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Tag: Lifestyle

  • Tanzania says Mount Kilimanjaro fire largely contained

    Tanzania says Mount Kilimanjaro fire largely contained

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    NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The fire burning on Mount Kilimanjaro for almost two weeks has been largely contained after hundreds of military personnel were deployed to help, Tanzania’s prime minister said Thursday.

    The blaze destroyed 33 square kilometers (nearly 13 square miles) on Africa’s tallest and most famous mountain, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said.

    The fire started on Oct. 21 near the Karanga camp, which is popular among the thousands of hikers who attempt the climb of the mountain every year.

    The cause of the fire has yet to be established and investigations are ongoing, the prime minister said, adding that strong winds complicated the response.

    On Tuesday, personnel from the Tanzania People’s Defense Force were deployed to help extinguish the flames. The prime minister said 878 soldiers and two helicopters were sent.

    He said multiple fires had started on other parts of Mount Kilimanjaro but had been contained, and main tourist sites there remain safe.

    Mount Kilimanjaro, at 19,443 feet (5,926 meters), is a major tourist attraction in Tanzania. It wasn’t clear how the fire has affected tourist visits and the local economy.

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  • Inflation puts tighter squeeze on already pricey kids sports

    Inflation puts tighter squeeze on already pricey kids sports

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    It only took a few seconds for Rachel Kennedy to grab her phone after she left the checkout line at the sporting-goods store, where she had just finished buying a new glove, pants, belt, cleats and the rest of the equipment for her son, Liam’s, upcoming baseball season.

    “I texted his dad and asked him, ‘Did we really spend $350 on all this last year?’” Kennedy said.

    Sticker shock in youth sports is nothing new, but the onslaught of double-digit inflation across America this year has added a costly wrinkle on the path to the ballparks, swimming pools and dance studios across America. It has forced some families, like Kennedy’s, to scale back the number of seasons, or leagues, or sports that their kids can play in any given year, while motivating league organizers to become more creative in devising ways to keep prices down and participation up.

    Recent studies, conducted before inflation began impacting daily life across America, showed families spent around $700 a year on kids’ sports, with travel and equipment accounting for the biggest portion of the expense.

    Everyone from coaches to swim-meet coordinators are struggling to to find less-expensive ways of keeping families coming through the doors. Costs of uniforms and equipment, along with facility rental, are shooting up — all products of the onslaught of supply-chain issues, hard-to-find staff, lack of coaches and rising gas and travel costs that were exacerbated, or sometimes caused, by the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted and sometimes canceled seasons altogether. The annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending in September was 8.2%.

    Kennedy, who lives in Monroe, Ohio, and describes her family as “on the lower end of middle class,” opted Liam out of summer and fall ball, not so much because of the fees to join the leagues but because “those don’t include all the equipment you need.”

    “And gas prices have gotten to the point where we don’t have the bandwidth to drive one or two hours away” for the full slate of weekend games and tournaments that dot the typical youth baseball schedule each season. The Kennedys rarely stayed the night in hotels for multi-day tournaments.

    A study published by The Aspen Institute that was conducted before COVID-19 said on average across all sports, parents already spent more each year on travel ($196 per child, per sport) than any other facet of the sport: equipment, lessons, registration, etc. A number of reports say hotel prices in some cities are around 30% higher than last year, and about the same amount higher than in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.

    At the venues, it costs more to hire umpires to call the games, groundskeepers to keep fields ready, janitors to clean indoor venues and coaches to run practices. Even sports that are traditionally on the less-expensive end of the spectrum are running into issues.

    “You talk to people and you say ‘What do you mean you get $28 an hour to be a lifeguard?’” said Steve Roush, a former leader in the Olympic world who now serves as executive director of Southern California Swimming, which sanctions meets across one of America’s most expensive regions. “The going rate has just gone through the roof, and that’s if you can find somebody at all. And that accounts for part of the big gap” in prices for swimming meets today versus three years ago.

