstage, however, is a fragile pool of thousands of workers like Mr. Dirks, who perform much of the labor that allows tours to go on from sound and lighting to transportation, merchandise sales and hospitality. Most are freelancers with few if any employment protections, and they now face months of uncertainty, and potential economic ruin, if the touring interruption consumes the all important summer season. "The next half of my year," Mr. Dirks said, "is floating somewhere in limbo." Little seen by the public, the crews that go on tour with artists are mostly not unionized, and bounce from job to job with often little more than a few months' notice. For years, as the touring business grew and ticket prices swelled, there has been plenty of work. The top 100 tours in North America had 5.6 billion in ticket sales last year, more than double the 2.4 billion in 2009, according to Pollstar, an industry trade publication. But the shutdown has exposed the vulnerability of much of the touring labor force, said Scott Adamson, a veteran sound engineer who has worked with Haim, Khalid and Liz Phair. "When a single tour cancels, it's a financial hardship for a small crew," Mr. Adamson said. "In this case, the fear is much deeper, because the entire industry is just grinding to a halt." As Charles Dabezies, who programs onstage video projections, put it, "This is the original gig economy." And the job, they said, is like no other a life both exhilarating and grueling, with crowds screaming for encores and then, hours later, boredom and isolation as the bus rolls to the next town. "A lot of the time you're tired and exhausted, going to the bathroom in a gas station," said Sarah Parker, a lighting director. "Those are just the lows that come with it in normal times." How long the disruption lasts will depend on the Covid 19 outbreak. But even if the spread is contained soon, it may take months to recalibrate the complex scheduling details that go into planning a tour, and workers say they are bracing for a year of vastly reduced income. Mr. Dirks said that last year he was on the road for 300 days, and he is expecting the number to be a fraction of that; others said they were contemplating a year that may be totally lost. Chad Olech, a sound engineer for Fall Out Boy, said that for most workers, the delays have hit just as the business was set to ramp up for its peak annual period, after the lean months of winter. "This could not have happened at a worse time for this industry," he said. Ali Siegel, a lighting designer and director, said she was scheduled to go on the road with the band Of Monsters and Men in April, but is "preparing for the worst." At home in Denver, Ms. Siegel who said that while on the road she is typically paid by the week or even by the day has gone on an austerity budget, including canceling plans to fly to a friend's wedding. "I am debating just going to down the street to see if Starbucks is hiring, just to get through," she said. For most touring workers, the shutdown came as no surprise, even if the impact has been sudden. Saint Motel, an indie pop band from Los Angeles, completed an American tour this month, just as South by Southwest and the Coachella festival were scuttling their spring plans. (Coachella has announced plans to move to October.) Brandon Jazz, Saint Motel's tour manager, noticed that on the tour's final shows, along the West Coast, venues were getting emptier and emptier. "You would have a sold out show," Mr. Jazz said, "but then the back of the room is empty, because people are scared to go out." As the reality of months without work settles in, many touring workers said they were seizing the chance to bone up on technical skills, through online classes or informal workshops that fellow crew members are organizing on the fly. Still, for a business that depends on travel and social gatherings, there may be few opportunities for gainful employment, and several crew members said they were concerned that their skills were not easily translatable to other businesses. "Our industry can't work from home," said Paul Bradley, the chief executive of Eventric, which makes software for managing tour logistics. "If they're not on the road, they're not being employed." Ms. Parker, who has also toured with Saint Motel, said she was most concerned about the mental health hazards that may come with extended periods of unemployment and isolation which would exacerbate the stress and depression that many crew members already battle after stepping off the road. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
PARIS The day before her Chloe debut the designer Natacha Ramsay Levi was discussing the model she had chosen to open her show: a relative unknown whose face, she said, was full of character, but whose body did not conform to the traditional runway mold which is to say, it did not fit easily into the standard sample size. So, Ms. Ramsay Levi said, instead of changing the woman, she decided to change the standard. And she remade the dress to the model's specifications. Wait say that again? It was as much of a mission statement as the actual mission statement placed on the chair of every show attendee. Though that was also instructive, if a little more self conscious, noting the collection as an ode to those "who perpetuated this democratic style." One that existed "without boundaries or hierarchy." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Fashion & Style |
I'm a Brazilian YouTuber and I create goofy videos and generate entertainment options for families all over the world. who speak Portuguese, which outside Brazil, Portugal and Angola are like, five families. But I'm not here today to goof around in front of a brand new audience. to speak seriously, you know the circus is probably on fire. Americans like to boast about being the world leader at everything. "That America is the greatest place on earth." And since the Covid outbreak, you are leading in Covid deaths. That is partly, of course, thanks to your president, Donald Trump, who many of you claim to be the absolute worst head of state in the democratic world today. Well, I'm about to show you that the 200 million people here in Brazil have you beat. OK, for the moment, we're only second in deaths, but I'm certain that our leader, Jair Bolsonaro, is the worst Covid president in the world. MUSIC PLAYING Bolsonaro is a military man who has defended the use of torture under Brazil's dictatorship. He then rose to presidentship using statements like this. CHEERING Do I need to say anything else or do you get the picture? Brazil is the fastest rising Covid country in the world. And the W.H.O. has considered us the new epicenter of the pandemic. Still he shows no sign of taking the crisis seriously. In short, he makes Donald Trump seem like Patch Adams. Since the very beginning of the crisis, he has not stopped going out, thereby encouraging others to do the same. You guys got pissed off because of a measly Trump rally in Tulsa, three months after the outbreak in the U.S. But Bolsonaro does that all the time. He goes to demonstrations against the Congress. He goes to demonstrations calling for military intervention. He goes to packed city markets. He goes to military ceremonies. He goes barbecue hopping on a jet ski. He goes to protests against the Supreme Court. That'd be disgusting even with no pandemic. Much like Trump, Bolsonaro justifies his actions by professing to believe in miracle cures. For starters, they're both obsessed with the hydr hydrocloq hydroxyclq shut up, I'm Brazilian. They are both obsessed with a drug with no evidence of working against the disease. But there's a big difference between Trump talking about this in press conferences and what our guy is doing. Bolsonaro has asked the health authorities to forcibly change the official medicine leaflet of hydro INAUDIBLE to include coronavirus as a prescribed use case. He's also using the army's industrial capacity to produce the medication while public hospitals face shortages of other drugs, like sedatives and painkillers. Bolsonaro also actively retaliates against any public authority who promotes safety. He fired a health minister after he insisted quarantine was a good thing. He fired the next health minister after he refused to prescribe chloroquine to all Covid patients. He then put a military man in charge of the health ministry and fired most of the technical staff who had been there for years. He's also trying to incite violence. In April, he held a cabinet meeting in which he said: And he didn't stop at words. He also took actions a few days later, upping the limits on how much ammunition we can buy and eliminating all gun tracing regulations. Finally, as the crisis worsened, Bolsonaro began mocking the deceased and their families. When Brazil reached 2,500 dead, a reporter asked him for a statement on it and his answer was this. When we reached 5,000 dead. When the death toll got to 30,000. When we reached 50,000 dead, he got musical. And when we reached 60,000 he said nothing, which was probably for the best. It's so ugly that even Donald Trump admits we're not in good shape. "Ask them how are they doing in Brazil? He's a great friend of mine. Not good." But there's something else that Trump says that I'd like to leave you with. Trump calls Bolsonaro a good friend, and that friendship is crucial to Bolsonaro retaining his popularity. It legitimizes Bolsonaro. You're the world leader in Covid deaths, and right now, you're leading us into the abyss. Your president has little proxies operating all over the globe. We are their casualties. So if you're wondering what you can do to help Brazil deal with our lunatic, please do not re elect yours. This November, vote to keep Trump out of the White House. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at Carnegie Hall (March 19 20, 8 p.m.). Luxuriate in the first of the Boston Symphony's concerts in the coming week, and be challenged by the second. On Tuesday, Andris Nelsons leads an all Strauss program that includes "Also sprach Zarathustra," but he cedes the spotlight mostly to Renee Fleming, who sings the final scene from that curiously underrated work "Capriccio." On Wednesday, Thomas Ades conducts the New York premiere of his brilliant Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, with Kirill Gerstein as the soloist, and also leads Liszt's "Mephisto Waltz No. 1" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. 212 247 7800, carnegiehall.org MATTHIAS GOERNE AND DANIIL TRIFONOV at the 92nd Street Y (March 17, 3 p.m.). In this presentation from the Y and the New York Philharmonic, Goerne, who is the Philharmonic's artist in residence this season, is joined by musicians from the orchestra and the pianist Daniil Trifonov for songs by Schubert, Brahms, Eisler and Schumann; Trifonov also performs Brahms's Piano Trio No. 1. 212 415 5500, 92y.org | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
The quarterback Colin Kaepernick ignited impassioned debates over race, activism and free expression after protesting police shootings of black men by kneeling during "The Star Spangled Banner" at National Football League games in 2016. The president tweeted his anger at him and dozens of other players who also knelt in protest during the national anthem. Some fans boycotted games over the players' actions, and some boycotted the N.F.L. with the belief that Mr. Kaepernick, who failed to land a job the next season, was being blacklisted for his leadership in the movement. Now, two and a half years later, Mr. Kaepernick and a former teammate, Eric Reid, have reached a surprise legal settlement with the N.F.L., which they had accused of colluding to keep them out of the league. In a terse joint statement issued on Friday afternoon, the league and the players' lawyers said that "the parties have decided to resolve the pending grievances" and that "there will be no further comment." A confidentiality agreement means that, for all the debate and discussion the case generated, it ended with a silence that left hanging whether the league admitted there was any collusion and whether Mr. Kaepernick would ever play another down. Yet there most likely will be further discussion, as people debate whether Mr. Kaepernick was right and what enduring lesson the owners and league might draw from the saga. "The most important thing is he started a really important conversation that we've been having for a couple of years, and the people who were willing to have that conversation have learned some things," said Michael MacCambridge, the author of "America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation." He added: "I suspect even if Kaepernick knew how long it would take he might have done it differently. But he took a social stand and he was willing to suffer the consequences of that." Mr. Kaepernick, 31, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and took them to the Super Bowl after the 2012 season, has not played in the N.F.L. since the 2016 season, when he began the kneeling campaign. (At first he sat during the anthem, but a former player who is a military veteran suggested he kneel instead to make his point while respecting the American flag.) He filed a grievance under the league's collective bargaining agreement in October 2017, months after failing to find a job, and his lawyers have been busy gathering evidence and testimony from numerous N.F.L. owners and league executives. 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. The Long Path to the Super Bowl: With 18 weeks in the regular season and fewer teams earning byes in the playoffs, the Super Bowl is still a long way off. Playoff Simulator: Explore every team's path to the postseason, updated live. The case seemed headed to a ruling this spring by an arbitrator, until the abrupt statement on Friday that left the sports world guessing on whether the league paid the players and how much. After protesting while playing for the 49ers, Mr. Reid, 27, also went unsigned for a period before playing most of last season for the Carolina Panthers. This week he signed a three year contract with the team. It is unclear whether Kaepernick will continue trying to play professional football again. The settlement of their case was another unpredictable twist in a saga that began in August 2016 when Mr. Kaepernick, an African American little known as an activist, began his protests during the anthem. He said the gesture was meant to draw attention to racism and police brutality against people of color. Several players across the league joined him in kneeling during the anthem, generating a national discussion over it and leaving the league flummoxed over how to respond. Last year the N.F.L. instituted a policy that said players could remain in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem, but that if they were on the field they would have to stand. But that policy was suspended after the N.F.L. Players Association filed a grievance, and it was never enforced. On Friday, he only retweeted a statement from his lawyer, Mark Geragos. Mr. Kaepernick emerged from the protests as both a polarizing figure and a cultural symbol. Last year, Nike signed him to a lucrative endorsement deal even though he remained out of the league and largely silent, not typically what a brand wants from an endorser. A year before, Nike executives had decided to end their contract with Mr. Kaepernick, before being talked out of it. But with Mr. Kaepernick's growing stature in the civil rights movement, the apparel company decided to make him a face of its "Just Do It" campaign, debuting a commercial narrated by Mr. Kaepernick during the opening game of the N.F.L. season. Legal experts have said collusion cases are notoriously difficult to prove, which makes it highly unusual for the league to settle a case like this. It is possible Mr. Kaepernick's lawyers had gathered enough persuasive evidence and testimony from owners, league officials and football experts that Mr. Kaepernick stood a reasonable chance of persuading the arbitrator hearing the case to rule in his favor. Frank Hawkins, a former senior vice president of the N.F.L., said he thought the league was probably more worried about embarrassing statements from owners getting out through a hearing than about losing the case. "People say stupid things, things get taken out of context," he said. "So I think there was a reasonable potential for embarrassment and it is something that if they could settle it at a reasonable cost, they would probably just think it was worth paying nuisance value." Had Mr. Kaepernick won his case in a full hearing, he would have been eligible to receive the money he might have earned if he were signed as a free agent. In addition, he may have received double that amount in punitive damages. In his final year with the 49ers, Mr. Kaepernick earned more than 14 million. Carl Tobias, an expert on civil litigation who teaches at the University of Richmond School of Law, said that parties settle for all sorts of reasons, even when they believe they may prevail in court. But the N.F.L., he said, most likely wanted to move on from the issue rather than risk an adverse ruling that could, among other things, taint negotiations over the league's collective bargaining agreement, which will expire in two seasons. "I think the N.F.L. just wanted to get this behind them and not have this threat hanging over them," Mr. Tobias said. "I think they'd pay whatever they'd get away with to stop the hemorrhaging and the negative light on the league." According to the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the union, the burden is on the player to prove that owners actively conspired against him. "That is often difficult to do because parties typically don't leave a written record of their illegal maneuvering," said William Gould, who was chairman of the National Labor Relations Board at the time of the Major League Baseball strike in 1994. Mr. Kaepernick, however, received a favorable ruling in August when the arbitrator overseeing the case, Stephen B. Burbank, dismissed the league's attempt to have the case thrown out, allowing lawyers for Mr. Kaepernick to question owners and league officials in a format similar to a trial. It was anticipated that Mr. Burbank would rule on the case in the coming months, and as of last week lawyers for Mr. Kaepernick were still preparing for final hearings in front of Mr. Burbank, according to a person with knowledge of the preparations. Even though Mr. Kaepernick has not played in more than two years, and his play had grown erratic in his last months on the field, his name had continued to surface every time an N.F.L. team signed a new quarterback. Many of these quarterbacks had less experience or statistically did not seem to measure up to him. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
In 1970, homosexual acts were still outlawed in parts of the United Kingdom and would remain so for more than a decade. Yet two years before the nation even had its first official Gay Pride rally, the quintessentially British songwriter Ray Davies of the Kinks wrote "Lola," a song that embraced a full spectrum of gender nonconformity. "Girls will be boys/and boys will be girls," he sang, before emphasizing "it's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world/except for Lola." The song shot to No. 2 on the British singles chart, hit the Top 10 in the United States and went all the way to No. 1 in five other countries. The response even took its author by surprise. "I didn't think the song would be so ahead of its time," Davies said. "But time has proven it so." "I planned scenes in our movie around 'This Time Tomorrow' and 'Strangers' specifically," Anderson wrote in an email. "Sublime songs by a band of brothers, which sort of relates to the movie. Then I made another scene, just in order to do a trilogy out of it" with "Powerman," he added. In a video call from his home studio in the Highgate area of North London, Davies spoke with his usual wry candor. He has been living there since the pandemic began though "living is a loose term," Davies said. "It's more like being in prison." But he acknowledged that lockdown has given him time to assemble the boxed set and begin writing a new play based on the Powerman characters, a work that could serve as a half century removed "Part Two" to the original. After the camera cut away to a few other guests, it arrived on the Kinks, revealing the drummer Mick Avory and Davies dancing cheek to cheek. "Everything we could do to annoy people, we did at the time," Davies said with a laugh. "Nowadays that would be acceptable. Not then." Despite the consequence to the band's career, "the highest accolade is to be banned from America," he added. The band's break from touring the U.S. gave Davies the chance to soar creatively, leading to his first concept albums, "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" and "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)." But with "Lola" he aimed squarely at the charts. For a fresh sound, Davies sought an instrument that would stand out on the radio. He found it in a National resonator guitar, a brand of dobro that has the hard, tinny sound of a banjo. "My dad was a banjo player," Davies said. "He said, 'If you want a hit record, you have to get a banjo on it.' The National guitar was the next best thing." Next, he searched for an irresistible chorus hook, then road tested it at home. "I had a 1 year old child at the time," Davies said. "She was crawling around singing 'la la, la la Lola.' I thought, 'If she can join in and sing, Kinks fans can do it.'" As for the song's bold subject matter, many stories have been told over the years about its inspiration. Davies said it came from an encounter at a nightspot in Paris the group frequented called the Castille Club: "One of our crew at the time met this beautiful blonde and he took her back to the hotel. In the morning, he saw the stubble growing on her chin. So, he got a surprise!" Davies said his empathy for Lola stems from growing up with six older sisters. "We used to dress up and have parties at home," he said. "Men dressed as women. My dad, who is the most macho man you could imagine, used to put on a wig occasionally and dance around and make a fool of himself, which I encouraged. It's part of the musical hall culture we have over here. It's more accepted in London." Davies' portrayal of Lola, he said, reflects his general approach to character. "When I write songs, I put myself in the part," he explained. "In 'Sunny Afternoon' I wanted to know who this broken down aristocrat was, and I became him. In Lola's journey, I did a bit of research with drag queens." He added, "I admire anyone who can get up and be what they want to be." He believes the lyrics to the song "passed" among less open listeners because "people only hear a third of the lyrics when they're playing a song before they make up their mind they like it. They'll just listen to the catchy parts." The subject matter also sailed over the heads of the BBC censors, who only balked at the lyrical mention of Coca Cola, which violated its rule about commercial insertions. In reaction, Davies subbed in "cherry cola" on an alternate version. While gay references had cropped up in pop songs before, "'Lola' was the first big hit with an L.G.B.T. theme," said JD Doyle, a music historian who ran the authoritative radio show "Queer Music Heritage." "'Lola' made history." According to Davies, "Lola" encouraged other songwriters to explore related territory. "Before he passed away, Lou Reed told me that 'Lola' was a big influence on him," he said. "It was reassuring to him when he did 'Walk on the Wild Side.'" Later in the '70s, Davies wrote "Out of the Wardrobe," about a straight man who likes to cross dress, which first upsets his wife before she comes to enjoy it. Likewise, the narrator in the Kinks' "On the Outside" encourages the lead character to accept their identity, which Davies now describes as transgender. "It's somebody going through a tremendous emotional trauma about having to be somebody they know they're not," he said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
One Thursday last fall, Brian Brandt got a phone call from "The Americans," the FX Networks' period drama about Cold War era Soviet spies living in a Washington suburb. An anxious member of the production staff explained that the show, filmed in a Brooklyn studio and at locations around Long Island, needed a car repaired and back on the set the following Tuesday. Mr. Brandt was among the few people around New York City who could service this rarely seen model, a Citroen DS. Distinctly French and with a shape said to resemble a flying saucer on wheels, the DS was last imported four decades ago. The owner of a record label for contemporary classic and jazz composers, Mr. Brandt, 57, only recently added Citroen repair to his resume. But his loyalty to the brand traces back 40 years. At 17, he bought a well used 1966 DS for 300. He still owns it. "I guess that was kind of strange," he said. "Everybody else my age wanted muscle cars. But I had always admired Citroens. I remember one on my grandmother's block in the Bronx." Seemingly decades ahead of its time at its 1955 debut, the DS brought radical aerodynamic design and a novel hydropneumatic suspension that yielded an uncannily smooth ride. Mr. Brandt, who lives in Manhattan with his wife, Alice Hom, used his DS as an everyday car for many years. At odds with the car's George Jetson styling, performance from the lowly 4 cylinder engine was strictly economy class. That would not be the case with his next car. In 1993, Mr. Brandt bought a much sportier Citroen luxury coupe from the 1970s, the SM. Car buffs call it the Citroen Maserati, a nod to the source of its V6 power. The unlikely pairing of a French car with an Italian engine resulted from Citroen's ownership of Maserati in 1968 75. Mr. Brandt's years of using the SM, including parking it on the street in Manhattan, took a toll on the body and mechanicals. The car today awaits restoration. In 2001, he bought a second SM, an impeccably maintained, original condition 1973 model with just 40,000 miles. Garaged in Queens, it is Mr. Brandt's "distance car," now with over 100,000 miles. He adds about 6,000 more each year, with trips to Canada and to visit his son, Christopher, who attends the State University of New York, New Paltz. A drive to the Brooklyn auto repair shop where Mr. Brandt rents space for his Citroen business started with a lesson in latching the two piece lap and shoulder belts, a puzzle for first time passengers. The design is not a French quirk, however; to meet federal regulations, Citroen bought the belts from Ford, Mr. Brandt said. The Maserati V6 barked to life and settled into a lively growl at idle, sounds that might seem too energetic to those accustomed to the silken tones of modern luxury cars. A symphony of clicking and hissing, Mr. Brandt confirmed, came from the main hydraulic pump that pressurizes the car's suspension and steering systems. "The SM was designed at the same time as the Concorde," said Mr. Brandt, referencing the Anglo French supersonic airliner. "Both were made to bring prestige for France." Citroen brought about 2,000 1971 73 SMs into the United States. The car cost more than 13,000 in 1973, putting it at a level with Mercedes Benz coupes. The SM's forte was relaxed high speed cruising, not blazing acceleration. Its 3 liter 180 horsepower engine, shared with Maserati's Merak sports car, had to move a 3,300 pound car. Like all Citroen cars since the 1930s, the SM used front wheel drive. Soft pleated brown leather upholstery and tasteful chrome accents create an ambience that falls between the relative starkness of a 1970s Mercedes and the lavishness of the period's Jaguars. The curved front bucket seats are as comfortable as they look, and the 41 year old interior surfaces show little wear. At G E Auto Repair in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Mr. Brandt's business partner, Winsley Thomas, was repairing a DS model. Mr. Thomas began working on Citroens 50 years ago in his native Guyana, and he was a technician at the company's United States headquarters in Englewood, N.J., from 1968 until operations ceased in 1977. The two met about 15 years ago, when Mr. Thomas was in Manhattan to repair a customer's SM, which coincidentally parked in the same garage that Mr. Brandt was using. "He's been working on my cars ever since," Mr. Brandt said. Citroen specialists have all but disappeared from the area, and the remaining ones are widely scattered. A few years ago, Mr. Brandt decided to apprentice under Mr. Thomas, and the two now work on customer cars under the name Mode Motors. Local Citroen loyalists have kept them busy, although it's not a route to riches. "Doing the repairs brings in a little side money," Mr. Brandt said. "I guess I have two impractical businesses. There's such a lack of return in the record industry, but I still enjoy setting up recording sessions in concert halls." Mr. Brandt came to the recording industry by his love of music, not a career goal. A collection of recordings that began with progressive rock branched out to other genres, growing to some 8,000 albums. After running his own mail order business for rare records, Mr. Brandt worked for PolyGram records, building a catalog of imports. When he was 25, he started his own label, Mode Records, to record new music by John Cage, the American composer perhaps best known for his silent 1952 composition, "4'33"." On the drive back to Manhattan, traffic came to a standstill at 62nd Street near the approach to the F.D.R. Drive. Mr. Brandt took it in stride. "I don't mind getting caught in traffic, because I take the time to admire the car's details," he said, running his hand along the dashboard and window trim. "I feel like I'm surrounded by art." The car, he explained, handles stop and go driving well. "It doesn't get hot," he said, pointing to the temperature gauge, which remained in the normal range throughout a 45 minute slog. "It's always been a reliable car." He qualified that claim with the caveat that an SM owner must do a few mechanical upgrades to make it so. The key ones modifications to the engine's valves and timing chain take an expert technician about two days to complete. On the F.D.R., now mercifully free of backups, the SM glides fluidly over the notoriously broken and wavy surface. The tires, however, announce each impact with a noticeable "slap." Mr. Brandt has since replaced the Michelin radials, which are made only in small batches for older European cars and cost 450 each. Asked about the SM's reputation for acutely quick steering, Mr. Brandt confirmed that its sensitivity demands a gentle touch from the driver. But he lauds it as a safety measure. "I've avoided accidents by driving around problems that another car might not be able to," he said. "Once you get acclimated to this car, nothing else you drive feels right." After crossing the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey, Mr. Brandt takes advantage of an open stretch on Interstate 80. The three carburetor Maserati power plant sings at higher speeds, but even so, the answer to a query of which artists this music connoisseur plays on his car's '80s vintage Blaupunkt stereo comes as a surprise. "Even on long drives, I prefer to just listen to the engine," he said. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
