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Why More Baby Boomers Are Sliding Into Homelessness

The increasing number of elderly people experiencing homelessness, particularly baby boomers, is posing challenges for hospitals and crisis services. Factors contributing to this rise include high housing costs, the closure of low-cost assisted living centers, and the lack of support from dispersed families. The aging population is straining shelters ill-equipped to accommodate older adults, leading to increased healthcare and shelter costs. The pandemic has also exacerbated the issue by tightening the housing supply and driving up rents. Many older adults experiencing homelessness are doing so for the first time after a life event, such as the death of a spouse or a medical emergency, that upended their previously stable lives.

Write more, design less (and better)

The article argues that writing is a powerful tool for designers that can help users more easily understand and navigate digital products. The author suggests that designers should pay more attention to the language they use in their products, as well as how users are likely to perceive and interpret that language. By taking a more intentional approach to writing, designers can create products that are more user-friendly, easier to understand, and ultimately more successful. The article provides several examples of how writing has influenced the design of successful digital products.

WSJ News Exclusive | Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change

Internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal reveal that ExxonMobil took a different approach to climate change privately than it did publicly. While publicly acknowledging the risks of climate change in 2006, behind closed doors, Exxon strategized on how to downplay concerns and undermine scientific findings that could impact its oil and gas business. Former CEO Rex Tillerson, who led the company during this time, sought to cast doubt on the severity of climate change's impacts. Exxon is now facing numerous lawsuits accusing it of deception over climate change.

How to Do Great Work

The commitment that changed my career + my next project.

In this article, the author discusses how making a commitment to write 1,000 words every day transformed their career. By tracking their progress using an iPhone app, they were able to maintain a streak of writing for 100 days in a row, resulting in a total output of approximately 100,000 words. This commitment allowed them to make rapid progress on their book and write guest posts for other blogs. The author also shares their next project, which is a book called "The Software Design Handbook," where they will cover everything they have learned in the last 5-6 years of designing web software.

Remote work is the best thing to happen to families in decades

Remote work has been on the rise and is seen as a positive development in a world full of challenges. Support for remote work during the Covid pandemic leans more towards Democrats, while Republicans have been more critical of it. The efficiency of remote work is a topic of debate, with bosses expressing concerns while academic literature presents conflicting findings. However, remote work has a significant benefit for families, allowing for better work-life balance and flexibility. Despite the importance of this aspect, it has been overlooked in political discussions about remote work. Ultimately, remote work can be seen as a societal win for both Republicans and Democrats.

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Inside a Sales Army Turning a Tax Break Into a Modern-Day Gold Rush

A vast sales army of more than 50,000 individuals is profiting from the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) tax break for small businesses. These individuals refer neighbors and cold-call small businesses to promote the tax break and funnel potential clients to consulting firm Bottom Line Concepts. Bottom Line has helped clients pursue over $6 billion in ERC tax refunds and could receive more than $1 billion in fees. The ERC, designed to reward businesses for keeping employees on payrolls during the pandemic, has become costly for taxpayers and a bonanza for firms like Bottom Line.

The myths we tell ourselves about American farming

American farming, particularly in the livestock industry, is a major source of water pollution in the US. The billions of animals raised for food produce around 2.5 billion pounds of waste daily, which is often stored in pits or spread onto crop fields as fertilizer. This waste, along with synthetic fertilizer from crop farms, washes into rivers and streams, causing harm to wildlife and public health. Despite the Clean Water Act's directive to regulate factory farms, fewer than one-third of the largest operations are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA's recent decision to not better regulate factory farms under the Clean Water Act is an example of "agricultural exceptionalism," which allows the agricultural industry to operate under different rules and leads to widespread abuse in the food system. Animal agriculture receives more subsidies than farmers growing sustainable foods, and the industry benefits from exemptions in labor and animal welfare laws. The agricultural sector has si...

Meet the people who listen to podcasts 24/7

Kyra Pellant, a 29-year-old in Los Angeles, listens to podcasts throughout her day, from the moment she wakes up until she falls asleep. She finds that the voices help her focus and fill a social need, especially during the pandemic when she spends less time with people. Likewise, Praise Tolbert, a full-time mom in Florida, uses podcasts to combat intrusive thoughts and listens to them all day long. For Tolbert, the happy chatter of the podcast hosts helps her stay grounded. Background noise like podcasts can be beneficial for focus and managing emotions, although the science is divided on its effects. Experts recommend finding what works best for each individual and communicating with loved ones about the background sound.

