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Presidents Day: From George Washington’s modest birthdays to big sales and 3-day weekends

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The likeness of George Washington is seen on a U.S. $1 bill, March 13, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

By BEN FINLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Like the other Founding Fathers, George Washington was uneasy about the idea of publicly celebrating his life. He was the first leader of a new republic — not a tyrant.

And yet the nation will once again commemorate the first U.S. president on Monday, 292 years after he was born.

The meaning of Presidents Day has changed dramatically, from being mostly unremarkable and filled with work for Washington in the 1700s to the consumerism bonanza it has become today. For some historians the holiday has lost all discernible meaning.

Historian Alexis Coe, author of “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George of Washington,” said she thinks about Presidents Day in much the same way as the towering monument in D.C. that bears his name. Continue reading

Dandelions and shrubs to replace rubber, new grains and more: Are alternative crops realistic?

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

Katrina Cornish, a professor at Ohio State University who studies rubber alternatives, harvests rubber dandelion seeds inside a greenhouse, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Wooster, Ohio. Cornish spends her days raising dandelions and desert shrubs. She harvests the stretchy rubber substances they produce and uses special machines to dip them into condoms, medical gloves and parts for trachea tubes. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press

Katrina Cornish spends her days raising dandelions and desert shrubs. She harvests the stretchy rubber substances they produce and uses special machines to dip them into condoms, medical gloves and parts for trachea tubes. And she thinks those products could forever alter the landscape of agriculture in the United States.

Cornish, a professor at Ohio State University who studies rubber alternatives, isn’t the only one pouring energy into alternative crops like that desert shrub, guayule, or the rubber dandelions that bloom with yellow petals in the greenhouse where Cornish works. In Arizona, too, guayule thrives amidst drought, its blue-green leaves set apart from dry dirt at a research and development farm operated by the tire company Bridgestone. And in Nebraska and other parts of the central U.S., green grasses of sorghum spring up, waving with reddish clusters of grains. Continue reading

New York City files a lawsuit saying social media is fueling a youth mental health crisis

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press

New York City, its schools and public hospital system announced a lawsuit Wednesday against the tech giants that run Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, blaming their “addictive and dangerous” social media platforms for fueling a childhood mental health crisis that is disrupting learning and draining resources.

Children and adolescents are especially susceptible to harm because their brains are not fully developed, the lawsuit said.

“Youth are now addicted to defendants’ platforms in droves,” according to the 311-page filing in Superior Court in California, where the companies are headquartered. Continue reading

A Delicious 800-Pound Block in the Room: The World of Industrial Chocolate

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

By Tara Gerner | Wealth of Geeks undefined

An estimated $2.2 billion is spent on Valentine’s Day candy every year — with the bulk of that money going to chocolate.

The industrial chocolate market size is expected to grow by USD 2.85 billion from 2023 to 2028, according to Technavio. Growing customer awareness of the health benefits of dark chocolate is one major reason behind the market’s continuing success. A myriad of consumer goods contain some form of chocolate or cocoa, and global demand for the product has rarely slowed.

While the target audience for industrial chocolate products continues to be commercial food companies, private customers can still take advantage of the industry’s ability to customize their offerings. For chocolate-related products, there are a lot of customization options. This can include anything from flavor and aroma, composition, viscosity, melting behavior, performance, production cost, and product certifications such as halal and kosher to product claims, which can involve sugar, oils, fat, and dairy. Continue reading

Beyond Tourist Taxes: How Popular European Cities Tackle Overtourism With New Strategies in 2024

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Emese Maczko | Wealth of Geeks undefined

A new requirement for American travelers bound for Europe — an online travel authorization via the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) — has been delayed until 2025.

The requirement restricts travelers from non-EU countries like the United States to 30 European nations, including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Applications would have brought in €7 apiece, adding up to considerable money.

As popular European cities continue to confront the challenges of overtourism in 2024, they choose to move beyond the financial solutions provided by tourist taxes.

These destinations are now deploying unprecedented innovative strategies aimed not only at managing crowds, but also at preserving their cultural heritage, protecting the environment, and maintaining the quality of life for their residents. Continue reading

Some Americans have become saddled with credit card debt as rent and everyday prices remain high

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

File – A card reader is used at a drive-thru restaurant in Mount Prospect, Ill., March 13, 2021. Noticeable pockets of Americans are quickly running up their credit card balances and increasing numbers are now falling behind on their debts. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — While the U.S. economy is broadly healthy, pockets of Americans have run through their savings and run up their credit card balances after battling inflation for more than two years.

