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The Health Benefits of Marriage

We get married for many reasons: to share our triumphs, our failures, and our lives with someone else. We crave connection with others, and what better way to achieve that than through marriage and living happily ever?

As an added bonus, marriage may offer more than making us happier people — tying the knot can improve our health and our longevity.

Healthy Relationship: Key to a Longer Life

Can getting married actually help you live longer? Yes, according to Scott Haltzman, MD, clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and author of The Secrets of Happy Families: Eight Keys to Building a Lifetime of Connection and Contentment.

“Ninety percent of married women who were alive at age 45 make it to 65, vs. slightly more than 80 percent of divorced and never-married women,” says Dr. Haltzman. “Mortality rates are 50 percent higher for unmarried women.”

The results are even more remarkable in men. Men who were alive at 48 years old also had a 90 percent chance of reaching age 65 if they were married, but only a 60 to 70 percent chance if they were single — that’s a 250 percent higher mortality rate.

Healthy Relationship: Good Physical Health

According to research, being married can significantly improve your health. “The health benefits of marriage are so strong that a married man with heart disease can be expected to live, on average, 1,400 days [nearly four years] longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart,” says Haltzman. “This longer life expectancy is even longer for a married man who has cancer or is 20 pounds overweight compared to his healthy but unmarried counterpart. The advantages for women are similar.”

Other highlights of the health benefits of tying the knot include:

A married man who smokes more than a pack a day can expect to live as long as a divorced man who doesn’t smoke.

Unmarried people spend twice as much time in hospitals as married people.

Cancer cures are 8 to 17 percent more successful when a patient is married; research showed being married was comparable to being in an age category 10 years younger.

Healthy Relationship: Good Mental Health

As goes the body, so goes the mind. “Marital status was the most important factor for predicting depression,” says Haltzman. “Rates of major depression were nine times higher in unmarried men.” Depression, and in particular dysphoria — a feeling of anxiety, depression, and unease — were also higher in single women compared to married women.

Other statistics include:

Divorce or marital separation more than doubles the risk of suicide in men.

Tying the knot results in a decreased risk for substance abuse. Married men and women drink less alcohol and use less marijuana and cocaine than those who are not married.

Divorced men are more likely to smoke, while married men are likely to quit.

Seventy percent of chronic drinkers were divorced or separated, while only 15 percent were married.

There’s no doubt that marriage requires give and take and good communication, but ultimately the benefits of companionship can keep you healthier, both physically and mentally, than going it on your own.

December 28, 2017 at 02:10PM http://ift.tt/2E8PzDG

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humofun-blog · 8 years ago

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Prince Harry Admits He’s Never Had This Quintessential American Treat (Meghan Markle, Please Fix This)

Yesterday, while camping with a group of school children, Prince Harry made a shocking admission (erm, not about Meghan or Kate or anything. Just want to temper expectations here). He admitted that, despite being an avid outdoorsmanand at one point a human child, he’s never toasted a marshmallow or had a s’more.

Now to be fair, Prince Harry’s food tastes are weird: He also said last week that he’s never had a kebab (yes, people made fun of him for that, too). But s’mores? The childhood staple? “I’ve never toasted marshmallows over a campfire. They’re too sweet for me,” he said, according to People.

Yes, people’s personal preferences should be respected. And since s’mores are largely an American treat, perhaps he should be given the benefit of the doubt. However, consider this: How could Prince Harry not like s’mores if he’s never tried them, hm?

Luckily, there’s one shining beacon of hope in this whole mess: Meghan Markle. Although one can’t presume, Markle is American. And Americans? They know how to make a mean s’more. It was American women, after all, who are credited as the sweet sandwich’s foremothers: The earliest known recipe for the treat comes from the Girl Scouts in 1927.

So, Meghan, please fix this mess. Prince Harry may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but until he’s put the godly combination of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers in it, he hasn’t really lived. To quote the wise sage and philosopher Mr. T, “Pity the fool.”

December 28, 2017 at 02:06PM http://ift.tt/2lnjfnT

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humofun-blog · 8 years ago

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'How to buy bitcoin': The 10 top tasks people Googled in 2017

Google recently released its list of the year's top trending topics and it may come as little surprise that "how to buy bitcoin" was one of the tasks people searched for most in 2017.

In recent months, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin have captured the attention of many people who are contemplating the risks and benefits of investing their money in digital currencies.

Successful individuals like legendary investor Jack Bogle and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary warn potential investors about the downside to putting their money in bitcoin. However, success stories like the Winklevoss twins, who are reportedly the world's first bitcoin billionaires, call into question whether or not the investment is a risk worth taking.

Topping bitcoin, which came in at No. 3 on Google's "how to" search list, are the tasks "how to make slime" and "how to make solar eclipse glasses."

iStock | Getty Images

A child playing with slime, the craze boosting glue sales

Slime, which holds the No. 1 spot, became a trending topic in 2017 with the popularity of online videos showing various objects you can make from the gooey substance. On Instagram, you'll find more than 6 million posts if you search the #slime hashtag. Meanwhile, searching the topic on YouTube reveals that millions have watched slime videos.

In May, Newell Brands CEO Michael Polk spoke to CNBC's Jim Cramerabout the impact slime is having on his business. As the parent company for Elmer's Glue, which is the main ingredient used in slime projects, Polk says the brand received nearly 200,000 social media mentions about slime from March to May of 2017. Retail sales of the liquid glue rose 25 percent in 2016 thanks to the trend.

