Month: February 2023

4-day workweek trial: Shorter hours, happier employees

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – A woman types on a laptop while on a train in New Jersey, May 18, 2021. A trial of a four-day workweek in Britain, billed as the world’s largest, has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated over six months last year will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and burned out and had better work-life balance. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

By COURTNEY BONNELL Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Work less, get more.

A trial of a four-day workweek in Britain, billed as the world’s largest, has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated from June to December will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and had better work-life balance.

That was all while companies reported revenue largely stayed the same during the trial period last year and even grew compared with the same six months a year earlier, according to findings released this week.

“We feel really encouraged by the results, which showed the many ways companies were turning the four-day week from a dream into a realistic policy, with multiple benefits,” said David Frayne, research associate at University of Cambridge, who helped lead the team conducting employee interviews for the trial. “We think there is a lot here that ought to motivate other companies and industries to give it a try.” Continue reading

Critics reject changes to Roald Dahl books as censorship

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – Books by Roald Dahl are displayed at the Barney’s store on East 60th Street in New York on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011. Critics are accusing the publisher of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s books of censorship after it removed colorful language from stories such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda” to make them more acceptable to modern readers. (AP Photo/Andrew Burton, File)

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Critics are accusing the British publisher of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s books of censorship after it removed colorful language from works such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda” to make them more acceptable to modern readers.

A review of new editions of Dahl’s books now available in bookstores shows that some passages relating to weight, mental health, gender and race were altered. The changes made by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House, first were reported by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Augustus Gloop, Charlie’s gluttonous antagonist in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which originally was published in 1964, is no longer “enormously fat,” just “enormous.” In the new edition of “Witches,” a supernatural female posing as an ordinary woman may be working as a “top scientist or running a business” instead of as a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman.” Continue reading

Decision to shoot down balloons puts spotlight on hobbyists

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

In this image taken from a video shot by Tom Medlin on June 11, 2022, Ed Harrison launches a so-called pico balloon, which costs about $12 and is about 32 inches in diameter, in a field near Collierville, Tenn. Medlin, owner of the Amateur Radio Roundtable podcast, believes a similar balloon is what the U.S. military shot down over the Yukon recently. Hobbyists typically fly the balloons for fun and to experience the challenge of building transmitters and antenna systems, although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been collecting data from operators to learn more about wind patterns, he said. (Tom Medlin via AP)

By TODD RICHMOND and HARM VENHUIZEN Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Decisions to shoot down multiple unidentified objects over the U.S. and Canada this month have put a spotlight on amateur balloonists who insist their creations pose no threat.

Over the last three weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered fighter jets to shoot down three objects detected in U.S. air space — a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast as well as smaller unidentified objects over Alaska and Lake Huron. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week ordered another object to be shot down over the Yukon; a U.S. fighter jet carried out that mission.

U.S. government officials have yet to definitively identify the objects, but Biden said Thursday that they were probably balloons linked to private companies, weather researchers or hobbyists. Continue reading

Brace Yourself, Paris. Lisbon Is Europe’s Most Romantic Capital City

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Laura Olds

Vacationing couples in Lisbon, Portugal, this Valentine’s Day are in for more than a chocolate treat. New research analyzing Trip Advisor’s data for European capital cities shows that Lisbon has 152 romantic hotels and 588 romantic restaurants, ranking it as the top city for lovebirds.

The study determined its findings by accounting for each capital city’s population and area relative to the number of hotels and restaurants that Trip Advisor lists as romantic. Lisbon has an impressive 278 romantic hotels per million people and 1,077 romantic restaurants per million people.

Where Does The City of Love Rank?

Paris, a French city where even the rain is romanticized, comes in third place as Europe’s most romantic capital city, according to Catamaran Charter Croatia’s study.

Love isn’t the only time when looks can be deceiving, though. Couples have more accommodation and restaurant options in Paris than in Lisbon, with nearly twice as many romantic hotels and almost 2.5 as many romantic restaurants. But from a ratio perspective, Paris’ romantic hotel and restaurant industry is lacking. Paris is only five square kilometers larger than Lisbon but boasts a population nearly four times as big. Continue reading

Celebs tout ice baths, but science on benefits is lukewarm

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

“The Great Lake Jumper” Dan O’Conor takes a plunge into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan, as he does every morning, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in Chicago. O’Conor has jumped every day since June 2020. Celebrities and regular folk are plunging into frigid water for their social media feeds, but the science on the supposed benefits is lukewarm.(AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer

The coolest thing on social media these days may be celebrities and regular folks plunging into frigid water or taking ice baths.

The touted benefits include improved mood, more energy, weight loss and reduced inflammation, but the science supporting some of those claims is lukewarm.

Kim Kardashian posted her foray on Instagram. Harry Styles has tweeted about his dips. Kristen Bell says her plunges are “brutal” but mentally uplifting. And Lizzo claims ice plunges reduce inflammation and make her body feel better.

Here’s what medical evidence, experts and fans say about the practice, which dates back centuries.

THE MIND

You might call Dan O’Conor an amateur authority on cold water immersion. Since June 2020, the 55-year-old Chicago man has plunged into Lake Michigan almost daily, including on frigid winter mornings when he has to shovel through the ice. Continue reading