    One Denver-area dance studio director, who did not want her name used because of the competitive nature of her business, said she started looking for new uniform suppliers as a way of keeping costs down for families. Some destinations for the two out-of-state competitions that are typical in a given season have been shifted to cities that have more — and, so, less expensive — flight options. Some of those teams only make a third trip, this one to a major competition, if it receives a “paid” invitation.

    “The cost is just so much to ask them to travel a third time,” the director said. “And oftentimes you don’t know that you’re getting that bid until February or March and you have to turn around and travel to it in April, and that turnaround just makes it very hard from an expense standpoint.”

    At stake is the future of a youth-sports industry that generated around $20 billion, according to one estimate, before COVID-19 sharply curtailed spending in 2020.

    Also, inflation is giving some families a chance to revisit an issue that first came up when COVID-19 more or less canceled all youth leagues for a year or more.

    “There was some optimism that maybe families would be like, ‘OK, let’s maybe have a more balanced approach to how we’re going to participate in sports,’” said Jennifer Agans, an assistant professor at Penn State who studies the impact of youth sports. “But until this economic wave, everyone was so excited to go back to normal that we forgot the lessons we learned from slowing our lives down. Maybe this gives another chance to reevaluate that.”

    It’s a choice not everyone wants to make, but still one that is being imposed more on people in the middle and lower class. Another Aspen Institute report from before the pandemic concluded children from low-income families were half as likely to play sports as kids from upper-income families.

    Kennedy said she has long been fortunate to have a supportive family — including grandparents who chip in to defray some costs of Liam’s baseball. But some things had to go. A spot on a travel team can reach up to $1,200, and that’s before equipment and travel, “and we just don’t have that kind of money,” Kennedy said.

    Still, Liam loves baseball and sitting it out altogether wasn’t a real choice.

    “It’s the whole parental, ‘I’ll go hungry to make sure my kids get what they need’ situation,’” Kennedy said. “So if I give up my Starbucks, or some little extras for me, then it’s worth it to make sure he gets to play. But it’s certainly not getting any less expensive.”

    ———

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • EXPLAINER: Traveling to, around Qatar during FIFA World Cup

    EXPLAINER: Traveling to, around Qatar during FIFA World Cup

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Some 1.2 million people are expected to pour into Qatar during the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup that begins this month.

    With fans coming from all over the world, reaching Qatar on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as getting around once there, remains a concern. Estimates suggest that as many as half a million people may be in the country each day during the height of the competition.

    However, fans have a variety of transportation options to choose from ahead of the tournament.

    Here’s a look at how to get there, where to go and how to move around.

    FLYING TO QATAR

    Qatar has become a hub for East-West travel, thanks to its long-haul carrier Qatar Airways. Already, the airline is offering tailored flight, hotel and ticket options for its customers. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is gearing up to have its low-cost carrier FlyDubai run as many as 30 trips a day into Doha to allow spectators to watch a match and then shuttle back to hotels in the emirate. Those flying in will land at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, a massive airport that Qatar built for $15 billion and opened in 2014. The airport has plans to expand further in 2022 to handle 58 million passengers a year. Passengers will clear immigration and customs checks before heading out into the city. Note that during the tournament, Qatar won’t be issuing normal visas and those coming for the matches must have a Qatari-issued Hayya Card. The card verifies you have housing for the time you’re in the country or will travel in just for the match you’re watching. The Hayya Card also is required for entry into stadiums. Also keep in mind that Qatar has only one land border, with Saudi Arabia, if you’re thinking about driving.

    CORONAVIRUS CONSIDERATIONS

    Qatar has had strict rules regarding travel and the coronavirus since the pandemic began, but they were loosened as of Nov. 1. Qatar has dropped a requirement for PCR testing prior to your trip to the country, and said it’s no longer required to download its Ehteraz contact-tracing app.

    HOW TO GET AROUND QATAR

    As you walk out of the airport, you have several options on how to get around. Qatar’s state-owned Mowasalat transportation company offers taxi cabs at curbside. Major ride-hailing apps like Uber also work in Qatar. Mowasalat runs a bus service at the airport, too. Doha also has a recently built metro service, which will take you from the airport to most areas in the capital. The metro also connects to a tram now running in Lusail. You can rent a car at the airport, though officials are urging those coming to the tournament to take mass transit. On match day, public transport will be free to those holding tickets. Keep in mind that Qatar’s riyal currency trades at $1 to 3.64 riyals. There are 100 dirhams in each riyal.

