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LyrArc brings in selected articles from many of the world's top publications.

Articles are selected by experts and you can see the gist of the important articles.

The Blue Supermoon: A Gem in the Night Sky

  
NYTimes.com - 08.30.2023 Original article ›
Katrina Miller
LyrArc Article Gist
At 9.36 pm on Wednesday Aug 30 in the night sky one will see a second full moon. This will be larger than the usual moon. This month there are two full moons Aug 1 and Aug 30. This happens as the lunar cycle is of 30 days just shorter than a month.It is called a blue moon because it happens every 3-4 years. The expression once in a blue moon comes from this, but the moon is not blue, just larger and brighter than usual.

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In a Storied River, Fish Are Dying in Droves as Climate Change Scorches Canada

  
NYTimes.com - 08.30.2023 Original article ›
Norimitsu Onishi
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A country with vast boreal forests, rivers and lakes spread out over the upper half othe North American continent, has seen some of the worst effects of climate change in recent years. An area the size of Georgia 38 million acres has burned in wild fires in Canada. Omimitsu Onishi of NYT looks at the Covitchan River on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and how it has changed in this report. Plentiful salmon to the point that you would have to walk over them are a thing of the past.

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Why wild swimming is Britain's new craze

  
BBC News - 09.06.2023 Original article ›
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With pools closed swimming outdoors in natural settings became popular during the pandemic . BBC looks at this trend which was also called wild swimming or swimming in wilderness environments. Across Britain in lakes and along the coast it became popular to take a swim sometimes in temperatures that were quite cold. Wildnerness swimming could be at normal temperatures and as a definite value for mental health, just as is shown for barefoot walking on grass as shown on this page by German wellness guru Kniepp. 

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Apple Blinks on iPhone Pricing

  
WSJ - 09.13.2023 Original article ›
Dan Gallagher
LyrArc Article Gist
Apple may have peaked in pricing and market share. Apple is not increasing US prices on the new iPhone 15 as it sees a decline in its 19% market share in China. With newer smartphones from competitors Apple wants to avoid an erosion of its share in the US market. One drawback in the 2015 iPhone is the switch to USB ports which means ordering a converter for the lightning cables which Apple prices at $29. New European Union rules have led to the change. 

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Biden uses executive power to create New Deal-style American Climate Corps

  
The Guardian - 09.20.2023 Original article ›
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President Biden is setting up a New Deal style American Climate Corps that is a green jobs training program. It will employ 20,000 young people who will build trails, plant trees, help instal solar panels, and do conservation work, and help prevent wildfires. It is modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps setup by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. The Corps program will work with federal agencies and 10 states that have already setup similar programs-California, Washington, Maine, Utah, Colorado and Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina.

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John Cage Shock: When Japan Fell for Cage and Vice Versa

  
NYTimes.com - 09.25.2023 Original article ›
Zachary Woolfe
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The Japan Society in New York celebrates the achievement of John Cage and the influence of Japanese religion, philosophy and aesthetics with a four part series that begins September 28. It continues to December. The use of silence, the understanding of Zen Buddhism, and the ancient culture of Japan helped invigorate Japanese composers in seeing the value of their own traditions. Cage hoped to use this to invigorate American culture which he saw has having less and less spirituality compared to Japan and the ancient path of the Buddha.

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Americans Finally Start to Feel the Sting From the Fed’s Rate Hikes

  
WSJ - 09.26.2023 Original article ›
Rachel Louise Ensign | Photographs By Yasmin Yassin For The Wall Street Journal
LyrArc Article Gist
New fixed rate 30 year US mortgages have interest rates of 7% in September 2023. Interest rates on car loans also have become much higher. The American Association of Realtors says the typical American family cannot afford to buy a median priced home. The typical American household would need 42 weeks of income to buy a new car up from 33 weeks in 2020. Car buying is unaffordable for buyers now because of high car prices and high interest rates on car loans, says the chief of Moody's Analytics.

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Climate Change Is a Key Obstacle for New York City’s Transit System

  
NYTimes.com - 10.05.2023 Original article ›
Ana Ley
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The New York Metropolitan Authority tht runs the city's subway system is in need of major capital spending to renovate a crumbling and old structure. The capital spending plan includes replacing 5500 rail cars, 6000 buses, all of its 493 elevators. 550 locations have been identified for flooding from the Hudson River. The assessment was released after last weeks storm flooding the subway system and shutdown of half the system. A first in the nation congestion pricing program will help fund the improvements and discourage drivers from Midtown Manhattan.

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Strong U.S. Job Growth Shows Economy Is Defying Challenges

  
NYTimes.com - 10.07.2023 Original article ›
Talmon Joseph Smith
LyrArc Article Gist
US had jobs growth of 336,000 in September 2023. The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%. It is below 4% for 2 years and this is the 33rd month of jobs growth. As jobs growth takes place under president Biden, 13.9 million jobs created, the inflation rate is also declining. Americans had $4 trillion in checkable deposits (checking, savings and money market accounts) in 2023 compared to about $1 trillion in 2019. Hiring numbers were updated by the Labor Department showing 119,000 more jobs added in July and August 2023. 

