It often seems impossible to know what's going on in Fido's head as he lounges on his dog bed.
But a handful of new studies offer surprising new insights about how our canine companions age, perceive human speech, and find their way home.
A study published last month showed that dogs understand verbal communication just like we do: They parse out tone then meaning as separate aspects of human speech.
Dogs may also use Earth's magnetic field like a compass to find their way home, other recent research revealed.
And another study published this summer found that puppies age much faster than older dogs do — which means you're probably underestimating your dog's human-age equivalent.
Taken together, these recent discoveries may change how you understand your pet.
But that one-to-seven ratio is wrong, researchers found — it's a misunderstanding of how dogs' aging processes compare to those of humans. Instead, according to a July study, genetic evidence suggests that Labrador puppies and other young dogs age faster than their older counterparts.
"What's surprising is exactly how old a 1-year-old dog is — it's like a 30-year-old human," Trey Ideker, a co-author of that study, said in a press release.
An 8-week-old golden Labrador husky mix sleeps on a cushion.
Angela Auclair/Getty
But after that first year or two, dogs age more slowly as time passes — or rather, their cells do. So for each year older a dog gets, the corresponding increase in "human years" gets smaller. A 12-year-old Labrador is 70 human years old, the study found.
Ultimately, in order to calculate your dog's human-age equivalent, you'll need a calculator. The researchers' formula is: A dog's human age = 16 ln * your dog's age + 31. (The ln refers to the natural log of a number.)
Dogs understand speech in the same way we do
A dog gets groomed at the Westminster Dog Show.
Anneta Konstantinides/Insider
When humans hear someone speak, our brains divide the work if processing that verbal communication between the left and right hemispheres. First, the right hemisphere focuses on parsing out the speaker's underlying tone, then the left hemisphere processes the meaning of what we've heard.
Researchers discovered in 2014 that dogs' brains divvy up the task of speech processing in the same way, between their left and right hemispheres, though the scientists weren't sure of the order in which that happened.
The recent study, however, found that dogs understand tone first, then meaning, in the same order humans do. The authors examined the brain activity of 12 pet dogs — six border collies, five golden retrievers, and one German shepherd — using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.
They had the dogs listen to known praise words like "clever," "well done," and "that's it," as well as unknown words like "as if" and "yet" in both praising and neutral tones. The data showed that the dogs processed "simpler, emotionally loaded cues" like tone first, then "more complex, learnt cues," Attila Andics, one of the co-authors, said in a press release.
Dogs use the magnetic field to navigate
Dogs have an uncanny ability to find their way home using their sense of smell. But that's not the only navigational tool at their disposal: Pups can also orient themselves using Earth's magnetic field, according to a June study.
Birds, whales, and dolphins also use the same sixth sense, called magnetoreception, to plot their long migrations.
"The magnetic field may provide dogs with a 'universal' reference frame, which is essential for long-distance navigation, and arguably, the most important component that is 'missing' from our current understanding of mammalian special behavior and cognition," the authors of the recent study wrote.
The researchers used GPS trackers to study how 27 dogs navigated over the course of 662 expeditions between 2014 and 2017 in the Czech Republic. They chose hunting breeds like terriers and dachshunds, which are trained to find prey like foxes in dense woodlands, then find their way back to their owners.
The researchers found that after the dogs were released into the woods, the animals typically retraced their steps back to their release point by following their own scent. But in one-third of the expeditions, the dogs took a different way home: On those trips, most of the dogs started off by running for 65 feet along Earth's north-south axis — even if the direction of their destination didn't align with that orientation.
This "compass run" helps the dogs figure out where magnetic north and south are, and where they are in relation to those points, according to the study authors.
"This run is instrumental for bringing the mental map into register with the magnetic compass and to establish the heading of the animal," they wrote.
Kateřina Benediktová, one of the study authors, told Live Science that unlike hunting dogs, a "human would most probably get lost without a compass and a map if roaming over comparable distances in unfamiliar forested areas."
When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.
Labor Day Weekend 2020 is here, and with it are some great deals on outdoor furniture to help you soak up the last few weeks of summer.
We found great deals from Ballard Designs, West Elm, Overstock, Wayfair, and more that will make shopping for outdoor lounging or dining furniture a whole lot more affordable.
If you're lucky enough to have some sort of outdoor space be it a backyard, porch, or balcony, you probably want to make sure to spend as much time as possible out there. And we want to make sure you're not overspending.
Here are the best deals on outdoor furniture so you can enjoy the great outdoors from the comforts of your own home, but without a ton of cash.
The 5 best Labor Day outdoor furniture deals:
Houzz: Up to 60% off outdoor furniture through September 11
Home Depot: Up to 20% off patio furniture through September 7
This Labor Day weekend, Casper is offering 15% off mattresses and 10% off everything else sitewide.
Casper revamped its line of mattresses earlier this year and we spent the entire spring and summer testing them out. Here's a guide on what to expect with each one, but TL;DR — most people will do well with the Casper Original because of its average firmness, accessible price, and excellent motion isolation.
Casper often has sales with discounts of at least 10%, so if the current sale has expired, just wait until the next one before ordering. We'll keep this post updated with the latest sale information too.
From picking flowers to journaling, writer Jersey Griggs has been nailing down a daily self-care routine.
Jersey Griggs
Jersey Griggs is a writer specializing in lifestyle topics who lives on the coast of Maine with her husband and their rescue dog.
Pre-pandemic, she had an inconsistent self-care routine — it was anything from watching a Bravo show with a glass of wine to meditating in the morning.
But the insularity of the pandemic has given her the opportunity to nail down an actual daily routine.
From journaling to yogic sleep, here's the routine she's been using to take care of herself.
Over the course of the last decade, my self-care routine has been inconsistent. Some days, self-care meant rising before the sun to meditate for 30 minutes. Other days, it meant eating a bowl of pasta on the couch, with a glass of wine and a Bravo show.
But with the arrival of COVID-19, everything changed, and I was forced to live a more insular life. Although being stuck in my house had many downsides, there was one positive development: without the distraction of the outside world, it was easier to implement a daily self-care routine.
It didn't take long to realize that taking time for myself, even during a workday, was imperative for my well-being during this stressful time. Here's the routine that works for me:
7:00 am: I get out of bed, gratefully accept a cup of tea from my husband, and begin to write in my journal.
Today I have a lot going on in my head, and I pour my thoughts, feelings, worries, and ideas into three pages in my notebook. By the time I am finished, I feel lighter, unbound by my perceived limitations, and I have a better sense of direction for the day.
Next, I set a daily intention using oracle cards. During the pandemic, I started working with The Wild Offering Oracle; the deck is imbued with hope and usually offers a positive perspective, even when the world feels gloomy. I shuffle the deck, fan the cards, and choose one at random. I record the intention in my journal and keep the card face up throughout the day to serve as a reminder.
The author choosing a card.
Jersey Griggs
As a rule, I'm not allowed to check my phone until I've completed this routine. Starting my day with thoughtful introspection — instead of going straight to the news or social media — allows me to check in with myself without bias. When I begin my day clear-headed and centered (and without any negative distractions from outside forces) my mental health is rewarded.
10:30 am: After working for an hour and a half, I take a mid-morning break to meditate.
This habit began at the onset of the pandemic, when I was invited by a friend to meditate with the San Francisco Dharma Collective. The community-led sangha offers a virtual morning sit every day at 7:30 PST/10:30 EST, and the unguided group meditation is open to all.
Meditating with a group at a designated time has allowed me to cultivate a more consistent practice; eventually, I became accustomed to meditating on my own as a way to break up the morning.
The author meditating.
Jersey Griggs
This morning, I am feeling creatively blocked. Instead of berating myself for being stuck, I give myself a literal break. As I settle onto my meditation pillow — which is just around the corner from my desk — I choose to put my frustration aside for 15 minutes.
I set a timer on my phone, close my eyes, and drop into the quiet. As I focus on my breath, I'm able to clear the clutter in my brain; it feels like a return to myself.
Shortly into the meditation, an idea pops into my head. For a moment, I recognize the solution to my problem, but I ignore it by focusing on my breath. When the timer goes off, I open my eyes and return to my desk with a fresh idea, eager to work.
12:30 pm: After eating lunch, I allow myself 30 minutes of free time to spend outside, sort of like recess during school.