    WHAT TO SEE WHILE IN QATAR

    Outside of the tournament, Doha has several cultural sites to visit. Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art offers both interesting views inside its galleries and a view outside of the city’s skyline. Nearby is Doha’s Souq Waqif, which has traditional storefronts and gifts for sale — including even a falcon section. The National Museum of Qatar, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, is a take on the desert rose. Qatar’s National Library also is renowned for its design. Doha’s Mall of Qatar has some 500,000 square meters (5.3 million square feet) for shopping. There are also beachfront resorts and tour companies offer trips into Qatar’s desert expanses as well.

    ———

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

    NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

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    A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

    ___

    Graphic misrepresents House GOP agenda

    CLAIM: An image shows the House Republicans’ “Commitment to America” plan, including raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 75 and making retirees with pensions, 401(k)s or disabled veterans’ benefits ineligible for Social Security payments.

    THE FACTS: The image shows policies that don’t match the language in House Republicans’ actual plan. Ahead of the midterm elections, social media users are sharing the misleading graphic that claims to outline House Republicans’ policy plan. The image shows a logo reading “Commitment to America” that matches branding on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s website for the House GOP’s 2022 agenda. “Entitlements are bankrupting our country and the future of our children,” reads the image. “Republicans are the only Party with a plan to address our fiscal crisis and commit to the following if you give us the majority in November.” The image goes on to list several policies: making retirees “who have pension, IRAs, 401Ks, disabled veteran benefits” ineligible for Social Security; raising the age of Medicare eligibility to 75; and taxing “disabled veterans benefits” and employer-sponsored health care plans. One tweet sharing the image gained more than 3,000 likes. But the graphic’s contents do not match the policies and goals outlined in the Commitment to America agenda. Mark Bednar, McCarthy’s director of strategic communications, told the AP that the graphic is “fabricated” and contains “false information.” A summary of the plan contains only one mention of Social Security or Medicare, saying it would “save and strengthen” the programs. A document outlining the plan’s fiscal proposals says “Congress must be prepared to make reforms to extend the solvency of the entitlement programs,” but does not contain explicit references to cutting particular programs. Neither the summary nor individual policy documents on McCarthy’s website explicitly recommend taxing veterans’ disability benefits or employer-sponsored health care plans. Congressional Republicans have previously proposed raising the Medicare eligibility age. A fiscal 2023 budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee suggests adjusting the Medicare eligibility age to reflect increased average life expectancy, though it does not offer a specific age. That committee’s prior proposal, for fiscal 2022, suggested gradually increasing the eligibility age to 70. Buckley Carlson, a spokesperson for the Republican Study Committee, confirmed the statements in the graphic are inaccurate. Republican Rep. Jim Banks, who chairs the committee, also tweeted about the image, calling it a “fake graphic.”

    — Associated Press writers Karena Phan in Los Angeles and Graph Massara in San Francisco contributed this report.

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    USPS won’t reject mail-in ballots for too few stamps

    CLAIM: Absentee ballots will not be accepted unless voters mail them with up to two stamps.

