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The bass baritone Davone Tines rehearsing Hans Werner Henze's "El Cimarron" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Directed by Zack Winokur, it's the finale of the soprano Julia Bullock's season long Met residency. Esteban Montejo was over 100 before the world knew his story. Born a slave in Cuba in 1860, he escaped and lived for years in the jungle until slavery was abolished on the island in 1886. He fought in Cuba's war for independence from Spain and lived through Castro's communist revolution. His interviews with an ethnographer were adapted into a riveting account of his life, published in 1966. The German composer Hans Werner Henze read the book, visited Cuba, met Montejo who lived until 1973 and, with the writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger, swiftly created "El Cimarron," which will be performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday and Saturday. A 75 minute "recital for four musicians" baritone, guitarist, flutist and percussionist (who presides over dozens of instruments) it tells Montejo's story through music that's vivid, seductive and otherworldly, sometimes forceful, sometimes delicate, the vocal line floating between musical pitches and speech. Ms. Bullock, though, will be offstage. "In these early days of figuring out how to curate," she said in an interview, "it's easier to visualize things with my direct involvement. But I was so glad to let the bookend of this be in somebody else's hands." After developing the production last summer with the American Modern Opera Company, Ms. Bullock, Mr. Winokur and Mr. Tines sat down in the midst of the final rehearsals to discuss it. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. DAVONE TINES We see what the foundation of this person was, the heft and thickness of his life experience. We experience his genesis and a bit of his growth. All of that is very closely narrated. But we've also been talking about the prism of memory, and later in life his mental faculties disperse or go to a different place. WINOKUR He talks about slavery with a very dynamic and forceful musical language. Then he escapes into the woods and there are these extended beautiful sections when he's just figuring out how to navigate, roping piglets, making fires, listening to the trees, eating honey and finding herbs and different flowers and just sort of sleeping and listening to the birds. JULIA BULLOCK The real sense of freedom he felt for the first time. TINES And you feel that musically, as well. You go from the stringent, forceful music of slavery to this really open, impressionistic music of the forest. WINOKUR He talks about how much he just loved the peace and quiet, even though there were moments of extreme anxiety. And you see his interaction when he hears about the end of slavery, which he does not believe could be real. He encounters a woman with two children who tells him yes, we're really free. And he decides to go back and then when he re enters and becomes a waged worker, you see his impression of progress; there's a section called "Machines," just looking at the production of sugar cane, and it's completely mind blowing to him. BULLOCK Mind blowing because so many things had been based on rudimentary human labor. But with the ending of slavery, people were still essentially enslaved. The capacity of their lives was still cemented. WINOKUR There's almost no space when he's talking about slavery. It's incredibly rhythmical; there's no space between sections. TINES Or between words in sentences. WINOKUR And when he goes into the woods, there are extensive, like, seven minutes of listening to the birds and walking. TINES And then we get back to "Machines," and it's even more mechanized. As if nothing has been solved. That must have appealed to Henze, a passionate leftist, on a political level. That slavery and what followed were just different iterations of unequal power. TINES The machines are just stronger and louder. WINOKUR Part One is in a straight order, as described in the book. In Part Two, the libretto took a little more of a turn, and we sort of get Montejo's thoughts on things. Like about women, and how much he missed them, and there's a little moment of attempted bestiality with a horse in the woods. About the priests and then about the Americans when they come, and how disgusting they are. And then we end where he ended, when he was doing the interviews at 103, and the importance of friendliness and being with people. BULLOCK Also taking up arms for oneself. WINOKUR A really thrilling part of the show is the Battle of Mal Tiempo, which is where we watch him cut off the heads of colonizing Spaniards. BULLOCK At the end of the biography and the end of the piece Henze wrote, the sense is that moving into the future, "I've got my machete." WINOKUR "I'll be there for all the battles that are coming." WINOKUR The music is held together in all these thin and beautiful ways. It's very fragile. There's the militant idea, captured in the gigantic battery of percussion. There are Cuban styles mixed with Spanish styles and American styles for different moments. We get this "Oh! Susanna" on the melodica during the whole "Yankees" bit, which is one of the strangest colors in the show. Just this morning I was thinking about toward the end of the piece when things sort of taper down. It's interesting to play within a smaller range and not have to be singing a wild parody of modernist music "I have to be so cra zy." WINOKUR It should be a range that feels like speech heightened speech, but speech. A lot of recordings feel very formal, and that doesn't seem like that was Henze's intention. I wanted to get it back to its origin as a "recital for four musicians," and a real chamber piece. Not only did I want the musicians to be implicated in the action and become characters in the piece, using their musical material, but I also wanted it to have the attention on each other that's necessary in chamber music. BULLOCK That's one reason I wanted to program this. Oftentimes when Henze is performed, people are wanting to show it is alternative. But I think Henze was trying to create a very human expression.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Music
Re "How to Fix Our Prisons? Let the Public Inside" (Op Ed, Dec. 18): Neil Barsky is right when he writes that the way to fix prisons is to let the public inside them. When I ran juvenile corrections for Washington, D.C., we invited in a raft of outsiders. Georgetown students came every week to visit and tutor, as did a theatrical group from the University of the District of Columbia. Both a parents' advocacy group and the Public Defenders Service had offices inside the locked perimeter of the facility. I put the private, nonprofit Maya Angelou Academy in charge of educating the young people, and school officials extended school into the evening and on Saturdays so that the young people who were behind in credits could catch up, often using volunteers to augment paid staff. The police and victims' groups worked with the young people to design artwork made from disabled guns confiscated during arrests. A group of formerly incarcerated people provided regular mentorship. We even held a mayoral debate inside the facility moderated by the young people. Each crack in the previously impenetrable juvenile prison gates helped normalize the young people's experience and humanize them. Mr. Barsky's proposal to take that kind of approach nationwide deserves serious consideration.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
The novelist Anne Rivers Siddons in 2000. She defined herself as a storyteller and resisted being categorized as a women's writer. Anne Rivers Siddons, Novelist Whose Muse Was the New South, Dies at 83 Anne Rivers Siddons, whose popular novels, set largely in the South, took female characters on emotional journeys that touched on the region's racial and social attitudes, died on Wednesday at her home in Charleston, S.C. She was 83. Her stepson David Siddons said the cause was lung cancer. Ms. Siddons had been an advertising copywriter and a magazine writer when she started writing novels in the 1970s. Her breakthrough, " Peachtree Road" (1988), was a generational saga about Atlanta's evolution since World War II, told through two cousins. Ms. Siddons was urged by her friend the writer Pat Conroy to write a novel that would reflect her ambivalence about Atlanta, her adopted home. She had long admired the city's vigor but felt that its relentless growth had gone too far. "As Ms. Siddons offered argument after argument about why she couldn't do the book," The Atlanta Journal and Constitution wrote in 1988, "she mentioned that a woman friend of hers had just died. 'The South killed her the day she was born; it just took her that long to die.'" Hearing that, Mr. Conroy told her, "That's the opening of your great book about Atlanta." It was indeed the first line of the prologue in "Peachtree Road," in which she replaced "she" with the name of a lead character, Lucy Bondurant Chastain Venable. "Peachtree Road" invited comparisons to "Gone With the Wind," an earlier sweeping novel with Atlanta as its backdrop. In his review in The Journal and Constitution , Bob Summer wrote that Ms. Siddons had evoked the city as well as Margaret Mitchell had. He added, "Ms. Siddons skillfully weaves bright threads of humor, nuance and an exacting observation of the social mores of the times she is writing about; surely she is the Jane Austen of modern Atlanta." Ms. Siddons's breakthrough novel, "Peachtree Road" (1988), was a generational saga that invited comparisons to "Gone With the Wind." Ms. Siddons defined herself as a storyteller, like Mr. Conroy, and resisted being categorized as a women's writer. Still, her understanding of women's struggles imbued all her novels, up through her final one, "The Girls of August" (2014), about a group of longtime friends whose annual oceanfront gathering is shattered when one of them dies. "All my books are about women taking journeys they might not want to take," Ms. Siddons told an interviewer in 2008 . "It's about finding wholeness. I know so few families anymore, and how can we have whole families if we don't have whole women?" Sybil Anne Rivers was born on Jan 9, 1936, in Fairburn , Ga., a small town about 20 miles southwest of Atlanta. Her father, Marvin, was a patent lawyer, and her mother, Katherine ( Kitchen ) Rivers, was the secretary to a high school principal. She was a young Southern belle: a cheerleader and homecoming queen in high school and a popular sorority sister at Auburn University in Alabama. But in 1957, early in the civil rights movement, she broke with custom by writing two columns for the school newspaper supporting integration. "What we are advocating when we gather in howling mobs like animals and throw stones and wreck automobiles and beat helpless individuals is wrong, and I don't care from which of the myriad angles you choose to look at it," she wrote. She was fired after the second column was published. She moved to Atlanta after graduating from Auburn with a bachelor's degree. There she worked in advertising and as a writer and editor at Atlanta magazine. "I saw that my writing was a gift and not just a twitch," she told People magazine in 1991. Essays and humor pieces that she had written for Atlanta, House Beautiful and Georgia magazines were collected in her first book, "John Chancellor Makes Me Cry," published in 1975. Her first novel, "Heartbreak Hotel," followed a year later. Inspired by her experiences on the college paper at Auburn, it tells the story of a similar act of defiance by a popular sorority sister on the campus of fictional Randolph University in Alabama. "That book spoke to me," the novelist Cassandra King, Mr. Conroy's wife, said by phone. "I thought this was a woman of my generation who had had the courage to do what she had done at Auburn. She really stuck her neck out and took risks." Ms. Siddons had been an advertising copywriter and a magazine writer before publishing her first novel, "Heartbreak Hotel," in 1976. "Heartbreak Hotel" was made into a movie, "Heart of Dixie" (1989), starring Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen and Phoebe Cates and directed by Martin Davidson. Ms. Siddons's writing career was derailed in the early 1980s by severe depression. She didn't write for three years, but after being prescribed medication and working with a therapist, she returned with "Homeplace" (1987). "If I couldn't write, it would have killed me," she told BookPage, a book review publication, in 1998. In all, she wrote 15 more novels, many of which made The New York Times's best seller list. Jamie Raab, who as the president of Grand Central Publishing edited Ms. Siddons's last three books, said that she had created characters that resonated with her readers. "When we met, we started talking about her characters like they were personal friends of ours," Ms. Raab, now the president of Celadon Books, said by phone. "That's how we bonded." Before she died, David Siddons said, Ms. Siddons had thought of an idea for a new novel about the friendship between a white girl and a black girl at the time of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches in 1965. In addition to him, Ms. Siddons, who had homes in Charleston and in Brooklin, Me., is survived by three other stepsons, Kem , Rick and Lee Siddons, and three step grandchildren. Her husband, Heyward Siddons, died in 2014. Ms. Siddons came to understand that her desire to write was a reaction to her traditional upbringing. "The South is hard on women," she told People, "partly because of the emphasis on looks and charm. No matter what I did, I always ended up with this hollow feeling. It finally hit me. "That's why I wrote: I am writing about the journey we take to find out what lives in that hole."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
are to be married Sept. 2 in Ames, Iowa. The Rev. Bryan John Simmons, a Lutheran pastor, is to perform the ceremony at by the Campanile at Iowa State University. Ms. Chen, 33, will be taking her husband's name. She is the director of global executive education at the New York University Stern School of Business and senior adviser to the associate vice chancellor of New York University Shanghai. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota and received a law degree from Harvard. She is the daughter of Lisha He and Yuguang Chen of Hong Kong. The bride's father is the managing director at Techpower, a Hong Kong based company that researches and develops microbial and eco agricultural products. Her mother retired in 2017 as a consultant for Tianbu Organic Agriculture, a Chinese eco plant nutrient company. Mr. Kaiser, 32, is an account manager at Cisco Systems, and a member of the associate board of Covenant House New York. He graduated cum laude from Iowa State University.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
Jumbotron proposals have become as much a part of baseball as the seventh inning stretch no matter that they are often considered tacky and in bad taste. When a proposal appears on the giant screen, a large segment of sports Twitter world (mostly women) chime in about how they hope no one ever proposes to them at a sporting event. Still, hundreds of these public, grandiose gestures happen every year and many proposees walk out of the stadium happily ever after. On March 31, 2018, Joanna Chan, who works for Netflix, proposed to her girlfriend of five years, Julie Morris, who is employed at Hulu. The moment happened during the first period of a Calgary Flames game and was shown on the giant screen at Scotiabank Saddledome known as the Enmax Energy Board home to the National Hockey League's Flames. Ms. Chan and Ms. Morris, both 36 and living in Los Angeles (since married and now both going by Chan Morris), had just embarked on a five year tour of all 31 N.H.L. arenas, and the Saddledome was their final stop. Even still, with that gesture, their engagement became a viral sensation, traveling beyond the area and onto the internet. Joanna paid 5,000 Canadian dollars ( 3,782) for the opportunity, which she says was "worth every penny." The Saddledome is far from the only sports arena that gives fans the option to propose on a really big TV screen in front of thousands. Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, does 50 to 60 live, in game proposals each season at a cost of 350 each. At Dodger Stadium, getting engaged onscreen will set you back 5,000, an event the team estimates happens two or three times a season. The National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks do several proposals a season, and the New York Knicks have a 500 proposal package for purchase. The Knicks have had "seven completed proposals so far this season," the team said, and the package includes a split screen with video of the proposal on one side and your written message ("So and so, will you marry me?") on the other. Most teams request that the payment come in the form of a donation to the team's charity. Some sports organizations, though, like the Boston Celtics, don't provide the option to propose on their giant screen at all. Even though sports fans come from all genders, there's an assumption that mostly men will be viewing the proposal, including the players. "Sports stadiums are not gender neutral territory," said Dr. Leslie Bell, the author of "Hard to Get: Twenty Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom" (University of California Press, 2018). Just like rooting for your favorite team to win, she said, a woman saying yes to a proposal can be viewed as a sort of victory. The whole concept irks Jessica Kleinschmidt, a content producer/reporter at NBC Sports Bay Area and a self proclaimed "hater of in game proposals." "It's as if this person needs to show these complete strangers they love this person by making a show out of it," Ms. Kleinschmidt said. "Needing validation from complete strangers? Go on Twitter if you want to do that." Also, she noted, an in game proposal "puts the woman under pressure to say yes." When those traditional gender dynamics are reversed, the public response can be cruel. In 2014, a woman surprised her boyfriend by proposing to him at an N.B.A. game. At the time, she told Fox 5 DC, "I thought this would make me the best wife to be ever to do it in front of his favorite team." Her fiance seemed happy she asked. But the response online was less than kind, with the frequently misogynist sports and culture website Barstool Sports calling it "the absolute worst proposal of all time," among other worse things. Another blogger wrote that he would "never want to be proposed to by my girlfriend, and at an N.B.A. game no less, not in a million years." When Jumbotron proposals go wrong, spectators take an almost perverse pleasure in the rejection. In 2017, a rejected proposal at Fenway Park resulted in the entire ballpark chanting, "She said no!" (Jasmine Guillory's newest novel, aptly named "The Proposal," opens with a rejected proposal at Dodger Stadium that goes viral on the internet.) This virality is something that more and more Jumbotron proposers are experiencing now that social media is a thing and everyone in the stadium has a smartphone, or the teams broadcast feel good content across their various platforms. What is it about our culture's ideas about love, romance and marriage that allowed the phenomenon to gain traction in the first place? "Romantic comedies," Chloe Angyal wrote for Buzzfeed in 2015, "teach us that the truer a true love is, the grander and more public the public grand gesture will be." It's hard to know when the gimmick originated, but it had to be sometime after video screens were installed in stadiums; Dodger Stadium was among the first, in 1980. But the technology has given rise to an entire industry of what Laurie Essig, the author of "Love, Inc.: Dating Apps, the Big White Wedding, and Chasing the Happily Neverafter" (University of California Press, 2019) calls "spectacular proposals." Jumbotron proposals are, of course, grandiose gestures, broadcasting love and commitment onto a giant screen for tens of thousands, and now, with the advent of social media, millions of eyes to consume. They are larger than life. "I just thought it would make it that much more special," to put it on the Jumbotron instead of just proposing in the concourse, said Tyler Garrison, 40, who proposed to his now husband, Ty Fleming, at Nationals Park in 2017. Mr. Garrison and Mr. Fleming, 35, live in Washington and are season ticket holders, which is why Mr. Garrison says he thought the big proposal would be "creating a special moment that we can have for the rest of our lives." Mr. Garrison never imagined that the moment would be viewed millions of times across the internet. He had planned the proposal with help from a friend, Robert York, a board member of Athlete Ally, a nonprofit athletic advocacy group. It was one of the first same sex marriage proposals on a screen at a Major League Baseball game. When the Chan Morrises got engaged in Calgary last year, Joanna says the team was initially concerned that her request was a prank or a desire to make a political statement. But after she persuaded them that she just wanted to get engaged something a straight couple would almost never have to prove the moment was one of the most touching Jumbotron proposals in recent memory. It similarly went viral, and the response was mostly enthusiastic. But heartwarming feedback is not always the case. Marlyn Sanchez said she made the mistake of reading the comments under the YouTube video of her proposal at Marlins Park last year, and "people were so mean." Ms. Sanchez, a 37 year old curriculum support specialist for Miami Dade County Public Schools and also a singer, had sung the national anthem at the ballpark before, which gave her now fiance, Rafael Cabrera, an "in" with the team. She was contacted and asked to come back and perform, and to throw the first pitch. Unbeknown to her, the person who caught the ball was Mr. Cabrera. He walked over, got down on one knee, and proposed. (The two plan to marry in May.) Commenters joked that, because of the low attendance at Miami Marlins games, it appeared like Mr. Cabrera had rented out the entire stadium for her. Other people jabbed that it must have taken guts to propose in front of tens of people. Mr. Cabrera, 35, was a former minor league ballplayer, and even though Ms. Sanchez says she isn't necessarily a Marlins fan, the proposal was perfect because it was "totally him." Even though they had never talked about the idea of public proposals, Ms. Sanchez says Mr. Cabrera would always say to her: "Don't even give me any hints of what you want, because I'm gonna do it in my own way and that's that." Although Ms. Sanchez says she has "thick skin" when it comes to criticism, in part because she's a performer, getting engaged in such a public way invites feedback from viewers that not everyone will take in stride the way she did.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
I wasn't expecting to get any messages on my answering machine at Barnard College on Christmas Day. But there was one. So I hit play, thinking it might be greetings from an old friend, or even a stranger, wishing to share the good will of the season. What I heard instead was a racist message from a white supremacist group in Idaho, using the incomprehensibly tragic death of a first year Barnard student, Tessa Majors, as an occasion to promote hatred toward African Americans. She had been fatally stabbed during a mugging on Dec. 11, not far from campus. It was one of the most awful things I've ever heard. A few days earlier, at a celebration of Ms. Major's life in Charlottesville, Va., her hometown, a friend had described her as someone who "tethered communities who didn't speak to one another because she thought we were all worth knowing." At that same celebration, a group of her friends performed several of her favorite songs. They also played Paul Simon's "Graceland," a song that contains the lyric, "Losing love is like a window in your heart; everybody sees you're blown apart; everybody sees the wind blow." I did not know Ms. Majors, but I'm proud to be a teacher at Barnard. It will take a long time for our community to heal; in some ways, we never will. When I got the racist robocall, I deleted it instantly. My hope was to erase it from my memory, from my life, from the world I live in. But I should have known it's never that easy. I can still hear that man's voice. The more I try to forget it, the more it haunts me. Since then, I've been trying to understand, without much success, what the right response to hate should be. It's not the first time I've heard voices like this, or wrestled with this question. When I was young, I was ridiculed and beaten more than once for being queer. As a public advocate for L.G.B.T.Q. people, I've gotten used to threatening letters and being accosted in public. Last year, in response to something I'd written in The Times, someone came up to me on the street in Midtown Manhattan and began to yell and swear. "So much death," laments King Theoden in Tolkien's "The Two Towers." The question he asks next is one that I too struggle to answer, "What can men do against such reckless hate?" Because it's just not possible to "delete messages" for every terrible thing the world contains. Sometimes I think about John Lennon's sweet song "Across the Universe" and its refrain, "Nothing's going to change my world." It's a strangely transcendent lyric, but when I hear it now, the words sometimes make me sad, given that Lennon's world was indeed changed by a deranged young man with a .38 Special. Often that's been my first response to hate to obstinately declare that my sense of the world cannot be changed, even by violence. Sometimes, this means insulating myself from obscenities, as when I deleted that racist voice mail. That can be a good strategy for self care. Other times, I fear it means putting my head in the sand, denying the very reality of the terrible things that hatred has brought about. An even worse response which I'm also guilty of is to answer hate with hate. On Twitter, for example, I'm hardly generous, especially when it comes to responding to people who think it's clever to diminish my humanity. Am I embarrassed by some of the things I've tweeted and written in the heat of the moment? Yes. Of course, fighting back is only natural when people attack you. A better response would be to try to open hearts. There are many ways of going about this, including getting involved in communities that seek to illuminate the human spirit, communities like Barnard. Another thing we can do is to gather together in defiance of the darkness. On Sunday, tens of thousands of New Yorkers did just that, at a rally against anti Semitism. Events such as these can bring about the very thing Tessa Majors tried to do in her short life the tethering of one soul to another.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
Desus Nice and the Kid Mero make their Showtime debut. And Spike Lee's "School Daze" is on BET. DESUS MERO 11 p.m. on Showtime. How do you take a scrappy late night series hosted by a couple of Bronx pop culture aficionados and size it up for premium cable? The answer, according to Desus Nice and the Kid Mero (the stage names of Daniel Baker and Joel Martinez), is gently. "You don't mess up the recipe if it's working," Desus recently told The New York Times. The pair amassed a following through a free flowing talk show on Viceland; before it ended last summer, it distinguished itself from other late night shows through a lack of structure, with episodes that tended to feel like extended hangouts with Desus and Mero; there were no traditional opening monologues. The new show endeavors to take that same structure (or lack thereof) and use premium cable resources to bring in guests like Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, the pair's first big interview on the new show (and a fellow Bronx native). SCHOOL DAZE (1988) 5:40 p.m. on BET. A question that will hang heavily over the Academy Awards on Sunday is whether Spike Lee will win a directing Oscar after being nominated, for the first time, for "BlacKkKLansman," his 21st nondocumentary feature. His second, the musical comedy "School Daze," came out between his classics "She's Gotta Have It" and "Do the Right Thing." It paints a scathing portrait of a fictitious all black college whose population is divided between members of fraternities and sororities and everybody else. Laurence Fishburne plays a student political organizer; the ensemble also includes Lee and his frequent collaborator Giancarlo Esposito.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
The nation's economy is entering 2015 in its best shape since the recession, but the improving job market has so far failed to help most Americans earn significantly more at work. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers added another 252,000 workers to their payrolls in December, capping a year in which total employment rose by 2.95 million, the largest advance since 1999. The unemployment rate also improved, edging down last month to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent in November. The rate plunged just over a full percentage point between 2013 and 2014, the largest decline since 1984. "The rising tide of this economic wind at our back has to lift more boats," Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said in a telephone interview. The nation's wage situation, he said, is a crucial part of the "unfinished business" of the nation's economic recovery, which began around the middle of 2009. Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said the decline in wages came despite December gains in construction and health care jobs and other jobs that typically offered good salaries. "This is still a buyer's market in terms of labor," she said. "For all the good news on unemployment and the number of jobs we've created, if these wage numbers are to be believed, employers still have their pick." For the Federal Reserve, the mixed message from the jobs reports makes the timing of its first interest rate increase in years more problematic. Robust job growth and the lowest unemployment rate since June 2008 suggest a rapidly improving economy, possibly persuading the Fed that it should move sooner rather than later to raise rates to lessen the risk of speculative bubbles or future inflation. "If the activity data continue to improve, as we expect," Paul Dales, a senior economist for Capital Economics, said in a note to clients, "then the Fed may not wait for wage growth to rise and could still raise rates as soon as March." Yet as long as wages lag and ordinary Americans are not enjoying much of the fruits of an improving economy, the Fed should stand pat, many economists say. "The economy clearly has no wage or price pressures that would point towards an early liftoff on interest rates," Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote in a blog post. William Spriggs, chief economist for the A.F.L. C.I.O., said he worried that the Fed would raise interest rates too soon, hurting small businesses that could hire more workers as long as they maintained ready access to low interest loans. "We need a financial environment where that can take place," he said. "If that gets interrupted, hiring is going to get choked off too early." Still, economic prospects are clearly improving. Even in the absence of better wage gains, declining oil prices may help bolster purchasing power. One economist likened the lower prices to the equivalent of a pay raise of about 1,000 a person for the year, if prices stay low. The drop in oil prices represents a substantial transfer of income from oil producers to oil consumers, said Kevin Logan, a chief economist for HSBC Bank. While some American oil producers are shutting unprofitable rigs and planning job cuts that could damage oil and shale producing regions like Louisiana and North Dakota, the overall economic effect for the nation is positive. "Every dollar gained is a dollar lost, but the benefits are widespread and the losses are concentrated and will be small," Mr. Logan said. There are other encouraging signs that the recovery is on solid footing. "At the current pace of job growth, the economy should be closing in on a 5 percent unemployment rate by this time next year, which is consistent with full employment," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "Wage growth should also pick up more broadly in coming months." Better, higher paying jobs are already are being created. Business and professional services have been adding jobs in recent months, though last month many were in the lower paying administrative category. Hiring has been vigorous in the health care industry, and last month construction jobs increased. Manufacturing job growth has more than doubled to 16,000 a month in the last year, and those jobs generally have an average weekly paycheck about 170 higher than other private sector jobs, Jason Furman, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a blog post. Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, said new economic data could "provide a glimmer of hope." Mr. Furman said the estimated 0.7 percent increase in real earnings in 2014 is a bit higher than the average annual increase of 0.5 percent from 2000 through 2007, the period of the last expansion. He calculated the figures using the Consumer Price Index inflationary measures through November, as well as consensus projections for December. "But there is more work to be done to raise wages and address longer standing challenges around family incomes," Mr. Furman said. In addition to December's new jobs, the number of jobs created in November was revised upward to 353,000 from 321,000. Overall job growth last year averaged 246,000 a month, after 194,000 a month in 2013. But more than eight million workers are still looking for full time employment, while many others have reluctantly accepted part time work. The share of men in their prime working years who are not working has more than tripled since the 1960s. Long term unemployment remains highly elevated, and the work force participation rate, already at historically low levels, slipped in December. "A strong labor market attracts people to participate and pays them rising wages," the right leaning policy group said in a release. "It is hard to say the labor market is strong despite the robust top line numbers. The U.S. economy is healing, but not yet healthy." The frustration over wages was evident despite the other positive indicators. "The good news is that in 2014, people were increasingly finding jobs," said Elise Gould, a senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, in a statement. "The bad news is that we are still digging our way out of the recession, and wage growth remains stagnant and untouched by recovery." Even as the economic recovery advances toward its sixth anniversary with a strong tailwind, it faces several hurdles. The strong dollar at its highest point in years is hailed by many as a sign of America's improving economic conditions. But the dollar's strength comes with consequences. American manufacturers may lose their competitive edge as the stronger dollar makes their goods more expensive compared to those from other countries. Demand for American products could wane, and exports over all could suffer. Another potential threat for the United States is the overall weakness in the global economy. Europe's economy is stagnant, China's is slowing and Japan's is struggling to emerge from a recent downturn. "There's a risk we could see slower job growth if much of the world goes into recession," said David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide. "It's unlikely, but there's a chance."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
Talk about an October surprise. The post on Twitter warning of a government conspiracy to swing the presidential election in the Democrats' favor popped up just moments after the Labor Department reported the biggest monthly decline in the unemployment rate in nine years. "Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything," it said, referring to the Obama administration's crew. "Can't debate so change numbers." The author of the Oct. 5 post was not Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee and irrepressible Twitter user. It was Jack Welch, the legendary retired chief executive of General Electric, reacting to good economic news in the weeks running up to the 2012 face off between President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. Mr. Welch later admitted that he had no evidence that any numbers had been cooked only that the reported improvements did not match his own observations of the economy. Such suspicions about even the routine, day in and day out economic statistics produced by the federal government, voiced by a scattershot of skeptics in previous years, have turned into a steady roar this campaign season. With Mr. Trump insisting, wrongly, that the United States is "losing jobs to other countries at a higher rate than ever," it may not be a surprise that nearly half of Mr. Trump's supporters "completely distrust the economic data reported by the federal government," according to a recent Marketplace Edison Research survey. (By contrast, 5 percent of those planning to vote for Hillary Clinton say they distrust the government information.) Decades of psychological research have shown that people, regardless of political affinity, tend to embrace information that confirms their existing beliefs and disregard data that contradicts them. "Partisans tend to credit the information when it reflects well on their leaders and dismiss it when it doesn't," said Dan M. Kahan, a law and psychology professor at Yale University. "People don't know where these figures come from, they don't know what they mean," Professor Kahan said. "They just have an emotional 'yay' or 'boo' response to them and anything else that they recognize as having a political significance." Earlier this year, Mr. Trump said, "Don't believe those phony numbers," contending that the jobless rate was "probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent." More recently, he declared the official 5 percent jobless rate "one of the biggest hoaxes in American modern politics." By affirming that view, Trump supporters are in effect signaling: "I'm with him." So how reliable is the government data on employment, which will be reported again on Friday? Like all statistical measurements, it can be both honest and imprecise; a best estimate given the available tools but nonetheless subject to ambiguity, misinterpretation and error. "Every data collection comes with a set of strengths and weaknesses," said Karen Kosanovich, an economist and 24 year veteran of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "That's part of the business of collecting information." There are some basic ground rules, however, that prevent the process from spitting out any answers you please and undermine claims that the results are rigged for a political purpose. For starters, the people who generate the numbers are all career civil servants who have churned out reports for both Republicans and Democrats. And their basic methods do not swerve from one administration to the next. If the figures are biased, they are consistently biased in the same way regardless of what party is in office. What happened on Day 2 of Elizabeth Holmes's testimony. Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay 31 million to the 'House of Cards' studio after sexual harassment allegations. "I've never had any outside influence that tells me what to do or how to collect and interpret information," Ms. Kosanovich said. "Our approach is based on methodologies that have been proven over time and approved statistical practices. They are not based on political influence." Jack Welch, the former chief of General Electric, caused a stir in 2012 by questioning favorable jobs data that did not match his personal observations. The monthly employment report is derived from two separate surveys that serve different purposes. The first, collected by the Census Bureau since 1942, allows the government to estimate the number of people who are employed and calculate the unemployment rate. The most common misconception among the public, Ms. Kosanovich said, is that the unemployment rate is determined solely by counting people who are receiving unemployment insurance benefits. That is not the case. Rather, it is based on what is known as the Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of 60,000 households, or about 110,000 individuals from all around the country. (By comparison, most respected public opinion polls depend on a random sample of 1,000 to 2,000 people). In general, anyone who reports working for pay even just an hour during the previous week is considered employed. Anyone who was laid off or actively looked for work (sending out resumes, responding to help wanted ads) during the previous four weeks, regardless of whether they received any government benefits, is considered unemployed. People who are not looking this includes millions of students enrolled in college, plenty of parents who are happy to stay home with young children, and millions more retirees are not counted as being in the labor force. The second survey is designed to measure something else: employment changes over time. This payroll survey focuses solely on jobs, rather than individuals. Thus, a single person working two jobs would be counted once by the household survey (one individual is employed) and twice by the payroll survey (two jobs exist). To estimate how many jobs were created and lost, the labor bureau each month gathers data from 146,000 private business and government agencies covering about 623,000 work sites throughout the country. So what gives the best picture of the job market? That depends. The survey of employers, started in a bare bones form more than a century ago, is considered a more reliable measure than the household survey, in part because the sample size is much larger. But it does not pick up all the types of jobs (the self employed, unpaid family workers, domestic help and agricultural workers) or answer questions about workers' race, ethnicity, age and educational level. The household survey helps fill in those gaps. The official jobless rate comes from the household survey and represents the number of people who are 1) in the labor force, and 2) unemployed. In September that was 7.9 million Americans out of the 160 million in the labor force, or 5 percent. Many economists, however, consider the official unemployment rate to be an inadequate gauge of what people are experiencing. It does not take into account people who are working only part time because they cannot find a full time job. Or the former steelworker who, after years of fruitless searching, has given up looking but would take a job if he could find one. The bureau publishes alternative measures of unemployment to help capture this reality. The broadest one, which includes both discouraged and underemployed workers, tends to rise and fall with the official rate but is always larger. In September, the measure, known as U 6, was 9.7 percent. Even that broader figure does not capture the full picture. In 2003, for example, Austan Goolsbee, who later went on to serve as a top economic adviser in the Obama White House, complained that the jobless rate was understated because of government programs. Social Security disability, in particular, he argued, had "effectively been buying people off the unemployment rolls and reclassifying them as 'not in the labor force.' " Mr. Goolsbee called this "a kind of invisible unemployment" and noted that "underreporting unemployment has served the interests of both political parties." Since then, concerns about the shrinking size of the labor force have sharpened. The proportion of Americans officially in the labor force has failed to recover significantly after taking a steep dive during the recession. In 2008, about 66 percent of the population was actively looking or working; now less than 63 percent is. Some people have willingly made the choice to stop working. But many, particularly those in their prime working years, are missing from the labor force. Recent research by Alan B. Krueger, a Princeton economist and former Obama administration adviser, found that nearly half of the seven million men between 25 and 54 not in the labor force were on daily painkillers or disabled. "Just because people left the work force out of discouragement, doesn't mean they're not available for work," said Patrick J. O'Keefe, director of economic policy at CohnReznick and a former deputy assistant secretary in the Labor Department. "It just means the economy is not generating sufficient jobs at sufficient pay levels to get them back in." Positive or negative spin, however, is not part of the Labor Department's brief, Ms. Kosanovich said. She repeated a comment made by Kathleen Utgoff, a former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner appointed by George W. Bush, that serves as the agency's unofficial motto: When asked whether the glass is half full or half empty, the bureau's response is, It's an eight ounce glass with four ounces of liquid.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
It's a big summer for 50th anniversaries: there's Woodstock, the Stonewall riots and the Manson murders. But for watch geeks, only one matters: the Omega Speedmaster and its journey to the moon. Sure, three astronauts tagged along. And as every watch lover knows, they were outfitted with Omega's storied Speedmaster Professional, known, forever after, as the Moonwatch. As nostalgia for the Apollo 11 mission builds, prices for the most sought after vintage Speedmasters have taken a trip into orbit, fueled by a booming market for vintage watches and a cult following on social media (see SpeedyTuesday). At a Phillips Geneva auction last year, a first generation Speedmaster from 1958 sold for nearly 410,000, a price typically associated with the finer vintage Rolex Daytonas.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
Nancy Lane displays photographs of people she admires on her bedroom wall. There, she points out, is a jubilant black and white image of the photographer Gordon Parks, surrounded by friends, celebrating his 95th birthday in Harlem. "Gordon gets out of the car, and sees that here, they are all here to celebrate him and celebrate what he has meant to black photographers," said Ms. Lane, a board member of the Studio Museum in Harlem. "And the joy that they all have is so clear." The photo hangs next to others featuring the likes of Judith Jamison, a former artistic director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; the jazz musician Miles Davis; and the dancer and social activist Katherine Dunham. Ms. Lane's 200 piece collection of paintings, sculptures and photographs, most by black artists, wraps its way throughout her Greenwich Village apartment. On another wall, there is a personal portrait featuring a small Ms. Lane in the distance, taken by Carrie Mae Weems. A copy of Pete Souza's "Obama: An Intimate Portrait," sits on a coffee table next to a small Takashi Murakami sculpture. It's a breezy July afternoon and Ms. Lane has the windows open in her apartment. She is wearing a millennial pink button down with a string of pearls around her neck, and she is buzzing with energy as she discusses the art in her life. Ms. Lane has been a board member at the Studio Museum for most of its existence, over 40 years. She first joined because she was intrigued by the museum's residency program for up and coming artists. Since her retirement in 2000 (among other positions, she worked at Johnson Johnson for 25 years, a bulk of the time as vice president of government affairs), Ms. Lane has devoted much of her focus to the arts. For example, she completed an M.A., from Christie's Education, in modern art, connoisseurship and the history of the art market. At a recent auction to raise money to expand the Studio Museum, Ms. Lane bought "Fake Death Picture (The Suicide Manet)," a chromogenic print by the British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare that's mounted near the entrance to the apartment. She's especially drawn to female artists "These are strong women," she said. Her collection includes prints from Ms. Weems's series "From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried" (1995 1996) and a large figural sculpture by Chakaia Booker. "Looking at her work, frankly, I was stunned," Ms. Lane said. "The concept of taking found materials was something I was familiar with, but I was struck by the fact that she'd moved beyond anything I'd seen before." These are edited excerpts from the conversation. You have a few paintings from Glenn Ligon on your wall. He mixes literature with art, what do you think of this combination? I like that he takes the words, and then turns them, for me, into feelings. And with the repetition, it just seems to intensify. So you read the phrase, "I feel most colored when I'm thrown against a sharp white background," and then he repeats it. In the repetition, what happens is, you begin to feel, how disturbing it is to be in this circumstance. That's what I take away from that. What do you think of the artists who use popular culture, like graffiti and magazines? Sometimes I've admired work written in another language. And this, to me, is like another language. And it catches you I'm all caught up in the swirl of it and the beauty of it without even trying to make any particular sense of it. What does "Girl with a Bamboo Earring" mean in the context of your collection? When he did this piece he was still at Yale working on his M.F.A. I loved the work, I found it arresting. I love her strength that we see, even with how young she is. I love that powerful gaze she has. How do you think photography of smaller moments reflects larger ideas? I think they reflect significant moments in life. For example, this picture "Miles Davis in the Green Room." It's really an iconic piece. That's a shot where Miles is so reflective. He's there, he's not there. He's in the midst of the group. The group is focused in so many ways on him, and Miles is in his own world.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Art & Design
Cynthia Hopkins starts her new show, "Articles of Faith," with Einstein's assertion that our entire outlook depends on whether we think of the universe as friendly or hostile. You can see why this would be on Ms. Hopkins's mind: In May 2015, this musician and performance artist lost all of her earthly possessions when her Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment which doubled as work studio and tripled as storage space went up in flames while she and her husband, the designer Jeff Sugg, were on vacation. Everything was gone: costumes and props, clothes, years' worth of writing, furniture. This would have been a crisis of epic proportions for anybody, and, of course, it was just that for Ms. Hopkins. But she's also someone whose work is largely autobiographical she explored her drinking in "The Alcoholic Movie Musical!" and her ailing father's legacy in "The Truth: A Tragedy," for instance so the disaster inevitably led to a show. In the past, Ms. Hopkins has had a tendency to veer into self indulgence and cutesiness, but "Articles of Faith," which is having its premiere at the Kitchen as part of the Lumberyard in the City festival, avoids these twin perils. As usual, Ms. Hopkins is the sole performer, but she's not the only voice recounting what happened before and after the fire, which was caused by an ancient power strip: Each of the show's sections is presented in a different style.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
Millions of American schoolchildren are receiving free or low cost meals for the first time as their parents, many once solidly middle class, have lost jobs or homes during the economic crisis, qualifying their families for the decades old safety net program. The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006 7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the meals program. Eleven states, including Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Tennessee, had four year increases of 25 percent or more, huge shifts in a vast program long characterized by incremental growth. The Agriculture Department has not yet released data for September and October. "These are very large increases and a direct reflection of the hardships American families are facing," said Benjamin Senauer, a University of Minnesota economist who studies the meals program, adding that the surge had happened so quickly "that people like myself who do research are struggling to keep up with it." In Sylva, N.C., layoffs at lumber and paper mills have driven hundreds of new students into the free lunch program. In Las Vegas, where the collapse of the construction industry has caused hardship, 15,000 additional students joined the subsidized lunch program this fall. Around Rochester, unemployed engineers and technicians have signed up their children after the downsizing of Kodak and other companies forced them from their jobs. Many of these formerly middle income parents have pleaded with school officials to keep their enrollment a secret. Students in families with incomes up to 130 percent of the poverty level or 29,055 for a family of four are eligible for free school meals. Children in a four member household with income up to 41,348 qualify for a subsidized lunch priced at 40 cents. Among the first to call attention to the increases were Department of Education officials, who use subsidized lunch rates as a poverty indicator in federal testing. This month, in releasing results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, they noted that the proportion of the nation's fourth graders enrolled in the lunch program had climbed to 52 percent from 49 percent in 2009, crossing a symbolic watershed. In the Rockdale County Schools in Conyers, Ga., east of Atlanta, the percentage of students receiving subsidized lunches increased to 63 percent this year from 46 percent in 2006. "We're seeing people who were never eligible before, never had a need," said Peggy Lawrence, director of school nutrition. One of those is Sheila Dawson, a Wal Mart saleswoman whose husband lost his job as the manager of a Waffle House last year, reducing their income by 45,000. "We're doing whatever we can to save money," said Ms. Dawson, who has a 15 year old daughter. "We buy clothes at the thrift store, we see fewer movies and this year my daughter qualifies for reduced price lunch." She added, "I feel like: 'Hey, we were paying taxes all these years. This is what they were for.' " Although the troubled economy is the main factor in the increases, experts said, some growth at the margins has resulted from a new way of qualifying students for the subsidized meals, known as direct certification. In 2004, Congress required the nation's 17,000 school districts to match student enrollment lists against records of local food stamp agencies, directly enrolling those who receive food stamps for the meals program. The number of districts doing so has been rising as have the number of school age children in families eligible for food stamps, to 14 million in 2010 11 from 12 million in 2009 10. "The concern of those of us involved in the direct certification effort is how to help all these districts deal with the exploding caseload of kids eligible for the meals," said Kevin Conway, a project director at Mathematica Policy Research, a co author of an October report to Congress on direct certification. Congress passed the National School Lunch Act in 1946 to support commodity prices after World War II by reducing farm surpluses while providing food to schoolchildren. By 1970, the program was providing 22 million lunches on an average day, about a fifth of them subsidized. Since then, the subsidized portion has grown while paid lunches have declined, but not since 1972 have so many additional children become eligible for free lunches as in fiscal year 2010, 1.3 million. Today it is a 10.8 billion program providing 32 million lunches, 21 million of which are free or at reduced price. All 50 states have shown increases, according to Agriculture Department data. In Florida, which has 2.6 million public school students, an additional 265,000 students have become eligible for subsidies since 2007, with increases in virtually every district. "Growth has been across the board," said Mark Eggers, the Florida Department of Education official who oversees the lunch program. In Tennessee, the number of students receiving subsidized meals has grown 37 percent since 2007. "When a factory closes, our school districts see a big increase," said Sarah White, the state director of school nutrition. In Las Vegas, with 13.6 percent unemployment, the enrollment of thousands of new students in the subsidized lunch program forced the Clark County district to add an extra shift at the football field size central kitchen, said Virginia Beck, an assistant director at the school food service. In Roseville, Minn., an inner ring St. Paul suburb, the proportion of subsidized lunch students rose to 44 percent this fall from 29 percent in 2006 7, according to Dr. Senauer, the economist. "There's a lot of hurt in the suburbs," he said. "It's the new face of poverty." In New York, the Gates Chili school district west of Rochester has lost 700 students since 2007 8, as many families have fled the area after mass layoffs. But over those same four years, the subsidized lunch program has added 125 mouths, many of them belonging to the children of Kodak and Xerox managers and technicians who once assumed they had a lifetime job, said Debbi Beauvais, district supervisor of the meals program. "Parents signing up children say, 'I never thought a program like this would apply to me and my kids,' " Ms. Beauvais said. Many large urban school districts have for years been dominated by students poor enough to qualify for subsidized lunches. In Dallas, Newark and Chicago, for instance, about 85 percent of students are eligible, and most schools also offer free breakfasts. Now, some places have added free supper programs, fearing that needy students otherwise will go to bed hungry. One is the Hickman Mills C 1 district in a threadbare Kansas City, Mo., neighborhood where a Home Depot, a shopping mall and a string of grocery stores have closed. Ten years ago, 48 percent of its students qualified for subsidized lunches. By 2007, that proportion had increased to 73 percent, said Leah Schmidt, the district's nutrition director. Last year, when it hit 80 percent, the district started feeding 700 students a third meal, paid for by the state, each afternoon when classes end. "This is the neediest period I've seen in my 20 year career," Ms. Schmidt said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