A Better Way to Think About Young Kids and Screen Time

A study in Japan found a weak correlation between screen time and developmental delays in young children. The study surveyed parents about screen usage and assessed children's skills in various domains. The results showed that more than 4 hours of screen time per day at age 1 was associated with delays in communication and problem-solving at ages 2 and 4. However, the study did not differentiate between educational and non-educational screen time. It also highlighted that parents with high levels of screen time were more likely to be younger, have lower income, lower education levels, and postpartum depression. The study suggests that excessive screen time may be a symptom of underlying family dynamics and societal challenges.

My Mom Will Email Me After She Dies

The experience of grief is changing as more and more people leave behind a digital presence after they die. This digital afterlife includes personal files, such as recipes, that can be accessed by loved ones through platforms like Google's Inactive Account Manager. This shift in grieving means that people can still connect with their deceased loved ones through their digital presence, such as reading their emails or accessing their recipe files. The digital ghost of a loved one can become a source of comfort and connection in the midst of mourning their physical absence.

The Optimization Sinkhole - by Anne Helen Petersen The Optimization Sinkhole

The article discusses the concept of optimization culture, which promotes the idea that there is one perfect solution or product that can improve every aspect of our lives. It explores how this mindset can lead to dissatisfaction and a constant search for improvement in various areas, such as home remodeling, wellness, and productivity. The article argues that the pursuit of optimization can be a sinkhole, creating an unyielding pressure to find the best way and causing anxiety, fear, and self-loathing when perfection is not achieved. Instead, the author suggests embracing imperfections, finding satisfaction in what already exists, and cultivating a sense of contentment.

20 Books to Get Lost in This Summer

The content consists of four book summaries. "The Kennedy Imprisonment" by Garry Wills is a critique of the Kennedys and an exploration of power. "Travels in Hyperreality" by Umberto Eco is a collection of essays about American maximalism and the blurring of reality and fantasy. "The Last Whalers" by Doug Bock Clark is a journalistic account of the Lamalerans, a tribe of hunter-gatherers in Indonesia. "Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955" by Harald Jähner is a cultural history of Germany after WWII, focusing on the role of women and the rebuilding process.

Finetuning Large Language Models Finetuning Large Language Models

Utilizing large language models (LLMs) efficiently and effectively is becoming increasingly important in the field of artificial intelligence. Pretrained LLMs can be used for new tasks through in-context learning and finetuning. In-context learning allows LLMs to learn specific tasks without further training or finetuning, while finetuning involves adapting the model to a target task using data from a target domain. There are three conventional approaches to finetuning: feature-based approach, finetuning the output layers, and finetuning all layers. Each approach has its advantages and considerations. Additionally, parameter-efficient finetuning techniques allow for reduced computational costs, faster training times, lower hardware requirements, better modeling performance, and less storage while reusing pretrained models.

It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

To stand out as a job candidate, it doesn't take much public creativity, according to the author who has interviewed and screened hundreds of candidates in the tech industry. Most candidates have little evidence of creativity in public, which presents an opportunity for job seekers who are willing to put in a relatively small amount of work. Suggestions include starting a blog and posting interesting technical articles once or twice a year, building a small personal project and sharing the code on GitHub with a detailed description, and engaging in activities such as Twitter networking and creating content. These efforts can give candidates a big advantage and help them stand out from the crowd.

Dear Reddit

The author of the document shares their experience of using Reddit as a user acquisition channel for their website, starterstory.com. They initially struggled to get visitors to their website through traditional marketing methods and decided to try posting their content on the subreddit r/entrepreneur. After modifying their approach to comply with the subreddit's rules, they successfully gained significant traffic and user engagement from Reddit. They caution that this tactic may no longer be effective and suggest trying various channels and formats to find the right user acquisition strategy. The author also mentions pivoting to SEO as their next move.