Following how to make slime on Google's most searched list is "how to make solar eclipse glasses." In August, when the solar eclipse hit, many people scrambled to find the special glasses needed to watch the event. With top retailers selling out of the eyewear, and with experts warning the public to stay clear of counterfeits on the market, it's no surprise that many people turned to Google to figure out how to make their own spectacles.

December 28, 2017 at 02:04PM http://ift.tt/2C5gdQh

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5 tricks to fast-track your career in 2018 from a 26-year-old CEO

After Brian Wong graduated college at age 18, he co-founded a company that received more than $32 million in venture capital funding and landed clients like McDonald's and Pepsi.

The now 26-year-old CEO and start-up co-founder of mobile advertising app Kiip used a series of career "cheats" to fast-track his success, which he describes in his book, "The Cheat Code."

Here are a few of Wong's more than 70 tips professionals can use in 2018 to advance their careers:

Source: Crown Business | Penguin Random House

Brian Wong, co-founder and CEO of Kiip.

1. Use a notebook

Wong carries a notebook to jot down ideas and notes. In proposal meetings with companies like Amazon, Wong's ability to succinctly pitch an idea helped him succeed.

Summarizing your thoughts helps you formulate a proposal before you go into a meeting or talk to your boss.

"When you [record your ideas], you can usually tell in one or two pages if an idea is smart or stupid," Wong writes.

It also helps you remember directions your boss gives you, which Wong says can separate great employees from average ones.

"If you don't write things down, you end up cluttering your mind, leaving less memory storage for more important things," Wong says, "and less brain capacity for other process, including creativity."

2. Focus on your career, not anyone else's

People who don't compare themselves to others and instead think about their own business goals are the happiest, Wong writes.

"These are the people who are almost literally shooting for the moon, and it's almost impossible not to feel inspired by them," he says.

Being goal-oriented and positive will help you win people over. As a strategy, it even trumps competitiveness.

"If you can be a better you every day, you can win the race," he says.

"IF YOU CAN BE A BETTER YOU EVERY DAY, YOU CAN WIN THE RACE."-Brian Wong, co-founder and CEO of Kiip

3. Pay more attention to aesthetics

"Your brand is only as good as its presentation: How it looks, sounds and feels," Wong writes.

By "brand," the CEO means everything from how you dress to how you write an email.

"Visuals matter even in something as simple as an email," Wong says. Avoid loud fonts and colors. And be sure to proofread your messages.

"The slicker the brand is, the more you trust it," he writes, "and the better you remember it."

4. Figure out what you're good at

Everyone has a "superpower," Wong writes, and great workers capitalize on that.

"No matter who you are or what you do in life, you have a superpower — and by that I mean something you do far better than most people," Wong says. "If you're not using it, you're crazy."

Brainstorm a list of what you're good at, every task you find easy or fun. Wong also recommends considering asking friends or family members what they think.

5. Take a splurge day

You're not a robot, so don't treat yourself like one.

"The most successful people know that taking time to recharge is the only way to stay on your A game for an extended period of time," Wong writes.

The CEO takes one day every month for a mini vacation, which he uses to visit his favorite park, museum or restaurant.

"Best of all, even an occasional splurge day gives you something to look forward to every day as you're working long hours at the office," he writes.

Since these career "cheats" don't take talent, but persistence, Wong says, you don't have to be gifted to be successful.

December 28, 2017 at 02:01PM http://ift.tt/2CjQ4dy

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Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: AAPL, MOS & more

Sean Gallup | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Thursday:

Apple stock dipped slightly after the bell. The tech giant on Thursdays issued an apology to customers, after reports emerged that Apple introduced software that intentionally slows-down iPhones with older batteries.

Shares of Mosaic rose more than 1.6 percent in relatively light volume after hours. The upward move came after the stock closed slightly higher during the regular session.

Sprint shares declined slightly in the extended session following disclosures that Softbank added to its stake in the telecom company.

December 28, 2017 at 01:59PM http://ift.tt/2DtlpcV

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humofun-blog · 8 years ago

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Human Cold Virus Killed Chimpanzees

Five healthy chimpanzees in Uganda that died following a mysterious respiratory disease outbreak in 2013 were actually killed by a common human cold virus, scientists now say.

The deaths in the small chimpanzee community followed an "explosive outbreak of severe coughing and sneezing," according to study author Dr. Tony Goldberg, a professor with the University of Wisconsin's School of Veterinary Medicine.

In a university news release, Goldberg says it's now clear that the illness was brought about by exposure to the so-called "rhinovirus C," a common human virus.

"It was completely unknown that rhinovirus C could infect anything other than humans," Goldberg noted. "It was surprising to find it in chimpanzees, and it was equally surprising that it could kill healthy chimpanzees outright."

The study team pointed out that rhinovirus C was first detected in humans in 2006. It is considered to be a more severe cold virus than either rhinovirus A or B, particularly when it strikes children.

"In general, this virus seems to affect young children the most," said study co-author Dr. James Gern, of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

"Chimps seem to be genetically predisposed to have problems with this virus," Gern added. He noted that the virus found in a 2-year old chimp that died "was one that looked like it came from a human, and the level of virus in the lung was comparable to what we see in children."

The identification of the root cause of the chimps' deaths followed a DNA analysis of chimp fecal samples. The analysis led to the conclusion that there's actually a "species-wide susceptibility of chimps to this virus," Goldberg noted.