SEOUL, South Korea Patricia Augustin, 19, of Indonesia says she scours the Internet every day for the latest updates on Korean pop music. Paula Lema Aguirre, a high school student from Peru, says she is happiest when she sings Korean songs, especially "It Hurts," the group 2NE1's single about teenage love. Neither Ms. Augustin nor Ms. Aguirre is a native Korean speaker, but that did not stop them, along with about 40 other aspiring singers from 16 countries, from making it to the finals in December of the K Pop World Festival competition in the South Korean town of Changwon, where they belted out Korean lyrics in front of screaming crowds packed into a stadium. "K pop is a good icebreaker for foreigners," said Tara Louise, 19, a singer from Los Angeles. "It gives a lot of affinity for Koreans and the Korean culture." For South Koreans, the festival, the first of its kind, was confirmation of how widely their country's latest export has spread, first to Asia and more recently to Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, mainly because of the broad use of social media. K pop is part of a broader trend known as the Korean Wave and called "hallyu" in Korean. The Taiwanese were among the first to notice the invasion of Korean soap operas in their television programming in the late 1990s and gave the phenomenon its name. Until then, the term had referred to the cold winds blowing down from the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Wave has long conquered Asia, but before the proliferation of global social networks, attempts by K pop stars to break into Western markets, including the United States, had largely failed. But now YouTube, Facebook and Twitter make it easier for K pop bands to reach a wider audience in the West, and those fans are turning to the same social networking tools to proclaim their devotion. When bands like 2NE1, Super Junior and SHINee hold concerts in Europe and the United States, tickets sell out within minutes, and fans have used Facebook and Twitter to organize flash mobs demanding more shows, as they did in Paris in May. K pop now has its own channel on YouTube, and the videos by bands like Girls' Generation have topped 60 million views. Girls' Generation signed with Interscope Records to release the group's latest album in the United States last autumn and made its American television debut on David Letterman's "Late Show" in January. K pop performances like T ara's "Roly Poly," Wonder Girls' "Nobody" and Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry" have repetitive choruses, often interspersed with English, and synchronized dance routines that have become such a fad in Asia that children in their classrooms, soldiers in their barracks and inmates in their prison yards imitate the dancing. K pop's nascent success in the West stems from lessons the Korean music industry learned from its home market. South Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world, and digital piracy devastated its music scene sales of CDs by units dropped 70.7 percent from 2000 to 2007, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the international music industry association. The Korean music industry regrouped by focusing more on digital distribution and touring. As the use of social networks spread globally in the last few years, K pop bands began to gain more traction in the West. Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay 31 million to the 'House of Cards' studio after sexual harassment allegations. Netflix buys a visual effects company in a move to support its global ambitions. For example, the R B singer Jay Park's songs and albums have hit No. 1 on the R B/Soul charts on iTunes in the United States, Canada and Denmark since 2010. "Thanks to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Jay Park is not just an artist but also his own P.R. agent, fan club president and TV network," said Bernie Cho, president of DFSB Kollective, a digital music distributor and branding company based in Seoul that also distributes Mr. Park's music. "He is bypassing traditional media gatekeepers locally and gate crashing his way globally onto overseas charts via social media." Social media also lend a "dorky cool" factor to these bands, said Marine Vidal, a French journalist and musician who liked Korean pop culture so much that she moved to Seoul last year. After past attempts to emphasize the sex appeal of K pop stars like BoA and Rain fizzled in the United States, Korean entertainment companies have also learned to market to a more receptive audience the preadolescents. This year, for example, the Wonder Girls made a TV movie for the TeenNick cable channel in the United States. The Wonder Girls, like other K pop girl bands, sport short skirts and skin baring outfits, but their song lyrics stay well within the bounds of chaste romantic love and longing. Not everyone is convinced K pop has staying power in the United States. Appearances on Mr. Letterman's show and Billboard's K pop chart have "very little significance here," said Morgan Carey, a music consultant based in Los Angeles who has worked with Korean pop labels since 2007. Mr. Carey helped propel an obscure Korean reggae artist named Skull to No. 3 on the Billboard R B singles chart in 2007 by keeping away from Asian themed events and trying to build his fan base from the United States grass roots, before Skull had to perform his mandatory military service in Korea. But even Mr. Carey said he thought some labels were getting smarter about the United States market. He praised the Wonder Girls for getting their TeenNick movie and the singer Rain for his Hollywood roles in the films "Ninja Assassin" and "Speed Racer." "The way into American pop culture is through fashion and film," he said. Yet being savvy with career moves, social media and marketing is not enough old fashioned hard work and talent still matter. South Korea's "star management" agencies select and train teenage aspiring singers, often housing them together. With the international market in mind, the agencies require trainees to learn a foreign language, and they hire foreign composers and stylists. "It's manufactured with thorough planning," said Lee Hark joon, a director of the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo's multimedia team, which followed the girl band Nine Muses for a year to film a documentary on the making of a K pop group. "They train like androids, banned from dating during their trainee period." For Moon Hyun a and her fellow singers in Nine Muses, managed by Star Empire Entertainment in Seoul, the training began at 1 p.m. each day. Electric music throbbed through a glass and steel studio and managers yelled encouragement as the women danced for 10 to 12 hours, seven days a week, for up to four years before the group made its debut in 2010.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Global Business
If part of watching dance is piecing together afterimages, what is the effect of seeing a trilogy out of order? Enlightening. Miguel Gutierrez's "Age Beauty," Parts 1 and 2, were reprised over the weekend in a co presentation of New York Live Arts, where the works were performed, and Crossing the Line 2015. In the productions, Mr. Gutierrez, 44, ponders the relationship between aging and queerness (Part 1, seen on Saturday), the emotional and economic toll of being an artist (Part 2, Friday) and his legacy in dance (Part 3, Wednesday). "Age Beauty Part 1: Mid Career Artist/Suicide Note or : /" is an hourlong duet with Mickey Mahar, who is nearly half Mr. Gutierrez's age 25, to be exact but there's more to his angular splendor than youth alone. It's the most brash of the three works. Here, Mr. Gutierrez's set does a decent job of mirroring the white walled gallery space at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where it was first shown. To a throbbing beat, the dancers display their bodies in punctuated, side by side club moves before progressing into more erotic territory. While darkly entertaining Mr. Gutierrez, looking a little like George Clooney, has a charisma that only seems to increase with age this piece, for the choreographer, looks backward, not forward. "Age Beauty Part 2: Asian Beauty the Werq Meeting or The Choreographer Her Muse or : " focuses on three people who have formed lasting working relationships with Mr. Gutierrez: the manager Ben Pryor, the dancer Michelle Boule and the lighting designer Lenore Doxsee. It features Ms. Boule (sleekly dancing parts of the choreographer's work), Ms. Doxsee's designs and conversations between Sean Donovan, playing Mr. Gutierrez, and Mr. Pryor, as himself.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison encountered the classics while at college. Adams developed his devotion to Cicero at Harvard, poring over the Roman's famous orations in the hope of attaining a similar eloquence. At William and Mary, Jefferson's tastes were more eclectic, shaped by the empiricism of teachers steeped in the Scottish Enlightenment and by a preference for Greek philosophers over Romans. Madison attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), whose Scottish born president John Witherspoon relied on the classics to encourage students to love liberty and preserve virtue against encroachments from private interest. Throughout their public careers, these men repeatedly sought wisdom from the ancients when grappling with the challenges of their own day. Each was keenly aware that all classical republics had eventually succumbed to tyranny once virtue gave way to a pernicious factionalism. Washington sternly warned against the "baneful effects of the spirit of party" in his farewell address. Of the four men, Adams remained the most steadfast classicist. At the time of the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, he urged his fellow colonists to "read the histories of ancient ages; contemplate the great examples of Greece and Rome." During his presidency, he saw conspiracies around every corner, insisting that he alone remained above party. Deprived of a second term, he retreated to his Massachusetts farm, imagining himself a latter day Cicero, who likewise ended up "watched, dreaded, envied, by all: no doubt Slandered by innumerable Emissaries, despized, insulted, belied." As for Jefferson, the opening words of the Declaration of Independence testified to his attraction to Epicurean thought, which emphasized happiness as "the aim of life." Over time, classical models exerted a greater influence over his views of architecture than of politics. His first Inaugural Address, in 1801, barely mentioned virtue, and his reminder that "every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle" was at best a lukewarm warning against factionalism. Madison, the youngest member of this foursome, proved the most intellectually dynamic. He could cite ancient texts as readily as anyone, but argue with them as well. Observing the weaknesses of the national government under the Articles of Confederation, he concluded that factions were unavoidable. The key was to limit their divisive potential through a system of checks and balances designed to prevent any one party from exercising overweening power an absolute necessity for a republic far larger than any in the ancient world. At the Constitutional Convention, Madison made obligatory gestures toward virtue even as he led the way in devising a governmental structure that placed little reliance on the willingness of the people or their leaders to set aside their private interests for the good of all. Vestiges of the founders' fascination with the classics persisted into the early 19th century among many other Americans. New towns bore the names of ancient cities, public buildings followed Greek and Roman designs and politicians reviled their opponents as latter day Catilines, likening them to one of the most notorious conspirators against the Roman Republic. Yet the heyday of classicism had passed. Such arcane knowledge smacked of elitism in an increasingly egalitarian age. With the rise of a market economy, Americans celebrated competition in pursuit of profit. Beginning with Andrew Jackson, the nation's leaders embraced the factionalism of party politics. No orator urged his rowdy audience to be virtuous. It seemed that the only time Aristotle was mentioned was in defense of slavery.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
In a Pair of 'Hubs,' the N.H.L. Postseason Has Been Anything but Neutral None TORONTO The N.H.L. restart was less than three minutes old when Justin Williams, a Carolina Hurricanes forward, offered bare knuckled proof that the fight was on to win the Stanley Cup, although the calendar read Aug. 1, the postseason's start date. Williams, 38, had had just eight fights in more than 1,400 career regular season and playoff games. But at 2 minutes 44 seconds of the first period, in a qualification game against the Rangers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Williams dropped the gloves against Ryan Strome, leaving Strome's nose bloodied. Masked because of coronavirus pandemic protocols, the ice cleaning crew skated out to scrape the blood off the ice. By the time the Stanley Cup qualifying round concluded on Sunday, 16 fighting majors had been assessed through 44 games, according to the N.H.L., a significant increase from the six fighting majors in each of the last two years of playoffs through the same number of games. "It's been nasty from the beginning," Kevin Bieksa, a former N.H.L. defenseman and current Sportsnet TV analyst, said. "I think the format has made these games intense," Peter DeBoer, the Vegas Golden Knights' coach, said after his club clinched the top seed in the Western Conference round robin tournament with a 4 3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche. "That was a playoff game out there today, as far as intensity went." Before the qualifying round, there were fears that playing without live spectators in two antiseptic neutral environments, in Toronto and Edmonton, along with the pandemic induced four and a half month layoff between the regular season and the postseason, would deliver sloppy play and little emotion. Williams's fight, after his teammate Brady Skjei's crushing check on the Rangers' Jesper Fast, set a tone that persisted in the two postseason hubs and that Carolina hoped to carry into its first round series against the Boston Bruins. "I think there is a lot of pent up energy from a lot of players," Williams said after Game 1 against the Rangers. "Months without playing a meaningful hockey game is tough for professional athletes. As much as we love the fans, there was a lot of intensity that was self motivated." Tampa Bay's Tyler Johnson logged over 40 minutes on ice. It was Columbus's third overtime game in six days. On Tuesday, in Game 1 of their first round matchup, the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in five overtimes, the fourth longest game in N.H.L. history. On Wednesday, Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson said he woke up "sore and tired," having played more than 40 minutes the night before. Johnson made plans to rest, take a walk and do a light spin on the bike to keep his muscles loose in preparation for Game 2 on Thursday. Tampa Bay defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who said he sometimes loses four or five pounds in a regulation game, played more than 42 minutes against Columbus. By the fourth overtime period, he said that his muscles started seizing up and that going to the dressing room and sitting down made it worse. The club's medical staff paid special attention to players' groins, hips and lower backs on Wednesday, and focused on getting players the proper nutrition. "Today is kind of going to be their eight period game," Shattenkirk said of the team's trainers. "They're going to be working all day on us." Columbus Coach John Tortorella called off a scheduled practice and held a team meeting instead to rest his team. The Blue Jackets played in three overtime games in a six day stretch, including an elimination game on Sunday in the only play in series that went to five games. Long overtimes are an occupational hazard in the N.H.L. playoffs, but this year's postseason format offers players a few unique benefits. The aches and pains players collected during the regular season are a distant memory after the league's pause. And not having to travel between games could help players stay fresher as they advance to later rounds. During normal playoffs, injury information is notoriously hard to come by. This year, secrecy has been taken to a new level. Social distancing protocols mean that no reporters are allowed to attend practices or game day skates to grasp who's hurt and how severe an ailment might be. Privacy concerns surrounding the disclosure of confirmed coronavirus cases led the league to mandate a blanket classification of "unfit to play" that makes the old days of "upper body" and "lower body" injury reports seem quaintly detailed. While the enclosed environments in Toronto and Edmonton have remained coronavirus free since teams arrived on July 26, on ice injuries have had an impact on some series. The Winnipeg Jets lost their top line center, Mark Scheifele, and a key scorer, Patrik Laine, early in their play in matchup against the Calgary Flames, and eventually lost in four games. The Vancouver Canucks survived a hard hitting, four game play in series against the Minnesota Wild that included two fights, 140 penalty minutes and injuries to Vancouver's Tyler Toffoli, Micheal Ferland and Adam Gaudette, as well as to Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter. Though the Canucks and the Wild were housed in close quarters at the Sutton Place Hotel in Edmonton, they said they had not taken advantage of the proximity to glean injury information about their opponents. "It's rare that you run into people with Minnesota masks and shirts on," Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom said. "You just keep to yourself and keep to your own teammates." "Maybe I should run into them at the elevator a little bit harder," said Minnesota's Marcus Foligno, who dropped the gloves with Ferland just 1:19 into Game 1 of their play in series. "There's only one way out and one way into our hotel, and everybody has pretty much the same time on game day to be at the rink," Foligno said before his team's elimination. "You've got to put your head down and keep walking, and bring it to the ice." Curtis Rush reported from Toronto, and Carol Schram from Edmonton, Alberta.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
Angelica and Lola Torrente prefigure Angelica and Maria Font, Jose Arco anticipates Ulises Lima and a toothless Tiresian poetess named Estrellita gives a foretaste of Tinajero; but these characters, archetypes for Bolano, are integrated here into a narrower time frame. At the Torrentes' house, Remo falls in love with a girl named Laura, and a chapter about their visits to Mexico City's bathhouses, which appeared out of context in Bolano's posthumous poetry collection, "The Unknown University," forms a natural coda here. It can be reckless to draw connections between an author's life and his work, but this book invites such comparisons. Late in the novel, when Jan writes a letter to another sci fi hero, he signs it with the pseudonym "Roberto Bolano." The reader thrills at this revelation, one of many "coded messages" in this playfully difficult, gem choked puzzle of a book, and the most nakedly exposed. "The Spirit of Science Fiction" serves as a key to Bolano's later work, unlocking clues to his abiding obsessions. From 1968, when he was 15, to 1977, when he moved to Europe, Bolano lived mostly in Mexico City, where he read incessantly, caroused, fell in love, wrote poetry and scathing reviews, lurked in cafes, and founded a vigorous yet vague literary movement called "infrarrealismo." The "infrarealists," young rebel poets, artists and writers like himself, liked to stage provocations for instance, disrupting a reading by the Mexican giant of letters Octavio Paz by shouting "Paz is an idiot!" In Mexico City in the '70s, Bolano's Sancho Panza the model for Jose Arco and Ulises Lima was the poet provocateur Mario Santiago Papasquiaro. Decades later, this fraternity re emerged in "The Savage Detectives" as "visceral realists." But they got their first outing, without a name, in "The Spirit of Science Fiction." The mayhem and energy of their embrace of the poetic life intellectual (and hormonal) passion wedded to judgmental idealism, clinched by a sense of the absurd vibrates on the page. Read an excerpt from Bolano's last interview. By now, Bolano's international reputation is secure, but he only started publishing novels in the 1990s, late in his short life. He came to the attention of most English readers in 2003, the year he died of liver failure in Barcelona, when his exquisite allegorical fiction "By Night in Chile" was translated into English by Chris Andrews. By the time that book appeared in English, the "myth" of Bolano, as Vargas Llosa calls it (appreciatively, not derisively), had already spread throughout the Spanish reading world; now it crossed over. "By Night in Chile" is narrated by a Jesuit priest, critic and failed poet named Father Sebastian Urrutia Lacroix, who gutlessly lends his learning to the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. A dissolute literato named Farewell justifies Urrutia's sellout by telling him the tale of an Austro Hungarian shoemaker who wasted his life attempting to erect a mountaintop monument to every single hero of the past, present and future. It's a metaphor for literature, one that Farewell rejects. "What's the use," he asks Urrutia. "What use are books, they're shadows, nothing but shadows." But to Bolano, a shadow was never nothing. His books are peopled with shadows that have as much, or more, vitality as living beings. The posthumous release of "The Spirit of Science Fiction" in Spain, 13 years after Bolano's death, provoked controversy among the author's loyalists, but there is no disloyalty in bringing this work to light. It is not unripe juvenilia; it is a hardy forerunner that stands on its own. In it, Bolano enfolds the adventures of Jan, Remo and Jose Arco along with Jan's sci fi letters and digressions into a rich and wry second narrative, packed with enigmatic, funny allusion. This interleaved narrative takes the form of an interview between a young, cynical literary prizewinner and a wide eyed female journalist, who plays Remo to the writer's Jan, allowing him to unspool the Borgesian plot of his book which concerns the caretaker of a Potato Academy in southern Chile who makes endless didactic radio broadcasts on potato cultivation, not knowing if anyone hears them. It is a gesture as futile, and as glorious in its futility, as building a monument to all the world's heroes in Mitteleuropa, or printing magazines no one will read. As the journalist clamors for information, the author is distracted by the rowdy literati around them. "Who would've thought renowned intellectuals ... could make such a racket?" he asks her; and later, "Do you really think this is normal?"	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
Should gynecologists be allowed to treat men? A medical specialty board stirred up a hornet's nest in September when it said no and warned gynecologists that if they accepted male patients, they could lose their certification something doctors need in order to work. Protests erupted from patients and doctors who said the policy, set by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, interfered with medical care and research. Since then, the board, based in Dallas, has backed off twice. In November, it reversed itself and gave gynecologists permission to screen and treat men at high risk for anal cancer. Then, on Wednesday, the board said that gynecologists who had been treating men with chronic pelvic pain could continue to see their current patients. But with few other exceptions, the policy stands: No male patients. The to and fro has sent doctors scrambling to cut ties with patients, then to reinstate them. And the board's pronouncements have puzzled many, including some physicians, who wonder what harm there is in gynecologists' treating men and whether a specialty board has the authority to impose such a rule. The board said the ban was part of a larger effort to preserve the integrity of the gynecology specialty and to protect patients from doctors who had begun to practice types of medicine for which they had not been trained or certified. But in casting a wide net to curb abuses, the board may have snared more doctors and patients than it had intended. The gynecology board is one of 24 boards that certify medical specialists in the United States, based on training, exams and other requirements. Certification is voluntary and not required by law, but in practice it is essential, because most hospitals and insurers require it and patients are increasingly encouraged to choose only specialists who are certified. The gynecology episode began in September, when the board posted on its website a newly explicit definition of the specialty, with a requirement that members devote at least 75 percent of their practice to gynecology. In addition, treating male patients was prohibited, with exceptions for, among other things, circumcising babies, testing couples for infertility and treating transgender people. In telephone interviews in November, two board members the executive director, Dr. Larry C. Gilstrap, and the director of evaluation, Dr. Kenneth L. Noller explained the reasoning behind the policy. They said too many gynecologists had been straying into areas like testosterone therapy for men, liposuction, plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures for both women and men. The board members said some of these doctors were behaving unethically and unprofessionally by presenting themselves as "board certified" without revealing that their certification was in obstetrics and gynecology, potentially misleading patients into thinking the certification was in plastic surgery or some other specialty. As for treating men, Dr. Gilstrap said: "If you voluntarily want to be known as a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, it's restricted to taking care of women. We really need the specialty. There are plenty of physicians out there to take care of men." He noted that treating women has been the official mission of the specialty since 1935, and that the notice in September was really just a restatement and a reminder to gynecologists. "I have three daughters and six granddaughters," he said, "and I can tell you that women have been getting shortchanged in research and studies for as long as I've been a doctor." But apparently, before the notice came out, not all gynecologists thought that specializing in women meant never treating men. The ban affected gynecologists who had developed extensive skill and experience treating male patients, and they said that it would be difficult or impossible for many of those patients to find care elsewhere. Some gynecologists were screening men at high risk for anal cancer, while others were treating men with chronic pelvic pain, often resulting from injuries to or irritation of the pudendal nerve. In both conditions, the affected body parts and treatments are the same in men and women, but gynecologists have more treatment experience than most doctors. Both groups of doctors, and some of their patients, asked the board to make an exception. Initially, it declined, insisting that male patients could be referred to other doctors. But members changed their minds in November with regard to anal cancer screening. The disease is usually caused by a sexually transmitted virus, and Dr. Noller said the board recognized that gynecologists had a tradition of treating both men and women for such infections, so the screening was not out of line. He also said the board did not want to come between doctors and patients or to interfere with research trials already in the works. After the board reversed itself on cancer screening, members declined further interviews and began referring questions to David Margulies, who heads a public relations firm in Dallas and has written a book on crisis management. Mr. Margulies said the board declined to explain how it made its decisions, or how many members were involved. The permission granted for treating pelvic pain is limited and applies only to "current patients," defined as those whom the doctors had already seen or for whom they had scheduled appointments on or before Dec. 18. No new patients are to be accepted. The decision was outlined in a letter sent to several doctors and to a professional group, the International Pelvic Pain Society. But it is not mentioned on the board's website, and Mr. Margulies said in an email that the board's policy had not changed. Stephanie Prendergast, a physical therapist in San Francisco and president of the pelvic pain society, said that the board's permission was good news but that she wished it had been extended to new patients as well, because gynecologists often have the most success in diagnosing and treating pelvic pain in men. The condition is poorly understood, Ms. Prendergast said, adding that patients typically see five doctors and have untreated symptoms for a year before they receive the correct diagnosis. Dr. Lois Margaret Nora, president and chief executive of the American Board of Medical Specialties, said she thought the gynecology board's willingness to reconsider its policy and make exceptions showed a good balance of flexibility and rigor in protecting patients. Arthur L. Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, said, "Ethically, the boards do have the authority to certify the expertise that they think qualifies you to be in their specialty." Boards can also dictate medical practice, Dr. Caplan said. But he added: "I think using the male female boundary it's old fashioned and should change. What should be the basis of certification and specialization is what skills you have, what knowledge you have that can benefit patients. A bright line for male female in 1935 might have made sense. In 2013 it doesn't."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
'Mank' and More Movies With Screenwriters as Main Characters Screenwriting a torturous act practiced in solitude while staring at a screen or typewriter, punctuated by a neurosis or two is not an inherently cinegenic profession. Nonetheless, Hollywood has produced a catalog of movies that try to capture the trade, using a sprinkle of movie magic to transform the seemingly boring pursuit. Here's a look at the latest, David Fincher's "Mank"(now on Netflix), and seven other movies about the trade, and how they succeed at interpreting the writer's experience. The writer: Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) struggles to adapt "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean in something of a love letter to the struggle of writer's block. How much we see him write: He continually reads his source material and dictates his bolts of inspiration into a recording device. He even makes multiple attempts at sitting at his typewriter, before giving up after 15 seconds. Degree of neurosis: "I'm a walking cliche," Kaufman tells himself at the beginning of the movie in a stream of consciousness purge of his negative thoughts and impostor syndrome that continues throughout the film. Writerly moment: Charlie excuses himself from a party to go home to write, but instead flops down face first onto his bed because it's easier. How much we see him write: Despite spending much of the movie staring at an empty page, when Fink gets going on a beautiful Underwood typewriter, he tip taps his way through a whole ream of blank paper. Degree of neurosis: Fink is a cluster of writerly traits: Painfully awkward, lonely, eager for praise, quick to despair and driven by the idea that writing "comes from a great deal of pain." Writerly moment: Desperate for companionship, when asked about his writing by his neighbor at the hotel (John Goodman), Fink unspools an unprompted two minute monologue about his literary ambitions. "I know sometimes I run on," he apologizes. The Writer: Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart), a struggling screenwriter, becomes a murder suspect when a woman who came to his apartment on business later turns up dead. How much we see him write: You'd think being investigated for murder, while also falling in love with a neighbor (Gloria Grahame), would hinder productivity. Yet Steele writes an entire script in the course of the movie, a healthy amount of which we see him doing by hand on a legal pad. Degree of neurosis: Anger management is a bigger concern for Steele, but there are small bursts of writerly insecurity, like when he jokes with someone, "One day I'll surprise you and write something good." Writerly moment: After several all nighters and days of writing, Steele assumes the official pose of his profession: exhausted, hunched over a writing instrument, elbow on a table, and hand on head as if trying to physically pull thoughts directly from his brain. The Writer: Exiled to an isolated ranch to dry out and recuperate from a broken leg, Herman "Mank" Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) sets out to write the screenplay for "Citizen Kane." How much we see him write: He occasionally dictates parts of "Citizen Kane" to an assistant (Lily Collins), but the film is more preoccupied with flashbacks of Mank's past. Degree of neurosis: Self destructive alcoholism and gambling are combined with an eagerness to entertain that hints at a deep seated lack of self worth. The Writer: The Oscar nominated Steven Phillips (Albert Brooks) is fired from his Hollywood studio contract for losing his creative edge. Desperate, he turns to a supposed muse (Sharon Stone) to get his career back on track. How much we see him write: The closest we get is an aquarium visit that inspires an idea for a Jim Carrey movie, followed by a montage showing him furiously jotting down thoughts in a notebook. Degree of neurosis: Phillips is a self doubting mess (it is Albert Brooks), but who can blame him? Many writers tell themselves they're bad and irrelevant, but Phillips is told that repeatedly by others. The Writer: Battling a screenplay and a drinking problem, Marty (Colin Farrell) gets pulled into the fallout from a dog kidnapping gone wrong, courtesy of his friend Billy (Sam Rockwell). How much we see him write: A good amount of scribbling on yellow legal pads and in notebooks, along with some printing out of script pages. Marty also likes to write via verbal storytelling, creating character back stories that are visually dramatized for the audience. Degree of neurosis: Marty is an almost alcoholic whom friends describe as suffering from "suicidal self loathing" that only writing can cure or perhaps cause.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
Milan Fashion Week is the third stretch of the four part fashion extravaganza that takes place twice a year in the fall and winter in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Labels like Gucci, Prada and Missoni presented their collections for next fall. Pink hats like the ones that people wore for the Women's March on Washington made an appearance on one runway; on another, recycling was the theme. Angela Missoni and her family crowded on the runway wearing pink hats, and she implored the audience to "show the world the fashion community is united and fearless."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
SAN FRANCISCO Facebook employees were in an uproar on Friday over a leaked 2016 memo from a top executive defending the social network's growth at any cost even if it caused deaths from a terrorist attack that was organized on the platform. In the memo, Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook vice president, wrote, "Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is de facto good." Mr. Bosworth and Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, have since disavowed the memo, which was published on Thursday by BuzzFeed News. But the fallout at the Silicon Valley company has been wide. According to two Facebook employees, workers have been calling on internal message boards for a hunt to find those who leak to the media. Some have questioned whether Facebook has been transparent enough with its users and with journalists, said the employees, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. Many are also concerned over what might leak next and are deleting old comments or messages that might come across as controversial or newsworthy, they said. The brouhaha follows a period of intense scrutiny for Facebook and questions over what its responsibilities are to its more than 2.2 billion users. The company has been grappling this month with revelations that a British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, improperly harvested data from 50 million of the social network's users. Mr. Zuckerberg has since been on an apology tour over data privacy and is expected to testify before lawmakers in Washington. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment over employees' reaction to the leaked memo. In the aftermath, some Facebook executives have taken to Twitter for a public charm offensive, sending pithy phrases and emoticons to reporters who cover the company. Adam Mosseri, Facebook's head of news feed, in recent days wrote unprompted to a BuzzFeed editor and to its chief executive reminiscing and telling a story about his mother. He also wrote to a reporter from the Verge tech site about the songs played at his wedding reception. In some of his tweets, Mr. Mosseri also defended Facebook. When writers from Vox and BuzzFeed tweeted that they noticed that stories critical of Facebook were receiving surprisingly low levels of traffic on Facebook, Mr. Mosseri jumped in. "We 100% do not take any action on stories for being critical of us," he tweeted. Mr. Bosworth, the author of the 2016 memo, also took to Twitter. Late Thursday, he said he did not agree with what he wrote in the memo "and I didn't agree with it even when I wrote it." He added that "the purpose of this post, like many others I have written internally, was to bring to the surface issues I felt deserved more discussion with the broader company." After BuzzFeed published the memo, Mr. Bosworth deleted it from an internal message board where it had originally been posted. In a statement to BuzzFeed, Mr. Zuckerberg praised Mr. Bosworth as "a talented leader who says many provocative things" and said that he and most people at Facebook did not agree with the memo and that the company had realized that it could not just be about connecting people. Facebook employees said on Friday that discussions were raging across the company regarding the merits of the post. Some called for executives to aggressively pursue action against those leaking to the media, said two Facebook employees, as well as for the company to do more to screen for potential whistle blowers during the hiring process. At least one former Facebook employee, Alec Muffett, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Bosworth's memo was responsible for his decision to leave the company. "Between overwork and leadership direction evidenced thusly, I could never stay," wrote Mr. Muffett, who formerly worked as a Facebook engineer.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
Megan Carroll, a rising senior at Lehigh University, visited Singapore's Gardens by the Bay, known for its botanical conservatories and iconic Supertrees. She said she was itching to see the world for herself. When you are in a foreign country, don't speak the language and have something you must accomplish, stuff can go wrong. Which, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is the point. "They are all in over their heads," Stephen McCauley, co director of the school's Global Lab, said of student teams dispatched to 53 locations in 35 countries to tackle problems in local communities. It is hardly "Survivor: College Edition." But, increasingly, study abroad is a boots on the ground experience with challenge and purpose. "It was too complex," said Sarah St. Pierre, a biomedical engineering major who with three classmates and two faculty members traveled to the region in October 2017 for seven weeks. "We had to take a step back. What is actually going to work? What can we actually do?" Their solution: visit residents to see the moldy doors and water stained walls from the epic 2010 flood. Then, structure talks about emergency moves, like storing drinking water and untying livestock, using a sorting game adapted from one by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Their version used information gathered from interviews and field work and was crafted from paper and packing tape. This is not your parent's study abroad. Sure, you could lose hours to tiny cups of espresso on sloped tables on the periphery of cobblestoned plazas, meet every Monday at El Prado, or marvel at the hopes held by the Omikuji, tiny paper fortunes at Shinto shrines. But you may not have time. Study abroad now like nearly everything else is more structured, brief and undertaken with a goal in mind. It has become a must get college experience, a coveted resume credential and a way to test independence for a generation that does so carefully. Those lures are drawing more United States students than ever to study overseas more than 332,000 in 2016 17, according to the 2018 Open Doors Report on International Exchange. But for shorter periods. Sixty five percent go for eight weeks or less or over the summer (it was 56 percent a decade earlier). Most want academic credit, but any foreign experience counts. Those doing noncredit internships and service learning (it could be just a few weeks), have nearly tripled in the past five years. It helps that the grand umbrella of "study abroad" now includes a variety of foreign experiences so that, like the way we consume music, students can choose what they want, need and can afford. What's clear is that study abroad once the way to get fluent in a foreign language or firsthand exposure to cultural sites is less and less about that. In fact, said Cheryl Matherly, vice president and vice provost for international affairs at Lehigh University, "if you had programs just based on students with language ability, you wouldn't have anybody going." Enrollment in foreign language study, she said, "is cratering." Increasingly, study abroad happens in English. And schools like Lehigh are making targeted foreign forays cast as global learning a centerpiece of campus offerings. They appeal to students across majors with tailored experiences like marketing in Shanghai or combining tech and business in Prague, which slip into convenient time slots, like summer. In the past two years, Lehigh has expanded abroad offerings, adding internships, including ones with tech start ups in New Delhi. This summer, the new 32 Global Social Impact Fellowships will offer project learning at eight sites, with six in Sierra Leone. The message: It's for everyone. "We really think the international experience is part of the Lehigh experience," Dr. Matherly said. Campus courses are also being redesigned with a global focus so going abroad doesn't feel "like an add on." Abroad options are growing elsewhere, too. The University of Oregon has over 300, up from 200 five years ago, with brief faculty led programs and internships the most popular, said Tom Bogenschild, executive director of global education. At W.P.I., which first sent students abroad in 1988 to London, those going outside the United States to complete required projects has risen dramatically in the past five years, to over 1,000 this year from an undergraduate student body of about 4,400. Among the Class of 2019, 60 percent went abroad. What's happening is that students are trying to do a lot at once stay on track to graduate, not miss what's happening on campus and collect new life experiences, said Melissa Torres, president and chief executive of the Forum on Education Abroad, whose 800 members are campuses and program providers. It's put study abroad on a tight schedule. "It goes back to the way they were raised," Ms. Torres said, "with less and less time for free play." This is why Megan Carroll, a rising senior from Brooklyn majoring in psychology at Lehigh, chose this summer to be a media and communications intern at 3M in Singapore. She didn't want to be away from friends and family "for a whole semester." While Ms. Carroll said she and friends "talk about global politics," she admitted "we don't know everything." She was itching to get out and see the world for herself. "People my age are seeing the importance of stepping outside of themselves and seeing other cultures and experiencing things not just on TV, but themselves," she said. Being outside the United States for a short span gives her practice being on her own and the space to mull career plans, "challenging myself to see what I do and don't enjoy." And the best part Lehigh organized it. Ms. Carroll said the university set up her housing and internship, provided a stipend for meals and travel (plus 800 to make up for missed summer earnings). All that, she said, "makes it significantly easier to do this." Unlike a few years ago when schools barely tolerated study abroad (students battled to get financial aid and credits to transfer), more now encourage it. Many even help students apply for passports, pick programs and figure out funding. And you don't have to go for months. "The big message is that any length of time has value," said Donald L. Rubin, professor emeritus at the University of Georgia and a leader of a large multiyear study on travel abroad. "Three weeks can make a big difference if they are three weeks that are well executed." Perhaps the biggest finding: Low income students and those entering college with lower SAT scores had the greatest gains. Study abroad, said Dr. Rubin, "may actually be a way of leveling the playing field." The study has fed the drive to get more students to have an international experience. The pitch starts early, said Ms. Torres, with more schools "talking with families about education abroad as part of freshman orientation." Laurie Leshin, the president of W.P.I., has put it in her welcome address. And in fall 2017 Lehigh began recruiting incoming first generation students to go abroad (and hosted a "practice" trip to Montreal at spring break). That is the only way Jenny Lin, from Nesquehoning, Pa., even considered going. Otherwise, she would never have even attended an information session. "I'm just not going to go and listen to them tell me about how expensive it is to study abroad," she said. After considering options with advisers, she spent six weeks in Shanghai last summer taking classes in Chinese and working as a marketing intern. Ms. Lin appreciated the self reflection required feeling "weird" about whether she saw herself as Chinese or American and the challenge of making a slide presentation on a tight deadline for visiting dignitaries. Going can come with complications. "You have countries where it is illegal to be gay," said Andrew Gordon, chief executive and founder of Diversity Abroad, which works on issues of representation and inclusion. He added that "people with darker skin also have a different experience." In some places, women of color "are mistaken as prostitutes." The very value of going abroad being uncomfortable, trying to operate in unfamiliar surroundings is also what makes it hard. As campuses try to have more focused and immersive programming (not just ridiculously easy classes in foreign cities), there is a lot to consider, including the impact of the visit on the host community. It includes helping students to understand "how you act, how you show up" in another culture, said Leslie Dodson, co director of W.P.I.'s Global Lab. As when female students went to Morocco and struggled with expectations around dress. Even though they had discussed it in advance, Dr. McCauley said, "we had to keep working with them while they were there." Dr. Dodson said, "At the end of the day, we are guests, we are not there to promote our agendas." W.P.I.'s approach relies on sponsoring organizations to frame problems; students work on solutions. Not all are clearly stated. Some planning done stateside misses the mark. For a generation accustomed to support and structure, it's unsettling. Even though he is weeks from boarding a plane, Cameron Person, a computer science major from Los Angeles and a rising junior, said he already has some "personal gripes." Along with three other W.P.I. students and advisers, Mr. Person will arrive in Kyoto on Aug. 19. The plan: help a virtual reality studio get support to digitally preserve cultural heritage sites and practices. They planned to do focus groups and surveys "to get an idea how cultural stakeholders might view technology" of historic sites. He's excited he's never been outside the country and just got a passport but he is also annoyed. He's studied Japanese, entranced by the language after falling for anime and manga in high school, but he is not fluent. That makes him anxious about how they will get information. As "someone who likes structure," Mr. Person wants a clear task and "all the tools to get that thing done." Which is exactly what is not going to happen. And yet improvisation having to operate in a strange culture and make changes on the fly is what provides the career boost that everyone talks about. The Albania team gathered recently in a glass walled conference room with the project's work product displayed on the table, just weeks ahead of graduation. The experience, they said, figured prominently in their job searches. "Companies want to know how you perform under pressure," said Kylie Dickinson, who majored in bioinformatics and computational biology. Donald Dione, who plans to work in biotech, said he has "been asked about the project in pretty much every one of my interviews."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
In July 2015, after the United States women's national soccer team had won its third World Cup final, securing its place as the dominant women's international soccer team; after its winning game became the most watched soccer game in United States history, with an average of 25.4 million viewers (more than the N.B.A. finals, more than any men's soccer game); after the team returned home to a ticker tape parade in Manhattan, the first time a woman's team had been so honored after all that, the members of the team still had the feeling. "We weren't able to capitalize on the moment," Christen Press, a forward, said recently. "Everyone around us was TV, sponsors but we weren't compensated or treated like what we were: the absolute best soccer players in the world." So, Ms. Press said, "we decided it was time to change the paradigm." The "we" she was referring to included her teammates Megan Rapinoe, another forward and captain; Tobin Heath, also a forward; and her former teammate Meghan Klingenberg. There was less than a week to go before the three current players would fly to London to begin final preparations to defend their title in the 2019 Women's World Cup, which begins on Friday in France. But before they got on the plane, they were sitting around a conference table in a loft in Lower Manhattan, going on the offensive with something else. They had decided they were done leaving their brands, and the potential of what their brands could become, in the hands of the corporate world. So they had formed a new company, re inc (purposefully lowercase, named after the idea of reinventing the incorporated), and this week they were unveiling their first product: a T shirt with the words "Liberte, egalite, defendez" on the front. "It's really a mission statement," Ms. Press said. And it's the beginning of what will be a series of drops in the spirit of Fenty or Supreme that they see ultimately as a full gender neutral line encompassing street wear, health and wellness, and technology. "We wanted to start in fashion, because it's male dominated, and street wear is the worst of it," Ms. Press said. "It's made mostly by men, for men, and women have to adapt. It's ripe for disruption." The aim of the line, which is sold through a website, newsletter and social media channels together the women have more than 1.75 million followers is to wake up the world to the power of these particular athletes, not just as vehicles for other people's marketing visions, but also as powers in their own right. As such, it is also what they believe is one of the last fronts in the fight for the equality and recognition that the team has been waging since the late 1990s, a fight that culminated in a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by 28 players earlier this year against the United States Soccer Federation. And it is one of a number of such initiatives being explored by different members of the team. "Our members are brilliant, enterprising women who are exploring ways to monetize their individual brands beyond their endorsement deals, that hopefully will create opportunities beyond their playing days," said Becca Roux, the executive director of the Players Association. After all, being an elite athlete is not just about what happens on the pitch or in the arena. It's about the way that success is parlayed into multiplatform businesses. "It's about our fight for fair value in a different way," said Ms. Press, before passing to Ms. Rapinoe. "There's this box of 'female athlete,'" Ms. Rapinoe said, one that is favored by many of the large brands they work with Women's World Cup sponsors like Coke and Nike. And it is a box, they all agreed, defined by the idea of "girl next door" or, in the case of Ms. Rapinoe, who has been an out athlete for about 10 years, "the equality person next door." Over to Ms. Heath. Breaking Out of the Brand Box Most of the inequities of United States soccer, where the women's team has been notably more successful than the men's and has become an beacon for women's rights in sports for more than two decades, are fairly well known: the fight to play on grass as opposed to artificial turf; the continuing dispute over pay. But even in that context, the lack of corporate recognition of the broad audience appeal of the female soccer star is surprising. It wasn't until 2015, for example, that Nike, the brand that outfits 14 of the 24 national teams playing this month, started making women's jerseys in men's sizes so that male fans could support their team and favorite players. That was also the first year Electronic Arts, the company behind the FIFA video game, included women's teams and players in its virtual soccer world. Nike did not design uniforms for the women's teams until this year. Previously it had simply made derivations of the men's uniforms for women. It wasn't until 2017 that Ashlyn Harris, another member of the United States team, became the first female global ambassador for the soccer brand Umbro. "In the past," said Mike Principe, the chief executive of GSE Worldwide, a sports marketing and management company, "female athletes were seen as most marketable when they could be pitched as sex symbols, and that is only now beginning to change." Still, it is not a subject most sports agents or managers want to discuss, even in the context of evolving attitudes. When contacted, most asked to speak off the record or on background, and picked their words carefully, tiptoeing around the idea. The athletes were not nearly as circumspect. Finally, after the 2015 World Cup victory, she said, she told Wasserman, her sports agency, not to bring her any brand proposals that "didn't align with who I was." "I realized I was never going to be the tall, blond skinny girl from the magazine cover, but I was very good at being me," she said. Being herself was certainly working on social media, where Ms. Harris had begun making the occasional T shirt, which she would promote on Twitter and Instagram, and which, she said, would sell out "in days." As a result, creative input became part of her deal with Umbro, regarding both the products she endorsed and wore and the way her image was portrayed. This fall the first Umbro by Ashlyn Harris collection will be released. "They gave me a seat at the table," she said, "and I've been sitting there ever since." But what if you want to set your own place? "At first we didn't want to use words at all," Ms. Press said, "because they made us think of labels, but then we thought, what if we could use them not as a statement but to make wearers consider the issue." So while the words are red, blue and white, they are twisted, darker version of the shades. The shirt itself is a kind of dusty cream, made from Japanese cotton, and all the e's are facing backward, almost as a challenge. Only 500 of them were made 250 in a cropped cut, 250 in a more oversize style, neither earmarked for men or women specifically to spur demand. The women are, they said, learning as they go. "We believe in ourselves as a product: as soccer players, as brand ambassadors, as humans in the world," Ms. Press said. It is unclear how this will affect endorsement contracts with big brands, which may well chafe at the competition (even if it's not direct) and the implications. In the end, said Mr. Nelson, "I told them there's no guarantee any of it will work. But whatever does happen, at least you're free."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
Priced out of Brooklyn? Manhattan may be a better value. The median sales price for Brooklyn hit a record of 610,894 in the first quarter of this year, which is still cheaper than Manhattan's median of 970,000. But apartments in certain Manhattan neighborhoods can be had for less, and some buyers are leaving Brooklyn to take advantage of the lower prices. Read the article about people who have made the move; and consider the neighborhoods below, compared by median sales prices of co ops and condos.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
Alzheimer's disease can seem frightening, mysterious and daunting. There are still a lot of unknowns about the disease, which afflicts more than five million Americans. Here are answers to some common questions: Sometimes I forget what day it is or where I put my glasses. Is this normal aging, or am I developing Alzheimer's? Just because you forgot an item on your grocery list doesn't mean you are developing dementia. Most people have occasional memory lapses, which increase with age. The memory problems that characterize warning signs of Alzheimer's are usually more frequent, and they begin to interfere with safe or competent daily functioning: forgetting to turn off the stove, leaving home without being properly dressed or forgetting important appointments. Beyond that, the disease usually involves a decline in other cognitive abilities: planning a schedule, following multistep directions, carrying out familiar logistical tasks like balancing a checkbook or cooking a meal. It can also involve mood changes, agitation, social withdrawal and feelings of confusion, and can even affect or slow a person's gait. Diagnosing Alzheimer's usually involves a series of assessments, including memory and cognitive tests. Clinicians will also do a thorough medical work up to determine whether the thinking and memory problems can be explained by other diagnoses, such as another type of dementia, a physical illness or side effects from a medication. Brain scans and spinal taps may also be conducted to check for corroborating evidence like the accumulation of amyloid, the hallmark protein of Alzheimer's, in the brain or spinal fluid. The cause is unknown for most cases. Fewer than 5 percent of cases are linked to specific, rare gene mutations. Those are usually early onset cases that develop in middle age. In the vast majority of cases, Alzheimer's disease makes its presence known after age 65, and the older one gets, the greater the risk. Aside from age, which is the single biggest risk factor, there are health issues that can increase the chances of developing Alzheimer's. Heart and vascular problems, including stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure, appear to increase the risk of Alzheimer's and other dementias. Depression has also been associated with increased risk. People with one copy of the ApoE4 gene variant have two to four times as much risk of developing Alzheimer's as people without the variant, and people with two copies of ApoE4 have about 10 times the risk. That risk appears to be larger in women. Carriers of ApoE4 also have a greater chance of developing symptoms at a younger age. About 25 percent of people have one copy of ApoE4; about 3 percent have two copies.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
Between the elk, venison and fish harvested by the First Nations and the pork heavy diet of the French settlers, Canadian cuisine has always been known for its protein. But the Canadian steakhouse got a modern twist in early 2015 with Uptown Cut, a chef focused spot that brings a tasting menu approach to a classic concept. The owner, Cole Snell, used to practice naturopathic medicine in Toronto. After seeing patients struggle to find nutritious but tasty food, he opened a chain of shops selling sustainably made cheeses and a distribution company for artisanal foods. Mr. Snell said that not just the vegetables but the indulgences on his menu should be produced more sustainably. When he moved to Thunder Bay, the border city of 108,000 on the shore of Lake Superior, where his parents live, he saw an opportunity to take those insights with him. Mr. Snell's long term goal is to boost what he calls an undervalued local beef industry by positioning Ontario beef as a premium product. Uptown Cut is the first salvo in that campaign, a bridge between the modern and the traditional. "Hopefully, customers walk away with some knowledge or education," Mr. Snell said. "This is new stuff for Thunder Bay."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
If literary realism attempts to hold a mirror to the world, then 's "Elsewhere, Home" is an especially vivid reflection in a pond, as accurate as glass's gaze but rippled to capture life as a thing shivering and fluid even when seemingly still. Born in Cairo, Aboulela grew up in Sudan and is now living in Scotland. "Elsewhere, Home" encompasses some of her earliest work from the late '90s through to her most recent, and 11 out of the 13 entries have been published before. And yet there is a freshness here, in part due to the scarcity of Muslim European voices in America. But the force of Aboulela's writing exceeds its representational significance: She animates so many well rounded characters who not only honor, but also dare to challenge, the cultures they come from. There are no simple bad good, European Muslim dichotomies here. Each individual portrait and the book operates best as a study in portraiture is complex, but not gratuitously so. These intricacies of bicultural families and friendships carry a delicate strength that doesn't just resemble life, it is life, for readers who believe more in the shifting pond reflection than in the static mirror image. One marvels at a sort of uniformity in this quiet collection that transcends theme, setting, subject. Critics sometimes speak of writers as having "found their voices," but this book is a testament to one who's always had hers. Moving gracefully between scenes, that consistent voice familiarizes us with not just the characters, but the author herself.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