Considering the rarity of station wagons in America, BMW's new tailgating 3 Series set me wondering: who exactly spends 50,000 or more on a compact wagon, instead of going the usual American route with an S.U.V. or a crossover? In certain locales scented with artisanal coffee and self affirmation college towns, gentrified urban blocks, Ralph Lauren suburbs the natives have circled the wagons for what may be their last stand. Strangely, considering the station wagon's wood paneled role in American cultural history, today's downsized models rarely seem to have children on board. Instead, they seem to be favored by bearded software developers, practical performance iconoclasts and empty nesters in mourning for the boxy old Volvos and Subarus they once drove. Like many people who write about cars, I also have a thing for wagons, the more out there, the better. For instance, the Cadillac CTS V, Mercedes E63 AMG and Ferrari FF wagons the latter the most unexpected of all make a combined 1,784 horsepower, and their average top speed is nearly 195 m.p.h. But you're as likely to see a Lamborghini at your local Dairy Queen as to spot any of those exotic family haulers pulling up for Xtreme Blizzards. To ensure their survival, even mainstream wagons may soon need a nature preserve perhaps a simulated "Leave It to Beaver" environment of pink houses and picket fences. This year, Americans have just nine wagon models to choose from, down from 24 in 2004, according to LMC Automotive, an industry research firm. Their percentage of the market, not strong to begin with, slipped to 1.1 percent last year, to a paltry 165,000 sales. (A single model, the Subaru Outback, accounted for 112,000 of those.) As the enlarged version of the latest 3 Series sedan, the 328i xDrive does its part to keep wagons from extinction. It's an especially handsome member of its herd, with a squinty version of BMW's twin kidney grille and a streamlined, scalloped fuselage. Compared with the former model, the Sports Wagon has grown 3.5 inches in length and almost 2 inches in wheelbase. The BMW's track, or the space between the opposing wheels, is 1.2 inches wider up front and 1.6 inches in back. The result is nearly an inch more of legroom in the back seat and an 8 percent increase in cargo volume, to 53 cubic feet. For all of a wagon's advantages over S.U.V.'s reduced weight, better aerodynamics and mileage, generally superior handling its relatively low roofline remains the biggest practical demerit. BMW's X3 crossover S.U.V. can fit 62 percent more gear behind its second row and nearly 20 percent more over all. That includes taller, bulkier items furniture, bicycles, boxes than the wagon can swallow. Yet the new BMW makes the most of its modest dimensions. The redesign, which includes more high strength steel, carves out a larger hatch opening. The load floor is lower to the ground, too, for easier lifting of cargo. A power tailgate opens via the remote key or an interior button. If you order the Comfort Access feature, the tailgate swings open when you wiggle a foot under the rear bumper, a useful hands free feature first offered by Ford. The rear seat folds flat in a 40 20 40 arrangement, making it easy to haul, say, four sets of skis for four passengers. The cargo area gets four tie downs, a 12 volt outlet and coat hooks. With run flat tires eliminating the spare, there's extra space under the floor; in a clever touch, the retracting rear luggage cover detaches for storage below deck when it's not needed. A rear view camera with a 360 degree top down view, part of a 1,900 Driver Assistance Package, made it a breeze to park without scraping the pretty 18 inch alloy rims on the curb. Figuring there's no sense importing myriad models to satisfy a tiny cult of American wagon enthusiasts, BMW offers only xDrive all wheel drive versions with the excellent 8 speed automatic transmission. So there's no rear drive version, no manual transmission and no 335i variant with its turbocharged 300 horsepower in line 6. What BMW does offer is gasoline and diesel engines whose performance and mileage are unmatched in its field. The 328i gets the 2 liter turbo TwinPower 4 with 241 horses and 258 pound feet of torque. That gas burning wagon hustles to 60 m.p.h. in six seconds, with the free revving brio and wall to wall torque that's a signature of this remarkable motor. Stand outside, and you'll hear the engine's tick tick idle and direct injector noise, but the uncouth behavior disappears once the car is under way. The same can't be said for the standard engine stop start function, which restarts the car at stoplights with an intrusive shudder. The 328i is also rated at 22 miles per gallon in town and 33 on the highway, and that's no fooling. Set to its EcoPro mode, the BMW actually indicated 35 m.p.g. over a long 60 m.p.h. cruise commendable economy for such a strong, relatively spacious car. Premium fuel, of course, is required. That Eco Pro setting saves gas by softening the accelerator response, selecting higher gears and dialing back the power to systems like the heated seats and climate control. Drivers can select Comfort and Sport settings as well. As in other BMWs with this small caliber engine, the wagon sipped responsibly even when my driving was anything but. Hammered from New York to Boston in a convoy with a Corvette and two German sedans, the BMW still returned 30 m.p.g. A truly miserly wagon master can opt for the diesel version, the 328d xDrive, which starts at 43,875, a reasonable 1,500 premium over the gasoline sipping car. The 328d's 2 liter turbodiesel with 180 horsepower and 280 pound feet of torque is rated 31 m.p.g. city, 43 highway. (The same diesel engine in the rear drive 328d sedan achieves 32/45 m.p.g.) Nor is the diesel wagon a slouch in acceleration, moving from a standstill to 60 m.p.h. in 7.7 seconds. BMW says the new wagon's structure is 10 percent stiffer. Ride quality, even with the run flat tires, is smoother than Robin Thicke at a Ladies' Night. Yet there's a growing chink in the BMW's once impregnable armor. This is the softest, spongiest 3 Series I can recall, with too little feedback from the electric power steering. The steering is accuracy itself, and the BMW will still fly through curves. But on initial flights, neither the car nor the driver gains the confidence you expect from this handling benchmark. Opting for the 1,000 Dynamic Handling Package, which adds variable sport steering and a stiffer M sport suspension, should help firm the flab. But let's hope that the coming 4 Series coupe can provide a template for BMW to get the 3 Series back on the fun to drive track. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
AMERICAN BALLET THEATER at the Metropolitan Opera (through July 6). The company winds down its spring season with two final full length ballets on tap: This weekend is dedicated to "Swan Lake," which closes on Saturday night with some power casting: Misty Copeland and David Hallberg perform the leads. Monday night introduces Alexei Ratmansky's reconstruction of "The Sleeping Beauty." In this opulent full length dance, Aurora awakens from a 100 year sleep, but there's another rebirth as well: The steps of Marius Petipa are brought back to life. Opening night will be led by Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside, and as the run continues, two new dancers will debut as Princess Florine: Katherine Williams on Tuesday night and Catherine Hurlin in the Wednesday matinee. 212 362 6000, abt.org BRYANT PARK CONTEMPORARY DANCE PICNIC PERFORMANCES (June 28, 6 p.m.; through July 5). The Friday night series in this Midtown park continues with a mixed bill highlighting several groups. LaneCoArts explores the intersection of dance, theater and the visual arts; Syren Modern Dance, formed by Lynn Peterson and Kate St. Amand, presents "Ticktock"; Jolt Dance Project, a collective directed by Jarred Bosch, is rooted in theatrical athleticism; and Harlem Dance Ensemble, featuring dancers from Harlem School of the Arts, performs with the Dorothy Maynor Singers. Not only is it free, but there are 250 blankets available for borrowing. bryantpark.org/programs/contemporary dance ALICE FARLEY DANCE THEATER at Bronx Museum of the Arts (June 28, 6 p.m.). In "Conversations With Monsters," Farley, who specializes in surrealist street theater, presents an evening of experiments in puppetry and dance. Here, inspired by the work of Oskar Schlemmer, Jean Benoit and mask dance traditions, she explores the human body. Her collaborators include the historian Mark Mindek and the dancers Susana Botero and Isryel Jules, known for his work with the street dance organization It's Showtime NYC! The appearance, part of the BxMA Co Lab, includes a talk by Farley. m.bronxmuseum.org | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
Two days after leading her sport into a social justice work stoppage, Naomi Osaka won her semifinal match on Friday in the Western Southern Open, a match she was willing to forfeit to spark a broader conversation in the tennis world about racism. Feeling a kind of pressure she had never felt before, Osaka beat Elise Mertens of Belgium, 6 2, 7 6 (5), underneath a hazy sun and in a nearly silent stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, where the tournament was moved this year from Cincinnati so players could prepare for the United States Open while limiting travel during the coronavirus pandemic. Osaka walked to the court in a black T shirt with a picture of a clenched fist and the words "Black Lives Matter" displayed across the front. She took command of the match early with her powerful serve and forehand. An overhead winner from the baseline in the second game of the match appeared to set the tone, though Osaka did grow shaky in the second set before prevailing. Osaka had won a hard fought, three set quarterfinal Wednesday afternoon. About five hours later, she announced that she would not play her semifinal match, initially scheduled for Thursday, to draw attention to the issue of police violence against Black people following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Osaka was following the lead of the N.B.A.'s Milwaukee Bucks, the W.N.B.A., Major League Soccer and several Major League Baseball teams that decided not to play games Wednesday and Thursday. "I felt like I needed to raise my voice," Osaka said Friday after her win, adding that she had not slept much the past two nights. Osaka's announcement Wednesday night accelerated a discussion that tennis officials had been having that evening about how tennis needed to react to the sudden halt in sports after the shooting of Blake, said Chris Widmaier, the chief spokesman for the United States Tennis Association. U.S.T.A. officials and organizers of the Western Southern Open had not decided on a course of action until Osaka announced her willingness to withdraw. That move and the decision not to withdraw Osaka from the tournament allowed Osaka to consider remaining in the competition. By midday Thursday, she had committed to continuing when play resumed Friday. Osaka said it was both hard and easy to make her statement and seemingly give up a spot in the semifinal. She had trained through her sport's long layoff to get to late rounds of a tournament like this. "If withdrawing from a tournament would cause the most stir, then that was something I needed to do" she said. "I don't feel like I am being brave, I just feel like I am doing what I should be doing." Mertens said the off and then back on nature of the match did not catch her off guard. The day off gave her a chance to recharge. "I totally respected her decision," Mertens said. "I think it's great what she does, and she's a role model for tennis." Not every player said it was so easy to roll with the change. Azarenka declined to comment on the decision after her semifinal win. "I want to focus on my tennis tomorrow," Azarenka said when asked about the sudden decision to delay play. "And then maybe when I'm ready to speak about what's on my mind that has nothing to do with tennis, I will." Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who lost his semifinal to Milos Raonic of Canada on Friday, said the delay caught him off guard and the mental adjustment was strange and difficult. "I was quite surprised," Tsitsipas said of the delay. "For sure it had good intentions." He also said that what Osaka had pulled off winning with so much going on in her life off the court was not easy. There is no instruction booklet on how to play at an elite level while trying to be one of the leading voices in sports for civil rights. Osaka flew to Minneapolis this year to join protests after the death of George Floyd, and has been outspoken on social media about the issues of systemic racism and police brutality. Playing in a stadium largely devoid of spectators because tournament and health officials deemed allowing them to be too large a risk, Osaka on Friday did not have to deal with the emotional roller coaster that a crowd can produce during such pitched moments for an athlete. There was the occasional smattering of claps from the players' team members, but little other noise during the two hour match. Still, Osaka said she felt more pressure than usual after turning the spotlight of the sport on herself and an added incentive to win, but she tried to put that out of her mind. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
Because the paintings of the Finnish born, Paris based painter Henni Alftan stood out in Karma's "(Nothing but) Flowers" exhibition last month, I expected a bit more bang from her solo debut in New York. For one thing, her palette here is a little too subdued. Still, the show introduces a painter with a distinctive artistic vision, even if its power is more forceful in the hefty book that accompanies the show. And the paintings do bang, but slowly. Their spare compositions emphasize silence and stillness, the artificiality of painting, the magnification of everyday detail and the division of reality into nearly abstract areas of color and texture. The images come at you in stages, sometimes by requiring a second look. In the diptych "Haircut (Deja vu)," from this year, one panel shows a hand with scissors, poised to cut through a plane of long strawberry blond hair; its color is reflected in the scissors' top blade. In the second panel, the deed is done; no reflection now. Just the closed scissors, the shorn hair and the bottom edge of the painting, all exquisitely and a little too strictly parallel. In other works, the eye must hold two thoughts at once: The subject of "The Curtain" is half drawn across a dark nighttime window; its cheerful geometric pattern is distorted by its lavish undulations. The view outside is dark, recessive; the lighted windows of apartments beyond muster a sparser pattern. These paintings can be subtly confusing. Examples include the dagger of light that cuts through the becalmed geometry of the living room of "Morning Sun," or, in "Self Portrait," where a vaguely male hand that holds up a pocket mirror in which is reflected a richly made up female eye. If museums are serious about globalizing their collections, it won't do just to pick out a few Africans or Asians or Latin Americans whose art superficially resembles what the West already approbates. Art history has to be reconceived as a perpetual migration of artists, images and ideas across oceans, across decades. A sterling case study awaits in the upstairs space of Aicon Gallery, displaying the lean, precise, calligraphic abstractions of Ernest Mancoba (1904 2002), a South African painter who spent his career in Denmark and France. Defying past and present received ideas of nationality and identity, these delicate abstract compositions resound as the work of an artist committed to his full liberty. Mancoba was born in Johannesburg in 1902 and studied art at an Anglican school; his early figurative sculptures, not in this show, are arguably the first "modern" artworks by a Black South African. The sensitive allover abstractions on view here were made in European exile (he left before apartheid was instituted in 1948), and feature thickets of lines orchestrated into discrete zones of color. Often scaled like portraits, they almost always incorporate a few strokes that hint at a stick figure amid soft, syncopated slashes of ocher, mauve, teal or gray; the use of untreated canvas, too, give the compositions the melancholy delicacy of a muted trumpet solo. Drawings and paintings on paper are sparer still, and reveal outlines of bodies whose angled stylization put me in mind of Central African reliquary statues. The later works on paper here, some from his tenth decade of life, appear like sentences of black asemic glyphs over colored slashes and Xs. This show at Aicon includes 18 paintings and works on paper by Mancoba, handsomely installed against peach colored walls, and paired with bronze sculptures by his wife, the Danish artist Sonja Ferlov Mancoba. Her bronzes of roughly finished metal, which can recall masks or totems, show the enduring influence of African sculpture on European modernism and reaffirms that both husband and wife were working in a postwar Paris where a clean division of "African" and "European" aesthetics could not be made. The real urgency here, though, remains Ernest Mancoba's abstractions. They ought to be in every serious modern art museum: not as a token of "African" modernism, but an exemplar of forms in motion. JASON FARAGO The inward looking focus of much contemporary photography takes on a different air when the insularity becomes a necessity, not a choice. Matthew Porter made a splash at the "After Photoshop" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2012 13, with images of airborne cars that he composed by digitally combining photographs of toy models and streetscapes. But like the chase scenes they replicated, those were stunts. While some of Mr. Porter's new photographs in the show "This Is How It Ends," made during the coronavirus pandemic, also involve digital manipulation, the overarching mood is more "oh no" than "gee whiz." Fronds of Los Angeles palm trees bristle as dangerously as barbed wire. In one photograph, the silhouettes of trees against a jaundiced sky are backed with the lattice pattern of a chain link fence. Another bilious yellow sky, this time in New York, adds to the ominous portent of a helicopter hovering over the 30 Hudson Yards tower. In a gorgeously post apocalyptic picture, two birds cordoned off graphically by an open parallelogram of electrical wires rejoice on a streetlamp that hangs above arboreal foliage as beautiful as the Martinique banana leaf wallpaper at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Finding a Baudelairean beauty in polluted sunsets and wire coils, Mr. Porter gives us an up to date report on the natural world that was recorded a half century ago by his grandfather, the eminent photographer Eliot Porter. The traffic signals in several of his pictures glow an admonitory red or orange. ARTHUR LUBOW | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
Dionne Warwick has had a Twitter account for years, but recently her followers thought she might have been hacked. Ms. Warwick, 79, like so many of us, has been cooped up in her house for much of this year and spending a lot of her time online. In tweet after tweet, her brazen and elegant personality has been on full display, bringing her more than 150,000 followers. Almost daily, Ms. Warwick's followers ask her if it's really her behind the account, which for years had been run by her social media team. She assures them time and again that yes, it is actually her tweeting. This week, she sent that message out loud and clear in a video: "Well, hello, and this is for all of you tweeters who have decided that I'm not tweeting my own stuff to you," Ms. Warwick said while sitting in front of a calendar hung to the month of December with two Pomeranians pictured. "I want you to know: I am and I am getting very, very, good at it." Ms. Warwick has made it clear that she is not to be messed with onstage or in these Twitter streets. The five time Grammy winner has spent her time calling out artists with the word "the" in their name, like Chance the Rapper. After Chance responded, they had a meet cute on the phone. Now they're collaborating on a song produced by Ms. Warwick's son Damon Elliot. It isn't all niceties on Ms. Warwick's feed. Her years in showbiz in the 1960s and '70s taught her how to deal her critics, at one point calling someone a "hussy" in a since deleted tweet. (And don't even get her started on Wendy Williams.) But her comebacks come off as warm, wry and sagacious in true auntie fashion. Although she's something of a natural on the platform, Ms. Warwick said her niece Brittani Warwick taught her how to use Twitter this fall. Since then, it has been a place where she goes to "talk to people" and kill some time while she isolates during the pandemic. This interview has been edited. What caused you to bring your talents to Twitter? I saw all the fun everyone else was having, and it's something to do during this period of time when I am literally doing nothing. They shut down at the end of February and I have been home since then. Do you know you are being considered the queen of Twitter? No! Really? That is too funny! I know that you're promoting a campaign to feed the hungry on your birthday. Can you tell me more about that? Yes. With an organization called Hunger Not Impossible. They asked me to be an ambassador for the organization and add my voice to asking people to be of service to those who can't be of service themselves. I usually give myself a birthday party, but unfortunately Covid decided that nobody was going to do anything this year. My son Damon put together this virtual event for me where people could purchase packages to just hang out with me. It is my birthday gift to me this year. There's going to be music, and I thought if we're going to do a Christmas party let me ask the people who are featured on my album to sing with me. And I did and they said yes. So those people are going to be there too. Have you ever been to a virtual party? I have never been to a virtual party. This is my first one. It should be a lot of fun. In the video you tweeted this week you were sitting in front of a Pomeranian calendar that your followers loved. Do you love Pomeranians? At one time I had four of them. Pomeranians are my favorite dogs. I get the calendars every year. Have you seen Maya Rudolph's impersonation of you on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"? No, I haven't, but I have friends who've seen it and said great things. Her mother, the late Minnie Riperton, and I knew each other during the 1970s. We met thanks to Stevie Wonder, who co produced Minnie's big hit, "Lovin' You." I saw that you called out Chance the Rapper for having "the" in his name. Why? I had a wonderful conversation with that young man on the phone, and he is so impressive. He is single handedly trying to save Chicago everything he is doing with the homeless and teachers. What's most impressive is his fear of God. That is important to me. I love his song with Justin Bieber, "Holy." I am going to ask you about a couple of artists with the in their names and you let me know if you know them. The Alchemist? Can you tell me how you define the word "hussy"? I'm never going to live this down! "Hussy" takes on different connotations. It is a matter of how you want to use and with who you want to use it. Do you know what a clapback is? I think it sounds like someone who is debating and combative. Your "hussy" tweet was a clapback, Ms. Warwick. How often do you use the word "hussy"? Do you like that a younger generation is getting to know you this way? This has always been me. I like being me because I like me. Why shouldn't I use it? It makes me happy. They can't take my happiness away from me. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
For decades, one bedroom apartments have been a fixture of New York. But finding one going forward, at least in new developments, may become as hard as hailing a cab in a downpour. Developers convinced that buyers want extra legroom and often seeking to recoup their own sky high investments in land are phasing one bedrooms out of new buildings in favor of much more spacious units. "I don't know that one bedrooms will ever become extinct," said Charles R. Bendit, a chief executive at Taconic Investment Partners, "but I think the nature of the city is changing. Young kids aren't leaving as quickly as they once did, and people who are making an investment are investing in a family home." Mr. Bendit is putting his analysis to the test as he develops Sterling Mason, a once stalled condo at 71 Laight Street in TriBeCa. When conceived during the last real estate boom, by a different developer, the project was to have offered five one bedrooms out of 36 units, in a complex made up of a new building and a renovated one, side by side. But after buying the building for 65 million in 2012, Taconic decided that bigger would be better, and it reconfigured the interiors to allow for larger apartments, a process that involved removing two elevator banks and stairways. Today there are no one bedrooms at Sterling Mason, which has 32 units, 14 of them three bedrooms. And the bet may have been a smart one. Since last summer, when sales began, eight of the units have sold, at an average of 2,700 a square foot, according to Streeteasy.com. And "no one is coming in to say, 'Gee whiz, I wish you had one bedrooms,' " Mr. Bendit added. Whether to be family friendlier, or for reasons affecting the bottom line, developers generally appear to be decreasing the supply of new one bedrooms. At the start of this month, there were 104 for sale in new condos in Manhattan, out of 654 units in total, or a 16 percent share, according to research from the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Linda Jaquez for The New York Times Over the same time last year, there were 194 one bedrooms for sale out of 718 units, or a 27 percent share, the data show. Similarly, at the beginning of 2010, there were 463 one bedrooms on the market, out of 1,798 units, or a 26 percent share. Even when resale units are taken into account, the one bedroom market seems a shade of its former self though of course the shortage bodes well for anyone with a one bedroom to sell. Last week, there were 1,227 one bedrooms for sale in Manhattan, according to Streeteasy.com. The units, mostly south of 110th Street, were listed at a median price of 745,000, or about 1,130 a square foot, the data show. At their peak in December 2008, by contrast, the number of one bedrooms in Manhattan reached 3,257, according to Streeteasy. As the recession roiled the market, one bedrooms encountered strong headwinds; many of the first time buyers drawn to these starter apartments were unable to get loans, which caused units to linger and dip in price. Since then, in the last couple of years, as the housing and lending markets have improved, one bedrooms have practically flown off the shelves. Sales, in fact, made up about 41 percent of all deals in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to the Miller Samuel appraisal firm; the quarterly showing was the strongest since 1997, when they represented about 43 percent off all deals. Given that one bedrooms constitute such a large portion of the market, one might think developers would want to build more of them. But many developers have had to shell out more for land purchases in Manhattan, prime lots can cost around 850 a square foot so there is often pressure to build the larger, more expensive units, said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel. "It's not that there is no demand for one bedrooms," he said. "It's that there is no demand for one bedrooms at 4,000 a foot, which would make some of these sites feasible." The market share of one bedroom sales is expected to drop further in 2014 as new multi bedroom products begin to work their way through the system. The list of condominiums with few one bedrooms is long and splashy. Walker Tower, the conversion of a former telephone building in Chelsea, on West 18th Street, had just three one bedrooms out of 53 units. Closings there began in November. There are only eight one bedrooms, out of 145 units, at 56 Leonard in TriBeCa, according to a spokeswoman for the Alexico Group, a developer in the project. At One57, the skyscraping condominium from the Extell Development Company on West 57th Street, just eight of 94 units are one bedrooms, according to a company spokeswoman. Brokers say that one bedrooms are often used for nannies. But at Walker Tower, which ended up with a total of 47 units in the building, some of the scarce one bedrooms were combined, according to Michael Stern, the managing partner of the JDS Development Group, which developed the building, along with Property Markets Group. Even smaller projects are supersizing: the Schumacher, a condo conversion at 36 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, has no one bedrooms among its 20 units, according to its website, though it does have several four bedrooms. Still, even though one bedrooms seem to be fading in importance in the sales market, they are plentiful as rentals, brokers point out. Nor are all Manhattan developers eschewing one bedrooms, which make sense for some projects' economics. When they are offered alongside larger units, they can prove more popular, as at 530 Park Avenue, a 109 unit condo conversion on the Upper East Side, at 61st Street. Since last spring, 60 units have sold, 22 of them one bedrooms, according to Aby J. Rosen, a principal of RFR Holding, its developer. Only three one bedrooms are left, he added. In less affluent areas, where land prices are lower, one bedrooms may be a better fit. At Edgecombe Parc Condominium, a project underway at 456 West 167th Street in Washington Heights, more than half the units, or 27 out of 49, are one bedrooms. Seventeen have sold since marketing began in November, according to Ilan Bracha, a broker with Keller Williams New York City, which is handling sales. Prices at the building, which is being developed by Gleam Realty, have averaged 700 a square foot, Mr. Bracha said. Large units in areas like TriBeCa attract families in part because of the top rated public schools. But in neighborhoods like 530 Park's, where the schools are not as much of an attraction, family size units can be a harder sell, said Mr. Rosen, adding that many one bedroom buyers have said they will use them as pieds a terre. "Everybody is chasing the 50 million buyer," he said, "but I would rather focus on the 7 million to 10 million buyer." Sometimes the sites themselves determine the sizes of units. "You don't want to bastardize the shape of a building; if it dictates larger apartments, it's better not to create tiny units," said Doron Zwickel, a Core Group broker in charge of sales at 93 Worth Street, a 91 unit project in a former textile factory in TriBeCa. "But this was not a very deep building, with lots of windows, so it was very efficient to do." At 93 Worth, there are 16 one bedrooms, or 18 percent of the total, as well as 22 studios; eight units remain for sale after a little over a year of marketing, Mr. Zwickel said. Average sale prices have been 1,850 a square foot. At a new condo that Mr. Zwickel is marketing at 241 Fifth Avenue, the one bedroom count is even higher: 35 percent of the listings, or 16 out of 46 units. Only one of the units remains. "I believe that most of the product in the works is still geared toward the high end and the mega rich," he said. "I think it would be wise to create more variety." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Imagine having one of the most famous last names in fashion. Then imagine not being able to use it when introducing your own business. That has been the situation facing Patricia Gucci granddaughter of Gucci's founder, Guccio Gucci, and the daughter of Aldo Gucci, the mastermind behind the early global expansion of the Italian luxury house and her new high end luggage label, Aviteur. Not that she appears to care. "I don't feel sad about it at all," said Ms. Gucci, 56, in a five star hotel lobby in Milan last week, just days before the glitzy launch party for Aviteur during Paris Fashion Week (it was Wednesday at the Hotel de Crillon). "I don't want to feel like I am trading in on the Gucci name. I feel fortunate to have had wonderful influences in life, but using it officially would mean selling myself in a way that I don't want to." Once described by The New York Times as the "most eligible girl in the world," Ms. Gucci was the product of an extramarital affair between Aldo Gucci and his personal assistant, Bruna Palombo, that lasted more than 30 years. The apple of her father's eye, she was given a seat on the Gucci board at age 19 and even became a high profile brand ambassador for the brand. Then the company became embroiled in a tax scandal and in 1993 was sold by the family. As a result of the sale, Ms. Gucci said, she was required to sign a decade long nondisclosure agreement. Eighteen months later, when her cousin and the former head of the family fashion house, Maurizio Gucci, was shot and killed in Milan by a hit man hired by his ex wife, Ms. Gucci had fully retreated from the industry, and was raising her three daughters. Now, she is back, three years after the publication of her memoir called well, "In the Name of Gucci." A frequent traveler from her base in Geneva, Ms. Gucci started Aviteur 18 months ago after realizing that "short haul travel had become so ugly and logo driven and the glamour and romance was all gone." The short lived discussion about Venice banning rolling suitcases inspired Ms. Gucci's search for silent wheels "they are the Tesla of carry on wheels," she declared, while the clear handle in Lucite is the handiwork of automotive designers. The case comes in three colors: black, tan and gray. It is made in Italy, and it is aimed at the 1 percent of the 1 percent: the bags, which go on sale this week and take around eight weeks to make, retail at 4,250 euros, or 4,650, on the Aviteur website or third party e tailers like Moda Operandi. It's an acknowledgment, if any were needed, that contemporary travel has become the new caste system, but Ms. Gucci sees it as reality. "What can I say, I got brought up around the best of the best and that's what I know and want to pass on," she said. "Some of my earliest memories recall the smell of Italian leather and the buzz of the Gucci workshops with my father. Though my mother isn't quite sure why I am doing what I'm doing, I really feel my father's presence here." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