    THE FACTS: Some states and counties do require voters to pay for their own postage on mail-in ballots, however, the United States Postal Service says its policy is to deliver all ballots, even those with insufficient postage. As the midterm election approaches, some social media users have warned that those planning to vote by mail need a specific amount of postage to send their ballots or they won’t be counted. “OHIO USE 2 STAMPS ON YOUR BALLOT OR THEY WONT COUNT THEY WILL BE RETURNED FOR UNPAID POSTAGE,” read one tweet posted Wednesday. Another tweet with a similar warning was shared more than 2,000 times. While some states provide pre-paid ballot envelopes, many states do require voters to provide their own postage for returning mail-in ballots. However, USPS doesn’t reject or delay delivery of ballots if the postage is insufficient or unpaid, USPS spokesperson Martha Johnson confirmed. For mail-in ballots that need postage, USPS requires election officials to inform voters of the amount. “We are proactively working with state and local election officials on mailing requirements, including postage payment,” Johnson wrote in an email to the AP. In cases where a post office receives a ballot with insufficient postage, USPS will still deliver it and attempt to collect postage from the appropriate local election officials, Johnson added. The USPS also released an election mail guide in January 2022 that confirms that policy. “Postage is collected from the election office upon delivery or at a later date,” the policy says, referring to unpaid ballots or those with insufficient postage. The amount of postage can vary by jurisdiction. In Ohio, for example, if a person returns an absentee ballot by mail it must be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day, and it is the voter’s responsibility the ballot has enough postage, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s website. The Lucas County, Ohio, Board of Elections said in a statement posted to Twitter that not every ballot in Ohio needs more than one stamp, and requirements vary depending on how many pages each ballot is. “In addition the post office will deliver it to the board of elections regardless of postage,” the tweet added. The elections administration office in Harris County, Texas — which similarly requires two stamps per ballot — has also been posting reminders about postage. “Our mail ballot office worked with USPS to weigh and determine the amount of postage for this ballot, as it is four sheets of paper long,” Nadia Hakim, a spokesperson for the Harris County elections administration office, told the AP. “USPS determined that the amount of postage needed is $1.08, so we have been telling voters two forever stamps are needed to send their ballot back.” Hakim also confirmed the USPS policy on ballot delivery and postage.

    — Karena Phan

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    Colorado’s universal mail-in ballot system is legal, secure

    CLAIM: Colorado’s practice of sending mail-in ballots to every registered voter is unconstitutional and voters should only vote in person on Election Day.

    THE FACTS: Colorado state law explicitly protects mail-in voting and the U.S. Constitution gives states broad authority to run their elections, according to legal experts. With the midterm elections just weeks away, some social media users are sharing misleading information about Colorado’s mail-in voting system. One Instagram user posted a picture of a ballot that features the label of the Douglas County clerk and recorder and wrote, “So when you get this…mailed unconstitutionally to every Colorado voter whether they requested one or not, ignore the instructions to vote early. Vote in person, on Election Day.” But there’s nothing unconstitutional about the process. In 2013, Colorado adopted legislation requiring that mail-in ballots be sent to all eligible voters. And the Constitution gives state legislatures control over election administration, though Congress can amend regulations for federal elections, experts say. “There’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution that speaks to mail-in balloting. And therefore there’s nothing that prohibits the practice,” said Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Doug Spencer, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder, agreed that Colorado’s mail-in voting system is “not actually unconstitutional” under the law. Annie Orloff, a spokesperson for the Colorado secretary of state, wrote in an email to the AP that there has “never been a legitimate or successful lawsuit challenging the constitutionality” of the state’s mail-in voting law. Local and national experts and election judges agree that Colorado’s mail-in voting system is safe, the AP has reported. Bipartisan teams transport, verify, open, sort, count and store Colorado’s ballots in secure rooms with windows through which anyone can watch. Election judges and computers check each vote and signature against state registries before the ballots are tabulated and stashed by the hundreds in cardboard boxes, numbered and dated.

    — Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report.

    ___

    Officials: No fentanyl found in California cereal boxes

    CLAIM: A photo shows cereal boxes filled with fentanyl that were recently seized by law enforcement officials in San Bernardino County, California.