One summer, when my twin boys were three, we loaded up the car with pull ups, crayons, plastic toys and, oh yes, clothing and swimsuits, and headed north on a seven hour drive to Maine. Our destination was a lakeside resort, called Quisisana, in Southern Maine, where I'd worked one summer as a chambermaid when I was 19. I was, it must be said, a lousy chambermaid, overly sensitive to cleaning products, dreamy and slow, inclined to "skim," for far too long, any novel that happened to be lying on a pillow when I was supposed to be making the bed. And yet the sensory experience of the place, after nine weeks, was deep in side me: the carpet of pine needles along the pathways; the bright, fresh smell of the wood cabins; the sound of the bells that rang out, announcing the start of a meal, like someone's mother hollering down the street, only more melodic. And there was the lake, with its small, sandy beach, a showcase for sunsets, a reliable provider of breezes. I had felt connected to the resort when I was cleaning other people's toilets; I was fairly sure I would like it more as a guest. E.B. White once wrote about his return to a lake in Maine where he'd spent many childhood summers: It was as if "the years were a mirage, and there had been no years." When we arrived, it was all just as I'd remembered: the crunch of the gravel in the driveway, the immediate sweet smell of sap and pine that hits when you first step outside the car, the print newspapers lined up for guests in the Main Lodge, their owners' last names scrawled, always, in green markers. There was no Wi Fi in the cabins; the water was still spring fed. Jane the resort's formidable owner, Jane Orans "does not like change," a fellow guest reminded me. Neither does my family, it turns out. Every year for the past 10 years, summer after summer, we have packed up the car, debated whether to take the scenic route or the faster one, and driven all the way back to Quisisana, where we know, once we arrive, we will eat oatmeal cookies at the counter in the main lodge; the kids will peel off while my husband and I nap; and we will eventually wander over to the cabins of old friends who always come the week we do, to ask how their drive went. There will be time, plenty of time, to catch up on more important matters, and on even less important ones, on long days by the lake. There will be Maine lobster on Thursday night and blueberry pie on Saturday. All will be as it should be. The vacation is, by now, an annual summer rite, its traditions and smells so familiar that I sometimes feel my current self blurring into the one who was there the year earlier, or the year before, or even some 30 years earlier. By the halfway point of vacation, I can fall asleep on a grassy finger that juts into the lake and wake, an hour later, disoriented: Which me am I? Am I late for laundry duty or, oh, right, maybe I should be finding my kids? At night, the children, along with the grown ups, attend performances put on by the staff, who are mostly professional and student musicians and performers: Guests see, for example, chamber music Sunday night, a musical the next. The children want to be included in all of it, which is why seventh graders who ordinarily resist high culture with Maoist zeal have been overheard comparing notes on the performance of the soprano in "L'elisir d'Amore." After the shows, the tweens and teens stay out as late as we'll let them; sometimes they lie by the lake, stare at the stars and confide to each other the kinds of things you can tell friends you have known for years but only see once a year. My friends, I know, sometimes think that we are crazy to go, time after time, to the same vacation spot. There is an opportunity cost to returning to the same place every summer adventures forsaken, new tastes that go untried. But there is also something emotionally reassuring about returning to a beautiful benchmark with punctual regularity. We don't measure the boys' height on the inside of a closet; but amid the blur of family life we can measure their progress by the lake and recall it distinctly. There was the summer a sweet member of the beach staff coaxed the boys, as toddlers, to dunk their heads underwater for the first time; the summer they believed the older girls really were mermaids; the summer they first jumped off the dock, first swam, first kept an eye out for the smaller swimmers. The people who run Quisisana would be the first to say that what makes the experience stand out as much as the music, as much as the setting are the people we see there, that same week every year, old friends who share the same experience. To me, they also provide a kind of poignant benchmark. There was that first summer when we heard that the charming older man with the walker was too frail to come back; the year the brilliant older woman came back with a cane. In conversations by the lake, as we hear each others' stories of the past 12 months, we are reminded that a year is the blink of an eye, and yet long enough for a life to change dramatically with the loss of maybe a job or, so much worse, a loved one. As we talk, we feel the sun on our skin and we watch our strong kids swim, and by Thursday we mourn the inevitable end that's coming how could Saturday come so fast? and we promise, fervently, that we will see each other next summer, just like we did this summer. And we think, when we leave, that next summer can't come soon enough. 52 PLACES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Follow our 52 Places traveler, Sebastian Modak, on Instagram as he travels the world, and discover more Travel coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter: Each week you'll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
Recreational marijuana is now legal in Canada, giving adults the right to buy, carry and share up to 30 grams , or slightly over an ounce, of dried cannabis at one time enough weed to roll roughly 60 joints. But where you can use it and how it is sold varies by province and territory. And don't even think of trying to bring a joint back across the border. Here's what you need to know if you're heading to Canada for weed. How old do I have to be to buy legally? You must be 19 to buy, possess and consume cannabis in most of Canada, including British Columbia. The minimum legal age is 18 in Alberta and Quebec, although Quebec's newly elected government has pledged to raise the minimum age to 21. And everyone in your group needs to be of age: Sharing with minors is a crime. Where can marijuana be purchased? While the number of shops is expected to grow, options remain limited. Retail stores have yet to open in Ontario, where the government is moving forward with a tightly regulated private retail model scheduled to begin April 1. And only one shop has opened in British Columbia so far in Kamloops, B.C. Global News, a Canadian television network put together a "province by province list of government run, private and online outlets where you can get your hands on some bud." Roughly a dozen legal cannabis stores have opened in Quebec, including three in Montreal , Quebec's largest city. Global News points out at least three more are scheduled to open later this month, including another in Montreal .	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
Want Hopeful Signs From 2016? Look to Some of Its Aggravations Looking for a way to end 2016 on a hopeful note? So was I when I went back through the columns I had written this year about the consumer issues that confused or annoyed me most. What I found was a pleasant surprise: In several cases, things had actually gotten at least a little better in the months since I'd visited the topic. So let us return to airline baggage fees, the general unpleasantness of the rental car industry, banks that use scare tactics to try to keep you from using new apps, and price transparency in college shopping. Glimmers of optimism are appropriate in each case, but so is vigilance. Our need to call companies out when they're not meeting our needs continues unabated. LUGGAGE FEE REFUNDS When you pay to check your bags and they don't arrive until a day after you do, you ought to get your money back. Seems logical, and airlines don't always disagree, as I wrote in April. But the process is deliberately tedious and it can end with vouchers for future travel instead of refunds to your credit card. In a rare bit of bipartisan legislative action, Congress delivered in July the reauthorization act for the Federal Aviation Administration. It promises that by July 2017, all air carriers must "promptly" provide an "automated refund" of checked baggage fees if they fail "to deliver" a bag 12 hours after the arrival of a domestic flight or 15 hours after an international one. There will still need to be a round of Department of Transportation rule making on the specifics, which worries me some. Kathy Allen, a spokeswoman for the trade group Airlines for America, didn't want to say much beyond pointing me to a statement about the dangers of regulation. She added, via email, that she didn't think "there's any way to speculate at this point about the future administration." Mr. Leocha believes that every airline will have to offer a refund to your credit card but may be able to extend a voucher as an option, too. So be ready to ask for your "automatic" refund and check a box for a true refund to your credit or debit card. Airlines prefer vouchers because of the "breakage" the fancy industry term for people forgetting all about them. Normally when bags are many hours late, the airline hires a company to deliver them to you. So here's a cynical question to ponder: Will the airlines start the clock for refund purposes when you land and then stop it when your bags merely arrive at the airport, long after you've given up and left? Or will they do the right thing and not stop the clock until the delivery company shows up with your bag, many hours after the bag may have arrived at the airport? Mr. Leocha would not rule out the possibility that the airlines might try to default to the first scenario, noting that there's usually some kind of battle during the rule making process. NEW BLOOD AT HERTZ This month, I channeled years of frustration and bile into a column about the rental car industry. By my analysis, the leading companies seemed to have set a team of user experience geeks loose with the goal of making car rentals so painful that every last one of us would flee to Lyft or Uber. A few days later, Hertz announced that its chief executive was retiring as of Jan. 3 and that his replacement, Kathryn V. Marinello, would come from outside the company. Even better: She has deep experience in the payments industry from her time at General Electric and First Data. Hertz has an obnoxious practice of charging customers for toll transponders, even on days when the vehicles don't pass through tolls. This isn't necessary. Competitors like Enterprise don't charge on days when the gear is idle, while Silvercar doesn't charge at all for the transponder. Will Ms. Marinello rid us of this scourge? A Hertz spokeswoman, Karen Drake, did not reply to my request to have a chat with the new boss. Later that month, when Recode's Kara Swisher asked him about the headline, which she described as "not a very nice" one, he dismissed it with an unprintable phrase. Time will tell if he intends to erect barriers that will keep new companies from helping his customers improve their financial lives in ways the bank hasn't thought of yet. I hope he doesn't. Since then, there have been no big breaches that we know of at start ups and services like these. Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a welcome, industrywide call for comments on third party data access and possible additional safeguards. We'll see if the bureau can issue recommendations before our elected officials begin their promised defanging of the agency. I do want to thank Mr. Dimon on behalf of credit card reward junkies everywhere for giving us the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card in 2016. By next month, I'll have extracted over 2,100 in value in exchange for my 450 annual fee. At that point, we'll put my card aside, my wife will get her own, and we'll do the same thing all over again. All those perks for customers will reduce the bank's profit by 200 million to 300 million in the fourth quarter, Mr. Dimon told investors this month, according to a Bloomberg report. But the investment could pay off handsomely if people stick with the card for a long time and carry balances that are multiples of the rewards they extract. COLLEGE COST TRANSPARENCY In 2016, schools like the California Institute of Technology, Harvard and Princeton continued to block College Abacus, a nifty tool for families to estimate the true cost of attendance at a college or university and to compare it with other institutions. The tool can't compare costs if it can't access the universities' calculators, so the schools erect barricades that block it. As I wrote in a January column, the schools' representatives either blew me off when I asked them why they were doing this or offered explanations that didn't stand up to scrutiny. So let me explain what I think is actually going on here. Most colleges are already in a quiet price war, haggling on financial aid offers in April or throwing discounts at families earlier in the season and calling it merit aid or some other euphemistic term. Any tool like the one at College Abacus, which bluntly pits schools against one another, reinforces the idea that cost ought to be a big factor in any family's decision making. Once you put down the pictures of leafy campuses and start in on the spreadsheet, however, you discover that there isn't much data that can help you figure out whether the school with the 65,000 annual bill for tuition, room and board is better than the school that offers 45,000 (including a 20,000 discount). Or whether the 25,000 flagship state university would be just fine (or worse than two years of community college first). So a tip of the cap to unafraid administrators at Drew University, which unblocked College Abacus's search software this year. Here's hoping that more schools will do the same in 2017, a year in which I intend to ask plenty more questions about how and what to pay for college.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Your Money
LOS ANGELES The incendiary device came shooting toward the homeless encampment without words or warning. Arthur Garza, 29, heard a pop against his tent, then saw the object, which he described as a "mortar" or "firecracker," bounce into the street and explode. "It was like shooting stars everywhere," Mr. Garza said. In a matter of minutes, flames were climbing the incline of dirt and brush under the interchange of the 2 and 134 freeways in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles. Stray embers jumped eight lanes of highway to ignite land in the adjoining city of Glendale. Mr. Garza and others in the encampment acted quickly, setting their water supply on the flames and raking brush to halt the fire's spread. They were aware and worried, Mr. Garza said, that the homeless might be blamed. Ultimately, some 300 firefighters and multiple water dropping helicopters were deployed to hold back the blaze . A hundred homes were evacuated, though no structures were lost. Forty five acres burned. Encampments like Mr. Garza's have become firm fixtures of L.A.'s landscape as the homelessness crisis gets steadily worse. Now, with fire season underway, city officials are growing anxious about the uptick in blazes that start in makeshift communities. The city is technically barred from removing homeless people from public areas. But last month, the L.A. City Council passed a safety measure that allows for the arrest of homeless people who refuse to leave high risk fire zones. Six days after the attack on Aug. 25, Daniel Michael Nogueira and Bryan Antonio Araujo Cabrera, both 25 and of Los Angeles, were arrested on suspicion of sparking the fire. Mr. Nogueira was booked on a felony count, while Mr. Araujo Cabrera was booked on a misdemeanor. It was a shock to the middle class community of Eagle Rock. Mr. Nogueira is the son of Michael Nogueira, the president of the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce and a big booster of the local farmers' market and Concerts in the Park series. The elder Nogueira is known around town as "Sir Michael," the name of his party rental business, and his family home, surrounded by a white picket fence, has been well known for its elaborate decorations each Halloween and for hosting rollicking gatherings on boxing match nights. Announcing the arrests in a sternly worded release, the L.A.F.D. said investigators used " burn patterns, witness statements and surveillance videos" to identify its suspects . The department "determined the fire was an intentional act" and said the homeless were the targets. No motive was mentioned. The job of the L.A.F.D.'s arson investigators is even more challenging in a climate changing California: the threat of devastating fires has essentially gone year round. The unit was founded as the Arson Squad in 1918, and a century later, is known as the Arson/Counter Terrorism Section, an evolution that officials said has become necessary to confronting threats in a world beset with climate change and terrorism. In the fall and early winter, the danger becomes more potent. The dry Santa Ana winds scream across the basins, and the sun seems to burn meaner, capable of igniting dried out growth at the slightest provocation. In this case, firefighters stayed at the burn zone for two days to make sure it was completely extinguished. "We remember the Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people," said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, referring to the 1991 Bay Area firestorm that started after embers from a fire put down a day before reignited in heavy winds. The day after his arrest, the younger Mr. Nogueira posted 1 million bail. Mr. Araujo Cabrera was released on Sept. 14. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has not formally charged either with any crimes. A spokesman for that office said the D.A. is requesting further evidence. The Nogueira family declined to comment. One of the arson investigators, L.A.F.D. Captain Tim Halloran, said he could not to discuss details about the incident, citing the ongoing inquiry, but made it clear that department will keep pursuing charges. "Obviously it's our desire to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice," Capt ain Halloran said. This summer, homeless encampment related fires also sprung up in Pacoima, where an abandoned house taken over by squatters burned for a second time; in South Los Angeles, where an encampment in an alley burned, badly damaging a house; and in the Sepulveda Basin, where about 100 people were living, some for many years. The uptick, generally, is undeniable. Mr. Humphrey, of the L.A.F.D. said, "In the number of fires related to homeless encampments, in which the homeless are present whether they are the cause is not certain the answer is yes, we are seeing an increasing trend." But in three fires in September alone, all of which left unhoused people dead or seriously injured in Van Nuys, Glendale, and in South L.A. arson is suspected. In late August, an unhoused musician in downtown L.A.'s Skid Row was targeted in an arson attack and died days later. And the Los Angeles Police Department is currently investigating a case, in Echo Park, in which an explosive device was thrown at a homeless encampment on Oct. 6. The Rev. Andy Bales, one of the most respected homeless advocates in Skid Row, and chief of the Union Rescue Mission, said the rise in attacks on homeless Angelenos is inexcusable, but sees it as a raw reflection of the dissatisfaction with official efforts to alleviate the crisis. Every night, despite billions of taxpayer dollars poured onto the problem, nearly 59,000 people sleep on the streets of Los Angeles County. The countywide homeless count rose 12 percent over the past year. "Unfortunately, some folks that have twisted thinking are getting so angry about the situation," Rev. Bales said. "This has become absolutely a growing concern, fanatical vigilantism." Rev. Bales said he supervises a Facebook page related to homelessness concerns, "and more and more people are calling for others to arm themselves, saying things like, 'Round them all up like cattle, and ship them either to Mexico or the desert.'" "I can't tell you how many posts I have to delete," he said. Makeshift habitations are everywhere set up under or near freeways, in ravines or canyons and creek beds, and on public land away from view. Eventually, some encampments are pushed onto the sidewalks, where a cat and mouse ritual ensues with sanitation workers. One of the persistent myths about the homeless is that they are largely from out of town, a sort of foreign invasion. Yet, the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count finds that roughly two thirds of unsheltered adults have lived in L.A. County 10 years or more. And the difference between those on the street and those in permanent dwellings can be a matter of degrees. For example, as it happens, the younger Mr. Nogueira was arrested for attacking an encampment that houses a former neighbor. Arthur Garza's last home address was three houses down from the place where the Nogueiras live now, on Eagle Rock's tony Hill Drive. Living on the streets, homeless people in L.A. often fall victim to sexual assault, mental illness or drug addiction. Mr. Garza has faced multiple arrests since becoming homeless, county jail records show. Some were related to narcotics, he said. "I basically never had any police contact until I started living on the street." He was kicked out of his last formal address by relatives in 2014, he said, in what he described as a dispute over an inheritance. (Repeated attempts to contact Mr. Garza's relatives at his old Hill Drive address were unsuccessful.) He has been living on the streets ever since. These days, Mr. Garza works part time for a small upholstery tools manufacturer, just a few doors away from where he sleeps. Jerry Preusser, the shop owner, spoke effusively about his employee's work ethic, and he said that he's tried to offer Mr. Garza a room in his home. "I've helped him a lot and he's done a lot to change," Mr. Preusser said. But habits, he added, are hard to break, and the cycle of homelessness itself becomes an anchor: "You don't imagine your life out of that." Although they once lived on the same block, Mr. Garza said he and Mr. Nogueira didn't know each other growing up. But he's long been aware of the Nogueira family. When he heard that Daniel Nogueira was arrested, Mr. Garza recalled saying, "That's Sir Michael's son." Mr. Garza said his conditions overall have not changed. Drivers routinely throw trash at him or honk aggressively. L.A. sanitation sweepers come by, threatening to haul off his property if he doesn't move it. Mr. Garza carts his stuff to other locations, and then back. He zips around Eagle Rock on an electric longboard , and keeps two guinea pigs as pets.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? George Gene Gustines, a senior editor in graphics and video who also writes about comic books, discussed the tech he's using. You've been writing about the comic books industry for nearly two decades. How has technology transformed the comics industry? At a recent New York Comic Con, as I was strolling down the aisle and seeing comic book creators from Italy, Spain and France, I was struck by how global the creative community has become, which was definitely driven by advances in technology. I have images in my head of the early days of the industry in the 1930s, with artists working at bullpens, laboring over their pages to hit deadlines and turning them over to their publishers. These days, thanks to digital technology, freelancers can submit their pages in down to the wire fashion from all over the world. The internet has also given us a bounty of webcomics. I'm particularly fond of The Nib, which presents thought provoking essays in comic panels. A few years ago, the site published the cartoonist Ronald Wimberly's reflection on how shifting skin tones can convey subtle racism. More recently, another cartoonist, Tom Humberstone, shared his thoughts on the overlap of politics and sports. Social media also allows fans, writers, artists, editors or other professionals to connect, comment on work and share works in progress. And I need to give a shout out to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, a fan produced site that has a searchable archive that includes the cover, publication date and details about the book's characters and story. I turn to it often to fact check dates or to get lost in nostalgia. There is much to think about when it comes to digital comics. At the top of the list is the sheer convenience. New comics are released online every Wednesday, so for fanatics it is like Christmas every week. I'm so eager to read the latest offerings that I'm awake by 5:30 a.m. when the new comics on Comixology the go to distributor of digital comics, which is owned by Amazon are usually available. I download at least 10 comics per week and tweet about many of them though I try to keep my musings spoiler free. Enlarging panels to appreciate the art is definitely one of the pluses of digital. Colorists and letterers are often unsung heroes on the creative side of comics, but reading digitally has made me appreciate them even more. The colors, in particular, pop. There has been some experimentation like Marvel's Infinite Comics, where each tap or click would control the pacing, reveal a new image or show off a minor special effect, like blurring but the experience of reading a comic digitally still does not feel dramatically different from reading one in print. But for me there is a line: I do not care for "motion comics," which include sound and often feel like low budget animation. And I'm certainly not over print. During a recent meeting of a graphic novel book club (which we call the Murder Colonels, thanks to an extra nerdy comic reference), a fellow member showed an "Absolute" edition of a story, which was printed on larger, sturdier paper that allows the artwork to truly shine. A double page spread in a deluxe printing can be stunning to behold and worthy of study. And there's another advantage of print: easy sharing. What are some of your favorite apps related to comics?	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
Jack White, the former frontman of the White Stripes, has won many things in his career, including Grammys and MTV Video Music Awards. But this week, he added another, somewhat grander, title to the list: Eurovision winner. White, 43, was added to the list of composers of Netta Barzilai's "Toy," an infectious pop anthem about female empowerment, accompanied by a chicken dance, that won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest for Israel. But some pointed out that its chorus had a certain resemblance to the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," whose main riff is widely used in sports chants. "Let's hope Jack White doesn't hear this song before the Eurovision Song Contest" Ben Shalev, the music critic for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, wrote last March. "He may sue." In June, weeks after the contest in Lisbon, Universal Music Group wrote to Doron Medalie and Stav Beger, the writers credited for "Toy," asking them about the resemblance. KAN, the Israeli state radio broadcaster, revealed that an agreement had now been reached, and White had been added to the song's credits, according to Haaretz. White did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Amnon Szpektor, who was head of media for Israel's entry in 2018, said the agreement included a confidentiality clause, and so neither Medalie nor Beger could comment. Netta was also unavailable, he said. "That's a hole she would not want to fall in," he added. This year's Eurovision is scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv in May, and there are already calls for a boycott from some supporters of Palestinians, especially members backers of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as B.D.S.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Music
Theater is a physical art form, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that its expanded online presence is here to stay, especially as the web smooths out issues of collaboration and access, both financial and physical. In Australia, for example, the Sydney Fringe Festival is expecting its new virtual event to be more than a stopgap measure. For the festival's chief executive and director, Kerri Glasscock, the Global Fringe initiative is not so much a replacement for the live festival as "a new project that will hopefully continue beyond the pandemic," she wrote in an email. "It opens up a doorway for festivals like ours to support and present a wider selection of works annually, to push form and function and develop new ways of presentation, and to ensure that our audiences are getting to see the best work from around the globe." Sydney's Global Fringe project includes both livestreams (including some from Sweden, thanks to a partnership with the Stockholm Fringe Festival) and shows recorded in Australia, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. "What is remarkably ironic is that while all of our physical borders remain closed, our relationships with our international partners and colleagues have been strengthened," Glasscock said. (Sept. 2 27. Go to sydneyfringe.com for more information. "Pay what you feel.") The Fringe moves to the (online) center Fringe festivals tend to be sprawling affairs, but luckily the virtual world can accommodate a lot of shows. In addition to the recorded productions available on Zoo TV, in lieu of the Edinburgh subfestival known as the Zoo, the Edinburgh hub theSpaceUK offers live and on demand shows via its virtual portal, Online thespaceUK. (Through Aug. 30 at online.thespaceuk.com. Free.)	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
It's about layoffs and it's about the fact that we don't really have a good script for how to let people go. In this culture and that the layoffs particularly now have been incredibly inhumane. They've been dehumanizing. They've been especially cruel. We already know that this is not like the right circuits. These are not precocious circumstances for layoffs right. Everybody is on zuma. At best it's awkward. Screens freeze having any kind of intimate heartfelt conversation about something as difficult as letting someone go from a job is not going to be easy under these mediated circumstances. But there are still probably more delicate ways to do this. Let's see where we have a question how do you retain workers even when the company is not earning revenue right. Well, you know that is a question one thing you can do is run in the red. I'll get to that, actually. Let's bookmark that question. And you can't always there. Layoffs are going to be inevitable in this economy. So what I did would two things. And it was no one I talked about the way you can lay people off and how you can do it in a way that is gingerly and as humane as possible. And the second thing that I talked about was how to do this. I question the actual underlying logic in some cases. Now granted the data that we have right now looking at companies that have laid off people versus companies that have run in the red that have furloughed people instead that have insisted on either pay cuts or in some cases, the CEO is not taking salaries at all in the long run. Those companies in almost every study I could find did better. The ones that actually tighten their belts and knuckled their way through it. If you looked at them versus companies that were in a comparable industry. If you looked at like what kind of profits they were making two years later guess what. It was the ones that actually insisted on furloughs and pay cuts not the ones that just gave her buddy the ax altogether. They were doing better two years later, and I mean, this is not pie in the sky stuff. This is replicated over and over again. The largest and most interesting study that looked at this was a guy named Wayne Cassius who is at the use Uc Colorado sorry university of Colorado at Denver. He looked at all of the companies publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange for 36 years. And he looked at just industry by industry. He was comparing companies. This one laid people off this one, same industry didn't like lay people off. Two years later almost invariably the ones that actually resisted the layoffs did the best. So here's what I wrote about last week. We are learning how in our family right now people layoff their employees. They're doing it like bird for example, the rental car the scooter rental company. They invited 406 employees to a webinar that was a big pretext wasn't true. They invited them all to show up sat them. You know there was a slide that simply said COVID 19. That was it. The employers were left to stare in total bewilderment at this slide that said COVID 19 and suddenly a disembodied voice came in over the slide and gave a two minute presentation read from a script saying that everybody who had attended that webinar was, in fact, not attending a webinar. They were scheduled to be fired and this was their last day. Sorry which is cruel. And as somebody said afterwards, it was like an episode of Black Mirror episode. I mean, it's just this isn't it. I couldn't even make that up. I mean, frankly, I wouldn't even have put that into Black Mirror episode because it's kind of too on the nose. It's the kind of thing that I think somebody would have crumpled up in a writers room and started again from scratch with because he does that. Weight watchers did something similar where they had these simultaneous mass firings where they had people in groupings on zoom call on Zoom phone calls. Same thing read from a script 3 minutes each bloodless impersonal unkind. This isn't good. There is surely better ways to do this. I'm not saying that layoffs aren't inevitable in a deep recession. What might be a depression or the worst recession certainly that we've seen in many generations. I don't get I don't I don't want to speculate at the scale of it. But I think, look 1.5 million people applied for unemployment two weeks ago, I guess it was. I'm not sure. But the figures are this week last week. But I mean, the numbers are high. I think the question is whether everybody is thinking about this in the wrong way. We're debating whether they are conceiving of this in the wrong way. One thing I can tell you is this. Let's just look for a start. Let's assume that you have to lay people off. There are two things that matter that really profoundly deeply matter. The first thing is that people pine for a sense of fairness. So you have to look at somebody and be transparent as possible. Tell them why you tell them why you did it tell them that you're going to help them find a job you're going to give them a recommendation that you tried everything that you could. This was like a measure of last resort. And tell them how much you valued them. If you can you can give them a network of other people to speak to incomparable industries who might be hiring throw them as many lifelines as possible answer as many questions as possible and give them a chance. Give them a phone number and an email to contact after they've gotten over their shock because they're going to have more questions. How do I feed my family. How long does my health insurance run. How do I kind of pull the levers that Cobra is enacted every fight. I'm sorry somebody is weighing in every firing situation is different and exposes the firm to potential lawsuits. Script protect. Well, that may be true. So why not name those companies who have botched the handling. So if you're just joining me, I'm Jennifer Senior economist at the New York Times. Weight watchers blewett bird really blew it an example of a company that did it fairly well was Airbnb very humane layoffs had comprehensive questions. I'm sorry. I answered questions comprehensively set up a system so that everybody who is sort of cut adrift had like a way to kind of address their anxieties, and their questions. But anyway, to go back. So the other reason that, by the way, you have to lay people off humanely if you're going to do it is the morale for those who survive is somewhere down in a missile silo. I mean, it's unspeakably low right. So it's in a tunnel. I mean and this is something no one takes in 2. Let's see maybe somebody else is writing in Macy's sent a letter that if you don't hear from them, you're not going to go back. Oh, my god. I'm so glad you brought this up. So many people have contacted me on Facebook, and talked to me about the passive aggressive way of where they don't actually know an old friend of mine contacted me recently and said, somebody I knew when I was a little child not old enough to vote or tie my shoes. I think she contacted me and she said, we were we were told not to work remotely after they set us up remotely. We were told not to work remotely. And we were also told not to show up at the office, which is like some kind of Joseph Heller catch 22 like you know yossarian kind of nightmare. What is that. What is that. So this is another thing you have to be clear and you have to be courageous and you have to be transparent for the sake of not only the people that you are laying off. But for the sake of the people who are remaining. Because guess what. The second the economy strengthens again. Those people are going to be out the door. They're not going to want to. They're not going to feel any allegiance any fealty at all to a company that behaves cruelly. So that's I feel very strongly about this. And again, then I also want to challenge the wisdom of laying people off in the first place. I think it's very important to think through the idea that belt tightening matters. There are lots of CEOs who can live happily without their salaries. There are lots of people at the top tier who would gladly take a pay cut for the sake of seeing everybody around them still employed. So that they don't have to kind of undergo the turbulence and feel the survivor's guilt. They would gladly exchange 10% 20% of their salaries 30% if they're being paid extremely handsomely well for the sake of just good companies integrity. The team integrity that whatever integrity. And so that. And here's the real thing. I spoke to somebody at a university who was saying, look, you know I have tenure a lot of us have tenure. So you want to know who was going to get fired. The people who clean our bathrooms, the people who mow or lawns the people who do all these important work. Now is a chance for us to express our values. If we say that we are all willing to take a 10% pay cut across the board. So that they can show up like we will feel a lot better about ourselves they are the most vulnerable, they are the ones who are going at the hardest time getting reemployed. They tend to be the people of color they tend to be the people who are living the most sort of precarious kind of existence. We are in a position to actually who cares if five percent. This isn't even a big kind of cost saving measure. If we fire all these people from a university like that's not where the big salaries are the big sat with the people who are drawing all the big salaries are protected. I thought that was fascinating. And I thought it was really worth taking to heart. So now let me just sort of only read some of the feedback that I got, which was great, by the way. Macy's cut 70% Well Macy's is in this very interesting position because either filing for bankruptcy right. So you know the question is, how well, they were managing all along, whether they were already precarious cutting 70% is really astonishing. And I don't know if there are ways to do this more cheaply if there are ways to do what we were shoring up morale retails obviously taking a huge hit and some receptors are going to be much harder hit than others. Obviously, if you own a restaurant, you're in and you're facing a different kind of crisis than a business and/or an institution where some revenue is still coming in. And that's the difference. I think. So somebody tweeted, Good luck trying to get a count talented people to come back to work at your company when all is done. If you handled this poorly. People talk. That's exactly right. That was what I wrote and I have two words for you. Last door people ding their former employers on glassdoor. I mean, you can see all of these terrible write UPS that these companies get cut performance bonuses. I agree. Yeah, why not. I mean, also I would point out everybody's cost of living right now is much lower. It's not like people are spending through the roof. They're not like you know going on vacations on extravaganza. I mean, again, there are ways to actually do this humanely where you can I think assume that people will not need quite as much to live if they're still drawing their full salaries. It's possible that particularly at the top tier of every company that you can cinch the belt. Here is the real thing that got me started thinking about this a long time ago. I was doing a piece for New York magazine. Was looking at sort of that larger body of literature about what makes people happy. What makes people unhappy. And one of the things that I came across. And I would believed it if it hadn't been replicated and also, if it hadn't been done in huge samples involving Tens of thousands of people both in Britain and in Australia and in Germany. It looked at how people's how people adapted to be long term unemployment versus how people adapted to losing a loved one. And here's what's surprising. It was easier. If it wasn't these people adapted more quickly to losing a loved one than they did to losing a job. And when I first read that, I thought there's no way that's just too good to check. But then I looked at the methodology and the methodology was completely sound. But more to the point. More to the point you just have to think about this for a few minutes. And it starts to make sense. No one living in a constant sentences State of economic insecurity is, of course enough to destabilize anyone and significantly lower your mood thermostat. But number two, I think you care if you're laid off. It's sort of taken as a referendum on your own character. And it's going to sort of start this existential little kind of crisis, where you have this crisis of meaning. Now where you wake up and you don't know what you're doing. So I think if you look at it as something that's deeply personal. Whereas you know if you lose loved one. It's obviously, you've murdered them. It's obviously not something that you can take personally. It's something that happens that you had no control over. So I think that this to a large degree explains that data point. And a lot of people have talked when they were writing to me they wrote about how traumatic it was what kind of personal hit it was how it hit them in the gut to be let go. So here. Let me start being let go. It's traumatic in nor in normal cycles. The extra burden is for us to determine how much the termination is a statement of our personal value. Exactly people mistake one for the other. And it's this constant thing. You think that you are your I mean, to a certain extent your professional identity and your personal identity whatever it is are intertwined. It's a big piece of it. And to have that you're suddenly removed is very it's anguish inducing Europe. Somebody brought up that Europe has had a better solution. And this. I regret this. This is a paragraph that's on the cutting room floor. In my story. I actually mentioned this that here in the United States, we don't do what we didn't do what the Europeans did largely not every company. But not every country. But most countries actually just took over the payrolls of you know of all companies and they assumed. Then it wasn't on private, then it wasn't on these individual companies to assume the problem. OK sorry somebody who taught is writing. And do you. I think that the trauma is offset at all by the fact that so many millions are newly unemployed. Oh, that is very interesting. And you are getting to another kind of piece of the literature about happiness and well being which is fascinating which is that like how you how you feel it is relative to what you see around you. So if you are the sole unemployed person on your block. You are going to feel worse than if there are suddenly huge numbers of you. And it is true that if there are many people suddenly out of work all at once, it probably to some degree does mitigate the sting. Right it's going to some degree it's going to soften the blow. And that's true. It's not a substitute for a paycheck for health insurance. And this is the other thing I think you know, tons of people wrote in saying now can we have a conversation about you know perhaps like kind of state provided health insurance. Is this the moment to sort of dealing our wages. I'm sorry our health insurer assurance from our like employment status. Yes, it is most assuredly is and this is, again, something I think this is a heartache that people in Europe are not facing right. They don't have to worry how they're going to get health care coverage during a pandemic. P.s. right. So that's something. OK So let's see here. Oh, this was I just sort of an exquisite rendering written with real heart by someone by a fellow named Tom Connolly in Connecticut. It's not just a job. It's who we have become where he's been he's where you be. And it's where you spend a major part of your life. A job allows you to pay your own way to support your family. Losing a job is just awful. It leaves a hole that may never be filled. It takes away the dignity of being a man or a woman. You can no longer provide for yourself or for your family in a nutshell, I think that that's exactly right. And I think that's why it cuts to the quick. And I think that that's why the more humane the a company can handle this saying it's not you you're stellar. We're invested in finding you some sort of future employment. We will do everything in our power to do so. And we will show you out the door with a fistful of recommendations you're in. You know it's just it's kinder. And by the way, also the people who remain at the company feel better if they know that the people who were let go are well provided for. I mean, the survivors feel way less guilt. Let's say somebody is saying it feels like job loss is coming for many of us. How can we prepare emotionally and professionally. You know the hard thing you know if there is a way to prepare for losing a job. I think about it because I mean, the newspaper industry is about to. I mean, there's already been tons of cuts in my industry and you know our revenues fall and our ad revenues falling off of a cliff. I don't know how the next day I run through the exercise with myself sometimes. And I try and tell myself. Now it's not personal. It's the circumstance. The pandemic. It's not me. It's the pandemic. It's not me. How fast. I mean, what does that get you. You know, I think it's in some ways incumbent on the employer again to say you can call me. Here's my phone number. Here's my email and we can discuss this again. I think people are in shock when they're laid off. They don't see it coming. They seldom do. And the best thing that you can do is be there for them through the first wave, which is utter disbelief. You're what you're letting me go. I've been here 17 years. And then you can kind of make available all kinds of logistical you can answer questions. My boss fired me through text because I chose not to go in after being given a choice quote, given a choice says somebody to me. And when someone else says that. All right. First of all, I want to address that because that is so heinous and it's consistent with some of the things that I've been getting again on Facebook. This kind of weird passive aggression as if anybody is going to go in to an office when most states are in lockdown. That's just a ridiculous request, and it's cowardly. Oh something I can tell you that I think is really interesting that I found when I was doing the research on this. I was speaking to somebody who's written one of the definitive papers about how bad bosses are at firing people because it turns out they're terrible at it. And I said to him, why. Because what they do, by the way, when they're in the middle of firing people is they become completely freaked out and destabilized because people start getting very emotional. They start bargaining. And people who are tasked with firing aren't prepared for that. How could they be right. You can have a little bit of compassion for them. It's not anything that they relish. So I ask somebody this question and the answer was amazing. They said, well honestly and in business school you don't learn this. So if you want to be school. No one teaches you how to have conversations like difficult conversations. If you're a police officer if you are a firefighter if you are a doctor you are trained in having difficult conversations. You do it on the job you do it in your apprenticeship you do it in your training. But most people don't learn how to deliver bad news. And I thought there's a real powerful argument for actually learning that. I think it's a valuable skill. I think it's an invaluable skill. Somebody earlier also said and this is absolutely true that you know how do you brace for a layoff their answer was at least find something else that defines you as a hobby baking whatever. I mean, that's a cliche, but I'm with them. I mean, you know and some people might not have the means it sounds unfathomably unfathomably luxurious to say, oh, just go big. I mean that assumes that you have a nest egg. But I think the idea that you can start at least feathering your nest with the things that bring you joy. You know you can take pleasure in your children to the extent that you can separate the anxiety from providing you know providing for them from being laid off. That matters. I think, yes, I think that like trying to build your identity around things that are not your job at this moment and time is not a bad idea in any way. Everyone's job right now is compromised. I'm not sure that people are doing the version of their job that they once knew and loved. So that would be my thought about it anyway. If you're just joining, I'm Jennifer Senior. I'm the newest columnist to join the rotation at the New York Times and what I've been talking about is my column from not today, but eight days ago about the utter rank incompetence of companies and laying people off how bad people are doing it. How inhumane and in an unmarked fold they have been in laying people off. The examples I gave were bird the scooter rental company, which had this kind of weird sci fi Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Black Mirror experience where they let people off en masse sitting while staring at a screen that said COVID 19. They lured them there under false pretenses. And then basically a lady's disembodied voice told them that their services were no longer required. I don't know what that is. It's not human. It's honestly something spun from the looms of the most dystopian sci fi writer's imagination that I can imagine. And somebody even compared to do you know Blackmore episode. They're right. They're totally right. Also what was the other company have I said, oh, yes weight watchers WWF international. They were horrible. It was like a three minute script. So you just read robotically from it. They didn't have the guts to tell people individually, and they couldn't because there was one all about the country. They could have made individual phone calls to different people. No didn't do it. So that was terrible. Anyway I'm not going to read some more comments. Let's see. My company just laid off a huge number of employees using pre recorded conference calls. People were very upset about it. But we had over 20,000 employees. OK So they're saying, how can you call thousands of people personally and offer the chance to answer questions. You can't. I think a lot is riding on that pre recorded conference call. I think what you've got to do is say this is a shock. It's so far from ideal it's so far from what I would want to do. Here are the resources that we are going to make available as a company in case this fills you with distress. And you make sure that you follow up and you follow up. Also, if there are 20,000 employees you know if you have 20,000 employees then I'm assuming that there are managers and managers managers and there's all sorts of people who can still manage those conversations some people still have to be in the building or in the metaphorical building. I mean, sorry. But a company that size is probably better equipped and ways to lay people off than smaller ones you got lots of people who manage teams in those situations. So I'm not sure I buy it. Someone just weighed in what did they say. I got let go on Sunday. I was asked not to talk to co workers until Thursday. That was miserable. That's horrible. I'm not least because you can't commiserate. You don't know what else is going on around you. And again have so many of these layoffs strike me as like hostage situations where they're sort of like putting you in a black burlap bag and throwing you into a trunk and driving like I mean, what do you mean, you're not supposed to talk to any of your colleagues. That's absurd. You're going to need all the camaraderie and all the support you could get and also their contacts you're going to need the road x you're going to need. There's that's really. This is exposing a great big gap in you know how you write. You're going to want them to have your CV somebody is pointing out. Exactly so that they can pass it around right. They're the ones who still have extant business connections. I mean, this is just it's bananas. It's nuts. And again, I just say that this exposes a huge a huge hole in corporate culture and in small business culture too. These are important things to learn. And I feel like every small business owner should learn how to do this should you know what it is to whatever prosperity is next upon us God knows how many years from now. It's something everyone should learn. That's really the bottom line. That's what I would say anyway. I think I'm going to sign out not least because we, like many other families. We are a cliche. We have a new puppy. And so I want to go and walk him. I'm sort of kept him penned up while I've been talking. Let me just see if there's anything else. Oh one wonderful puppy cameo. Oh, I could watch for her colleague. That would require. I could walk down it. You know what. Maybe I'll do a puppy cameo. OK, I'm going to do a puppy cameo. Why the heck not. All right. So here's one other thing that somebody has mentioned that I think is very funny is that you know they're saying, you know employ it. Why is it that we ask their own please give two weeks notice. And then employer and get employers can just get people to act in like '10 seconds. And the answer is they shouldn't be able to.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
By all accounts, the documentary filmmaker Henry Hampton (1940 1998), the force behind the pathbreaking civil rights series "Eyes on the Prize," was larger than life. He was athletic, easy on the eyes, a public intellectual, a sharp dresser and a mensch. He was possessed of a big bearded bonhomie. As a child, he'd had polio and mostly lost the use of his left leg. Soon he was playing on championship wheelchair basketball teams. In his 20s, as lay director of information for the Unitarian Universalist church, he marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., while wearing a steel leg brace. He opened his film company, Blackside, in Boston in 1968. He slowly gathered around him an assortment of young people who would become many of America's leading documentarians. They loved him like a father, Jon Else suggests in his new book, "True South: Henry Hampton and 'Eyes on the Prize,' the Landmark Television Series That Reframed the Civil Rights Movement." He also drove them insane. Mr. Hampton was bad at giving orders. He thrived on chaos. He paid people late when he paid them at all. A typical quotation about him in Mr. Else's book is, "I love the brother, but he still owes me money from 1978." He changed dozens, if not hundreds, of lives. "Virtually every person I know who ever worked at Blackside says being there was a high point if not the high point of their careers, our miniature version of the Bauhaus in 1925, the Left Bank in 1930, Motown in '65, American Zoetrope in '75, Apple in the '80s," Mr. Else writes. 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. It's hard to imagine a better person than Mr. Else to tell this story. He left Yale in 1964 to go to Mississippi to register voters; he was arrested for his troubles. He later worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He has skin prickling stories to tell about late night drives through Georgia in 1964, alongside Stokely Carmichael. Mr. Else became a filmmaker and directed a well regarded documentary, "The Day After Trinity" (1980), about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb. He won a MacArthur "genius" grant. Most essentially for the story he tells here, he was series producer and cinematographer for "Eyes on the Prize." His book does several things at once. On one level, it's a biography of Mr. Hampton, who grew up in an upper middle class black family in St. Louis. On another, it's a lucid recap of many of the signal events of the civil rights movement. It's also a book about how a long and complicated documentary is made. In the age before the internet, it was a mighty task to plow through newspaper morgues and sometimes crumbling and mislabeled television footage, and to track down through telephone books many observers who'd nearly been lost to history. This task was made both more difficult, and more urgent, because at this time most of the major histories of the civil rights era, including Taylor Branch's magisterial three part biography of Dr. King, had yet to be written. Mr. Hampton had a strong vision for his series, which was actually two linked projects. The six hour first part, shown on PBS in 1987, was titled "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954 1965)." The eight hour second part, "Eyes on the Prize: America at the Racial Crossroads (1965 1985)," was broadcast in 1990. He didn't want experts on screen to distract from his film's immediacy. His mandate was, "If you weren't there, you can't be in the movie." Because the music of the era was so potent, he urged that it be used sparingly, so as not to dilute its impact. He wanted a lot of American flags onscreen, especially when held in historical footage by black boys and girls. "It's our flag, too," Mr. Hampton would say. "Don't let them take it away." He asked his filmmakers constantly, "What will make a 70 year old white lady in Peoria care about this film?" He wanted his film's style to be straightforward. "Nothing daring or experimental, no genre busting, no avant garde, no re enactments, no postmodern mirrors upon mirrors, no animated scenes, no original music, no 20 20 hindsight, no fancy dancing," Mr. Else writes. To this sort of observation, Mr. Else brings a practiced filmmaker's streetwise sensibility. About loading and unloading film in "changing bags" during shoots in the South, for example, he writes: "God help the assistant who let a speck of dust into the bag, mixed up two types of film, let even a hint of light in, failed to run a scratch test, failed to seal the magazine with tape." Mr. Else, who has a clear and easygoing prose style, has things to say about many topics: the bravery of the network cameramen who filmed in Selma and elsewhere; the roadblocks to documentary work set up by misguided intellectual property laws; and the difficulty of getting old segregationists to talk on camera. I wish this book were 75 pages shorter. I wish it had gotten a bit closer to Mr. Hampton. Mr. Else chronicles his subject's youth and early adulthood but doesn't probe much into his later personal life. Mr. Hampton never married (work was his abiding love) but had several long relationships with women. Yet "True South" is a series of braided stories that are each well told. Mr. Hampton, who had lung cancer, died at 58. His documentary company, its finances typically in disarray, shut down soon after. He lives in his documentaries, and in this warm and intelligent book.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