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. If you're interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted about his attempts to free the American rapper ASAP Rocky from a Swedish jail, where he has been held for three weeks awaiting a court date on assault allegations. Trevor Noah found the presidential intervention surreal, but he came down on Rocky's side on Monday. "I've seen some people online saying, 'Oh, three weeks in Swedish jail isn't that bad because their jails are really nice.' Yeah, but you know what else is nice? Not being in jail." TREVOR NOAH "They don't have bail in Sweden and won't let him go because they consider him a flight risk which, I'm sorry, I think is crazy. You're afraid he's going to get out. He's a black man in Sweden. Even if he tries to escape, how far can he get? Come on, Sweden! Let the guy go! Take away his passport and let him live! You could just write 'the black guy' on his wanted poster and he would be found!" TREVOR NOAH That said, Noah was amazed that Trump had gotten involved after receiving a call from Kanye West. "You know, this is one of those moments where I genuinely cannot believe that we're living in real life. No, because, like, listen to the story. Donald Trump, who is the president of the United States, got a call from his friend, Kanye West, to save a rapper from a Swedish prison. This sounds like a headline written by a newspaper on LSD." TREVOR NOAH "What's so insane is how powerful Kanye West is in this situation. It's like he uses his MAGA hat like a magic lamp and rubs it and Trump comes out and says, 'What do you need?'" TREVOR NOAH Jimmy Kimmel also had a hard time processing the influence apparently wielded by West and his wife, Kim Kardashian. "I feel like we don't fully appreciate how weird it is that Kim and Kanye have a direct line to the president. It's like I don't know what it's like. It's not like anything. It's like if Nicole and Lionel Richie had a line to George Bush to tell him how to get out of Iraq." JIMMY KIMMEL "And I love that he added the dollar sign to 'A AP.' The man doesn't know the difference between 'you're' and 'your,' but A AP Rocky? Nails it, no problem." JIMMY KIMMEL "Over the weekend, Trump asked Sweden's prime minister to free rapper ASAP Rocky from jail. Then Sweden's prime minister was like, 'We're the home of Ikea we don't do anything ASAP.'" JIMMY FALLON "At this rate, if Sweden keeps him locked up longer, he'll have to change the dollar sign in his name to a euro." TREVOR NOAH "Donald Trump, he loves the Swedish. They're responsible for his favorite type of massage, his favorite bikini team, and his favorite kind of fish." JIMMY KIMMEL "Because Swedish jail still means that you're locked up, you don't have your freedom and on top of that, they make you assemble all your own furniture. It's heartless." TREVOR NOAH Kimmel's monologue was interrupted by Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were on their way to the premiere of their new film, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Television |
In "Happy Death Day," a 2017 slasher variation on the classic time loop comedy "Groundhog Day," a prickly but engaging college student, Tree Gelbman, had to solve her own murder in order to stop reliving the day it happened. Once that was done, the minimally witty movie implied that she'd live in a less dodgy fashion than that which got her killed, over and over again, in the first place. The cosmic conditions that created this fix were not explained in that picture. But, boy, are they ever in the sequel "Happy Death Day 2U," written and directed by Christopher Landon, who directed the original film and penned several films from the "Paranormal Activity" franchise. Turns out a student experiment in the quantum physics lab is responsible for shifting realities, and Tree soon finds herself catapulted back to her death day. Under different conditions this time, one of them happy: In this dimension, her beloved mom is still alive. But she is still going to die every day. While the first film worked a relatively simple "solve the mystery and save your life" challenge, here Tree uses her predicament as a grand self help course, not unlike Bill Murray's character in "Groundhog Day" and his piano lessons. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
First came the flood, then came the disease. Over the past three months, the tourism industry of Venice has had its share of plagues. Flooding in November, prompted by exceptionally high tides, led to mass cancellations. Now as Italy experiences the biggest coronavirus outbreak outside Asia, a similar and unwelcome drop off is occurring. According to Associazione Venezia Albergatori, an association of local hotel owners, 50 percent of reservations in Venice have been canceled in the last week. "The situation is dramatic for the industry," said Vittorio Bonacini, the chairman. Mr. Bonacini estimates that since November, Venetian tourism, worth 3 billion euro or about 3.3 billion, "has probably lost 800 million euro." Since the outbreak began on Feb. 21, he said, Venice hotels have lost almost 70 percent of their international visitors. Once plagued by overtourism, Venice is now ghastly empty. Many of its world famous hot spots, including Campo Santa Margherita and the Jewish Ghetto, are deserted. Few tourists can be seen even in the usually packed St. Mark's Square. "It feels like one of those zombie movies with one guy walking in an empty New York," said Matteo Secchi, a hotel receptionist. He said tourists scared off by the virus are canceling their reservation up to April. "One month like this it's something we can deal with, but if this drags for months, people will get unemployed." Venice is hardly the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Northern Italy, and no lockdown has been imposed on the city. As of Thursday, 650 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Italy, according to the country's civil protection agency (the ministry of health's count, which lags the civil protection numbers, is slightly lower). The vast majority are in Lombardy, where 11 villages and small towns have been fully quarantined and the regional capital Milan has self imposed a lockdown, with schools, gyms and public offices closed, while pubs and cafes are subject to an on and off curfew. In neighboring Veneto, the confirmed coronavirus cases are 71, said the civil protection agency. Its regional capital, Venice, has closed only its schools and museums. Some Venetians didn't approve. "I am not sure keeping museums and school closed, while bars and restaurants are open, sends the right message," said Nicola Ussardi, a local salesman and community activist. "Consumption is taking a precedent over culture." When Gov. Luca Zaia canceled the carnival, critics accused him of spreading unnecessary panic. "It was a tough decision," Mr. Zaia told the local newspaper Corriere Del Veneto, "but we have to put Venetians' health above everything else." As some countries, including Israel and Ireland, are advising their citizens not to travel to Italy because of the outbreak, Venice is not the only city struggling with tourism. Earlier this week Federalberghi, the country's association of hotel owners, issued a statement asking the government for tax relief for the duration of the emergency. The association still doesn't have a solid estimate on the outbreak's impact on Italian tourism, but its president, Antonio Barreca, said cancellation rates "varied from 30 to 70 percent, depending on the city." But what sets Venice apart is that, unlike Rome and Milan, the city has almost no other source of income but tourism, and has already suffered a 35 percent cancellation rate in November, which raises some questions about the resilience and sustainability of its economic model. "For ages, we staked everything on mass tourism," said Mr. Ussardi, the community activist. "We really need to rethink that." Follow NY Times Travel on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Get weekly updates from our Travel Dispatch newsletter, with tips on traveling smarter, destination coverage and photos from all over the world. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
Beige is back. For 17 years, this Tuesday night party at the Bowery Bar and Grill was an essential stop on the gay fashion downtown night life circuit. It was a place where celebrities, models and Page Six habitues bumped booties and spilled vodka cranberries alongside striving artists and handsome pleasure seekers. But it ended in 2011, as the Bowery was beset by luxury real estate. While some have tried to replicate the Tuesday magic elsewhere, the efforts never took off. So after being asked a million times to resurrect Beige, Erich Conrad, the party's founder, finally agreed to the reboot in May. But with one big change. "Let's do it once a month," Mr. Conrad said. (The next one is July 10). "It takes that long now to make plans with anyone." It's still at the Bowery Bar, the former gas station with its patio where people smoke like it's 1999. The trees are taller and the grass that snapped countless high heels is paved over, but the rest is thankfully preserved: the tin roof outdoor bar where ordering drinks is a contact sport, the glowing George Nelson bubble lamps that hang over the dining room, the packed dance floor that keeps hopping well past 1 a.m. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Style |
When the Chicago Transit Authority chose a Chinese joint venture to build the city a new fleet of rail cars for 1.3 billion, the manufacturer's vow to construct an assembly plant on the Southeast Side helped tilt the scale in its favor. "This is a classic win win for Chicago," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said last year when he announced the contract and the 170 jobs that the factory would create, in addition to training programs and community hiring. To Bombardier Transit Corporation, the losing bidder, however, the hiring sweetener was proof of what it called a "rigged" and possibly illegal procurement process that denied "jobs to fellow Americans outside of Chicago." In this case, it was referring to Americans who live in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and work at Bombardier's sprawling assembly and test center there. Over the last decade, more and more cities, on the coasts and in the heartland, have tried to leverage their buying power to fuel economic development through local hiring provisions on public projects that favor veterans, residents and low income workers. But these efforts have been bedeviled by political, economic and legal challenges that have divided business, union and political allies. Now the Trump administration may rescind an Obama era initiative that allows hiring preferences on transportation and construction projects in states like New York, California, Texas, Virginia and Illinois, a prospect that has alarmed advocates of such programs. "Why not let cities and states innovate to create the good American jobs that the administration has been clamoring for?" said Madeline Janis, the executive director of Jobs to Move America, a coalition of faith, labor and other groups that want transportation funding to benefit local communities. "I don't understand why they would want to cancel the program." Legal and regulatory hurdles have long frustrated officials trying to create job opportunities that favor local residents. The Supreme Court has ruled it is unconstitutional for employers in one state to discriminate against residents of another. Federal agencies, through Republican and Democratic administrations, have maintained that restrictions like competitive bidding prevent them from contributing a cent to public projects with hiring preferences. And state lawmakers, complaining that employers and workers outside the target city are at a disadvantage, have outlawed such preferences. Jobs to Move America was one of several groups that spent years working with transportation officials in the Obama administration on a pilot project to test whether local hiring preferences reduced competition or drove up prices. In January, days before President Trump was sworn in, the Transportation Department extended the experiment, taking place in more than a dozen cities, for five years so that research could be completed. In other areas, like education, Mr. Trump has chastised the federal government for imposing "its will on state and local governments." This week, however, a Transportation Department spokesman said that "the prior administration's proposed rule and proposed long term extensions of pilot programs is under review." The agency's move troubled officials both within and outside the affected cities. In Los Angeles, where 36 billion is committed to the region's public transportation projects, the Obama administration's pilot program "helps L.A. multiply the benefits of federal transportation dollars, in a way that strengthens our local economy and gives our workers a chance to build new careers," said George Kivork, a spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti. Cleveland, which is not a part of the pilot project, has been fighting for its own local hiring ordinance in the courts, Washington or the Statehouse since it was first adopted in 2003. The city shaped the law named in honor of a longtime councilwoman, Fannie Lewis to avoid the constitutional objection to treating out of state contractors differently: The residency preferences applied only to construction hours worked by people from Ohio. Citing federal restrictions, however, the Federal Highway Administration still ended up using its discretionary power to withdraw funding for a project there because of the Lewis law. And in 2009 during the recession, President Barack Obama's transportation secretary rejected Cleveland's request to apply its provisions to the city's share of federal stimulus money. The ban, Attorney General Mike DeWine of Ohio argued in his appeal, "protects construction workers from residency quotas" like those that exist in Cleveland and Akron, and "allows construction workers to live where they want without losing out on available work." Mayor Frank G. Jackson of Cleveland countered that cities often spend huge sums on development activities, but "don't necessarily see the benefits going back to their citizens, in terms of contracts and wages." "We didn't do this willy nilly," he said of the city's hiring law. "This is just common sense stuff." According to figures compiled by the mayor's office, one fifth of all work hours went to Cleveland residents and 11 percent of those Cleveland hours went to low income residents. Other cities have managed to walk the tightrope and establish programs. After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans lawmakers hoped to make a dent in the city's staggering unemployment rate among African Americans by requiring at least 30 percent of work on city construction contracts to be done by local residents; 10 percent of that was reserved for the disadvantaged. In San Francisco, an ordinance eventually requires at least half of all work hours and apprenticeship hours on public construction projects to be done by people living in the city. And in Kotzebue, Alaska, public works projects have to "make a good faith effort" to ensure that residents make up at least 50 percent of the contractor's total construction work force. In Indianapolis, where a public transit overhaul was approved a few months ago, advocates and officials are working to link the construction with a local employment and training program, but it is not easy. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
A small study in Brazil was halted early for safety reasons after coronavirus patients taking a higher dose of chloroquine developed irregular heart rates that increased their risk of a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia. Chloroquine is closely related to the more widely used drug hydroxychloroquine. President Trump has enthusiastically promoted them as a potential treatment for the novel coronavirus despite little evidence that they work, and despite concerns from some of his top health officials. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency approval to allow hospitals to use chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine from the national stockpile if clinical trials were not feasible. Companies that manufacture both drugs are ramping up production. The Brazilian study involved 81 hospitalized patients in the city of Manaus and was sponsored by the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It was posted on Saturday at medRxiv, an online server for medical articles, before undergoing peer review by other researchers. Because Brazil's national guidelines recommend the use of chloroquine in coronavirus patients, the researchers said including a placebo in their trial considered the best way to evaluate a drug was an "impossibility." Despite its limitations, infectious disease doctors and drug safety experts said the study provided further evidence that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which are both used to treat malaria, can pose significant harm to some patients, specifically the risk of a fatal heart arrhythmia. Patients in the trial were also given the antibiotic azithromycin, which carries the same heart risk. Hospitals in the United States are also using azithromycin to treat coronavirus patients, often in combination with hydroxychloroquine. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
Paul (Jaeden Martell), the titular 13 year old of "The True Adventures of Wolfboy," has a condition that causes his body to be covered in hair; if he tries shaving, the hair grows back thicker. Bullies ridicule him for his appearance and don't even spare his single father (Chris Messina). Most of this often surreal, always eccentric movie concerns what transpires when Paul runs away to search for his mother, whom he never knew. Along the way, he encounters a flamboyant carnival owner (John Turturro) who wants him to sit in a cage as an attraction. He befriends a transgender girl, Aristiana (Sophie Giannamore), who pushes him to accept who he is. And the two of them join forces with Rose, an eyepatch wearing thief (Eve Hewson) who has already encouraged Paul to drink ("You're never not old enough for anything," she insists when he protests that he's too young) and soon introduces the pair to her pastime of holding up gas stations for snacks. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Credit... REEDS BEACH, N.J. On a recent spring day at this remote beach, hundreds of shorebirds flapped frantically beneath a net trapping them on the sand. Dozens of volunteers rushed to disentangle the birds and place them gently in covered crates. On a nearby sand dune, teams of scientists and volunteers attached metal leg bands, plastic tags and tiny radio transmitters to birds of three species. They were weighed and measured, and then released. The operation is part of an annual "catch" of migratory shorebirds that stop on the beaches of the Delaware Bay, a globally important bird habitat, to gorge on the eggs of spawning horseshoe crabs. The stopover strengthens the birds for the long distance migration to the Canadian Arctic, their breeding grounds, from as far away as southern Chile. With fresh information on the birds' weight and health, the scientists will be able to judge whether these species are getting enough food to reach their breeding grounds, and whether their populations are stable. One of them, the red knot, has been listed as a threatened species. Since 2000, red knot numbers have plunged as low as 10,000 in some years, around one ninth of the level in the 1980s. At the moment, the population hovers at about 30,000 , still too low to be sustainable, conservationists claim. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. Additional challenges like severe Arctic weather during breeding, or coastal development along the migration route, could lead to the bird's extinction. Populations of other migratory shorebirds, like semipalmated sandpipers and ruddy turnstones, have also declined. The problem, conservationists say, is the overfishing of horseshoe crabs for commercial fishery bait and the harvesting of the animals for their blood, which contains an extract called L.A.L ., used by the biomedical industry to detect certain bacteria. Now, conservationists are renewing calls to halt the harvest for bait altogether, and to persuade the biomedical industry to switch to recombinant Factor C (rFC), a synthetic alternative to LAL, to ease pressure on the horseshoe crab population. "The only responsible thing to do here is a moratorium," said Eric Stiles, president of New Jersey Audubon, an environmental group leading the initiative. Recognizing the threat to the birds, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, an interstate regulator, banned the harvest of female horseshoe crabs for bait starting in 2013, in the hope that a recovering population of females would lay more eggs and allow the birds to rebound. While the commission maintains there has been an increase in the number of crabs since the ban, neither the crabs nor the red knot has recovered to the levels seen before the fishing industry's unprecedented removal of the crabs from the bay in the 1990s. The commission's critics blame poor enforcement of the ban and the continued harvest of thousands of crabs for bleeding, which is estimated to kill at least 15 percent of them and may prevent the survivors from reproducing. Crabs taken for bleeding are not included in the commission's quotas, and their numbers and mortality rates are not published because the companies that collect the blood want the figures kept confidential. Conservation groups are urging officials in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia three bay states that use crab quotas to ban the horseshoe crab harvest until there's a full recovery of both crabs and birds. (New Jersey, the other state bordering the bay, imposed a moratorium in 2008.) Banning the harvest, advocates argue, would rebuild a crab population that is essential not only to the birds but also to depleted marine species, such as weakfish, that feed on the crabs and in turn support commercial and recreational fishing on the bay. "It's not just about the birds," said David Mizrahi, vice president for research and monitoring at New Jersey Audubon. "It's about the whole ecosystem." Within the knot population, the biggest decline has been seen in long distance migrants that spend the northern winter in Tierra del Fuego, in southern Chile. That population numbered only 9,840 in 2018, down 25 percent in the last year and less than a fifth of the number in 2000. Scientists say those birds are especially sensitive to a shortage of horseshoe crab eggs on Delaware Bay beaches, as they are emaciated when they arrive from South America. In the biomedical industry, the switch to rFC is being led by the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, which began using the substance to test new products in 2016 and plans to have 90 percent of the changeover completed by the end of 2020, according to Jay Bolden, a senior consultant biologist for the company. The synthetic alternative is comparable in cost and efficacy to LAL, he added. For now, conservationists say a sharp decline in crab eggs shows that quotas have failed to restore the female crab population. Average egg densities on five New Jersey beaches dropped to between 2,000 and 7,000 eggs per square meter in 2017 from as much as 100,000 per square meter in 1991, according to New Jersey Audubon. But the fisheries commission argues that its quotas for the crab bait harvest have stabilized the populations of red knots and other shorebirds, and are beginning to result in increasing numbers of female crabs in the bay. The number of mature female crabs rose to 7.8 million in 2017 from 5.4 million in 2011 before the quota system began, according to commission data. The tally isn't close to the 11.2 million females or 80 percent of the bay's carrying capacity that might lead the commission to permit the female crab harvest to resume. But officials say it shows the current quota is working. "I'm not sure what more the commission could do in terms of restricting harvest beyond there being zero females" allowed under the quota, said Mike Schmidtke, the commission's fishery management plan coordinator. (This year, the commercial fishing industry is allowed to take 500,000 male crabs from the bay.) The commission estimates the red knot population to have been in the 43,000 to 49,000 range since 2011, based on a statistical method that differs from one used by conservationists. That number, too, is well below the 81,900 that would allow the commission to lift its ban on harvesting female crabs, but is at least broadly stable, Dr. Schmidtke said. Larry Niles, an independent biologist who has led the annual shorebird catch on the New Jersey side of the bay for the last 23 years, dismissed as "utter nonsense" Dr. Schmidtke's assertion that there was nothing more the commission could do to boost the number of crab eggs on the beaches. And the commission's claim that the number of female horseshoe crabs is increasing is not supported by the number of horseshoe crab eggs, he added. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
The long awaited follow up to the 1996 cult classic "The Craft" recalls its iconic predecessor in many ways. Just like before, a newcomer at a high school completes a foursome of teen girls who learn to harness their witchy powers. It hasn't lost the levitation game "light as a feather," the ominous snakes or the famous line; "We're the weirdos, mister," though it's recontextualized for a climactic moment. When the new girl, Lily (Cailee Spaeny), and her mom (Michelle Monaghan) sing along to Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket," the needle drop will make you wonder if this version takes place in the mid '90s too. But Zoe Lister Jones's "The Craft: Legacy," produced by Blumhouse ("Get Out"), is a disappointing distillation of the original that's mostly devoid of personality. Avoiding the bad apple story line that Fairuza Balk's Nancy so brilliantly embodied in the '90s version, this new "Craft" makes toxic masculinity the girls' greatest enemy (the misogynistic bully falls under a spell that makes him say things like "womxn"). But even that modernization feels predictable. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