Before the pandemic, I used to rush back to work, worried about getting everything done. But during quarantine, I discovered that I benefited greatly from any time spent outside, even during the workday.
What I do during this time varies from walking the dog to weeding the vegetable garden, but one thing remains the same — it is time I carve out to enjoy life away from my desk.
Today, I pick a bouquet of flowers from my garden to drop off at my neighbor's house, who recently lost her dog to cancer. Picking and arranging flowers is simultaneously soothing and joyful, and it's a new favorite pastime.
The bouquet of flowers.
Jersey Griggs
I admire a bee drinking a sunflower's nectar and stop to watch a butterfly float past, finding myself grateful the pandemic gave my husband the time to dig these new flower beds.
When I return to my computer, I feel rested and rejuvenated. Instead of detracting from my profession, I've found that this scheduled free time translates into more focus and greater clarity during my workday.
Also known as "yogic sleep," Yoga Nidra is a guided practice that takes you to a place of deep consciousness, a state somewhere between wake and sleep.
In recent months, it has become an invaluable part of my weekly self-care routine. It's been helpful in releasing the physical discomforts and mental anxieties that often accumulate over the course of a week.
Before signing onto Zoom, I brush my teeth and put on my pajamas, as if I'm getting ready for bed. Then I climb under the covers and arrange myself into a comfortable position. Lying on my back, I have an extra pillow under my knees and an eye-pillow over my face. My dog climbs into bed to snuggle at my feet, providing an added dose of comfort.
The author practicing Yoga Nidra.
Jersey Griggs
As Stoltz begins to speak in a soothing, rhythmic tone, she asks everyone to remain curious about any sensations, emotions, and thoughts that may arise throughout the course of the class.
With this gentle reminder, I register that the current state of the world has me on constant high-alert and I mentally switch off the part of my brain that tells me to be fearful. As we go through a systematic relaxation of the body, I realize how much I've been gripping throughout the day and I allow myself to let go completely.
Over the course of the next hour, Stoltz continues to use different breathing exercises, meditations, and visualization techniques to help me go deeper and deeper into a state of relaxed consciousness.
By the end of the class, I feel as if I'm floating on a cloud, without a care in the world. I stay in bed and drift off into a deep and restful sleep — which is perhaps my favorite self-care practice of them all.
Buying a house amid the coronavirus pandemic might seem like a good idea, especially with mortgage rates historically low, but evidence that is piling up is making it look like a bad deal.
A LendEDU survey in late August found that 55% of those who became homeowners amid the pandemic already regret the decision, mostly due to financial reasons.
Redfin found that as of the end of July, lower mortgage rates had given buyers an extra 6.9% in purchase power, but house prices were up 8.2% year-over-year.
But if you're keen on submitting your own application, you might want to reconsider.
The US is facing a housing shortage that only ratchets home prices up, according to a new Redfin analysis. Meanwhile, a new LendEDU survey found that those who decided to become pandemic homeowners are already expressing buyer's remorse.
The number of homes for sale in the country was down for the 12th straight month in July. Just 1.9 million homes were on the market in July, according to Redfin.
The housing deficit, which already existed due to what Redfin called a "homebuilding slowdown" following the Great Recession, has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Many are fleeing coastal capitals and looking to relocate to more affordable metro areas while taking advantage of all-time low mortgage rates.
Take Baltimore and San Antonio, for example. Both are notably more affordable housing markets — but their housing supply has plummeted 20% year-over-year amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, the supply in expensive cities like New York and San Francisco has surged, while demand dwindles.
In Baltimore, buyers outnumbering sellers has contributed to elevated home prices. "Buyers are willing to pay more for a house than I've ever seen — I'm talking $30,000 to $50,000 over the listing price," Dan Borowy, a Baltimore real estate agent, told Redfin. "They're desperate because homes are flying off the market so quickly. I'm selling all of the homes I'm listing within three days."
A new study shows those new homeowners almost immediately experienced buyer's remorse.
LendEDU surveyed 1,000 homeowners with a mortgage in late August. More than half of respondents — a whopping 55% — reported that they regret taking out a mortgage amid the pandemic.
Roughly 30% of those with regrets cited financial struggles. Even with low interest rates, payments become more difficult to manage as the pandemic continues to sink the country into a recession.
Another 10% said social reasons fueled their regret, while 7% reported that they were not prepared for homeownership, and 8% reported another miscellaneous reason.
This may be down to the dynamics of the market. Redfin calculated that as of the end of July, the lower mortgage rates have given buyers an extra 6.9% in purchasing power, but prices were up 8.2% year-over-year, wiping that out.
"What are you doing about school?" It's a question every parent in America has heard or answered this question in recent months: "What are you doing about school?"
We all pretend there's a good choice or a real answer. But as schools across the country plan an all-remote opening or a hybrid model with some in-person learning coupled with online learning, most parents know there is not.
What kids are doing about school depends very much on the wealth of their parents, now more than ever. But should it?
An educational class divide
With the upcoming school year still very much in flux, parents across the country will have to step in to pick up the educational slack left by school systems in disarray.
Parents will be forced to make an impossible choice: pause their careers and play administrative assistant to their kids while they learn via computer. Or don't and leave their kids on their own with potentially harmful consequences.
Some parents are setting up so-called "pods" to have their children either do distance learning, or actual homeschool, alongside a small group of other children. The idea is to give their kids some social interaction while mimicking at least some aspects of school.
The rich, of course, have many options. Their pods will likely consist of an in-person tutor who will work with the group to complete their schoolwork as they watch live instruction or videos from their actual school. Some will have the tutor design the curriculum themselves and form their own homeschool.
Other wealthy families will stay at their summer homes if schools are opening there. Or they'll have the choice of private schools which have a far better chance than public schools of opening in the fall.
But for the vast majority of families, this school year will be an educational disaster. The achievement gap between rich and poor kids is expected to widen significantly.
To fight this educational inequality, a growing movement is demanding that if schools don't open that the money spent per student be returned to the parents to use as they see fit. If parents don't like the plan proposed by their public school, why should they not be able to take their child's funds and spend that money on the education of their choice?
Giving parents flexibility
This month, Senator Rand Paul introduced the Support Children Having Open Opportunities for Learning (SCHOOL) Act which would send the federal funds spent on schools directly to parents to spend as they wish. It's a good idea but it's likely not enough.
Corey A. DeAngelis, Director of School Choice at the Reason Foundation, told me these federal funds make up about 9% of total education spending. If all federal funds were diverted directly to parents, families in the northeast of the country — which has the highest per student spending in the country with an average of nearly $20,000 — would see around $1,800. That's certainly a start but nowhere near enough for parents to effectively supplement their child's lacking education.
And parents in other regions would see even less. Parents in the South — where funding per child averages around $10,000 — would only receive $900.
Given the limited amount of federal funding, much of the interesting work on directly funding "students, not systems," as DeAngelis says, is happening on the state level.
In Colorado, their legislature asked Gov. Jared Polis to convene a special session specifically to discuss educational concerns. The policy proposal by Colorado Republicans called "Safe Learning Choices" argues families are "entitled to all or a portion of their child's per-pupil revenue to access the educational resources they need to thrive during the pandemic."
DeAngelis told me "State constitutions require governments to provide 'free' public education. It's hard for states to say they're doing that if they aren't even reopening schools."
With many teachers asking for medical accommodations, which will mean only getting a portion of their pay under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the Americans with Disabilities Act, schools will see some savings. Instead of diverting any of those funds to other programs, they must be passed on to parents to give them educational options. Local and state governments have to find the money as well. Education is mandatory and if it's not being provided by the public schools parents should be able to get it elsewhere.
We already know we need more options
No one wants to see kids left behind because their parents couldn't afford to skip work to help them with distance learning. We've already seen the harm caused by just a few months of this kind of schooling and studies show this set up can leave many students behind .
During the Spring, reports from parents about how distance learning was failing children were largely dismissed. After all, we were in a time where our tagline was "two weeks to flatten the curve." Everyone thought it was temporary.
But as those two weeks kept getting extended provided, it was clear that many school systems were unprepared for the massive online shift.. I spoke to parents, at some of the best public schools in New York City, who did not have one instance of live online instruction during the spring semester.