The findings were published recently in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

December 28, 2017 at 01:57PM http://ift.tt/2CmcoU1

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Seniors Don't Need Calcium, Vitamin D Supplements: Review

Seniors are wasting their time and money taking calcium and vitamin D supplements to ward off the brittle bones of old age, a new review concludes.

It turns out there's little evidence supplements protect against hip fractures and other broken bones in older folks, according to data gathered from dozens of clinical trials.

"The routine use of these supplements is unnecessary in community-dwelling older people," said lead researcher Dr. Jia-Guo Zhao, an orthopedic surgeon with Tianjin Hospital in China. "I think that it is time to stop taking calcium and vitamin Dsupplements."

Not all experts agreed with this conclusion, however. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Daniel Smith says the study makes a "bold leap" by arguing that these supplements do no good at all.

"The big picture, which seems to be lost in this study, is that the personal health cost of a hip fracture can be catastrophic," said Smith, an assistant professor of orthopedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

"The potential benefit of calcium and vitamin D supplementation in preventing even a small number of hip fractures far outweighs the otherwise minimum risks associated with routine calcium and vitamin D supplementation in at-risk populations," Smith added.

It's been longstanding medical advice that aging people focus on getting enough calcium and vitamin D to preserve their bone health as they age.

About 99 percent of the calcium in the human body is stored in the bones and teeth, and the body cannot produce the mineral on its own, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Too little calcium can lead to osteoporosis. The body also requires vitamin D to absorb calcium.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that women aged 50 or younger and men 70 or younger should get 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium per day. Men and women older than that should get 1,200 mg daily.

For their analysis, Zhao and his colleagues combed through medical literature to find clinical trials that previously tested the usefulness of calcium and Vitamin D supplements. They wound up with data from 33 different clinical trials involving more than 51,000 participants, all of whom were older than 50 and living independently.

Most of the clinical trials took place in the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, Zhao said. The dosage of the supplements varied between the clinical trials, as did the frequency at which they were taken.

The pooled data revealed no significant association between calcium or vitamin D supplements and a person's risk of hip fracture or other broken bones, compared with people who received placebos or no treatment at all.

Calcium and vitamin D are still essential to bone health, but these results indicate you should get them through your diet and lifestyle rather than from supplements, Zhao explained.

"Dietary calcium is irreplaceable for skeletal health," Zhao said. "Milk, vegetable, fruit and bean products are the most important food sources of calcium."

"Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin in response to ultraviolet-B radiation in sunlight, and dietary sources of vitamin D are limited," Zhao continued. Exercising out in the sunshine should provide a person with all the vitamin D they need.

Potential dietary sources of these nutrients prove one of the weaknesses of the evidence review, Smith argued.

"While this study addresses concerns regarding calcium and vitamin D supplementation, it fails to address or even consider whether the patients in question are obtaining either adequate calcium and vitamin D intake in their diets or sunlight exposure, obviating the need for supplementation," Smith said.

The evidence review also included a large amount of data from the Women's Health Initiative, a federally funded study of aging U.S. women, said Andrea Wong, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs with the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association representing dietary supplement manufacturers.

"Unfortunately, the WHI data has been widely acknowledged as having limitations of its own having to do with subjects not taking the supplements as directed by the protocol, as well as those who took calcium and vitamin D supplements on their own, outside the protocol, before and during the study," Wong said.

Inclusion of the WHI might have skewed the overall results of the review, Wong argued.

In addition, later reviews of the WHI data indicated that people who started taking calcium and vitamin D supplements had a reduced risk of hip fractures and other broken bones, Wong said.

"CRN recommends that people discuss their individual needs for calcium and vitamin D with their health care practitioners," she said.

"If there is the possibility of reducing the risk of a devastating fracture by supplementing with calcium and vitamin D, as some research has found, people should not be dissuaded from supplementation by a meta-analysis that is meant as a general recommendation and may not apply to each individual," Wong added.

The new analysis was published Dec. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

December 28, 2017 at 01:56PM http://ift.tt/2DrYmzg

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humofun-blog · 8 years ago

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The real reason why there aren't any snakes in Ireland - it's not St. Patrick

St. Patrick didn’t banish all the snakes from Ireland, there were never any snakes in Ireland, to begin with

Legend tells it that in addition to introducing Christianity to Ireland, St. Patrick banished all the snakes from the Emerald Isle, chasing them into the sea from atop a cliff where he had undertaken a 40-day fast. As beloved as this element of St. Patrick’s story may be, a brief scientific inquiry and look back through history – such as the one National Geographic conducted in 2014 – reveals what while St. Patrick did a great many things, sending snakes slithering away from Ireland was not one of them.

Snakes never came to Ireland

The truth is that there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with.

There are no signs of snakes in Ireland’s fossil record. In fact, it’s likely that for millennia there weren’t any snakes in either Ireland or Britain, though Britain eventually gained three species of snakes: the Grass Snake, the Adder Snake and the Smooth Snake.

So, how did that happen?

During the Ice Age, Ireland and England were too frigid to be suitable habitats for cold-blooded reptiles such as snakes. But then, 10,000 years ago, when the glaciers shifted and land emerges connecting Europe, England and Ireland, allowing for migration. Animals that did make it to Ireland during this time period included brown bears, lynx and wild boars.