LOS ANGELES It was the slowest Super Bowl weekend at the box office in nearly two decades, as poor reviews and winter storms combined to clobber Sony's "Miss Bala" and other studios mostly sat out the three days. The Super Bowl does not automatically spell doom for Hollywood. "Taken," starring Liam Neeson as a retired C.I.A. agent on a mission to save his kidnapped daughter, made its debut against the big game in 2009 and collected 25 million, leading to a three film series. But the only major studio to take the risk this year was Sony, which released "Miss Bala" on 2,203 screens in the United States and Canada and came up with an estimated 6.7 million in ticket sales, according to Comscore. That total was not a disaster "Miss Bala," an action thriller starring Gina Rodriguez, cost only 15 million to make but it's never good when the only new wide release film in theaters can't overtake movies that have already been playing for weeks. "Glass" (Universal) repeated as No. 1 in its third weekend, collecting 9.5 million, for a new domestic total of 88.7 million. "Glass," which completes an M. Night Shyamalan trilogy, has generated an additional 110 million in ticket sales overseas. "The Upside," a sleeper hit starring Kevin Hart from STXfilms and Lantern Entertainment, took in about 8.9 million in second place, for a four week domestic total of 75.6 million. "The Upside" has only been released in a handful of overseas markets so far, collecting 6.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Inside a federal courtroom in Boston this week, a bit of intrigue has emerged as lawyers try to pry open the secretive plans of a new venture created by three of the world's most powerful corporations. The underlying case involves allegations made by UnitedHealth Group, which is asking a judge to stop a former executive from working at the new health care outfit created by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. UnitedHealth has accused the executive, David William Smith, of removing confidential, proprietary information that could benefit his new employer, and he has denied any inappropriate action. In two days of hearings and filings, however, the legal action has underscored how nervous major established players like UnitedHealth and its Optum unit are about the entry of these three big corporations into the health care field. Since the announcement a year ago, the new venture has made some splashy hires, including Dr. Atul Gawande, a well known physician who writes for The New Yorker, as its chief executive, and a former Comcast executive who also worked at Optum. While the founding companies insist the venture would not be "profit seeking" and was formed to address the needs of their 1.2 million employees, there has been considerable speculation about whether it would eventually expand and displace established players. JPMorgan's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, went so far as to reassure some its investment banking clients that the three corporate giants were not going into the health care business. In court this week, Optum argued the opposite: The venture, referred to as either ABJ or ABC, "will very soon be a direct competitor, if it is not already," Optum's complaint declared. And Optum, which runs one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefit managers and other businesses, with revenue topping 100 billion last year, appears to be using the legal battle to find out what it can. On Thursday, the judge briefly closed the courtroom to allow an executive from the venture to discuss confidential plans, according to STAT, a health news website. "This is not the opportunity or to be a vehicle for getting information about someone you characterized as a competitor," Judge Mark L. Wolf warned. Not much is known about the new entity's plans. The employers "have been radio silent about what they are doing," said Brian Marcotte, the chief executive of the National Business Group on Health, which represents large employers. He added that Optum's lawsuit represented "the fear of what this entity may become." The legal skirmish is a stark example of aggressive tactics that health companies have taken to protect their turf from technology powerhouses like Amazon and Apple. UnitedHealth, in particular, has not shied away from legal action as a negotiating technique, most recently suing numerous pharmaceutical companies over the pricing for generic drugs. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, which act as intermediaries between employers and drug companies, are also keeping an eye on employers. "You have this influx of new threats," said Paul Keckley, a health policy analyst. Two big health insurers, Aetna and Cigna, recently merged with pharmacy benefit managers. Anthem said Wednesday that it was moving quickly to set up an in house operation, terminating its relationship with Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, earlier than planned after Cigna acquired it. Until recently, large employers had generally not been viewed as competitors to the insurers and pharmacy benefit managers that handle their employees' claims, although the announcement of the ABJ venture expressed frustration with the United States health care system. The Big Three's new venture "doesn't have a name yet, much less any revenues," said David Johnson, the chief executive of 4sight Health, a consulting firm. "It strikes me that they should be trying to court ABJ rather than sticking them in the eye." The real threat to Optum may be Amazon, which has already made some forays into the pharmacy business and is willing to sacrifice profits as it builds market share. Optum is vulnerable because its customers particularly employers have little insight into its businesses, which range from health data services to pharmacy benefits, said Michael Turpin, a former UnitedHealth executive who is an executive vice president at USI, an insurance brokerage. "It is truly the most opaque of all black boxes in health care," Mr. Turpin said. He added, "Amazon is lying in the grass and will someday pop up and do something disruptive around pharmacy." Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. In its filings, Optum assumes the worst, arguing that the new venture will eventually decide to offer services to the wider world. It describes Mr. Smith as asking "the court to ignore reality and believe that ABC is just a nonprofit start up with the sole goal of improving health outcomes for the employees of its founding companies." And it said: "In addition to the grave concerns that Optum has based simply on the depth of Smith's knowledge of Optum's business, products and strategic plans, Optum's concerns regarding Smith's employment plans are exacerbated by his pre resignation conduct." Mr. Smith, who signed a noncompete agreement at Optum, has contended that the new venture is not a competitor and responded that he had not removed company information. He also said he would not use any confidential information at his new employer. He and his lawyers argue that the venture, two of whose founders, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan, are already customers of Optum, would be more likely to use Optum services and products than replace them with its own. Still, when pressed in court, John C. Stoddard, an executive from the new venture, would not promise that it would not eventually compete with Optum but emphasized it had no current plans to do so, according to STAT. Judge Wolf has not indicated when he might rule in the case. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
A life in dance offers few material rewards, especially for noncommercial artists working outside of major companies. Audiences are small and engagements short; two years of rehearsals might end in three nights of performance. And money? Not a motivator. As the choreographer Merce Cunningham once said of dancing, "It gives you nothing back," only "that single fleeting moment when you feel alive." So while the Bessies, or New York Dance and Performance Awards, are perhaps the lowest profile awards show in the performing arts, the recognition they bestow is vital to the artists in the field. That was joyfully clear during the 34th awards ceremony on Monday, as choreographers, performers, designers and dance supporters came together to celebrate one another at N.Y.U.'s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Hosted by the tap artist Ayodele Casel and the pop performer Shernita Anderson, the ceremony cast a wide net, with four winners (out of 12 nominees) in each of two main categories: outstanding performer and outstanding production. The outstanding performer awards went to Germaine Acogny for her solo "Mon elue noire (My Black Chosen One): Sacre 2"; Courtney Cook for sustained achievement with Urban Bush Women, and with Maria Bauman and Marguerite Hemmings; Elizabeth DeMent for her role in Big Dance Theater's "17C"; and Sara Mearns for sustained achievement with New York City Ballet and various artists. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
TACKING 6,600 onto the price of any new car let alone a Korean family sedan doesn't usually enhance its prospects. But a move to the 33,000 neighborhood seems to suit the Hyundai Azera just fine. If the Azera name doesn't ring a bell, there's a reason: first offered in 2006, the original Azera was a limp and indifferently styled Lexus pretender. Hyundai ceased production of this slow selling model in late 2010; an unceremonious burial for the Azera had seemed likely. Hyundai, of course, has grown up to conquer America. And if the previous Azera was the last vestige of the brand's awkward adolescence, the idea of a deluxe Hyundai sedan seems perfectly rational today, especially with the brand offering even more expensive four doors like the 40,000 Genesis and 60,000 Equus. The redesigned 2012 Azera moves into a segment that's as thin and tricky as spring ice. These big sedans cannot quite be described as luxury cruisers, but they are roomier and more lavish than, say, the midsize Sonata. If the automaker gets the positioning wrong, it ends up with something like a Nissan Maxima, a front drive car whose price seems dubious when viewed from above or below. It is barely cheaper than the superior rear drive Infiniti G37 sport sedan, but hardly seems worth its premium over the trusty Altima. The new Hyundai is vastly more successful. The Azera, in fact, is my instant favorite Hyundai sedan in part because it's a winning car, but also because it follows the brand's template so faithfully: generous features, modern style and practicality at a fair price. Unlike the more expensive rear drive Equus or even the Genesis, the Azera has no pretensions. This Hyundai isn't trying to be a Mercedes stand in or a BMW fighter. Its 32,875 base price keeps it well outside the country club gates. Yet for people who'd like an extra large Sonata with more spice and toppings, the Azera delivers, and quickly, with a 293 horsepower V 6. With nearly 50 percent more power than the Sonata's 198 horse 4 cylinder, the direct injection 3.3 liter engine moves the car from a stop to 60 miles per hour in a discreet 6.7 seconds, according to InsideLine.com. The silky, unobtrusive V 6 resides in an elegant cruiser for relaxing commutes and road trips. Hyundai says that the Azera has more interior space than any car in its class, including the Buick LaCrosse and the Toyota Avalon. Compared with the Sonata and Elantra hatchback, the Azera's body is more grown up, with fewer swoops and curlicues. The angry bird headlamps recall BMW, and the rear deck's gentle swell and finely drawn lip are pure Lexus. Rich looking taillamps, which seem an ode to Jaguar, really pop at night. Over all, the Hyundai carries itself with an appealing stateliness. Yet unlike the Avalon, it looks fresh and not at all stodgy. The inviting cabin shows Hyundai's continual commitment to raising its design game. Leather seats are handsomely shaped and bolstered, if a bit squishy, with standard heated chairs in front and rear, a feature missing from a 60,000 BMW 5 Series that I recently drove. The center armrest, smartly wrapped in leather, is wide enough for two elbows. There is generous storage up front, with a deep console box and a binnacle in front of the shifter with Hyundai's familiar, easy access USB, iPod and auxiliary ports. The Hyundai mimics the door mounted seat controls of Mercedes Benz, with knobs that correspond to the shape of a seat one each for the cushion, backrest and headrest. I deducted points after flicking the Azera's ostensible headrest control, finding instead a fixed button, useless and entirely for show. I added points back when I saw the optional power control that lengthens the driver's cushion for added thigh support, another feature typically limited to top rank luxury cars. The front seats offer a class best 45.5 inches of legroom, and the rear seat easily accommodates adults taller than 6 feet. A 16.3 cubic foot trunk showed itself to advantage when a stray bolt flattened a tire on an Orange County freeway. After hoisting the huge 19 incher man, today's wheels are hernias waiting to happen into the trunk, I still had enough room for my luggage. Also standard, Hyundai's touch screen navigation system is among the industry's easiest to use, with quick destination programming, solid graphics and easy to follow maps. An optional 550 watt, 12 speaker Infinity audio system is clear and robust, notably so for a car in this price bracket. That audio system is part of the sole option available: a 4,000 technology package that adds the 19 inch alloy wheels, xenon headlamps, power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, ventilated front seats with memory, power rear sunshade and manual rear side shades, and rear parking sensors. That package also includes an enormous panoramic sunroof that stretches over the back seat, with dual powered shades that part like elevator doors. While the design and materials are of high quality easily on par with the stylish LaCrosse the rubberized interior door handles had all the feel of a Playtex glove. And there are perhaps too many shiny bits. Faux carbon fiber on the doors and console looks slick, but Hyundai overdid the piano black plastic on the shift knob and other surfaces. On a run from Laguna Beach to Riverside, the Azera showed its easy fit tailoring, but with just enough shape and control to avoid feeling saggy. The front drive Azera cruises quietly, if not with the dead quiet of the Buick, and takes the edge off virtually any road surface. The body leans over in faster corners, but not excessively. All season tires are the soft serve variety, with little grip, but the rear multilink suspension and Sachs shock absorbers nicely avoid bobble and float. The 6 speed transmission feels as creamy and unobtrusive as a Lexus unit. Shifts are on the lazy side, though popping the shifter into its manual setting delivers surprisingly crisp reactions. The m.p.g. rating is 20 in town, 29 on the highway. But the car did betray a continuing deficiency of Hyundai, one for which the brand has sometimes received a free pass: its steering feel. Several Hyundais, this Azera included, transmit a weird, artificially stiff or springy sensation through the wheel. It's as though a ghostly hand is clamping onto the steering rack. On center tracking is equally lacking. With the Azera pointed dead ahead on flat roads, I often had to apply resistance in one direction or the other to keep the car on the straight and narrow. For a company that is doing everything else so well, I'd like to see Hyundai tear down and study every last BMW, Audi and, in its own price range, Mazdas and Volkswagens to glean their secret formulas for sophisticated steering and handling. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
A restaurant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 6. The coronavirus may linger in the air indoors and infect people, the W.H.O. acknowledged. The coronavirus may linger in the air in crowded indoor spaces, spreading from one person to the next, the World Health Organization acknowledged on Thursday. The W.H.O. had described this form of transmission as doubtful and a problem mostly in medical procedures. But growing scientific and anecdotal evidence suggest this route may be important in spreading the virus, and this week more than 200 scientists urged the agency to revisit the research and revise its position. In an updated scientific brief, the agency also asserted more directly than it had in the past that the virus may be spread by people who do not have symptoms: "Infected people can transmit the virus both when they have symptoms and when they don't have symptoms," the agency said. The W.H.O. previously said asymptomatic transmission, while it may occur, was probably "very rare." Some experts said both revisions were long overdue, and not as extensive as they had hoped. "It is refreshing to see that W.H.O. is now acknowledging that airborne transmission may occur, although it is clear that the evidence must clear a higher bar for this route compared to others," Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech, said in an email. An aerosol is a respiratory droplet so small it may linger in the air. In its latest description of how the virus is spread, the agency said transmission of the virus by aerosols may have been responsible for "outbreaks of Covid 19 reported in some closed settings, such as restaurants, nightclubs, places of worship or places of work where people may be shouting, talking or singing." The W.H.O. had maintained that airborne spread is only a concern when health care workers are engaged in certain medical procedures that produce aerosols. But mounting evidence has suggested that in crowded indoor spaces, the virus can stay aloft for hours and infect others, and may even seed so called superspreader events. The agency still largely emphasizes the role played by larger droplets that are coughed or inhaled, or by contact with a contaminated surface, also called a fomite. And in a longer document detailing scientific evidence, the W.H.O. still maintained that "detailed investigations of these clusters suggest that droplet and fomite transmission could also explain human to human transmission." In addition to avoiding close contact with infected people and washing hands, people should "avoid crowded places, close contact settings, and confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation," the agency said, and homes and offices should ensure good ventilation. These recommendations are "what is needed to help slow transmission in communities," Dr. Marr said. There is debate about the relative contribution of airborne spread, compared with transmission by droplets and surfaces. The new brief still skirts that question. "I interpret this as saying, 'While it is reasonable to think it can happen, there's not consistent evidence that it is happening often,'" Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in an email. After The Times reported that an international group of 239 experts planned to call on the W.H.O. to review the research, Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi, head of the agency's infection prevention and control committee, said on Tuesday that the possibility of airborne spread in "crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings" could not be ruled out. Outdoors, any virus in small or large droplets may be diluted too quickly in the air to pose a risk. But even a small possibility of airborne spread indoors has enormous implications for how people should protect themselves. People may need to minimize time indoors with others from outside the household, in addition to maintaining a safe distance and wearing cloth face coverings. Businesses, schools and nursing homes may need to invest in new ventilation systems or ultraviolet lights that destroy the virus. Some experts have criticized the W.H.O. for being slow to acknowledge the possibility of airborne spread while emphasizing hand washing as the primary preventive strategy. Even in the new brief, it's clear that members of the committee interpreted the evidence differently, said Dr. Trish Greenhalgh, a professor of primary health care at the University of Oxford. "The push pull of that committee is palpable," she said. "As everyone knows, if you ask a committee to design a horse, you get a camel." Airborne transmission is the most likely explanation for several clusters of infection, including a choir in Washington State and a restaurant in China, according to some scientists. But W.H.O. staff members have yet to accept the importance of these case studies and instead have "dreamed up an alternative story" in which an infected person spat on his hands, wiped it on something and "magically" infected numerous other people, Dr. Greenhalgh said. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. The agency's staff and nearly 30 volunteer experts have spent weeks reviewing evidence on the possible modes of transmission: by exhalation of large and small droplets, for example, by contact with a contaminated surface, or from a mother to her baby. The W.H.O. easily accepts that droplet and fomite transmission occur, but seems to want more definitive proof of spread by aerosols, some experts said. The agency has noted that the virus has not been cultured from air samples, for example, but the same was true of influenza for many years until two groups of scientists figured out how to do it, noted Don Milton, an aerosol expert at the University of Maryland. W.H.O. staff members are reluctant to make statements when they do not have irrefutable proof of certain phenomena, and are slow to update their hypotheses, scientists have charged. "They are still challenged by the absence of evidence, and the difficulty of proving a negative," Dr. Hanage said. "The W.H.O. is being overly cautious and shortsighted unnecessarily," Dr. Julian W. Tang, honorary professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said in an email. "By recognizing aerosol transmission of SARS CoV 2 and recommending improved ventilation facilities to be upgraded or installed, you can improve the health of people" by eliminating a variety of hazards, including indoor pollutants and allergens, he added. "Isn't that what the W.H.O. stands for the improvement of human health from all angles?" | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Health |
Florida once again offered an electoral conundrum this year. Even as the state's voters filled in the bubble for Donald Trump, they did the same for one of the policies that his opponent, Joe Biden, consistently championed on the campaign trail. They voted by more than 20 percentage points to add an amendment to the Florida Constitution raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour. A higher wage, in other words, actually got more votes than either presidential candidate. If you only listened to Republicans or cable news it would seem impossible, but it's true: Americans, including many conservatives, agree on a number of fundamental progressive economic policies, even if they vehemently disagree on which party should carry them out. This isn't just obvious in the polling; when these policies are put to voters directly, as many were on Election Day, voters consistently approve them. And voters passed these Democratic priorities not just in deep blue places, but purple and red ones as well. It's a pattern that's played out many times before: Every time voters have weighed whether to expand Medicaid, a policy many Republican politicians oppose, they've approved it, including in deep red states like Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska and Utah. Mr. Biden has a number of policies he could decide to champion once he takes office and many crises to resolve. But he would be smart to put the issues voters approved this election season and which states and cities, our laboratories of democracy, have been experimenting with for years, proving they can actually work at the top of his list. Read more on 27 places that raised their minumum wage to 15 an hour. Florida is not the only place with a new 15 minimum wage. Voters in (admittedly very liberal) Portland, Me., approved the same in November. Mark Penn and Andrew Stein write that "only a broader course correction to the center will give Democrats a fighting chance in 2022" and beyond. Tory Gavito and Adam Jentleson write that the Virgina loss should "shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics." Ezra Klein speaks to David Shor, who discusses his fear that Democrats face electoral catastrophe unless they shift their messaging. Ross Douthat writes that the outcome of the Virginia gubernatorial race shows Democrats need a "new way to talk about progressive ideology and education." Many voters also said yes to higher taxes. In Arizona, a site of the Red for Ed teachers strikes in 2018 that demanded better funding for public education, a ballot measure to raise taxes on the wealthy to hire more teachers and school personnel and raise their pay was a winner. Voters in a few other places the Portland, Ore. area; St. Louis; and statewide in Colorado also approved increasing taxes to fund early childhood education. The measure in Portland is particularly notable not just because it will eventually raise 202 million a year, but also because of what it spends the money on. All 3 and 4 year olds in the county Portland is in will get free, full day preschool while pre K teacher pay will be raised to rival that of kindergarten teachers, making it one of the most robust programs in the country. Coloradans also voted for a slight increase in payroll taxes to help fund a public paid family leave program. State residents now have the honor of being the first in the country to approve paid family leave directly, after their lawmakers couldn't manage to pass it for six years. Higher taxes didn't win the day everywhere. Colorado voters also approved a reduction in the income tax. In California, even as voters passed some criminal justice reform measures, they said no to an initiative to change commercial property taxes to raise more funding for the public school system. But overall, this year's ballot votes aren't an anomaly. These are all consistently popular policies. A higher minimum wage has enjoyed nearly a quarter century of going undefeated at the ballot box. Even a near doubling of the federal minimum garners strong support: two thirds of Americans, including a majority of moderate Republicans, back a 15 minimum wage. Paid family leave is apparently a no brainer, as more than 80 percent of voters support it, including strong majorities of Republicans. Even higher taxes, which are supposedly anathema to the American way, fare well in public polls. Americans have long felt that the rich don't pay enough in taxes, while over the last decade a majority has come around to using higher taxes to redistribute wealth. Promise to put those taxes to use for a specific and popular good, like early education, and you appear to win over even more people. And yet the federal minimum wage has stayed stuck at 7.25 an hour for over a decade, the longest stretch we've ever gone without a raise. The United States is the only developed country that doesn't guarantee paid family leave. We also devote a much smaller share of our gross domestic product to early education than virtually all other developed countries, while ours is a relatively low tax country. The public often doesn't connect policy preferences with politicians. Which party consistently champions a higher minimum wage? Mr. Biden's. Which works against it and even has some members who have called for the current minimum to be abolished altogether? The other guys. Mr. Biden also promised paid family leave and higher taxes on the rich to fund benefits for everyone else, positions that have become core Democratic Party planks in recent years. And yet Florida shows that Americans can favor these policies but not necessarily the candidates who promise to act on them. The disconnect is partly the result of a lack of bold, clear action. Some voters may deliberately favor divided government; others may balk at the idea that Republicans could really oppose something like paid leave. But many more want better pay and benefits, yet don't believe that Democrats will really deliver them. Mr. Biden faces myriad devastating problems when he takes office, first among them an uncontrolled pandemic. But he would be smart to prioritize the things voters have just approved for some of his earliest actions. A higher minimum wage, paid family leave and taxing the wealthy to support early education are bread and butter policies that address the very real economic problems Americans have long faced and that are even more acute now. Mr. Biden can get a jump start without Congress by requiring higher wages and paid family leave at federal contractors, increasing living standards for hundreds of thousands of Americans. But the rest of it will require cooperation from Congress. Should Democrats prevail in Georgia and control the Senate, these should be among the first items on their list, and even if they don't, they shouldn't just be dropped in a spasm of premature pessimism. The president elect can't just act, however. He has to tell the public that this is what the Democratic Party stands for. Mr. Biden's former boss recently made a point he should heed. "In my first couple of years in office, I think I had an unwarranted faith that if we did the right thing and implemented good policies, then people would know," Barack Obama told NPR's Michel Martin. "We didn't sell it hard enough." Mr. Biden needs to go bold, especially on Americans' very real material needs, and he needs to brag about it when he does. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
When the elevator delivers you to the ninth floor of a stately financial district building, you'll be greeted by glasses of wine, sublime views of the Hudson, elegant photographs of African men and women and several tables displaying Rwandan handicrafts wood carvings, brightly patterned neckties. This is a launch event for Peace Building Hub, "a new approach that holistically looks at the relationship of war and trauma to forgiveness," its founder, Dr. David Zosia (a cornfed, deceptively self effacing Christopher McLinden), tells the audience. Come for the woven baskets. Stay for an end to genocide. In "Red Hills," a clever, site responsive play produced by En Garde Arts and directed Katie Pearl, the comfortable precincts of a nonprofit fund raiser are soon pulled away and the audience is thrust into Rwanda itself. Our travel guide, God's Blessing, was just a boy when David arrived at the Rwandan Ugandan border as a 16 year old missionary in the days just before the genocide, a boy who would inspire David's best selling memoir "Dogs of Rwanda." Now it's 20 years later and God's Blessing (a layered and charismatic Patrick J. Ssenjovu) thinks it's time to sort out the facts from the fictions. "Red Hills" grew out of an earlier play, "Dogs of Rwanda" by the American playwright Sean Christopher Lewis, which tells David's story. Because approaching the genocide which left hundreds of thousands dead, with no international intervention and its reverberating trauma from the perspective of one white visitor is limiting, En Garde Arts invited the Ugandan playwright Asiimwe Deborah Kawe to collaborate in writing "Red Hills," which expands on Mr. Lewis's original, emphasizing God's Blessing's experiences. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
