Moody’s Ratings on Friday announced a downgrade of the U.S. government’s credit rating, moving it down a notch from the ratings agency’s top tier amid concerns about the rising national debt, which could have implications for the larger market. Credit ratings are used by analysts to determine the creditworthiness of debt issued by a government or a corporation. Higher credit ratings at or near the top of the rating scale are viewed as less of a default risk than those at the lower end of the scale. When ratings agencies downgrade the credit rating of a country or company, it…
Author: Usama Nisar
There’s nothing quite like having faraway friends or family come to stay. Hosting overnight guests invites you to slow down, connect, and see your space through fresh eyes. It’s one of life’s quiet luxuries—sharing your home, your rituals, your morning coffee routine—with people you love. And often, it’s in these simple moments that the most meaningful memories are made. That said, if you’ve ever spiraled into a deep-cleaning frenzy or questioned whether your guest room feels “finished,” you’re not alone. We all want our homes to feel warm and intentional, but the goal isn’t to create a five-star hotel. It’s…
New Orleans’ police force secretly used constant facial recognition to seek out suspects for two years. An investigation by The Washington Post discovered that the city’s police department was using facial recognition technology on a privately owned camera network to continually look for suspects. This application seems to violate a city ordinance passed in 2022 that required facial recognition only be used by the NOLA police to search for specific suspects of violent crimes and then to provide details about the scans’ use to the city council. However, WaPo found that officers did not reveal their reliance on the technology…
Travel has become really expensive. Post-COVID, the entire world seems to be traveling again and prices just keep rising. I am astonished at how high they have gotten. But it’s a product of rising costs and out-of-control demand. Everyone just wants to travel. We’re all looking for an escape. Fortunately, it’s not all bad. Airfare has started to go down again, there are more deal-finding websites online, free walking tours in more cities, and more opportunities to bypass the traditional travel infrastructure and connect directly into the local way of life via the sharing economy. As we navigate the post-COVID…
Adapted from “Raising Awe-Seekers” by Deborah Farmer Kris © 2025. Used with permission of Free Spirit Publishing, an imprint of Teacher Created Materials, Inc., Huntington Beach, CA; 1-800-858-7339; teachercreatedmaterials.com. All rights reserved. Awe is perhaps our most overlooked and undervalued emotion. It is what we feel when we encounter something vast, wondrous, or beyond our ordinary frame of reference. It is the feeling that washes over us when we hear a beautiful song, watch a flock of geese fly south, or see images from the new NASA telescope. Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley who has spent two…
By KIM BELLARD I feel like I’ve been writing a lot about futures I was pretty worried about, so I’m pleased to have a couple developments to talk about that help remind me that technology is cool and that healthcare can surely use more of it. First up is a new AI algorithm called FaceAge, as published last week in The Lancet Digital Health by researchers at Mass General Brigham. What it does is to use photographs to determine biological age – as opposed to chronological age. We all know that different people seem to age at different rates –…
Sean Connery’s longtime home in Europe is looking for its new owner. The late “James Bond” actor’s villa in the South of France has hit the real estate market for $26.4 million, and is listed with Savills. Featured in some scenes in the 1983 Bond film “Never Say Never Again,” the home reportedly is still affectionately referred to as “Sean’s place” or the “Bond Villa,” by locals. Found at the edge of a cliff in the French Riviera on a one-acre property, the villa boasts breathtaking views of Nice, the Mediterranean Sea, Promenade des Anglais and the Old Port. SEAN…
While I love a good glow, the smell of most self-tanners easily puts me off—along with their sticky texture and questionable ingredients. Having a fair complexion, I’ve learned to embrace my skin rather than spending hours baking in the sun (plus, the health risks are real). That said, I’m all for a little faux glow when I want to amp up the vibrancy. Even though I’ve found a few non-toxic body tanners I swear by, they rarely work the same magic on my face. And there’s a reason for that. Self-tanners intended for body use can cause breakouts, clog pores,…
Computex 2025 is about to kick off, and the cavalcade of announcements about the latest chips, laptops, gaming devices and more from leading brands has already begun. The event in Taiwan will kick off Sunday night (US time) with a keynote at the Taipei Music Center from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. There will be a livestream for anyone not attending in person, so you can watch along right here (see NVIDIA YouTube stream embedded below). Huang’s keynote is scheduled for 11PM ET/ 8PM PT on May 18 (11AM on May 19 in Taiwan Time), and we can expect to hear…
Guys, I’m obsessed with elote, so obviously I had to turn all that smoky, creamy, cheesy, lime magic into a pasta salad big enough to feed a crowd. This one’s guaranteed to disappear fast! Why You’ll Be Obsessed Street Corn Vibes: All the creamy, tangy, cheesy flavor of Mexican elote in pasta salad form. All of my pasta salad dreams are coming true! Party Showstopper: This pasta salad is bold, creamy, and basically guaranteed to have people asking, “Who brought this?!” Secret Ingredient = Cotija: Salty, crumbly, and totally essential. It melds perfectly with the creamy dressing! Don’t even think about…