As Popular Science noted, when the glaciers began melting, the land between Ireland and England was covered over 8,500 years ago, but the land between Britain and Europe went underwater 6,500 years ago, allowing more time for snakes to slither over.

Ireland is not alone

Ireland is not the only place in the world without snakes – there are no native species of snakes to be found in Iceland, Greenland, Hawaii, New Zealand, parts of Canada, northern Russia, or, not surprisingly, Antarctica . . . meaning St. Patrick would have been a very busy fellow.

Rather, it seems that the snakes have served as an allegory for paganism, which St. Patrick “banished” when he brought the Catholic religion to Ireland’s shores.

"At no time has there ever been any suggestion of snakes in Ireland. [There was] nothing for St. Patrick to banish," Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, told National Geographic.

Or, as Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, told the magazine, “There are no snakes in Ireland for the simple reason they couldn't get there because the climate wasn't favorable for them to be there."

The only courageous reptile that did make it all the way to and populate Ireland was the common lizard. The Slow Worm, a non-native species of lizard that does not have legs, is often mistaken for a snake even though it was not one.

Interestingly, during the Celtic Tiger, owning exotic snakes became something of a status symbol in Ireland. But when the Irish economy collapsed, many snakes wound up abandoned due to the high cost of care.

For St. Patrick’s Day 2013, the New York Times reported on the phenomenon and talked to Kevin Cunningham, founder of the National Exotic Animal Sanctuary, which took in many abandoned snakes.

He said that he believes Irish people have an inbred fear of snakes.

He added: “We have it deep inbred in us that they’re evil and nasty and tempted Eve and were led out of Ireland.

“One six-foot snake ended up with us recently after its owner lost his job and had to move in with his parents.

“Being a good Irish mother, she said, ‘Of course I’ll take you back home — but I’m not taking your boa constrictor.'”

December 28, 2017 at 01:43PM http://ift.tt/2Dt0uaf

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Would You Eat Food Made With “Trash”?

Would you eat ketchup made from tossed-out tomatoes? Drink beer made with stale scraps of bread?

If so, join the club. A growing number of companies are making food and drink products out of ingredients traditionally considered waste. And, according to new research, consumers increasingly accept—and even prefer—such products.

“Consumers are actually willing to pay more for food made from surplus products,” says Jonathan Deutsch, a professor of culinary arts at Drexel University, who led the study.

Deutsch and his colleagues presented study participants with different food products labeled either “conventional,” “organic,” or “value-added surplus”—their term for foods normally destined for the dumpster. Participants were not, as food manufacturers have long assumed, disgusted by the idea of using “trash” in their food, but felt positively about the opportunity to help the environment.

Deutsch hopes this study, recently published in the Journal of Consumer Behavior, will help manufacturers feel more confident about incorporating food waste into products.

“Rather than composting or donating scraps for pig feed or secretly carting it off to a landfill, [manufacturers are] going to own the fact that they’re keeping this nutrition in the food system,” says Deutsch.

The problem of food waste has been getting more attention in recent years. Globally, up to a third of all food is spoiled or lost before it can be eaten. America wastes about 62 million tons of food annually, and this waste amounts to some $218 million. Yet one in seven Americans is food insecure, which means they lack consistent access to healthy food. Waste can happen anywhere along the food chain—farms fail to harvest crops due to lack of labor, food spoils during transport, manufacturers toss trimmings too small to use, supermarkets reject produce for imperfect looks, restaurants throw out food after its use-by date, consumers let meals rot in the back of the fridge.

As consumers become increasingly aware of the problem, a number of companies are betting on surplus foods. Washington, DC-based Misfit Juicery sells cold-pressed juices made from aesthetically flawed product and the scraps of fruits and veggies that come from cutting baby carrots or watermelon squares. Britain’s Toast Ale brews beer from surplus bread—unsold loaves from bakeries and scraps from companies that make ready-to-eat sandwiches. Dutch company Barstensvol makes heat-and-eat soups from surplus veggies.

Some of these companies are meeting with major corporate success.

In 2010, Jenny Costa was working at a London hedge fund when she read an article about dumpster divers—people who rummage through industrial trash bins outside supermarkets and restaurants after hours, looking for discarded-but-good food. It got her reading more about the food system, and learning about how difficult it is to match supply to demand.

“I thought, this is just unsustainable,” she says. “We’ve got a planet that actually has the resources to feed everyone, and yet so many go without.”

So Costa launched Rubies in the Rubble, a company that produces jams and chutneys from surplus fruits and vegetables. She sells banana ketchup, spiced pear chutney, piccalilli (an Indian-inspired British pickle relish) and more, all made from produce that would have otherwise been discarded for being under- or over-ripe, funny-looking, or simply in oversupply. Suppliers of Costa’s products include the British supermarket chain Waitrose, the luxury food halls at Harrods and Fortnum & Mason as well as the Marriott Hotels group and Virgin Trains.

This year the company went through about 200 tons of surplus fruits and vegetables; next year Costa estimates they’ll use 500 tons.

“People are starting to value food so much more,” Costa says. “Food is seen as a precious resource rather than a cheap commodity.”

Companies that want to use surplus foods in their products sometimes face technical or regulatory challenges.

When Dan Kurzrock began brewing beer as a hobby in college, he learned that the leftover “spent grains” from the brewing process made excellent bread. Plus, since the brewing process stripped them of their sugars while leaving the fiber and protein, these grains were highly nutritious. But when he decided to try to use these grains on a commercial scale, it wasn’t so easy.