That shattering sound you hear coming from the Belasco Theater is the celebrated director Sam Gold taking a hammer to everything that's delicate in "The Glass Menagerie." The jagged, glistening shards of Tennessee Williams's breakthrough play are available for inspection in the revival that opened on Thursday night. Don't expect these pieces to be reassembled into an illuminating portrait of the anguished Wingfield family from this 1944 drama. Mr. Gold and his cast, led by an intrepid Sally Field, have dismantled a venerable classic, but darned if they can figure out how to put it back together again. The objective would seem to be to reverse what the play's soliloquizing narrator, Tom Wingfield (Joe Mantello), promises the audience. Comparing himself to a magician, he says: "He gives you the illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of an illusion." That is not what Mr. Gold has in mind. He wants the flat out truth, raw and bleeding, and hang all that illusion business. That means scrapping Williams's lyricism, too, and every theatrical trick he uses to conjure the fragile web of a man's recalling a past he longs to forget. When Tom, playing with the idea of the writer as illusionist, starts off by telling us that "I have things up my sleeves," you think, "No, you couldn't possibly; you're wearing a T shirt." Later he does extract something from his clothing, a shimmering magician's scarf, but it comes from the front of his trousers, after they're unbuckled and unzipped. Truth, it seems, lies south of the imagination. As you may have inferred, this is a production in which subtext elbows text out of bounds. The superannuated Southern belle Amanda, Tom's garrulous and desperate mother, is allowed few of the fantasist flourishes that usually embellish the character. Instead, Ms. Field gives us a grim, angry, kitchen sink Everymom, relentless in her disapproval of her underachieving grown up children, with whom she shares a St. Louis apartment during the Great Depression. Though advance word had it that Mr. Mantello's interpretation would unveil Tom's gay identity, he comes across as a middle aged, nerdy intellectual. There are even inklings of Woody Allen in Mr. Mantello's line readings. He seems distanced from the past not only by the years but also by a flippant detachment. Shouldering the immense burden of being the cause of Amanda and Tom's discontent and guilt is Madison Ferris, making her Broadway debut in the role of Laura, the reclusive daughter of the family. Unlike most actresses who have taken on this part, Ms. Ferris, who has muscular dystrophy, is visibly disabled and spends much of the play in a wheelchair. When she walks, arching her back, she uses her arms as well as her legs. Everyday movement is a struggle for this Laura, who in the script has only a slight limp, and the care and protection of her loom larger than ever for her mother and her brother. (Dad left the family long before the play begins.) Yet Ms. Ferris, who emanates a no nonsense spirit of independence, is the least pitiable Laura I have seen. She stands up to her mother in conversation with the eye rolling exasperation of a contemporary teenager, and she has an insolent beauty, with a face that brings to mind the young Debbie Harry. She is not the willfully invisible, shyness sickened girl recalled by the play's fourth character, Jim O'Connor (Finn Wittrock), who knew Laura when they were in high school. Jim is better known as the Gentleman Caller, the embodiment of Amanda's hopes for a husband for Laura, or, as Tom puts it, "the long delayed but always expected something that we live for." Jim is also described by Tom as "an emissary from a world of reality." So perhaps it makes sense that Mr. Wittrock gives the most conventional, and vital, performance in the production, exuding an only slightly exaggerated air of shaky all American confidence. But even he does not escape the impression that this production is less a thought through interpretation than a sustained scene study class. Individual encounters seem to float within the "safe space" of the Actors Studio, where students are encouraged to experiment. Thus we have Tom pulling Amanda into his lap, as if she were a cuddly doll, and Ms. Field trying on different accents. She only goes full Southern in the Gentleman Caller scenes, for which she has been outfitted with a ratty, Halloween princess concoction of pink tulle (by the costume designer Wojciech Dziedzic). It should be noted that Ms. Field who provided a first rate Amanda at the Kennedy Center in Washington in 2004 brings emotional conviction to all of Amanda's incarnations. But like everything else in here, including an indoor rainstorm in which the Gentleman Caller makes like Gene Kelly, they fail to connect in meaningful ways. Oh, yes, that rainstorm. It may make you think about a similar downpour last season in the Belgian director Ivo van Hove's stunning interpretation of Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," or about the ferocious wind that blew through his other Miller production on Broadway, "The Crucible." This probably isn't a coincidence. Mr. Gold staged an earlier "Menagerie" for the Toneelgroep Amsterdam, where Mr. van Hove is the artistic director and the world's leading practitioner of explosive theatrical minimalism. It's an approach that Mr. Gold deployed to dazzling effect in his recent New York Theater Workshop production of "Othello," starring Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo. This sensibility can work beautifully with the tragedies of Miller and Shakespeare. Pure, visceral emotions, at odds with a society's moral code, dominate such works. But with Williams, the tension lies in the poetic conflict between style and substance. Illusions are part of the fabric of his plays, as well as of his fantasy spinning characters, like Amanda and Blanche DuBois. They are transparent illusions, allowing clear views of the undermining reality beneath. Williams saw heroism and artistry in such poses and pretenses. Take them away, and you deprive the plays of their engine of conflict. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Deep red garnets are found all over the world, from Thailand and Sri Lanka to the Adirondacks. They're even the state gem of New York. The stones that make their way into rings and necklaces must have a flawless interior. But sometimes garnets are marred with intricate traceries of microscopic tunnels. When Magnus Ivarsson, a geobiologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, first saw these tunnels, he wondered what could be making them. After Dr. Ivarsson and his colleagues traveled to Thailand, they found that an assortment of evidence contradicted standard geological explanations for how the cavities might be formed. In a paper in PLOS One, the researchers are floating a new hypothesis: Perhaps what's making the tunnels is alive. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. From the beginning, the researchers looked for alternative explanations. One of the most promising was that grains of another stone wore their way through the garnet. However, the mineral doing the tunneling must be harder than the surrounding substance, and garnets happen to be very, very hard. About the only things that could do that to garnet are diamonds or sapphires. But those aren't present in significant quantities where these garnets were found, said Dr. Ivarsson. In that area, "there is basically no mineral grain that can be propelled through a garnet like that," he said. Furthermore, the tunnels branch and connect with each other in a very unusual pattern, looking a bit like the structures made by some kinds of single celled fungus colonies. When the researchers cracked the garnets open, they tested the insides of the tunnels and found signs of fatty acids and other lipids, potential indicators of life. It's not unheard of for microorganisms to live in rocks endoliths, as such creatures are called, have been found living encased within sandstone in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, among other places. Endoliths can get nutrients from water percolating through rock, or perhaps even dissolve it to feed themselves, while living safely. At the moment, the researchers' best guess for the origins of the tunnels goes like this: At first, normal wear and tear on the surface of a garnet creates divots. Microorganisms, probably fungi, can colonize these hollows. Then, if the stone is the best nearby source for certain nutrients, such as iron, perhaps they use an as yet mysterious chemical reaction to burrow deeper, harvesting sustenance as they go. "I think there's a two step process, a superficial weathering, then an organism takes over," said Dr. Ivarsson. No one, not even Dr. Ivarsson, is totally convinced of the explanation yet. "There's definitely work to be done," he said. The team did not try to extract living organisms from the stone this time around, and indeed is not sure whether the creatures that made the tunnels would still be present within. They also don't know whether the process may have occurred millions of years ago in the gems where it is seen, or if it occurred more recently. The next step would be to take organisms directly from the tunnels or the soil near where the stones were found and grow them in the lab. Then it would be possible to see whether they can actually carve their way through fresh garnet or if the origin story of these mysterious structures must lie somewhere else. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Science |
"This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through," Mr. Carlson said. "But it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will." Since he made those statements and others, prominent companies including the Walt Disney Company, Papa John's, Poshmark and T Mobile have distanced themselves from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," joining other businesses that have backed away from the show in recent years. The flight of advertisers accelerated on Tuesday, when the watchdog group Sleeping Giants tagged T Mobile in a Twitter post, saying that Fox News had aired what amounted to an "extremely racist segment scaremongering about the Black community." The telecommunications giant responded on Twitter, saying that its ads had not run on the show since early May and would not run in the future. Mike Sievert, T Mobile's chief executive, added a post of his own: "Bye bye, Tucker Carlson!" Fox News said that Mr. Carlson was referring to Democratic leaders, not protesters, when he said "they" in his remarks on Monday night's program. "No matter what they tell you, it has very little to do with black lives," Mr. Carlson had said. "If only it did." Advertiser disavowals of the show gained momentum on Wednesday, after the newsletter Popular Information highlighted that Disney had run commercials 29 times on Mr. Carlson's program this year. The entertainment giant responded by saying that it had asked the third party media agency that placed the ads, which were for Disney's ABC network, to stop doing so on the show. Papa John's, a pizza chain that was the center of an uproar in 2018 over a racial slur used by its founder, also backed away from Mr. Carlson. The company said that Havas, its media agency, placed a general buy for ad space across several cable news networks and left the positioning of the spots up to the networks. 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. Papa John's began advertising on cable only after the pandemic began, as live sports and other content disappeared. It has run ads on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC and "CNN Tonight With Don Lemon." After Mr. Carlson's comments, Papa John's said in a statement that it would stop spending on opinion shows, noting that "placement of advertising is not intended to be an endorsement of any specific programming or commentary." Steven Tristan Young, the chief marketing officer of Poshmark, said in a statement on Thursday that the e commerce company stopped advertising on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on June 2. "We do not agree with the comments he made on his show and stand in solidarity with those who seek to advance racial justice and equality," Mr. Young said. Companies are trying to be especially sensitive amid the nationwide reckoning over race. Many, including Disney, T Mobile, Poshmark and Papa John's, have posted messages on social media in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Others have been advertising less in recent weeks. Mr. Carlson has spoken harshly about the unrest, urging a more severe crackdown on protests. In a segment posted to YouTube on June 1, which was preceded by a note that it could be "inappropriate or offensive to some audiences," he chided Vice President Mike Pence for having "scolded America for its racism" and told President Trump that "people will not forgive weakness." Fox News said the advertiser departures had not caused the network to suffer a financial hit over all, noting that the commercials that would have run nationwide on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" had moved to other programs on the network. On Thursday night, a hashtag campaign IStandWithTucker sprang up on Twitter, with his fans appending it to messages of support for the host. As the phrase made the list of the platform's trending topics, Mr. Carlson's detractors tweeted insults at the host and the network that employs him while making use of the same hashtag. Mr. Carlson, who recently sold his stake in the conservative site The Daily Caller, has lost major advertisers in the past few years. Dozens of companies, including Pacific Life, Farmers Insurance and IHOP, have distanced themselves after his on air comments about white supremacy, immigrants and women. But his show remains a linchpin of the Fox News lineup, drawing 4.8 million viewers last week. So far this year, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" generated 16 percent of ad revenue for Fox News, according to iSpot.tv, the television ads measurement company. Out of 75 million in total spending, more than a third came from a single advertiser: MyPillow, a pillow manufacturer in Minnesota run by Mike Lindell, a supporter of Mr. Trump who appeared at a White House Rose Garden news briefing in March. Few major brands remain on Mr. Carlson's program. Several major media buyers said they did not have clients with recent spots on the show. Alongside spots from the computer security brand Norton, the skin care brand Proactiv and Mr. Trump's re election campaign, recent ads have included a beet powder company that has used the gun rights personality Dana Loesch as a spokeswoman, a foot fungus treatment brand and several law firms, according to iSpot.tv. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
When the pandemic first hit, many flashed on "Contagion," the 2011 thriller about a world engulfing plague. Months later, zombie movies which divide the world into crudely opposing camps can seem more apt. In "Night of the Living Dead," the 1968 George A. Romero film that set loose the zombie hordes, a man teases his sister about her fears. "They're coming to get you," he jokes right before a zombie staggers up, attacking him and sending the sister into a house that becomes her bunker. The South Korean zombie movie "Peninsula" is a strange, preposterously resonant movie to watch now. Its scourge is an out of control catastrophe that ruins a country, leaving desperate citizen survivors to fend for themselves. Like most zombie movies, it quickly turns into a cat and mouse chase with decaying flesh and a lot of chomp chomp, bang bang with periodic nods at themes like family and community, the absence of the state and its possible substitute. It's a bleak, sometimes ickily funny Manichaean vision in which only the savvy and heavily fortified stand a chance. Mostly, though, it is about living and killing, and more living and more killing. The director Yeon Sang ho is best known for "Train to Busan" (2016), which takes place largely on a high speed train that gets scarier and more claustrophobic with each deadly bite. Part of that movie's unnerving, nail chomping fun is the ways it conforms to, and deviates from, the genre template: As is often the case, its pleasures are less why than how it goes down. To that end, Yeon makes especially inventive use of the train cars, turning them into individual tableaus or mini movies, each with a different massing of bodies and kinetic action splatters. As the zombies attack, the living scramble from car to car and on and off the train, ratcheting up the momentum. Set primarily after the events in "Busan," the bigger, baggier, less formally inventive "Peninsula" opens with a quick look back at the apocalypse's inception. Jung seok (Gang Dong won), a soldier, is driving his sister and her tiny family toward the safety of an evacuating ship. They board, but things go wrong, as they do on floating petri dishes. Four years later and Jung seok is brooding in Hong Kong, where he now lives. Soon, a gangster taps him to return to South Korea where a truck filled with American cash waits, ripe for the plundering. It's one of those impossible missions defined by greed and danger that goes inevitably and, fingers crossed, spectacularly wrong. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Movies |
Hi, my name is Ben, and I'm an internet addict. Since the odds are that you are, too you are living in the 21st century, right? let me tell you about this wonderful new support group I've discovered. It meets in what feels like every church basement you've ever seen, and its official membership is limited to eight, for reasons that feel a little creepy. But trust me when I tell you that if you sit in on one of its sessions, you'll feel reassured, alarmed, enlightened and truly thrilled by what you hear. If you choose not to attend, you will be missing what promises to be the most original and topical musical of the year. Dave Malloy's "Octet," the sublime a cappella chamber opera that opened on Sunday at the Pershing Square Signature Center, is a portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time. In one cavernous corner, there's the endless, labyrinthine and shape shifting internet, commonly referred to in this show as "the monster." In the other corner, there is the naked and unaccompanied human voice, about as low tech as you can get. Voice versus Void: You probably think you know the outcome. You're wrong, no matter which way you call it. In choosing subjects, Mr. Malloy never makes it easy on himself. He is best known for translating a hunk of "War and Peace" into the Broadway knockout "Natasha, Pierre the Great Comet of 1812." In the underrated "Preludes," he found the songs in writer's block, as it was experienced by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff . And his "Ghost Quartet" was a mutable feast of the different kinds of stories people tell to scare themselves. In each case, Mr. Malloy's score was an inspired marriage of willfully wayward form and unlikely content. With "Octet," though, he might seem to be overreaching. I mean, if you're going to create a stage show that braves the depths of cyberspace, you'll presumably need an arsenal of technological bells and whistles. Yet the weapons plied by the eight uniformly excellent performers here are nothing more than lips, larynx, lungs and so forth stuff that most people have been born with for many millenniums. The only instrument heard during the 100 minute production, supplely and imaginatively directed by Annie Tippe, is a pitch pipe. And every time one appears from a performer's pocket, you brace yourself for a new adventure. That's because these layered and contrapuntal voices produce a dazzling spectrum of effects, like the swelling harmonies associated with traditional choral music and the crystal pings of personal computers. Most important, though, Mr. Malloy's score makes fractured thought audible (Or Matias is the musical director) . What's captured in these voices is how we feel seduced, exhilarated, lost and dirty every time we turn on our computers or smartphones and fall into a time devouring wormhole. The varieties of this experience recreational, informational, social, sexual, political often blur the lines between hedonism and masochism. The forms of such pursuits are parsed and absorbed as the characters bristling with individuality and universality take turns describing their particular addictions. They meet under the rubric Friends of Saul, named for the group's enigmatic and never seen organizer. Their leader is Paula (Starr Busby). And the space over which she presides has the insulated coziness and underground chill common to provisional meeting places. The set designers, Amy Rubin and Brittany Vasta, have given this site of anonymity a very specific air of familiarity. It's still set up for a bygone bingo game when the audience files in. What happens here more or less follows the well known routine common to 12 step programs. Tentatively, the testifying begins. Jessica (Margo Seibert), who identifies herself as the unwitting star of the "white woman goes crazy video," describes being shamed online, unable to resist following every fresh assault on her reputation. "It's like my eyes were sewn open with a piece of electric thread," she says. Henry (Alex Gibson) can't stop playing candy themed games. Paula sings of arid, sleepless nights in which she and her husband lie on sheets illuminated by "the pale, stale glow" of screens. The other members create walls and tunnels of sound, building the virtual landscape inhabited by each main speaker. The shaming of Jessica is rendered as a hydra headed, unkillable mob. The sickly sugar rush of Henry's games takes the form of a bacchanalian revival meeting. (No choreographer is credited, but these numbers are staged with wild and witty precision.) Without our being aware of it, the room has become darker (Christopher Bowser did the lighting), and the testimonies lead us down clammier, twistier corridors. There are tales of Tinder esque mate seeking and porn consumption (recounted by Kim Blanck, with memorable assistance from Adam Bashian). After that, we fall into an increasingly murky abyss, where the codes and consequences, the trawling and trolling of the internet are considered with scorching, circular cynicism by Toby (Justin Gregory Lopez). Marvin (J.D. Mollison), a neurological researcher, relates a fantastical story about the slippery nature of faith in a world where any reality can be conjured virtually. Then Velma (Kuhoo Verma), the newcomer, relates a quiet, heartfelt account of connecting with someone in a distant land who would seem to be just like her. Sweet, huh? There's nothing sinister here. Except that this virtual friendship is all she lives for. There are several hymns in the show, filled with lush lyricism, about the quest for purity in a world of contaminants. The one that concludes the performance is so ravishing, so seemingly affirmative that you leave the theater thinking you have witnessed an undeniable victory of collaborative, creative humanity over runaway technology. Then again, just who is this Saul? Is he even real? And why has he brought these particular chosen ones together? | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Every immigrant arrives in this country with an implied debt. This country was nice enough to let you in, handed you a bag of rights and will now leave you alone to make your fortune. Left and right might disagree on how many people to let into the country or how to treat them when they're here, but both sides expect a return on their good will. They agree that America is enough as long as you meet opportunity with hard work, you can secure ownership in this country. In exchange, both sides expect loyalty, whether complaint free allegiance to the country's ideals or the acknowledgment that very open minded and generous people worked hard to fight off the racists and the xenophobes and that you, downtrodden immigrant, should never forget those who protect your freedom to pursue the American dream. In the wake of the election, there has been a concerted call to stop treating Latinos and, to a lesser extent, Asian Americans as a monolith. Such a reckoning is long overdue and certainly necessary. It's fundamentally true that a Cuban American in South Florida shares very little in common with a Guatemalan fishery worker in New Bedford, Mass. who, in turn, does not identify in any real way with fifth generation Texans along the Rio Grande Valley. Similarly, former Vietnamese refugees in Orange County, Calif., will have a different level of sensitivity toward charges of "Communism" than a second generation Ivy League educated Indian American just up the freeway in suburban Los Angeles. Though the full picture of the electorate is not yet clear, it shouldn't be surprising that some of these populations ended up ignoring or even championing the xenophobia of the first Trump administration while others found it abhorrent and against their particular interests. The 2020 election promises to be an awakening from all this miscategorization. Exit polls and pre election surveys have shown a sharp, albeit seemingly localized, shift toward the Republican Party among immigrant populations, most notably in parts of South Florida and the Rio Grande Valley; Asian American voters also seem to have shifted right. The data is still preliminary, messy and difficult to responsibly quantify at this date, especially when one considers the unprecedented number of people who voted by mail, but there seems to be no evidence that President Trump's cruel immigration policies and his constant refrains of the "China virus" set off a blue wave. Though these results showed up in early polling, the perception of a rightward shift in immigrant votes has shocked many in the Democratic Party and led to the usual theorizing about what, exactly, should be done about it. Sixty five percent of Latinos and 61 percent of Asian Americans voted for Joe Biden, but the party cannot afford to slip with either demographic. The easiest and perhaps most logical move would be to disaggregate "Latinos" and "Asian Americans" and stop treating them as a coherent population whose voting preferences can be explained through the language of polling averages and who can be reached through big picture Democratic messaging. Part of the Republican Party's success in South Florida and South Texas can also be attributed to this disaggregated approach. Aggressive anti Communist messaging on Spanish language radio stations and disinformation social media campaigns started up in South Florida in the weeks before the election. These were not just aimed at Cuban Americans who have historically leaned rightward, but also specifically at more recent Nicaraguan and Venezuelan immigrants. These efforts were never effectively addressed by Democrats, according to Chuck Rocha, the strategist behind Senator Bernie Sanders's successful courting of Latino voters during the primary season. Greg Abbott, the current Republican governor of Texas, has aggressively courted Mexican American voters in the Rio Grande since 2014 and laid down an infrastructure of community groups that turned into "Trump Trains" caravans of trucks and cars that rolled through historically Democratic counties and picked up converts along the way. The Biden campaign, by contrast, made only cursory and tardy efforts in South Texas and failed in its efforts to reach voters in South Florida. Though it's a fool's errand to suggest exactly why this happened or what the exact effect might have been at the polls, there were swings toward the G.O.P. in both areas that helped deliver Mr. Trump victories in both states. Disaggregation and specific targeting within groups will certainly create a clearer picture for the Democrats, but it's unclear whether that means the party should then automatically transition to hyper focused mini campaigns that try to address each demographic's stated needs. The tools of diagnosis do not always double as the tools to fix the problem. Earlier this year, I had a series of conversations through a translator with Zhou Ming, a delivery worker in New York City who had immigrated from China to the United States to start a small business. Things hadn't worked out and he found himself in the one industry that would take a 54 year old who didn't speak any English. Like many immigrants, Mr. Zhou came to America with almost no real understanding of the racial dynamics of the country he vaguely knew that Black Americans were treated badly and assumed that Chinese Americans would act together and look after one another's best interests. His understanding of his new home came entirely through Chinese language television and social media after work, he would retire to his bed and take in a translation of what was happening around him through his phone. He knew that Mr. Trump was stoking anti Chinese sentiment around the coronavirus, but he largely missed the antiracism campaigns that sprung up in response because they were mostly in English and catered toward Asian Americans who had a more stable foothold in the country. The term "Asian American," in fact, meant nothing to him. If Chinese people in America couldn't even act together as a coherent group, what hope would there ever be for "Asians"? During the George Floyd protests in New York, Mr. Zhou, like many delivery workers, suffered from the citywide curfews handed down by the de Blasio administration. He had watched the video of George Floyd's death and recognized that the killing had been unjust, but he could find no real reason to hoist up a picket sign. Mr. Floyd was not Chinese. Mr. Zhou had his own run ins with the police, but he did not feel like the problems of delivery workers had anything to do with what had happened to George Floyd. He did find the protests inspiring, mostly because he admired the way Black people would show up and protest injustice against their people, but he felt like that had nothing to do with him. Their fight was not his fight and broad Democratic messages around the police and antiracism were mostly lost on him, not only because he never came across them on Chinese language media, but also because he did not feel any kinship as a fellow minority or person of color or whatever other category might consolidate Chinese and Black interests. A pragmatist might look at a recent immigrant like Mr. Zhou and conclude that there is no way to reach someone who feels no real purchase in this country and does not consider his fate to be bound to America's. But there are problems with this assumption: Mr. Zhou's perspective is common among first generation immigrants, and although many of them tend to remain apolitical, there have been efforts in recent years to organize people like him, whether through the burgeoning anti affirmative action movement that thrives on Chinese social media apps or through grass roots and labor organizing. But they did show up. If the Democratic Party wants to disaggregate immigrant populations from one another, they must take a difficult, clear look at the dynamics between these groups and come up with a broad message that tries to find pockets of mutual interest. Broad antiracist and antixenophobic messaging will not work for growing populations who mostly see themselves outside of America's racial hierarchy or, in many cases, believe their interests align better with middle class white voters. The answer may lie in doing away with "Asian American" and "Latino" altogether and replacing them with "immigrant." In the past, antiracist messages relied on categorizations like Asian American, Latino and the umbrella of "people of color." All three are abstractions that have little grounding in the everyday lives of immigrants. My uncle, who has lived in Los Angeles for 40 years, might now understand in a purely taxonomic sense that he is "Asian," but he would laugh at the idea of "people of color." His interactions with his fellow "people of color" have mostly come in kitchens where he works as a chef and speaks a hybrid Korean Spanish with his Latino co workers. "The joke," the political strategist David Shor said in a recent interview, "is that the G.O.P. is really assembling the multiracial working class coalition that the left has always dreamed of." As someone who has spent years reporting in immigrant neighborhoods, I share Mr. Shor's concerns. The Republican Party's message of hard work, capitalism and freedom makes sense to large portions of the immigrant population in fact, it's why many of them, including my uncle and many of his fellow kitchen workers, chose to plant roots in the country. Democrats must find a similarly broad platform that focuses on the needs of working class immigrants for health care, access to quality education and other universal programs. If Democrats want to continue winning elections in states with sizable immigrant populations, which now include swing states like Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, they must find some coherent message that goes beyond "the other side is racist." If such a message, immersed in the idea of immigrant debt, did not work after the Muslim ban, "China virus" and the inhumane treatment of families at the border, what hope does it have in the future? While a term like "people of color" might ring hollow or even confused, immigrants across generations share at the very least the experience of building a life in a foreign country. They must, in other words, disaggregate and then reorganize into an even broader movement that could build on existing, like minded grass roots organizations, such as those that emerged from the Bernie Sanders campaign in Nevada or immigrant labor organizations throughout New York and California, and develop a spirit of solidarity that puts less weight on questions of belonging and citizenship for these nebulously and conditionally defined groups and more on the experiences, as working class immigrants, they share both in America and their homelands. Too much of the messaging toward these groups is aimed at the upwardly ascendant second and third generation immigrants who worry about questions of representation within elite institutions. If Democrats want to combat charges of "socialism," which are perhaps especially effective on immigrants who fled Communist or socialist countries, they must stop believing that an immigrant shows up in America and immediately begins worrying, say, about how many Asian or Latino actors have been cast in the latest comic book movie. This, of course, does not mean that the Democratic Party should entirely abandon its anti racist message. Part of the effort must include a much needed clarification between the needs of Black Americans and Latino and Asian immigrants; that would end the confusing and harmful conflation between two groups whose interests and actions are often at odds with one another. Nor should we succumb to the temptation to wipe away all distinctions. Some part of every immigrant will still identify with their home country, through language, food and culture. The path forward is to create coalitions that make sense, not only for the immigrants themselves but also in their relationships with both working class Black and white Americans. Such a strategy would require the upwardly mobile second generation immigrants the people most likely to be tasked with broadcasting this message out toward the public to do something that might feel counterintuitive or even contradictory. But we must abandon the broad style of diversity politics that designates us as "people of color." Those categories might help us navigate the academy and the workplace, but they only resonate with a small, generally wealthy portion of our population. The late historian Noel Ignatiev argued that racism in America could be solved only when white people committed treason against the white race when they recognized that the antagonists in their lives weren't Black people, but rather the wealthy class that used racism to divide workers whose interests should be aligned. In a similar spirit, those of us who have assimilated into the professional class must commit treason against "people of color" and help build a coalition of working class immigrants, from Guatemalan workers in fish processing plants and Bangladeshi cabdrivers to Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant workers and Mexican farm workers. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