Parents shouldn't be forced into another year of potentially lacking schooling just because they don't have the money for a private tutor or tuition for a private school. Schools which are not providing the service for which they are being paid should not continue to receive full funding. It shouldn't only be rich kids who have options.
Taking politics out of the decision
Some politicians may balk because the idea of school choice is seen as a conservative position, but the challenge right now is to depoliticize the issue of school funding for the good of the children. In normal times that would be an impossible task, but the unprecedented circumstances mean there's a chance.
Democrats can help shape the debate instead of shutting it down. They can help answer questions on how these funds can be used. What accreditation should be required for a teacher hired using this money? How can homeschooling parents prove how this money gets spent?
They can also force a time limit on these funds. Give parents access to these funds in the short term and see how it goes. If children thrive, why would we go back to the old system? If they don't, we can have an end date to the plan and return money to the schools.
Parents won't wait for their government to do the right thing for them. School districts around the country are already in the situation of asking parents to not un-enroll their children. Falls Church City Public Schools in Virginia sent a letter to parents saying they are experiencing "a rise in families deciding to leave the system until we are either back in person or there is a vaccine to fight the virus" and that "If there is an exodus of students from FCCPS, the funding for our schools will decrease."
Similarly, The Denver Public Schools Board of Education discouraged parents from unenrolling their children and forming pods. "It's also important to recognize the impact of unenrolling children from their school and/or hiring private teachers. We are deeply concerned about the pods' long-term negative implications for public education and social justice."
They're not wrong about these negative implications but their solution — to keep all children in non-optimal learning conditions — is untenable. Parents who can afford private tutors will still opt out or use their money to gain access to the tools to make online learning work for them. We need to afford less privileged children that same opportunity.
COVID-19 has forced us to make difficult choices and so many parents have lopsidedly bore the brunt of that. We need to put children at the forefront of the school conversation and let their parents decide how best to educate them. Fund students not pre-COVID ideas on what schools should be.
The stock market sharply sold off this week just days after the S&P 500 hit a fresh record high and notched its best August performance in 34 years.
"We view the latest sell-off as a bout of profit-taking after a strong run," said Mark Haefele, the chief investment officer of global wealth management at UBS, in a Friday note.
Haefele said that investors should stay the course according to their previous investment plans, and offered three recommendations for staying in the game amid the recent market downturn.
The stock market's latest selloff shouldn't spark concern or prompt investors to make any sudden changes to their portfolios, according to the world's largest wealth manager.
"We view the latest sell-off as a bout of profit-taking after a strong run," said Mark Haefele, the chief investment officer of global wealth management at UBS, in a Friday note. "Stocks are still well-supported by a combination of Fed liquidity, attractive equity risk premiums, and an ongoing recovery as economies reopen from the lockdowns."
While the S&P 500 is now sitting roughly at UBS's target, there's also further upside that could be driven by a coronavirus vaccine or "positive medical developments," a new stimulus bill from the government with an election outcome favorable to growth, and a real rates dropping further, according to the note.
Investors should thus stay invested according to previous plans, according to Haefele. Here are three recommendations he has for investors.
1. Ease into markets
Heightened volatility can be scary, but shouldn't mean investors get stuck on the sidelines. "Rather than trying to time the market and potentially miss out on gains, we recommend an averaging-in approach by establishing a set schedule to commit capital to stocks within a 12-month timeframe," said Haefele.
He also recommended a "put-writing approach to enter markets defensively, for those investors who can implement options," and "making use of structured investments to add asymmetric exposure to stocks, e.g., with a degree of capital protection."
"The mega-cap IT complex has driven an outsize portion of the year-to-date gains in the US equity market," Haefele wrote. "But while we don't think tech is in a bubble, we do recommend that investors with excess exposure to the biggest US stocks consider rebalancing into areas accelerated by COVID-19, such as companies exposed to the 5G rollout, and sustainability-aligned companies set to profit from a 'green recovery.'"
3. Protect against the downside
"COVID-19 has brought unprecedented uncertainty for investors, and further volatility cannot be ruled out," said Haefele. "Diversification across asset classes and regions is the best way to manage the risks in one's portfolio."
That being said, Haefele added that investors will need to seek alternatives to portfolio diversification because of how low starting yields are on high-quality bonds. He recommended gold, which he sees as having further upside potential, and "including some exposure to hedge funds with a strong track record of downside risk management," to insulate portfolios.
Kutenda is an online marketplace platforming cards and gifts designed by artists and entrepeneurs from marginalized groups – the first business of its kind in the world.
The marketplace hopes to normalise the portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community, the BAME community, and those who identify as disabled in greeting cards.
Nearly 60% of people agree that card shops should offer more gender neutral designs, a GlobalData survey shows.
The world's first online marketplace for greeting cards featuring and designed by diverse and underrepresented communities launched on Saturday to mark Black Pound Day, a day that encourages spending at Black-owned businesses in the UK.
Kutenda aims to normalize the portrayal of marginalized groups in cards and gifts so that they can buy products that accurately represent them. This includes the LGBTQ+ community, the BAME community, and those who identify as disabled. Despite the UK spending around £1.7 billion ($2.25 billion) annually on greeting cards, the industry doesn't accurately represent marginalized groups.
Kutenda also platforms the work of up-and-coming artists and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, saying that "large retailers either ignore minority artists or steal their ideas." Alongside cards, the marketplace also sells gifts including mugs, stationery, and bookmarks.
Founder Avila Diana Chidume said Kutenda hopes to "create a sense of belonging in a world created to not adequately provide representation." The young entrepreneur named the company after the word for "thankful" in Shona, a language spoken in her home country of Zimbabwe.
Chidume was motivated to create the business by the cards she received growing up. "I could never relate to, or understand why, I never got cards or gifts with Black people on them," she said, adding that the first ever birthday card she got featuring a Black person was for her 21st birthday – and it was one of her own designs from her greeting card company Avila.Diana, which she launched in response to this problem.
Chidume launched her greeting cards line Avila.Diana while studying for her bachelors degree.
Other entrepreneurs have also responded to this problem. Huetribe was launched in 2017 after its founder struggled to find greeting cards reflecting her interracial relationship, and donates some of its profits to charities supporting racial, cultural and LGBTQ equality. Since 2005 The Afro Card Company has also been creating greeting cards that represent the Black community.
But Kutenda is the first of its kind to act as a marketplace for marginalized artists and entrepreneurs to showcase their products.
Black Pound Day aims to encourage spending at Black-owned businesses.
Avila.Diana
Though the business launched on Saturday, it has also set up a crowdfunder to raise £10,000 ($13,200) to maintain its website and support the brands selling their products through Kutenda.
The modern-day air taxi isn't a futuristic vertical take-off and land aircraft but often a propeller aircraft that's inexpensive to operate and can comfortably fly passengers on regional routes.
Hopscotch Air provides air taxi flights from airports across the Northeast as a cost-effective alternative to chartering a traditional private aircraft and time-effective alternative to driving.
I flew on one of Hopscotch Air's air taxis between two airports in Long Island to see if it truly beat driving.
The idea of an air taxi for most is the futuristic concept of self-flying eVTOLs soaring over traffic-ridden city streets, flying passengers to their meetings across town. While that may be a reality of urban air mobility one day, the modern-day air taxi is completely different.
Hopscotch Air is a New York-based air taxi service that uses light aircraft to connect remote cities across the Northeast as a cost-effective alternative to chartering a private aircraft. Ideal for regional travel, CEO Andrew Schmertz views the firm's competitors to be more trains and automobiles than it does private jets and offers the convenience and exclusivity of a private aircraft experience without the costly extras the drive up the price.
Powering the air taxi fleet is the Cirrus SR-20/22 series of piston aircraft, one of the most popular in general aviation known for their comfort, style, and high tech systems.
I took a ride on a quick demonstration flight across Long Island between Farmingdale's Republic Airport and Brookhaven Airport to see whether the service is worth the premium compared to driving or taking a commercial flight.
Here's what it was like.