Of Course You Can Beat the Market

The author discusses the American mindset of defying the odds and taking risks, specifically in the context of building venture-backed startups. They argue against the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), which suggests that consistent alpha generation in the stock market is impossible. The author disagrees with this framework, stating that there are opportunities for alpha generation in both public and private markets. They emphasize the importance of identifying inefficiencies in markets as a key skill for success.

Invisible Details of Interaction Design - Every

Designing interactions in a way that feels natural and intuitive requires paying attention to invisible details. This article explores various aspects of interaction design, such as metaphors, gestures, responsive gestures, spatial consistency, fluid morphing, frequency and novelty, fidgetability, and touch content visibility. By understanding and implementing these details, designers can create interactions that are seamless and satisfying for users.

How Builders Think

The concept of the "builder's mindset" is introduced in this article as an alternative to the "drill sergeant" and "Zen master" approaches to achieving goals and navigating life's challenges. The drill sergeant mindset involves striving for external standards of success and sacrificing personal well-being, while the Zen master mindset focuses on acceptance and detachment from outcomes. In contrast, the builder's mindset centers on taking ownership of one's life and actively shaping it according to individual vision and values. The article highlights the importance of defining personal standards of excellence and building a life that brings fulfillment and happiness.

Kyla Scanlon on why Gen Z is redefining the concept of job satisfaction

Gen Z, or those born between 1996 and 2010, is redefining the concept of job satisfaction. Given all the different global challenges and crises they've encountered so far in their lives concerning ecology, finance, and pandemics, Gen Z has different ideas about work and fulfillment. The world's ever-growing connectivity and advancement in technology do not overshadow the desire for work-life-balance — a constant struggle for the Gen Zs. The cost of living has also skyrocketed, with homes fast becoming a Wall Street asset class, turning most Gen Zs into the rental generation, with many of them graduating with more personal debt than any prior generation.

How to Use AI to Do Stuff: An Opinionated Guide How to Use AI to Do Stuff: An Opinionated Guide

AI systems are being released at a rapid pace, but there is a lack of user documentation. The author provides an opinionated guide to using AI based on their experience. The guide focuses on picking the right AI tool for different tasks. The author discusses different AI models available, including OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, Microsoft's Bing, and Google's Bard. They also provide recommendations for using AI in writing, creating videos, and working with data and documents. The author emphasizes the need to be cautious of biases and potential ethical concerns when using AI.

OpenAI’s Code Interpreter Is About to Remake Finance

OpenAI's Code Interpreter, available to ChatGPT Plus users, has the potential to revolutionize the finance industry by automating accounting tasks. The tool allows users to upload files, such as general ledgers, and generate Python code to understand and analyze the data within. It can perform tasks like graphing transaction volumes, assessing a company's financial health, and checking data quality. While there are formatting issues and limitations when analyzing multiple files, Code Interpreter has the potential to significantly automate finance work and reshape the industry. OpenAI needs to consider how to expose Code Interpreter, as it could disrupt established players like QuickBooks or Oracle if offered through an API. Startups could capitalize on the technology by building complementary tools and services. This experiment with Code Interpreter shows that AI has the power to transform productivity workflows and offers a glimpse into the future of labor automation.

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Don’t Reply to Your Emails

The article discusses the concept of "Inbox Zero" and the increasing challenge of managing email in today's digital age. Despite the popularity of Inbox Zero and the development of various tools and strategies to manage email, people receive more emails than ever before. Email marketing and social media notifications contribute to the overwhelming volume of messages. The article highlights the need to rethink the approach to email and suggests that not replying to every email may be a viable solution.

What Did People Do Before Smartphones?

Before the advent of smartphones, people relied on different forms of communication and devices to stay connected. The author reminisces about their first BlackBerry in 2000, which allowed them to receive emails in real-time. At that time, smartphones were not yet ubiquitous, and only executives, government officials, and individuals who considered themselves important had such devices. The article reflects on the impact of smartphones on society and how they have become an integral part of our daily lives.

winston

A logger for just about everything.. Latest version: 3.9.0, last published: 24 days ago. Start using winston in your project by running `npm i winston`. There are 18611 other projects in the npm registry using winston.

GREG ISENBERG on Twitter

My new thing:Make a landing page with max 280 characters of copyI'm seeing 2-5x the usual conversion rateI call it tweet-size landing pagesLess is more— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) June 16, 2023

On the 27th straight day of filming “Forrest Gump,” Tom...