We Slow as We Age, but May Not Need to Slow Too Much None Most of us who are older competitive runners are not able to race at anywhere near the same speed as we did when we were 30. But we can perhaps aim to slow down at the same pace as Bernard Lagat, Ed Whitlock and other greats of masters running, according to a timely new analysis by two professors from Yale University. The new analysis, which refines famous past research by one of the scientists, finds that, although declines in running performance with age are ineluctable, they may be less steep than many of us fear. And, perhaps most important, the new research updates a popular formula and calculator that runners past the age of 40 can use to determine how fast we can expect to slow down and provides us with reasonable, age appropriate finishing time targets for ourselves. Scientists do not know precisely why, from a physiological standpoint, we are less able to maintain our old, swifter pace as we reach middle age. There is evidence from past studies that even in lifelong athletes, hearts become a bit less efficient over time at pumping blood and delivering oxygen and muscles a bit less adept at creating sustained power. Changes deep within our cells, particularly in the energy producing mitochondria, are thought to contribute to these age related performance declines, as are simpler explanations such as creeping weight gain and a drop off in hard training. But the upshot is that, after a certain point, we cannot keep up with the kids or with our own previous bests. Professor Ray Fair, an economist at Yale who mainly analyzes and predicts election outcomes, is familiar with this tribulation, since, now in his mid 70s, he is also an experienced masters marathon runner whose times have been slowing year by year. About a decade ago, he began to wonder whether his rate of performance decline was typical and, being a predictive statistical modeler, decided to find out. He turned first to information about world records for runners by age group. These times represent what is possible by the best runners in the world as they age. And cumulatively, he found, the records proved that champion runners slow like the rest of us. But there was a pattern to the slowing, Dr. Fair realized. As he reported in a 2007 study, the masters world record times rose in a linear fashion, with some hiccups, until about age 70, when they begin to soar at a much higher rate. Using statistical modeling based on this pattern, Dr. Fair developed a formula that could predict how fast other, less exceptional runners might expect to run as they grew older. He incorporated this formula into an influential calculator that he made available free on his website. (The calculator also predicts age related performance declines in swimming and chess, using the same statistical techniques.) The calculator soon became popular with runners, for whom it provided age adjusted viable goal times, allowing them to swap despondency about their current plodding for gratification if they had managed to remain at or near their "regression line," as Dr. Fair termed the age adjusted predicted finishes. But recently, Dr. Fair began to question whether his statistical model provided the best estimates of people's likely race times and, for the new analysis, which was published in print this month in The Review of Economics and Statistics, he approached a Yale colleague, Edward Kaplan. Dr. Kaplan is an expert in a complex type of statistical analysis known as extreme value theory, which focuses on exceptional deviations from the norm. By definition, world records are exceptional deviations from the norm. Together, Dr. Fair and Dr. Kaplan reanalyzed data about world masters running records through 2016 for the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon events, up to age 95. They used only men's records, since the number of older female participants has been small, Dr. Fair says, making current women's records statistically suspect. They then ran the numbers, using several different models, and found that, over all, age adjusted finishing times are slightly slower now than in the 2007 version, rising about 1 percent a year. But runners seem to be maintaining that rate of decline longer, until they are about age 80, when slowness drastically intensifies. But even for 90 year olds, the decline is limited, Dr. Fair points out. Nonagenarians can expect to be "about twice as slow as they were in their prime," he says, "which I think is encouraging." Interestingly, the new study's extreme value analysis also suggests that older runners have not yet become as fast as they could be. The complicated calculations indicate that current world records for older runners theoretically could drop by as much as 8 percent in the future, Dr. Kaplan says, providing all of us new benchmarks for our own aging performance. Dr. Fair has now introduced an updated version of his calculator, incorporating the new models. To use it, visit his endearingly austere website at fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/aging and click on the link entitled "All other running (2018 updated age factors)." There, enter your best time for whichever event interests you and the age at which you set that time. If you were younger than 40, use age 40 anyway, since the calculator assumes you will not have slowed much before reaching that age, Dr. Fair says. You then will see your predicted times for your chosen event at every age through 95. These figures presume that you have continued to train and maintain high fitness over the years, which many of us have not. They also assume that recreational runners age and slow at the same rate as world class runners, which has not been proven experimentally. But even with these limitations, Dr. Fair says, the predictions give us something to shoot for. "Aim for your regression line," he says.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Well
When professional choreographers work with students, both sides benefit: Students are exposed to new ways of moving (and possible future employers), while artists can try out ideas on large, curious groups. The Juilliard Dance Division's winter concert, "New Dances," facilitates that kind of exchange, and the Guggenheim Museum presents a sneak peek of this year's offerings by John Heginbotham, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Pam Tanowitz and Matthew Neenan, each working with a different class on Sunday, Nov. 20, as part of its Works Process series. The musically savvy Mr. Heginbotham, who has an almost vaudevillian sense of humor, should bring out a mischievous side of the first year students, while Ms. Tanowitz is likely to challenge the third years with a brain teasing ballet. Ms. Skarpetowska, matched with the sophomores, and Mr. Neenan, with the seniors, both have a dexterous way with ensembles. The dancers, some of the most promising in the country, should have no trouble keeping up. The evening includes a chat with the artists, moderated by Lawrence Rhodes. (guggenheim.org.)	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
Aakash Odedra Mr. Odedra brings his extensive training in Kathak and Bharatanatyam to "Rising," a suite of solo works by him, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, all big names in European dance. (Mr. Odedra is from England.) Putting contemporary twists on those classical Indian styles, the program comes to New York in full for the first time, for one night only. At 8 p.m., Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 La Guardia Place, at Washington Square South, Greenwich Village, 866 811 4111, nyuskirball.org. (Siobhan Burke) Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo (through Sunday) After a brief retirement, the Italian prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri has been in top form, dancing in contemporary work. She partners often with Herman Cornejo, a current principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, where Ms. Ferri danced for more than 20 years. In "Trio ConcertDance," the pair is joined by the concert pianist Bruce Levingston in a program of duets featuring choreographic contributions by Angelin Preljocaj, Russell Maliphant, Stanton Welch, Fang Yi Sheu and Demis Volpi. Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, 212 242 0800, joyce.org. (Brian Schaefer) 'Angel Reapers' (through March 13) Though there are only a few living Shakers left in America, the group's ideas and aesthetics have been hugely influential, particularly among artists. "Angel Reapers," the choreographer Martha Clarke and the playwright Alfred Uhry's exploration of lust and desire within the Shaker community, returns to New York after a 2011 run. Performed against a sparse set reflecting the Shaker ethos of cleanliness and simplicity, Ms. Clarke's stomping, slashing movement hints at turbulence within. Tuesdays through Sundays at various times, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212 244 7529, signaturetheatre.org. (Schaefer) Company XIV (through March 12) Fresh off its titillating take on "The Nutcracker," Austin McCormick's company applies its sensual burlesque meets ballet meets circus formula to another popular fairy tale, "Snow White." Of course, this sumptuous production is no Disney remake: Mr. McCormick takes his inspiration from the haunting Brothers Grimm version, and the abundant partial nudity makes it an adults only evening. That poisonous apple might as well be Eve's its magic spell is the release of inhibitions. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m., Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, at Avenue of the Americas, Greenwich Village, 800 745 3000, companyxiv.com. (Schaefer) Eiko (through March 23) The performance artist Eiko Otake, known simply as Eiko, has long been a quiet but powerful force in dance first in collaboration with her husband, Koma, and lately as a solo artist. For its 10th annual Platform event, a deep dive into an idea or artist, Danspace shines a spotlight on her project "A Body in Places." The work began in 2014 at the Fukushima nuclear plant and has taken her around the world in a quest to understand the body's fragility. Over the next month, Eiko will offer workshops, curate a film series and give 16 solo performances, as well as engage with 25 artists who have been invited to respond to her ideas in different ways. At various locations and times. More information: 212 674 8112, danspaceproject.org. (Schaefer) Elisa Monte Dance (Friday and Saturday) On Friday, Elisa Monte, who is celebrating her company's 35th anniversary, premieres "Pangaea," a new work four years in the making. On Saturday, she hands over the artistic reins to Tiffany Rea Fisher, a longtime dancer with the company, who presents two works of her own, dances in a solo and joins company alumni in "Shattered," a speedy and intricate work from 2000. At 7:30 p.m., Aaron Davis Hall, City College, West 135th Street and Convent Avenue, Hamilton Heights, 212 281 9240, harlemstage.org. (Schaefer) Flamenco Festival New York 2016 (through March 19) The 13th iteration of this festival celebrating all things flamenco brings a bright lineup of music and dance to locations throughout the city. Venerable troupes like Ballet Flamenco de Andalucia make an appearance, as do dynamic stars like Farruquito. Under the banner "Beyond Flamenco" are artists who have roots in flamenco or take inspiration from it but mix in other styles like Nino de los Reyes, who stirs in jazz and modern dance. At various times and places, flamencofestival.org/eng/. (Schaefer) Maria Hassabi (through March 20) In recent works like "Premiere" and "Show," Ms. Hassabi has offered rigorous explorations of slowness and stillness, drawing attention to incremental shifts of weight in the body. "Plastic," a moving installation for the Museum of Modern Art in particular, its stairwells and floors extends those meditations across larger expanses of space and time, lasting all day every day (during museum hours) for a month. 212 708 9400, moma.org. (Burke) Jo Stromgren Kompani (Wednesday through March 12) Three nurses have nothing to do, so they injure and mend themselves instead. Such is the odd premise of Mr. Stromgren's "The Hospital," a 2005 dance theater work that this Norwegian company has toured to 22 countries. This will be its New York premiere. At 7:30 p.m., Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street, Lower East Side, 866 811 4111, abronsartscenter.org (Burke) Julianna May (through March 12) In her work "Adult Documentary," Julianna May solicits real and fictional biographies from her five dancers: Lindsay Clark, Talya Epstein, Rennie McDougall, Kayvon Pourazar and Connor Voss. Then she scrambles them, as she does with their movements, using distortions in the dance's form to get at a broad idea of trauma or the disruption of the expected. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Chocolate Factory, 5 49 49th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, 718 482 7069, chocolatefactorytheater.org. (Schaefer) Lydia Johnson Dance (Thursday through March 12) Known for her sophisticated musicality, Ms. Johnson returns to the Ailey Citigroup Theater with her small and adept ballet company. The program includes a premiere set to jazz standards and three older works, two of which feature music by the contemporary Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov. At 7:30 p.m., 405 West 55th Street, Clinton, lydiajohnsondance.org. (Burke) Molly Poerstel (Wednesday through March 12) In "Are We a Fossil, and of Facings," Ms. Poerstel experiments with structure. How do you create a dance in the round that's also a dance for the proscenium stage? She explores the possibilities by situating viewers "inside the belly of the work," according to the website for Gibney Dance, where the piece will have its premiere. At 8 p.m., Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, 280 Broadway, near Chambers Street, Lower Manhattan, 646 837 6809, gibneydance.org. (Burke) Sokolow Theater/Dance Ensemble (Wednesday through March 13) While carrying the torch for the modern dance pioneer Anna Sokolow, who died in 2000, this company also supports choreographers of today. Its program at the theater at the 14th Street Y includes Ms. Sokolow's "Steps of Silence" (1968), "Ride the Culture Loop" (1975) and "Kurt Weill" (1988), as well as a new piece by the guest artist Rae Ballard. Wednesday through next Friday at 8 p.m., March 12 at 3 and 8 p.m., March 13 at 3 p.m., 14th Street Y LABA Theater, 344 East 14th Street, East Village, 646 395 4322, 14streety.org. (Burke) Stacy Grossfield Dance Projects (Wednesday through March 13) With her new work for 10 performers, "hot dark matter," Ms. Grossfield intends to stimulate many senses: sight, sound, smell, touch. Tailored to the architecture of Jack, an idiosyncratic performance space in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, the piece takes inspiration from high speed particles and the idea of slowing them down. Wednesday, Thursday and March 12 at 8 p.m., March 11 at 8 and 10 p.m., March 13 at 3 p.m., Jack, 505 1/2 Waverly Avenue, near Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, jackny.org. (Burke) Stephen Petronio (Tuesday through March 13) Mr. Petronio, who founded his company more than 30 years ago, has been thinking lately about his artistic lineage. Through "Bloodlines," a project he started in 2014, he's restaging works by choreographers who have inspired him, in particular iconoclasts of the 1960s and '70s. The latest installment is Trisha Brown's "Glacial Decoy," a piece with special resonance for Mr. Petronio, who danced for Ms. Brown early in his career. It shares a program with his own "MiddleSexGorge," from 1990, and the premiere of his "Big Daddy (Deluxe)." Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through March 12 at 8 p.m., March 13 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, 212 242 0800, joyce.org. (Burke) World Music Institute's Festival Ay! Mas Flamenco (through March 6) This flamenco dance series features four programs that span the spectrum from traditional to contemporary takes on this dramatic Spanish dance. The program features Joaquin Grilo (Friday) and La Lupi (Saturday), all performing at Symphony Space. On Sunday, the dynamic married team of Sonia Olla and Ismael Fernandez perform at La Nacional Spanish Benevolent Society. Information is at worldmusicinstitute.org. (Schaefer)	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
WASHINGTON Federal Reserve officials expect to leave interest rates near zero for years through at least 2023 as they try to coax the economy back to full strength after the pandemic induced recession, based on their September policy statement and economic projections released Wednesday. The Fed, in a significant update to its official policy statement, also reinforced its August pledge to tolerate slightly higher price gains to offset periods of weak inflation, underscoring that its chairman, Jerome H. Powell, and his colleagues plan to be extraordinarily patient as they try to cushion the economy in the months and years ahead. The Fed's moves are in response to two major challenges. The coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the economy in the near term, leaving millions out of work, and central bank policy will be key to restoring growth and a strong labor market. A longer run problem centers on inflation and interest rates, which have been slipping lower, threatening economic stagnation. Officials are hoping that an extended period of very cheap money will fuel demand and lift prices. In its statement on Wednesday, the policy setting Federal Open Market Committee said it expected to hold rates steady near zero until the job market reaches what it sees as full employment "and inflation has risen to 2 percent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time." By scrapping their old practice of raising rates in response to a drop in unemployment and an expectation that inflation would rise and instead requiring inflation to show up in real life as a precondition for higher rates central bankers are committing themselves clearly to their new policy strategy and to a long period with borrowing costs near zero. "Effectively we're saying rates will remain highly accommodative until the economy is far along in its recovery," Mr. Powell said at a news conference following the meeting, repeatedly calling the messaging "strong" and "powerful." The change was important enough to prove contentious. Two officials, Robert S. Kaplan from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Neel Kashkari from the Minneapolis Fed, voted against Wednesday's decision. Mr. Kaplan favored retaining greater flexibility about future rate setting suggesting that he did not want to intertwine interest rates so tightly with real life inflation outcomes. Maintaining some wiggle room would leave the Fed room to raise rates earlier. Mr. Kashkari seemed to take the opposite tack. He believes the committee should "indicate that it expects to maintain the current target range until core inflation has reached 2 percent on a sustained basis," the statement said, arguably a stronger commitment to a period of very low rates. Roberto Perli, an economist at Cornerstone Macro who formerly worked at the Fed, said the announcement codified a meaningful change to the Fed's approach. "What strikes me is how high a bar they set for raising rates," Mr. Perli said. "The message is plenty clear: We want to maximize employment and inflation better come up, or no rate hikes here." The Fed slashed interest rates to near zero almost exactly six months ago, as the pandemic first swept the United States and markets tiptoed on the brink of disaster. Such low interest rates help to spur economic growth by encouraging home refinancing, business investment and other types of borrowing. While investors and economists already expected borrowing costs to remain at rock bottom for years, the Fed's declaration on Wednesday should buttress that outlook. Mr. Powell tried to hammer that point home, saying that the changes "clarify our strong commitment over a longer time horizon." Officials clearly expect that sustained economic support will be needed. During his news conference, Mr. Powell noted that while activity had picked up, the recovery in household spending probably reflected "substantial and timely" fiscal support, and services that involved people gathering together like entertainment and tourism would struggle to fully recover until the virus abated. "Overall activity remains well below its level before the pandemic, and the path ahead remains highly uncertain," Mr. Powell said. Cutting the federal funds rate is not the only tool in the Fed's arsenal the central bank is also buying huge quantities of mortgage backed and Treasury securities. The primary goal of those purchases has been to stabilize markets, but bond buying can help to stimulate the economy by pushing down longer term interest rates. It can also prod investors to move into riskier assets with higher payoffs, driving them toward corporate bonds and stocks. Fed officials had been mulling when and how to update their asset purchase program, and said Wednesday that they would maintain purchases "at least" at their current pace to "sustain smooth market functioning and help foster accommodative financial conditions." Mr. Powell said that the purchases were helping to keep credit flowing in the economy. "There are various ways and margins that we can adjust our tools going forward, and we'll continue to monitor developments," he said. Covid's impact on the supply chain continues. The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain and made all kinds of products harder to find. In turn, scarcity has caused the prices of many things to go higher as inflation remains stubbornly high. Almost anything manufactured is in short supply. That includes everything from toilet paper to new cars. The disruptions go back to the beginning of the pandemic, when factories in Asia and Europe were forced to shut down and shipping companies cut their schedules. First, demand for home goods spiked. Money that Americans once spent on experiences were redirected to things for their homes. The surge clogged the system for transporting goods to the factories that needed them and finished products piled up because of a shortage of shipping containers. Now, ports are struggling to keep up. In North America and Europe, where containers are arriving, the heavy influx of ships is overwhelming ports. With warehouses full, containers are piling up. The chaos in global shipping is likely to persist as a result of the massive traffic jam. No one really knows when the crisis will end. Shortages and delays are likely to affect this year's Christmas and holiday shopping season, but what happens after that is unclear. Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said he expects supply chain problems to persist "likely well into next year." Even so, the Fed's powers are limited and the central bank head once again noted that more fiscal support the kind of direct spending that only Congress can authorize would be needed to help the economy continue its recovery. "My sense is that more fiscal support is likely to be needed," he said. Millions of people remain out of work and it is unclear how quickly or even if all of those workers will find re employment. Fed officials now expect the unemployment rate to average 7.6 percent over the final three months of the year, based on the median forecast, which is lower than they had previously expected but still sharply higher than the 3.5 percent rate that prevailed heading into the downturn. Those projections were included in the Fed's updated Summary of Economic Projections, a set of estimates for how the economy and interest rates will develop in coming years. It was the so called S.E.P. that showed interest rates on hold through 2023, based on the median forecast. "The labor market has been recovering, but it's a long way, a long way, from maximum employment," Mr. Powell said, adding that the recovery will move most quickly through areas that were not directly affected by the virus. Parts of the economy facing a direct hit like airlines, sports stadiums and restaurants "are going to be challenging for some time." "It's millions of people," he said, adding that it is the Fed's job "not to forget those people." As part of that effort, Mr. Powell in August announced that the Fed was shifting its policy strategy, and no longer planned to lift interest rates simply because the unemployment rate had dropped below levels it saw as sustainable. That came alongside the shift to average inflation targeting, which will allow prices to run slightly higher than 2 percent at times. The September statement backed up that move. "The committee will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 percent for some time so that inflation averages 2 percent over time and longer term inflation expectations remain well anchored at 2 percent," the Fed said Wednesday. Previously, it had pledged to aim for 2 percent inflation on a "symmetric" basis, meaning that the Fed was equally unsatisfied if inflation ran above or below the target. "If we do lift off, we will keep policy accommodative until we have a moderate overshoot of inflation for some time," Mr. Powell said. Inflation in the United States has slipped lower over recent decades along with sustainable growth and interest rates. Similar trends have played out in Europe and especially Japan, where inflation has slipped stubbornly lower despite aggressive central bank interventions in recent years. Nudging price gains slightly higher would buy Fed officials more room to stimulate the economy when needed, since rates incorporate inflation. A little inflation is also thought to grease the wheels of the economy, giving employers room to pass along price increases and raise wages. "To the extent that inflation gets lower and lower and lower, interest rates get lower and lower," Mr. Powell said. "This isn't some idle academic theory, this is what's happening all over the world if you look at many, many large jurisdictions around the world, you are seeing that phenomenon."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
"I worked harder at getting this book published than getting my own books published," said Shawn Wong, a University of Washington professor who helped resurrect "No No Boy" in the 1970s. Late last month, Penguin Classics released a new edition of John Okada's "No No Boy," a once overlooked 1957 novel about a Japanese American draft resister in World War II. It hailed the release as groundbreaking, noting that "No No Boy" is "the first ever Japanese American novel and Okada is the first Japanese American writer published in Penguin Classics." The publication came as a surprise to Shawn Wong, an English professor at the University of Washington. In 1971, shortly after Okada's death, Wong and several friends found a copy of the novel in a used bookstore and later had it copyrighted and republished with the permission of Dorothy Okada, the author's widow. "No No Boy" became an Asian American literary classic and has sold more than 157,000 copies. "It became a publishing success story," Wong said. Now, Wong feels his efforts to rescue the book from obscurity, and the wishes of the Okada estate, are being ignored by Penguin. On Facebook, he posted an image of the copyright form he filed and called Penguin's decision to release a rival edition a "moral outrage." Penguin said that the novel is in the public domain and was never copyrighted in the United States, and that the copyright registration Wong filed covers only the introduction to the 1976 edition , not the underlying work. "We acted in good faith to pursue 'No No Boy' for publication," Penguin said in a statement. "Our intent is to continue important conversations around 'No No Boy' through its inclusion in the Penguin Classics series." Want to keep up with the latest and greatest in books? This is a good place to start. None Learn what you should be reading this fall: Our collection of reviews on books coming out this season includes biographies, novels, memoirs and more. See what's new in October: Among this month's new titles are novels by Jonathan Franzen, a history of Black cinema and a biography by Katie Couric. Nominate a book: The New York Times Book Review has just turned 125. That got us wondering: What is the best book that was published during that time? Listen to our podcast: Featuring conversations with leading figures in the literary world, from Colson Whitehead to Leila Slimani, the Book Review Podcast helps you delve deeper into your favorite books. The copyright question has overshadowed what should have been a moment of celebration for Okada's literary legacy. The novel's uncertain copyright status is further complicated by the fact that it was first published in Japan , by an English language publisher, but the author is American. Some Asian American organizations, as well as artists and writers, have thrown their support behind Wong. "I am very disappointed in Penguin for appropriating John Okada's 'No No Boy,' " the novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen tweeted on Wednesday. Densho, an organization that collects the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II, also took aim at Penguin in a Facebook post: "Extremely upsetting news regarding Penguin's 'new' edition of 'No No Boy.'" Dorothea Okada, John Okada's daughter, said her family was unaware of any issues with their claim to the copyright, and that the family wasn't contacted by Penguin before the new edition was published. The Okadas have been receiving royalties from the University of Washington Press for several decades, and it's unclear whether they will get any compensation from the Penguin edition. (Penguin declined to say whether the Okadas will receive royalties, saying the company would contact the family directly.) "The university press has done a really good job guiding the book, so we were really happy with what they've been doing, and I don't think a bigger press would do anything for it," Dorothea Okada said. "We would never change publishers." Wong added that the Penguin edition contains an error: John Okada's name appears at the end of the book's preface, incorrectly suggesting that the preface is a purely autobiographical author's note rather than a part of the novel itself , a mistake that appeared in an earlier University of Washington edition but was later removed. Karen Tei Yamashita, a novelist who wrote the introduction to the Penguin edition, said the earlier publication of the novel marked a critical turning point for Asian American literature. "You can't talk about that book without talking about what these guys did, and the impact that the book had on another generation of writers," she said. "I feel disappointed that this should be a controversy at this time that should be more of a celebration of Okada's work." Born in 1923 in Seattle, John Okada was a student at the University of Washington when he and his family were sent to an internment center in Minidoka, Idaho. Okada voluntarily enlisted, becoming a radio signal interceptor for reconnaissance missions over the Japanese coast and eventually serving among United States occupation forces in Japan. He later earned a master's degree from Teachers College at Columbia University. He and his wife settled in Detroit, where he found work as a librarian and worked on "No No Boy." The novel centers on Ichiro Yamada, who is sent to an internment camp and then to prison after he refuses to be drafted into the United States military during World War II. According to Okada's biographer, Frank Abe, Okada based the character on a friend who was sent to prison for refusing the draft. The novel explores the experiences of Japanese Americans accused of being traitors to America, and the divisions that occurred in communities and families when young Japanese American men were asked to fight for a home country that had treated them as the enemy. "No No Boy" was rejected by several American publishers before Okada sold it to a Japanese publisher for a 150 advance. The publisher, Charles Tuttle, printed 1,500 English language hardcover copies in Japan, which were shipped to the United States. "I've sat out the urge to turn cartwheels, to shout the news to the world and to dash off a letter of resignation to the library where I am employed," Okada wrote to the publisher, according to "John Okada: The Life Rediscovered Work of the Author of 'No No Boy.'" But when the book first came out in 1957, it wasn't a subject that American readers wanted to engage with, and it languished in obscurity. Okada went on to work in advertising. When he died in 1971 of a heart attack at the age of 47, the novel seemed like a failure. After Okada's death, Wong and three of his friends, Jeffery Paul Chan, Frank Chin and Lawson Fusao Inada, rediscovered "No No Boy" and made it their mission to republish it. For a second time, around half a dozen American publishers rejected the novel, so the group decided to raise the money to publish it themselves. They got word out through The Pacific Citizen, a Japanese American newspaper, and offered readers a 2 discount if they preordered the book. Wong mailed the books himself, selling out of the first print run. The book, about a subject that was too painful for many Japanese Americans when it was first published, resonated with a younger generation of readers. A few years later, in 1979, Wong and Dorothy Okada transferred publication rights to the University of Washington Press. It remains one of the press's best selling titles. The rights manager for the press said it hired an intellectual property lawyer to look into the novel's copyright status, and the lawyer, Nancy Wolff, determined that in the United States, the novel is in the public domain. Other copyright experts say the case isn't so clear cut and that the Okada estate might have a basis for asserting continued ownership over the novel. "This is really twisted, and reasonable minds could disagree," said Jordan Greenberger, an intellectual property lawyer. Wong said he hopes readers and educators continue to support the edition he helped to create, noting that it remains the only one with the approval and support of the Okada estate. "I worked harder at getting this book published than getting my own books published," Wong said. "The publishing history of the book is almost as important as the book itself." Follow New York Times Books on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, sign up for our newsletter or our literary calendar. And listen to us on the Book Review podcast.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
LOOKING FOR LORRAINE The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry By Imani Perry 236 pp. Beacon Press. 26.95 Lorraine Hansberry was one of the most brilliant minds to pass through the American theater, a model of that virtually extinct species known as the artist activist. She died young, of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34, but left behind a body of work containing at least two genuine masterpieces, whose political and emotional reach more than make up for its relative slimness. "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" (1964), a shattering study of liberal self delusion and whiteness as an existential crisis, is criminally neglected, but "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959) is perhaps the most widely read, taught and produced play by a black writer in history. Yet its significance is frequently reduced to its having been the first play by a black woman to be staged on Broadway as if being on Broadway ever had anything to do with literary merit. In fact, "A Raisin in the Sun" was a game changer, still virtually unmatched in the power and polish of its composition as a study of African American lives; in its sly conceptual wrestling with the American theater canon's white masculinist character (see Arthur Miller and Clifford Odets); and in its appropriation of social realist trappings to break new ground for emotional identification with black bodies. You could probably divide American drama into before "Raisin" and after. Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee in "A Raisin in the Sun." The plays of August Wilson would be unthinkable without the groundwork laid by Hansberry's aesthetic and emotional experiments, and her effect is apparent in the ascension of Lynn Nottage, recently the winner of a historic second Pulitzer Prize for her play "Sweat," to the front ranks of American dramatists working today. Without Hansberry, it's easy to see that there might be, in addition to no Nottage, no George C. Wolfe, no Suzan Lori Parks, no Lydia Diamond, no Tarell Alvin McCraney. I would dare to suggest that there might even be no Spike Lee, no Shonda Rhimes and no Donald Glover. Born in 1930 into a middle class black family in Depression era Chicago, Hansberry seemed almost predestined to rock the boat of American culture. Her mother was a ward leader for the Republican Party. Her father, a local real estate developer, successfully sued his way into a white neighborhood, a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court. (This ordeal made an impression on the adolescent Hansberry and, in part, inspired "A Raisin in the Sun.") At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where Lorraine studied painting and sculpture and acted in plays, she single handedly integrated a women's dorm. Early in her writing life, she was mentored by both W. E. B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes. And yet next to nothing is broadly known about her life, beyond the facts that she was black and a woman and, maybe, that she was a communist and queer. So Imani Perry, a prolific African American studies scholar at Princeton, is spot on when she writes in her new book, "Looking for Lorraine," that Hansberry "has had far too little written about her. ... Her image in the public arena has a persistent flatness." Yet it is difficult to assess a book that admits within its first two paragraphs that it has no idea what it is. Perry concedes that what she has written is "less a biography than a genre yet to be named." She hazards instead the non idea of a "third person memoir," which is, unhelpfully, the very definition of a biography. In fact, "Looking for Lorraine" is something between a fan's notes and an academic monograph, less an unpacking of the archive to reveal the life than an exercise in putting the archive in historical context. Its strongest chapters on "A Raisin in the Sun" and Lorraine's coming into her own as a public intellectual are masterly syntheses of research and analysis. It's a joy for devotees to encounter some record of Hansberry's influences, including the Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the Irish playwright Sean O'Casey and the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Hansberry's influence on her contemporaries was equally striking. Nina Simone, whom she befriended during her early stardom, credited Hansberry for her political education: "We never talked about men or clothes or other such inconsequential things when we got together. It was always Marx, Lenin and revolution real girls' talk." James Baldwin was a friend and intellectual sparring partner, whose work, read alongside hers, can sometimes seem, as Perry puts it, like a "call and response." And then there is Hansberry's dressing down of Robert F. Kennedy, who as attorney general in 1963 invited her to a private gathering of "influential" blacks to discuss racial unrest in Birmingham. As Baldwin later recalled it, Hansberry, with growing irritation, scolded Kennedy for failing to see racial injustice as a moral rather than social problem, and the evening ended with her walking out. Within a month, however, President John F. Kennedy delivered the speech that led to passage of the Civil Rights Act, invoking a moral imperative for civil rights as well as a legal one. Perry makes a welcome case for a fresh assessment of Hansberry's nondramatic works: her short stories, many published pseudonymously in lesbian magazines, and her many letters and op eds on politics and literature for The Village Voice and The New York Times. (Where is her Library of America edition?) Yet much of the material Perry discusses is drawn from Hansberry's published writings, which might be a negligible point if the body of work she left behind were not easily consumable over a matter of days. This also might explain why Perry seems on her least sure footing when addressing Hansberry's childhood. Hansberry didn't find her calling as a writer until she was in her 20s, and then seemingly only by accident, having dropped out of Wisconsin and moved to New York, where she took a job as a journalist for a leftist Negro weekly. Sadly, the motives for her turn away from the visual to the literary arts are virtually glossed over here. There are hints that early in her career the theater played a significant role in a relationship with a female friend possibly a lover but these, like so many potential threads linking Hansberry's queerness with her art, are left unexplored. Similarly, the dynamics of her longest romantic relationship, with Dorothy Secules, an executive at a candy company who was a tenant in the brownstone Hansberry owned in Greenwich Village, are dispensed with in a few paragraphs. (Hansberry was married for 11 years to the songwriter and political activist Robert Nemiroff.) At one point, Perry says she "dare not" speculate about the suggestion of same sex desire in a poem Hansberry wrote when she was 19, but she has no problem speculating about Hansberry's grief over the loss of her father or, later, her experience of terminal illness. After proposing connections between a piece of Hansberry's queer fiction and her life, Perry concedes, "But I cannot say this story is autobiographical, in whole or part." So why does she bring the issue up? I frequently found myself wishing that she'd had more confidence, either to break through her skittishness surrounding Hansberry's queerness or simply to devote the book to her adulation for Hansberry's work. Perry may not have written an exceptionally satisfying book, but she has undoubtedly written a necessary one. I have often bemoaned the suspicious absence of so many transformative minority lives from the annals of American theater history, among them Lloyd Richards, who went on from directing "A Raisin in the Sun" on Broadway to virtually revolutionizing the landscape of American playwriting during the remainder of the 20th century; Ellen Stewart, the visionary founder of LaMaMa, a key player in the professionalization of the American avant garde and the redevelopment of the East Village; as well as the embarrassingly underappreciated playwright and actress Alice Childress. Perry alludes to a more comprehensive Hansberry biography apparently in the works by Margaret Wilkerson, who is widely recognized as the leading Hansberry scholar. This is good news to those of us to whom a full reckoning of Hansberry's life and power has seemed like a dream too long deferred.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
Truth hurts...for accessories companies: many people now carry money and mementos on phones. Above, the bag Lizzo carried to the 2019 American Music Awards: just big enough to hold a single mint. As co owner of Billykirk, a leather goods brand based in Jersey City, N.J., Chris Bray has devoted the past 20 years to hand crafting wallets, among other accessories. He can wax philosophical about how "your oils, your skin, your travels" affect the wallet that you carry around. But when Mr. Bray goes out at night, he takes just his ID, one credit card and a few business cards, tucked into a slim card case. "Simplify your life," he said. "Nine out of ten times, if you have a bi fold wallet, you've got crap in there you don't need. You've got a ticket stub from three years ago." This from a man who sells bi fold wallets in four colors. But in recent years, the physical wallet's central role in our lives has been greatly reduced, as have the size of wallets themselves. As tech companies have introduced mobile apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay in an effort to make the smartphone into a digital wallet, "real" ones long a fallback of the holiday gift season are shrinking, or disappearing altogether. Some are becoming gizmos themselves, as if to seem more current: popping out cards with the press of a button and offering benefits like locating services or radio frequency identification (RFID) blocking, intended to protect against credit card or identity theft. For men, the classic multi pocketed model is losing popularity to card cases like the one Mr. Bray carries. They aren't much bigger than a credit card, and slip easily into a front pocket. Bernard Capulong, the co founder and editor in chief of Everyday Carry, a men's gear website, called them "minimalist wallets," adding, "What's popular now is as minimal as you can get." Shinola, a Detroit based watch and accessories brand, sells the Slim Bifold and the Slim Bifold 2.0 for "pared down simplicity." The Slimwallet and Miniwallet by the Dutch company Secrid are leather wrapped metal cases that can only comfortably hold around four cards. Brands like Ridge, Dango and Trayvax offer similar styles. Mr. Capulong carries a leather card case by Veilance with only two pockets. "The seams are bonded, not stitched," he said. "So it's durable and minimalist. I keep maybe eight cards total and a 20 bill folded twice so it takes no space." Augusto Gomez, who was behind the Prada counter in the men's arcade inside Bloomingdale's Manhattan flagship on a recent afternoon, said wallets still ranked as a popular gift, though there were no customers shopping for them at that moment. "Men tend to get things we need," Mr. Gomez said. "Small items key chains, wallets. Things they notice you've had too long and it's falling apart." He added, "I'd say 65 percent of men don't carry cash anymore. But some still do." In women's fashion, leather and nylon belt bags by brands like Gucci, Balenciaga and Supreme, which leave hands free, are also reducing the need for bulky purses and long wallets. "As bags get smaller, the easiest thing to take space away from is the wallet," said Megs Mahoney Dusil, the founder of PurseBlog, which reviews bags and other accessories. "The shrinking of the wallet allows for more carrying of day to day essential items." Ms. Mahoney used to carry a continental wallet the zip around kind with room for receipts and even a passport but switched recently to a Gucci card case, which she slips inside a Fendi "Peekaboo" bag. "Micro mini" or "toy" bags make plain the diminished role of cash, at least for celebrities and the rich. Last month, Lizzo showed up to the American Music Awards with a Valentino bag so small the strap fit one finger. The interior was big enough to contain a single mint. The French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus sells a 4.5 inch handbag called Le Chiquito, which might hold a change purse. The absurdly tiny Le Petit Chiquito, introduced during Paris Fashion Week last February and retailing for 258, barely holds a few loose coins. For centuries, going all the way back to the introduction of paper currency in America in the late 1600s, the wallet has been a traveling bank vault and all purpose file cabinet for men and women, a place to keep checks, cash and personal ephemera. "I remember my dad's wallet," said Leland Grossman, a strategist for a Manhattan based creative agency. "He had receipts, cards, pictures and a million things. That was my ethos originally. I kept a folded two dollar bill. I had a Steve Jobs quote: 'Stay hungry, stay foolish.'" A 1998 episode of "Seinfeld" known to fans as "George's Exploding Wallet" satirized this tendency to overstuff. The George Costanza character is carrying a wallet so engorged with random items Irish currency; a rewards card valid at any participating Orlando area Exxon station that he can barely close it. "I need everything in there," George tells Jerry defensively at their favorite diner, before adding Sweet Low packets to the jumble. By the end of the episode, George is complaining that his back is killing him. Played today, the scene would look strange, even antiquated. The wallet has seen its responsibilities slowly taken away. Debit cards have all but eliminated the need to carry cash. No one carries checks anymore. Receipts can be emailed. Photos and rewards cards have gone digital. A lot of millennials and members of Gen Z no longer want to be paid in cash; they prefer payment services like Venmo, leavened by emojis, to pad their digital wallets. The future is not a hunk of cowhide in your back pocket. The future is smartphone apps, contactless cards and, ultimately perhaps, a machine that scans your brain for total frictionless life. As if the physical wallet didn't have enough problems, there's now an accessory called the Wallet Slayer ( 14.99): a sleeve that fits over your smartphone and holds three cards plus cash. As with phone cases before it, a luxury version cannot be far behind. Might the wallet disappear altogether? Increasingly, businesses are no longer accepting cash. In China, big cities like Beijing and Hangzhou have already gone almost entirely cashless, requiring payment by mobile device, which has flummoxed tourists but also made wallets unnecessary. Recently, Shinola has received requests from young urbanites to make a case to hold just one card ID, said Mr. Caudill, the creative director. Everything else is arguably extraneous.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
The reason Bill Cunningham's photographs for The New York Times quickly morphed from occasional small street fashion or society affair feature into an enormously popular weekly visual column called On the Street was simple. H e had an unerring eye for catching every fashion wave well before anyone else, and doing so not just on runways (though he loved designer fashion shows), but out there on the pavement of good old gritty Gotham. Say what you will about this unfair city, the parade here never stops, and no one understood that better than a Bostonian named William J. Cunningham. Starting in the 1970s for The Times, he created a singular image of himself by visually chronicling what people (overwhelmingly New Yorkers, but also Parisians) were wearing as they went about their business. Which was often trying to get Bill to photograph them. At first the essays were supplied by Bill, who would sit next to Alex Palmer, the Style department's editorial assistant and a woman of boundless charm and good humor who was a better speller and typist than he was, and dictate. The result was 50 or so words that usually, as they say, needed a little work. Often, I was the copy editor chosen to perform the procedure. Certainly I was no fashion authority, and whatever else I spun these miniature stories into, it was not to be mistaken for gold. But apparently it was printable and I genuinely enjoyed the connection with Bill, whose enthusiasm for what he was doing was irresistible, whether one cared about fashion or not. He would come rushing into the office with photographs, recently developed at his local pharmacy, as if they were the Rosetta stone, assuring all of us, whom he referred to as "kids" or "child," that this was the next big thing. Which inevitably it turned out to be. Then came the essential part of the process: choosing the pictures for the layout. Bill and Nancy Newhouse, then the Style editor, would do this together. Ms. Newhouse recalled that Bill inevitably had double or triple the number that could fit in the allotted space, and passionately argued to cram in as many as possible. "I loved going through those pictures with Bill, and always felt bad having to insist on fewer rather than more," she said recently, "but he was always a good sport." He never gave up trying, however. After the copy was edited and the photos carefully winnowed, Bill was free to run back outside, hop on his bicycle and pedal up to Midtown to see what else he could find. This habit did not please everyone in our department. In that Paleolithic era, designing pages was a cumbersome process, and substituting different photos as deadlines loomed (and the Style pages were among those that had to close early), could create instant migraines for our editors and art director. A particular sufferer was Morton D. Stone. Over the years, Bill worked with a number of talented photo editors. Tiina Loite, who edited "Bill Cunningham: On the Street," the new book from Clarkson Potter from which these images were chosen, was the Style photo editor in the 1990s and 2000s, which could be described as his breakout period. Ms. Loite reflects on the process of choosing images for the book. But during my stint in that department the photo editor was Mort Stone. Mort possessed both skill and taste. He was also unflappable, as long as you drop the first syllable off that word. At the sight of Bill returning to the newsroom and the clock ticking, the color would drain from Mort's face. "Oh my God," he'd moan. "He's back!" Those days inevitably ended at the upstairs bar at Sardi's, the famed theater district restaurant where Mort sought solace. Loathing the thought of a man drinking alone, I usually felt the least I could do was join him. By the second Scotch, Mort would volunteer that while Bill's late additions may have created some peptic havoc, they made the feature better. Mort was a pro, and like all of us, a genuine admirer of Bill's work. It was simply impossible not to be. If Vincent Sardi had known that Bill was responsible for some of his best customers, he would have been an admirer, too. Thinking back on those days, it is difficult to imagine two more different personalities than Bill and Mort. It's also difficult to think of two other Timespeople for whom I felt more utter devotion, and I was not alone there. The difference was that Mort became an open, personal friend to a number of us, while Bill had a genius for elusiveness. Much has been made of his dedication to his work and his spartan life style. At the same time he seemed endlessly upbeat and brimming with enthusiasm. "Hey there, Alex, young fella," he would greet the not so young me in the Times cafeteria years after we had stopped working together. After a few quick pleasantries, he was suddenly off. "Gotta get snappin' and crackin'," he'd say, "lots going on out there and I don't want to miss it." Not many of us really knew a lot about Bill until the documentary "Bill Cunningham New York" was released in 2010. It showed the snappin' and crackin' on the street, all right, but also his monastic digs in Carnegie Hall, where he slept on a pallet balanced on two of an almost uncountable number of file cabinets that held his life's considerable work, and used what seemed to be a public bathroom down the hall. All those cabinets came back into focus a year and a half ago when serious research began on the book that goes on sale this week. If there is a key to who Bill was, it is crammed into the folders that are crammed into them. And what an amazing treasure they hold. Hundreds of thousands of contact sheets and prints, many of which have detailed notes and drawings from couture shows in Paris and New York appended to them. There are scores of magazines, notebooks, invitations, thank you notes, programs from shows. Your first question is, did he ever sleep? The answer, apparently, is not much, if at all. Enid Nemy, a longtime Style reporter who frequently worked with Bill, confirmed what became his stripped down lifestyle. "He didn't care about food or drink believe me, I went to his apartment on several occasions and I'll tell you, the only thing in his refrigerator was film," she said. Ms. Nemy also recalled Bill's strong reluctance to ever accept favors, large or small, which Anna Wintour confirms in a warm essay in the new book, recalling numerous offers of a ride, which he accepted only once, when he could not budge his bicycle in a snowstorm. When she dropped him off at the Times building, she writes, he jumped out of the car so quickly that she hardly had time to say goodbye. A man who prized his independence, Bill for years insisted on working as a freelancer for The Times. He relented in the early 1980s, when one day, Nancy Newhouse recalled, he shyly indicated that he would like to go on staff, the advantages and security of benefits having become clear to him. But, she said, "It took a while for him to ask me where to pick up his paycheck. He found the subject embarrassing." The arrangement didn't last long, and Bill returned to freelancing until 1993, when he suffered serious injuries in a bicycle accident and quickly came back to the fold. According to Enid Nemy, "Bill had three main interests: fashion shows, big charity parties and, most enduringly, what people were wearing on the street. And he became enormously influential in all three. Bill preferred to call himself a fashion historian or, more modestly, a reporter, and he certainly fit those descriptions. As Ms. Loite points out in her preface to the book, he was reluctant to call himself a photographer. To which I want to say, "Oh please, Bill, give me a break." So what would Bill Cunningham, the reporter historian nonphotographer photographer, think of this book? I'm pretty sure I know what he'd say, which is something along the lines of "Well, child, it's just a collection of stuff that helped fill space in the paper." And, you know something? He'd be right. But as far as stuff goes, kids, it's not too bad.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
One conclusion from the 2016 2017 television season: The gap between a hit and a dud is narrowing by the minute. A show with ratings that would have prompted cancellation not long ago can be the source of some relief these days the viewership is not that bad, after all, goes the rationale. To wit: Fox announced during Upfront Week two years ago that "American Idol" was finished after 15 seasons. But on Tuesday, ABC will woo advertisers with a presentation for a revival of "American Idol," arguing that the ratings that got it booted work perfectly now. This season, NBC can once again claim bragging rights. Fueled by "This Is Us," "The Voice" and a slew of Dick Wolf shows, it will finish the season No. 1 in the 18 to 49 age demographic that is so important to advertisers. Though CBS had the biggest declines of the big four, it will finish as the most watched network for the 14th time in the last 15 years. Fox will finish No. 2 in the 18 49 demographic because of the Super Bowl and the World Series, but it sorely needs prime time sizzle. As 21st Century Fox's executive chairman, Lachlan Murdoch, told investors last week, the performance at the network has been "frustrating for us all." And ABC weathering another season without a hit while watching old franchises limp along will finish last among 18 to 49 year olds for the second consecutive year. As the networks prepare for the new season, here is a look at some of the bigger story lines from the past one: Here's the good news for Fox's "Empire": It's still the third highest rated scripted show in broadcast television. It reliably lights up social media. And this was a year when several returning juggernauts across all networks shows like "The Voice," "Modern Family" and "NCIS" all had rating drops of 15 to 19 percent among adults under 50. But "Empire," in its third season, had the biggest decline of all. The Fox hip hop drama fell a jaw dropping 38 percent in this key demographic and lost a third of its total audience with an average of 10.5 million viewers, down from nearly 16 million last season, according to Nielsen's delayed rating data. The sudden fall of "Empire," a breakout hit in 2015, highlights a challenge that is beginning to haunt all television executives: how to sustain the ratings performance of a drama. Several shows that premiered in the last two years started out hot "Fear the Walking Dead" and "Mr. Robot," for instance but then shed a significant number of viewers this season. Did these three shows take a nosedive creatively? Or are viewers, confronted with more TV series than ever, turning away from shows after they have sampled them? Or, as executives hope, are the audiences for these programs young enough that they stopped viewing them on television and instead watched on digital channels, therefore not showing up in the Nielsen ratings? It's one of the more pressing questions for the industry. With "Empire" falling short, the door was opened for "The Big Bang Theory" to return to the No. 1 nonsports slot for the first time in three years. CBS has signed up "Big Bang" for two more years, ensuring that the multicamera comedy will make it to its 12th season. "Sunday Night Football" will once again finish the year as the No. 1 overall show, a boon for NBC. But even "Sunday Night Football" was not immune to an industrywide trend: Its ratings dropped 10 percent. 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. It was only a couple of years ago that the super show runner Shonda Rhimes could do no wrong. An entire Thursday night lineup was built around three of her shows "Scandal," "Grey's Anatomy" and "How to Get Away With Murder" along with the social media hashtag TGIT, often accompanied with a red wine emoji. Well, that was then. ABC's Thursday night block tumbled this year when "Scandal" was moved to midseason to accommodate Kerry Washington's pregnancy. The network replaced it at 9 p.m. with a Rhimes knockoff, "Notorious," which bombed, and the damage appears to be lasting. By time "Scandal" came back, it had lost nearly a third of its audience among adults under 50, and ABC is expected to announce this week that the show's next season will be its last. "How To Get Away With Murder," which had sustained big losses last year, was down 26 percent this season. The ratings for another show from Ms. Rhimes, "The Catch," dropped 37 percent versus its first season, and the show has been canceled. The bright spot among Ms. Rhimes's lineup of shows: "Grey's Anatomy" has remained a top five scripted show and has held remarkably steady as it enters its 14th season. Yet as television ratings decline, here was one bright spot: "The Bachelor," which has broadcast more than 200 episodes in its 15 year run, racked up several notable accomplishments. It had a 3 percent increase in viewers in the key demographic the only top 10 show with a ratings increase. The median age of its viewers also was younger this year, dropping to 49 from 51. "The Bachelor" got a lift from a well received season that featured fan favorites like Corinne Olympios and Rachel Lindsay, and Ms. Lindsay will become the first African American to be the star of "The Bachelorette" when that show returns next week. "The Bachelor" is one of several veteran reality shows that have been reliably steady. "Survivor" and "Dancing With the Stars," which have been on for more than a decade, had relatively small ratings decreases. Time Travel Proves to Be Mostly a Dud	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