This is an air taxi, operated by Hopscotch Air.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Four of these piston engine-powered Cirrus SR-20/22 series aircraft currently make up the Hopscotch Air fleet, offering regional travel across the Northeast and beyond.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
From New York, the aircraft have a range of around five hours, making cities like Chicago, Savannah, and Nashville all accessible with a non-stop flight when the weather allows.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Cirrus' aircraft are widely-regarded to be the Cadillac of piston aircraft thanks to its speed, comfort, and advanced onboard systems.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Both models can fly at altitudes up to 17,500 feet with the newer SR-22 model cruising at over 200 miles per hour.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
They even have baggage compartments that can fit golf clubs or full-size luggage.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Including the pilot, the typical SR-20/22 can seat four passengers.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Only one pilot is required to fly the plane, leaving what's normally the co-pilot's seat open for a passenger.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Two more can fit in the back row with leather seating throughout.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
These air taxis can't be hailed on the street but can be found at airports across the New York area. Our cab stand for the flight was Farmingdale's Republic Airport on Long Island.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Hopscotch Air uses private terminals, known as fixed-base operators or FBOs, so passengers can skip the security checkpoint and long lines that they'd face when taking an airliner.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Doors of the aircraft open vertically for easy access but passengers do have to climb up on the wing to get in.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
I settled into the co-pilot's seat for the first leg of our trip to eastern Long Island.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Legroom wasn't an issue but I had to be sure not to accidentally press the rudder or brake pedals.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
A vital feature of Cirrus aircraft is the air conditioning system that provides hot and cold air upon request, just like in a car. It's often required during the summer flying season.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The interior is quite loud once the engine starts because it's a small plane so I donned a headset which also allowed me to chat with the pilot during the flight.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
It took less than five minutes to get underway once we shut the doors as the pilot ran through the checklist with airline-like precision.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Before we departed, I was also briefed on the SR-20's best safety feature, the onboard parachute. Should anything happen to the pilot, all I'd need to do is bring the throttle and fuel lever back to cut the engine, then pull the parachute.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
It would total the plane but we would be alive as we gently floated back down to Earth's surface. Here's where it ejects from.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The key perk of using an executive airport is that they're smaller and taxiing to and from the runway takes less time. Case in point, the runway in use for our flight was directly adjacent to the terminal.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
We departed from Republic Airport on a visual flight plan with Brookhaven Airport, 26 nautical miles to the east.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Sitting up front, I had a front-row seat to the action as we took to the skies.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
We were airborne within seconds of advancing the throttle. If I was driving on that road below the wing, it would've taken around 40 minutes to get to Brookhaven, so the race was on to see if we could beat that.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Since we weren't operating under an instrument flight plan, the pilot was flying based on visual cues and geography.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
We headed southeast towards the shoreline and followed it all the way to Brookhaven. Our flight barely scratched the surface of the SR-20's capabilities.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Two high definition screens provide advanced navigation systems with other planes showing up on the moving map to help the pilot avoid them.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
If we had kept following the shoreline, we could've been in Montauk – 50 miles away – in just under 20 minutes. During the summer, that drive can take hours navigating two-lane roads.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Once we settled into our cruise, I saw just how unique the Cirrus' design is. Pilots control the aircraft with a side-stick, instead of the normal W-shaped control column...
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The throttle lever is near-identical to that of an airliner...
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
And there are autopilot capabilities.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
After flying for about 15 minutes at a top speed of approximately 150 miles per hour, Brookhaven came into view so we turned to the north and prepared to land.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Brookhaven is a popular general aviation airport so we'd have to join the line of Cessnas also landing.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
It was nothing the Cirrus couldn't handle thanks to the traffic notifications on the navigation screen.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
We touched down exactly 21 minutes from when we departed Farmingdale, beating the traffic on the road.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The time savings are more pronounced with longer flights but it was a good showing, considering we had to join the back of a line of planes also wanting to land at Brookhaven.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Once we were on the ground, it was time for me to hop in the back.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
I was expecting it to be like riding in the back of a sedan but it was actually more comfortable and spacious than I imagined.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Much like a coupe, the front passenger seat folds down to grant access to the back of the plane.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Legroom was similarly not an issue back here, either.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Though, it did help that the front seat was empty.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
For a small piston aircraft, the SR-20 has a deceiving cabin from the outside as it was deeper than I expected just from looking at the plane's exterior.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Just like on a passenger plane, the SR-20 has USB charging ports, personal reading lamps, and air vents.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
A phone can even be connected to the aircraft's speaker system to blast music while flying.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Time to see if we could beat our time back to Farmingdale.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
We took to the runway one more time and headed back under visual flight rules again.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Once again, we headed down towards the shoreline and followed it back to our origin.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The oversized windows in the back of the SR-20 allowed for some great views along the way.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The pilot was talking with air traffic control the entire time we were in the air so we weren't completely on our own.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The leather seats and air conditioning made the journey quite comfortable.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The Massachusetts islands are popular destinations but some of Hopscotch Air's clients have recently taken the aircraft as far as North Carolina and Chicago on flights over three hours in duration.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
And I could see why, though undoubtedly slower than the airlines, flying three hours in this plane would have been no different than in a luxury car.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
Soon enough, Republic Airport came into view and we prepared to land, just 15 minutes after departing Brookhaven.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
We just about matched our time on this leg but had managed to fly back and forth in the same amount of time it would've taken to drive one way.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
After landing, it was a quick taxi back to the private terminal where our flight ended.
Flying on a Hopscotch Air Cirrus SR-20 air taxi.
Noor Bin Ladin attends the Bright Young Things Gala 2016, a Young Patrons of the National Theatre event in support of emerging talent, at The National Theatre on March 2, 2016 in London, England.
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Noor bin Ladin, the niece of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, revealed she's a big fan of President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Post.
"I have been a supporter of President Trump since he announced he was running in the early days in 2015. I have watched from afar and I admire this man's resolve," said the Switzerland resident.
Trump has long been accused of spreading anti-Muslim hate speech and pledged to ban Muslims from the US during his 2016 election campaign.
But Noor bin Ladin claims that the US would be better protected from a second 9/11 under Trump.
Noor bin Ladin, the niece of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, has expressed support for President Donald Trump in an interview with The New York Post.
The 33-year-old, speaking in her first-ever media interview, claims that Trump would prevent a second 9/11 terror attack if elected to a second term.
"ISIS proliferated under the Obama/Biden administration, leading to them coming to Europe. Trump has shown he protects America and us by extension from foreign threats by obliterating terrorists at the root and before they get a chance to strike," she told the tabloid.
She told the publication that she lives in Switzerland, and her branch of the family has always spelled their name differently to her uncle, the notorious leader of the al Qaeda terrorist organization, and the 9/11 mastermind.
in Ladin told the publication that she was a longtime admirer of Trump, whose pledge to ban Muslims from the US was one of the main planks of his 2016 election bid (a modified version of the ban was declared legal by the US Supreme Court in 2018.)
The president had pledged to pursue tougher anti-terror policies than the Obama administration, but has been accused of pursuing a chaotic foreign policy that has allowed the ISIS fighters to regroup in Syria
"I have been a supporter of President Trump since he announced he was running in the early days in 2015. I have watched from afar and I admire this man's resolve," she said. "He must be reelected ... It's vital for the future of not only America, but western civilization as a whole."
"You look at all the terrorist attacks that have happened in Europe over the past 19 years. They have completely shaken us to the core … [Radical Islam] has completely infiltrated our society," bin Ladin continued. "In the US it's very worrying that the left has aligned itself completely with the people who share that ideology."
On Twitter, bin Ladin has posted pictures of herself wearing clothing emblazoned with pro-Trump slogans, with hashtags from the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy movement.
She has also shared pro-Trump propaganda and attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement, and clips of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a Trump ally.
The couple separated in 1988, and Noor said she had little to do with her father, whose family fortune was in construction in Saudi Arabia.
She told the Post that she has degrees in business administration from the University of Geneva and commercial law from the University of London, and was penning a book on international relations.
Noor's sister, Wafah Dufour, is a socialite and indie rock singer, whose band, Deep Tan, toured Europe last year, according to reports.
In her interview with the Post, Noor bin Ladin said that growing up in the West meant she had a strong appreciation of western liberal values.
"My life would have been very different had I been raised in Saudi Arabia," she said. "I really grew up with this deep appreciation for freedom and basic individual rights."
As we begin the typical homestretch of an atypical presidential campaign, there are four words that need to be repeated by every Democrat, everyone who believes in science, everyone who believes that unity makes us more powerful: it can't be close.