“The stuff as it comes out of the brewery is really wet, and it goes bad really quickly,” Kurzrock says. “When it first comes out, it smells like oatmeal. But come back a day later...”

So he and his team came up with technology to dry out the grain and make it suitable for commercial food production. Their company, ReGrained, now makes cereal bars in several flavors and is coming out with savory snacks soon. Eventually they hope to partner with food companies who’ll use their processing technology to add spent grains to their own foods. With millions of tons of spent grain produced by breweries each year, it’s a huge potential market. ReGrained sources its grains from urban breweries, which have a difficult time getting rid of their spent grain. Rural breweries might give the grain to farmers to use as animal feed, but few farmers are going to drive into San Francisco to haul away pig slop.

As ReGrained has attempted to rebrand spent grain as a sustainable superfood, they’ve needed to add a bit of PR spin.

“‘Spent grain’ is a terrible food name,” Kurzrock says. “We’re trying not to say things like ‘waste’ on a package. The phrase we’ve coined is ‘edible upcycling.’”

Deutsch cautions that transparency is key when using surplus food. Consumers like the idea of helping the environment, but they don’t like feeling a company has something to hide. Deutsch brings up the so-called ‘pink slime’ scandal of a few years ago, when ABC News reported that meat manufacturers often use something known as “finely textured beef product,” which consists of assorted beef trimmings, in ground beef. While finely textured beef product is perfectly safe to eat, its pink slimy appearance and the perception that the meat companies were hiding its presence from consumers, caused an uproar.

This kind of potential reaction is one reason manufacturers keep waste products out of their food, Deutsch says.

“Even if it costs more money to prepare food less sustainably, there’s a conception that that’s what consumers want,” he says.

But, as companies like Rubies in the Rubble and ReGrained are showing, that perception is changing.

“Consumers want to support products that help the environment and are sustainable and make the world a better place,” Kurzrock says. “And you can create some amazing, really nutritious, delicious food products out of the stuff companies leave behind.”

December 28, 2017 at 01:40PM http://ift.tt/2lpDykP

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White House Magnolia Tree Planted by Andrew Jackson Will Be Cut Down

or nearly 200 years, a towering, leafy magnolia tree has cast its shade over the south façade of the White House. It is believed that Andrew Jackson brought the tree to the capital, planting a magnolia seedling on White House grounds as a memorial to his beloved wife. But the Jackson Magnolia, as this historic tree is known, is now in bad shape. And as Kate Bennett of CNN first reported earlier this week, specialists feel they have no choice but to cut it down.

Despite multiple attempts to save it, the Jackson Magnolia has been declining for decades. A large portion of the tree is scheduled to be removed this week. The decision was prompted by a United States National Arboretum assessment that found that the “overall architecture and structure of the tree is greatly compromised and the tree is completely dependent on the artificial support.” The support system, which consists of a steel pole and cabling, is also failing. And the magnolia is too weak to withstand further interventions, according to Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post.

Officials are particularly concerned because visitors and members of the press often stand in front of the tree when President Donald Trump leaves the White House on Marine One. A strong gust of wind whirled up by the helicopter could send the tree’s delicate limbs toppling down.

It was ultimately First Lady Melania Trump who made the call to cut back the Jackson Magnolia. “Mrs. Trump personally reviewed the reports from the United States National Arboretum and spoke at length with her staff about exploring every option before making the decision to remove a portion of the Magnolia tree,” Stephanie Grisham, a spokesperson for Melania Trump told CNN’s Bennett. Trump has asked that wood from the tree be preserved.

As the story goes, the iconic magnolia came to the White House as a seedling in 1829, following Jackson’s victory in an unusually hostile election campaign. Days after Jackson won the presidential race, his wife Rachel died. She had been ill for several years, but the vitriol of the campaign—in which her morality and the validity of her marriage was questioned—is believed to have made her sicker. Jackson, certainly, blamed her death on his political opponents. When he moved into the White House, Jackson reportedly requested that a sprout from Rachel’s favorite Magnolia tree, which stood on the couple’s farm in Hermitage, Tennessee, be planted on the grounds.

Over the years, the Jackson Magnolia has become a beloved White House fixture. Between 1928 and 1998, it was featured on the back of the $20 bill. According to Kaplan, President Herbert Hoover liked to breakfast in the shade of the tree. First Lady Laura Bush commissioned a set of White House china inspired by the magnolia’ blossoms. Barack Obama gifted seedlings from the tree to both Israel and Cuba as a symbol of friendship.

Fortunately, White House groundskeepers have long been preparing for the Jackson Magnolia’s ultimate demise. According to CNN’s Bennett, healthy offshoots of the tree are being grown at “an undisclosed greenhouse-like location.” When the magnolia comes down, it will be replaced by one of its offspring, which may very well offer shade to the nation’s first families for another 200 years.

December 28, 2017 at 01:37PM http://ift.tt/2lcRQWu

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Crime in New York City Plunges to a Level Not Seen Since the 1950s

Police recruits being sworn in at Madison Square Garden in October. Crime in New York City has declined for 27 straight years, even as police officers use less deadly force and make fewer arrests. CreditTimothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

It would have seemed unbelievable in 1990, when there were 2,245 killings in New York City, but as of Wednesday there have been just 286 in the city this year — the lowest since reliable records have been kept.