On the 27th day of filming "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks expressed concern to director Bob Zemeckis that nobody would care about the movie. He was tired and worried at the time. Links are provided for Hanks' retelling of the story and a Keats/Negative Capability letter.

DevOps is Bullshit

The article argues that DevOps has turned into a divisive practice that fails to deliver the benefits it promised. Many organizations may have a DevOps team, but they are often overwhelmed with tickets from the engineering team and fail to scale. Alternatively, some organizations may follow a free-for-all DevOps approach where engineers end up doing menial tasks they don't want to do. The author suggests that instead of DevOps, organizations should embrace platform engineering and enable developer self-service, with five core components: open-source tooling, anti-lock-in, security and compliance, expertise in practices, and powerful building blocks to increase engineering velocity.

What if the Most Powerful Way to Live Longer Is Just Exercise?

Regular exercise can help extend a person's life, reduce the risk of developing age-related diseases, maintain independence and protect against injuries from falls. Studies show that exercise can improve immune function, reduce inflammation and increase insulin sensitivity, while targeting various hallmarks of ageing. Federal guidelines recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, and any amount of physical activity can help extend life. Racket sports, running and walking are found to have the most significant benefits as types of physical activity.

Why you should consider quitting your job in 2023:

The article suggests several reasons to consider quitting a job in 2023 and starting a business, including the availability of 4.9 billion potential customers online, the opportunity to focus on improving health and spending time with family, the freedom to control one's own career, and the potential for greater joy and purpose in work. However, the author notes that not everyone may be able to quit their job immediately and suggests finding 60 minutes per day to work on a business while using a job as investment capital until revenue approaches a salary level.

Just adding a 'pause subscription' button has retained over 100+...

Adding a 'pause subscription' button and encouraging upgrades from monthly to annual plans have helped an online service retain over 100 paid users. The company experienced a spike in churn during the winter, but after implementing fixes such as these, they have not seen any increase in churn during the summer. The company also notified grandfathered users that they would lose their discount if they churned. As a result, their churn rate is currently lower than it was during the school year.

I asked, "What's the biggest obstacle in making money online?"

An online entrepreneur asked over 1,000 people about the biggest obstacle to making money online, and identified 7 most common problems with potential solutions. These include identifying your skills and passions to help others, building an audience by giving value for free, monetizing once you have an audience, marketing through content creation and being visible, feeling confident enough to play the game, feeling productive through limiting distractions, and developing skills through watching educational videos or reading books. Anyone can learn these skills, and the thread encourages readers to keep learning and follow the author for more content.

The Simple Joys of Scaling Up

The author argues that modern single-node systems are powerful enough to handle large workloads, making the traditional reasons for "scaling out" to multiple machines less compelling. With advances in hardware, single machines can now provide similar performance to large clusters without the complexity of distributed systems. Therefore, it's time to reconsider the benefits of scaling up, as it offers simplicity and efficiency.

List one task, do it, cross it out

I have the reputation, at least among some friends and family, of being 'good in a crisis' – such as (to give a somewhat minor example) the day last year, deep in lockdown, when a shard of flying flowerpot ended up halfway through my partner's hand, sending her to hospital and upending our finely calibrated work and childcare plans for the week.

48 Books To Read In 2023

The article presents a list of 48 books to read in 2023, including titles such as "Emotional Intelligence," "The Alchemist," "Man's Search For Meaning," and "Mastery."

16 movies every startup founder should watch:

This article offers a list of 16 movies that startup founders should watch. The list includes various film genres such as drama, biopic, and sports that teach valuable lessons about success, perseverance, innovation, and leadership. Some of the movies on the list are The Social Network, Steve Jobs, Scarface, and The Martian. The article also promotes the author's weekly deep dive aimed at supporting startup founders.