Re "The Great Leaders of 2020 Are Part of a Club," by Sarah Vowell (Sunday Review, Aug. 16), about elected officials who are graduates of public universities: I grew up in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco as a doctor's daughter and went to public schools all the way through medical school. When I arrived in Cambridge to do my Harvard affiliated internship, the first thing I was asked at any party was "where did you go to school?" The questioners would wait for the answer to pass judgment on whether I was worth talking to. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who both attended public universities at some point in their education, will connect in a way no Ivy League snob is capable of, and put the priority back on opportunity for all. Fantastic. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Opinion |
LONDON Shall we all speed read together? I mean, as in consume hundreds and hundreds of pages as fast as the human eye permits. We'll let our attention alight briefly on names of characters, central plot points and major thematic statements, via a text that has been helpfully illuminated with neon marker. And all those pesky auxiliary words used to summon nuance and detail will runtogetherlikethis into an inky cloud. Such is the experience of watching "My Brilliant Friend," the breathlessly paced, two part stage interpretation of Elena Ferrante's "Neapolitan Novels" at the National Theater. Adapted by April De Angelis and directed by Melly Still, this production compresses the acclaimed four volume portrait of two women who come of age in mid 20th century Naples into less than five hours of galloping onstage synopsis. Though I haven't seen any of the Italian television version shown on HBO (eight episodes so far, with a projected 24 more to come), I eagerly devoured each of Ferrante's books as soon as they were published in English, so I was generally able to follow what was going on in De Angelis's version. But heaven help the innocent theatergoer who meets Ferrante's characters for the first time in this production by the National Theater and the Rose Theater Kingston. After watching both parts of the show in successive performances, I saw fellow audience members stumbling out with glazed eyes and what was that all about expressions. "Well, it might make a good movie," I heard one of them say to another. "My Brilliant Friend" was one of three new theatrical adaptations I recently caught at the National, each of which inevitably inspired reflections on their differences from the works that inspired them and the perils and pleasures of recontextualizing the familiar. Less than 10 hours after arriving in London, I was plunged into the churning, fantastical waters of "The Ocean at the End of the Lane," based on Neil Gaiman's popular 2013 novel about a British boy's encounter with cosmic forces of evil, which I had read on the plane from New York. Two days later, I spent time with a set of unhappy women I have been enthralled and irritated by since I was 12. They would be the title characters of Chekhov's "Three Sisters," who have been reimagined by the playwright Inua Ellams as residents of the civil war torn Nigeria of the late 1960s. Curiously, of these three productions, "My Brilliant Friend" was both the most faithful, in literal terms, to its source material and the furthest from what makes its prototype so seductive. The play manages to cover most of the entire five decade course of Ferrante's plot, while dexterously signaling political and social changes in Italy via period pop songs and video projections. There are more than three dozen individual characters listed in the program, which doesn't account for the many other figures who show up to flesh out scenes depicting weddings, riots and natural disasters. They are portrayed by a cast of 24 humans and several winsome puppets, who all tirelessly dash up and down the four steep staircases that dominate Soutra Gilmour's otherwise minimalist set, while the revolving stage of the Olivier Theater turns. And turns. And turns. So very much happens in the course of human events here that when an earthquake hits Naples, it feels neither more nor less convulsive than the more soap opera ish plot turns that have been occurring all along. At the center of this off the charts Richter scale tumult are two enduring female frenemies, and fortunately they are portrayed here, from childhood into late middle age, by Niamh Cusack and Catherine McCormack. Cusack is Lenu Greco, the bookish one who studies hard and escapes from their old, squalid Neapolitan neighborhood to become a celebrated novelist. McCormack is the willful and wayward Lila Cerullo, a person of infinite intelligence and perversity to match. Both actresses are great fun to watch, especially McCormack, who has the showier part. But with reversals of feeling and fortune happening so abruptly, it's hard to make much sense of this central relationship. Delivered in theatrical shorthand, finer shades of ambivalence in Ferrante's prose become baldfaced contradictions. "Three Sisters" is nearly as replete with historical detail and eventfulness as "My Brilliant Friend." The script by Ellams (who wrote the wonderful "Barber Shop Chronicles") provides equivalents for each of Chekhov's original characters, starting with the wistful, provincial siblings of the title. Ellams's title characters are hemmed in by newly insurmountable obstacles when war erupts between Nigeria and the breakaway republic of Biafra, where they reside. Chekhov's discussions about the meaning and meaninglessness of life have accordingly been expanded to embrace subjects like the evils of British neocolonialism and the erasure of cultural history. In this version, the women's new and unloved sister in law (an entertainingly overripe Ronke Adekoluejo) isn't just a pushy parvenu; she's Yoruban and may even be an enemy spy. And every so often, a spectral figure in ceremonial garb a sort of spirit of place incarnate shows up to roam Katrina Lindsay's expansive indoor outdoor set and chant forebodingly in the Nigerian language of Ibo. It is to the credit of Ellams and the director Nadia Fall that so much historical and atmospheric detail is folded into "Three Sisters" without undue congestion. But the bigger picture provided here tends to make the sisters' relentless worries domestic, romantic and existential feel kind of incidental. When the threesome started moaning per usual after the local town market had been bombed, with devastating casualties, I found myself thinking of what Humphrey Bogart told Ingrid Bergman at the end of "Casablanca": "The problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." Of course, when you're still a child like the reluctant hero of Gaiman's "Ocean" nothing seems more important than your own private fears. Gaiman's book ingeniously gives a cosmic dimension to such solipsism, as a 7 year old boy in rural England finds his quiet existence rattled by life consuming, supernal forces of darkness. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
I learned of the artist Ida Kohlmeyer (1912 97) primarily as a teacher at Newcomb College, the women's college at Tulane University in New Orleans, from one of her former students, the Post Minimalist shape shifter Lynda Benglis. In the 1970s Kohlmeyer developed a style of multihued pictographs, usually organized on a grid. Pleasantly derivative, they suggested well behaved Joan Snyder paintings. Kohlmeyer seemed to be a journeyman artist who kept up with the latest trends; had a good color sense and a solid touch; but who never put the pedal to the metal to find out what she could do that no other artist could. Then the announcement for "Cloistered," the first Kohlmeyer exhibition at Berry Campbell, arrived by email and I stood corrected. Pedal and metal had made contact. Kohlmeyer had done something that was way above her usual average, something simple and intense. In 1968 and '69, she produced a group of symmetrical geometric abstract paintings in a rich, winy palette. Hand drawn, their harsh shapes begin at the center of the painting's edges, widening into diamond or chevron shapes at the center. They suggest the plans for ancient forts, and appropriately so. Cocooned at the center of this symmetry was softer symbol of vulnerability: a simple circle, or occasionally an ellipse, as in the yolk yellow one that, like the air bubble in a carpenter's level, forms the living heart of the remarkable "Cloistered," protected by concentric bands of deep red. Almost never exhibited, these works may be derivative but they are gloriously so. They're so full of the work of disparate artists that they become overarching, laying waste to the term. The gallery's press material invites comparison with the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and Agnes Pelton. That's fine, but more contemporary references come to mind, like Jasper Johns's and Kenneth Noland's targets, Billy Al Bengston's centered irises and sundry Frank Stella paintings. Then Kohlmeyer's efforts turn away from the men to evoke the early work of Eva Hesse and Agnes Martin, Judy Chicago's built up dinner plates, the dark reliefs of Lee Bontecou. The list could go on. One of my favorites is an untitled work that features a plushy five point star in shades of light brown enclosed in a red pentagon that fades to pink. These paintings stunningly sum up a moment when Minimalism was giving way to or being complicated by something more emotionally challenging and implicitly feminine and feminist. They could hang in any museum. There is much more to know about Kohlmeyer, a late blooming artist who had a successful career even without her best work the "Cloistered" paintings whose possibilities she unfortunately chose not to explore. ROBERTA SMITH In some ways, Gene Beery's "Transmissions From Logoscape Ranch" at Bodega Gallery was made to be seen online. Adapted from a career spanning 2019 exhibition in San Francisco, it includes a host of this California conceptualist's small text paintings along with three short videos. The paintings, many featuring their jokey, unsettling koans in the artist's signature black on white, are easily read as JPEGs ("Unknown Unknowns," "What Is the Formula for Originality?"), while the videos may even look better on your laptop than they do installed. But pay attention to the video "Your Move." Seated at a crowded breakfast table, the octogenarian artist and his grandson take alternate small actions moving a lid, pouring milk which they punctuate with the phrase "Your move!" It's an inspired distillation not just of how games are played, but also of how we communicate in general. The only limits on what we can say to one another are those of context and vocabulary: Whatever the grandson may mean by leaning his knife against a jelly jar, it would mean something different if he did it with a pencil, or in a restaurant. In this way, the show also pins down the underlying sadness of looking at art right now, precisely because it looks so good online. It's still not the same. WILL HEINRICH Through April 10. The National Exemplar, 323 North Linn Street, Iowa City, and online at thenationalexemplargallery.com. For the last decade, the Argentine artist Eneas Capalbo has staged small, tight retrospectives and unexpected revivals at his gallery, the National Exemplar, which until last year could be found in a stark TriBeCa basement. Turns out I wouldn't have been able to see his latest show if I tried. Just as numerous galleries were relocating to his neighborhood, Mr. Capalbo quietly blew out of town for Iowa City, where the gallery's second Midwest show features two quite different virtuosos of drawing. One is Catherine Murphy, represented by three stringently observed half length self portraits in pencil from 1971 (and a fourth, from 2002, that depicts the artist's kerchiefed head from behind). In each, she appears serious but not stern, and online the reproductions are hi res enough to reveal the exact lines that define Ms. Murphy's shirt or her hair part, the rubbing of her shadowed forehead, the darker hatches under her eyes. These drawings follow in a tradition, dating back to Rembrandt at least, of self portraiture as vindication of the artist's technical skill. Yet in the aftermath of modernism, Ms. Murphy treats skill differently; she makes observation itself the subject of scrutiny, and expresses a careful, even claustrophobic consciousness at work. Three newer, similarly scaled drawings by Terry Winters depict white shapes, overlaid with contoured stripes or grids, which are set within fields of black but, in the company of Ms. Murphy's self portraits, have the fullness of faces. Their wire mesh lineaments recall the rendering software used by Hollywood studios to create 3D animated characters or, more worryingly, the scanning capabilities of government and corporate surveillants. The gallery's online presentation includes several installation shots that reveal Ms. Murphy's and Mr. Winters's playing off each other, as well as off mirrored closets in the Iowa gallery, which appears to be the ground floor of a home. You could spend a long time looking at these portraits if this is where you were sheltered in place. JASON FARAGO | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Art & Design |
A PENTHOUSE in antique, as is condition at 907 Fifth Avenue, one of three apartments there held by the estate of the reclusive copper heiress Huguette M. Clark, sold for a pre emptive 25.5 million, 1.5 million above the listing price, to the hedge fund whiz kid Boaz Weinstein, making it the biggest sale of the week according to city records. The unit, 12W, is the only one of the apartments that Mrs. Clark who died in May 2011 at 104 and left a 400 million estate, two contested wills, and no direct heirs actually occupied. But Mr. Weinstein is probably not the sort to be worried about being haunted by her ghost, or by the ghosts of the somewhat creepy collection of dolls that served as Mrs. Clark's B.F.F.'s before her voluntary relocation to a hospital room at Beth Israel Medical Center for the final decades of her uncommon life. Mrs. Clark, who grew up in a 100 room mansion, since demolished, at Fifth Avenue and 77th Street, moved into the penthouse of the 1915 Italianate palazzo at No. 907 in the early 1920s and decorated it in a Louis XVI style. Its frontage on Fifth Avenue stretches an entire block, with sweeping Central Park vistas from all of the primary rooms; the corner master bedroom to the north and the corner living room to the south both have imposing fireplaces. The description of the penthouse supplied by the listing brokers, Mary Rutherfurd and Leslie Coleman of Brown Harris Stevens, which is handling the marketing of the Clark apartments (8E is available for 12 million, 8W for 19 million), notes that "the bones are here for a unique and fabulous residence." Unfortunately, those bones need to be thoroughly exhumed: according to a person who has seen the penthouse in its present state few have the place requires "a total gut job, absolutely." But Mr. Weinstein, who was anointed a chess master at age 16 and was a founder of Saba Capital Management, now a 5.5 billion hedge fund, in 2009 along with a dozen former colleagues from Deutsche Bank, has earned a reputation as a glutton for risk and challenge. In hedge fund parlance, he is known as a "monster." More specifically, he is the lead trader who bet against JPMorgan Chase in the now epochal "London Whale" episode, which resulted in a 3 billion loss for that company and led finance pundits to refer to Mr. Weinstein's new real estate acquisition as "the house that J.P. Morgan bought." The buyer of the apartment was officially listed as LZ Trust. Mr. Weinstein, 39, was supposedly smitten by the penthouse or its potential and went into contract almost as soon as the ink dried on the listing. He and his Yale educated wife, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, a lawyer who clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and is now a United States assistant attorney in Brooklyn, managed to pass muster with the notoriously stringent co op board at 907 Fifth despite the scuttlebutt surrounding his extracurricular activities: he was banned from the Bellagio for counting cards. Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. Through a spokesman, he declined to comment on the purchase of the penthouse. The sales of the Clark estate are under the supervision of the New York County public administrator. Although the prime minister of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani, offered the full listing price of 31 million for 8E and 8W, he was turned down by the co op board because he wished to combine them. Perhaps he can turn his attention to Nos. 7A, 7B, 7C, three units being marketed as a single entity: the listing price just rose to 29 million from 25 million. The cost of exclusivity is getting higher. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Joichi Ito gave himself some advice in 2008: "Reminder to self," he wrote on Twitter. "Don't invest with or take money from creeps," although he used an earthier term. Then, over the next decade, he accepted about 1.7 million from Jeffrey Epstein. That money from Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in jail last month while facing federal sex trafficking charges, was split between Mr. Ito's own investment funds and the prestigious center he leads at M.I.T., the Media Lab. His apology last month prompted two academics to announce plans to leave and led to calls for Mr. Ito to step down from the lab, an institution that is proudly indifferent to scholarly credentials and seeks a future marrying technology and social conscience. On Wednesday, at a meeting billed in an email as the start of "a process of dialogue and recovery" that two attendees said had begun with a group breathing exercise, the rift was unexpectedly pulled open just as it appeared to be closing. Roughly 200 people gathered to address the lingering anger at Mr. Ito a tech evangelist whose networking skills landed him in the White House to discuss artificial intelligence with President Barack Obama and prompted the psychedelic proselytizer Timothy Leary to call him his godson. Mr. Ito, who has helped the lab raise at least 50 million, revealed that he had taken 525,000 from Mr. Epstein for the lab and 1.2 million for his own investment funds. "The division I've caused among the students created a tremendous amount of damage," Mr. Ito said, according to the two attendees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting. But before the session could end, the divide got deeper. Nicholas Negroponte, a prominent architect who helped found the lab in 1985, told the crowd that he had met Mr. Epstein at least once since Mr. Epstein's 2008 guilty plea in Florida for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and had advised Mr. Ito about the donations. "I told Joi to take the money," he said, "and I would do it again." The words stunned the crowd, just before the meeting adjourned. Mr. Ito saw the comments as so damaging to his conciliatory efforts that he fired off a message to Mr. Negroponte just after midnight. "After I spent 1.5 hours apologizing and asking permission to make amends, you completely undermined me," Mr. Ito wrote in the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times. Mr. Ito did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Negroponte said in an email to The Times after the meeting that he would give that advice knowing only what he knew at the time, without the benefit of hindsight. Mr. Ito said during the meeting that he had visited Mr. Epstein's Caribbean island twice to raise money, which he has pledged to return or donate to causes that support sex trafficking victims. He also acknowledged that he had "screwed up" by accepting the money, but that he had done so after a review by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and consultation with advisers. Other organizations have also stood behind Mr. Ito. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, where he has been on the board since 2011, said in a statement that it believed his apology "is sincere." The MacArthur Foundation said Mr. Ito "has addressed his associations in a manner that warrants no action by the foundation at this time." The New York Times Company, where Mr. Ito has been a board member since 2012, declined to comment for this article. Mr. Ito is far from the only notable figure whose relationships with Mr. Epstein have drawn scrutiny and caused soul searching. The financier's ties to people like President Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and a number of well known scientists have led to pointed questions. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned after an outcry over his role in Mr. Epstein's 2008 plea deal. Mr. Ito has been a popular figure at the lab since taking over in 2011, pulling it out of a postrecession lull while dazzling students and well heeled donors alike. He has continued to receive broad support even after disclosing the donations; more than 200 signed a petition urging him to stay on. Lab members who defend him said academia had a long history of accepting funding from dubious characters. And Mr. Negroponte told The Times that he had sought donations from disgraced figures, including Alberto Vilar, a major donor to the Metropolitan Opera who served time in jail for financial crimes. 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 lab "attracted edgy people," Mr. Negroponte said. "Some were scoundrels." The lab's contrarian ethos runs deep Mr. Negroponte called it "literally a place for misfits" where Mr. Ito's unorthodox background was celebrated. Mr. Ito dropped out of Tufts University and the University of Chicago, ran a Tokyo nightclub called XY Relax and led a series of internet companies as well as a guild in World of Warcraft, the online role playing game. He had an eye for good ideas, investing early on in Twitter, Kickstarter and Flickr, but it was his mastery of cultivating relationships that was especially valuable to the lab. Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn, once said Mr. Ito "makes well networked professionals look like hermits." His mentors include Lawrence Lessig, the influential law professor and founder of Creative Commons, the nonprofit advocate for public intellectual property rights, where Mr. Ito was once chief executive. His online photo albums include pictures of the cellist Yo Yo Ma, the astronaut Leland Melvin and the filmmaker J. J. Abrams, a "director's fellow" at the lab. And when Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, toured the United States last year before the death of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi he attended a reception at the Media Lab. It was perhaps inevitable that Mr. Ito would meet Mr. Epstein, another prolific networker. Both men attended the 1999 Billionaires' Dinner, an annual event put on by the literary agent John Brockman, and belonged to the invitation only Trilateral Commission in 2003. At Wednesday's meeting, Mr. Ito said he had met Mr. Epstein in a hotel lobby during a conference in 2013, five years after Mr. Epstein's plea in Florida. Mr. Epstein long cultivated relationships with celebrity scientists, many of whom Mr. Ito also knew, and eagerly associated himself with the Media Lab. In 2014, he issued news releases about donations to restore Mark Rothko murals on the campus and teach coding to 5 year olds. (The Media Lab later called those statements inaccurate.) The lab served as an avenue for Mr. Epstein to seek connections to the wider tech world. Elizabeth Stark, the chief executive of the cryptocurrency start up Lightning Labs, was not affiliated with the lab but knew Mr. Ito and several others there. When she was raising money for her company in 2015, someone at the lab contacted her and offered to invest Mr. Epstein's money. Ms. Stark found a news article about Mr. Epstein's history and turned it down. "In five minutes I was able to Google and make a determination that seemed like such a no brainer," she said. Ethan Zuckerman, a longtime friend of Mr. Ito's who said he would leave the lab over Mr. Epstein's donations, wrote in an online post that he had rejected an invitation from Mr. Ito to meet Mr. Epstein in 2014, and had urged Mr. Ito to do the same. Sarah Szalavitz, a social designer and external fellow at the lab, said in an interview that she had told Mr. Ito in December 2013 that the lab should stop collaborating with Mr. Epstein, and had given him a memo outlining her concerns. Mr. Ito did distance himself from Mr. Epstein eventually, after a damning article in The Miami Herald last year about Mr. Epstein's 2008 plea deal. Mr. Ito told the gathering that Mr. Epstein had sent a 25,000 check to the lab, which he had promptly returned. Rosalind Picard, who runs a research group at the lab, said Mr. Ito who once gave a fellowship to a convicted murderer turned community activist had believed Mr. Epstein's claims of being reformed. "Joi recognizes that not everybody takes the straight and narrow path, and that sometimes people need the chance to redeem themselves," she said. "He didn't know Epstein was the monster we now know he was." Mr. Epstein's contributions have already disrupted the lab's work. It will not hand out this year's Disobedience Award a 250,000 prize that has recognized MeToo activists and others "challenging the norms, rules or laws that sustain society's injustices" as Mr. Ito focuses on "healing the Media Lab community," according to an email he sent that was reviewed by The Times. One person who was on the award committee, the writer and former Times columnist Anand Giridharadas, told his fellow members in an email he would not participate in 2020 unless the lab was purged of people tied to Mr. Epstein. "A plutocratic predator was welcomed into a citadel of American thinking and doing, and this welcome was personally exploited beyond the original relationship," he wrote. For many associates of the lab, the situation remains complicated. Mr. Zuckerman, who pledged to leave next year, expressed support on Twitter for those who had spoken up, "including those who think Joi's apology was sufficient and we should move on." Mr. Negroponte's comments could make that more challenging than it might otherwise have been. On Thursday, three prominent professors who had organized the meeting to buttress support for Mr. Ito sent a message to the lab disavowing Mr. Negroponte's comments. "While we appreciate what he has done for the lab in the past, he no longer speaks for us," they wrote in the email, which was reviewed by The Times. "And through his behavior he has demonstrated that he has no part in building the future we want." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
When Two Men Fall in Love on the Ballet Stage, and Why It Matters Two men run across the stage in sweeping circles until one stops the other by pressing a palm into his chest. They lock eyes. Then the second melts backward into the arms of the first. Lauren Lovette created this lush pas de deux for Taylor Stanley and Preston Chamblee in her sweeping, romantic ballet "Not Our Fate," and the effect was startling and wonderful. A pas de deux a dance for two is usually about love and usually between a man and a woman. But here were two men, not incidentally men of color, in a tender, athletic display of desire. Ballet is slower to change than most art forms, but in the span of just two weeks, New York City Ballet, one of the world's premier companies, will have shown two ballets featuring significant same sex duets. "Not Our Fate" had its premiere before a donor filled crowd at New York City Ballet's fall gala, on Sept. 28. And on Thursday, Justin Peck, the company's resident choreographer and a soloist, makes his own statement with a casting change in his "The Times Are Racing" that City Ballet says is unprecedented at the company: In the central pas de deux, Mr. Stanley will perform the role originally created for a woman. Same sex partnering on its own is not new, especially in contemporary ballets and in modern dance. And even at City Ballet, there have been instances of same sex partnering in several ballets, including those by Ms. Lovette, Pontus Lidberg and Mr. Peck. What feels unusual in these two dances is their fresh approach: Full of abandon and brimming with romantic desire, they seem utterly natural. City Ballet, co founded by the choreographer George Balanchine, has a tradition of breaking boundaries. This year is the 60th anniversary of "Agon," Balanchine's ballet that showcased a trailblazing pas de deux for a white ballerina, Diana Adams, and a black male dancer, Arthur Mitchell. "Agon" is a masterwork, and in 1957 Balanchine was making a purposeful statement about race and the civil rights movement. And today, in their casting and subject matter, Ms. Lovette, 25, and Mr. Peck, 30, are also responding to the contemporary world and putting it on the ballet stage. On Oct. 1, the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky wrote on Facebook: "sorry, there is no such thing as equality in ballet: women dance on point, men lift and support women. women receive flowers, men escort women offstage. not the other way around (I know there are couple of exceptions). and I am very comfortable with that." His post was accompanied by what appeared to be a Photoshopped image of a ballerina holding a man in the air. A few days earlier Mr. Peck had announced his casting change on Instagram, writing that "The Times Are Racing," which had its debut in January, would be continuing its "exploration of gender neutrality." (His post included the hashtags: loveislove genderneutral equality diversity beauty pride proud.) Last spring, he recast the dance's tap duet, giving the dancer Ashly Isaacs one of the parts originated by a man. She was all thrilling, silky power, slyly displaying how distinctly a woman can do a man's job. "It's time for there to be roles in the ballet where two men can fall in love," Mr. Peck said, "and a woman can lead a company of 20 dancers that include both men and women." Mr. Ratmansky, whose work richly engages tradition, wrote in an email that he didn't mean to offend or impose a ban. "But there are gender roles in traditional ballet," he said. "In other words, men and women are of equal value but have different tasks." He continued: "Being passionate about ballet traditions, its present and future, I wanted to continue discussing gender roles in ballet, but hesitate now. There are so many things one could discuss around this topic. I agree that the rules are there to be broken, that's how art evolves. And I myself have enjoyed playing with these conventions. But I personally choose to work within a tradition because I find it too beautiful and historically important to be lost." "The future of ballet is really in the hands of the creators," Mr. Peck said, "so if it's something that interests them to push the envelope with gender roles, then I think it will change. But if that's not of interest to a dance maker, if their interest is to sort of preserve the way things have been done for the past 200 years, then nothing is going to change." For the dancers, the roles feel like opportunities to express themselves in more nuanced ways. "I think for gay ballet dancers, you rarely get to be yourself," Mr. Stanley said. Mr. Chamblee, his partner in "Not Our Fate," and Daniel Applebaum, his partner in "Times Are Racing," are also gay. Mr. Peck and Ms. Lovette are straight. Mr. Peck has been struck by the way Mr. Stanley and Mr. Applebaum have changed the tone of his pas de deux. "Somehow it feels more romantic to me," Mr. Peck said. "At one of the early rehearsals, Daniel said, 'It's so nice to get to step into a role where I feel I could actually potentially fall in love with the person I'm dancing with, as opposed to pretending to be a prince falling in love with a princess.'" Robert La Fosse, a former choreographer who danced with both City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, has been active on Mr. Ratmansky's Facebook feed. In an interview Mr. La Fosse said: "It's very interesting that we're looking at it now. And it's good. It's a conversation, and I think Justin and Lauren are wrestling with it: How do we become current?" For his pas de deux, Mr. Peck has made small tweaks so that each dancer takes a turn leading the other; learning how to be the supported one has been an adjustment for both. "There's a constant exchange of who's leading and who's in charge," Mr. Applebaum said. "So you have to switch on a dime." At one point in the ballet, Mr. Applebaum takes Mr. Stanley's hand and they walk to the back of the stage. "I am holding his hand onstage because he's offering it to me," Mr. Stanley said. "I take it, and that just fills me so much in so many ways." Mr. Applebaum said: "It's bigger than that performance. It's bigger than the two of us." Mr. Stanley said he had similar emotional moments while working on Ms. Lovette's ballet, which explores not only a same sex relationship, but also issues of race, both in casting and in theme. "It's not like we're pushing boundaries," Mr. Stanley said, "it's just that things are sort of looking how they should be looking." Originally, Ms. Lovette cast Mr. Stanley in her ballet because the women she was considering for the role were all taken. "I wanted to find a dancer that had a very liquid quality a strength but also a dramatic side and a contemporary feel and I wasn't finding it," she said. "Then I thought Taylor has that. That's exactly Taylor. Why can't I put two guys together?" The effect, she said, blew her away. "Suddenly, they could just be themselves." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Dance |