Democrats have a historic opportunity to repudiate all things Trump in November. This election is more than the two white septuagenarian men atop each ticket. It's about honoring truth, restoring American values, and shining a light on justice.
In order to punctuate the clearest mandate possible, former Vice President Joe Biden and the Senate Democrats need to win big. It can't be close.
The Republicans need to bend the rules
With our country's ever-changing demographics, Republicans need to bend the rules of the game to win. And they've become quite good at it. Whether it's trumpeting basically nonexistent voter fraud or purging voter rolls or gerrymandering the map or fear-mongering about mail-in voting, Republicans work particularly hard at making sure many people — and especially people of color — don't get to participate in democracy.
In Georgia in 2018, a combination of closed polling sites, long lines, and canceled voter registrations by the Republican gubernatorial candidate created the narrowest GOP victory in half a century, 1.39%.
The drama at the intersection of election day and the US Postal Service takes Republican manipulation to new depths. It's hard to know how much of an advantage these latest distortions of democracy give Republicans out of the gate – but we saw what they did in Georgia, and they're adding mail manipulation to that.
That means that the true Democratic victories in battleground states need to be sizable enough to overcome the warped factor.
Trump also is working hard to undermine the election results but with a big enough loss, he'll be exposed as the sore loser he is.
It can't be close.
Every Vote Matters
Republicans act like they win in a landslide even when they lose the popular vote – or win by a single state – or win by one Supreme Court Justice. And if Democrats win narrowly, they should govern with just as much confidence – but the mandate and the message will be much clearer in a landslide than in a squeaker.
To every Democrat, every disaffected Republican, and every swing voter: make sure you and everyone you know has a plan to vote. If you're mailing in your ballot, send it on the first date possible. If you're going in person, bring a mask, a book, and a snack. There will be many MAGAs who will try to deny you your voting power. They are doing that because they can't win on the merits. They can only win with intimidation.
Every volunteer who is comfortable traveling should go to a swing state and help ensure that people who want to vote can cast their ballot safely and easily. Volunteers who aren't traveling can work the phones in battleground states to do their part. Donate to organizations that are registering voters, particularly in communities of color.
We just need to prove it all on election day: It. Can't. Be. Close.
Michael has a long history in marketing and communications strategy and Democratic politics. He worked in the Clinton administration and as spokesperson for the Clinton Justice Department. He also has served on multiple national, state, and local campaigns.
After "Love Is Blind" and "Too Hot to Handle" earlier this year, Netflix has another hit on its hands with "Million Dollar Beach House."
But the series isn't as popular as "Lucifer" and "Cobra Kai," which recently moved from YouTube to Netflix and has found a large audience.
Netflix introduced daily top 10 lists of its most viewed movies and TV shows in February (it counts a view if an account watches at least two minutes of a title).
Every week, the streaming search engine Reelgood compiles for Business Insider a list of which TV shows have been most prominent on Netflix's daily lists that week.
Below are Netflix's 9 most popular TV shows of the week in the US:
9. "Hoops" (Netflix original, 2020-present)
Netflix
Description: "A foul-mouthed high school basketball coach is sure he'll hit the big leagues if he can only turn his terrible team around. Good luck with that."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 15%
What critics said: "A show that quickly numbs the viewer to the provocative effect of an f-bomb, and simply comes off as trying too hard to be naughty." — RogerEbert.com (season 1)
8. "Sister, Sister" (ABC/The WB, 1994-1999)
ABC
Description: "Separated at birth, twin sisters Tia Landry and Tamera Campbell reunite after 14 years and soon move in together, blending families and personalities."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: N/A
What critics said: N/A
7. "I Am a Killer: Released" (Netflix original, 2020)
Netflix
Description: "In this crime docuseries spinoff, a convict is paroled 30 years after being sentenced to death for murder. Then he makes a stunning confession."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: N/A
What critics said: N/A
6. "Bunk'd" (Disney Channel, 2015-2019)
Disney Channel
Description: "The Ross siblings of Disney's hit series 'Jessie' spend a summer full of fun and adventure at Maine's Camp Kikiwaka, where their parents first met."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: N/A
What critics said: N/A
5. "The Umbrella Academy" (Netflix original, 2019-present)
"The Umbrella Academy" season 2
Netflix
Description: "Reunited by their father's death, estranged siblings with extraordinary powers uncover shocking family secrets — and a looming threat to humanity."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 2): 90%
What critics said: "For every moment that delights you there will likely be one that frustrates you in equal measure. But this is a show whose whole is much more than the sum of its parts, and that is what makes all the difference." — Paste Magazine (season 2)
4. "Cocomelon" (Netflix original, 2020-present)
Netflix
Description: "Learn letters, numbers, animal sounds and more with J.J. in this musical series that brings fun times with nursery rhymes for the whole family!"
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: N/A
What critics said: N/A
3. "Million Dollar Beach House" (Netflix original, 2020-present)
"Million Dollar Beach House" on Netflix.
Netflix
Description: "The competition is fierce — and the drama undeniable — as a group of young and hungry agents try to seal the deal on luxury listings in the Hamptons."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: N/A
What critics said: "There's really no excuse for this show to be as flat as it is." — Variety (season 1)
2. "Lucifer" (Netflix original, 2016-present)
Netflix
Description: "Bored with being the Lord of Hell, the devil relocates to Los Angeles, where he opens a nightclub and forms a connection with a homicide detective."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 85%
What critics said: "Feels like the erstwhile 'finality' of the show gave the cast a lot more permission to explore their characters. Not only are they clearly having a blast, they're given room to flesh out what each of them mean to each other in a way they never have before." — Den of Geek (season 5)
Description: "Decades after the tournament that changed their lives, the rivalry between Johnny and Daniel reignites in this sequel to the 'Karate Kid' films."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 94%
What critics said: "Cobra Kai remains more entertaining and well-executed than it has any right to be." — Entertainment Weekly (season 2)
During a pandemic, employees need honest, effective leaders to help them cope with tough times.
Heidi Zak, cofounder and CEO of loungewear startup ThirdLove, believes leaders need to be more proactive and create safe spaces for employees to feel seen and supported.
You can start to make a difference if you're transparent, agile, and optimistic with your employees. Communicate with them often to share your honest feelings and advocate for them to do the same.
Establish a company mission, and be willing to adapt and apply it to current events.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that leadership in today's world requires a wide range of soft skills.
Employees don't want to work for inauthentic founders, executives, or managers. Team members don't feel empowered when working with people who don't have a reasonable level of emotional intelligence. Partners, vendors, and clients don't want to be associated with companies that aren't transparent about the way they do business — and the masses don't want to support companies whose actions don't align with their mission statements.
Being an effective leader today, and especially while navigating our "new normal," is about honesty, plain and simple. It means being honest in your day-to-day interactions, honest in the way you do business, and honest about the status of the organization. As many leaders learned back in March (including myself), these are not easy times to navigate — but being open and transparent with your team is crucial to long-term success.
Personally, I believe the coronavirus crisis will change the way people think about leadership forever.
Here's what I think being an effective leader in our new normal will look like, moving forward.
1. Leaders must be proactive in their efforts, and deeply care about how the people around them are doing
When you work in an office, you can generally assess when somebody is having a bad day or if they're upset about something.
Digitally, this becomes much harder. Both at the leadership level as well as the managerial level, we have to be more thoughtful about how we check in on people. This means proactively asking questions like, "How are you doing these days?" and actually taking the time to listen.
Instead of hopping on a Zoom call and immediately diving into work-related items, take a moment to show you care.
2. Leaders need to share how they're feeling, as well
Transparency in any organization is important.
But when everyone is working remotely, as difficult as it can be to get a read on how your employees and team members are feeling, it can be even more difficult for them to get a read on how you're doing — since they don't get to see you walking around the office.
I'm not advocating for oversharing, but especially with your executive team, I do believe it's important to be open and honest about your own feelings as well. I remember back in March, prior to letting people from our company go, I cried while talking to our leadership team. I was really upset, and felt horrible about the decision in front of us. And the other leaders within the company went down that emotional journey with me.
Being an effective leader doesn't mean being emotionless.
It means having the capacity for the whole range of emotions, and still being able to make sound, logical decisions for the business.