In fact, crime has fallen in New York City in each of the major felony categories — murder and manslaughter, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, grand larceny, and car thefts — to a total of 94,806 as of Sunday, well below the previous record low of 101,716 set last year.

If the trend holds just a few more days, this year’s homicide total will be under the city’s previous low of 333 in 2014, and crime will have declined for 27 straight years, to levels that police officials have said are the lowest since the 1950s. The numbers, when taken together, portray a city of 8.5 million people growing safer even as the police, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, use less deadly force, make fewer arrests and scale back controversial practices like stopping and frisking thousands of people on the streets.

“There is no denying that the arc is truly exceptional in the unbroken streak of declining crime,” said William J. Bratton, who retired from his second stint as police commissioner last year.

But officials see one area of concern: an uptick in reports of rapes toward the end of the year. The increase, which officials said included a higher-than-normal number of attacks that occurred more than one year ago, coincided with the publication of accusations against powerful men like Harvey Weinstein, which gave rise to the #MeToo movement encouraging victims to come forward. City police officials have said they believed news coverage played a role in the spike in reports, though they also credited their own efforts combating domestic violence with encouraging victims to speak up.

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Next time, bury a report like this. Otherwise, Trump will take credit for it.

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And while rapes were down from last year by one, to 1,417, misdemeanor sex crimes — a catchall for various types of misconduct that includes groping — ticked up 9.3 percent to 3,585 so far.

The lower homicide numbers are still preliminary — and include one announced on Wednesday night — but they jibe with large drops in killings in major cities like Chicago and Detroit, while contrasting with sizable increases in killings in smaller cities like Charlotte and Baltimore.

The city today is a far cry from what it was when Mr. Bratton arrived in 1990 to become the head of the then-separate Transit Police. Not only were there 2,245 killings that year, but there were more than 527,000 major felony crimes and more than 5,000 people shot. Shootings have plunged to 774 so far this year, well below last year’s record low of 998. And for the first time, fewer than 1,000 people have been hurt by gunfire: 917 as of Sunday.

The continued declines are a boon to Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat elected on promises of police reform — promises that prompted warnings of mayhem to come by his opponents in 2013. But the opposite has happened, putting him on stronger footing as he pivots to a second term with a Police Department transformed to exercise greater restraint as it focuses on building trust in the city’s neighborhoods.

Franklin E. Zimring, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said the downturn was an “astounding achievement,” but it raised another question: How long and low will crime fall?

“We don’t know when we’ve exhausted the possibilities of urban crime decline, and we won’t know unless and until New York scrapes bottom,” said Mr. Zimring, who analyzed the first 20 years of New York’s historic crime reduction and expounded on it in a book.

Mr. de Blasio and the police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, credit recent drops in crime to the Police Department’s emphasis on going after the relatively small groups of people — mostly gangs and repeat offenders — believed to be responsible for most crime, while also building relationships in communities where trust has been strained.

Mr. Bratton applauded political support for the police from the mayor, who provided funding for investments in officer hiring, training, equipment and overdose-reversal drugs.

One of the results is that police officers are using deadly force less often. As of Dec. 20, police officers intentionally fired their service guns in 23 encounters, a record low, down from 37 in 2016. The Police Department said officers were relying more on stun guns, which were used 491 times through November, compared with 474 times during the same period in 2016. More than 15,000 officers have been trained how to use them.

But criminologists differ about the cause of the continued declines. Mr. Zimring said that while better policing accounted for much of the decline in crime since 1990, it was no longer a primary driver. New York is “tiptoeing” toward a 90 percent crime decline for reasons that remain “utterly mysterious,” he said.

More broadly, research suggests that crime trends are closely tied to economic conditions. Interest rates, inflation and unemployment are among the macro-level factors influencing crime, according to James Austin, the president of the JFA Institute, a criminal justice policy nonprofit.

“What the Fed does will have more of an impact than any sentencing or police reforms,” Mr. Austin said.

The reductions in New York are a part of what the Brennan Center for Justice expects will be a 2.7-percent decline in crime rates and 5.6-percent drop in murder rates across the country’s largest cities. After record-high bloodshed last year, killings in Chicago have declined 15 percent.

Through August, rape was down in New York City 7 percent compared with last year, but a small increase in September was followed by spikes in October and November. The New York Times first published accusations against Mr. Weinstein on Oct. 5.

Reports of rapes that had occurred in a previous year, meanwhile, were up almost 12 percent through November. In response, the Police Department is adding investigators to its Special Victims Unit and has modernized the techniques detectives use to investigate claims.

“We can’t answer definitively” what is driving the rise, Commissioner O’Neill told reporters at a crime briefing this month. “At least I can’t. But we’re seeing people coming forward and having faith in the N.Y.P.D. And that’s what we want to happen.”

Whatever the reason for New York’s crime reductions, the statistics do not capture the complete picture of public safety. Some crimes are not represented fully or at all: acts of domestic violence, sexual assaults, identity thefts, hate crimes, and shootings that don’t result in injuries or damage.

In some cases, the data annotates horrible crimes: an ISIS-inspired truck rampage on a Manhattan bike lane on Halloween that left eight people dead; the ambush killing of a police officer, Miosotis Familia, 48, who was shot in the head on July 4 while sitting in her R.V.-style command post in the Bronx; the death of Timothy Caughman, 66, a black man, at the hands of a sword-wielding white supremacist on March 20.