The cellist Kian Soltani, who appeared with the pianist Julio Elizalde in a late night concert as part of Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. You could tell how things have changed in recent years at the Mostly Mozart Festival: Over two evenings this past week, in five diverse programs, not a single work by the festival's namesake was performed. Not that I'm complaining. When Louis Langree became the music director of this venerable Lincoln Center summer event in 2003, he and Jane Moss, the center's artistic director, agreed that the way to rescue Mostly Mozart from staleness was to introduce new initiatives, broaden the repertory, and invite living composers to take part. This shift in emphasis has continued as Mostly Mozart has taken up some of the offerings that used to be the province of the its onetime summer sibling, the multidisciplinary Lincoln Center Festival, which was jettisoned last year. Mozart did rule at the start of this summer's festival with the New York premiere of a well traveled production of "The Magic Flute." But the flurry of Mozart free programs offered evidence of fresh thinking. Then the conductor Andrew Manze, best known for his work with period instrument ensembles, led the orchestra in Beethoven's Violin Concerto and "Eroica" Symphony which was, in a way, risky programming: If you're going to trot out these war horses, you'd better have something to say about them. Mr. Manze did, along with the probing violinist Vilde Frang, a sensitive and subtle soloist in the concerto. As themes wound through the elusive, complex development section of the first movement, Ms. Frang seemed to be pondering each phrase in the moment. In assertive episodes, though, she played with gleaming sound and boldness. She conveyed the dancing playfulness of the finale, backed at every moment by Mr. Manze, who drew buoyant, clear playing from the orchestra. During the "Eroica" there were some moments of shaky execution, especially in the brasses. Overall, though, this was a lean and suspenseful account of a symphony that can easily sound pumped up. After that, at 10 p.m., in the first of the festival's A Little Night Music programs at the Kaplan Penthouse, the cellist Kian Soltani and the pianist Julio Elizalde made their festival debuts together. Mr. Soltani brought commanding technique and rhapsodic intensity to Schumann's "Fantasiestucke," accompanied by the elegant Mr. Elizalde, who had a chance to show off his virtuosity in Chopin's "Introduction and Polonaise Brillante." The highlights were works that drew on Mr. Soltani's background: He was born in Austria to Iranian parents and grew up, he told the audience, immersed in both Western and Persian music. In three selections from Reza Vali's "Persian Folk Songs," written for Mr. Soltani, he shaped the elegiac melodic lines of "The Girl from Shiraz" with piercing tone and sadness, then tore through the clopping rhythms and breathless phrases of "Mastom Mastom." "Persian Fire Dance," which Mr. Soltani wrote for himself, is a composite of melodic bits and intense ruminations from Western and Persian traditions. The contrast between the Mostly Mozart Orchestra's Beethoven program and the more adventurous penthouse recital suggested one shortcoming of the festival's current approach: The orchestral programs still mostly hew to standard repertory. I wish conductors would mix things up a little, in keeping with the festival's other facets. For example, on Wednesday, after a repeat performance of the Beethoven program at Geffen Hall, the pianist and composer Michael Brown made his festival debut at the Kaplan Penthouse. Since the final movement of the "Eroica" Symphony, which many in his audience had just heard, is an epic set of variations, Mr. Brown began with a colorful account of Mendelssohn's impetuous "Variations Serieuses," then played his own flinty yet playfully pointillist "Folk Variations." Nodding to the orchestra's earlier program, he ended his recital with a fearless performance of Beethoven's monumental "Eroica" Variations, trying out themes later used in the symphony. Earlier on Wednesday, I had attended the opening of "The Black Clown" at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, an arresting work of music theater adapted from a Langston Hughes poem. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
DAVID BRYANT TRIO at Mezzrow (Sept. 27 28, 7:30 and 9 p.m.). This young Brooklyn born pianist has proved frustratingly good at not overselling his talents. Unlike many of his generation, he has not rushed to put out albums under his own name (not even one, actually), and you're more likely to catch him accompanying an elder musician than leading his own band. There's a lot of merit to that approach, though it feels less common in New York these days. When playing straight ahead jazz (in, say, the eminent drummer Louis Hayes's band), Bryant thickens and enriches things with inventive harmonies, but never sounds overserious or complexified. Moving in more avant garde scenarios (with Steve Coleman or Henry Threadgill), he articulates his lines strongly while keeping them wide open to their musical surroundings. He appears on Friday with the bassist Chris Tordini and the drummer Craig Weinrib; on Saturday he and Weinrib will be joined by Thomas Morgan on bass. 646 476 4346, mezzrow.com RON CARTER at Merkin Hall (Sept. 28, 8 p.m.). The questions that you could ask this 82 year old National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, who is said to be the most recorded bassist in jazz history, are almost limitless. Terrance McKnight, a musician and WQXR radio host, will have a chance to pose a few at this concert, during which he will interview Carter onstage. But the main attraction is, of course, the music: Here Carter will perform with an intriguing hybrid ensemble, featuring a quartet of cellists (Maxine Neuman, Zoe Hassman, Carol Buck and Dorothy Lawson) conjoined with a jazz group (Don Byron on clarinet, Donald Vega on piano, Leon Maleson on bass and Payton Crossley on drums). Carter will play the piccolo bass, an instrument that allows him to more easily assume a leading role. 212 501 3330, kaufmanmusiccenter.org FRED FRITH at the Stone (through Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m.). From his work in the late 1960s and early '70s with Henry Cow a band that presaged the experimental and progressive rock movements this guitarist, multi instrumentalist and sometime instrument maker has stood just outside of any conventional genre, or conventional instrumental practice. His approach on the guitar comprises a mix of atonal, slyly percussive dots and dashes; scattered speckles of notes; and occasional flashes of lyrical beauty, often augmented by electronic effects and extraneous noisemaking devices. At the Stone this week he is in residence with his trio, featuring Jason Hoopes on bass and Jordan Glenn on drums. They'll be joined on Thursday by the saxophonist Lotte Anker, on Friday by the trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, and on Saturday by both Santos Silva and the keyboardist Evelyn Davis. thestonenyc.com CHRIS LIGHTCAP'S SUPERBIGMOUTH at the Jazz Gallery (Oct. 3, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.). With whatever band Lightcap is leading, he strikes a masterly balance between urgent, punctuated bass playing and smooth, sighing melodies on top. In his group Bigmouth, the lead instruments are two tenor saxophones; in Superette, it's a pair of electric guitarists. His latest endeavor is SuperBigmouth, a composite of those two ensembles, featuring the tenor saxophonists Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek, the guitarists Jonathan Goldberger and Curtis Hasselbring, the keyboardist Craig Taborn, and the drummers Gerald Cleaver and Dan Rieser. That group is about to release a self titled debut album, which commingles shades of prog rock, spiritual jazz and the indie lounge vibes of Stereolab, resulting in something altogether new. Here SuperBigmouth will present music from that recording. 646 494 3625, jazzgallery.nyc AARON PARKS TRIO at the Village Vanguard (through Sept. 29, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.). Parks may be only 35 years old, but his influence on young musicians coming out of conservatories has already begun to show in a major way. On albums like "Invisible Cinema" (2008), "Find the Way" (2017) and "Little Big" (2018), he upends the distinction between the roles of the left and right hands, playing lithe and elegant patterns that alternate between the two, or sculpting crisp, refracted chords with both. This week marks Parks's debut as a leader at the historic Vanguard; he will perform with Ben Street on bass and Billy Hart on drums, the trio that appeared on "Find the Way." 212 255 4037, villagevanguard.com CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT at the Rose Theater (Sept. 27 28, 8 p.m.). This virtuoso vocalist, composer and unofficial musical anthropologist debuted "Ogresse" the darkly humorous, fantastical suite she wrote with the composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue one year ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has only been performed a few times since: With its 13 piece orchestra (featuring the Mivos string quartet and an eight person jazz group, all conducted by Argue), it's a bit of a bear to present. But the reviews of these shows have generally been raves, and this performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center's main theater affords another opportunity to experience it in rarefied surroundings. 212 721 6500, jazz.org GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
Endeavor, the entertainment and sports conglomerate, expanded its sports representation business Tuesday by purchasing a stake in BDA Sports Management, the firm led by the influential N.B.A. agent Bill Duffy. The partnership calls for Duffy, who represents the rising basketball stars Luka Doncic and Sabrina Ionescu, to become an adviser in the sports division of William Morris Endeavor, one of Hollywood's major talent agencies. Duffy will continue to serve as chairman and chief executive of BDA Sports, which will retain its own branding and represents an estimated 130 players in the N.B.A., W.N.B.A. and professional leagues internationally. "We don't really have an uber N.B.A. agent in our company," Mark Shapiro, Endeavor's president, said in an interview. "I'm certain this will accelerate our growth plan as it relates to representing more N.B.A. players both on and off the court." Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Shapiro described Endeavor's stake as a "meaningful, strategic investment." WME Sports has provided full service representation for several tennis and golf clients, including the tennis stars Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, but the sports division's co head, Karen Brodkin, said the alliance with Duffy was part of a broader strategy to work with "more clients earlier in their career trajectory" in sports where they haven't historically. Duffy said the union with WME would position BDA Sports "to build something even bigger and better than what we've been able to do." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Sports |
The staff lawyers at the Justice Department reviewing Comcast's proposed 45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable have raised concerns about the merger and are leaning toward recommending that it be blocked, according to a person with knowledge of the deliberations. The development represents only a preliminary step, and senior Justice Department officials could overrule any recommendation from their staff lawyers. Announced in February 2014, the merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would unite the two largest cable operators in the United States, controlling just under 30 percent of the country's pay television subscribers. It also would control an estimated 35 to 50 percent of the nation's broadband Internet service, depending on how regulators defined the market. The Comcast Time Warner Cable merger has faced intense scrutiny at both the Justice Department, which is reviewing whether the deal would harm competition, and the Federal Communications Commission, which is evaluating whether the deal is in the public interest. The legal rationale for why staff lawyers think that regulators could make a case that the deal is anticompetitive is unclear. In a sign that the discussions are continuing, neither company nor their lawyers have received signals that the deal would be blocked. Staff lawyers routinely float concerns about a deal but ultimately approve it with some conditions. Early objections against a deal can serve as a negotiating tactic to get a company to come to the table. Comcast has not yet started negotiations with regulators about potential conditions to place on the deal, according to one person with knowledge of the discussions. Even if regulators blessed the merger, they could demand arduous conditions from Comcast, like having to divest itself of more subscribers. If that occurred, Comcast could walk away from the deal, which has no breakup fee. Multiple television executives who do business with the two cable giants said that they have been in frequent communication with regulators during the review process, and that in recent days government lawyers have narrowed their line of questioning. That has led them to think that the agency is trying to uncover evidence that would shore up their argument for why the deal would be anticompetitive. One specific question asked this week was whether Comcast and Time Warner Cable compete with the television companies to distribute programming to consumers, one person with knowledge of the discussions said. Networks like HBO and CBS, for instance, recently introduced new Internet streaming services that offer access to their content without a traditional cable subscription. The staff lawyers will ultimately present their recommendation to the senior officials in the Justice Department's antitrust division. In this instance, though, William J. Baer, who leads the antitrust division, is recused from the case. When Mr. Baer was in private practice, he worked on the Comcast acquisition of NBCUniversal. Sena Fitzmaurice, a Comcast spokeswoman, said in a statement, "There is no basis for a lawsuit to block the transaction." 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. "The Comcast/Time Warner Cable transaction will result in significant consumer benefits faster broadband speeds, access to a superior video experience and more competition in business services resulting in billions of dollars of cost savings," Ms. Fitzmaurice said. "These benefits have been essentially unchallenged in the record and all can be achieved without any reduction of competition." Bobby Amirshahi, a Time Warner Cable spokesman, said that the company had no indication from the Justice Department that the deal would be blocked. "We have been working productively with both D.O.J. and F.C.C. and believe that there is no basis for D.O.J. to block the deal," he said. News that the Justice Department was considering blocking the merger was first reported by Bloomberg News. The shares of both companies dropped on the news, with Comcast declining 2.6 percent and Time Warner Cable falling 5.4 percent If approved, the merger would reshape the country's television and broadband infrastructure. Other deals hinge on the merger's approval, including the Charter Communications 10.4 billion bid for Bright House Networks that would ultimately create the nation's second largest cable operator. Media executives and public interest groups have raised concerns that an enlarged Comcast would have too much power over the future of the Internet and television. Among the fears are that Comcast would use its extra heft to force consumers to pay more for declining service and to push around Internet companies and TV networks, stifling innovation and diversity of programming. "There's no question is my mind that this deal is anything other than blatantly anticompetitive," said Michael Copps, a former Democratic member of the F.C.C. and a special adviser to the Common Cause public interest group. "It fails not just the antitrust metrics, but the public interest metrics, too." When announced, some thought few questions would be raised about whether the deal would be blocked because Comcast and Time Warner Cable do not compete against each other for customers in local markets. That sense of inevitability has declined in recent months and some analysts have lowered their odds that the deal goes through. Comcast recently said that it expected government regulators to complete their review of the deal in the middle of the year. Previously, the company had expected the deal to close in early 2015. The Justice Department has no firm deadline to make a decision. The F.C.C. had an informal schedule to rule by the end of March, but has extended that. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Media |
Nurburg, Germany An automotive clambake of enormous proportions has assembled here this weekend for the 42nd running of the Nurburgring 24 hour race, an endurance contest whose demanding course includes the fabled section known as Nordschleife. The track has been in use, in various combinations, since 1927. The Grand Prix races for which it earned a reputation of extreme danger ended over safety concerns after Niki Lauda's fiery accident in the 1976 German Grand Prix; an improved layout brought the Formula One series back in later years. The endurance race's fortunes have risen and fallen over the years with those of the financially beleaguered track, although now the event seems heavily subscribed with auto manufacturer and industry supplier support. For more than 17 weeks a year, the track is leased to a consortium of manufacturers who use it for testing, product development and promotional purposes, Stephan Reil, head of Audi racing development, said in an interview. The 24 hour endurance race is the annual opportunity to earn peer group bragging rights and can be a sales opportunity for the win on Sunday, sell expensive sports cars on Monday marketing set. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Automobiles |
EVERY year about this time in Essex Fells, after the first wintry gusts have swept the leaves off the trees and residents have gathered around to watch the annual lighting of the borough's Christmas tree, a large pond off Fells Road turns into the borough's meeting place. This is where residents come, in droves, to ice skate. Some race; others glide in slow circles. And there are those who do not skate at all: someone might build a fire, and someone else might order pizza to be delivered, and they catch up on the latest local news. "Once the kids get into elementary school, your world opens up, to your kids' friends and their families," said Debbie McWilliams, who grew up in Essex Fells and moved back 36 years ago to raise a family with her husband, Tim. In August, it was the only municipality in the county to make New Jersey Monthly magazine's list of top 10 places to live in the state. Essex Fells has no commercial district; residents shop for food and run errands in the nearby communities of Caldwell, North Caldwell, West Orange and Montclair. Hubs of activity, besides the pond in winter, are the elementary school and the fire hall. "It's so great to be mayor of this town, because everybody volunteers," said Ed Abbot, a Manhattan lawyer who has lived in Essex Fells since 1992 and has been its part time mayor since 2002. "Our town's so small, but we have a huge fire department. It's a very social town. Everybody knows everybody." It is not cheap to live in Essex Fells: of the 17 houses listed recently on the Garden State Multiple Listing Service's Web site, seven were priced over 1 million. But the borough sells water to three neighboring communities, lowering residents' tax bills. Essex Fells is also able to maintain its own police force. According to New Jersey State Police statistics, there were only 17 crimes, 15 nonviolent, reported in the borough in 2009 and 2010 combined which amounted to the lowest crime rate in Essex County in that period. Kevin Kinney of Rhodes, Van Note Realtors in Upper Montclair, said: "Every time I drive clients through there, they wonder where they are. They ask, 'Are we still in New Jersey?' " Debbie and Tim McWilliams grew up in Essex Fells and returned, which does not make them all that unusual. In 1976 they bought a one bedroom house, expanding it to three and then moving, six years later, to a five bedroom four bath colonial that, at 190,000, was "a little out of our price range," she recalled. They have lived there ever since, and even though they could sell the house for perhaps six or seven times what they paid, they are staying put. Their 33 year old daughter, Carleigh, is expecting a child, and she and her husband are interested in moving from New York. "I talk to them about it every day," Debbie McWilliams said, laughing. Susan Carpenter, a bank vice president in Manhattan, grew up in Queens but moved to New Jersey, first to Clifton, where she lived until eight years ago. She and her husband, Rick, then bought a three bedroom one and a half bath colonial near Essex Fells School for 560,000. Mr. Carpenter grew up in Essex Fells. He works in sales from home, and the couple's 7 year old daughter, Caroline, is in first grade at the school, one block away. There is a playground nearby and preserved woodland behind their house. "You can see deer walking through," Mr. Carpenter said. Essex Fells was hit hard by Tropical Storm Irene in August and by a Halloween snowstorm that cut power and downed trees, taxing the fire department, which is staffed by about 40 volunteers. Firefighters pumped out basements flooded by the August storm, enabling an eventual clean up. Then, in December, a fire destroyed a local house. Chris Boeckel, who recently retired as the fire chief, said his wife, Patrice, started a fund raiser that generated "tens of thousands of dollars" for the displaced family. Mr. Boeckel's two sons are also volunteer firefighters. The Carpenter family often walk to Bloomfield Avenue in much busier Caldwell, about a mile away, to run errands on weekends. Then they retreat to Essex Fells, a town they say seems more like a neighborhood, its streets lined with houses often identified by the names of their previous owners. The borough is in the western part of Essex County, surrounded by the communities of Roseland and West Orange to the south, Verona to the east and West Caldwell and Caldwell to the north. Two exits of Interstate 280 are accessible via a short drive through Roseland, minutes away. Two thoroughfares run parallel through the borough, which has an old fashioned ambience surprising in a place easily accessible to the city. One, Fells Road, winds from the northeast corner to the southwest; the other, Roseland Road, runs from Roseland to Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell. House styles are varied: rambling colonials, '60s ranches, new homes faced in stone and many have large lawns, some framed by stone walls. The houses sit back from the winding streets and next to tall trees, which add privacy. To a visitor, the atmosphere seems to date to an earlier era. Mayor Abbot put it this way: "The nicest thing I can hear is from someone who's come back after a number of years and says, 'This town has not changed.' I have done my job." Properties for sale, according to the Garden State Multiple Listing Service, range from a two bedroom 2010 town house, for 412,900, to a 10 bedroom colonial on 1.38 acres, built in 1910 and renovated in 1995, for 1.989 million. In the middle, at 679,900, is a five bedroom colonial built in 1980, with an annual tax bill of 11,814. Kevin M. Esposito, the borough's tax assessor, said 17 houses sold in Essex Fells in 2010; the average sale price for a condominium was 398,195, and the average for a single family home was 941,714. He said 21 houses sold in the corresponding period this year; the average sale price for a condo was 421,667, and the average for a single family house was 866,590. According to Trulia.com, the median sale price in Essex Fells from July to September was 865,000, or 11.2 percent lower than the median in the corresponding period one year earlier. Gail Bradley, an agent for Arcadia Realtors in Roseland, says the market in Essex Fells does not differ all that much from those in surrounding communities; she says that a house will sell if priced right. Ms. Carpenter and Mr. Abbot say they are among several residents who commute to New York by driving to the Port Authority Trans Hudson train station in Harrison, off Interstate 280, about 20 minutes east of Essex Fells. The train ride to Lower Manhattan from Harrison takes 20 minutes. An unlimited 30 day PATH pass costs 65. Additionally, five DeCamp express buses run to the Port Authority on weekday mornings from Roseland and Bloomfield Avenues in Caldwell. The trip takes about 50 minutes; a 40 trip ticket is 261. The borough has a recreation program that offers youth programs in soccer, basketball, baseball, softball and girls' lacrosse (founded by the McWilliamses), plus fencing for children over 6 and adults. Residents can also join the North Caldwell Community Pool; yearly family memberships are 455. There is a four screen movie theater on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell. And Grover Cleveland Park, on the northern border, offers jogging, fishing and lighted tennis courts. Mrs. Carpenter, who describes herself as a "shop local girl," does the family's grocery shopping in West Caldwell. Mrs. McWilliams patronizes a local fishmonger and butcher, and the Whole Foods market in West Orange. Livingston Mall is about a 15 minute drive from the center of town, the Mall at Short Hills about 25 minutes. Enrollment is about 250 at the Essex Fells School, which teaches prekindergarten through Grade 6. Average class size is 16.1; the state average is 18.2. Older students attend public schools operated by the West Essex Regional School District, which also serves Roseland, Fairfield and North Caldwell. West Essex Regional Middle School, in North Caldwell, has 575 students in Grades 7 and 8. West Essex Regional High School, also in North Caldwell, has about 1,000 students in Grades 9 through 12. SAT averages last year were 555 in math, 526 in reading and 537 in writing, versus 520, 496 and 499 statewide. The graduation rate for the class of 2010 was 99.6 percent, versus 94.7 percent statewide. Essex Fells got its name because it is in Essex County, and a partner in its development was John R. Fell (though "fells" can also refer to hilly land). Upon learning that the Pennsylvania Railroad planned to establish service in the area, Mr. Fell's father in law, the Philadelphia banker Anthony Drexel, bought 1,000 acres in 1888, intending to build a residential community. The railroad came through in 1891, and Essex Fells became a borough in 1902. Train service was discontinued in 1966. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Real Estate |
Classical music is overly beholden to traditional concert formats and standard repertory. So it's important, and often exciting, for artists to be adventurous. There are different ways to do so, as two pianists demonstrated in completely contrasting programs this week in New York. On Tuesday at Carnegie Hall, the brilliant Marc Andre Hamelin, who is also a composer, devoted the first half of a recital to rarely heard works by three Russian composers Scriabin, Prokofiev and Samuil Feinberg written between 1900 and 1917. The program that Paul Lewis presented on Thursday at the 92nd Street Y may seem unadventurous at first: a Haydn sonata, three late Brahms intermezzos and Beethoven's "Diabelli" Variations. For years, with intrepid determination, Mr. Lewis has been on a personal exploration of the central works of the Classical period, performing and recording Beethoven's complete sonatas and concertos, as well as major works of Schubert, Haydn and Mozart. So, Mr. Lewis offers his thoughtful immersion in a crucial swatch of repertory as an adventure, a journey. Still, by identifying so closely with these core works, Mr. Lewis puts pressure on himself to come up with something fresh to say . He usually delivers, as he did on this night. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Music |