3. Leaders must create a safe environment where people feel a sense of belonging.
One of the questions we ask in our employee surveys is whether they feel that their manager cares about them.
Personally, I believe everyone finds fulfillment in their work only if they believe the people around them care about them as human beings, first. As a leader, it's then your job to create an environment where people feel this sense of belonging, and know that the hours they spend working toward the company's mission mean more than just earning a paycheck.
4. Leaders have to solidify their mission — and live it out in the world
Now more than ever, the mission of a company matters. Customers care about it. Employees care about it. Investors care about it. Everyone wants to know that where they are putting their time, energy, money, and support is behind an organization they believe is impacting the world in some sort of positive way.
Second, and as more and more social impact campaigns shift the world, how your company's mission fits into these larger narratives of humanity can dramatically change the way people see your brand.
Your mission, and how it ties into current events, is extremely important.
5. Leaders must be willing to adapt
In a world of uncertainty, adaptability is key. It has always been true that leaders must constantly be thinking 10 steps ahead. But during a global crisis like COVID-19, flexibility and being able to make quick, informed decisions is crucial to keeping the business moving forward.
This means making it a regular priority to sit down and run through hypotheticals. "What would happen to the business if X happened? What would we do if we lost Y? How would we think about the future if we couldn't do Z?"
It's far better to have answers to these types of questions before, rather than during, a difficult time.
6. Leaders have to remain optimistic about the future, without sugarcoating the present
Building a company inherently requires some level of optimism. It's very difficult to build something that doesn't exist yet if you're a pessimist.
Once a company is off and running, though, the optimism can't stop. Your team needs it. Your co-captains and fellow leaders need it. Everyone around you needs to feel as though they can see the light at the end of the tunnel, just like you can.
That said, you also have to guard optimism from delusion. Being optimistic can't mean lying to or deceiving those around you — or especially yourself. Instead, it means being brutally honest, while at the same time acknowledging both the good and the bad, the lessons learned, and the growth to come.
7. Leaders must overcommunicate
Right now, especially, every leader should be overcommunicating with their teams.
On the one hand, this means making sure people are receiving the information they need, when they need it. While working remotely, this might require you to do more frequent check-ins with employees or to set reminders to send status updates to key decision makers every day on Slack.
On the flipside, though, effective communication also means leaving room for others to speak up. For example, I held an all-hands recently and ended the meeting by asking, "Does anyone have any questions?" I let that question hang in the air for 20 or 30 seconds. And it took a while, but eventually someone spoke up and asked a great question. Digitally, creating space for this type of serendipity is crucial — and asks leaders to pause and not be so quick to just end the Zoom meeting and move on to the next thing.
Picture the following scenario, from my colleague Dave Levinthal:
It's January 20, 2021.
Joe Biden is now president of the United States, having denied President Donald Trump his bid for a second term. Trump vacates the White House and retreats to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. For Trump's political career, it's all over but the tweeting.
Or is it?
More than a dozen legal experts and practitioners, including former high-ranking officials at the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission, told Insider that legal troubles for Trump and a vanquished Trump reelection campaign could ignite — not subside — if the president is no longer president.
There are lawsuits tied to whether the president violated the US Constitution forbidding him from making money off foreign governments, possible Hatch Act violations, Trump's business entanglements, and campaign-finance questions still stewing from the Stormy Daniels hush-money affair.
Trump's 2020 campaign also faces accusations it's masking the true recipients of about $170 million in election-season spending. The existence of an internal Trump campaign audit of spending irregularities may also entice federal investigators. A Trump official says the campaign "complies with all campaign finance laws."
Amazon's vice president of robotics and distinguished engineer Brad Porter, who suddenly resigned last month, left after the company denied his request for a better pay structure.
Porter wanted the pay range for his position to expand beyond what the company had set previously, according to people familiar with the matter. While other factors, like the allure of working for a richly valued startup and moving back to the Bay Area where his family lives, were important motivators, Porter's failure to adjust his compensation structure at Amazon also played a role in his departure, these people said.
Once Amazon refused to match his request, Porter accepted an offer from Scale AI, an artificial-intelligence startup based in San Francisco, one of the people said. Porter announced his move Monday.
Porter's case reflects Silicon Valley's intensifying competition for talent, as more startups look to poach longtime Amazon executives with lucrative offers. But it also gives a rare look into how Amazon's unusual compensation structure could get frustrating, current and former employees say.
In March, when Angela's employers asked her to relocate with them from Brooklyn, New York, to the Hamptons to escape the coronavirus, the career nanny reluctantly agreed. Angela didn't want to leave her family behind at the height of the pandemic. But at the same time, she didn't feel she had much of a choice.
Angela is a single mother unauthorized to live in the US, and she needed the money.
New York City's underground nanny network comprises many women like Angela who are paid illegally by families that demand they work around the clock. Immigrant nannies get stuck in low-paying work due to the language barrier, while Black and Latina caretakers face racial profiling and harassment from parents. Work abuses run rampant, but the unregulated industry has little oversight to help nannies.
Sleeping extra on the weekends doesn't make up for a bad week of rest.
Shutterstock
A recent study from Sweden followed the sleep cycles of 100 people, aged 60 to 71, over two years as they transitioned into retirement.
They found that participants had chronic partial sleep deprivation during the work week, clocking about 2.5 hours per week less than the ideal amount of sleep.
If you're trying to develop healthier sleeping habits, try to stick to a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends, to keep your biological clock running smoothly.
For many of us, work often competes for time with sleep — which is why many of us look forward to the weekend for a chance to "catch up" on sleep. But how much sleep is lost on days when we work? Our latest research shows that we get about 30 minutes less sleep than we would ideally need on each night of the working week.
We followed 100 people aged from 60 to 71 over two years, covering their transition into retirement. We measured their sleep on three separate occasions, with one year in between, and compared the sleep habits while they were working against when — and for how long — they slept after retirement.
After retirement, we found that every day was like a weekend — at least when it came to how long people slept for. Sleep duration increased, but only on weekdays, from 6.5 to seven hours a night on average. This meant retired people got about an equal amount of sleep every night of the week.
The amount of sleep people tended to get on their weekends while still in work seemed to be their preferred sleep duration, rather than "catch-up" sleep. If weekend sleep was prolonged to compensate for the working week's sleep loss, we would have expected a drop after retirement (when there's no sleep loss to compensate for) — but this wasn't the case.
Given that participants' weekend sleep was their preferred sleep duration, weekend lie-ins will not compensate for sleep lost on weekdays while working. This means that our study participants had chronic partial sleep deprivation when they were working, of about 2.5 hours each week.
While adults are recommended to get at least seven hours per night for optimal health, sleep needs vary both between people and as we age. We need less sleep when we are older than when we are younger.
Different people need different amounts of sleep, which makes it hard to estimate what constitutes "too little" sleep for any given individual, but otherstudies have in experiments found that getting only six to seven hours of sleep affects attention and reaction time negatively compared to getting eight to nine hours of shuteye. This performance drop remained, even after getting a full night's sleep three days in a row.
Partial sleep deprivation as a result of work can continue for years, which is why the accumulated effects needs to be considered. Sleeping less than seven hours on a regular basis is related to increased risk for various health conditions, including diabetes, stroke, and depression. It's also associated with impaired immune system function, as well as increased risk of accidents.
Social jetlag
Not only did sleep duration change with retirement, but people also went to bed later and woke later. Getting rid of the alarm clock seemed to be what drove the increase, as retired people went to bed about half an hour later and woke up an hour later on average during weekdays compared to when they were working.
Going to bed in time to get plenty of sleep before getting up for work is not always easy — especially for the majority of the population who have a late "biological clock". This means they naturally prefer to go to sleep later and wake up later than people with an early biological clock.
Those with a late biological clock also have a tendency to postpone their bed and wake times on weekends more than others, which unfortunately sets their biological clock even later — making it hard to go to bed early on Sunday and even harder wake up early on Monday morning.
When our biological clock is out of sync with the social clock (which is the timetable imposed on us by society) it can result in "social jetlag." Social jetlag acts a bit like regular jetlag, and can make us feel down and tired. It's also associated with higher risk for metabolic disorders and depressive symptoms.