Firemen's Hall, at 155 Mercer Street, is an odd, squat thing stripped of detail, a puzzling eyesore among the tony galleries and spiffed up shops of SoHo. Now a new owner, Thor Equities, is working not to restore the 1855 building, but to recreate it. In the early 19th century, fire protection was the province of assorted, often competing, volunteer fire companies that sometimes even prevented one another from combating blazes. Cooperation came in little steps, one of them the city's construction of Firemen's Hall, used for two fire companies and as the volunteers' headquarters. The New York Times described the style of the brownstone facade as "Italian, or in other words, a composition of Greek and Roman, applied by the Italians to modern building." According to The Times account, written when the cornerstone was laid, the building was to be surmounted with three pedestals, the center one with a full size statue of a fireman, "the same one who has stood sentry for so many years in front of the old Hall," which had been on the same site. Into the cornerstone were deposited a bible, the Book of Common Prayer and a dime from 1800, and carved on the brownstone piers on either side of the main doorway were hooks, ladders, axes and other tools of the trade. A fire helmet was carved on the keystone over the main entrance. The second and third floors were home to a library, a reading room and meeting rooms. These were used for events like a meeting in 1858, after the burning and collapse of the Crystal Palace on Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street. Harry Howard, the chief engineer of the department, proposed that firefighters solicit contributions from New Yorkers to replace fire apparatus destroyed in the disaster. But others insisted this was the city's responsibility and said that a fund raising campaign would reduce sales of tickets to the various firemen's balls later in the year. Chief Howard's motion passed anyway. Another event that took place here was an 1871 meeting of the fledgling National Rifle Association; Gatling and Remington offered expensive weapons as prizes. In 1865 the volunteer system was replaced by the professionally staffed Metropolitan Fire Department, which became the New York City Fire Department. Twenty years later a new headquarters rose on East 67th Street, and old Firemen's Hall became just another firehouse. Except that it had Jenny, the ring tailed monkey. For 12 years Jenny served as mascot of Hook and Ladder No. 20, which was quartered at 155 Mercer. One time she woke the sleeping company to a fire in its own building by throwing billiard balls down a flight of stairs. At a fire in 1907 her keeper, a fireman named Frank Murphy, wrapped her in a blanket to keep her dry. But she threw off the blanket to investigate a bunch of hats that had been thrown from the burning building, was soaked by a burst hose, caught a cold and died. Fireman Murphy was inconsolable, but The Marion (Ohio) Daily Mirror said that her body would be stuffed and displayed in the firehouse. Damon Campagna, the executive director of the New York City Fire Museum, says that although it doesn't have Jenny, it does have a stuffed dog, the mascot of Engine 203, who was hit by a car in 1939. He says the last fire companies moved out of 155 Mercer in 1974, and a photograph from a few years later shows that the facade has been brutally shaved off. The building went to various arts organizations, and the Joyce Theater moved out last year, selling to Thor. So what did the original facade look like? Early images of Firemen's Hall do show a fireman at the top, with a trumpet in his left hand. But those are drawings; a photo from the late 1860s at the Museum of the City of New York shows no statue. The New York Historical Society has a statue that has often been said to be from Firemen's Hall, but the trumpet is in the statue's right hand, not left. The fire museum and the historical society agree that it's from Hose Company No. 55, on Christopher Street, not from Firemen's Hall. So it is not clear that there was ever a statue on the building.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
MILAN The shoulder pad is shaping up to be the symbol of the season. It's easy to understand, amid MeToo and Time's Up; maybe a little too easy. Women to the barricades! Battering ram them down! Even in the European fashion week city where the discussion has been most muted, perhaps because it has been so muted (despite the fact that Asia Argento, one of the original women to spoke out against Harvey Weinstein, is Italian), the linebacker proportion has become a thing. Let your clothes do the talking for you. But do designers have to do that with cliches? Think harder, you want to shout at some. On Thursday, finally, two of them did, wrestling with the ideas of female strength and female identity without resorting to the obvious tropes of another era. "There's no need for it to be gigantic," Silvia Venturini Fendi said before the Fendi show, when the topic of shoulders came up. "It just needs to demonstrate control." She would know: As the only member of the third generation of her family in the business, she has a lot resting on hers.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
Q. What is your strategy for expanding the company's presence in New York? A. The first thing you do is get to scale. If you're a 76 broker shop and you try to compete with a behemoth that has 187 or 246 brokers, you need to add brokers, and that's one thing that we're about to do. You also need to look at your service lines. Retail is going to be a growth area for us in Manhattan. It's one of the hottest retail markets in the world. We're actively recruiting retail brokers right now. And we'd like to have a multifamily presence. One of the other areas that we hope to grow in New York is investment sales. I think we'll add some resources there. Q. Do you do more leasing or sales right now? A. Oh, we do much more leasing than sales. It's probably about 90 percent of what we do. We do property management as well. Q. How is business right now? A. Here in New York we're generally between a 50 million and 60 million shop, gross revenues from commissions and fees, and we'd like to double in size. Last year we had 800 to 900 transactions total, and revenue wise we're ahead of last year's pace. The average deal size in Manhattan is really about 10,000 square feet. We are pursuing large deals and we're competing against everybody else. Q. What was your largest deal so far this year? A. The Home Depot building on 23rd Street. We leased 220,000 square feet to AppNexus; that was the tenant. We were on the owner side of that deal. The rental rate was in the 50s. That was two months ago. A. You have to look way back. I was part of the team that sold the Coliseum up on Columbus Circle. The biggest deals were with the M.T.A. I was a director of real estate for the transit authority and then I was the deputy director of real estate for the entire M.T.A. By the time I left we had a rent roll, which meant we were managing properties 50 million a year.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
Tony Horwitz earned his Pulitzer Prize in 1995, reporting for The Wall Street Journal on the bleak and awful working conditions of America's low wage earners embedding himself in a poultry plant alongside those toiling on the risky, gruesome "disassembly lines," and capturing the harrowing monotony of the silent "cage" where workers opened envelopes for other companies in a room where talking was prohibited and the windows were covered. An immersive journalist with an open heart, enormous curiosity and impeccable journalistic chops, Horwitz's longer dispatches began almost a decade earlier, when the former union organizer and education reporter married Geraldine Brooks, the novelist and journalist who would also win a Pulitzer Prize, and the couple moved to Australia, Brooks's home country. There, while a general assignment reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald, Horwitz found time to hitchhike through the Outback, delivering a comic and energetic account of his 7,000 mile odyssey through bush pubs, the dusty red desert and the weird heart of Australia, in his first book, "One for the Road" (1988). He would hone his technique, a compelling blend of history, humor and participatory journalism, for the next three decades. Like Joseph Mitchell and Pete Hamill, Horwitz has long been a collector of the world's great characters, and he used his journalism to tell their stories, and ours. Herewith, a brief Horwitz reader. "Baghdad Without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia" (1991). When Brooks got a job as a Middle East correspondent based in Cairo, Horwitz, who was a freelancer at the time, filed dispatches to various publications from 15 Arab countries, capturing, with humor and compassion, the human cost of the economic hardship he found there. It's still a terrific cultural Baedeker to the region. In 1990, Horwitz joined the staff of The Wall Street Journal, covering Europe and the Middle East. That same year, he and Brooks won the Overseas Press Club's Hal Boyle Award for their coverage of the Persian Gulf War. "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War" (1998). A deep and hilarious dive into the world of Civil War re enactors and other Civil War buffs. "The freshest book about divisiveness in America that I have read in some time," wrote Roy Blount, Jr. in his review. "Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before" (2002). A poignant, sometimes hapless, retracing of Cook's Pacific journeys explores the havoc cultural, environmental and ecological that was the inevitable aftermath. "Horwitz is intrepid in tracking down the modern manifestations of this legacy," wrote Robert R. Harris. "But what he also does, and what makes this book so absorbing, is intersperse among all the details of life today in these far flung places an elegant running account of Cook's exploits." "A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America" (2008). Horwitz dons armor as a Conquistador re enactor and undertakes similar adventures to mimic those of the European explorers who hurled themselves into the Americas after Columbus mistook the Bahamas for the East Indies, and before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. "Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War" (2011). This biography of the stern and bloody abolitionist John Brown is a departure from Horwitz's whimsical histories and first person odysseys. In his review, Kevin Boyle wrote, "Horwitz has given us a hard driving narrative of one of America's most troubling historical figures: the fearsome John Brown, whose blood soaked raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Va., in October 1859 a 'misguided, wild and apparently insane' act, in the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison's words helped to push the nation into the most devastating war it would ever endure." "Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide" (2019). In the middle of the 19th century, Frederick Law Olmsted traveled through the South on assignment for The New York Times, going undercover to understand the division that was tearing the country apart. Horwitz reprises his quest, in search of the same answers. A pub crawl with Fred across the old Confederacy, as he put it. When Horwitz began his reporting in the run up to the 2016 election, when no one was predicting a Trump presidency, the author was filled with Olmsted's zeal and "missionary spirit, believing that there was always room for dialogue, and great value in having it, if only to make it harder for Americans to demonize one another." At the end of his journey, as he walked the length of Central Park "the people's park" that was Olmsted's rebuke to the insular South noting the preening supertalls now casting shadows at its southern end, his faith wavered a bit. Then he met a sixth grader and his younger brother exploring near a bluff above the Harlem Meer. The best part of the park, the boy told him, was that he could get lost in it. "Tell Fred he did good," the boy said, leading his brother into the woods.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
You hear variations on the phrase "Stay strong!" throughout "76 Days," a humane chronicle of four hospitals in Wuhan, China early in the coronavirus pandemic. That's because the medical staff, patients, and concerned relatives all grasp the vital importance of keeping up one's spirits during the fight. When fear and uncertainty compounded the menace of the coronavirus, a few encouraging words or a (gloved) hand squeeze could mean a lot. For New Yorkers especially, the prospect of recalling the pandemic's initial onslaught might sound less than inviting. But the filmmakers Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, and a journalist credited as "Anonymous" don't simply replay horrors that were on endless loop in the spring. "76 Days," which gets its title from the Wuhan lockdown imposed from January 23 to April 8, is defined more by the human capacity for resilience and compassion than by a relentless sense of doom (or by a focus on China's policy decisions). Though the movie reckons with suffering, it's also a workplace documentary about doctors and nurses doing their utmost to help, clad in full body suits playfully decorated with doodles and writing.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio Just a few miles from where President Trump will address his blue collar base here Tuesday night, exactly the kind of middle class factory jobs he has vowed to bring back from overseas are going begging. It's not that local workers lack the skills for these positions, many of which do not even require a high school diploma but pay 15 to 25 an hour and offer full benefits. Rather, the problem is that too many applicants nearly half, in some cases fail a drug test. The fallout is not limited to the workers or their immediate families. Each quarter, Columbiana Boiler, a local company, forgoes roughly 200,000 worth of orders for its galvanized containers and kettles because of the manpower shortage, it says, with foreign rivals picking up the slack. "Our main competitor in Germany can get things done more quickly because they have a better labor pool," said Michael J. Sherwin, chief executive of the 123 year old manufacturer. "We are always looking for people and have standard ads at all times, but at least 25 percent fail the drug tests." The economic impact of drug use on the work force is being felt across the country, and perhaps nowhere more than in this region, which is struggling to overcome decades of deindustrialization. Indeed, the opioid epidemic and, to some extent, wider marijuana use are hitting businesses and the economy in ways that are beginning to be acknowledged by policy makers and other experts. "That's definitely a conservative estimate," Mr. Florence said. "It's very hard to measure how it affects employers, but if we could, it would be in addition to what we see here." The effect is seen not just in the applicants eliminated based on drug screening, but in those deterred from even applying. In congressional testimony this month, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, linked increased opioid abuse to declining participation in the labor force among prime age workers. The Fed's regular Beige Book surveys of economic activity across the country in April, May and July all noted the inability of employers to find workers able to pass drug screenings. "It's not just a matter of labor participation; there is also a lot of collateral economic damage," said Alan B. Krueger, a Princeton economist who wrote a widely discussed paper on the subject last year. Were it not for the drug issue, said Mr. Krueger, who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, workers trapped in low wage jobs might be able to secure better paying, skilled blue collar positions and a toehold in the middle class. "This hasn't gotten as much attention as the participation issue, but we could potentially match perhaps 10 percent of the population in better jobs," he said. "That could have a positive, cascading effect on wages." Plants like Mr. Sherwin's can help provide that ladder. But workplace considerations not social conservatism or imposition of traditional mores make employee drug use an issue. "The lightest product we make is 1,500 pounds, and they go up to 250,000 pounds," Mr. Sherwin said as workers pulled a barrel shaped steel container from a glowing forge amid a shower of sparks. "If something goes wrong, it won't hurt our workers. It'll kill them and that's why we can't take any risks with drugs." Stocks rise after President Biden says Jerome Powell will stay atop the Fed. Retail earnings and Black Friday: the week in business. Even as many states decriminalize recreational marijuana use, or allow access by prescription for medical use, "relaxing drug policies isn't an option for manufacturers in terms of insurance and liability," said Edmond C. O'Neal of Northeast Indiana Works, a nonprofit group that provides education and skills training. "We are talking to employers every day, and they tell us they are having more and more trouble finding people who can pass a drug test," he said. "I've heard kids say pot isn't a drug. It may not be, but pot will prevent you from getting a job." "It takes more time and money to train and evaluate someone, but I can have confidence the person is drug free, comes to work on time and won't call in sick," Ms. Mitchell said. For smaller businesses like hers, the financial cost of the opioid epidemic in particular goes well beyond the inability to fill open positions. It has long been a point of pride for Ms. Mitchell that her company covers the cost of health insurance for its 150 workers and their families. But over the last three years, the company has paid for five dependents of employees to go through drug treatment, costing a quarter of a million dollars. Last year, when a member of an employee's family gave birth to a baby found to be addicted to opiates, the company paid 300,000 for three months of treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit. "Imagine the money we could save or invest as a company if I were able to hire drug free workers on the spot," Ms. Mitchell said. "But that's just not the environment we are in." Of the applicants who test positive at her company, Ms. Mitchell said, half fail because of marijuana use, with opiates and other harder drugs accounting for the remainder. Because tests for marijuana pick up the drug for up to a month after exposure, many local manufacturers are anxious about Ohio's plan to permit medical marijuana use in the near future. "I don't know if you smoked it this weekend or this morning," Ms. Mitchell said. "I can't take that chance."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
It's a Friday night in the South Carolina suburbs, late in the 1980s, and Jenny and Emily have a pile of VHS tapes fresh from the video store: "A Stranger Is Watching," "Bloody Birthday," "Dead Ringers" and more. For horror fans, this is slice and dice nirvana. Jenny and Emily are 14 year olds, as curious and convinced of their invincibility as any ninth graders. What happens to the women in slasher films has nothing in common with their own sunny, churchgoing lives. Or does it? Starring Abigail Breslin as Jenny, Erica Schmidt's "All the Fine Boys" is a not quite coming of age tale part romantic comedy, part thriller, with a little bit of an indie drama vibe. Directed by Ms. Schmidt for the New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center, the play follows the two friends as they pursue their respective romantic quests: Jenny with Joseph (Joe Tippett), a handsome man twice her age; and Emily (a thoughtful Isabelle Fuhrman) with Adam (Alex Wolff), a high school senior. Why Emily would be into Adam, who writes poetry and edits a literary magazine, is a mystery to Jenny. "He's not like Bubba or Dick or Kevin or any of the fine boys," she says.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
Most of the hundreds of fairy gardeners gathered at a nursery near Cleveland were adults who seek a sense of childlike wonder by embracing the fantasy element of miniature gardening with fairies, gnomes and other mythical figurines. But childlike wonder was on display, too. "I knew unicorns and fairies were real!" a 5 year old girl shrieked to her mother at the first Ohio Fairy Gardening Festival in Perry, Ohio. For some in attendance, what stood before her was a majestic unicorn. For others, it was a miniature horse with a dyed rainbow mane and a horn strapped firmly on its head. To embrace this festival, imagination is required. Think tiny doors made for fairies placed in unexpected scenarios, fairy figures on miniature rope swings, or gnomes on beaches. If you look closely enough , you might notice fairies adorning stoops and lawns in your neighborhood. Like many fairy hobbyists, Alma Abrams, 64, of Eastlake, Ohio, considers it a form of escapism. She embraced fairy gardening after learning five years ago that she had Parkinson's disease, which forced her to retire early. The physical effects of the disease seriously decreased her mobility, preventing her from tending her traditional gardens. Her husband has moved the pots to higher surfaces so she could more easily craft her fairy scenes. As we walk through her trail of 15 fairy gardens, she proudly points out one of her favorites: "I found a fairy in a wheelchair this year, she was smiling. I made sure I put her outside the fence to show that she has mobility, that she wasn't stuck at home." The festival grew out of Ms. Cole's desire to meet the communities of fairy gardeners she oversaw on Facebook. She dismisses the notion that fairies are real, but her members do not seem to mind. "I have people coming into the groups from Dubai, South Africa," she said. "They're from all over the world. It crosses gender, race, religion everything. We all have this in common, and it does take us away from the real world a little bit. It's a kinder, gentler place." Long before the June festival, Ms. Cole had been bringing her internet community into her Jefferson, Ohio, home for fairy workshops on the art of fairy clam beds or creating fairy clay babies . It is here, in real life, that she has made some best friends from the online group, including the artist Rachel Keith, whose work transforms tree stumps into fairy playgrounds. Ms. Keith prides herself on distancing her family from screen time and embracing nature. She rides into the woods on four wheelers with her husband and son to gather materials. "People like fantasy world more than the real world," she said. "The real world is depressing. This is pure." Art Millican Jr., 63, a former Disney Imagineer and artist involved with creating Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch, felt frustrated that the children around Blairsville, Ga., relied on technology for entertainment and did not have an outlet to create and to explore their imaginations. "I never grew up," he said. With a considerable amount of land at his disposal, Mr. Millican brought the concept for Sleepy Hollow to life. "We're trying to get kids to use their imaginations again," he said. "Believing in something that may or may not be real, to a child, that can stay with them forever." Strolling through Fairy Lane, a creation of colorful fairy and hobbit houses by Mr. Millican, feels as if you have been catapulted to the Mickey's ToonTown version of a fairy village. It includes life size houses that can accommodate children and adults alike. "It's what Disney would teach you: to become part of the film," he explains. "If everything was so tiny that the kids couldn't go outside, it starts to lose the magic. If you can go inside the magical houses, it brings it that much more to life." Julie Breckel, 59, a fairy gardener from Parma Heights, Ohio, who attended Ms. Cole's workshops so she can begin making her own pieces, says she has spent over 2,000 on her fairy garden. As she has acquired more fairies, she has slowly begun taking over prime real estate in her husband's garden. "You could do a separate story on the marital problems caused by fairy gardens," another workshop attendee chimed in. The price points for materials range from thrift store scores to thousands of dollars for fairy castles on Etsy. It is possible to find fairy gardening supplies in chain stores, but that negates the very ethos for artists like Lori Tanner. "I got frustrated because when you go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby, everything they have is plastic resin," said Ms. Tanner, who sells under the name Elysium Glen. "That's not what the fairies are about. They're about the natural elements; it should be as natural as possible." While the natural and organic look is favored among many in the community, unexpected recycled materials are just as popular. Ms. Cole says she will put fairy wings on just about anything, from Minnie Mouse figures found at the local Goodwill to a princess Christmas ornament. Shawne Keane, 46, president of Olde Towne Gardens Nursery in East Setauket, N.Y., has become known for his extravagant, themed fairy gardens and workshops, including ones based on "Beetlejuice" and "The Walking Dead." At a workshop on Star Wars Day, Mr. Keane explained to 5 year old boys and older women that he dug into his 1977 collection and scoured eBay for used toys to create his Star Wars fairy garden. Of the fairy phenomenon, Mr. Keane said, "We're all kids, so it makes it exciting." phenomenon.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
Pamela Tiffin in 1965 in Madrid. A former model, she said she preferred acting. "A model sells herself," she said, "but an actress sells the characters she plays." Pamela Tiffin, the bouffant haired brunette model turned actress who leapt to movie stardom at 19 in a Tennessee Williams drama and a Billy Wilder comedy, then ran away to make Italian movies and retired from acting before her 32nd birthday, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Manhattan. She was 78. The death was announced in a family statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Ms. Tiffin began her Hollywood movie career in two very different films. In "Summer and Smoke" (1961), based on the Williams play about a spinster (Geraldine Page) and her love for a local doctor (Laurence Harvey), she played the innocent and much younger woman who steals him away. That same year she starred as the perky daughter of a Coca Cola executive in Mr. Wilder's political comedy "One, Two, Three." Her character travels to Berlin and marries a sexy young Communist (Horst Buchholz) very much against the wishes of her corporate watchdog (James Cagney). But not long after making a 1965 film with Marcello Mastroianni, she largely abandoned Hollywood to star in Italian films. And in 1974, when she was barely in her 30s, she retired from acting altogether. That was not what movie industry experts had predicted. Interviewed by The Daily News of New York in December 1961, Mr. Wilder called her "the greatest film discovery since Audrey Hepburn." In the same article, Ms. Tiffin told the journalist Joe Hyams why she was beginning to prefer acting to her old career. "A model sells herself, but an actress sells the characters she plays," she said. "I was pretty bored with myself and my face and body." Pamela Tiffin Wonso was born on Oct. 13, 1942, in Oklahoma City, the daughter of Stanley Wonso, an architect, and Grace Irene (Tiffin) Wonso. She grew up in Oak Lawn, Ill., a Chicago suburb, and began modeling mostly in print advertisements and runway shows when she was 13. Three years later, she and her mother moved to New York City, where Pamela attended Hunter College between modeling assignments. There are two versions of her discovery by Hollywood, and both appear to be true. On a vacation trip to Los Angeles, she was spotted having lunch with a friend in the Paramount Studios commissary and was soon meeting with the producer Hal Wallis. Mr. Wallis was almost finished casting his newest project, "Summer and Smoke." After her two star making film roles, Ms. Tiffin's third film was "State Fair" (1962), a remake of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical (her singing voice was dubbed), as a farmer's enthusiastic teenage daughter looking for romance between the pie baking contests and the livestock shows. Ms. Tiffin made two dozen films in the 1960s and the first half of the '70s. She remained visible and marketable playing a novice flight attendant in the romantic comedy "Come Fly With Me" (1963) and a rich man's flirtatious daughter in "Harper" (1966), a mystery starring Paul Newman. At the same time, she was becoming known for movies aimed at teenage audiences, including "For Those Who Think Young" and "The Lively Set," both released in 1964. James Darren was her co star in both. Her sole appearance on Broadway was in a revival of the Kaufman and Ferber comedy "Dinner at Eight" (1966). She played Kitty Packard, the flashy and most obviously out of place dinner guest, played by Jean Harlow in the 1933 film. The year before, she had been cast as Mastroianni's wife in "Oggi, Domani, Dopodomani" (1965), a comedy about a man trying to sell his wife to a harem. After great reluctance and considerable argument, she agreed to become blond for the role. She found that she liked the new look, and she kept it as she began making films in Italy. She appeared in at least a dozen, including "The Archangel" (1969), a crime comedy with Vittorio Gassman, and "The Fifth Cord" (1971), a crime thriller with Franco Nero. After a decade and a half in retirement she made her final screen appearance in "Quattro Storie di Donne" (1989), an Italian mini series. The official story was that she gave up acting to raise a family, but Ms. Tiffin told Tullio Kezich, the author of "Cinema Dolce," that she really made the decision because Italian films were becoming so erotic. Every job interview, she said, seemed to degenerate into a discussion of whether she would appear nude or at least partly nude onscreen. Luckily, she had saved her money and knew she could survive. Her last American film had been "Viva Max" (1969), a comedy about a 20th century Mexican general who wants to recapture the Alamo. Parts of it were filmed in Rome, for her convenience. In 1962, Ms. Tiffin married Clay Felker, then an editor at Esquire magazine. A year later he became the founding editor of New York, The Herald Tribune's Sunday supplement, which later became New York magazine. He edited the magazine until 1977, while the marriage, not as long lived, ended in divorce in 1969, after a long separation. "We still love each other," Ms. Tiffin told Earl Wilson, the syndicated columnist. "We still have dinner. But life, it seems, is not a Doris Day movie."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
Revoked White House credentials, the mysterious death of a journalist and a conspiracy to profit from the separation of migrant families at the border. This looks like a job for ... Lois Lane, the Daily Planet reporter. The character, who, like Superman and Clark Kent , first appeared in 1939, is starring in a 12 issue comic book series that begins on Wednesday . The story , written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Mike Perkins, focuses on Lois Lane as she tries to find out more about the death of Mariska Voronova, a journalist who had been critical of the Kremlin. There was a challenge in creating a story about journalism in a word of superheroes, Rucka wrote in an email. " It 's a story set in the DC universe, and that means there are people who fly and people who dress up as a giant bat and villains who build giant robots," he wrote. "That's Lois's world."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Art & Design
Donald Trump is now back on the road, holding rallies in battleground states. These events, with people behind the president wearing masks but most others not, look awfully irresponsible to most of us some polls show that as many as 92 percent of Americans typically wear masks when they go out. Trumpworld sees these things differently. Mike Pence articulated the view in the vice presidential debate. "We're about freedom and respecting the freedom of the American people," Mr. Pence said. The topic at hand was the Sept. 26 super spreader event in the Rose Garden to introduce Amy Coney Barrett as the president's nominee for the Supreme Court and how the administration can expect Americans to follow safety guidelines that it has often ignored. Kamala Harris countered that lying to the American people about the severity of the virus hardly counts as "respect." It was a pretty good riposte, but she fixed on the wrong word. She could have delivered a far more devastating response if she'd focused on the right word, one that the Democrats have not employed over the past several months. The word I mean is "freedom." One of the key authors of the Western concept of freedom is John Stuart Mill. In "On Liberty," he wrote that liberty (or freedom) means "doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow, without impediment from our fellow creatures, as long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse or wrong." 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." Note the clause "as long as what we do does not harm them." He tossed that in there almost as a given indeed, it is a given. This is a standard definition of freedom, more colloquially expressed in the adage "Your freedom to do as you please with your fist ends where my jaw begins." Now, conservatives revere Mill. But today, in the age of the pandemic, Mill and other conservative heroes like John Locke would be aghast at the way the American right wing bandies about the word "freedom." Freedom emphatically does not include the freedom to get someone else sick. It does not include the freedom to refuse to wear a mask in the grocery store, sneeze on someone in the produce section and give him the virus. That's not freedom for the person who is sneezed upon. For that person, the first person's "freedom" means chains potential illness and even perhaps a death sentence. No society can function on that definition of freedom. Joe Biden does a pretty good job of talking about this. At a recent town hall in Miami, he said: "I view wearing this mask not so much protecting me, but as a patriotic responsibility. All the tough guys say, 'Oh, I'm not wearing a mask, I'm not afraid.' Well, be afraid for your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter, your neighbor, your co worker. That's who you're protecting having this mask on, and it should be viewed as a patriotic duty, to protect those around you." That's good, but it could be much better if he directly rebutted this insane definition of freedom that today's right wing employs. There are certain words in our political lexicon that "belong" to this side or the other. "Fairness" is a liberal word. You rarely hear conservatives talking about fairness. "Growth" is mostly a conservative word, sometimes the functional opposite of fairness in popular economic discourse, although liberals use it too, but often with a qualifier ("balanced" or "equitable" growth, for example). "Freedom" belongs almost wholly to the right. They talk about it incessantly and insist on a link between economic freedom and political freedom, positing that the latter is impossible without the former. This was an animating principle of conservative economists in the 20th century like Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. It's manifest silliness. To be sure, when they were writing, it was true of a place like the Soviet Union. But it is not true of Western democracies. If they were correct, the Scandinavian nations, statist on economic questions, would have jails filled with political prisoners. If they were correct, advanced democratic countries that elected left leaning governments would experience a simultaneous crushing of political freedom. History shows little to no incidence of this. And yet, the broad left in America has let all this go unchallenged for decades, to the point that today's right wing and it is important to call it that and not conservative, which it is not can defend spreading disease, potentially killing other people, as freedom. It is madness. One thing Democrats in general aren't very good at is defending their positions on the level of philosophical principle. This has happened because they've been on the philosophical defensive since Ronald Reagan came along. Well, it's high time they played some philosophical offense, especially on an issue, wearing masks, on which every poll shows broad majorities supporting their view.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
No, Seriously, Don't Look at the Sun During the Eclipse Without Special Glasses We're all guilty of occasionally disregarding the warnings of scientists. Let she who has never ignored the risks and eaten raw cookie dough cast the first stone. But this is a time to listen. Do not look at Monday's solar eclipse without special eyeglasses that you have confirmed are safe. Do not use your typical sunglasses. Seriously. You could permanently damage your eyes Burning your retinas doesn't sound fun. Take it from Louis Tomososki, who is now 70 but was 16 when he gazed upon a solar eclipse for a few seconds in 1963. It burned a hole through his retina, leaving him with a blind spot in his right eye ever since, he told KPTV TV last week. Humans can't see infrared light coming from the sun, but it can cause burns that won't heal, said David J. Calkins, vice chair and director for research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, who recently co authored a paper in JAMA Ophthalmology about potential eye damage from the solar eclipse. "We don't have pain receptors in the retina, so you won't even know the damage is occurring," he added. The extent of damage depends on how long someone stares at the sun. Even a few seconds could be destructive. "It can range from blurry vision to absolute permanent vision loss," said Dr. Christopher Quinn, president of the American Optometric Association. While vision loss doesn't mean you'd go black and see nothing, you'd lose your fine vision, he said. That means it'd be hard to read even the large E at the top of an eye chart. So wear those eclipse glasses, or find a way to view the eclipse indirectly, like making a pinhole projector. "This is a historic event and we want everybody to enjoy it, but to do so safely," Dr. Quinn said. How to be sure your glasses are safe Look at the back of your glasses. They should note that they are compliant with ISO 12312 2, an international safety standard. Of course, any shady vendor could falsely print that claim, and many have. Vendors, including Amazon, have recalled some eyeglasses after questioning the authenticity of their certification. You can refer to NASA's list of reputable vendors of solar filters and viewers to check on your own, though the website was down on Monday morning. Reputable vendors are required to print their name and address on the glasses or in the packaging, along with instructions and warnings. You might want to take a minute to Google the company; if they don't have much of a presence on the web, that could be a red flag. Make sure the glasses aren't scratched or damaged. You should also try an old fashioned eye test. If you put on your glasses without looking at the sun, you shouldn't be able to see anything. If light is peeking through, the glasses probably aren't trustworthy. Here are NASA's tips on how to view the eclipse safely. In Excelsior Springs, Mo., a tall sign flashed to anyone driving by: "ATTENTION: DO NOT USE OUR GLASSES." It was a desperate plea by the nearby auto repair shop to tell warn locals about glasses they had sold, which employees no longer trusted. Carol Bishop, the owner of EZ Quick Lube, said they had sold about 800 pairs. She'd ordered from the same vendor she usually bought T shirts from. She pointed to an email from him, taped to the counter for all to see that said: "Yes these are certified to filter 100% ultraviolet ray, 99.9 percent % infrared rays, ISO certified 12312 12. So hand them out with confidence!"	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
Allowing DACA's termination would undermine the extraordinary measures being applied by states, universities, hospitals and private institutions across the nation to address the critical shortage of health care workers. New York, Connecticut and California, for example, have issued orders allowing the authorization of professionals with out of state licenses to practice; California and New York have asked retirees to return to service; and New York has authorized graduates of foreign medical schools with at least one year of graduate medical education to provide patient care in hospitals. Medical schools in New York and Massachusetts are accelerating the graduation of medical students to speed more doctors to the front lines of the pandemic. Field hospitals have been set up in Central Park and the Javits Center in New York and in the Yale University gymnasium, among other sites. Naval ships have arrived in New York, the pandemic's epicenter, and Los Angeles to further increase health care capacity. All of those places need to be staffed. At the federal level, the administration is actively seeking medical professionals from abroad to help with Covid 19 treatment. But hospitals and communities have already invested in the training and education of DACA health care workers investments that would be lost if the Supreme Court eliminates their ability to work in the United States. These providers cannot be quickly replaced upon the announcement of an affirmative Supreme Court decision it takes over a decade to fully train a new physician and years to train nurses and other critically needed health care workers. Moreover, it is not just the DACA health care workers who are contributing to our fight against the coronavirus. More than 150,000 other DACA recipients work in other industries that we depend on right now, including grocery stores, drugstores, transportation and warehousing, manufacturing, and custodial and food service. Our doctors and nurses rely on scientists and pharmacists to develop and administer testing and treatment for Covid 19. Many of those essential workers are DACA recipients, too. A brief recently filed with the Supreme Court by lawyers representing DACA recipients asks the court to take account of the current crisis as it weighs their fate. The brief correctly asserts the enormity of the need for health care professionals in this crisis and that the Trump administration did not adequately consider the interests of "employers, civil society, state and local governments, and communities across the country," among many others, when it made the decision to end the program. Nor would a temporary fix be acceptable. Our workers cannot be asked to serve in this crisis for now, only to be deported later. That would be inhumane and shortsighted. Just as we rely on these essential workers today, we will rely on them and be grateful for them tomorrow. If the Supreme Court allows the termination of DACA during this pandemic, the work of our hospitals will suffer a critical blow at exactly the moment when we can least afford it. At a time when the importance and scarcity of our medical resources has never been clearer, neither our institutions nor the nation can afford a disruption to the health care work force. We desperately need all hands on deck for this fight.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
Facebook is facing the prospect of not being able to move data about its European users to the United States, after European regulators raised concerns that such transfers do not adequately protect the information from American government surveillance. The social network said on Wednesday that the Irish Data Protection Commission had begun an inquiry into its movement of data on European users to the United States. The Irish regulator oversees Facebook's data practices in Europe and can fine it up to 4 percent of its global revenue for breaking European data protection laws. The Silicon Valley company may now have to overhaul its operations to keep data on Europeans stored within the European Union, an immensely complicated task given the way that Facebook moves data among data centers around the world. The inquiry, earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal, is the first major fallout of a European Union high court decision in July that invalidated a key trans Atlantic agreement called Privacy Shield. That agreement between the United States and European Union had allowed businesses to send data between the two regions, but the court struck it down, saying Europeans did not have sufficient protections from American spy agencies.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
Strong schools, an easy commute, a vibrant downtown those are the qualities that brought Charlotte and Ryan Sullivan to Bronxville, N.Y., a pretty, one square mile village in the Westchester County town of Eastchester, only 15 miles northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The Sullivans and their daughters, who are 7 and 5, moved from the Scottsdale, Ariz., area after Mr. Sullivan, 43, accepted a position as general counsel for a biotech company in Manhattan. He and Ms. Sullivan, 41, started house hunting within a wide radius New Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester but quickly zeroed in on Bronxville. There, in July 2018, they paid 2.4 million for a 3,306 square foot, four bedroom Tudor, built in 1923 on 0.26 acres. Mr. Longobardo, 58, is a lawyer and a partner at Bettergy, a clean energy company in Peekskill, N.Y. He arrived in Bronxville as a fourth grader and apart from college, law school and a few years working in Atlanta has never left. (Nor did his parents, who still live in the house they built in 1969.) Mr. Longobardo's residential history reflects the village's array of housing alternatives. In 1985, newly married, he bought a one bedroom co op. Three years later, he and his wife moved into a three bedroom townhome. In 1996, with two toddlers, they bought a four bedroom, 2,750 square foot colonial, where Mr. Longobardo raised his daughters, now 29 and 27 years old, after he and his wife divorced. In April 2018, he sold the house, designed by Penrose Stout in 1928, for 1.938 million, and paid 1.199 million for a two bedroom, 1,747 square foot condominium in VillaBXV, a 53 unit complex that opened in 2017. "I have lived in every type of housing in the village," he said. That wasn't always so. Mary C. Marvin, the mayor of Bronxville for the last 14 years, acknowledged its onetime reputation as restricted, unofficially discouraging Jewish home buyers, but said that changed decades ago. One indicator: Along with seven churches, there is now a synagogue, Chabad of Bronxville, which opened in 2011. Last year, the village displayed a menorah for the first time. Today, Ms. Marvin said, "People embrace you they couldn't give a darn about your church, your color, your income." Bronxville's busy downtown covers several blocks around the Metro North Railroad station. Steps southeast is an intersection called Four Corners, where the Village Hall, Bronxville Public Library, Reformed Church of Bronxville and Bronxville school have each occupied a corner since the first half of the 20th century. "Village planners believed a community needed a seat of government, a library, a church and a school," Ms. Marvin said. The rest of Bronxville is residential: a mix of apartments, attached townhomes and houses, many of them Tudors and colonials built in the 1920s and 1930s on small lots lining leafy streets. Gerry Iagallo, the village's assessor, said there are 1,149 single family homes and 25 multifamily homes, as well as approximately 800 cooperative apartments in 26 complexes and 216 condominiums in five complexes. There are also 12 rental complexes with roughly 271 apartments. Ms. Marvin noted that 40 percent of residents live in co ops, condos or apartments. Although market activity has improved since last year, selling price points are lower, said Kathleen Collins, an associate broker with Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty: "So far this year, unit sales are up about 40 percent, but the cost per square foot is down 10 percent." Because of a village wide no signs on personal property agreement, visitors won't see any for sale notices in front of Bronxville homes. Nevertheless, data from the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service indicated that as of July 18, there were 41 single family houses on the market. They ranged from a three bedroom, 1,500 square foot attached townhouse, built in 1956 on 0.07 acres and listed at 969,999, to a seven bedroom, 10,000 square foot estate, built in 1927 on 1.01 acres, for 8.8 million. There were 18 co ops on the market, from a 450 square foot studio for 215,000 to a 2,684 square foot four bedroom for 1.8 million. There were also four condos for sale, from a 1,000 square foot two bedroom for 695,000 to a 2,030 square foot two bedroom penthouse for 3.495 million. As for rentals, there were 22 apartments and homes available. The least expensive was a 700 square foot, one bedroom apartment for 1,850 a month; the most expensive was a 4,347 square foot, six bedroom house for 17,000. During the 12 month period ending July 18, the median sale price for a single family home was 1.82 million, down from 2.2 million the previous 12 months. The median sale price for a co op was 600,000, compared to 598,750 the previous 12 months; the median sale price for a condo was 695,000, compared to 1.4 million. The median monthly rental was 3,613, down from 4,200 the previous year. Bronxville is an affluent community. In a 2018 Bloomberg analysis, it was rated eighth on a list of "America's 100 Richest Places." Even so, "it is not flashy or fancy," said Ms. Stoltz, an 18 year resident. "It's bustling all day." There are commuters walking to and from the train station and students walking to and from school. Downtown, shoppers and diners patronize more than 150 stores, restaurants and businesses, including clothing boutiques, an artisanal cheese shop, the 81 year old Womrath Bookshop and a triplex cinema. Nearby, a seasonal farmers' market is held on Saturdays. The culturally inclined can attend lectures, concerts and exhibitions at Concordia College, in the village, and Sarah Lawrence College, minutes across the western border, in Yonkers. Or they can explore the public library's impressive collection of paintings and prints, many by artists who lived in Bronxville. In addition to two private clubs, residents can join the Eastchester owned Lake Isle Country Club for golfing, indoor and outdoor tennis and swimming in five pools. They can play on the village's tennis and paddle tennis courts or stroll along the Bronx River in the Bronx River Parkway Reservation, a county owned linear park that runs through Bronxville. "We're a throwback community, in the best sense of the word," Ms. Marvin said. "Everybody walks, even children, yet we are half an hour from Grand Central." William Van Duzer Lawrence had a vision: a residential artists' colony near New York City. And he had the means to realize that vision. In the late 19th century, Mr. Lawrence, a pharmaceutical mogul in Manhattan, bought an 86 acre farm in what would soon become the incorporated village of Bronxville and began building houses. But not just any houses. Working with architects like William A. Bates, Mr. Lawrence developed an enticing blend of Tudors, Victorians and colonial and Romanesque revival homes along narrow streets that meandered through wooded hills and rocky ledges. "He laid out the roads quixotically, so they follow the landscape," said Raymond Geselbracht, Bronxville's historian. The enclave, called Lawrence Park (and also the Hilltop), drew numerous artists and writers. Encompassing approximately 90 homes, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. "The care Lawrence took building these houses set the architectural tone for village's future," Mr. Geselbracht said. Mr. Lawrence's legacy includes Bronxville's NewYork Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital; Sarah Lawrence College; the Lawrence Park West neighborhood, in Yonkers; and the real estate agency Houlihan Lawrence. For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: nytrealestate.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
An Indonesian monkey that achieved Internet celebrity with a grinning selfie cannot own the photograph's copyright, a federal judge said this week. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had argued in United States District Court in San Francisco that the rights to the photograph, which was snapped using a photographer's unattended camera, rightfully belonged to the monkey, a crested macaque. "While Congress and the president can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans," he wrote, "there is no indication that they did so in the copyright act." The images were taken during a trip by the British photographer, David Slater, to the Tangkoko Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2011. He put his camera on a tripod amid a troop of macaques, setting it so it would automatically focus and wind, and waited for the animals to get curious.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
Anne Hathaway, above. She and the producers of "The Witches" have apologized for depicting her character with disfigured hands in the film. When "The Witches," starring Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch, was released last month, a collective groan went up from people with disabilities. The movie, based on a Roald Dahl children's book, depicted Hathaway with hands that were wizened and disfigured, with two fingers and a thumb on each. The studio said her hands were meant to resemble cat claws, but they looked a whole lot like split hands, or ectrodactyly. People with limb differences, including paralympians and a "Great British Baking Show" semifinalist, posted photos of their hands and arms on social media with the hashtag NotAWitch. While Hathaway and Warner Bros. apologized, many saw the damage as already done. Here, yet again, was a villain with a disability, one of the oldest, and, for many, most damaging, storytelling tropes still around. "This isn't about being overly sensitive, a 'snowflake' or being too politically correct," Briony May Williams, the British baking competitor, wrote on Instagram. "This is about showcasing limb differences as ugly, scary, gross and evil." For as long as there have been stages and screens, disability and disfigurement have been used as visual shorthand for evildoing a nod to the audience that a character was a baddie to be feared. But disability rights advocates say this amounts not just to lazy storytelling but stereotyping, further marginalizing an already stigmatized community that is rarely represented onscreen. That "The Witches" is a family film, they say, made it worse. "Playgrounds are where kids are sometimes the cruelest, and kids absorb what they learn, be it through stories we tell or what they learn from their parents," said Penny Loker, a Canadian visible difference advocate and writer. "They have carte blanche to be cruel to people. I was called a monster, and I was called whatever the name of the monster was from the movie that was popular at that time." People with disabilities have had some success in challenging the stereotype. In 2018, spurred by a campaign for accurate portrayals of disabilities, the British Film Institute announced it would no longer fund films whose villains have scarred or disfigured faces. Advocates are conscious of the criticism that the world has become too hypervigilant, and that the blowback against "The Witches" is another example of political correctness hammering away at artistic expression. Certainly what's deemed acceptable has changed over time. There was scant criticism of Anjelica Huston's ghoulish Grand High Witch in the 1990 film version, or for the 1980s character of Sloth, the monster in "The Goonies" (though, spoiler alert, he ended up being a good guy). Yet even as stereotypical portrayals of other marginalized groups are increasingly recognized as problematic, the disfigured villain has proved harder to rout. In the forthcoming Bond film "No Time to Die," Rami Malek and Christoph Waltz both play criminals who have facial disfigurements. "Obviously, we don't want a culture where everyone's outraged about everything," said Ashley Eakin, a writer and director who has Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome, which affects the growth and formation of bones. "For so long, disability has been underrepresented, so if we only see disfigurement in a villain or character with no redeeming qualities, that's an issue." One in four adults in the United States have a physical or mental impairment that sharply limits activities; a recent study found that less than 2 percent of characters with speaking parts in top movies from 2018 were disabled. While advocacy groups are working with studios to change that, critics say disabled characters still fall too often into predictable buckets, among them the villain or the victim that provides uplift for all, which some have nicknamed "inspiration porn." "Disabled people either play villains or happy snowflake angel babies," said Maysoon Zayid, a comedian, writer and actor who has cerebral palsy. "We're either charitable, inspirational, never do naughty things in our life. Or we're murdering babies because we lost an eye in a dart accident." In Zayid's view, there are limited circumstances under which it's OK for a villain to be disabled or disfigured. One is when a disabled actor is playing the character, she said, so long as the disfigurement is not what makes them evil. The other is when the evil person being portrayed is a person who has a disability in real life, and even then, Zayid maintains, only a disabled actor should be cast. Using disability or disfigurement as shorthand for evil goes back centuries in Western culture, said Angela Smith, director of disability studies at the University of Utah. In both lore and real life, physical differences have been read as warnings of danger, symbols of evil, or evidence of sinning or witchcraft. The eugenics movement tapped into this, measuring deviations from assumed norms, Smith said, and the presupposition that disability is something negative in need of fixing continues to inform modern medicine. It's also a long standing trope in fairy tales and fantasy and horror stories. Monsters are given characteristics the way they talk, behave, look or move that are meant to seem threatening or grotesque, Smith noted. This carries onscreen, where physical differences are often revealed dramatically as visual shorthand for evilness or immorality: think of Freddy Krueger's brutally burned face in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films. All of which, Smith said, subtly shapes perceptions about an already marginalized community, whether "The Witches" intended to or not. "Popular films like this send very clear messages: that disabled bodies are wrong or evil, that they don't belong in 'normal' society or public view, that it is 'natural' to be disgusted by difference," Smith wrote in an email. Disability rights advocates said the whole matter could have been avoided if more disabled people were in the entertainment industry, be it in front of the camera or behind the scenes. "If there were writers, directors or other crew members with disabilities, they, might have seen it and said 'Huh, maybe this is an issue,'" said Lauren Appelbaum, vice president of communications for RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting the stigmatization of people with disabilities. There is more leeway, and less potential to offend, when villains are clearly fantastical creatures, unreal figments of imagination, like the Shadow Monster in "Stranger Things." Still, the question for many remains why clearly human or human esque villains need to have visual signifiers connoting evil at all. Many of the scariest horror film characters have been able bodied. Like Samara, the unstoppable long tressed dead girl in "The Ring," or Jack Nicholson's possessed writer in "The Shining." Or shudder Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men," with his creepy, pasty pallor and Dorothy Hamill bob. But even such depictions tread a fine line, threatening to lapse into the timeworn indictment of mental illness, a la Norman Bates in "Psycho." "Monstrosity is something in all of us," Smith said, "not something out there in a bodily form different than our own."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