They're speaking more softly in Richard Nelson's Rhinebeck these days, as if a raised voice might upset a tenuous balance. Not that any of the previous seven (and wonderful) family dramas written by Nelson during the past nine years, all set in the Hudson River town of Rhinebeck, N.Y., have ever involved much shouting. But his gentle, truly moving "The Michaels" which opened at the Public Theater on Sunday, the night on which the play is set feels pitched in an even lower key than its predecessors: "The Apple Family Plays," a tetralogy, or the three works that make up "The Gabriels." In those pieces, middle class, economically anxious people, of literary and artistic bents, were apt to become heated and at least a little loud as they navigated the overlap between the state of their country and the state of their homes. I spent election night in 2016 with the fictional Gabriels, an extended, left leaning family on the verge of having to sell their home, and I couldn't have asked for more sympathetic and soulful company. Like me, they had cast their votes for president of the United States in upstate New York earlier that day. Like me, they were awaiting the results with the fearful sense that whatever happened, an increasingly unmoored and conflicted society was unlikely to be righted overnight. Three years have now passed, and you don't need me to tell you about what has happened in this country during that time. Yet at a moment when you might have expected the air of Rhinebeck to be rent with cries of lamentation worthy of Sophocles, Nelson has cannily turned down the volume. The word "Trump," with a capital T, occurs exactly twice in "The Michaels," and those references are more or less glossed over, as if someone had passed gas at the dinner table. Please note, though, that the full title of this play is "The Michaels: Conversations During Difficult Times." Nelson knows that his characters and his audience are all too aware of the rancorous clamor of the world outside. He also understands that there are moments when people grow tired of arguing, of fretting, of trying to make sense of an irrational universe. This is especially true when there is a crisis at home that demands delicacy. Hence the almost hushed tone of this production, which is directed by Nelson, who makes expert use of his now standard arrangement of tiny suspended microphones, which allow performers to whisper and still be heard. (Scott Lehrer is the sound designer.) I initially took this relative quiet to signify a state of depletion, perhaps even of surrender. Happily, I was wrong. "The Michaels" is set in the house of a dying woman, Rose Michael (a perfectly cast Brenda Wehle ), a modern dance choreographer with ovarian cancer. Rose has a new partner , Kate Harris ( Maryann Plunkett ), a retired history teacher. Though Rose's art is celebrated for its exaltation of women's everyday chores (sweeping, mopping, washing), she herself might be described as domestically challenged. It thus falls to Kate to prepare the Sunday night meal for their visitors, who have connections both personal and professional to Rose. These include two of Rose's former dancers, now middle aged: Sally Michael (Rita Wolf) and Irenie Walker ( Haviland Morris ). Sally is married to David Michael ( Jay O. Sanders ), an arts manager and producer who is also Rose's former husband. There are also two other, younger women there that night: Lucy ( Charlotte Bydwell ), the daughter of Rose and David, and her cousin, May Smith ( Matilda Sakamoto ). They are helping to prepare a tribute to Rose's career, in which they will perform. Before the evening is over, they will dance for Rose, a performance devised from some of her earlier work. (The resonant, spontaneous seeming choreography is based on that of the modern dance veteran Dan Wagoner, whose translation to the stage here was overseen by Sara Rudner and Gwyneth Jones .) When they do, the odds are that they will make you cry. There is little forward moving plot in "The Michaels," even by the uneventful standards of the other Rhinebeck plays. This latest addition shares with its predecessors an emphasis on the preparation of food, in what appears to be a fully functional kitchen. And like other Rhinebeck plays, this one begins with the cast members bringing order to Jason Ardizzone West 's set (lighted by the brilliant Jennifer Tipton ). They arrange chairs and tables, unfold rugs, distribute the dishes and foodstuffs required to prepare and serve a meal. Nelson is once again asking us to draw the parallel between what goes into setting up a play and the daily business of setting up a life. Though Nelson nearly always tips a reverential hat to the performing arts in his plays, the sense of art as both a mirror to and ordering force in life is paramount here. The first words spoken (by David) are about being backstage with the cast at a play he was working on, and the sense of its being a charged, almost mystical space like that, presumably, from which the cast of "The Michaels" has just emerged. The characters reminisce about working with Rose, and about the relationships that developed and transformed and ended during those collaborations. They go through boxes of old journals and photos, trying to summon what was before it fades from recollection altogether. And while the others speak of Rose's dogged silence on her illness, it appears she has already planned her own funeral. In the midst of life we are in death, and vice versa. Dance comes to seem like a tragically ephemeral form and, paradoxically, one capable of endless regeneration. Nelson lets such heady themes grow organically, by stealth, from an ensemble that never, ever seems to be acting. (The invaluable Ms. Plunkett, the show's beating heart, and Mr. Sanders have appeared in all the previous Rhinebeck plays.) Even the dance here, performed in the cluttered kitchen, feels like a natural and necessary extension of the lives on display. Though it takes place in real time, "The Michaels" is punctuated by brief blackouts, during which we hear what sounds like someone hungrily inhaling. Or is it exhaling? It is the breath of life, in any case, on the edge of extinction, and of renewal, too. "The Michaels" is as hopeful as it is heartbreaking. Tickets Through Nov. 24 at The Public Theater, Manhattan; 212 967 7555, publictheater.org. Running time: 2 hours . | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Theater |
Credit...Tomas Munita for The New York Times After 30 hours of bumping along on planes and buses, at long last I stood in the darkness and gazed upon an immense night sky. My long journey seemingly had brought me to the shoreline of interstellar space rather than the high altitude plateau that is Chile's Atacama Desert . It was the first night of a monthlong journey to visit astronomy observatories in Chile, Los Angeles and Hawaii. Whether designed for professional use or for the general public, observatories nurture humanity's explorations of the cosmos. They spark wonder and discovery, but even before I set foot inside the first one, I was seeing outer space in a spellbinding new way. That first night in the Atacama, arguably the best place in the world to see the night sky, the Milky Way proved true to its name: a milky like smear stretching from horizon to horizon. The Southern Cross shone bright as candlelight. Both the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies glowed like stickers on a child's bedroom ceiling, and Jupiter's bands were easily visible with an amateur telescope , as were four of its moons. It was early May, autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, and our group had spent nearly five hours staring at the night sky. We had met in San Pedro de Atacama, a small town 7,900 feet above sea level near Chile's border with Bolivia. Judging by the legions of backpacks, hostels and prominent Wi Fi signs, it sits firmly astride the trekking circuit of Latin America. During the 24 hours I was there, I met people from the United States, Brazil, France, Canada, Italy, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Activities abound: There are mountain bikes to rent, salt flats to visit and pink flamingos to photograph. However, I was there to stargaze. The Atacama, a plateau about the size of Pennsylvania, is the driest desert in the world. The combination of its aridity, high altitude and low population results in exceptional seeing, an astronomy term for the quality of observing conditions. San Pedro de Atacama offered several night sky tours, but this area isn't just for amateurs. Chile primarily in the Atacama contains 70 percent of the world's professional astronomy observatories, if you count the massive new ones under construction like the Giant Magellan Telescope. ALMA's facility sits nearly two miles above sea level. It has the feeling of a space colony, maybe because of its cleanliness and the unforgiving terrain. Or maybe it's because of the extremes of the environment. Based on my own brief experience, temperatures in the area range from freezing at night to boiling during the day. As tourists climbed off the bus, each was given a squirt of sunscreen, the way you'd apply hand sanitizer in a different setting. The actual array of ALMA's 66 movable antennas sat far above us out of sight on a plateau at 16,000 feet (though you can see them through a webcam). No one lives up there, and those working in that environment must use supplemental oxygen. We toured the base camp, the control center and Otto, one of two German built antenna movers. Imagine the campus of a widget manufacturing company transferred to Mars, and you get the idea. The control room, operated 24 hours a day, had a cobbled together look that seemed out of place with the facility's 1.4 billion price tag. It was nothing more than a dozen or so tables and chairs, lots of computers and a lone humidifier that was the exact model of the humidifier in my children's bedroom. I can't imagine it was having much of an effect. Like the particle colliders I visited, ALMA's research is as complex as the motivation is simple. Basically, ALMA's quest is to search for the reasons we are human beings instead of stardust floating in the void. For example, it found a simple form of sugar in the gas surrounding a young binary star, demonstrating that some of the chemical foundations of life on Earth also exist in faraway galaxies. For the moment, though, it is nothing more than a construction project on a mountaintop, as well as several enormous mirrors in varying stages of production at the University of Arizona's mirror lab. "First light," as astronomers call the moment when an observatory begins operations, is scheduled for 2024. The GMT is being built by a consortium of universities in the United States and other countries at a mountaintop site called Las Campanas. Owned by the Carnegie Institution, the site currently hosts eight other telescopes as well as staff housing that evokes a Swiss chalet. During the night I spent there, I met scientists working on the GMT's instrumentation. One of them was Brian McLeod, astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Dr. McLeod leads a team developing instrumentation to keep the GMT's 14 primary and secondary mirrors correctly aligned. He started designing prototypes back in 2009, which means that at first light in 2024, he will have spent 15 years on this project. He ruefully noted that people change jobs more frequently than he changes projects. Dr. McLeod traced his interest in astronomy back to high school in tiny Gambier, Ohio, when his chemistry teacher showed him the night sky through a telescope. I spoke with him in the control room of the Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas. He and his team were going to spend the entire night there testing their instruments. However, high wind speeds were spoiling their plans. When I saw them at breakfast the next day, they had spent the entire night in the control room and had only been able to use the telescope for a few hours at most. When it begins operations, the GMT will welcome visitors, but how exactly is still unclear, given the site's remoteness. Plus, nighttime observation requires dim ground conditions a hazard to driving while daytime is the period when all the observatory staff sleep. Still, if ALMA is any guide, visits to the GMT will be popular. So many people want to visit ALMA that the external relations staff stay on site for weeks at a time, doing shift work. This is despite the fact that unlike observatories for the general public, there is nothing to "see" at places like ALMA and the GMT. Today's professional facilities are long removed from the time when you look through a viewfinder and use the telescope as an extension of your eyeball. Instead, professional observatories use computers to capture data and images and send them to researchers around the world. Nevertheless, visiting these observatories like my previous visits to particle colliders boggled my mind. After all, those who work at observatories operate time machines that can detect light emanating from the birth of our universe, billions of years in the past. Even with the naked eye, the light I saw from the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud was 200,000 years old. I said goodbye to Dr. McLeod and his team and boarded a plane back to Santiago. As I stared out the window, looking down at the vast brown carpet of the Atacama below me, I considered my situation with strange clarity: I was a collection of bound together atoms surrounded by other atoms hammered into the shape of a metal airplane tube. And this tube was propelling me through the sky by burning the remains of long dead plants and animals. Thoughts like this did not come naturally to me before visiting ALMA and Las Campanas. Weeks later, my wife and I traveled to Los Angeles and Hawaii to take in astronomy experiences aimed at the general public, the entry point for budding astronomers like the high school version of Dr. McLeod. In Los Angeles, I visited one of the most prominent observatories in the world the Griffith Observatory, built in 1935. Frequently spotted in movies and TV shows, and especially known for its starring role in "La La Land," the Griffith Observatory welcomes ever increasing numbers of visitors to its iconic building overlooking the city's skyline. Like many other science facilities, access to the Griffith Observatory is free. It was a reminder that outside of the cost of getting there, science tourism is generally light on the wallet. And if traveling far distances is an issue, many universities in the United States have observatories on campus that offer public viewing hours. We visited the jam packed Griffith Observatory in the late afternoon. It was more than an hour until its 1 2 inch Zei ss Refracting telescope would open for viewing the night sky, but already a line was forming of people wanting to get a closer look at the planets, the moon and the larger stars. On its website, the Griffith Observatory claims "More people have looked though it than any other telescope in the world." I wondered whether the crowds at the Griffith Observatory were due mainly to its Hollywood celebrity. However, other astronomy sites were just as crowded. We experienced this the following day, when we flew to the island of Hawaii to visit Mauna Kea, one of the world's top venues for astronomy. The Maunakea Visitor Information Station, located about two thirds up the side of the dormant volcano, is base camp for the professional observatories on the summit. It is also a center for public astronomy in Hawaii. Four evenings a week, a mix of employees and volunteers trundle out telescopes for everyone to see. People drive up hours before, because the parking lot almost always runs out of room well before the 7 p.m. viewing start time. Hundreds of us stood patiently in long lines, clutched cups of hot chocolate, waiting for glimpses of Jupiter and the North Star. Meanwhile, people hiked up a nearby hill to catch the last rays of the setting sun. It turned chilly. People donned sweaters and hotel bath towels to ward off the cold. In the winter, snow often covers the summit while vacationers enjoy the tropical climate at ocean level. The 14,000 foot high summit at Mauna Kea holds 13 telescopes owned by a variety of countries and universities. Those with four wheel drive vehicles can drive to the top and look around. We did this later in our trip. It was the middle of the day but it felt like evening. We drove through clouds, rain slicked the windshield and the temperature dropped from 80 degrees to 40. Although I could sense the lack of oxygen at the visitors' station, the real change came at the summit where there is 40 percent less oxygen than at sea level. Walking felt labored and the world took on an acute sharpness, as if rocks and boulders and the air itself had grown an edge. We hiked to the high altitude Lake Waiau, its brilliant blue water an intense contrast with the fiery sun. At that moment, they seemed like a direct link to temples built on high places by our prehistoric ancestors, usually to be closer to the gods. We probably have always felt the urge to climb hills and mountains and stare at the sky. There is something about going to these high places to ALMA, Las Campanas and the summit of Mauna Kea that touches the core of our existence. "Starstuff pondering the stars," in the words of Carl Sagan. It was the beginning of June, a few days later. A warm, early summer evening. Sirens rose in the distance. The air felt lethargic, unwilling to form a breeze. Streetlights glowed orange as I stepped onto my porch and looked around. I saw the usual city haze that obscures nearly all of the night sky. But the pull of a month of stargazing lingered on, and I looked up. Eventually I perceived the faint but unmistakable trace of the Big Dipper. I don't remember ever seeing it in the skies above Chicago, but of course it's been there all along. I kept looking, waiting for my eyes to become used to the dark. I thought about workers in astronomy observatories, getting ready for a night of exploration. More stars appeared. There was Jupiter like a beauty mark next to the moon. There was the North Star, twinkling just like in the lullaby. Standing in the middle of a city on our tiny planet, aware of my own fragile existence, I breathed a silent hello to the cosmos. More places to look at the stars Here are some additional observatories in the United States that are open to the public: None The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., benefits from the same high desert conditions as the Atacama in Chile. It was here, in 1930, that Kansas farmer turned observatory employee Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto. Daytime and nighttime tours take place every day of the week, as well as viewing of the night sky through the 24 inch Clark Refractor Telescope, weather permitting. Farther south, near Tucson, the Kitt Peak National Observatory offers daytime and nighttime activities, including night sky viewing from telescopes located in their visitor center. None In the mountains east of Silicon Valley stands the Lick Observatory, the world's first permanently occupied summit observatory. In operation since 1888, the Lick Observatory is owned and operated by the University of California system. Admission is free to the complex, as well as to the visitor center and gift shop. One highlight is the Summer Series, which are evening events that include night sky viewing through the 36 inch Great Refractor and the 40 inch Nickel Reflector telescopes. Tickets are needed. None Located 450 miles west of Austin, Tex., the McDonald Observatory hosts wide ranging scientific research as well as a robust series of public programs and tours. However, what sets the observatory apart from others is the ability to see the sky through some of the largest telescopes available for the public to view. During its special viewing nights, visitors with tickets can look through the 82 inch Otto Struve telescope, which was the second largest in the world when it opened in 1939. Best of all is the limited chance (9 to 12 times a year, around the full moon) to see the night sky through the 107 inch Harlan J. Smith telescope. None Another observatory that sometimes allows viewing through large telescopes is the Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles. Here, Edwin Hubble discovered that the Milky Way galaxy is only part of a much larger and expanding universe. In addition to public tours, there are limited opportunities to view the night sky through the observatory's famed 60 inch and 100 inch telescopes. None Established in 1859, the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh offers free tours twice a week from April to October. The tours end with a viewing through the 13 inch Fitz Clark, which was the third largest telescope in the world when it was built in 1861. It also boasts an adventurous history as telescopes go its lens was stolen and held for ransom in 1872. Samuel P. Langley, then the director of the observatory, feared that if the ransom was paid, "it would pave the way for other lens knappings," according to the observatory's website. After meeting secretly with the thief, Professor Langley successfully negotiated for the return of the lens. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Travel |
When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. The writers and artists of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly magazine, had a talent for disturbing the peace. They gave themselves over mentally, especially during assignment meetings, to mischief and absurdity and boredom breaking and corrosive antireligious sentiment. Their enemies: sham, cant, pretense, the flattening out of feeling. Nearly any issue of Charlie Hebdo could by comparison make the wits at The Onion, the invaluable but milder American satirical publication, seem as if they were putting on a mini golf course. It was during a Charlie Hebdo brainstorming session, on the morning of Jan. 7, 2015, that two gunmen claiming allegiance to ISIS forced themselves inside the magazine's offices in Paris and slaughtered 12 people. Eleven others were wounded. The carnage was payback, in the terrorists' addled minds, for cartoons that Charlie Hebdo had printed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, whose depiction is forbidden in many interpretations of Islam. The paper's editorial director, Stephane Charbonnier, a cartoonist known as Charb, was among the dead. "We have to carry on," he once said, "until Islam has been rendered as banal as Catholicism." Among the gravely wounded in the attack was the critic and novelist Philippe Lancon, who was in his early 50s. He's now written a powerful and deeply civilized memoir, "Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo," which recounts the massacre and traces its aftermath in his life and in the lives of many others. Lancon almost skipped the Charlie Hebdo meeting that morning. He had a theater review due at Liberation, the daily newspaper Jean Paul Sartre helped to found in 1973. Lancon planned to write his review at the Liberation offices. 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. He rode his bicycle, and left it chained outside Charlie Hebdo. He'd just pop in. He was upbeat. He had plans to travel to Cuba the following month. In the fall, he was going to teach a literature class at Princeton, "with a feeling of complete illegitimacy," on novels about Latin American dictators. To a bookish Frenchman, Princeton was thrilling not merely as "the university of Einstein and Oppenheimer," but "also of Faulkner's great first translator, Maurice Edgar Coindreau." The trip would allow him to spend real time with his girlfriend, Gabriela, who lived in New York City. The writers and artists seated around the Charlie Hebdo conference table barely had time to duck before the gunmen were upon them. As he fell to the floor, Lancon was hit by at least three bullets; one tore off most of his jaw. He opened his eyes and found himself in a hot pool of blood and brains. He played dead to survive. After a pulverizing account of the shootings, "Disturbance" pivots to become the story of a long and difficult recovery. Lancon would spend nearly a year in two hospitals, notably the ancient and legendary Pitie Salpetriere in the 13th Arrondissement. This place nearly becomes a character itself in this memoir. Over the course of nearly three years, Lancon had 17 operations. Bone was taken from his right leg to construct a new jaw. Skin on his neck had to be "inflated" and stretched, to cover and compose the lower portion of his face. There were many setbacks. Would he eat solid food again? Lancon is a sensitive man with a well stocked mind, and he's a steady companion on the page. This is not one of those slim, pared down memoirs like Sonali Deraniyagala's "Wave" or Jean Dominique Bauby's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" of catastrophe and attempted recovery. Philippe Lancon, who survived the Charlie Hebdo attack and has written a memoir, "Disturbance," about the experience and its aftermath. Lancon is, in his mellow way, a maximalist. Like Proust, who's among his favorite writers, he will not be hurried. His cardinal humors are tolerant. This memoir takes more goat paths than highways as he considers friendships and books and meals and sex and morality and journalism and caregivers and toilets and the music of Bach. I did not wish this nearly 500 page book were any longer. It has its longueurs. But I was moved and provoked by it, and I always looked forward to picking it up again. Lancon's life had been flattened. To witness him try to put it back together is like watching a farmer picking up still warm nails after both his house and barn have been burned to the ground. He is, in this adroit translation from the French by Steven Rendall, a gentle humorist. His first thought, upon sensing that his teeth are marbles in his mouth, is to feel pity for his dentist. He consumes a dish he refers to as "the gazpacho of melancholy." He repeatedly refers to one of his oozing wounds as "the cutlet." One nurse is "as phlegmatic as a gnu." At the same time, he lives in a state of constant anxiety. He fears terrorists will return. He imagines them outside the hospital windows, or stalking its halls. He is guarded by policemen, who arrive in shifts, with Beretta rifles. He is disgusted by Islamist fanatics. ("Who were these zombies? What zone were they returning from?") He's a liberal man who senses that the political left, as regards religious fundamentalists, has its head up its own hindquarters. He fears "total war" and "extinction," not just of Western values but of civilization itself. Lancon was cheered by the spontaneous free speech rallies in the Paris streets after the shootings. Everyone looked good on Instagram holding a "Je Suis Charlie" placard. He also thought the rallies were a bit ironic. He points out, not without bitterness, that on the early morning of Jan. 7, "few people in France were prepared to say 'I am Charlie.'" The magazine had lost its media friends, and much of its importance, after it first printed cartoons of Muhammad in 2006. Lampooning Islam was widely conflated with racism. In what might be this memoir's decisive paragraph, he writes, like a dentist scraping around a nerve: "This was a crucial moment: Most newspapers, and even some famous for their graphics, distanced themselves from a satirical weekly that published these caricatures in the name of freedom of expression. Some of them did so out of a declared concern about good taste; others because speaking truth to Muslims might drive them to despair." He continues: "This lack of solidarity was not merely a professional and moral disgrace. By isolating and pointing the finger at Charlie, it helped make the latter the Islamists' target." This memoir is about the principles Lancon finds to be worth upholding and defending, even in the face of death. "Disturbance" is an awfully anodyne title for a book like this one. He might have borrowed another from Doris Lessing: "Briefing for a Descent Into Hell." | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Books |
He left a comfortable professorship at Princeton to run the Federal Reserve and this is what he gets. Mr. Bernanke has worked tirelessly to shepherd the economy through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and yet, for all his efforts, seems vastly underappreciated. CNBC recently asked people, "Do you have confidence in the way Ben Bernanke is handling the economy?" Ninety five percent of the respondents said no. Yes, the CNBC survey was hardly scientific. Nonetheless, it reflected the deep unease that many Americans feel about our central bank and its policies. Critics on both the left and right see much to dislike in how Mr. Bernanke and his Fed colleagues have been doing their jobs. Critics on the left look at the depth of the recent recession and the meager economic recovery we are experiencing and argue that the Fed should have done more. They fear that the United States might slip into a long malaise akin to Japan's lost decade, in which unemployment remains high and the risks of deflation deter people from borrowing, investing and returning the economy to its potential. Critics on the right, meanwhile, worry that the Fed has increased the nation's monetary base at a historically unprecedented pace while keeping interest rates near zero an approach that they say will eventually ignite inflation. Some in this camp have gone so far as to propose repealing the Fed's dual mandate of simultaneously maintaining price stability that is, holding inflation at bay while maximizing sustainable employment. Better, these people say, to replace those twin goals with a single minded focus on inflation. Yet Mr. Bernanke's record shows that the fears of both sides have been exaggerated. Mr. Bernanke became the Fed chairman in February 2006. Since then, the inflation measure favored by the Fed the price index for personal consumption, excluding food and energy has averaged 1.9 percent, annualized. A broader price index that includes food and energy has averaged 2.1 percent. Either way, the outcome is remarkably close to the Fed's unofficial inflation target of 2 percent. So, despite the economic turmoil of the last five years, the Fed has kept inflation on track. Of course, this record could come undone in future years. Yet the signals in the financial markets are reassuring. The interest rate on a 10 year Treasury bond, for instance, is now about 2.8 percent. A 10 year inflation protected Treasury bond yields about 0.4 percent. The difference between those yields, the so called "break even inflation rate," is the inflation rate at which the two bonds earn the same return. That figure is now a bit over 2 percent, a sign that the market does not expect inflation in the coming decade to differ much from that experienced over the last five years. Inflation expectations are anchored at close to their target rate. Could the Fed have done substantially more to avoid the recession and promote recovery? Probably not. The Fed used its main weapon against recession cuts in short term interest rates aggressively as the depth of the downturn became apparent. And it turned to various unconventional weapons as well, including two rounds of quantitative easing essentially buying bonds in an attempt to lower long term interest rates. A few economists have argued, with some logic, that the employment picture would be brighter if the Fed raised its target for inflation above 2 percent. They say higher expected inflation would lower real interest rates, thus encouraging borrowing. That, in turn, would expand the aggregate demand for goods and services. With more demand for their products, companies would increase hiring. Even if that were true, a higher inflation target is a political nonstarter. Economists are divided about whether a higher target makes sense, and the public would likely oppose a more rapidly rising cost of living. If Chairman Bernanke ever suggested increasing inflation to, say, 4 percent, he would quickly return to being Professor Bernanke. What the Fed could do, however, is codify its projected price path of 2 percent. That is, the Fed could announce that, hereafter, it would aim for a price level that rises 2 percent a year. And it would promise to pursue policies to get back to the target price path if shocks to the economy ever pushed the actual price level away from it. Such an announcement could help mollify critics on both the left and right. If we started to see the Japanese style deflation that the left fears, the Fed would maintain a loose monetary policy and even allow a bit of extra inflation to make up for past tracking errors. If we faced the high inflation that worries the right, the Fed would be committed to raising interest rates aggressively to bring inflation back on target. MORE important, an announced target path for inflation would add more certainty to the economy. Americans planning their retirement would have a better sense about the cost of living a decade or two hence. Companies borrowing in the bond market could more accurately pin down the real cost of financing their investment projects. Mr. Bernanke cannot remove all of the uncertainty that households and businesses face, but he can eliminate one small piece of it. Less uncertainty would, other things being equal, encourage spending and promote more rapid recovery. It might even raise Mr. Bernanke's approval ratings a bit. | 0 | N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification | Economy |
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