Longer and more stable sleep across the week could, at least partly, explain why so many people experience improved mental health and drastically lower levels of fatigue after retirement.
But even though sleep patterns became more stable after retirement, people still went to bed and woke up around half an hour later on weekends compared to weekdays. This hints that other social factors — such as visiting with friends — also affect when and how much we sleep.
We also found that retired participants with a full-time working partner changed their sleep timing to a smaller extent than the rest, highlighting that sleep is social, as opposed to a purely individual phenomenon.
But there are some things you can do yourself to adjust your sleep patterns more to work and avoid "social jetlag" on Monday morning, including making sure you get plenty of daylight in the mornings. Morning light pushes our biological clock backwards, making it easier to fall asleep at night. However, the opposite is also true, so bright light should be avoided in the evenings and bedrooms should be dark.
It also helps to prioritize your sleep and keep a more regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Allow yourself some extra time in bed on weekend mornings if you need it, but try to avoid throwing your weekend sleep schedule off too much in order to stay away from the vicious cycle of sleep loss and social jetlag.
That being said, our study suggests that work generates sleep loss and hinders people from sleeping in line with their natural rhythm. But just as later school start times are an effective way to improve sleep in adolescents, later (or flexible) start times at work could potentially have the same effect for working people — and may mean people won't have to wait until retirement to get enough sleep.
As a writer of color, I possess a distinct power. Through my identity as a Pakistani-Muslim, certain lived experiences have facilitated my writing on topics like racism, immigration, microaggressions, and Islamophobia. These subjects are not wholly accessible to a white writer who hasn't felt their effects firsthand. My authority on these topics has undoubtedly helped propel me at the start of my career, leading to multiple bylines with different publications.
However, in my early years as a journalist, I was also inadvertently pigeonholed onto the "race beat" – white editors and major publications would chiefly commission me to write on issues dealing with race that had already been covered extensively by writers of color before me.
Despite my frustration, the race beat also cemented the belief that as a brown woman, I was obligated to ensure that the unreported stories and events of communities of color were brought to light.
This was an opportunity to chronicle the systemic disparity and prejudice that was widespread across the globe. Through my writing, I attempted to appeal to the average white person to view things from the perspective of a person of color – to step into our shoes and see how different life was from this side. Ultimately, however, I realized that race was not just a 'beat' – it was a lived experience. And having to retell these traumatic stories would not only be taxing, but also an immense sacrifice to my mental health.
Following the latest uprisings connected to the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been an abundance of features, op-eds and think pieces examining the tragic stories about police brutality. However, once these pieces are published across a wide range of publications, writers of color, particularly black writers, are continually asked to relive traumatic experiences by writing about topics which seem pretty cut and dry — racism is bad, white supremacy still reigns supreme. The end.
The responsibility of racial coverage has consistently been put solely on writers of color, granting white writers the license to bypass the subject. However, there is an inherent need to instill racial consciousness across the spectrum of all writers. Race is an intersectional phenomenon, and even white writers must be educated on how to integrate it into the narrative of stories. Whilst it is true that the expertise of writers of color can permit them to craft unique connections, it does not justify the burden of putting race reporting purely on them.
Race is entangled with inequality in politics, healthcare, business, housing, environment and other avenues. A 2016 research article published by Sage Journal found that white reporters' history of remaining 'objective' when reporting on communities of colour had not benefited said communities in the slightest.
Objectively laying out the facts, instead, allowed for 'a narrative of ignorance, stereotyping, and racist framing'; remaining passive to the perspectives of marginalized communities perpetuates a vicious cycle where people of colour are seen as simply belonging to the binaries of good and bad. White writers must examine the trends, analyse the data and immerse themselves in a community which isn't their own to comprehend the more intricate reasons behind systemic bias.
Exploitative personal essays
Beyond news reporting, editors often rely on personal essays from writers of color to highlight critical issues. but in many cases these essays are not only achingly uncomfortable to write but also often verge on being exploitative.
In 2019, I had penned a very personal essay for a prominent publication in the UK detailing my parents' immigration from Pakistan to the UK in the 1980's. My parents had moved in pursuit of a better life for their future children to a place where they believed success was based on merit and came to anyone who worked hard enough for it. However, after a few years of being subjected to blatant racism (from violent threats to being called 'Paki') and the second class treatment, my parents ultimately returned to Pakistan.
Through this piece, I conveyed that Britain had unfortunately forgotten to acknowledge its own colonial past and its xenophobic present. But following the publication of the piece, there was extraordinary backlash from predominantly white people. There were the classic responses including, 'Why don't you just go back to your own country' or the subtle: 'Paki's will always be our slaves'.
As journalists, we generally stay detached from our stories, but this was a different ballgame. This wasn't really my story; it was the story of my parents who had graciously shared their experiences with me knowing full well it's significance in South Asian history. Having white people trivialize the experiences of writers of color and invalidate the prejudice they feel, can make the entire process of writing seem not only soul wrenching but worthless .
I still often get commissioned on topics related to the 'race beat', but I mostly decline them. Most recently, I got asked to write an analysis piece on the Kashmir conflict and the brutality invoked upon Kashmiri-Muslim's under the banner of Hindu nationalism, but I refused to do so. Thousands of writers before me have covered this story, and it is unlikely that my words will manifest actual change. At best, the piece may get a few retweets, a handful of angry comments and then be permanently archived in internet history. How many more angry think pieces are required to be written before sustainable and effective change is undertaken?
When journalists or literary writers write about such distressing issues, there is an unconscious hope that our work will at the least strike up a conversation and at the most, will induce a public response or lead to a policy change. But more often than not, our work seems to come to a standstill.
I will still continue to write about race and cover underrepresented communities and their stories, but I also want the media world to view me as more than just the color of my skin. Writers of color contain multitudes; stories about love, light, family, sacrifice, and compassion. It's high time that our stories be accepted in spite of the color of our skin and equally because of it.
If you're looking to get your home ready for the fall, or just want to replace your some furniture, Wayfair's offering wide-ranging discounts on everything you'd want in your home. Right now, you can save up to 70% on office furniture, decor, mattresses, and more. This sale runs through September 8 but the best stuff can sell out early.
The best Labor Day deals from Wayfair
Looking for more Labor Day sales? Here's where to find them:
This indicator of high voter engagement is greater than any in the past two decades. In the 2016 election, 74% answered that the election really mattered in the same survey.
However, voters are split on whether it will be easy to vote in the upcoming election, according to the survey.
A record number of voters say that the upcoming presidential election "really matters," according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
In a telephone survey of US registered voters conducted through July and August, 83% of respondents said that they believe it "really matters" who wins the 2020 presidential election. This number far surpasses surveys in previous election cycles for the past two decades.
In the 2016 election, 74% of respondents, roughly 10% less than this year's response, said the election really matters. That 74% was also around a 10% increase from the 63% who answered in 2008 and 2012 surveys that who wins the presidency "really matters."
While the answer signals high voter engagement, voters who responded to the survey appear to be split on whether voting will be accessible in the upcoming election.
For some communities, voting has been a challenge far before the pandemic: policies like voter ID laws and punitive disenfranchisement policies for felony convictions are barriers that Black voters are more likely to face, Business Insider's Grace Panetta previously reported.
According to Pew, 50% of registered voters believe if it will be easy to vote for the upcoming election while 49% believe it will be difficult. The responses differ by respondents' identified political party as well: 60% of Biden supporters and 35% of Trump supporters respectively answered voting will be difficult.
Additionally, the voters are split on whether they would vote in person: 80% of registered voters who support Trump, contrasting with the 58% of Biden supporters, answered they would vote in person. A number of states that voted for Trump in the previous election, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina are among those that require a reason outside of the coronavirus to vote by mail.
Portland police and Oregon State Patrol troopers work together to arrest two protesters in front of the Portland Police Bureau North Precinct on the 75th day of protests against racial injustice and police brutality on August 11, 2020 in Portland, Oregon.
Nathan Howard/Getty Images
The ongoing Black Lives Matter movement has put law enforcement policies and police tactics under renewed scrutiny.
Scroll down to see some of the controversial police tactics highlighted amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
The video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis, shocked millions around the world.
It not only marked the death of another unarmed Black man at the hands of police but also placed renewed scrutiny on police brutality and law enforcement policies in America.