Increasingly, officers are receiving calls to help people in emotional crises. The police responded to 157,000 such calls in 2016. But only 7,000 officers have received crisis intervention training for handling those situations.

While most police encounters are resolved without officers resorting to deadly force, fatal police shootings of people in emotional distress — including Dwayne Jeune on July 31 in Brooklyn and Miguel Richards on Sept. 6 in the Bronx — have drawn scrutiny. A police sergeant, Hugh Barry, was indicted on murder charges in May for the fatal on-duty shooting of a mentally ill woman, Deborah Danner, in October 2016. His trial is scheduled to begin in January.

December 27, 2017 at 07:20PM http://ift.tt/2Cf8SdK

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humofun-blog · 8 years ago

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13 of the best business books of 2017

Looking to get a promotion at work, become an entrepreneur or just have smart topics of conversation at your fingertips for cocktail parties in 2018? Hit the business section of your local bookstore.

There are so many business books published each year, it can be overwhelming to sort through them all. So here are 13 business books from 2017 that received glowing commendations.

"The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone" by Brian Merchant

This examination of the iPhone includes analysis of both the enormous cultural impact of the device and a history of its manufacturing process. It was on the shortlist of finalists for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

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Brian Merchant

✔@bcmerchant

Welp, this just got real.

8:54 PM - Jun 7, 2017

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"'The One Device' is a road map for design and engineering genius, an anthropology of the modern age and an unprecedented view into one of the most secretive companies in history. This is the untold account, ten years in the making, of the device that changed everything," the Financial Times says.

"The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World's Greatest Teams" by Sam Walker

The deputy editor for enterprise at the Wall Street Journal and a former sports columnist, Walker identified the pre-eminent sports teams throughout history and determined they all had an influential captain at the time they reigned supreme. He then analyzes the seven commonalities of those captains.

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strategy+business@stratandbiz

The 3 best business books of 2017 on leadership: The Captain Class, One Mission, & Emotional Agility. http://http://ift.tt/2BMWMrd

1:08 PM - Nov 7, 2017

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Walker's book was selected as the best book in the "leadership" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list by the book reviewers at the management publisher Strategy + Business.

"This wonderfully written and wildly entertaining study of the most winning sports teams in history has more to say about leadership, engagement, and the chemistry that sparks and sustains extraordinary achievement than a decade's worth of leadership books," says Strategy + Business reviewer Sally Helgesen.

"Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change" by Ellen Pao

This is Pao's story of suing the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for discrimination. She lost the suit, but the litigation brought attention to the overwhelmingly white, male culture of Silicon Valley.

It was a finalist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year. "Ellen K. Pao's Reset is a rallying cry — the story of a whistleblower who aims to empower everyone struggling to be heard, in Silicon Valley and beyond," the Financial Times says of its selection.

"Principles: Life and Work" by Ray Dalio

Business and life coach Tony Robbins preaches the importance of constantly educating yourself. Robbins tells CNBC Make It that Dalio's book is one of the most inspirational he's read recently. The book is Dalio's explanation of the highly unique leadership strategy he employs at his wildly successful hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.

Ray Dalio

✔@RayDalio

The key to success at Bridgewater has been an idea meritocracy.

3:01 PM - Sep 21, 2017

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Dalio "has returned more money as a hedge fund manager to investors than anybody in history," Robbins, author of "Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook,"tells CNBC Make It. "If you're not familiar with hedge funds, you know wealthy people give their money to hedge funds, and a big hedge fund might be $20 billion — he's $160 billion. ... He's made money 23 of the last 26 years. He's a total genius, and he gives you his story of how he figured it out, and he gives you his principles for life, his principles for business."

"Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future" by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson

The authors, from MIT's Sloan School of Management, explain how businesses can best use artificial intelligence and crowd wisdom and how leaders should manage amid these massive technological changes.

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strategy+business@stratandbiz

The 3 best books of 2017 on innovation: Machine, Platform, Crowd; Competing Against Luck; & The Inevitable. http://http://ift.tt/2BNgKCe

1:38 PM - Nov 7, 2017

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It was selected as the best book in the "innovation" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list by the book reviewers at the management publisher Strategy + Business.

"Beneath all the concrete problems it raises, an intriguing question lies at the heart of the book: Given the rise of algorithmic decision making, the ability to outsource tasks to the crowd, and such technologies as blockchain, will the corporation as we know it become obsolete?" writes Strategy + Business reviewer James Surowiecki.

"The Spider Network" by David Enrich

This is the story behind the Libor scandal, the deliberate manipulation of the key banking interest rates. It was one of the finalists for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

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David Enrich

✔@davidenrich

Coming in March 2018: The Spider Network in paperback! https://www.http://ift.tt/2CfFZk02991/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr= …

1:37 PM - Nov 3, 2017 · Manhattan, NY

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"'The Spider Network' is the almost-unbelievable and darkly entertaining inside account of the Libor scandal – one of history's biggest, farthest-reaching scams to hit Wall Street since the global financial crisis, written by the only journalist with access to Tom Hayes before he was imprisoned for 14 years," the Financial Times says.

"If You're in a Dogfight, Become a Cat: Strategies for Long-Term Growth" by Leonard Sherman

The Columbia Business School professor and consultant analyzes the formidable growth of companies including JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, IKEA and Apple. It was selected as the best book in the "strategy" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list by the book reviewers at the management publisher Strategy + Business.