Abigail Rowe already had a couch, a hand me down from her ex boyfriend's brother. Like most of her furniture, it was free and utilitarian, a place holder for a more stylish piece that she would buy someday. But someday arrived sooner than she expected. In 2018, Ms. Rowe was browsing the "free stuff" section on Craigslist when she saw the perfect couch: a bulging pink love seat shaped like a pig. The upholstery was shiny, almost slick, as if the pig would gently rebuff any attempt to sit on it. Its eyes were vacant and slightly downcast. Its tail, a bit of unraveled yarn jutting from its hindquarters, looked like an afterthought compared to its carefully carved hooves. "The pig is expressive and sort of downtrodden," Ms. Rowe, 25, said. "It looks inviting." The person who posted the listing for the couch claimed to be a furniture artist named Andrew who was clearing out space in his studio. The ad said he would give the pig couch away, to anyone who could explain in detail what it meant to them. Ms. Rowe replied to the post with a poem. When Andrew didn't immediately respond, she began to doubt his intentions. A reverse image search showed that her fears were founded: Here was an ad from 2016 that claimed the couch was available in Nashville; there was another suggesting the pig couch could be picked up in Boca Raton, Fla. Finally Andrew texted back, claiming he had been set up. A woman he'd met on OkCupid posted the ad and included his phone number after becoming angry when she learned that Andrew wasn't vegan, he claimed in messages to Ms. Rowe that were viewed by The New York Times. Ms. Rowe had fallen for a recurring Craigslist scam. For at least five years, people have used the site to claim that they are selling or giving away this particular pig couch, according to old listings unearthed by Ms. Rowe. It's unclear if any of the posters have profited from the venture, or if they are simply engaged in a lighthearted piece of performance art. (Some of the ads were posted on April Fools' Day.) On Tuesday, the pig couch re emerged, this time in New York City. "Unique Pig Couch," the Craigslist post read. "Selling it for 250 even though my boyfriend and I bought it for over 11k and it's in pristine condition. Need someone to pick it up ASAP as my new boyfriend hates it and sadly this is non negotiable for him." In 2011 or 2012 Ms. Martinez couldn't remember she got frustrated by her commute from Manhattan to Brooklyn and posted an ad soliciting someone to ferry her across the East River in a boat. She would not stick to a set schedule, she said in the ad, and the rides had to be free. Certain conversation topics would be off limits. Some people responded angrily, calling her arrogant. Others wrote her poetry. Some asked if she would chip in for gas. "It proves the absurdity of a city that has so many weird people in it," Ms. Martinez, 31, said. "It was a good start to understanding you can ask for things and get them in the city. And also, people will harass you." She moved on to other lighthearted posts. In one, she posed as a snail who had upgraded to a larger shell and sought to rent the old one. ("It's perfect for the adolescent gastropod looking to expand his/her living space while avoiding predators. You'll love the rare left handed spiraling, steep aperture, and funky asymmetrical whorls.") In another, she advertised her services as a "fragmented consciousness technician," offering to repair people's broken brains. "I think I'm, in some definitions, a scammer," Ms. Martinez said. "I was posting something that wasn't true." She stumbled upon the pig couch while helping a friend search for a statement couch online and was immediately drawn to its "unsettling texture" and melancholic face. "I think a couch with a face is probably, from a biological standpoint, something we're more likely to look at," Ms. Martinez said. By posting the fake ad, she wasn't trying to steal anyone's cash. Instead, she hoped to lift the spirits of her fellow New Yorkers during the seething collective nightmare of 2020. "I thought that I would create a semi believable but share worthy or interest worthy post so that people would be delighted by the weirdness of the city," Ms. Martinez said. "I definitely don't want to take anyone's money or waste someone's time who's out here trying to buy a couch." Her post caught the eye of Ms. Rowe, who has made a hobby of cataloging the pig posts. It also got the attention of the creator of the pig couch itself Pavia Burroughs, a 31 year old fiber artist from Philadelphia. First of all, Ms. Burroughs would like the world to know that it's a chair, not a couch. His name is "Hillhock," a portmanteau of "hillock," a small knoll on which to sit, and "ham hock," a cut of pork. He is hand stitched from velvet and satin and stuffed with foam, making him surprisingly lightweight despite his bulk. He was originally part of a living room set including a rug, a side table and a lamp that Ms. Burroughs presented as part of her sculpture thesis in 2011. The rug, fashioned out of paper, was meant to look like dirt, and there were paper flowers, myrtle and bloodroot growing in it and climbing up onto Hillhock. The side table had a fiber root structure pouring out of one side. The lamp was a normal lamp. Ms. Burroughs was inspired by an image in "Masquerade," a picture book by Kit Williams that she pored over as a child. One page depicts an older man sitting atop a pig, playing a fiddle as the pig sheds tears from one of its eyes. Ms. Burroughs exhibited the chair, then tried to sell it. She didn't get many takers, so she lowered the price. Several furniture blogs posted pictures of her work. "It weirdly had a first life of going viral with blogs laughing at it," she said. "When I finally sold it, it went into this weird virality of people pretending to sell it." The last public listing for Hillhock priced him at 950, but Ms. Burroughs said she recalls being bartered down to about 500. The buyer's name was Matt, or Mike, by her memory, and he seemed like a businessman. He drove from Maryland to pick up the chair, which she had kept in her room and used as a repository for dirty laundry. Nearly a decade later, Ms. Burroughs is still making art. It can be somewhat frustrating, but mostly funny, that such an old piece has become her most famous work. "The pig couch now belongs to the internet. It's bigger than me, I have no ownership," Ms. Burroughs said. "Were any of the Craigslist posts real? Is it actually traveling around the country?" In 2013, Sourcefire was acquired by Cisco, and Hillhock moved with the company to the Cisco office in Maryland, where the chair ended up in a meeting room, Mr. Roesch said. "I think it became more of a conversation piece at that point, although I did see people sitting on it from time to time," he said. Mr. Roesch left Cisco last year, and said the piece remains "on loan" to his former employer. Since its most recent turn as a viral sensation, Mr. Roesch has received several offers to buy the couch. He is considering them.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
Hiking from Chikatsuyu to Takahara on the Kumano Kodo, a series of trails through deep forest and small towns on the Kii Peninsula south of Osaka.Credit...Ko Sasaki for The New York Times Hiking from Chikatsuyu to Takahara on the Kumano Kodo, a series of trails through deep forest and small towns on the Kii Peninsula south of Osaka. The rain misted down and I had two choices: the road up the hill, or the one alongside the river. I stood next to some kind of cement plant, most of it hidden behind a corrugated metal fence dripping with moisture. My pack pulled down on my shoulders. The river, engorged by two days of rain, roared and echoed against the mountains. A man in blue overalls emerged from behind a small Fuso truck. Like many people I'd encountered in Japan, he wanted to help me. I was grateful. I put roughly 25 percent of my Japanese language skills to work. He gestured down the road, I thought along the river. He said quite a few things that I didn't understand. I thanked him and strode off, pack on back, hands on straps, rain on head. A half hour later, after continuing along the river and then beneath a highway overpass, pressing against the wall because there was no shoulder, and then doubling back in confusion this can't be right I found myself outside the same plant, beside the same fence, talking to the same man. He seemed mildly frustrated with me. He gestured again, and this time I went up the hill. Of course when you have a pack on your back, the destination is always up the hill. I soon came into Tsumago, a beautifully preserved Edo era town on the Nakasendo road in the Kiso Valley. I had wanted to visit for years 35, actually and had chosen to walk from the train so I could first experience the town as travelers had in the 19th century: on foot, the neat rows of wooden houses revealing themselves in diminishing perspective as I turned the corner. But it was 2011, so instead I entered via the parking lot, and had to negotiate my pack between an idling bus and a pair of vending machines featuring the image of Tommy Lee Jones. My obsession with Japan began in 1979 when my parents took me from our house in Brooklyn to see a show of woodblock prints at the Cooper Hewitt museum in Manhattan featuring works by the great landscape artist Hiroshige. The show featured prints from Hiroshige's first famous series, the 53 Stations of the Tokaido, which chronicled life along the ancient coast highway that connected Edo, present day Tokyo, and Kyoto. Ko Sasaki for The New York Times Traveling the road was an envied, once in a lifetime experience, and those who got the chance availed themselves of spectacular views, local culinary delicacies, hot spring baths and other more carnal pursuits along the way. Those who couldn't go, or wanted souvenirs to remember their journeys, bought prints like Hiroshige's for roughly the price of a double serving of noodles. The strikingly modern designs, the warm hues of the skies and trees, the towns nestled in the mountains or by the sea, the raucous joy of the travelers, and the almost palpable sense of the seasons lit up something inside me I stood there transfixed. I was soon spending hours trying to draw like Hiroshige. I became obsessed by all things Japanese books, movies; I even took up Japanese fencing. The country had recovered from the war, but was not yet the economic powerhouse it would become in the 1980s it was something of a blank slate for my imagination. This interest never quite faded away like others of adolescence. But over the decades, various events (college, jobs, children) seemed timed to prevent me from actually visiting Japan. Or maybe I just told myself that. I suppose, deep in my heart, I didn't want modern reality to get in the way of my childhood fantasy land. So in 2011 when my wife and two children had finally had enough Why don't you just go? I screwed up my courage and went, with one goal of recreating the Hiroshige experience. The Tokaido is mostly built over, but portions of the Nakasendo, which connects Tokyo and Kyoto via the interior, and which Hiroshige had also chronicled, are still preserved. The evening after my rainy wrong turn I clumped eagerly up the road from Tsumago to the town of Magome. I was in some kind of heaven that day, in either bright sunshine or cool, crisp shade, but was rarely out of earshot of a highway. At one point, deep in the woods, I encountered a vending machine (Tommy Lee Jones again). I had an iced coffee. Four years later, as I planned my return to Japan, I knew I had to travel beyond the populated heart of the country if I wanted to really replicate the world I had seen in those prints, going farther afield than Hiroshige himself. And so I chose the Kumano Kodo, a series of trails through deep forest and small towns on the Kii Peninsula several hours south of Osaka. It's a religious pilgrimage that I came across in my obsessive reading. Pilgrims go to visit the numerous shrines along the way, worshiping the mountains themselves. They've done so since the sixth century. It's said one can achieve spiritual powers by enduring the route's physical challenge. I found it online. The reviews were good. For 955, Oku would book my hotels and provide me with a step by step guide to the trail. The company, based in Cheshire, England, had an office in Japan with an emergency phone number; this made my wife feel better. I opted for a four day, three night hike, paying a little more for a single supplement, but less because I'd take care of my own train tickets with a Japan Rail Pass. Oku provided me with timetables. And so with my trusty pack on my back, I set off for my second trip to Japan. First I spent two days in Tokyo. I visited print galleries during the day and wandered Shinjuku at night to a New Yorker, it felt like 20 Times Squares where I was carried along in a swirl of crowds, neon, blaring pop music, screeching overhead trains, weird bird tweets at walk signs and the approaches of English speaking touts who promised "100 percent naked women," all the beer I could drink in 60 minutes or both. I deflected offers of the first by pointing to my wedding ring, and the second by feigning indignation and announcing that I did not drink. Then I went off in search of a quiet cocktail bar. I found several, including a tiny one in the decrepit but atmospheric Golden Gai section, where the bartender said I looked like Jack Bauer from "24." I don't, but the name stuck, and the other drinkers exclaimed "Goodnight, Jack Bauer!" in tipsy unison as I returned to the lantern lit alley an hour or so later. At my inn in Kyoto, a package awaited from Oku Japan: my 12 page itinerary, a booklet detailing the Kumano Kodo with directions (I would be taking the Nakahechi route) and several beautiful laminated color maps with height elevations. I was all set. The next morning, having condensed my essentials and a few of my favorite books about Japan into a shoulder bag, I grabbed a boxed lunch at Kyoto Station and got on the Super Kuroshia No. 7 limited express, nonreserved car, as per my instructions. I studied my itinerary and maps as the outskirts of Kyoto and then Osaka gave way to small towns and finally, the blue expanse of the Inland Sea, dotted with tiny islands as jagged and numerous as those portrayed by Hiroshige. The train hugged the west coast of the peninsula before arriving at the town of Kii Tanabe, where I got off and found the bus that would take me into the interior. As I got on, I noticed a group of Westerners who seemed to be following the same instructions. This was something I had not considered: Others would be taking the same self guided tour at the same time and I would be, by default, part of a group. The bus climbed away from the cluttered coastline into rich green mountains, and eventually along a wide, pebbly river. Soon enough, and right on time, we were in Takijiri, a tiny town in a deep ravine at the intersection of the Tonda and Ishifune rivers where the Kumano Kodo begins. I paid the 960 yen (about 8.80) Oku had prepared me for, and went into a shop to get water and a bamboo walking stick. I also wanted to let the others get ahead of me. I followed my instructions. The first shrine, Takijiri oji, was just behind the shop. I walked toward it, and then to the left around it, and saw the beginning of the trail, a sharply ascending ladder of logs and tangled tree roots, slick with damp leaves, beside a steep drop off. Up I went. Have I mentioned that I'm not much of a hiker? Beyond my Japanese fencing phase, athletics have never been a priority. I'm not outdoorsy; I'm indoorsy. But my Hiroshige fantasy propelled me onward, even as my chest started to ache awfully soon. I'm also a little anxious about heights. This was an issue that first day, and on the subsequent two days, as the trail was often atop a towering cliff on the right side, the left side, or at a few spots, both sides, the path crowning a precipitous land bridge. At one point, I kicked a small rock to determine how long it would take to the reach the bottom. It was still bouncing down, on and on, more and more distant, when I resumed my trek. I got into a rhythm, marking my progress on my map and at every wooden trail marker. Oku explained the history and legends associated with this or that shrine or landmark, kept me from taking several wrong turns, and warned me away from a detour that, while promising a great view, would have been exhausting. And anyway, there were already views at every break in the trees layers and layers of mountains, some smooth, others rough with treetops, their ridges meeting in diagonal lines, each a different shade of green blue. I tossed my bag in my room and went to have a beer and take some notes on the terrace. The afternoon cooled: The instant the sun dipped behind the mountains, it felt as if the valley became air conditioned. I found the group from the bus, beers half empty, one of the women with a laptop, and discovered that after my solitary train bus walk day, I didn't mind a little company. After a bit I went for a bath, joined in the wooden tub by two chatty and elderly Japanese men, and enjoyed the view of the darkening mountains some more before getting dressed for dinner, set for precisely 6:30 p.m. One member of the group, Janet, invited me to sit with them, and I liked the idea, but my hosts said this would be impossible: We were different parties, after all. Sometimes in Japan, I've found, rules can be intractable. So I ate alone pickles, beef I dipped in boiling water, and several other items including a very western avocado dish at the next table over, my back to the others. It was equal parts awkward and comic. "How are you doing over there, Wendell," Janet asked at one point over her shoulder. The rules were relaxed as the meal ended, and I shifted my chair around and joined the other table as I finished my sake (not included in Oku's fee). There were five of them: Janet; her husband, Stan; her aunt Elvina; her colleague Pat; and Pat's friend, also named Pat. We traded the basic details of our lives. They were from Canada, Edmonton and Vancouver, with jobs that included judges and lawyers in family court. It made for fascinating after dinner conversation. They were also fierce hikers, having tackled many ambitious walks, such as the Camino de Santiago in Spain. They were indeed following Oku's instructions, and had found the first day's walk a snap. "Have you seen the elevations for tomorrow, and the day after?" one asked me. I had and said that I was worried. The second day's hike was 6.5 miles, including 1,575 feet of ascent. I went down to the village to take in the view from there, and to allow the Canadians to get a head start; I still envisioned my hike as a solitary adventure. Soon enough I was deep in the woods, marveling at the towering and straight up Japanese cedars and passing an abandoned house that looked like something out of a Japanese horror movie. Some trees were flecked with early autumn orange. I sat on a stump to eat two sandwiches the Organic Hotel had packed for me for lunch. At one point I paused beside an especially deep ravine. The cedars stood like an infinite army of stoic and towering sentries all around and above and below me, endless legions of them, falling away on my hill and then rising higher on the next one, their tops shimmering gently way, way up there in the occasional breeze. A few beams of sunlight slanted down, but otherwise all was in shade. There wasn't a sound, not a bird, not a cricket; even the branches swaying in the breeze could not be heard, as if they were in a silent movie. Ko Sasaki for The New York Times My hiking senses sharpened. I came to learn that a glimpse of blue sky near the bottom of the trunks ahead meant I was reaching the crest of a mountain, just as the increasingly loud gurgle of a stream meant I was reaching the bottom. There always seemed to be more up than down. I encountered the occasional solitary hiker flying by with scissoring poles, pilgrims with twinkling bells, and small groups. One was a gaggle of young women from Osaka who asked me to take their picture, asked me to appear in a picture with them, and gave me as a reward a selection of Japanese candies. After they thanked me and I absent mindedly responded "Sure," they engaged in a contest to see who could best imitate my voice, each attempt getting deeper and of longer duration. "Sure." "Sure." "Suuuuure." At another point I was joined by a retired Japanese man who spoke nostalgically of the months he'd spent in Indiana studying engineering. He practiced his English on me while I practiced my Japanese on him. (Sumimasen?) Oku had warned that the Kii Peninsula could be rainy, but I never had anything but sun. My stamina followed an arc: I tired quickly, then got into a rhythm, magically energized. I felt my mind open up and go free it wandered through time, over that print show at the Cooper Hewitt, my family, my first trip to Japan, even my job: Solutions to several vexing problems at work suddenly became clear. That day's hike was the longest at nine miles with roughly 2,000 feet of ascent. I was glad for that extra egg. This was the moderate option suggested by Oku; it included a quick bus ride. There was an easier option with a longer bus ride but that felt like cheating. Eventually, we came out of the forest and walked along paved roads in little farming towns. The hike ended in the magnificent Grand Shrine at Hongu, a key stop for many of those mountain worshiping pilgrims. The shrine's low slung wooden buildings sat atop a towering stone staircase limned by hundreds of white flags blazing with Japanese characters, a fittingly dramatic finale. That night's accommodation was a modern hot springs hotel. I had a bottle of Kirin from the refrigerator in my room before sampling all the various sulfur smelling baths. I bathed inside, I bathed outside, and after a farewell dinner with the Canadians, found one of two private baths unoccupied, so I bathed there, too, finally alone. These baths were in a little house, the damp wood wall that separated them open near the ceiling. Two Japanese women a mother and a daughter, I suspect had gone into the other one as I went into mine, and I listened groggily in the near darkness to their mellifluous words and laughter, and occasional tiny splashes, as I sat in the steaming water up to my neck. If Hiroshige could see me now. The emotions I experienced after my first trip to Japan in 2011 and here my parents and children might want to skip ahead were distinctly similar to those I'd experienced after losing my virginity: something I'd imagined a million times had now taken place, and while it wasn't exactly as I'd expected, it was still pretty great, and I was now a different person. IF YOU GO A selection of favorite books, movies and websites about Japan. Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo I can't find an in print book of the Tokaido series, but this volume features the artist's late career high point capturing life in Edo. Spectacular prints from the Brooklyn Museum. (George Braziller; 2000) The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi A detective in Edo era Japan solves all sorts of strange doings. Every word is wonderful. (University of Hawaii Press; 2007) Seven Japanese Tales The novelist Junichiro Tanizaki spins nerve racking tales in early 20th century Japan. (Vintage Books; 2001) Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami collects oral accounts of the 1995 terrorist attack. As harrowing as it is riveting. (Vintage International; 2001) Travels With Hiroshi Shimizu The Japanese love of strenuous hikes during the day and languorous hot baths at night is captured in these simple black and white movies, all shot on location before the war. From the Criterion Collection. Kwaidan The Kumano Trail can be spooky, and no film captures Japanese horror folklore better than this 1965 Technicolor masterpiece by Masaki Kobayashi. It's even better on Blu ray. From the Criterion Collection. Oku Japan This company books guided and self guided tours that really go deep into the Japanese countryside. Even if you can't go, their website is filled with great photography and videos. Paul's Travel Pics I have no idea who Paul is, but he's a great photographer, writer and traveler, and this very detailed website acted as a crucial guide to my first trip to Japan, particularly the Nakasendo highway.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
If you're a shoestring start up trying to get noticed in an enormous industry, there's nothing that helps more than having big players try to ban you. But from financial services to airlines, the pattern repeats itself again and again, as the lumbering giants seek to destroy rather than cooperate. And so it goes with higher education, its trillion dollar student debt tally and a tiny little outfit called College Abacus. It has a web tool that allows people applying for college to enter financial and other personal data. Then it spits out three estimates of the price they might actually pay once colleges offer them scholarships. It does so by harnessing calculators on individual colleges' websites. And it turns out that many of those colleges don't like the idea very much. Just over a year ago, schools from Spelman to Wesleyan to the University of Oregon to Texas Christian University blocked College Abacus from pinging their websites. So now that some time has passed, I wondered: How could institutions in the business of information dissemination justify blocking families who are trying to make one of the biggest financial decisions there is? And might they be willing to reconsider? Last year's collision course began innocently enough on two separate tracks. In 2011, colleges accepting federal money had to start posting a tool called a net price calculator on their websites. Students and families can enter their financial information and get a sense of the price they might pay after all grants and scholarships are factored in. The hope was that the calculators would help lower income families avoid sticker shock at list prices that now top 65,000, as their actual price would most likely be much lower than that. On Track 2 was the co founder of College Abacus, Abigail Seldin, 26, who has spent her life on a very fast track of her own. She skipped sixth grade, co curated an exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania museum at age 20 and became a Rhodes scholar. In England, she met another Rhodes scholar, Whitney Haring Smith, whom she later married. His mother happened to be the president of Washington Jefferson College, and she fretted aloud about the families who were going to have to put all of their data into net price calculator after net price calculator until their eyeballs melted. As the college president, Tori Haring Smith, described the problem during a long, rainy car ride in 2011, Ms. Seldin and her future husband looked at each other and realized that they could solve for that. And so they did, hiring coders to build an aggregation engine that would take in the prospective applicant's data, put all of the right data into the calculators hosted on the websites of up to three schools at a time, fetch the results and present them all in one place, where they could be easily compared. What they came up against very quickly was pushback from the handful of vendors supplying the calculators to many schools. Wes Butterfield works for one of them, and he remembers the ruckus College Abacus caused in its early days. "As soon as we heard about it, my phone started ringing off the hook with people asking us for a solution," he said, noting that they weren't sure whether they wanted to allow College Abacus's tool to grab data from their own calculators or block it. Mr. Butterfield, an associate vice president for a firm called Noel Levitz, wasn't in favor of schools' blocking College Abacus. "If students are using an aggregator because they think it's going to be easier, then hopefully they'll come back to the college's own site for more rather than feeling blocked or censored," he said. Still, his firm chose to offer a tool to block College Abacus that colleges could turn on if they wanted to. Fewer than 10 percent of its clients ever switched it on. Other consultants took the opposite approach. When I asked Oberlin about its block of College Abacus, I got a response noting that a firm called Hardwick Day administers its net price calculator. "Hardwick Day tested College Abacus and found the results to be inconsistent and less accurate than outcomes that result when Oberlin's net price calculators is directly accessed," according to a statement by Rob Reddy, the college's director of financial aid. I asked Hardwick Day for some proof, twice, and but they did not offer any. Another consultant lobbed similar accusations, according to Cameron Feist, director of financial aid at Hamilton College. "The last time we evaluated College Abacus, we took the advice of our vendor, Student Aid Services, that we should not permit College Abacus access to Hamilton's net price calculator," he said in an emailed statement. "Their primary concern was accuracy of data." Matthew Summer, vice president of business development for Student Aid Services, sent me screen shots and summaries of tests the company had done that showed College Abacus results varying by several hundred to a few thousand dollars from the results produced by the colleges' own net price calculators. That isn't supposed to happen. College Abacus sends the data it collects to those colleges' calculators; it doesn't crunch any numbers itself. Moreover, every time it adds new schools to its tool, it claims that it tests the results to make sure there isn't any variation like the ones Student Aid Services found. One possible explanation is this: College Abacus, in combining the inputs for three universities, sometimes rewrites the different questions schools ask when those schools are all actually seeking the same single piece of information. If Student Aid Services' testers misunderstood College Abacus's rewritten questions, then the results would be wrong. Indeed, I found College Abacus's questions about retirement assets and 529 plans to be confusing, and I think about this stuff for a living. Ms. Seldin noted that the schools' own questions on the calculators they control were often hard to decipher, and that she couldn't always get clarification since some of the people at the colleges won't speak to her. She added that she welcomed inquiries from any university confused about College Abacus's questions and results, given that it does her and her users no good at all for her results to be off even a bit. (Let's also stop and remind ourselves that we're talking about estimates here; even if there is a difference in results, both estimates will usually prove to be wrong once the actual financial aid offer arrives.) In the last year, Ms. Seldin has done a few things to try to get more universities on her side. She pledged not to sell families' data, ever. Then, she and her husband sold the service to the nonprofit student loan guarantor ECMC, because she believed it would allow her to keep the service free forever. ECMC has a reputation for roughing up troubled borrowers and playing fast and loose with the facts, but Ms. Seldin said it had kept its promises to her so far. Several universities chose not to block College Abacus. A Washington University spokeswoman said it didn't want to stand in the way of families trying to navigate the sometimes overwhelming process of shopping for an affordable college. A Yale spokesman said that it had concluded that College Abacus exercised due diligence when linking to its own calculator. Sarah Ray, director of media relations at Middlebury, went further in a statement. "We spoke with some of our peers who also utilize the Student Aid Services net price calculator as well as folks at the College Board to get others' perspective on the situation," she wrote. "When it came down to making a decision, we thought it was in the best interest of students and families to be able to use the College Abacus tool and provide the transparency they are searching for." This week I communicated with representatives at the following blocking schools who said they are in various stages of reconsidering or considering reconsidering: Skidmore, Davidson, Texas Christian and Hamilton, which called College Abacus to set up an appointment to talk. Lancaster Bible College said it would be unblocking College Abacus in a few days. At the University of Arkansas, the staff wasn't aware that they were blocking College Abacus until I called, and the university is now examining its options. If you're a parent or an applicant, you're entitled to throw up your hands at this point. Every party in this drama has an interest in making the process easier and more accurate for families about to spend up to a quarter of a million dollars per student at the universities. They should stop blocking and start talking, and I look forward to coming back to this matter in 2015 to see how much progress they've made.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Your Money
David Letterman is ready to talk. He's "giddy," he tells me, and "delighted," and "about to crack with excitement," and at first he seems to be joking, laying on thick the irony and sarcasm that defined his persona for so long. But he's not kidding. "I've had no one to talk to about this, since it happened, save my poor wife," he explained earnestly, and added, "It took me less time to get over the bypass surgery than it did to get over hosting the Academy Awards." Yet here we are, 25 years later, discussing the one and only time he hosted the Oscar telecast. He doesn't mince words; Letterman calls it, at three separate points in our conversation, "the greatest professional embarrassment I've ever endured." But I remember watching that show and laughing throughout. In the years since, I've assumed it was a case of a film industry outsider whose East Coast cynicism was simply a bad match for the room. After I arranged an interview in Midtown Manhattan to put my theory to Letterman, however, I was shocked to discover he agreed with all those lists of the worst Oscar hosts ever. When he accepted the March 1995 gig, Letterman was on top of the world. He had defected to CBS after NBC chose Jay Leno as Johnny Carson's successor on "The Tonight Show," and "Late Show With David Letterman" was beating Leno handily in the ratings. When the ABC president Ted Harbert announced Letterman's selection as Oscars host, he said hopefully, "If Dave likes the experience, this could be a great answer for the show, just the way Carson did the show for many years." Carson was Letterman's hero, and stepping into his shoes (particularly after being denied Carson's desk) was certainly a factor in accepting the Oscars job. But there was more to it, Letterman told me: "It was 'pride goeth before the fall.'" This was something he was expected to do, at the level of success he had achieved. "I have no choice. I have to do this," he remembered thinking, adding, "I cannot now say no." From the beginning, Letterman and his longtime producer, Rob Burnett, determined that the smartest strategy was to do what they did best, "things that had proven successful for a number of years." So they peppered the ceremony with favorites from Letterman's late night shows: a monologue, a Top 10 list, wry taped segments, even a Stupid Pet Trick. But for all the preparation, Letterman was also open to inspiration. "Rob Burnett, who was very good at last minute things, he says to me literally with 20 minutes to go he says, you know what you can do? You go out and you say, 'Oprah, Uma? Have you met Keanu?' And I said, that's genius. That is genius. I'm there." It was the kind of thing Letterman did on his talk shows all the time seizing on a funny turn of phrase, overselling it, then using it as a silly running gag, an oddball refrain to fill awkward pauses. But it wasn't until the flight back to New York that Letterman realized how badly it had gone. "Somewhere over Kansas," he said, "the ugly reality of great embarrassment overtakes me." He recalled seeing newspaper headlines in the airport: "Letterman bombs," "Letterman banned from showbiz." When "Late Show" returned on April 3, Letterman skewered his own performance, presenting a Top 10 list of "complaints about this year's Academy Awards." No. 1 was one word: "Letterman." "That only speaks to the embarrassment I felt," he explained. "I just felt like I've got to keep talking: 'I know, I know, I sucked! I know that, it's not a surprise.' It's a defense mechanism." And he kept saying it, night after night, week after week, for more than a year. Jason Zinoman, who also writes for The Times, cataloged those jabs in his Letterman biography, writing, "His reflexive self loathing turned into jokes that then became self fulfilling, creating an impression of failure that reached more people than any review." Jimmy Kimmel, who would twice host the Oscars himself, concurred. "I think the reason that show is remembered as less than stellar is because Dave himself branded it that way," he wrote in an email. "I remember watching it and thinking it was great, then watching his show and finding out he didn't." There were, to be sure, some bad reviews. But there were also good ones. Joyce Millman raved in the San Francisco Examiner, "David Letterman did the impossible he made something entertaining from what is traditionally the most boring three hours of TV this side of a test pattern." Others blamed the failure of the show on the enterprise itself, rather than its host. In Newsday, Gene Seymour called the Oscars too bloated "for even Letterman's guerrilla incisions to deflate." Some of the most scathing reviews came from the West Coast, whose inhabitants may have resented this outsider, this New York wiseass, flying in to make light of their big night. According to The New York Post, no less a quintessential Californian than Jack Nicholson, burned by a punch line, growled to a pal, "David Letterman should stick to the East Coast." Presented with the idea that Nicholson was onto something, that his brand of irreverent, anti showbiz humor just didn't play well with that very Hollywood crowd, Letterman does not budge. "God, I wish I could subscribe to that theory," he said and shrugged. "You talk to any comedian, and he or she knows when things go well and knows when things don't go well. And there's not a word anyone family members, critics, anybody can say to talk you out of that. I knew that it was not going well." He gave another example. Midway through the ceremony, he brought out a popular guest from his late night show's "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment: a dog that would start whirling whenever people applauded, and would not stop until the clapping did. Letterman invited Tom Hanks to help him roll out a carpet ("the poor guy, I drag him into this mess"), the dog trotted out, the audience applauded, "and the dog chokes! The damn dog has choked during the Academy Awards!" "To this day," he repeated, "it is the single greatest professional embarrassment of my career, through nobody's fault but my own." Yet the fault he speaks of isn't just about what he did on that stage. "The minute I said yes," he admitted, "the dread comes in. It's like being in a coastal town and watching the fog roll in. 'Oh my, here comes the dark cloud.' And the self doubt and dread washes over me. And I had a vivid realization that this is not going to go well. Vivid realization." That cloud complements a potent, persistent case of Impostor Syndrome; he's spent much of his career, he told me, waiting for someone to tap his shoulder and whisper, "Dave, the real guy is here." So yes, he may have created a self fulfilling prophecy. He'll grant that much. But nothing more. My belief, on the other hand, is that the Letterman Oscars were a secret success. The ratings were the telecast's highest in more than a decade at the time. He was asked to come back, more than once, "but I think one phone call may have been high school kids screwing around." And just as he was ahead of his time in late night, Letterman was ahead of his time as an awards show host. The chummy, gentle ribbing of Billy Crystal or Bob Hope is the outlier now; subsequent hosts like Kimmel and Seth MacFarlane (and, taken to the extreme, Ricky Gervais's combative Golden Globe gigs) have hewed much closer to the Letterman model of jaded outsider. "I've rewatched every Oscar broadcast from the last 30 years," Kimmel wrote, "and think Letterman was one of the better hosts."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
PARIS The newest Japanese ambassador to Paris sits in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, preparing for a debut. On Tuesday morning, a man with a tape measure was making sure each tea set displayed on a center table was positioned just so. The kimonos and patchwork denim shirts had been hung. On Saturday, the Japan Store at the Maison de la Culture du Japon a Paris, in the 15th Arrondissement, is to open its doors. The French embrace of Japan is nothing new. The cultural center, which offers classes, exhibitions and films, opened in 1997; the interest in all things Japanese goes back much further (the French term "Japonisme" was coined in the 19th century). But today, an influx of Japanese chefs are at the stoves of some of the city's hottest new restaurants, and at standbys like Kunitoraya, in the First Arrondissement, lines reliably form for udon. At Paris Fashion Week, which began on Tuesday, Japanese designers including Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, Junya Watanabe and Yohji Yamomoto will show their latest collections. So the Japan Store will enter a city already well stocked with Japanese imports and well versed in their merits. But the shop is a new venture from the Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Japan's largest department store group its full name is the Japan Store Isetan Mitsukoshi which believes it has something to add to the mix.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
The director Emily Maltby and the actress Caitlin Cohn reviewing historical material from the flop musical "Lolita, My Love," which they are reviving in a workshop production. The venue formerly known as the Mark Hellinger Theater now operating as the Times Square Church was the site of the librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner's greatest triumph. When "My Fair Lady," the musical he wrote with Frederick Loewe, ended its six year run in 1962, it had broken the record for the longest running Broadway show. But nearly a decade later, the Hellinger became a reminder of Lerner's most staggering failure. Turning from his longtime collaborator Loewe to the younger, hipper composer John Barry the man who gave us the James Bond theme Lerner adapted Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel "Lolita" into a musical. But in 1971, before "Lolita, My Love" could make its Broadway debut at the Hellinger, it closed after two disastrous out of town tryouts in Philadelphia and Boston. The main problem: the deeply uncomfortable subject matter. The show, much like the book it was based on, followed the notoriously unreliable narrator Humbert Humbert and his sexual obsession with the titular adolescent girl. Here was the most controversial novel of all time now with musical numbers. Almost 50 years after its unceremonious ending, "Lolita, My Love" is finally getting its New York debut as part of the York Theater Company's Musicals in Mufti series celebrating the Alan Jay Lerner centennial. (Lerner died in 1986.) The script in hand production opens Feb. 24, with a revised book edited by Erik Haagensen, a playwright and frequent reworker of troubled classics. He pulled from six different Lerner scripts in an attempt to make the show more cohesive and perhaps digestible for a modern audience. "You hear the title and immediately tense up," said Emily Maltby, who is directing the York production. "But when I read it, I found that there was actually something rather interesting and rather important about this perspective on it." "Lolita, My Love" starred John Neville and Dorothy Loudon, who went on to win a Tony as Miss Hannigan in "Annie." It is not the first musical flop to find new life in an era more willing to embrace complexity or to celebrate the camp appeal of a show that, on paper, shouldn't exist. Even as a straight play, "Lolita" would be a tough sell: Edward Albee learned as much when his 1981 adaptation closed on Broadway after 12 performances. But this production of "Lolita, My Love," like the "Carrie" revival, is reckoning with where the last one went wrong. The most significant change from the Boston production is the frame narrative in which Humbert is confessing his crimes, now not to the audience but to a therapist, Dr. Ray. In pushing back on Humbert's version of events and his nebulous grasp on reality, the doctor helps expose the true depths of his broken psyche, ultimately forcing him to confront the gravity of his crimes. "There is something very poignant and important about holding this character accountable for his actions and not just presenting the story as a series of events that happen between this man and this young girl," Ms. Maltby said. Its flaws notwithstanding, "Lolita, My Love" has something of a cult following. In "Not Since Carrie," the show is described as "both a complete mistake and a superb adaptation, with a marvelous score and perfect leads." A bootleg tape of the Boston production is the only real record of the musical, although the songs "In the Broken Promise Land of Fifteen" and "Going Going Gone" have been recorded by such artists as Robert Goulet and Shirley Bassey. "Lerner was struggling to find the right way to tell the story, which is in part why each draft has marked differences from the other ones, and I think he found it post Boston," Mr. Haagensen said. The therapist framing device, which was in Lerner's first draft but abandoned before Boston, turned up again in the librettist's later rewrites. It was Mr. Haagensen's decision to make Dr. Ray a woman, allowing her to serve as something of a surrogate for Lolita, who, as in the novel, exists more in Humbert's imagination than as her own person. Even with Mr. Haagensen's edits, however, "Lolita, My Love" still centers Humbert over his victim. As Ms. Maltby acknowledged, "If you were to do an adaptation of 'Lolita' today, it wouldn't look like this." James Morgan, the York's producing artistic director, believes the show is worth the risk. He said that he sent the new script, along with the 1971 Boston versions, to several female friends to get their perspective. All of them told him that "Lolita, My Love" was worth putting on, he said. "People have been afraid of it," Mr. Morgan said. "I guess it's possible that we could be picketed by hundreds of people, but I think anyone who sees it will realize that it's not being done for the wrong reasons." Other circumstances are likely to mitigate possible controversy. For one, this is a reading in a 160 seat theater, not a full production. For another, Caitlin Cohn, who is playing Lolita, is not an actual teenage girl but an actor in her early 20s. (In 1971, Annette Ferra played the role in Philadelphia, but was let go because she was considered too old for the part at 15. The Boston run starred 13 year old Denise Nickerson, who went on to play Violet Beauregarde in the "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" film that same year.)	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
The Renters Hannah Welch, left, and Nicki Shamel have room for both a couch and a love seat. Since her arrival in New York nearly four years ago after graduating from Loyola University Chicago, Nicki Shamel has had good luck finding roommates and apartments via Craigslist. Ms. Shamel, who is from St. Louis, arrived with "one suitcase, no friends, no family and no apartment," she said. That was when she posted her first ad for a room on Craigslist. "Looking for housing in New York can be scary when you move here and don't know anything," she said. "My first error was I put my phone number in the ad and started getting these creepy 3 a.m. phone calls." Someone offered a rent free room in exchange for "cooking and cleaning and any other talents you may have." But Ms. Shamel, now 26, soon landed a reasonable place. Over time, because of rent increases, sublease expirations and roommates' boyfriends' moving in, she found herself moving often, always within Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Williamsburg Nonadjacent bedrooms were a priority. At a place on Graham Avenue, they were side by side. Moreover, they were too small. Emily Andrews for The New York Times "It was me moving into people's apartments," she said. "It was their furniture, their cookware, their stuff." Last fall, she was ready for a bigger, nicer rental. She couldn't afford an apartment of her own, so she went the roommate route again. On Craigslist, she saw an ad from someone demographically similar. Hannah Welch, also 26, was hunting for a share in Williamsburg or Greenpoint in the same price range, 2,200 to 2,600. Following a link to Ms. Welch's Facebook page, Ms. Shamel saw they had three mutual friends, none of whom knew one another. Ms. Welch, a graduate of Pennsylvania State University who is from Norman, Okla., hoped to escape her shoe box of a room on the Upper East Side for a bigger place in Brooklyn, where many of her friends lived. The women got together and hit it off. Both wanted a large living room. Ms. Shamel, who works in digital marketing for Sony Music, sought nonadjacent bedrooms, "for privacy, and people keep different schedules," she said. "I don't want to be kept up until 4 a.m., the same way I wouldn't want to be interfering with somebody else's sleep schedule." Ms. Welch, who works at Nickelodeon, had seen some closet free bedrooms, so she wanted a closet. Ms. Shamel took charge, being "a little bit more experienced in the ways of Williamsburg," according to Ms. Welch. She lined up a day's worth of appointments. Williamsburg A large living room was also high on the wish list. This requirement took a place on Scholes Street out of the running. Emily Andrews for The New York Times And, having become familiar with apartment hunting on Craigslist, "being able to pull out the buzzwords is something I've gotten pretty good at," Ms. Shamel said. She knew to stay away from railroad flats, which make up much of the area's housing stock. If a two bedroom listing included the word office, she knew the second bedroom would be tiny. Despite her grilling of the agent or landlord, she didn't always receive correct information. The apartments would be railroad flats after all. Or the bedrooms would be side by side. Some agents said she would need a budget of 3,000 a month to land the right kind of place. The roommates were curious about a centrally located two bedroom above a surgical supply store, for 2,400 a month, in a small brick building on Graham Avenue on the trendy north side of Williamsburg. The appliances were new, but the bedrooms were tiny as well as adjacent. On Scholes Street, on the grittier south side, a place for 2,600 a month had a suitable bedroom layout and "exposed brick, which would have been a big win," Ms. Shamel said. "I was super excited about that." Greenpoint An apartment on North Henry Street was a contender. Back to back bedroom closets would provide some privacy. Emily Andrews for The New York Times But the living room was more like a "small extension of the kitchen," she said. "You are left to hang out in your bedroom." The roommates, having seen the floor plan for a two bedroom in an eight unit 1910 co op building on the south side of Williamsburg, were eager to visit. The rent was 2,600 a month. Sure enough, it was just what they wanted. "I almost melted immediately," Ms. Shamel said, "but I was trying to keep my cool in front of the superintendent." But they had more apartments to view, so they moved on to a new building on North Henry Street in Greenpoint. The bedrooms were adjacent but, Ms. Shamel said, "they had closets that backed up to each other, so we wouldn't have been sharing one thin wall. But I wasn't crazy about it." For 2,500 a month, the space was relatively small. The open kitchen consumed much of the living area. "Appliances can be quite large and take up a lot of room," Ms. Shamel said. But they had already seen a near perfect place, the one in the small south side co op, so "we were comparing everything to it," Ms. Welch said. Back to it the roommates went, negotiating the rent to 2,500 a month and splitting the broker fee of 15 percent of a year's rent, or 4,500. They arrived in the fall. Their new apartment seems like a real home, "and I hadn't really had that in the city yet," Ms. Welch said. "Normally, my kitchens are in my living room," which has made it difficult for one roommate to be cooking while the other is watching TV. Ms. Welch pays slightly more for the larger bedroom with two closets; one of them is capacious enough for winter storage of her window air conditioner. Ms. Shamel's smaller room has one closet. Their neighborhood is removed from the north side's hustle and bustle. In her old location, "it seems there is a new condo development going on every day," Ms. Shamel said. "I like being in an older building." One of Ms. Welch's good friends, from her Oklahoma hometown, lives a few subway stops away. "It's nice having people so close," Ms. Welch said. "You would normally see them only on weekends. Now we can go to a movie during the week."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
Sydney often gets touted as Australia's fashion capital, but Melbourne long known for its vibrant arts, culture, and culinary scenes is coming into its own in the style arena as well. The glossy, multinational designer shops on Collins Street, a tree lined thoroughfare, sometimes get so crowded that people line up to get in their doors. Skip the chaos and check out Little Collins Street, one block away, one of Melbourne's many laneways the Aussie term for side streets, inner alleys, and arcades that are chock full of funky, independent boutiques, many showcasing the works of Australian designers. If you're looking for edgy jewelry and woman's wear, the two blocks between Russell and Elizabeth Streets are especially rich. This Australian fashion designer's two year old eponymous boutique sells cheeky, playful statement pieces, like neoprene sweatshirts printed with cats and gauzy button down shirts embroidered with cherries. (She calls her assemblage "affordable high fashion"; prices start at 60 Australian dollars, or about 46 ) Ms. Adler also designs the price tags, which look like credit cards.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
"Oh my god, this is so cute!" Robin Li, an investor with the San Francisco venture capital firm GGV Capital, was standing in the lobby of the Madison building in downtown Detroit. Built in 1917 as a theater and refurbished several years ago as a tech co working space, the Madison checks all of the aesthetic boxes of hipsterdom: reclaimed wood, exposed brick walls, pour over coffee served by tattooed baristas. Last month, I accompanied Ms. Li and roughly a dozen other venture capitalists on a three day bus trip through the Midwest, with stops in Youngstown and Akron, Ohio; Detroit and Flint, Mich.; and South Bend, Ind. The trip, which took place on a luxury bus outfitted with a supply of vegan doughnuts and coal infused kombucha, was known as the "Comeback Cities Tour." It was pitched as a kind of Rust Belt safari a chance for Silicon Valley investors to meet local officials and look for promising start ups in overlooked areas of the country. "If it weren't for my kids, I'd totally move," said Cyan Banister, a partner at Founders Fund. "This could be a really powerful ecosystem." These investors aren't alone. In recent months, a growing number of tech leaders have been flirting with the idea of leaving Silicon Valley. Some cite the exorbitant cost of living in San Francisco and its suburbs, where even a million dollar salary can feel middle class. Others complain about local criticism of the tech industry and a left wing echo chamber that stifles opposing views. And yet others feel that better innovation is happening elsewhere. "I'm a little over San Francisco," said Patrick McKenna, the founder of High Ridge Venture Partners who was also on the bus tour. "It's so expensive, it's so congested, and frankly, you also see opportunities in other places." Mr. McKenna, who owns a house in Miami in addition to his home in San Francisco, told me that his travels outside the Bay Area had opened his eyes to a world beyond the tech bubble. "Every single person in San Francisco is talking about the same things, whether it's 'I hate Trump' or 'I'm going to do blockchain and Bitcoin,'" he said. "It's the worst part of the social network." The tour through the Midwest was organized by Representative Tim Ryan, a Democrat who represents northeastern Ohio. Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, came along for the ride, as did J. D. Vance, the author of "Hillbilly Elegy." (Mr. Vance, a venture capitalist who now seems to magically appear every time the words "Midwest" and "manufacturing" are spoken aloud, has also been leading his own whistle stop tours of the region.) Read more here about Mr. Vance scouring the Midwest. Recently, Peter Thiel, the President Trump supporting billionaire investor and Facebook board member, became Silicon Valley's highest profile defector when he reportedly told people close to him that he was moving to Los Angeles full time, and relocating his personal investment funds there. (Founders Fund and Mithril Capital, two other firms started by Mr. Thiel, will remain in the Bay Area.) Mr. Thiel reportedly considered San Francisco's progressive culture "toxic," and sought out a city with more intellectual diversity. Mr. Thiel's criticisms were echoed by Michael Moritz, the billionaire founder of Sequoia Capital. In a recent Financial Times op ed, Mr. Moritz argued that Silicon Valley had become slow and spoiled by its success, and that "soul sapping discussions" about politics and social injustice had distracted tech companies from the work of innovation. Complaints about Silicon Valley insularity are as old as the Valley itself. Jim Clark, the co founder of Netscape, famously decamped for Florida during the first dot com era, complaining about high taxes and expensive real estate. Steve Case, the founder of AOL, has pledged to invest mostly in start ups outside the Bay Area, saying that "we've probably hit peak Silicon Valley." But even among those who enjoy living in the Bay Area, and can afford to do so comfortably, there's a feeling that success has gone to the tech industry's head. "Some of the engineers in the Valley have the biggest egos known to humankind," Mr. Khanna, the Silicon Valley congressman, said during a round table discussion with officials in Youngstown. "If they don't have their coffee and breakfast and dry cleaning, they want to go somewhere else. Whereas here, people are hungry." This isn't a full blown exodus yet. But in the last three months of 2017, San Francisco lost more residents to outward migration than any other city in the country, according to data from Redfin, the real estate website. A recent survey by Edelman, the public relations firm, found that 49 percent of Bay Area residents, and 58 percent of Bay Area millennials, were considering moving away. And a sharp increase in people moving out of the Bay Area has led to a shortage of moving vans. (According to local news reports, renting a U Haul for a one way trip from San Jose to Las Vegas now costs roughly 2,000, compared with just 100 for a truck going the other direction.) For both investors and rank and file workers, one appeal of noncoastal cities is the obvious cost savings. It's increasingly difficult to justify doling out steep salaries and lavish perks demanded by engineers in the Bay Area, when programmers in other cities can be had for as little as 50,000 a year. (An entry level engineer at Facebook or Google might command triple or quadruple that amount.) When you invest in a San Francisco start up, "you're basically paying landlords, Twilio, and Amazon Web Services," said Ms. Bannister of Founders Fund, referring to the companies that provide start ups with messaging services and data hosting. Granted, California still has its perks. Venture capital investment is still largely concentrated on the West Coast, as are the clusters of talented computer scientists who emerge from prestigious schools like Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley. Despite the existence of tools like Slack, which make remote work easier, many tech workers feel it's still an advantage to be close to the center of the action. But the region's advantages may be eroding. Google, Facebook and other large tech companies have recently opened offices in cities like Boulder, Colo. and Boston, hoping to attract new talent as well as accommodating requests from existing employees looking to move elsewhere. And the hot demand for engineers in areas like artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles has led companies to expand their presence near research universities, in cities like Pittsburgh and Ann Arbor. Then there is HQ2, Amazon's much ballyhooed search for a second headquarters, which seems to have convinced some tech executives that cities between the coasts may be viable alternatives. Venture capitalists, who recognize a bargain when they see one, have already begun scouring the Midwest. Mr. Case and Mr. Vance recently amassed a 150 million fund called "Rise of the Rest." The fund, which was backed by tech luminaries including Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Eric Schmidt, the former executive chairman of Alphabet, will invest in start ups throughout the region. Read Andrew Ross Sorkin on the Rise of the Rest fund. But it's not just about making money. It's about social comfort, too. Tech companies are more popular in noncoastal states than in their own backyards, where the industry's effect on housing prices and traffic congestion is more acutely felt. Most large tech companies still rate highly in national opinion surveys, but only 62 percent of Californians say they trust the tech industry, and just 37 percent trust social media companies, according to the Edelman survey. So you can start to understand the appeal of a friendlier environment. During the Akron stop of the bus trip, while the Silicon Valley investors mingled with local officials over a dinner spread of vegan polenta pizza and barbecue sliders, Mr. McKenna, the San Francisco venture capitalist, told me that he felt a difference in people's attitudes in cities like these, where the tech industry's success is still seen as something to celebrate. "People want to be in places where they're the hero," he said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
ROCKLAND, Me. The artist Robert Indiana, who in his final years was the subject of a struggle over who represented him and controlled his work, left behind an estate worth an estimated 28 million, according to a court filing on Friday. Mr. Indiana, best known for his "LOVE" sculpture and its many variants, died on May 19 at the age of 89 at his home on the island of Vinalhaven, Me. His will, filed on Friday in Knox County Probate Court, leaves most of his art and property to a nonprofit whose mission is to develop Mr. Indiana's home into a museum featuring his works. Read the New York Times obituary of Robert Indiana. The will said the organization was to be run by Jamie Thomas, Mr. Indiana's caretaker in his final years. The day before Mr. Indiana died, Morgan Art Foundation, a company that says it has long held the rights to several of his best known works, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Mr. Thomas and a New York art publisher had isolated Mr. Indiana from the world and produced unauthorized or adulterated versions of his art.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Art & Design