Experts worry that members of these groups — mostly lower- and middle-income Americans, who tend to be renters — are falling behind on their debts and could face further deterioration of their financial health in the year ahead, particularly those who have recently resumed paying off student loans.

“The U.S. economy is currently performing better than most forecasters expected a year ago, thanks in large part to a resilient consumer,” wrote Shernette McLoud, an economist with TD Economics, in a report issued Wednesday. “However, more recently that spending is increasingly being financed by credit cards.” Continue reading

Traffic-blocking farmers now closing in on EU capital in a protest seeking better market conditions

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

Tractors face military vehicles on a blocked highway, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Chilly-Mazarin, south of Paris. Farmers have captured France’s attention by showering government offices with manure and besieging Paris with traffic-snarling barricades of tractors and hay bales. Protesters say it’s becoming harder than ever to make a decent living from their fields, greenhouses and herds. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

By RAF CASERT Associated Press

HALLE, Belgium (AP) — Farmers blocked more traffic arteries across Belgium, France and Italy on Wednesday, as they sought to disrupt trade at major ports and other economic lifelines. They also moved in on Brussels on the eve of a major European Union summit, in a sustained push for better prices for their produce and less bureaucracy in their work.

While the days of mushrooming discontent have been largely peaceful, French police arrested 91 protesters who forced their way Wednesday into Europe’s biggest food market, the Paris police chief said. Armored vehicles block entrances to the sprawling site at Rungis, south of the French capital. Continue reading

Small biz owners scale back their office space or go remote altogether. Some move to the suburbs

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Hunter Garnett, of Garnett Patterson Injury Lawyers, poses outside his law office near the Madison County courthouse, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Huntsville, Ala. Garnett is seeking a smaller office space in the suburbs closer to his clients, rather than the large space he has now. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — After 46 years, Steve Replin has decided to give up his office space.

Replin, who has a law practice and acts as an alternative lender in Denver, is adapting to the changing preferences of clients, who would rather conduct business online, or in a less professional setting like a coffee shop.

“I am 76 and have grown up being in actual physical spaces as offices, but I really think that the ‘kids’ have it right,” by shunning offices, he said.

The pandemic has had a transformative effect on the office space landscape. Many businesses are shifting away from traditional spaces toward hybrid work and more flexible, collaborative spaces. About 23% of U.S. office space is available, compared with 16% before the pandemic, according to global real estate advisor Avison Young. Continue reading

Jodie Foster’s back, ‘Barbie’ brings novel numbers and other Oscar nomination facts and figures

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

A replica of the Academy Awards statuette on display prior to the 96th Academy Awards nominations announcement on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. The 96th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 10, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A look at notable facts, figures and curiosities from Tuesday’s nominations for the 96th Academy Awards, which saw “Oppenheimer” lead with 13 Oscar nominations, with “Poor Things” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” also running up big numbers.

FOSTERING THE OSCARS

Jodie Foster became an Academy Awards mainstay starting at age 14 with her first nomination for Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” in 1977. This year she returns with a best supporting actress nomination after an unusually long absence. Like her “Nyad” co-star Annette Bening, she got her fifth Oscar nomination for the based-on-a-true-story swimming drama from Netflix, and it’s Foster’s first in 29 years. Her last nod was for “Nell” in 1995. Continue reading

Japan becomes the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Staff of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) watch a live streaming of the pinpoint moon landing operation by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft observe a live streaming at JAXA’s Sagamihara Campus Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Sagamihara near Tokyo. Japan’s space agency said early Saturday that its spacecraft is on the moon, but is still “checking its status.” More details will be given at a news conference, officials said. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when one of its spacecrafts without astronauts successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface early Saturday.

However, space officials said they needed more time to analyze whether the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, achieved its mission priority of making a pinpoint landing. They also said the craft’s solar panel had failed to generate power, which could shorten its activity on the moon.

Space officials believe that the SLIM’s small rovers were launched as planned and that data was being transmitted back to Earth, said Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, a unit of Japan’s space agency. Continue reading