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Surprisingly Strong Hiring Sends Bond Yields Higher

  
WSJ - 10.06.2023 Original article ›
Gwynn Guilford, Nick Timiraos, Sarah Chaney Cambon
LyrArc Article Gist
With the September jobs report president Biden can now say "we have created 13.9 million jobs." President Biden has allocated resources and capital to the counties in America that need it most, which have suffered from lack of economic growth. He has also invested in American workers and families like never before. Only under the administrations of FDR and Truman was such a large effort made to change the direction of the country, bringing hope to workers and families and improvement in their lives.

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Hamas attack has abruptly altered the picture for Middle East diplomacy

  
The Guardian - 10.08.2023 Original article ›
LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian looks at Iran's role in the Hamas attack on Israel, and its intentions to prevent a deal betwen Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US that was being negotiated this month. It looks at the situation in the Middle East and the role of Egypt, Turkey, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the crisis,  their historic role of supporting Palestinian rights and how their national interests have shifted over the last three decades to seek friendly relations with Israel, the EU and the US.

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Why Tugboats Are Key to the $19 Billion Overhaul of Kennedy Airport

  
NYTimes.com - 10.16.2023 Original article ›
Patrick Mc Geehan
LyrArc Article Gist
NYT looks at the $19 billion renovation of Kennedy Airport in New York. Smart ways are being adopted to avoid tying up the highways around the airport with trucks by sending stone and other supplies from quarries 125 miles away by water up the Hudson river to a waterside dock on the 5000 acre Kennedy campus. The executive director of The Port Authority of New York that runs the Kennedy Airport, one of the busiest in the world, says this avoids 300,000 truck trips spanning 1.5 million miles. 

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Toyota Gives 9% Pay Bump to Most U.S. Auto-Factory Workers, Following UAW Gains in Detroit

  
WSJ - 11.01.2023 Original article ›
Sean Mc Lain
LyrArc Article Gist
Toyota follows the increase of 25% for 146,000 workers at Ford, GM and Stellantis with a wage increase of its own of 9% to take wages at Toyota to $34. It cuts the time for newly hired workers to reach that level from 8 years to 4 years. The UAW had won similar gains for its workers in negotiations with Ford, GM and Stellantis. This also shows that the UAW was speaking not only for its worker base but also for workers at non unionized plants such as Toyota.

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‘The children screamed for hours’: horrors of Hurricane Otis leave devastation for Acapulco’s poorest

  
The Guardian - 11.04.2023 Original article ›
LyrArc Article Gist
One aspect of climate change is how quickly a storm develops in severity. This happened in Libya recently. It happened again on the Pacific cost of Mexico in Acapulco. Within hours a storm that was seen as Category 1 turned into a Category 5 storm, and the worst ever to hit the Pacific coast. Leaving no time to evacuate. About 80% of hotels in this tourist location were destroyed by winds at 165 mph. 200,000 homes were swept away. Damage estimated at costing $2.8 billion to restore the region.

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Lavish Tax Credits and Trade Protections Lure Solar Firms to U.S.

  
NYTimes.com - 11.08.2023 Original article ›
Ana Swanson, Jim Tankersley
LyrArc Article Gist
China build its solar industry with huge subsidies, the US did not. From 2018 to 2022 the US solar industry suffered with lack of help from the US government under the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration. 30 US based solar companies shutdown in a bloodbath and many jobs were lost. Enter the climate law in 2022 under president Biden and in 2023 the US investment in solar reached $8 billion, three times what it was in the previous 6 years. 

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Heat Pump Installations Slow, Impeding Biden’s Climate Goals

  
NYTimes.com - 11.09.2023 Original article ›
Santul Nerkar, Madeleine Ngo
LyrArc Article Gist
The Inflation Reduction Act has $8.8 billion for heat pump rebates and assistance. Heat pumps are more efficient than existing furnaces or air conditioning units. Only 22% of Americans know about the heat pump rebate compared to 32% who know about the EV vehicle rebate of $7500. Heat pump rebate is for $2000 by the federal government, and $8000 for a rebate from the state beginning in 2024. Heat pump installations surged with new home sales in 2022 and slowed as home sales slowed with higher interest rates. 

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U.A.W. Strike Gains Could Reverberate Far Beyond Autos

  
NYTimes.com - 11.09.2023 Original article ›
Noam Scheiber
LyrArc Article Gist
The UAW settlement covered a range of areas setting out a roadmap for other unions. It included getting companies to reinvest in plants and communities where they were pulling out- the Belvidere Illinois plant which Stellantis had planned to close, instead agreeing to hire 1000 more workers for an electric vehicle factory and a parts distribution center, an investment of $4.8 billion. Workers worked long hours during the pandemic- the UAW negotiated for shorter work weeks including 4 day workweek for the health of workers.