Cohen were married Aug. 18 at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Va. Rabbi Aaron Miller officiated. Ms. Glueck, 28, works in New York as a senior political correspondent for the news organization McClatchy D.C. in Washington. She graduated cum laude from Northwestern. She is a daughter of Miriam Glueck and Dr. Robert M. Glueck of Leadwood, Kan. The bride's parents work in Haifa, Israel, where her father is the U.S.A. director of clinical operations for the Technion American Medical Program at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and her mother is a volunteer fund raiser in the international development office at Rambam Health Care Campus. Mr. Cohen, also 28, is a second year M.B.A. candidate at Columbia, where his studies focus on health care technology entrepreneurship. He graduated with highest distinction from the University of Michigan.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007) Stream on Hulu. Rent on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube. Denzel Washington stars as Frank Lucas, the New York based 1970s drug kingpin who died earlier this year. Directed by Ridley Scott, this movie (which investigators and journalists say mixes fiction with fact) follows Lucas's rise as he smuggles heroin into the United States in the coffins of service personnel who were killed in the Vietnam War. Russell Crowe plays Richie Roberts, the New Jersey cop who fixates on taking down Lucas's empire. Dargis praised the movie in her review for The Times, writing, "When Lucas strolls down a fast emptying Harlem street after putting a bullet into another man's head and the camera pulls back for the long view, you are transported into the realm of myth." JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE AFTER DARTH: A STAR WARS SPECIAL 10 p.m. on ABC. In preparation for the upcoming "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," Jimmy Kimmel is hosting a prime time special featuring the movie's director, J.J. Abrams. Though Abrams has admitted that he's "never been great at endings," the movie, which comes out on Dec. 20, is slated to be the last of the nine film "Skywalker saga." Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Kelly Marie Tran and Keri Russell will also appear with Kimmel.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
Last May, when Intel released a patch for a group of security vulnerabilities researchers had found in the company's computer processors, Intel implied that all the problems were solved. But that wasn't entirely true, according to Dutch researchers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam who discovered the vulnerabilities and first reported them to the tech giant in September 2018. The software patch meant to fix the processor problem addressed only some of the issues the researchers had found. It would be another six months before a second patch, publicly disclosed by the company on Tuesday, would fix all of the vulnerabilities Intel indicated were fixed in May, the researchers said in a recent interview. The public message from Intel was "everything is fixed," said Cristiano Giuffrida, a professor of computer science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and one of the researchers who reported the vulnerabilities. "And we knew that was not accurate." The Intel flaws, like other high profile vulnerabilities the computer security community has recently discovered in computer chips, allowed an attacker to extract passwords, encryption keys and other sensitive data from processors in desktop computers, laptops and cloud computing servers. The claims made by the researchers are indicative of the tensions between tech companies and the security experts who routinely scour their products, looking for flaws that make systems vulnerable to attacks. While many researchers give companies time to fix problems before the researchers disclose them publicly, the tech firms can be slow to patch the flaws and attempt to muzzle researchers who want to inform the public about the security issues. Researchers often agree to disclose vulnerabilities privately to tech companies and stay quiet about them until the company can release a patch. Typically, the researchers and companies coordinate on a public announcement of the fix. But the Dutch researchers say Intel has been abusing the process. Now the Dutch researchers claim Intel is doing the same thing again. They said the new patch issued on Tuesday still doesn't fix another flaw they provided Intel in May. Intel acknowledged that the May patch did not fix everything the researchers submitted, nor does Tuesday's fix. But they "greatly reduce" the risk of attack, said Leigh Rosenwald, a spokeswoman for the company. While not directly addressing some of the complaints from the researchers, Ms. Rosenwald said Intel was publishing a timeline with Tuesday's patch for the sake of transparency. "This is not something that is normal practice of ours, but we realized this is a complicated issue. We definitely want to be transparent about that," she said. "While we may not agree with some of the assertions made by the researchers, those disagreements aside, we value our relationship with them." The Dutch researchers had remained quiet for eight months about the problems they had discovered while Intel worked on the fix it released in May. Then when Intel realized the patch didn't fix everything and asked them to remain quiet six more months, it also requested that the researchers alter a paper they had planned to present at a security conference to remove any mention of the unpatched vulnerabilities, they said. The researchers said they reluctantly agreed to comply because they didn't want the flaws to become public knowledge without a fix. "We had to redact the paper to cover for them so the world would not see how vulnerable things are," said Kaveh Razavi, also a professor of computer science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and part of the group that reported the vulnerabilities. "We think it's time to simply tell the world that even now Intel hasn't fixed the problem," said Herbert Bos, a colleague of Mr. Giuffrida and Mr. Razavi at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Let Us Help You Protect Your Digital Life None With Apple's latest mobile software update, we can decide whether apps monitor and share our activities with others. Here's what to know. A little maintenance on your devices and accounts can go a long way in maintaining your security against outside parties' unwanted attempts to access your data. Here's a guide to the few simple changes you can make to protect yourself and your information online. Ever considered a password manager? You should. There are also many ways to brush away the tracks you leave on the internet. The initial vulnerabilities were discovered in part by the university's VUSec group, which includes Mr. Giuffrida, Mr. Bos and Mr. Razavi as well as four of their graduate students: Stephan van Schaik, Alyssa Milburn, Sebastian Osterlund and Pietro Frigo. A second group of researchers at the University of Graz in Austria independently discovered some of the same issues and reported those to Intel in April. All of the vulnerabilities stem from a single issue with the way Intel processors handle data. To save time, the processors perform certain functions they anticipate they will need to perform, and store the processed data. If the function is aborted and the data isn't needed, it remains in the system for a brief period. The vulnerabilities would let someone extract the data while it's being processed or while in storage. Each of the variants the researchers discovered provides another way for attackers to extract the data. "There's one real problem and then there are many variants," Mr. Bos said. When Intel released the fixes in May, it classified the problems as "low to medium severity." The researchers said the company paid them a bounty of 120,000 for discovering and reporting the vulnerabilities a common reward for pointing out problems but a high sum for bugs that would be considered low to medium severity. When the researchers reported their first vulnerabilities to Intel in September 2018, they provided proof of concept exploits malicious code showing how each vulnerability could be successfully attacked. Intel's security response team worked for the next eight months to verify the findings and develop a patch, scheduled to be released on May 14. Four days before the release, however, when the company provided the researchers with details of the fix, the researchers quickly realized that the patch didn't address all of the vulnerabilities. Despite the gag on the researchers, discussion about the vulnerabilities began to leak. The information was passed around so loosely that eventually it came back to the researchers. "More and more people knew about this vulnerability to the point that it actually circled back to us," Mr. Bos said. "So they provide an illusion that they have this whole disclosure process under control. But it's not controlled at all; it's leaking." All of this meant that while the researchers kept mum, others who wanted to exploit the vulnerabilities could potentially have learned about them. "Anybody can weaponize this. And it's worse if you don't actually go public, because there will be people who can use this against users who are not actually protected," Mr. Razavi said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
TOKYO In the late 1990s, in the thick of the Asian financial crisis, a top Japanese Finance Ministry official turned to his protege and found him engrossed not in policy documents, but in a chunky volume of the works of Aristotle. That bookish aide, Haruhiko Kuroda, was approved on Friday to become the next Bank of Japan governor, one of the most thankless jobs in a country plagued for decades with economic problems. He will need more than Aristotelian logic to turn years of the central bank's policies on their head. The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who took office in December, has pointed his finger at the central bank and its seemingly hapless monetary decision making as the root cause of the country's economic woes. The bank must take a far tougher stance against deflation, Mr. Abe has demanded, to stem the sluggish profits, spending and investment that have weighed on the Japanese economy since the 1990s. Mr. Kuroda, 68, is tasked with bringing about a regime change at the bank, something he himself, a critic of the bank, has previously called for. His track record of disparaging the central bank for not doing more to fight deflation as well as a career that has spanned the stodgy halls of Japanese bureaucracy and the negotiation tables of global finance convinced Mr. Abe that he was the man for the job, officials say. "Speed is of the utmost importance," Mr. Kuroda told a parliamentary hearing earlier this week. "I intend to pursue bold monetary easing, both in scale and in quality." It will be a tough job, though one that offers a chance to right the Bank of Japan's blemished history of missteps and blunders in attempting to right one of the world's major economies. The Bank of Japan's woes reach back to the mid 1980s, when it lowered interest rates to prop up an economy reeling from a rapidly strengthening yen. And despite signs that the easy money was helping to fuel a spectacular bubble economy, the bank kept interest rates low, finally tightening policy in 1989. By that time, stock and land prices had more than quadrupled from five years earlier. The painful memories of the collapse of that bubble and the drawn out economic pain it has brought the Japanese economy have paralyzed the bank's decision making, critics including Mr. Kuroda charge. The bank progressively lowered its policy interest rate through the 1990s, hitting zero in 1999, but was reluctant to try more unconventional policies. The governor at the time, Masaru Hayami, thought the possibility of a return to Japan's bubble economy was still all too real and argued that deflation was not entirely a bad phenomenon. By 2001, Japan's economy was again slumping and the bank finally tried its hand at buying up assets to create new money in the economy, a policy known as quantitative easing. Even then, the bank officials continued to voice doubts over that policy's effectiveness, even exiting quantitative easing at the first signs of an uptick in the economy in 2006. As the global economic crisis plunged Japan's economy into its worst recession in decades, the bank has again been slow to adopt an expansionary monetary policy. Until recently, the bank also refused to set a clear inflation target. Mr. Kuroda has long been a critic of the bank's missteps. In his 2005 book, "Success and Failure in Fiscal and Monetary Policy," he denounces the bank for constantly standing behind the curve in its understanding of the economy and deflation. "It is dead wrong to assume that once policy interest rates are at zero, nothing much else can be done," Mr. Kuroda wrote. "Fundamental responsibility for preventing deflation lies in monetary policy," he added. At parliamentary hearings, Mr. Kuroda has committed to expanding Japan's monetary base to achieve a goal of 2 percent inflation, a level not seen since the early 1990s. He said he would do "whatever it takes" to beat deflation and restore economic growth. He also suggested that he would be open to buying long term government bonds, as well as corporate assets, to pump more funds into the economy. However, he ruled out foreign bond purchases and was cautious about lowering the floor on short term interest rates, which are currently at 0.1 percent. "A dream team is set to lead the regime change at the Bank of Japan," Hajime Takata, chief economist at the Mizuho Research Institute, said in a breathless note to clients, referring to Mr. Kuroda and his two deputies, Kikuo Iwata and Hiroshi Nakaso, who also were approved by Parliament on Friday. Their terms begin on Wednesday. Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay 31 million to the 'House of Cards' studio after sexual harassment allegations. Netflix buys a visual effects company in a move to support its global ambitions. At first glance, Mr. Kuroda's background as a Finance Ministry bureaucrat does not paint a picture of a colorful game changer who may push for the kind of bold action that could finally jump start Japan's economy. Born to parents who were also government bureaucrats, Mr. Kuroda was known as a quiet student in school, and dreamed of becoming a teacher. He was often found in the library instead of sweating it out in sports like his flashier classmates, one of whom went on to become chief cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. "We sometimes did jump rope, low key things like that," said Sadatomo Matsudaira, a retired former anchor for the public broadcaster, NHK, and Mr. Kuroda's classmate through middle and high school in Tokyo. "He was very smart, but not one to assert leadership. He'd instead be right behind the leader," said Mr. Matsudaira, now a professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. His intellect took Mr. Kuroda to Tokyo University's prestigious law department, then to the powerful Finance Ministry, and later to Oxford, where he earned a master's degree in economics. Back at the ministry, Mr. Kuroda made his mark in international tax and currency policy, both areas that thrust him into global financial negotiations. As the ministry's top currency official from 1999 to 2003, Mr. Kuroda orchestrated trillions of yen's worth of market interventions in a bid to drive down the value of the yen. The act fended off global criticism while he pressed the United States and other trading partners to accommodate those moves. Steering Japan's central bank could require those same skills of diplomacy, especially when Japan is accused of deliberately weakening the yen to benefit its exporters. Easing monetary policy further, as Mr. Kuroda is expected to do, could lead to an even weaker yen, sparking fresh complaints. A bigger challenge, some experts say, is how much he can work effectively with the Bank of Japan rank and file, who conduct the bank's daily market operations, and with members of the bank's policy setting board. Many within the bank still harbor longstanding reservations against aggressive easing, which the departing governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, favored. The bank's policies have been blamed unfairly for Japan's economic woes, they say; deflation is not a product of policy missteps but reflect wider changes like an aging and shrinking population and deepening integration of Japan's economy with its Asian neighbors, where manufacturing is less expensive. And it is the government, these officials say, that must do more for economic growth and innovation. Mr. Kuroda, in his 2005 book, answers that it does not matter why deflation occurs; it should still be the central bank's mission to fight it. "You have to remember that the B.O.J. is a massive organization. You could say, 'March left!' but that doesn't mean everyone will march your direction," said Eisuke Sakakibara, Mr. Kuroda's mentor at the Finance Ministry, the same official who puzzled over Mr. Kuroda's penchant for Greek philosophy. "He will first need to challenge very deep rooted views at the bank, and that will not be easy." Mr. Kuroda already appeared to face opposition from the bank's top ranks earlier this week after a board member, Koji Ishida, was quoted in media reports as saying the next governor should not take unorthodox steps too hastily.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Global Business
The Trump administration is expected to announce this week that it will ban mint , fruit and dessert flavored e cigarette cartridges popular with teenagers, but allow menthol and tobacco flavors to remain on the market. Flavored liquid nicotine used in open tank systems can continue to be sold, according to two administration officials who have been briefed on the plan. It is an important concession to vape shops that have thrived alongside the booming e cigarette business in recent years. President Trump acknowledged late Tuesday that the ban would be announced "very shortly." But he indicated that it might be short lived and he didn't say which flavors were involved. The administration's decision is a partial retreat from a commitment it made in September to quickly devise a ban of all flavors except those that tasted like tobacco. Its plan to exempt menthol appeared to be an effort to dodge a bruising legal battle with the tobacco industry, and also reflected intense lobbying by the vaping industry. Administration officials also pointed to data that showed that teenagers aren't choosing menthol flavored pods or cartridges. Public health experts said the government would be making a good start in banning flavors most alluring to youths. But they said they feared teenagers would switch to menthol rather than quit vaping. "Flavors attract kids, and menthol is a flavor," said Erika Sward, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association. "It really helps to numb the senses and makes the poison go down easier." President Trump's hesitation to put in place a full ban has become increasingly clear in recent months. In a televised White House meeting in November, he said he was concerned that a full ban would drive people seeking flavors to unsafe, illicit products. And his advisers, including Brad Parscale, his re election campaign manager, have warned him that a flavor ban would hurt him with his base and could depress turnout in battleground states. Tobacco and vaping companies have lobbied lawmakers and the White House against banning flavors, including menthol. They have argued that adult smokers need e cigarette options to help them switch from cigarettes and that because 35 percent of cigarettes sold are menthol brands, taking menthol flavors off the market would pose a hardship for those smokers trying to quit. The companies also say that a full flavor ban would put thousands of vape shops out of business. Industry lobbyists seeking to protect flavors were joined by conservative organizations like Americans for Tax Reform, which opposed regulatory limits that they said would harm the small businesses that manufacture vaping flavors, retailers that sell them and adult consumers of e cigarettes. Juul, which dominates the e cigarette business, has largely stayed out of the fray amid public backlash over its role in the soaring rise of teenage vaping. Facing vociferous and legal opposition from parents, schools and public health experts, the company voluntarily took its fruit and dessert flavored products off the market, and has lost business to competitors selling flavors popular with teenagers, like mixed berry, watermelon and mango. Competitors have also been selling "Juul alikes," nicotine pods that fit Juul's devices in flavors like Strawberry Milk and Peach Madness. Earlier efforts to restrict sales of flavored e cigarettes stalled even as the popularity of vaping nicotine grew among millions of young people. The Food and Drug Administration first sought to ban sales of flavors during the Obama administration, but was rebuffed by the White House after fierce lobbying by tobacco companies and retail shops. The current debate over a flavor ban was set off by twin public health crises: soaring rates of youth vaping that experts feared was getting a new generation addicted to nicotine and the recent spate of severe lung injuries largely related to vaping THC, the high inducing ingredient in marijuana. More than 2,500 people have been hospitalized since mid August, and more than 54 people have died. The new restrictions on flavors will not extend to THC vaping products, which are mainly regulated by states that have legalized marijuana. Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, had announced in September after meeting Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, that the F.D.A. would draft a ban on almost all e cigarette flavors, including mint and menthol. At the time, Mr. Azar said those two flavors appeared to be popular with teenagers, especially since Juul had pulled its fruit and dessert flavors from shelves. A more recent survey found mint was far more popular than menthol with teenagers, but public health experts say that teenagers will switch to menthol which creates a cooling sensation if all other flavors, including mint and mango, are taken off the market. Juul, the nation's largest seller of e cigarettes, has been the target of public and regulatory scrutiny over whether it marketed its products to lure teenagers and young adults to use them. Several investigations are underway into its sales and promotion practices. Some states have already imposed flavor bans, though some of those efforts have been forestalled because of legal challenges waged by the vaping industry and its tobacco company partners. In anticipation of a national ban, Juul had taken most of its flavors off the market. Until recently, mint flavored products made up about 70 percent of its sales; menthol was 10 percent; and tobacco flavors accounted for 20 percent. Juul and Altria, the tobacco giant that bought a 35 percent stake in Juul last year, said they did not oppose the federal regulation of flavors.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
The federal labor board handed McDonald's a major victory on Thursday, ordering a judge to approve a proposed settlement between the company and the government that the judge had previously rejected. Had the case, which was initiated during the Obama administration, been litigated further, it could have made the franchise business model less profitable by putting many parent corporations on the hook for labor law violations by their franchisees. But the National Labor Relations Board concluded that the settlement, which would pay roughly 20 to 50,000 each to more than a dozen workers, was "reasonable" and that it would advance the board's longstanding approach of "encouraging the amicable resolution of disputes." The board split two to one along partisan lines. McDonald's said in a statement that it was "pleased" that the decision brought an end to the case and that "current and former franchisee employees involved in the proceedings can now receive long overdue satisfaction of their claims." The union backed worker group Fight for 15 and a Union, which workers in the case had joined as a way to demand higher pay and better working conditions, criticized the Republican board members and accused them of essentially doing McDonald's bidding. "Despite an independent judge rejecting the bargain basement settlement terms, the Trump administration took the side of McDonald's Corporation over workers," the group said in a statement. The case stems from a labor dispute in 2012. Workers said they were disciplined and in some cases fired by McDonald's franchises in cities across the country for participating in protests in which they demanded higher wages and a union. The labor board's general counsel at the time, who was appointed by Mr. Obama, investigated the charges and issued complaints against the company and its franchises in 2014. A trial began the following year. A key issue in the case is whether McDonald's should be considered a "joint employer" of workers employed by its franchisees, and therefore be liable for labor violations they commit and be required to bargain with franchise employees who unionize. Mr. Obama's general counsel argued that this was the case. In January 2018, Mr. Trump's new appointee to the position, Peter B. Robb, received a 60 day stay in the case to negotiate a settlement with the company and its franchisees. But in July of that year, the judge in the case, Lauren Esposito, rejected the settlement that the two sides had reached, saying it was not "a reasonable resolution based on the nature and scope of the violations alleged and the settlements' limited remedial impact." 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. Judge Esposito said that an acceptable settlement would have to at least "begin to approximate" the impact of a ruling against the company, and that the proposal did not even require McDonald's to ensure that its franchisees followed through on the terms of the settlement. The judge also criticized the company for its efforts to prolong the proceedings, suggesting it had tried to run out the clock on a Democratic administration in hopes that a Republican appointed general counsel would be more sympathetic. "From the moment the first witness took the stand in this case on March 14, 2016, the evidentiary issues raised by McDonald's and the franchisee respondents have simply been extraordinary," she wrote. McDonald's then appealed the decision to the labor board, which argued that Judge Esposito had held the proposed settlement to an overly strict standard since "all settlements entail compromise." By ordering approval of the deal, which does not establish McDonald's as a joint employer, the labor board helped preserve the franchise model in its current form across multiple industries. Matt Haller, a senior vice president at the International Franchise Association, praised the board's "common sense conclusion" in a statement and said it would "bring much needed clarity to franchise businesses of all sizes."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
MAMARONECK, N.Y. There was a mist in the air when Patrick Reed struck his tee shot on the par 3, 166 yard seventh hole at Winged Foot Golf Club on Thursday morning. The 2020 United States Open was only two hours old. "It was hazy, you couldn't see every shot," said Jordan Spieth, Reed's first round playing partner. "Patrick's shot looked like it was left and if it gets left of that hole, it goes off the green." Reed watched the ball, 9 iron in hand, as it landed on the green. "But I couldn't see how many hops it took," he said. "Maybe two?" Spieth leaned forward to get a better view. "It kicked straight forward and you could hear it hit the pin," he said. "One hop." Everyone on the tee box paused, including Reed. It wasn't clear where the ball was, and because there were no spectators, there was no other noise. Then, some course volunteers to the left of the green raised their hands. There was a yelp. Reed looked sheepishly toward his competition not his usual mien. Spieth was immediately struck by what else was different. "A hole in one at the U.S. Open?" he said. "Normally, the place would have been going nuts." "Up here in New York?" he said with a broad grin. "Amazing fans. That would have been an awesome experience." In this case, it seemed to be worth more than two under par on the hole because it changed the tenor of Reed's day. Wobbling at one over par through six holes, Reed closed with three birdies on the back nine to shoot a four under 66 at the fearsome Winged Foot course, finishing the day just one stroke behind the first round leader Justin Thomas. With its pin placements in relatively benign spots on the treacherous greens, Winged Foot was not nearly as penal as it will be in the closing rounds. Thomas's round of 65, which included six birdies, was the lowest score in a U.S. Open at Winged Foot, which is hosting the championship for the sixth time. Twenty other players were under par, including 21 year old Matthew Wolff, who also shot a 66. Thomas Pieters, who missed the cut in his two previous U.S. Opens, was tied with Wolff and Reed. But many of the most notable players in the field struggled. Tiger Woods, who had three bogeys on the front nine and three birdies after the turn, double bogeyed the 18th hole to finish three over par. Phil Mickelson, seeking to avenge his 18th hole collapse and second place finish in 2006, shot a 79. Collin Morikawa, the winner of the P.G.A. Championship in August, shot a 76. Dustin Johnson, the world's top ranked player, joined Woods at three over par. Though Reed had never played Winged Foot before this week, he has become a fan. "I love hard courses," he said with his customary, full throated self assurance. "It separates the top golfers compared to the rest of the field. Also, it separates the guys that can use creativity and can handle adversity." Reed had begun the round cautiously, but especially after the hole in one, he started firing at pins. "He said it's his second hole in one since he turned professional," Spieth said. "Which surprises me with how he attacks golf courses." Beginning in 2014, they had an 8 1 3 record, until Reed and Spieth were paired with different players at the 2018 Ryder Cup. The results that year were mixed and the European team trounced the Americans. Afterward, Reed chafed at the decision to break up his partnership with Spieth and suggested that Spieth was behind the separation. Several months later, Reed and Spieth played together at a PGA Tour event and seemed to have put the episode behind them, even hugging on the first tee. On Thursday, they were cordial and helpful to each other on the course. On the difficult par 4 16th hole, when Reed's tee shot ricocheted off a tree and left him nearly 300 yards from the green, he used a wood to launch a blind shot around the hole's severe dogleg left. Walking up the fairway after his second shot, Reed squinted toward the green to see where his ball had come to rest. Spieth walked over from the other side of the fairway to point out where Reed's ball was only 60 yards from the hole but nestled in deep rough that might have made it hard to find. Reed pitched onto the 16th green and sank a five foot putt to save his par. Even if Reed and Spieth have made amends, it does not mean they are treated equally by golf fans. When Spieth, still as popular as he was when he was winning three major championships, sank a birdie putt on the 15th green Thursday, about a dozen fans standing on a raised platform in a nearby backyard cheered noisily. When Reed followed with a birdie of his own, there was faint applause from two or three of those watching. Spieth's round, however, did not sparkle like Reed's and he finished at three over par, topsy turvy, 18 hole journey that has become commonplace. He was three over par after two holes before birdieing three consecutive holes on the front nine. "I've had just about everything happen to me in the game of golf," Spieth said. "So it's not very hard for me to reset after two holes of a 72 hole tournament." "Even though he didn't swing it well today and didn't feel like he really made golf shots he likes," Reed said. "He's still going to grind he always stays in it. He's going to figure out a way to get the job done and get a score out of it." "I'm a grinder," he said. "A lot of scrappy."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
How to convert acts of mass horror into live performance? In spoken theater, the oral testimony of victims, witnesses, even perpetrators, has been adapted into memorable docudramas about war crimes, genocide and other forms of social and political violence. The appalling nature of the events described has often been all the more effective when the actors speak the words in a contrastingly low key manner. But how to adapt those horrors into dance or musical theater, genres seemingly not ready made for such issues. In "Unwanted," at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the choreographer and musician Dorothee Munyaneza, who witnessed genocide in Rwanda as a child, presents the verbatim accounts of women in several countries (Congo, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and others) who experienced militarized rape and its consequences. Ms. Munyaneza makes the experience elaborately layered. Some words are spoken, others are chanted or sung. Nonverbal music is played. Dancing and a range of physical actions express multiple aspects of trauma. At several points, technology is used to recycle music or words after a few seconds; the repetition becomes psychologically expressive of thoughts, memories and feelings that keep returning to haunt. You see just two women, Ms. Munyaneza and Holland Andrews; you also hear electronic music by Alain Mahe.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
Researchers from Cornell University and elsewhere are studying a new technique to track the clouds of spores by indirect genetic sampling rather than by direct microscopic examination, to make better predictions of moth damage. A cloud can spread 40 miles or more from the original infestation, the researchers reported in 2017 in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The gypsy moth is the adult stage of one of the caterpillar species that threaten tree canopies. It was accidentally introduced from France in 1869 and its feeding is more threatening to trees than native tent caterpillars, which it resembles. The fungus, which attacks only gypsy moths, was first reported in the Northeast in 1989, though efforts to introduce it as a control measure had begun as early as 1910. A coordinated program to counter gypsy moths in 11 states was begun by the states and the United States Forest Service in 2000. The program has not stopped the spread, but has significantly reduced its speed. The Cornell researchers expressed the hope that the natural fungal enemy can help control the moth and reduce the use of insecticides.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
A group of Republican elder statesmen is calling for a tax on carbon emissions to fight climate change. The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury, says that taxing carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is "a conservative climate solution" based on free market principles. Mr. Baker is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, the senior adviser to the president, and Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, as well as Ivanka Trump. In an interview, Mr. Baker said that the plan followed classic conservative principles of free market solutions and small government. He suggested that even former President Ronald Reagan would have blessed the plan: "I'm not at all sure the Gipper wouldn't have been very happy with this." He said he had no idea how the proposal would be received by the current White House or Congress. The Baker proposal would substitute the carbon tax for the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, a complex set of rules to regulate emissions which President Trump has pledged to repeal and which is tied up in court challenges, as well as other climate regulations. At an initial price of 40 per ton of carbon dioxide produced, the tax would raise an estimated 200 billion to 300 billion a year, with the rate scheduled to rise over time. The tax would be collected where the fossil fuels enter the economy, such as the mine, well or port; the money raised would be returned to consumers in what the group calls a "carbon dividend" amounting to an estimated 2,000 a year for the average family of four. The plan would also incorporate what are known as "border adjustments" to increase the costs for products from other countries that do not have a similar system in place, an idea intended to address the problem of other "free rider" nations gaining a price advantage over carbon taxed domestic goods. The proposal would also insulate fossil fuel companies against possible lawsuits over the damage their products have caused to the environment. Attacks on the plan can be expected from many quarters, even among supporters of a carbon tax in theory. Supporters of the Clean Power Plan are likely to oppose its repeal. Democrats also tend to oppose limitations on the right to sue like those envisioned in the Baker proposal. And the idea of a dividend will no doubt anger those in the environmental movement who would prefer to see the money raised by the tax used to promote renewable energy and other new technologies to reduce emissions. It is also unclear how the plan will be received by the Trump administration. Stephen K. Bannon, the senior counselor to the president, has shown little interest in appeasing establishment Republicans. Breitbart News, which Mr. Bannon led before joining the Trump White House staff, has been outspoken in denying the science of climate change. Whatever the fate of the plan, it is a notable moment because it puts influential members of the Republican establishment on the record as favoring action on climate change a position that is publicly held by few Republicans at the national level, though many quietly say they would like to throw off the orthodoxy in the party that opposes action. "This represents the first time Republicans put forth a concrete, market based climate solution," said Ted Halstead, an author of the paper and social entrepreneur whose organization, the Climate Leadership Council, is posting the memo outlining the plan. Mr. Halstead, who also founded the New America research institute, said the political left and right had stalled on climate action in part because they disagreed about the means to fixing the problem, even though they might find common ground. Some popular environmentalists take stands that those on the right can never embrace, Mr. Halstead said, citing the works of Naomi Klein, who attacks capitalism itself as the root of climate change. "That is so at odds with the conservative worldview, of course they're going to walk away," he said. "The only way for this solution to come about is if it gets a start on the right." The other co authors of the memo include N. Gregory Mankiw and Martin Feldstein, former chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Rob Walton, the former chairman of Wal Mart. A survey taken just after the 2016 election by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that 66 percent of registered voters supported a carbon tax on fossil fuel companies, with the money used to reduce personal taxes. The party breakdown for that support was 81 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of independents and 49 percent of Republicans. Even among Trump voters, 48 percent support taxing fossil fuel companies, according to the Yale program. Mr. Baker said it was time for the Republican Party to engage in the discussion of global warming beyond simple denial. "It's really important that we Republicans have a seat at the table when people start talking about climate change," Mr. Baker said. He said that, like many Republicans, he was skeptical that human activity was the main cause of warming, but that the stakes were too high for inaction. "I don't accept the idea that it's all man made," he said, "but I do accept that the risks are sufficiently great that we need to have an insurance policy." As for the likelihood of success of his plan, "I have no idea what the prospects are."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
WASHINGTON President Trump said on Thursday that he planned to nominate Herman Cain, who abandoned his 2012 presidential bid in the face of escalating accusations of sexual misconduct, for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. Mr. Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, called Mr. Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza, "a truly outstanding individual" and said, "I've told my folks that's the man." The decision to consider Mr. Cain is the second time in weeks that the president has floated candidates with deeply held political views and past ethical issues to fill a seat on the Fed, signaling his intent to put allies on a traditionally independent body. It comes as Mr. Trump has continued to attack the Fed and his handpicked chairman, Jerome H. Powell, for raising interest rates in 2018, saying those moves slowed economic growth. Last month, Mr. Trump said he planned to nominate Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who advised his presidential campaign and has become a vocal critic of the central bank's recent rate increases, as a Fed governor. Mr. Trump has staked his presidency on a booming economy and his re election could hinge on whether it continues to surge or falter. The Fed, which has the ability to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates and using other tools at its disposal, will play a crucial role in the economy's trajectory. While presidents have long stocked regulatory agencies with partisan appointees in pursuit of ideological goals, the Fed's seven member board of governors has largely been an exception given the role it plays in the United States economy. The Fed's primary job is to guide the economy, typically by adjusting interest rates. It aims for sustainable growth, maximum employment and stable prices. It also regulates banks and oversees the plumbing of the financial system. Most developed nations have granted their central banks considerable autonomy over policymaking precisely because of concerns that politicians would seek to increase short term growth at the expense of inflation and instability. Some modern presidents have opined openly about what the Fed should do, including President George Bush, who declared in a State of the Union address that the central bank should keep rates low. But in recent decades, the volume of public commentary greatly diminished as politicians concluded that pressuring the Fed was counterproductive. The president has largely abandoned that tradition. Last year, as interest rates rose and the stock market declined, Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked Fed policy as "crazy," "wild" and "loco." He asked aides whether he could replace the chairman and lamented privately that Mr. Powell's appointment was one of his biggest regrets. The Fed, which raised rates for five consecutive quarters amid a roaring economy with the lowest unemployment rate in nearly two decades, has since paused its campaign. Mr. Powell has repeatedly rebuffed any suggestion that the central bank is being influenced by Mr. Trump's broadsides, saying it is adopting a more "patient" approach to interest rates given signs of economic weakness in the United States and abroad. With two open seats on the seven member Fed, Mr. Trump has the ability to drastically shape the central bank for the foreseeable future. The president has already appointed four of the Fed's current governors, who carry 14 year terms. One governor, Lael Brainard, is a holdover from the Obama administration. The appointment and confirmation of Mr. Moore and Mr. Cain could put the Fed in uncharted territory. While the institution has strongly rooted values around technical competence and apolitical debate, Mr. Trump's latest choices have been political actors rather than in the weeds experts in any of the main areas in which the Fed makes policy. Two governors alone cannot entirely shape Fed policy, but they can have an effect on decisions. The Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, consists of 12 voting members, including the seven governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and four regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one year terms on a rotating basis. Changes to interest rates must be approved by a majority of the voting members. Both Mr. Moore and Mr. Cain are undergoing background checks, and if nominated, must be confirmed by the Senate. The choice of such candidates to fill two of the most powerful jobs in economic policy is raising fears among some Fed veterans that the president is installing political allies at the central bank to do his bidding. 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. "It's one thing to put cronies into the executive branch, but I think the central bank is another kind of institution that it's so critical in that it holds the reins solely to monetary policy," said Sarah Bloom Raskin, who served on the Fed's board of governors from 2010 to 2014. "It has the potential to undermine the credibility of monetary policy." Mr. Cain's nomination is being supported by Larry Kudlow, who heads the National Economic Council and also recommended Mr. Moore for a Fed seat, according to a person familiar with the discussions. While he heaped praise on his "friend" Mr. Cain, Mr. Trump earlier in the day continued his assault on the "destructive actions" taken by the Fed and said on Twitter that the economy was very strong despite the central bank's efforts. The selection of Mr. Moore and Mr. Cain appeared to be a counterweight to Mr. Powell. But while Mr. Moore has been publicly critical of the Fed and called for Mr. Powell to resign, Mr. Cain's views are less clear. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Cain rode a brief surge in popularity to the top of the polls on the back of his "9 9 9" economic plan. The proposal called for scrapping the existing tax code and replacing it with a flat 9 percent income tax, a 9 percent business tax and a 9 percent national retail sales tax. The concept was hailed by some for its simplicity, but it ultimately fizzled with his campaign. On monetary policy, his views are equally unorthodox. In a 2012 op ed in The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Cain accused the central bank of manipulating the value of the dollar by raising and lowering interest rates by whim and called for a return to the gold standard, which was abandoned in 1971. "For the last 40 years in Washington, regulate has meant manipulate, with the Federal Reserve raising and lowering interest rates and buying and selling assets at its own discretion," Mr. Cain wrote, arguing that a complex society needs fixed standards. "A dollar should be defined as it was prior to 1971 under the postwar Bretton Woods system as a fixed quantity of gold." Mr. Cain is also a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, a role that is often given to local business leaders. In a 2011 interview with The Atlantic, Drue Jennings, who served with Mr. Cain on the board, said that Mr. Cain was an "inflation hawk" when it came to monetary policy, a moniker attributed to those who view rising prices as a threat to economic growth and favor higher interest rates to keep inflation in check. Mr. Trump has made clear he has no interest in a Fed governor who wants to raise rates but, more recently, Mr. Cain has shown that he has evolved on the subject. "If I were offered the job, I would try to encourage the Fed not to make inflation a fear factor because deflation, as Stephen Moore had pointed out in a great article that he wrote along with another economist, deflation is more of a fear factor than inflation," Mr. Cain said in a February interview with the Fox Business Network. Perhaps most important to Mr. Trump, Mr. Cain has shown that he is loyal to the president. In September, Mr. Cain formed the America Fighting Back PAC, which has a mission of publicly rebutting what he believes is misinformation about Mr. Trump. "We're offering a compelling, solid refutation to what you hear from the media and the rest of the left about President Trump and conservative ideas," Mr. Cain said at the time. It is unclear whether Mr. Cain will clear the background check. His presidential campaign came to a screeching halt after several women came forward with accusations of sexual harassment or improper behavior. The selection of Mr. Cain drew backlash on Thursday from some of those women. Ginger White, who publicly said in 2011 that she and Mr. Cain had had an affair, said that he should not be rewarded for such actions. Ms. White said that the affair was on and off for 13 years and that Mr. Cain denied it because he was seeking the Republican nomination for president. "We need honesty and integrity in those who are appointed to public office," Ms. White said in a statement released by her lawyer, Gloria Allred. "Herman Cain should not be rewarded for his bad behavior. In my opinion, he lacks what should be required for appointment to the Federal Reserve or any public office." Sharon Bialek, who is also represented by Ms. Allred, came forward in 2011 and accused Mr. Cain of grabbing her in a sexually aggressive way when she sought his help after losing her job at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s. Ms. Bialek said in a statement on Thursday evening that Mr. Cain sexually harassed her and that he was not fit for public service. "I did not think that he was a man of character then, and I do not think he is now," Ms. Bialek said. "Anyone who uses their position of power to take advantage of a woman does not possess the character, integrity or values required to serve on the Federal Reserve Board." In some ways, Mr. Cain, who preferred news interviews to intensive retail campaigning, presaged Mr. Trump's own outsider campaign four years later. But unlike the president's presidential bid, Mr. Cain's was fatally wounded when he faced charges of sexual misconduct. In October 2011, Politico reported that Mr. Cain, as head of the National Restaurant Association, had been accused of sexually harassing two women, who left the trade group after receiving financial payouts and signing nondisclosure agreements. One of the women, who was from Chicago, said that Mr. Cain made an unwanted and rough physical advance. Confronted with the claims, Mr. Cain initially did not deny them. He later proclaimed his innocence and sought to cast blame on political rivals and the news media for what he called a smear campaign. Other women emerged soon after to say that they, too, had been sexually harassed by Mr. Cain. By that December, he dropped out of the presidential race.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
LATER this month, children at 169 New York City elementary and middle schools will, for the second time in a calendar year, take a 40 minute "field test" in math and English language arts to determine which questions will go on future state standardized exams. Lori Chajet's daughter will not be among them, though the tests are scheduled to be given at her school, Public School 321, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Nor will many students at Public School 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, or children at schools across District 6 in northern Manhattan. Ms. Chajet's objection is not to testing itself, but to the way tests are being used to evaluate schools and teachers. "I want my school to use tests to help instruction, to help find out if kids don't know fractions," she said. "I don't want my child to feel like her score will decide if her teacher has a job or not." Ms. Chajet is one of a small but growing number of parent activists in New York City opposed to the system's emphasis on high stakes testing. Many of them took part in a boycott of the field tests in June, when parents at 47 public elementary and middle schools of the 1,029 tested had their children sit them out. In their eyes, it was a win win situation: Children who skipped the field tests did not risk punitive action or potential harm to their school's grade on the city's progress reports, while their parents could make a statement against the tests. Field testing is not a new concept. In the last round of state tests, future test questions were embedded into the actual exams, said Tom Dunn, spokesman for the State Education Department. But trying out a large number of questions requires multiple versions of an exam, and New York, to save money, printed a limited number of versions of the actual test in the last go round. To try out enough sample questions would have required lengthening the exams substantially. The solution, officials said, is to use stand alone field tests. The tests are not cheap: Pearson, the company that creates the standardized exams and the field tests, charged the state about 7 million for testing services for the 2012 calendar year 30 percent of that budget went toward field testing. "We think the testing will have a positive impact in instruction across the city this year," Ms. Lopatin said. THE anti testing activists are not so sure. Last spring, Martha Foote remembers, her son, an avid Yankees fan, would come home looking sullen after taking standardized tests in school. He was not allowed to play or read if he finished an exam early, so he would hold imaginary ballgames in his head, he said. Ms. Foote stopped asking about school and started asking about the games. Occasionally, he would shake his head dejectedly and say: "Not so good. The Yankees lost." She became convinced that the emphasis on standardized tests was ruining her son's experience at school. Other parents at P.S. 321, and schools like it, felt the same way. They talked about their concerns on the sidelines of soccer fields and during dance classes. And they came together in groups like Parent Voices, New York, to which Ms. Foote belongs, to make themselves heard. Anti testing activists say their movement is not geared exclusively at politicians or school officials, though they have gotten Assemblyman James F. Brennan, a Brooklyn Democrat, to sponsor amendments to buy the state time to reconsider whether tests should be used to evaluate teachers. They have also gotten a resolution in front of the City Council that, if passed, would call for the state to re examine school accountability and testing policies. That is not enough, testing opponents say. They want to bring parents from across the city into their movement. While they do not expect to get a critical mass of boycotters this fall, their progress can be seen in the outcropping of new committees at city schools' parent associations with the words "community" or "action" in their names. Jen Nessel leads the newly formed Community Action Committee of the P.A. at the East Village Community School in Manhattan. The group came together after the field tests in June, when nearly all parents in the school signed a letter, delivered to the principal, stating that they would decline to have their children take the test. "We had this overwhelming sense that we need to do something," Ms. Nessel said. Like many of the schools that have been centers for this movement, East Village Community routinely does well in its annual progress report and is in no danger of being shut down because of poor performance on the standardized tests. Most of the schools with activist parents have more white children and are more likely to be middle class than the system as a whole. "I think there is an opportunity to have more lower income parents being more visible and more active," said Andrea Mata, a parent activist who works with a group called Change the Stakes that is opposed to high stakes testing. Change the Stakes, which has members in northern Manhattan, said it mailed outreach packets last week to each New York City school being tested. In the packet are informational materials in English and Spanish, including a form that parents can sign and deliver to their principal indicating their intention to opt out of the exam. Diana Zavala, whose son sat out the field tests at his school in Manhattan in June, worked on the Spanish materials and said her experience in her largely Dominican neighborhood indicated that the battle to sway parents would be hard. "Other parents, for cultural reasons, say, 'I'm putting a kid in my school's hands, and it's O.K.,' " she said. "It's a testing acceptance, and so you have to change those hearts." When the latest round of field tests was announced, the parent board at P.S. 321 immediately called for parents to opt out about 90 percent did last June and Ms. Foote joked that the school was looking for the list of students who would take the test rather than who would not. Boycotting a field test, Ms. Foote said, "is a safe outlet for anger to be heard." Few parents are likely to boycott the actual tests when they are given in the spring, though some activists have called for that. "I just don't know at this point whether we can go any further, " Ms. Foote said. Sitting out the real exams can have serious consequences. Andrea Mata's son opted out of the third grade English language exam in the spring. His advancement to the next grade hinged on a portfolio of his work gathered by his teacher that demonstrated skills tested on the state exam, including examples of reading accuracy, comprehension and writing. In addition, he had to take an exam that was much shorter than the state standardized test and included written responses and multiple choice questions. Ms. Mata said his teacher recommended he be allowed to move on to fourth grade, but the community superintendent disagreed. The Matas were told that he had two options: go through a month of preparatory work and then take the standardized tests when they were re offered in July, or appeal. They appealed. Their principal advocated on their behalf, and in August, Ms. Mata's son was promoted. She said that the family had discussed the risk with their son before collectively deciding what to do. But this year, the exam will help determine where he goes to middle school, and how they will handle the test and how their son will feel about skipping it is less certain. "I don't know what our position on opt out is going to be this year," Ms. Mata said, emphasizing that her son would be a major voice in the conversation. "We're going to have to make this decision as we get closer to the date." Officials said they weren't concerned that large numbers of children would skip the field tests this month. "The numbers of the people who were boycotting in June were small," Ms. Lopatin, of the city Education Department, said. But activists say that the boycott is just one step in changing the way schools approach testing and how parents and families fit into the conversation. "Certainly, at 321 it's a way to say these are your rights as parents," Ms. Chajet said. "If you don't want them to sit for this and you want to do one of the many other enriching things that they can do in school, you have that right. And that's as important as anything right now. "	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
In 2019 , even the creepiest and kookiest movie characters must have origin stories. The new animated version of "The Addams Family" begins with the wedding of Gomez ( Oscar Isaac ) and Morticia ( Charlize Theron ) before they are chased off by angry villagers. Refugees, they wind up in New Jersey and make their home in an abandoned asylum where Thing gives Lurch tips on tickling the ivories. (The pair's eventual duet on the rock and soul standard "Green Onions" is quite the sight.) Although returning the Addamses to illustrated form brings them full circle (Charles Addams's New Yorker cartoons long predated the 1960s TV series), this movie exists in the shadow of Barry Sonnenfeld's live action films from 1991 and 1993. As spot on as the casting of Isaac and Theron may sound, animation spares them from having to match the ingenious physical comedy of Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