A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand

For better or worse, in today’s world everyone is a brand. Whether you’re applying for a job, asking for a promotion, or writing a dating profile, your success will depend on getting others to recognize your value. So you need to get comfortable marketing yourself. In this article a branding thought leader and a professional dating coach present a guide to creating your personal brand. It’s an intentional, strategic practice in which you craft and express your own value proposition, and it involves seven steps: (1) Define your purpose by exploring your mission, passion, and strengths, and thinking about whom you want to make a difference to and how. (2) Audit your personal brand equity by cataloging your credentials, doing a self-assessment, and researching how other people view you. (3) Construct your personal narrative by identifying memorable, resonant stories that will best convey your brand. (4) Embody your brand by paying attention to the message you’re sending in every social interaction. (5) Communicate ...

Innovation Doesn’t Have to Be Disruptive

For the past 20 years “disruption” has been a battle cry in business. Not surprisingly, many have come to see it as a near-synonym for innovation. But the obsession with disruption obscures an important truth: Market-creating innovation isn’t always disruptive. Disruption may be what people talk about. It’s certainly important, and it’s all around us. But, as the authors of the best-selling book Blue Ocean Strategy argue, it’s only one end of the innovation spectrum. On the other end is what they call nondisruptive creation, through which new industries, new jobs, and profitable growth are created without social harm. Nondisruptive creation reveals an immense potential to establish new markets where none existed before and, in doing so, to foster economic growth without a loss of jobs or damage to other industries, enabling business and society to thrive together.

10 Business Books That Will Teach You More Than A...

The article lists 10 business books that are recommended for those who are interested in learning about business, possibly more than they would learn in a 4-year degree program. The list includes books such as "Your Next Five Moves," "Zero to One," and "Shoe Dog," which are all focused on various aspects of entrepreneurship and leadership. Among the other books suggested are "Creativity, Inc.", which delves into the story of Pixar's success, and "The Hard Thing About Hard Things," which discusses the challenges of managing a business. Overall, these books offer insights into business that can supplement formal education or provide additional knowledge for those seeking to improve their skills in the field.

Why AI Will Save the World

AI is not a threat but a potential savior of the world, improving various aspects of our lives. The risks associated with AI, such as job loss and societal ruin, are largely unfounded, and we should focus on utilizing AI for positive impact and defense against misuse. Embracing and maximizing the benefits of AI can lead to a safer and more prosperous world for all.

How to build a $300/day side business in 30 min

Use no-code tools to set up a live cohort business in about 30 minutes. Create a sales page (Carrd), connect payments (Stripe), and automate registration/calendar (Luma). Price your spots to reach $300/day and use testimonials to boost sales.

Make your Notion projects more powerful and connected with integrations

Notion Projects is a tool that supports the entire project management workflow by allowing teams to plan, manage, and execute tasks all in one place. The platform also supports integrations with various cross-team collaboration tools, such as Slack and Miro, developer tools like GitHub and PagerDuty, and business intelligence and product analytics tools like Mixpanel and Tableau. These integrations enable teams to bring a wide range of files and data insights into their project management workflow, as well as automate project management workflows through key integration platforms like Make and Zapier.

Spend Money to Solve Problems

The author reflects on his frugal habits that originated from growing up in a lower-middle-class family. Despite being gainfully employed, he and his wife often choose to be stingy instead of frugal, delaying problem-solving with modest spending. They recently purchased a robot vacuum cleaner that made the house cleaner with no effort. The author reminds readers to consider if they are stuck in a scarcity mindset and to part with some cash to solve problems rather than suffering a constant annoyance.

Graphic designers are history

Graphic designers are history. AI creates beautiful logos in seconds. Here's how to create any logo using AI (for free):

shadcn/ui

Beautifully designed components built with Radix UI and Tailwind CSS.

We all know @dannypostmaa is seeing crazy success w/ HeadshotPro...

Danny Postma, founder of HeadshotPro, has achieved over $300k in revenue since the company's March launch through the use of SEO to drive traffic to the platform. The company's success can be attributed to its ranking in the top 10 search results for the keyword "professional headshots", generating 3k monthly organic visitors. Postma utilized a two-pronged approach, including ranking for long-tail keywords and writing blog posts targeting the same keywords, to obtain backlinks and referring domains from his launch and beyond. The quick ROI on SEO is apparent, with results achieved in less than three months.

Steve Schlafman on Twitter

My book buying ban lasted just two weeks. I couldn’t resist. pic.twitter.com/sgRwWN3ppz— Steve Schlafman (@schlaf) May 25, 2023