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Loneliness Isn’t Just Bad for Your Health—It’s Deadly

  
WSJ - 11.10.2023 Original article ›
Brianna Abbott | Photographs By John Taggart For The Wall Street Journal
LyrArc Article Gist
Loneliness and isolation increases the risk of disease with higher bodily inflammation, and risk of dying. Monthly visits of family and friends can make a big difference. More frequent than that does not give added benefit. The quality of social connectedness is also important - having someone who cares and one trusts. A Gallup poll in 2023 shows 17% of Americans are lonely and one third of people under 30 years 18-30 years are lonely. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy himself talked about how it feels with lack of social connectedness.

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Opinion: Sitting down all day is killing us. The cure is surprisingly simple — and difficult

  
Los Angeles Times - 11.13.2023 Original article ›
LyrArc Article Gist
Breaking the norm of jobs requiring sitting down in one place for long hours that is killing us with health problems is desperately needed today. 20,000 NPR listeners joined this study by the Columbia University Medical Center to see if they could break the habit and set a new model for work behaviours. Participants were asked to take a break of 5 minutes every hour. 70% took the break showing that given the right encouragement people are willing to try something new that improves job performance, mental health, and physical health.

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Original article 1 minute, gist 1 minute

Opinion | No, Immigrants Aren’t ‘Poisoning the Blood of Our Country’

  
NYTimes.com - 11.14.2023 Original article ›
Paul Krugman
LyrArc Article Gist
The Biden administration is taking steps to address influx of illegal migrants from Guatemala and Nicaragua through Mexico. It is also true that the US with very low unemployment of 3 percent is now facing a labor shortage. A bipartisan hearing on immigration in US Congress showed Republican senior Senator Lindsey Graham saying that the US economy faces a need for workers on its farms, meat packing plants, restaurants from what he hears from businesses in North Carolina. Without this help many farms would close and we would starve, said Graham.

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House Passes GOP Plan to Avert Government Shutdown

2 Groups   
WSJ - 11.14.2023 Original article ›
Katy Stech Ferek
LyrArc Article Gist
In a positive step for the US economy new Speaker Mike Johnson works with Democrats to get a two thirds majority in the House to pass the budget bill 336-95, extending government agency funding to February 2024. A bill for full year spending will come later avoiding shutdown talk and disruptions. Mike Johnson says- "I believe we can fight for principles and still do things simultaneously. When you have a small majority, it requires that some things are going to have to be bipartisan." 

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FDIC Chair, Known for Temper, Ignored Bad Behavior in Workplace

4 Groups   
WSJ - 11.16.2023 Original article ›
Rebecca Ballhaus
LyrArc Article Gist
This WSJ Investigation into workculture and poor treatment of women and minorities shows behaviour has not changed over the years. Some of the internal investigations go back to the time when Sheila Bair was head of the FDIC in 2009. The FDIC plays an important role in regulation of the banking system. It is not attracting younger employees with the workculture. That this has been ignored for so long is over decades is beyond comprehension, that such behaviour could exist as reported in the WSJ is astonishing. 

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The Hidden Hero Fueling Soft-Landing Hopes: A Boost in Supply

  
WSJ - 11.19.2023 Original article ›
Nick Timiraos
LyrArc Article Gist
A boost in supply in 2024 after the pandemic squeezed supply chains is likely to increase the US growth rate by summer to 4.9%. This is not expected to increase inflation which is down to 2.8% by November 2023, because of higher productivity and higher labor participation rate. The labor participation rate has reached a high of 83.5% not reached since 2001. The Fed sees this as a temporary jump in the growth rate that does not induce inflation so that no Fed action is necessary.

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GM’s Self-Driving Car Unit Skids Off Course

  
WSJ - 11.20.2023 Original article ›
Ryan Felton, Meghan Bobrowsky, Mike Colias
LyrArc Article Gist
The story of GM's self driving car Cruise stemming from its acquisition of a startup in California in 2016. It started with GM perceiving a threat from driverless cars and ride hailing firms. After the acquisition GM's share price rallied. Investments came in from Softbank and other companies. The company planned a robo-taxi service to test its cars in American cities. This story covers the accidents as GM pushed for it too early till California pulled out of the program.

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Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short for So Many

  
NYTimes.com - 11.22.2023 Original article ›
Jordan Rau, Jo Nel Aleccia
LyrArc Article Gist
The failure of private long term care insurance in the US and the need for a government subsidized and public program that requires people to carry long term care as in Netherlands and Singapore. Only about 3-4% of people over 51 have long term care insurance, leaving 95% of the population dependent on what Medicare and their savings can provide. The industry is unprofitable making at most $1 billion in one year after losses in three of the last four years when claims for 345,000 persons cost $13 billion.

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