From "spit hoods" to no-knock warrants, scroll down to see some of the controversial police tactics.
1. Chokeholds and neck restraints
A still from a video that was taken of the arrest of George Floyd, who later died in custody.
Darnella Frazier/Facebook
A chokehold is a constriction technique used by law enforcement officials to force an uncooperative suspect to submit without causing death or injury.
In many of the largest police departments across the country, policies regarding the use of neck restraints are imprecise, resulting in a lack of accountability.
Since the killing of George Floyd in May, multiple police departments in states including California, Colorado, Nevada, Minnesota, New York, and Texas have said they will ban chokeholds and any other airway-restricting techniques.
Washington DC has passed legislation to ban police chokeholds and accelerate the public release of police body-camera footage earlier this summer.
2. The use of spit hoods during arrests
In this image taken from a police body camera video provided by Roth and Roth LLP, a Rochester police officer puts a hood over the head of Daniel Prude, on March 23, 2020, in Rochester, New York.
Rochester Police via Roth and Roth LLP and the Associated Press
Spit hoods are mesh bags used by police in the US and abroad to protect officers from a detainee's saliva.
The tactic came under renewed scrutiny after the death of Daniel Prude in March — a Black man who was experiencing a mental health crisis and had wandered out of the house unclothed in Rochester, New York.
One officer later said that Prude was hooded because he was spitting and they were concerned about contracting the coronavirus, according to the Guardian.
During the coronavirus pandemic, police departments have begun using the hoods more often because of heightened fears that the detainees might spread contaminated respiratory droplets during an arrest.
The officers involved in Prude's death have been suspended, and activists and Prude's family are calling for them to be charged in his homicide.
"The police have shown us over and over again that they are not equipped to handle individuals with mental health concerns," Ashley Gantt, a community organizer for Free the People Roc and the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the Democrat and Chronicle. "These officers are trained to kill, and not to de-escalate."
3. Injecting ketamine to sedate suspects
Elijah McClain protesters come face to face with Aurora, Colorado police on June 27, 2020.
Paramedics inject ketamine as a sedative, often at the orders of police who think suspects are acting out of control.
There are no federal standards for police officers or medical personnel on the drug's use, according to the Associated Press. Policies relating to the drug vary depending on the state, so it is not clear how regularly it's used during police encounters and why.
Ketamine was also injected into 23-year-old Elijah McClain in Denver last summer, who was stopped by officers responding to a 911 call about a suspicious person wearing a ski mask. His family later said McClain wore ski masks because he had a blood condition that made him feel cold.
Police put the 23-year-old massage therapist in a chokehold twice and pressed their body weight into him. When the paramedics arrived, they injected him with ketamine, giving him more than 1.5 times the dose he should have received because they incorrectly estimated his weight.
The coroner found that McClain's death was due to "undetermined causes" but did not rule out that the chokehold, in addition to the ketamine, might have contributed to his death.
"Why anyone would be giving ketamine in that circumstance is beyond me," neuroscientist Carl Hart, who is also the chair of Columbia University's psychology department, told NBC. "The major problem here is we should never be ordering any medication, and no one should be taking or given it against their will."
After McClain's death, Colorado's health department opened an investigation into the growing use of ketamine.
4. No-knock warrants
A protestor confronts a police officer during a rally against the death of Breonna Taylor and other forms of racial injustices, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., June 27, 2020
Bryan Woolston/Reuters
No-knock warrants allow police or law enforcement officials to enter a property without alerting the residents beforehand.
The warrant is usually handed down by a judge and issued in the belief that any evidence officials hope to find would be destroyed if they allowed suspects to be aware of the police plans to enter premises.
No-knock warrants have been controversial since their introduction under the Nixon administration in the 1970s.
In response to the Black Lives Matter protests, the Louisville Metro Council voted unanimously to ban no-knock search warrants in June, according to the New York Times. They called it "Breonna's Law."
The new law does not only require police officers to knock on the front door of a house before entering it but also asks them to have their body cameras on when conducting a search.
5. Use of tear gas to disperse crowds
A protester grabs his bike as the police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at a crowd near the White House on June 1, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
The use of tear gas in many of the Black Lives Matter protests has sparked concerns about the legality of its use on large assemblies.
Teargas is a nonlethal chemical irritant designed to disperse crowds. While it is technically nonlethal, it can still cause pain, difficulty breathing, and temporary blindness to those exposed to it.
Critics of the tactic have said they are concerned about law enforcement's heavy reliance on it and claim that chemical gas is a weapon of war under the Geneva Conventions.
This claim has been backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who described tear gas to other lawmakers as "a chemical weapon that is used in war."
Rapper Ice Cube, who has been very vocal during the protests, got more than 142,000 likes on a Tweet in which he said that tear gas is "actually illegal."
There have been a handful of tear-gas-related deaths.
6. "Kettling" as a form of crowd control
Demonstrators denouncing systemic racism in law enforcement face off with NYPD officers at barricades erected at the Barclay's Center minutes before a citywide curfew went into effect on June 4, 2020 in New York City.
Scott Heins/Getty Images
"Kettling" is a crowd control tactic used by law enforcement officials, which involves blockingand trapping people in a small space for an indefinite period.
While not explicitly used during arrests, the much-disputed tactic has been used on several occasions during the Black Lives Matter protests.
In June, protesters in New York City accused police officers of disrupting a peaceful demonstration after hundreds of people were trapped in downtown Brooklyn, causing fear and panic.
"Kettling" has become even more problematic amid the coronavirus pandemic. People forced to crowd in a tight space can become a public health risk for a prolonged period.
"The police tactics — the kettling, the mass arrests, the use of chemical irritants — those are completely opposed to public health recommendations," Malika Fair, director of public health initiatives at the Association of American Medical Colleges, told Politico.
"They're causing protesters to violate the six-feet recommendation. The chemicals may make them have to remove their masks. This is all very dangerous."
Laurene Powell Jobs speaks onstage at the Committee to Protect Journalists' 29th Annual International Press Freedom Awards on November 21, 2019 in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at Laurene Powell Jobs in his latest Twitter outburst related to a Thursday report from The Atlantic alleging he in 2018 referred to US soldiers who died in World War I as "losers" and "suckers."
Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has owned a majority stake in The Atlantic since 2017 through her company Emerson Collective.
"Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by a con man," Trump tweeted.
Powell Jobs has so far donated more than $600,000 to the effort to elect Joe Biden, the Democratic Party's nominee for president. In 2016, she donated $2 million to Hillary Clinton's super PAC.
President Donald Trump on Sunday attacked Laurene Powell Jobs, who owns a majority stake in The Atlantic, making her his latest target amid his continued anger related to The Atlantic's Thursday reporting about his alleged comments about American soldiers who died in battle.
"Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by a con man (Goldberg) and spews FAKE NEWS & HATE. Call her, write her, let her know how you feel!!!" Trump said in a tweet Sunday.
The president's tweet shared one from Charlie Kirk, the president of the right-wing nonprofit Turning Point USA, who noted that Powell Jobs was a Democratic Party donor and seemed to claim her ownership of The Atlantic was related to its coverage of Trump.
The report was authored by The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom the president also targeted in the Sunday tweet. Trump and people connected to the White House have publicly denied Goldberg's reporting, although several outlets, including The Washington Post and The Associated Press, have reported they were able to confirm some of the details found in the story.
"The Atlantic Magazine is dying, like most magazines, so they make up a fake story in order to gain some relevance," Trump tweeted Friday. "Story already refuted, but this is what we are up against."
Jobs married the late Apple co-founder in 1991, and the couple remained together until Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in October 2011 at the age of 56. Powell Jobs took control of the majority ownership of The Atlantic in 2017 through her company Emerson Collective, according to a previous Business Insider report.
According to records from the Federal Election Commission, Powell Jobs has donated more than 600,000 to former Vice President Joe Biden's bid for the White House. As Business Insider previously reported, Powell Jobs, who has an estimated net worth of approximately $26 billion, in 2016 donated $2 million to Hillary Clinton's super PAC.
Powell Jobs inherited $27.5 billion when her husband died in 2011, according to the previous report. She founded Emerson Collective in 2004, a "social change organization" named after author Ralph Waldo Emerson, according to a previous Business Insider report.