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strategy+business@stratandbiz

2017's top strategy books: If You're in a Dogfight, Become a Cat; The Net and the Butterfly; & Smart Collaboration. http://http://ift.tt/2CeObRL

1:28 PM - Nov 7, 2017

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"Like a skilled arborist, Sherman prunes back the ungainly, overgrown tree that strategy has become since it entered the corporate mainstream in the middle of the last century. He saws off a number of dead branches, including the many prescriptions that emerged from the countless searches for excellence, greatness, and the secrets of success," writes the Strategy + Business reviewer Ken Favaro.

"What's left behind is an expertly trimmed tree of knowledge that brilliantly summarizes and integrates what's been learned about strategy over the last 60 years."

"The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century" by Walter Scheidel

The professor of history at Stanford University examines inequality across history. The book was on the list of finalists for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year, as well as being the best book in the "economics" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list from Strategy + Business.

"Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world," the Financial Times says.

"Janesville: An American Story" by Amy Goldstein

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter studied Janesville, Wisconsin, after General Motors shuttered its assembly plant there during the Great Recession. It won the award for the Financial Times and McKinseyBusiness Book of the Year and the accompanying £30,000 ($39,339) prize.

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Financial Times

✔@FT

'Janesville', a story about the impact of factory closure on a US community, is FT & McKinsey Business Book of 2017 http://on.ft.com/2yC1ef2

4:08 AM - Nov 7, 2017

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"This is the story of what happens to an industrial town in the American heartland when its factory stills — but it's not the familiar tale. Most observers record the immediate shock of vanished jobs, but few stay around long enough to notice what happens next when a community with a can-do spirit tries to pick itself up," the Financial Times says of its 2017 winner, announced Monday. "This is not just a Janesville story or a midwestern story. It's an American story."

"Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work" by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal

This is a study of how to achieve peak performance by getting to aflow state of being exceptionally present. It was selected as the best book in the "management" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list by the book reviewers at the management publisher Strategy + Business.

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3 best business books of 2017 on management: Stealing Fire, The Leading Brain, and Insight. http://http://ift.tt/2i5fuSF

1:14 PM - Nov 7, 2017

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"Most books that focus on using neuroscience in order to work better concentrate on improving our understanding and control of our own brains. But 'Stealing Fire' shows us how to find peak performance through release rather than effort: We get in the peak performance zone not by finding ourselves but by allowing our sense of self to vanish. The goal is to enter 'an elongated present,' which researchers also describe as 'the deep now,'" writes the Strategy + Business reviewer Duff McDonald.

"Adaptive Markets" by Andrew Lo

This is an analysis on the effectiveness of economic markets. It was on the shortlist of finalists for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

Andrew W. Lo@AndrewWLo

My book #AdaptiveMarkets is finally out https://www.http://ift.tt/2BNS7p9ts-Financial-Evolution-Thought/dp/0691135142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493773721&sr=8-1&keywords=adaptive+markets … Thanks to @PrincetonUPress for publishing it and I hope you all like it!

2:26 AM - May 3, 2017

Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought

A new, evolutionary explanation of markets and investor behaviorHalf of all Americans have money in the stock market, yet economists can't agree on whether investors and markets are rational and...

amazon.com

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"Drawing on psychology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and other fields, Adaptive Markets shows that the theory of market efficiency isn't wrong but merely incomplete. When markets are unstable, investors react instinctively, creating inefficiencies for others to exploit," the Financial Times writes.

"Once Upon a Time in Shaolin: The Untold Story of Wu-Tang Clan's Million-Dollar Secret Album, the Devaluation of Music, and America's New Public Enemy No. 1" by Cyrus Bozorgmehr

This is the story of Wu-Tang Clan's effort to create an album and sell it to only one buyer. The rap group sold their album to Martin Shkreli, the "pharma bro" businessman turned convicted felon. At the time Wu-Tang sold the album to Shkreli, the rap group had no idea about his nefarious doings.

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strategy+business@stratandbiz

3 best narratives of 2017: Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, Why They Do It, & Move Fast and Break Things. http://http://ift.tt/2Ce6AxT

1:20 PM - Nov 7, 2017

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Bozorgmehr's book was selected as the best book in the "narratives" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list by the book reviewers at the management publisher Strategy + Business.

"Bozorgmehr ultimately decides that because what Wu-Tang wanted to do was foster a debate, it's actually good that the album ended up in Shkreli's hands," writes the Strategy + Business reviewer Bethany McLean.

"Superconsumers: A Simple, Speedy, and Sustainable Path to Superior Growth" by Eddie Yoon

This is a delve into what makes a consumer obsessed with a product. It was selected as the best book in the "marketing" category on the 17th annual best business books of the year list by the book reviewers at the management publisher Strategy + Business.

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strategy+business@stratandbiz

The 3 best marketing books of 2017: Superconsumers, The Aisles Have Eyes, & Woo, Wow, and Win. http://http://ift.tt/2Cgq2KD

1:25 PM - Nov 7, 2017

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"For many marketers, Superconsumers will prove illuminating because it emphasizes that you don't have to be a maker of cutting-edge basketball shoes or fast cars to inspire passion. The key, says Yoon, is to uncover the larger reason that superconsumers are hiring your product, and use those insights to expand your market," writes the Strategy + Business reviewer Catharine P. Taylor.

December 27, 2017 at 07:17PM http://ift.tt/2E6XNME

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