Kery Shaw is one of many dog owners aligning their pets' lifestyles with their own. Ms. Shaw, a freelance photographer who lives in San Diego, was on medication for irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, allergies and recurring sinus infections when she learned about the health benefits of a plant based diet. She decided to go vegan, abstaining from meat, fish, eggs, dairy and other foods made from animals. On the new diet, her health improved so much that she wondered if Portland, her golden retriever who was suffering from bouts of diarrhea and itchy hot spots on the skin, could also benefit from a vegan diet. She switched him from a meat based dog food to v dog, a vegan kibble that uses a pea based protein and forgoes corn, soy and wheat, and saw his symptoms clear up. She supplements his diet with homemade smoothies and vegetables. "He's a cancer survivor, and he has way more energy than ever," she said of Portland, who now has a clean bill of health. Dog owners turn to plant based foods for ethical, environmental and health reasons, noting that byproducts from mistreated or diseased livestock sometimes make it into foods and that animal agriculture is a leading source of greenhouse gases requiring copious amounts of water. Unlike cats, which are obligate carnivores (cats need nutrients found in meat to survive), dogs can draw the nutrients they need from animal or plant sources. Makers of plant based dog foods, which include brands like v dog, Halo and Evolution, say their food meets the nutritional standards set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, an organization of commercial feed producers and government officials that seeks to safeguard consumer and animal health. Vegan dog foods contain protein from plants like soybeans, potatoes or peas and are supplemented with the vitamins, minerals and amino acids, like vitamin B12 and calcium, that the feed organization recommends for dogs. Veterinarians agree that dogs need a balanced diet, but are divided over whether plants and supplements make for an adequate meat substitute. Dr. Lisa M. Freeman, a board certified veterinary nutritionist and a professor at Tufts University, said that there were no long term studies on the effects of veganism in dogs. A vegetarian herself, Dr. Freeman understands the ethical argument for avoiding meat but believes that a balanced diet for dogs should include meat. She recommends feeding a dog a high quality fish based diet as an alternative. "We know a lot about dog nutrition, but there are unknowns as well," she said. "We want them to be eating a diet that is nutritionally balanced. That means it has all the proteins, vitamins and minerals that they need in the correct ratios and with the best quality control. It isn't easy to formulate a high quality diet for dogs, and it's particularly difficult with a vegan diet." A study published in 2015 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association that looked at vegetarian commercial pet foods found that of the 24 foods tested, most were not compliant with the minimum labeling standards set by the feed producers' group. Because some foods aren't always formulated correctly, Dr. Freeman said, a meat based diet from a reputable company is the best way to ensure that nutritional gaps are filled. "If people are doing this because they are under the impression that it's healthier, that's just not true," Dr. Freeman said. While plant based diets are known to have health benefits for humans such as reducing the risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease or Type 2 diabetes, pets will not necessarily get the same benefits. "While dogs and cats get some of the same heart diseases that people do, they are very resistant to coronary artery disease, the main heart disease affecting humans," Dr. Freeman said. "So the nutritional strategies that are beneficial for preventing heart disease in humans are not useful in dogs and cats." Since obesity is the main risk factor for diabetes in cats and dogs, she said, maintaining a pet's ideal body weight with a consistent diet is the key to successful treatment of that disease. Dr. Michael Roth, a veterinarian in Richmond, Mass., and himself a vegan, said that some dogs have an allergy to common dog food ingredients like beef or dairy and that some may benefit from a vegetarian or vegan formula to help ease skin rashes and other allergy symptoms. He recommends that his clients try a vegetarian formula for 12 weeks to see if it relieves itching and improves the skin and coat. Many owners who see an improvement in their dogs, he said, are reluctant to move their dogs back to a meat based diet. "Is the vegan diet the best diet for all dogs out there? I don't think anyone would say that, just like nobody would claim there was one best diet for all the people on the planet," Dr. Roth said. Dogs, like humans, have varying degrees of tolerance for certain foods, he said. He fed his most recent dog, Dawn, a golden retriever, a vegan diet. She lived to age 11 before developing a fatal cancer, about the same age that her brother, Sam, raised on a diet that included raw meats, also died of cancer. Dr. Lorelei Wakefield, a veterinarian who regularly sees vegan dogs as part of a consultancy service she runs in the Philadelphia area, says that her clients do completely fine on the diet. "We don't know yet what the healthiest diet is for them, but ethically, for someone who believes in vegan ideals, it makes sense," she said. Mary Straus, who runs a website called DogAware.com and writes for the WholeDog Journal, a holistic dog newsletter, disagrees. She says that some nutritional deficiencies take months and even years to show up in vegan dogs. Signs of malnutrition range from a dull coat and digestive issues to heart disease and early death. "Our knowledge of nutrition is not great enough to ensure that this is the case, even if A.A.F.C.O. guidelines are met," she said in an email, referring to the feed makers' group. "To be safe, a new set of guidelines would have to be developed for vegan diets, along with long term testing to ensure that the diets actually meet the animals' requirements. This has never been done." Ms. Straus, who feeds her Norwich terrier Ella a mostly homemade diet with meat, worries about the consequences of forcing dogs to eat a diet they were not designed for. If you aren't willing to give a dog the diet it really wants, she says, get a rabbit or a guinea pig: "There are lots of herbivores out there that make great pets."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Well
MOSCOW The Irish Bank Resolution Company is working with one of Russia's largest banks to help find and seize assets in the former Soviet Union that belong to Sean Quinn, a bankrupt Irish billionaire who was once Ireland's richest man. The government owned Irish bank is looking to seize a dozen properties in Russia and Ukraine, Ireland's ambassador to Russia, Philip McDonagh, said at a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday. He characterized the process as a "complex and demanding challenge." Mr. McDonagh said the Alfa Group, controlled by the Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman and other wealthy Russians, would help in the effort. The business conglomerate is known to be litigious and well connected in Russia's court system. The ambassador said the company would be "successful in asserting the claims over the properties in question for the benefit of the Irish state." The Irish bank has teamed with the asset recovery branch of Alfa Bank called A1. On Wednesday, Dmitry Vozianov, the acting director of A1, said, "If we say we're going to return the assets, then there is no doubt that we will get them."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Global Business
Airbnb Experiences, the activities arm of the home sharing platform, offers travelers many things to do in Lima, Peru. They can learn to cycle around the capital on a bamboo bike ( 32); make ceviche in the home of a local ( 62); and spend 90 minutes with Otto, the skateboarding bulldog who set a world record for the longest human tunnel traveled through by a skateboarding dog (picture a line of participants standing with their legs wide, creating a passageway for the rolling canine). In the three years since Airbnb introduced its experience bookings, it found some of its most popular involved animals. On Thursday the company is introducing " Airbnb Animal Experience s ," an expanded and stand alone category, much like its existing "Food and Drink" and "Sports and Outdoors" categories. The new animal division will have an ethical focus. "We realized people want to reconnect with animals," said Mikel Freemon, the head of animals at Airbnb Experiences. "We wanted to fulfill that urge in a responsible way." The announcement comes at a time of increased scrutiny of organizations offering animal and wildlife experiences in tourist destinations; on Wednesday, TripAdvisor announced it would end its practice of selling tickets to events or attractions that breed or buy dolphins, whales and other marine mammals. Indeed, there is growing concern worldwide over the level of regulation of zoos, wildlife parks and other animal refuges, particularly in developing nations, which may potentially attract travelers to situations in which the animals are abused for their entertainment, or worse. In expanding the division roughly half of its more than 1,000 Animal Experiences, available in 58 countries, will be new at launch the company worked with World Animal Protection, a nonprofit organization devoted to animal welfare, to create a policy for the ethical treatment of animals. Animal owners, known as "hosts," must comply with the policy to be included on the platform. Airbnb's policy bans direct contact with wild animals such as petting, feeding or riding them, with some exceptions for nonprofits conducting conservation research (the full policy is here). Domesticated and farmed animals such as horses and camels may carry no more than one rider and no more than 20 percent of their body weight. The rules prohibit elephant interactions, including riding, bathing or feeding, as well as any experiences involving captive marine mammals. "Instead of swimming with dolphins in captivity, you can go with a researcher and study wild dolphins," Ms. Freemon said. World Animal Protection will not benefit financially from the Animal Experiences bookings, but expressed appreciation for a partner as large and visible as Airbnb, where the experiences it offers across its categories have grown from 500 in 2016, when the division was introduced, to about 40,000 now. Airbnb isn't the only company to find its animal activities surging in popularity. Five years ago, Intrepid Travel banned elephant rides on its trips globally, including Southeast Asia where they were popular, based on research by World Animal Protection about the abuse of elephants used in tourism. The company reported a record 12 percent growth in its wildlife tours among American travelers in the past year. Their popularity has inspired the company to add 10 new wildlife focused tours in 2020, including trips to an orangutan rehabilitation center in Borneo and a non riding elephant sanctuary in Laos. Offering opportunities to work with rescued monkeys and parrots in Guatemala or rehabilitate kangaroos in Australia, Animal Experience International, based in Ontario, Canada, said its trips have caught on with gap year travelers and families. The company visits the animal organizations it works with in order to vet them for ethical practices. In November, it will launch a new 10 day Expedition Nepal group trip to volunteer with dog rescue groups during Kuku Tihar, the day Nepali Hindus bless dogs (2,495 Canadian dollars, or about 1,880). "Knowing that we have actually gone to these places really helps our clients feel confident that they will be helping animals," said Nora Livingstone, the chief executive of Animal Experience International. Ethics in animal tourism isn't, of course, restricted to paid tours. In Scotland last summer, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, a marine conservation charity, launched the Hebridean Whale Trail, which identifies locations on land where travelers may spot marine mammals from the shore as an alternative to potentially interfering with them on the water. The expanded Airbnb Animal Experiences range from 90 minutes with Otto, the skateboarding dog, to multiday safaris with conservationists. There are expeditions in Brooklyn to see wild parrots, walks in Britain with mini ponies and tea parties with "naughty" sheep in Scotland known to steal crumpets and nibble on sweaters. Animal Experiences start at 10 and run 500 or more for more extensive safaris. The average price is around 50. Many of its new animal experiences involve animal experts such as veterinarians, farmers, naturalists and researchers. In Chernobyl, travelers can participate in a program to meet the feral descendants of the dogs left behind in the 1980s when Ukrainian residents fled following the nuclear reactor explosion. Travelers can help socialize and clean the dogs, said to be safe from contamination, with a group that is working to promote their adoption. "We want travelers to meet the animals through the eyes of the people who live and work with them," Ms. Freemon said. "They are translators for these animals so you can get to see and know them through their eyes." 52 PLACES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Follow our 52 Places traveler, Sebastian Modak, on Instagram as he travels the world, and discover more Travel coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter: Each week you'll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
PHILADELPHIA The Fox News skybox here turns into a hive of activity as the network's star anchors analyze the Democratic National Convention for millions of viewers. When the cameras blink off, however, the banter has been replaced by something rarely heard in the television news business: silence. Megyn Kelly and her co hosts, including Bret Baier and Brit Hume, have not been speaking during commercial breaks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the anchors' interactions, who described the on set atmosphere at Fox News as icy. During ads, the hosts are often absorbed with their smartphones. Even as Fox News goes about broadcasting as usual, scoring its highest convention ratings in 20 years, interviews this week with network employees show an organization grappling with internal division after the abrupt exit of Roger Ailes, the once omnipotent chairman at the center of a sexual harassment investigation. The hosts' on set interactions have improved slightly since last week's shows at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, which were broadcast immediately after Mr. Ailes's departure. Still, employees say there is a continuing split inside the network, with one camp of old guard Fox News loyalists some of whom owe their careers to Mr. Ailes upset at his ouster. Some are resentful toward Ms. Kelly for cooperating with lawyers brought in by the network's parent company, 21st Century Fox, to investigate Mr. Ailes's behavior. (About a dozen women have reported improper behavior by Mr. Ailes to investigators.) Another contingent inside Fox News is equally dismayed by the responses of stars like Kimberly Guilfoyle, Greta Van Susteren and Jeanine Pirro, who were quick to publicly defend Mr. Ailes after he was accused of harassment in a suit filed by the former anchor Gretchen Carlson. Ms. Kelly has told colleagues that she was disappointed with those who stepped forward to vouch for Mr. Ailes before knowing the full extent of the allegations against him. Some of her colleagues have also spoken out, including the Fox contributor Kirsten Powers and the meteorologist Janice Dean, who praised Ms. Kelly on Facebook, writing: "Strong women stand up for themselves. Stronger women stand up for others." Netflix buys a visual effects company in a move to support its global ambitions. 15 minimum wage for federal contractors will take effect Jan. 30. Mr. Hume, the anchor, wrote in an email on Wednesday that any reports of tension between himself and Ms. Kelly were exaggerated. "Yes, I am upset about Roger's departure. I love the guy," Mr. Hume wrote. "I don't think this episode was about political correctness," he added. "And I think Megyn Kelly did what she felt she had to do, and I am not upset with her." Looming over the Fox News operations is a battle for succession to Mr. Ailes, who over 20 years established his position as one of the most powerful in television. And dozens of the network's major stars and executives have been on the road for convention coverage since before Mr. Ailes resigned, forced to keep up from afar with career changing developments at corporate headquarters in Manhattan. "There's no doubt this has been a challenging time," Rupert Murdoch, the network's new chairman and media mogul, who started Fox News with Mr. Ailes, wrote in a memo to the staff on Tuesday, in an attempt to bolster morale. Internally, Mr. Murdoch has signaled that he is in no rush to name a successor, and as acting chief executive he plans to be closely involved with the newsroom; the process for a replacement could take months, a person briefed on the plans said on Wednesday. In Philadelphia, an army of Fox workers has been clustered in a small warren of tents and trailers known as the "Fox compound'' outside the Wells Fargo Center. Employees are commuting from a hotel in Mount Laurel, N.J., about 30 minutes away. The heavy humidity here and grueling schedule have left staff members fatigued as they wait for bursts of news about the network. In terms of news coverage, the week has had ups and downs. An on air comment by Bill O'Reilly that slaves who built the White House were "well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government" prompted the kind of outcry that the provocative and unapologetic Mr. Ailes often relished. But in a surprise, the network also announced that Hillary Clinton would be interviewed on the network on Sunday, her first postconvention television appearance and her first time on "Fox News Sunday" in nearly five years. Chris Wallace, the anchor who once memorably clashed with her husband, President Bill Clinton, said he spent 15 months securing the interview. Bill Shine, a top Ailes lieutenant who is now considered a potential successor, is monitoring convention coverage from New York. Jay Wallace, the network's executive vice president of news and editorial, is overseeing operations in Philadelphia. (Mr. Shine and Mr. Wallace are running the network in partnership with Mr. Murdoch.) Mr. Wallace took on his current job in April, replacing Michael Clemente, who was given a position overseeing long form news specials, a move viewed internally as a demotion. Earlier this week, Mr. Clemente was dismissed by Mr. Shine. The move was unrelated to harassment issues, according to Nathaniel Brown, a spokesman for 21st Century Fox. Mr. Clemente had been criticized within the network by rival executives, according to people who witnessed their discussions, but his departure took some employees by surprise: Fox had recently created a new office for Mr. Clemente in its Avenue of the Americas headquarters, converting a former conference room, one employee said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
The American cockroach is the largest common house cockroach, about the length of a AA battery. Also called the water bug, it can live for a week without its head. It eats just about anything, including feces, the glue on book bindings, and other cockroaches, dead or alive. It can fly short distances and run as fast as the human equivalent of 210 miles per hour, relative to its size. All these feats and more are encoded in the American cockroach's genome, its complete set of genetic instructions, which was sequenced by Chinese scientists and published on Tuesday in Nature Communications. It is the second largest insect genome ever sequenced (the first belonging to a species of locust), and larger even than the human genome. In China, the cockroach is often called "xiao qiang," meaning "little mighty," said Sheng Li, an entomology professor at South China Normal University in Guangzhou and lead author of the paper. "It's a tiny pest, but has very strong vitality." His team found that groups of genes associated with sensory perception, detoxification, the immune system, growth and reproduction were all enlarged in the American cockroach, likely underpinning its scrappiness and ability to adapt to human environments.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
In science, a "sleeping beauty" refers to a research paper whose importance is not recognized until many years after it is published. A new analysis of 22 million studies, published over more than a century, finds that sleeping beauties are common. "We followed the history of these papers from the moment they were published to the moment they received maximum citations in other papers," said Alessandro Flammini, an associate professor of informatics and computing at Indiana University and one of the study's authors. One prominent example: a paper published in 1935 by Albert Einstein and his colleagues on quantum mechanics. It was only in 1994 that this study started being widely cited by other scientists, Dr. Flammini said. Many statistical studies from the 1930s are also sleeping beauties, Dr. Flammini and his colleagues found. "A lot of important work was done in statistics then, but large data sets were not available at the time to use the statistical tools they describe," Dr. Flammini said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
People with intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders are three times more likely to die if they have Covid 19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, compared with others with the diagnosis, according to a large analysis of insurance claims data. The finding raises complex questions about how to allocate new vaccines as they become available in limited supplies. The drug maker Pfizer announced this week that its experimental vaccine is performing well in clinical trials. So far, guidelines for distributing vaccines have recommended prioritizing emergency workers, health care providers and other essential workers, as well as people at heightened risk for severe disease, including some older adults and those with certain chronic illnesses. The guidelines, which are still evolving, have not specifically emphasized the importance of prioritizing the vaccination of children and adults with intellectual disabilities like Down syndrome and developmental disorders. They emphasize more generally the need to protect people with underlying health problems and those living in congregate settings. The new analysis was performed by FAIR Health, a nonprofit that claims to host the nation's largest private health insurance claims database, in collaboration with Dr. Marty Makary, a public health expert and professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the West Health Institute, a group of nonprofits focused on aging and lowering health care costs to seniors. The analysis was evaluated only by an academic reviewer and has not been published in a scientific journal. FAIR Health set out to identify who is at greatest risk for dying of Covid 19 by reviewing health claims from nearly half a million Americans of all ages filed from April 1 through Aug. 31, said Robin Gelburd, president of the organization. "What we find particularly new is the identification of developmental disorders and intellectual disabilities really surfacing to the top in terms of linkages between these categories of comorbidities and the risk of death," Ms. Gelburd said. Lung cancer patients with Covid 19 have a similarly heightened risk of death, compared with patients without the cancer, the analysis found. "As we move toward approval of a vaccine, we're identifying at risk populations where you could either prioritize vaccine distribution or, prior to that, begin to give special attention to the care and treatment of these individuals knowing that they're particularly vulnerable," Ms. Gelburd said. People with intellectual disabilities and related conditions include those with Down syndrome and other chromosomal anomalies and congenital conditions like microcephaly. Developmental disorders include those of speech and language, as well as central auditory processing disorders, some of which may be caused by an underlying condition like cerebral palsy. Neither category included autism, the authors noted. "There is no question," said Arthur Caplan, director of medical ethics at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. "These people are high risk and must be given priority for vaccination." Still, Dr. Caplan expected there would be debate about what constitutes appropriate distribution of scarce resources. "There has always been some hesitancy to treat people with intellectual disabilities and people who are institutionalized as equal in terms of consideration for scarce medical resources and that also includes prisoners, by the way," he said. "There will be some balking and battling, on grounds that I would consider discriminatory." The new analysis included claims filed by 467,773 privately insured patients. While the database included seniors enrolled in private Medicare plans, it did not include patients on Medicaid, the government plan for the poor that covers many disabled individuals. Some of the report's findings confirmed earlier reports. Men were more likely to die of Covid 19 than women, accounting for 60 percent of all such deaths. People aged 70 and older accounted for barely 5 percent of Covid 19 diagnoses but 42 percent of the deaths. Over all, the death rate among all patients with Covid 19 was 0.6 percent. By contrast, 1.22 percent of those with developmental disorders and Covid 19 died, as did 3.37 percent of those with intellectual disabilities. In addition to the high risk to people with developmental disorders, lung cancer and intellectual disabilities, people with spina bifida and other nervous system anomalies were twice as likely to die of Covid 19. So were patients with leukemia and lymphoma. Chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, colorectal cancer, mobility impairment, epilepsy, heart failure, spinal cord injury and liver disease were also associated with an increased risk of death. The report is not the first to highlight the unique risks that individuals with developmental disorders and intellectual disabilities face in the pandemic. Scientists at Syracuse University reported in June that people with these disabilities who were living in group homes in New York State had far higher rates of Covid 19, compared with other state residents, and that their risk of dying was markedly higher, as well. The population is uniquely vulnerable for several reasons. Many live in group homes or receive care from aides, therapists or teachers who must maintain close physical proximity in order to assist them. Between 16 percent and 20 percent live in congregate settings, compared with only 6 percent of seniors, said Scott Landes, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University and an author of that study. Many are medically frail to begin with, with high rates of underlying health conditions, particularly respiratory problems. That makes them susceptible to pneumonia, increasing the risk for severe illness if they become infected with Covid. Individuals with Down syndrome are more likely to have congenital heart defects; they may have less muscle tone around the neck and a larger tongue, increasing the risk of choking frequently and developing lung infections.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
Each week, the Open Thread newsletter will offer a look from across The New York Times at the forces that shape the dress codes we share, with Vanessa Friedman as your personal shopper. The latest newsletter appears here. To receive it in your inbox, register here. Hello and happy almost weekend (unless you are one of those lucky few who works for a company that gives you Friday afternoons off, in which case you are already there). Despite the fact this is July and nominally a slow period, it's been a surprisingly big week for fashion news: Michael Kors bought Jimmy Choo for 1.2 billion, thereby starting a new acquisition arms race with Coach and all the fall ad campaigns were revealed. Because this is fashion, after all, August equals September issues. You know: those giant door stopper magazines that once got their own movie. They get published in late summer despite the date on the cover (don't even try to make sense of it), and are pretty much a catalogue of brands with some editorial thrown in. Still, for many of us, part of the fun of those door stopper glossies is the ads. Which, even though we all spend a lot of time wringing our hands and declaring the end of print, are as extravagant as ever. Thus I wanted to give you a heads up on two ads that are really worth looking out for, even if you're just flipping pages while you stand in the supermarket check out line. The first is Calvin Klein's new neurasthenic youth in the desert series, which shows unknown models in front of billboards featuring CK's last ad campaign. (Meta! American alienation!) It also reveals Raf Simons's next big move as chief creative officer: renaming the brand's ready to wear line! Now, instead of just Calvin Klein, it will be called Calvin Klein 205W39NYC, which is a mouthful topped only by the new name of the jeans collection: Calvin Klein Jeans Established 1978. Say them both 10 times fast. Next, there's the first look at the new Helmut Lang under the former Hood by Air designer Shayne Oliver, which stars Traci Lords (yes, the former porn star turned scream queen), reissued classics and Mr. Oliver himself in a giant sequined earring and padlock necklace. Get ready for the next coming of the brand that embodied 1990s cool. Or just peruse the below for a lovely ode to our dying mall culture; go West and protest with the outdoor apparel companies that are preparing to take on Trump; and discover the two rivals behind that surprising new clothing category known as Elevated Concert Merch. (You've heard of EDM? This is ECM.) Talk to you next week! Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader's fashion related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed. Q: I've just discovered that I can no longer wear shorts. My skin isn't as lovely as it used to be, never mind my knees. What does a woman do when she wants to look cute and casual on the weekend (say, at visiting day or at a summer retreat with her co workers) but can no longer pull off shorts? Please help. MZ, New York A: I, too, have begun to notice the knee issue. (Nothing like having your 12 year old pinch your leg and say, 'what is this?' to make you realize your skin is no longer its springy collagen filled self.) To a certain extent I am in favor of acknowledging reality, and simply showing off my now wrinkly knees because hey, That's what happens, folks. If we don't destigmatize aging in this weirdly airbrushed age, we all suffer. But I understand your question. Especially in a work environment where age in women is equated with fallibility. The good news is that we are in the midst of a more covered up clothing trend, and there are lots of options for the non shorts wearer. Look for culottes or palazzo pants in light fabrics such as silk and airy cuts. Longer skirts, ideally on the bias or with a dropped waist so they don't add width at the hips, are also good, and don't read as overly dressy. Malina Joseph Gilchrist, T's style director, recommends Everlane as a good place to start, and suggests jeans and T shirts or cotton skirts or shirt dresses that come down past the knee. Just treat all options with the same casual ease (not sloppiness) as you would a pair of denim cut offs: Pair them with sneakers or sandals and nice T shirts, and don't sweat it. Literally. VANESSA FRIEDMAN	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
Ciara Renee as Esmeralda in a 2015 production of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. It started as a local debate over a New York high school production of the musical "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." A white teenager was cast in the lead role of Esmeralda, a 15th century Roma woman, spurring young student activists to object. Last month, after much discussion in the community, Ithaca High School pulled the show, aiming to replace it with something else. But the story doesn't end there. Those same students are now besieged by an online mob targeting them with threats and racial epithets after the incident was reported in right wing publications like Breitbart News, then spread to the neo Nazi site The Daily Stormer. Via Facebook, the students received pictures of themselves with swastikas plastered on their faces. One parent had what was thought to be her home address (it wasn't) posted online with a comment seeming to encourage harassment: "Do your thing social media." Another parent received a profane email, assailing her for embracing "anti white racism," adding: "I feel sorry for your brainwashed child." Ithaca High School, in upstate New York, was to stage the musical, based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo and the 1996 Disney animated film, in mid April. In Hugo's book, it is unclear whether both parents of Esmeralda are Roma. Also known as Gypsies, Roma are descendants of migrants who arrived in Europe from India more than a millennium ago. They have historically been disparaged across the continent, with many remaining impoverished to this day. And while two productions of the new musical its premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in California in 2014 and one in 2015 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey gave the part to a woman of color, Ciara Renee, the casting calls for those shows invited actresses of all ethnicities to audition for the role. Music Theatre International, the licensing company that holds the rights to "Hunchback," says that Esmeralda is a female, aged between 20 and 30, and that she is a "beautiful and free spirited gypsy who possesses the strong sense of justice and morality." But in the Disney film, Esmeralda has a dark complexion. And that is the version that Ithaca High School students grew up watching. That depiction, plus the precedent of Ms. Renee's casting, led some to believe the part would go to one of the high school's students of color, who make up 34 percent of the student body. Maddi Carroll, a 17 year old African American senior, said the high school's staging of "Hunchback" was initially exciting to her "because we didn't feel like our high school usually put on productions with women of color in starring roles." "We were talking about us being younger and thinking about Disney princesses we had to look up to. For us, we really had Jasmine and Esmeralda," she added, referring also to the "Aladdin" character. In January, Annabella Mead VanCort, a senior who did not audition for the play, wrote a letter to Tompkins Weekly, a local publication, and had more than two dozen co signers. It asserted that Esmeralda was accurately depicted in the Disney film and that the part was written for a young woman of color. "Esmeralda is a Roma, part of an oppressed class of people," she wrote. "It is her oppression, and that of her people, which allows her to better understand the perspective of the Hunchback and to ultimately advocate for him." After the outcry, the school board held a community meeting on Jan. 23, when a number of students showed up wearing black in solidarity with the young activists, including Prachi Ruina, who had auditioned for the musical, and was cast in the ensemble. "I call upon you to stop this musical now," she said to the board. "You tear a community apart if you don't." The next day, the school board announced that "Hunchback" would be pulled and a new production would be proposed. Mike Ellis, the father of the young actress who was originally cast as Esmeralda, said in an interview about the students' protest: "Even though it involved a sacrifice on my daughter's part, I think the questions that they're asking are good, important questions that any school should want to ask itself." The events were reported on Jan. 29 in The Ithaca Journal. On Feb. 5, Breitbart picked up the news, writing that Esmeralda's race "shouldn't matter." The publication has covered Hollywood's recent casting controversies, including accusations of whitewashing when a white actor was cast in the film "Hellboy" to play a character portrayed as Asian in the original comic book. The Daily Stormer published a post about the high school's decision. Mainstream national outlets, including Fox News and The Washington Times, amplified the conversation. The comments online became ugly. On a 4chan, an anonymous message board, one post said that the students "need to be 'dealt' with." The Students United Ithaca Facebook page was particularly vitriolic, with some members receiving private messages saying, "You are the real Nazis of this country," and "You're a pathetic racist scum group." Ms. Ruina was told to go back to India. On Facebook, one African American student's personal page was tagged in a public comment that used a racial epithet, saying he "is the reason we are looking for trees." The student interpreted this as a threat of lynching. The Ithaca High School principal didn't respond to a request for comment, nor did the school district's superintendent. Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell, vice president of the Ithaca Board of Education, wrote in an email that the board was "very concerned about the level of vitriol directed at our students." He also said the district had received more than 100 angry voice mail messages and 50 emails. The trolling has been taxing for the students. "This is very, very surreal," Ms. Carroll said, adding, "It's a lot to handle as a 17 year old who is in high school right now, applying to college, trying to get ready for that stuff."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
Now 'Spamilton' Really Can't Miss Its Shot to Tease 'Hamilton' If it raps like "Hamilton," sings like "Hamilton" and dances like "Hamilton," then it probably is "Hamilton." Except it's not. It's just cashing in on "Hamilton." "Spamilton," the uproarious Off Broadway spoof of the blockbuster Broadway musical, has become an increasingly popular ticket for people who can't afford or can't get seats for "Hamilton" (top ticket price: 849). "Spamilton" skirts right up to the line, mimicking music from "Hamilton," satirizing its characters and scenes, using a similar logo and channeling the hip hop vibe that has invigorated the colossal "Hamilton" fan base. But the top price for premium "Spamilton" tickets is 113. And on Friday, "Spamilton" will even begin performances in the backyard of "Hamilton," moving from an Upper West Side theater to the 47th Street Theater, a block away from where "Hamilton" is running. If "Hamilton" executives have a problem with "Spamilton," they aren't saying: They declined to comment for this article. The spoof's creator, Gerard Alessandrini, said his show is paying homage to "Hamilton" by mocking it and doing so within the legal bounds for parodies. "I chose to make it just about 'Hamilton,' but not because we're going to make more money," said Mr. Alessandrini, who has had enormous success for decades with "Forbidden Broadway," his series of theater parodies. "But because it's a better idea." "Hamilton" regularly grosses between 2.5 million and 3 million a week, while "Spamilton" makes a fraction of that, although Mr. Alessandrini and his colleagues declined to say exactly how much. The 47th Street Theater seats 182. "We're on the coattails of 'Hamilton,'" Mr. Alessandrini continued, in an interview at the theater while the cast was rehearsing. "But in a good way, a loving way. The way a little child would be on the coattails of their parents. Or a puppy dog." "We think there'll be more of a demand for it down here," Mr. Alessandrini said. "I think it legitimizes the show a little bit more." Certainly, the "Hamilton" name has already drawn many audience members to the satire. Sharena Conte surprised her son, Cameron Conte, a "Hamilton" enthusiast, with "Spamilton" tickets for his 14th birthday. They traveled more than an hour from Long Beach, N.Y., to see it during its final weekend at the intimate 130 seat Triad Theater on the Upper West Side, where it opened in September. "When I heard about the show, I was like, well, I can't see 'Hamilton.' But this sounds really awesome," Cameron said. Ms. Conte said, "He puts in for the 'Hamilton' lottery anytime we have off." So far, Cameron hasn't been successful. Make no mistake: Mr. Alessandrini, 63, skewers Broadway because he loves Broadway. He has been satirizing shows with pinpoint precision dating back to 1982, when "Forbidden Broadway" first opened, the parody musical revue that left none of theater's most popular shows untouched. ("Annie" has been mocked repeatedly, even in "Spamilton.") In 2009, Mr. Alessandrini briefly put "Forbidden Broadway" on ice because he felt that shows on Broadway weren't good enough to parody. As "Hamilton" box office grosses piled up, the equation changed. He felt duty bound as Broadway's premier satirist to knock it down a peg. At the same time, the caricature has not so subtly attached itself to its originator, by using a similar tagline, "An American Parody" (but not exactly the same as "An American Musical"). The "Spamilton" logo is a star with its top point cut off. The "Hamilton" logo happens to be a star with its top point cut off. The difference is that the sendup illustrates a silhouette thumbing its nose at the top, while the "Hamilton" emblem shows one pointing an arm toward the sky. "Spamilton" reimagines Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of "Hamilton," and his quest to reshape Broadway with rap a Broadway revolution of sorts. "I just felt, 'Oh, thank god,' when it came on," Mr. Alessandrini said. "A new way of doing a musical. For so many years, musicals were rehashes." He wrote all the raps himself, something usually out of Mr. Alessandrini's comfort zone. But using Mr. Miranda's template, he seamlessly added pointed barbs. To play on "My Shot," one of the most popular songs from "Hamilton," Mr. Alessandrini wrote "His Shot," sung by Mr. Miranda's character (played by Dan Rosales). "I am not going to let Broadway rot! I am not going to let Broadway rot! Hey yo, I'm just like a beaver A young overachiever And I love being a hot big shot!" Blink and you might miss a Broadway insider joke, such as a lampoon of Liza Minnelli singing "Down With Rap." At the Triad, the sold out crowd roared its approval as the show re enacted Barbra Streisand's announcing "Hamilton" winning the Tony Award for best musical in 2016. "And now the nominees for best musical of the century: 'Hamilton,' 'Hamilton,' 'Yentl' and 'Hamilton,'" Ms. Streisand's character, played by Gina Kreiezmar, deadpanned. Then came a rendition of "The Film When It Happens" a sendup of celebrities lobbying to appear in a "Hamilton" film, set to the tune of "The Room Where It Happens" from "Hamilton." "Lady Gaga in the film when it happens?" the ensemble sang. The audience applauded. "Johnny Depp as Hamilton!" the song continued. The crowd hooted. The teams behind "Hamilton" and "Spamilton" would not comment as to whether the parody was compensating its source material. Most parodies are protected under "fair use," which allows for limited uses of unlicensed copyrighted material. In terms of trademark infringement, according to Domenic Romano, a New York City based entertainment lawyer, "Spamilton" is probably on solid ground. "If you compare them side by side, there are obviously similarities, but no one in commerce would confuse these two products," Mr. Romano said. "'Hamilton' would have a case against 'Spamilton' if you could show, 'You're taking our audience away because people went to 'Spamilton' thinking it was 'Hamilton.'" Mr. Alessandrini, who has already picked his next target (a sendup of Hollywood called "Blah Blah Land"), batted away suggestions that his show's sole aim was to piggyback on an iconic show's brand. "'Hamilton' is the biggest hit since I've been alive," he said. "I had to spoof it."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
The staff members at Gracie Mansion have installed World War II artifacts to evoke the moment, 75 years ago, when a mayor first begrudgingly moved his family into the 18th century house. In 1942, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia settled there, although he stated that the riverfront property was far too fancy for his family's tastes. For the citizens of New York, however, the newly restored home served as a morale booster while necessities were in short supply and traumatized refugees were pouring into the city. In the mansion's public spaces, full of gilded mirrors and crystal chandeliers, food rationing tokens made of rubberized red fiber have gone on display in a new yearlong exhibition. Sculptures, paintings and photos on view portray Robert Moses, La Guardia and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as unnamed Harlem residents, seamen carousing on shore leave, women in crisp navy uniforms volunteering for military service, and refugees in Europe carrying loved ones and possessions.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Art & Design
If you have a stroke, your odds of survival are similar whether you are in Boston or Boise. But not so if you fall victim to cardiac arrest. Since the 1960s, cardiopulmonary resuscitation chest compressions, ventilation, defibrillation and epinephrine has been the go to approach to reanimate a stopped heart. But in recent years, experts in critical care have developed an arsenal of modern treatment refinements. These improvements remain underused in practice, however. As a result, survival rates after cardiac arrest vary drastically across the country. In the United States, there are roughly 350,000 resuscitation attempts outside hospitals each year, with average survival rates of 5 to 10 percent, and 750,000 attempts in hospitals, with about a 20 percent survival rate. But exceptions exist in certain areas. In Seattle and King County, survival rates for cardiac arrests treated by emergency medical services providers improved by 22 percent over the last seven years to 19.9 percent, according to Dr. Graham Nichol, professor of medicine at the University of Washington. In places like Detroit, the survival rate is about 3 percent. These statistics show "a lot more variation in survival than we see for stroke and heart attack," Dr. Nichol said. "Cardiac arrest is indeed a treatable condition. Providing care, and providing better care, is important." Seattle and King County's improvements come from training E.M.S. providers better, continually measuring the care they provide, and spreading awareness that cardiac arrest is a treatable condition, so citizens are quick to perform bystander CPR, Dr. Nichol said. If Seattle's innovations could be implemented nationwide for out of hospital cardiac arrests, he added, as many as 30,000 lives annually could be saved. The problem with cardiac arrest treatment begins with the administration of CPR. It requires endurance and training to perform 100 to 120 chest compressions a minute, each at a depth of about five centimeters. Resuscitators often interrupt compressions for too long in order to check for a patient's pulse, starving internal organs of oxygen, studies have found. "You should only be feeling for a pulse for 10 seconds, while people fumble around trying to feel a pulse for one minute or more," said Dr. Stephan Mayer, the director of neurocritical care at the Mount Sinai Health System. Doctors and nurses also tend to give up too soon. CPR is typically performed for 15 to 20 minutes, but research shows that longer attempts at CPR, up to one hour, can lead to survival. These patients ultimately may fare as well those who are resuscitated more quickly. In patients with a chance of recovery, experts now advise attempting CPR for at least 45 minutes. If no pulse returns after 20 minutes, however, experts say more powerful interventions should be considered. Often they are not. "Doing CPR is like today driving a Model T Ford that itself isn't even being operated properly much of the time," said Dr. Sam Parnia, the director of resuscitation research at Stony Brook Hospital. "When it struggles to go uphill, we should switch to a more modern car say a Ferrari with a powerful engine." One alternative to CPR is extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a procedure in which blood is drawn from a patient in cardiac arrest through a catheter placed in a central vein, circulated through an oxygenated filter, and then returned to the body carrying oxygen. ECMO is more widely used in countries like Japan and South Korea than in the United States. "They routinely bring people back to life who would remain dead here," Dr. Parnia said. Once circulation is restored, a chain of interventions must occur to prevent further injury to the body and brain. But there's no guarantee that patients will receive these treatments, which include avoiding toxic amounts of oxygen, maintaining normal carbon dioxide levels and high blood pressure, and sometimes a cardiac catheterization procedure. "It's a lottery of what you will get in the hospital," Dr. Parnia said. "It may depend on which doctor happens to receive you, since none of these treatments are regulated." Among the most crucial procedures is therapeutic hypothermia. Patients who remain comatose after being in cardiac arrest should be cooled for at least 24 hours to a temperature from 89.6 to 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit, to slow down the metabolic processes that cause cells to die. But this treatment is far more common in Europe than in the United States, said Dr. Romergryko Geocadin, professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. And even when hypothermia is used in conjunction with other life support measures, physicians and relatives sometimes decide to give up on the patient in the first three days, before the prognosis is truly clear. "A lot of progress has been made in the ICU, with hypothermia, more ventilators, more ways of supporting blood pressure and glucose," Dr. Geocadin said. "So we should give these people more time to survive." A major cause of the variation in outcomes, experts say, is the lack of systematic benchmarking of cardiac arrest data, which would allow hospitals to see where they rank against others and motivate better performance. "Right now, even at Mount Sinai, where I am the chairman of the CPR committee, we know what our success rates are for resuscitation but we have no idea if it is above average, average or below average," Dr. Mayer said. "Everyone's performance is looked at in isolation." This lack of accountability and transparency prompted the Institute of Medicine to call in June for the creation of a national registry to track the incidence and outcome of cardiac arrests.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
Taipei has always been a city where one doesn't have to work hard to eat awfully well: It has a street food scene as vibrant as that of Bangkok; restaurants that specialize in both Taiwanese and regional cuisines from around China; thousands of cheap and cheerful joints at which to drink cold beer with small plates and quick stir fries; and a plethora of sushi bars, a remnant of decades spent under Japanese rule. It's easier than ever to enjoy those qualities, largely thanks to a crop of chefs drawing inspiration from homegrown ingredients: cured mullet roe, lily stems, purple taro, pork from local black pig. Taiwan offers possibilities for farm to table dining that don't exist in Singapore and Hong Kong. Surrounded by clean waters and dotted with mountains and fertile plains, with more than 20 microclimates and a deeply embedded small farming tradition recently given new life by urbanites going back to the land, Taiwan places its agricultural bounty within easy reach of diners in the capital. "Now everyone is talking about local ingredients," the Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang said. "We have everything here, and we should be proud of it." Serving ingredient focused contemporary Taiwanese cuisine, Mr. Chiang's two year old RAW is just one of a growing number of restaurants, ranging from casual to upscale, that are riding the wave of a growing "eat local" movement. The seasonal set menu of eight courses and a few smaller bites (with optional wine pairings), eschews dish names in favor of shortened ingredient lists ('Taiwan' Rice Pork Mushroom, no commas). Mr. Chiang, who worked in France before he opened Singapore's acclaimed Restaurant Andre, where he spends most of his time, devises the menu at RAW with two Taiwanese chefs, Zor Tan and Alain Huang. Every dish on the menu is Taiwanese "in form, structure, color or flavor," Mr. Chiang said. A skewered baby corn cob coated with kernels from a mature cob and slicked with deeply smoky barbecue sauce winked at the sort of fare you might find in Taipei's night markets, while Beef Tongue Cracker, an oblong crisp with shavings of velvety ox tongue arranged atop a smear of caramelized onions, confit egg yolk with vinegar for dipping, was a sly nod to ox tongue crackers, a classic Taiwanese snack named for their shape. That Rice Pork Mushroom dish? Pure comfort food, served steaming and fragrant in a miniature clay pot, grains glistening with lard, infused with fungal earthiness and enhanced with chunks of tender meat. At a nearby table an elegantly dressed Taiwanese woman, obviously perplexed by a shallow bowl containing a single sheet of dried squid, laughed aloud as it separated into curly noodles when a server poured hot kombu broth over. She ate every bite. RAW, No. 301 Le Qun Third Road; 886 2 8501 5800; raw.com.tw. Lunch and dinner tasting menu, 2,680 Taiwanese dollars (about 87) per person, plus 10 percent service charge. Tairroir, which opened last May on the sixth floor of a building next to RAW, is, in appearance at least, its polar opposite: intimate (just eight tables) and elegant (white on white dining room, sleek copper bar). The French training of Kai Ho, the Taiwanese chef, is reflected in both his restaurant's name (a mix of Taiwan and terroir) and in refined plating, with color and texture highlighted in smears, dabs, dots and drizzles. But Mr. Ho is quick to add: "I'm not French. I'm Taiwanese. And I do my own thing." The result is a set menu (six or eight courses) that crosses Taiwanese ingredients with French technique. During my lunch only one dish, warm pumpkin puree accompanied by buttery mushroom brioche, bowed toward the west; others were unequivocally Taiwanese in spirit if not form. In Mr. Ho's hands taro cake, a Chinese New Year favorite, became a spoonable mash to be stirred together with a sous vide egg, the combination's richness cut by dried sakura shrimp and crispy shallots. A magnificent dessert combined moist purple cakes tasting of concentrated blueberries with a powerfully lemony mousseline, bracingly tart yogurt "snow" and honeycombed pong tang, a traditional Taiwanese hard candy. When it comes to sourcing ingredients Mr. Ho said he's "not as hard core as some chefs. I'm not at the farm every day." But he estimates that about 90 percent of what he uses in the kitchen is local; on the day we met he was excitedly planning a visit to a fish farmer in nearby Yilan county to investigate a tip about local caviar. Tairroir, 6F, No. 299 Le Qun Third Road; 886 2 8501 5500; tairroir.com. Tasting menu (lunch) 1,650 or 2,350 Taiwanese dollars and (dinner) 3,200 or 5,000 dollars per person, plus 10 percent service charge. MUME, which opened around the same time as RAW and shares its capital letters only naming approach (mume is the botanical name for the plum blossom, Taiwan's national flower), channels a Nordic sensibility, with a cozy dining room gently lit by the glow of a marble bar and Scandinavian style bentwood chairs flanking tables lit by low hanging pendant lights. "Modern European casual fine dining," in the words of Richie Lin, an owner and one of three chefs, captures the spirit of the place elegant and suitable for a special night out, welcoming and wallet friendly enough to be your neighborhood hangout. After Mr. Lin experienced some frustration with the scarcity of local ingredients in Hong Kong, where he was born and had worked (he grew up in Canada), Taiwan appealed as fertile ground on which to pursue his goal of cooking with the seasons, alongside two other expat chefs: Kai Ward (Australian) and Long Xiong (American). MUME is "a chance to discover what is unique and special about Taiwan," he said, "and to showcase it to the world." Nordic influence is on the menu, too, in a starter of warm country sourdough with beer butter and smoked beef fat butter, modeled after a popular bread course at Noma. After that, the menu divides into Snack, Smaller, Bigger, Sweeter. I would return in a heartbeat for baby potatoes, which are thickly dusted with dried shiitake crumbles. The mushroom crumbs bear a whiff of the forest floor and notes of coffee and bitter chocolate that deepen when mixed with the accompanying cultured butter. The Taiwan salad is a stunner: 30 ingredients that change by the day (I identified nasturtium leaves, flower petals, tiny broccoli florets, pickled cherry tomatoes and roasted carrots), dressed not with vinegar or citrus but umami, in the form of salted black beans. There's plenty of showmanship in crisp tender blush prawns bathed in coral sauce made with prawn head fat and layered with jicama batons and wisps of fresh dill; frozen ricotta is dusted over the bowl, releasing a dry ice cloud. Each mouthful is a shock of brine and milk and grassiness, amplified by crunch and cold. MUME, No. 28 Siwei Road; 886 2 2700 0901. Average dinner for two is 2,900 dollars, plus 10 percent service charge. Atop the W Hotel, YEN is as stylish as one would expect: bold colors (deep violet and pink), inventive artwork (wall sculptures incorporating kitchen tools), a wall of windows overlooking Taipei's urban sprawl. Much of the long menu is composed of dishes one might find in a restaurant of similar caliber in Hong Kong: succulent roast meats and fowl, steamed fish priced by the pound, double boiled soups. But you'll also unearth gems, examples of what Mr. Wo describes as Taiwanese Cantonese fusion. Delicate cones filled with crispy green apple sticks and pan fried slices of mullet roe are all crunch and tartness with a bracing hit of piscine saltiness. Mi tai mu, an iconic street dish of stubby rice flour noodles made like spaetzle and usually eaten in soup, are here served in a Cantonese style lobster broth whose sumptuousness is bolstered by rafts of sweet loofah gourd. For a main dish Mr. Wo steams chunks of lobster from Penghu (islands in the Taiwan Strait) very tender, unlike Boston lobster, he said and sets them in a shallow bowl in the center of a creamy "ocean" of egg white; a tangle of bird's nest adds crunch. There's nothing Taiwanese about YEN's custard buns, but order them anyway: Served warm, dusted with semi bitter cacao and shaped like mushrooms, they ooze golden eggy custard. YEN, 31F, W Hotel, No. 10 Zhongxiao East Road, Section 5; 886 2 7703 8768; yentaipei.com/en. An average meal for two is 3,500 dollars. Fermented garlic soup sounds stinkier than it tastes; on a cool December day it was salve for the soul, bracing, reviving, appetizing. Packed with vegetables (taro, bamboo, radish, white cabbage), bean curd three ways (skin, frozen, preserved), meatballs, dumplings and flavorings like red dates and wolfberries, it made a fine base for a selection of thinly sliced meats. Taiwan produces little beef or lamb, so Mr. Chen imports some red meats from Europe, the United States and Australia. But there's also gamy cherry duck (a Taiwanese breed), gui ding chicken (tastier than your average bird) and Taiwanese black pork. It would be unwise to pass on a side order of Granny's Braised Carrot Minced Meat, an insanely luscious pork ragu made according to a recipe provided by Mr. Chen's grandmother in law, served over rice. Before opening his restaurant Mr. Chen traveled Taiwan in search of exceptional ingredients. In Meinong, a center of Hakka culture, he found a husband and wife making tofu skin with soy milk heated over a wood fire; in Tainan, a woman making fine fish dumplings filled with pork. Some are named on the menu, like Master Wu of Tainan, a classical painter turned fermentation specialist. "I see the restaurant as a platform. I love the ingredients and I want you to know who made them," Mr. Chen said. "Make the grannies happy, make the grannies proud." Mr. Meat Hot Pot and Butchery, rear entrance No. No. 35 Lane 81, Section 2, Dunhua South Road; 886 2 2703 5522; Average meal for two is 1,800 dollars.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
Customers are willing to pay only so much for food, yet rent, utilities, insurances, taxes and food costs keep going up. We've survived by cutting our labor costs to the bone, but that has left us in the industry still on the edge, while cooks, porters, servers, dishwashers,and bartenders have no significant savings, health care or a safety net. Lots of restaurants have started relief funds for their staffs and that's great, but if our workers need charity so badly now, maybe owners weren't doing this right in the first place? After this shutdown, we'll have to rebuild the city's restaurant business from scratch. A few restaurants with deep pockets can probably return to business as usual, but the bulk of places in this city would reopen with enormous debt. We'll be welcoming back workers whose bank accounts have been drained, who will bear significant health care costs, who will more clearly feel the need for child care and sick days. This shutdown has shown us that the only moral choice is for the industry to provide a better safety net for our workers. But right now I can't see that happening because I don't think customers, many of them also feeling more financially precarious, would be willing to pay the cost. They'll buy gift cards and give to charity, for which I am grateful, but will they pay more for their mussels, night after night? Restaurants are our meeting places, they're where we mark our birthdays and anniversaries, and for years we've shown that we're comfortable celebrating our plenty while those who wait on us go without. New Yorkers need to ask themselves if they would they be willing to pay 8 for a latte instead of 5 if it means their barista has health care. Will they pay 100 instead of 75 for a couple of burgers and a few beers if it means the person serving them doesn't have to rattle the cup the next time there's a disaster? New York has about 26,000 restaurants. What does the city look like with 20,000? With 15,000? Will we be a happier city with fewer restaurants that charge more but pay better wages and provide health care? Will we be the same city? When this pandemic ends, will customers really crowd back into restaurants? Or will they be more cautious with their social distancing and their money? Will we be ready to make sacrifices to build a better future for the people who pour our coffees and mix our drinks? Or will we turtle up with a vengeance and focus on our own comfort until the next disaster?	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion

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