    THE FACTS: The county sheriff’s department said the photo, from a drug bust earlier this year, shows pills suspected of being MDMA, not fentanyl. With Halloween around the corner, social media users have been sharing warnings about the possibility of potentially deadly drugs showing up in otherwise innocuous children’s treats. The latest warning includes a photo of two cereal boxes — one Lucky Charms, the other Trix — and their contents. The widely-circulating image purportedly shows pink-colored pills mixed in with the colorful cereal pieces. “This was seized in San Bernardino County today. It’s Fentanyl mixed with cereal,” wrote one Instagram user in a post that was shared more than 25,000 times before being taken down. “PLEASE SHARE AS HALLOWEEN GETS CLOSER SAVE A LIFE!!!!,” wrote another Instagram user. However, the photograph doesn’t show fentanyl in the cereal, but likely another less lethal recreational drug: MDMA, often referred to as ecstasy or Molly, according to Mara Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. She added that lab tests have not yet been completed on the substance. The photo comes from a joint investigation this summer by the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that involved drugs being distributed through the mail, Rodriguez said. The agency stressed the incident doesn’t raise broader concerns about illegal drugs infiltrating the nation’s food supply. “This is an isolated incident with individual packages, not a mass-produced or commercial/retail distribution system,” the sheriff’s department said in an emailed statement. The use of cereal to conceal the drugs is most likely a smuggling technique, “not a sinister attempt” to market illegal drugs to a younger demographic, says Ryan Marino, an addiction medicine specialist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio. “The drug trade is a business and nobody is giving away expensive products for free,” he said. “It wouldn’t make any logical sense.” The claims come shortly after California authorities seized 12,000 suspected fentanyl pills hidden in candy boxes at Los Angeles International Airport last week. The county sheriff’s department said the suspected trafficker tried to go through security screening with packages of Sweet Tarts, Skittles and Whoppers filled with the drug. The DEA also warned the public in an Aug. 30 news release about the increased presence of candy-colored “rainbow fentanyl,” which it billed as a tactic by drug cartels to sell the highly addictive and potentially deadly opioids to younger users. Still, as trick-or-treat season approaches, the DEA says its so far found “no indication there is a connection” between fentanyl and Halloween, said Nicole Nishida, a DEA spokesperson in the Los Angeles field office. “Traditionally, drug traffickers use different concealment methods to try and evade law enforcement detection,” she wrote in an email. “We have seen fentanyl pills and other drugs hidden in fire extinguishers, fish tanks, candy boxes, everyday household items, pallets, and even concrete blocks.”

    — Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

    ___

    Death of red panda cub in Toronto not linked to COVID vaccine

    CLAIM: The recent death of a red panda cub at Canada’s Toronto Zoo was related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

    THE FACTS: The cub that died was not vaccinated against COVID-19. The Toronto zoo on Monday announced the death of the 3-month-old red panda cub, referred to as “Baby Spice” but recently dubbed Dash following a naming contest. Soon after, erroneous suggestions emerged on social media linking the death to the COVID-19 vaccine. “They killed the red panda,” reads a tweet that received more than 5,000 likes. The tweet included screenshots of two headlines: On the left, a headline from April reported that the zoo had received COVID-19 vaccines for its animals. On the right was a headline about the panda cub’s death. But there is no connection between the two, a spokesperson for the zoo told the AP. “Dash did not receive the Covid vaccine,” Amy Naylor said in an email. “A post-mortem was conducted to collect samples for additional testing which will be required to better understand the possible cause of the rapid decline of this animal. Until the results are available to us, we are unable to definitively state the cause of death.” The zoo also posted a statement responding to the false claim on Twitter. Dash showed no signs of illness on Oct. 22 but by the morning of Oct. 23 was lying on his side and weak, the zoo said. Attempts to treat him were unsuccessful. Red pandas are difficult to breed, the zoo added. Many pregnancies are lost and the zoo estimated that approximately 40% of cubs die within one year.

    — Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report.

    ___

    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck

    ___

    Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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  • How the Federal Reserve’s rate hike impacts your holiday spending plans: ‘It’s not the time to overspend’

    How the Federal Reserve’s rate hike impacts your holiday spending plans: ‘It’s not the time to overspend’

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    It is three weeks before Black Friday, but the Federal Reserve is about to make the post-holiday debt hangover a little more intense.

    By the time the latest rate hikes filter through the very rate-sensitive credit card industry and pump up customers’ annual percentage rates a little more, experts say it will be some point in December 2022 or January 2023. Right in time for many holiday gifts and expenses to post on credit cards bills — and there to make the costs of a carried balance a little extra expensive.

    Every year, many people accumulate credit card debt through the holiday season, pay it off in the early part of the following year and then repeat the process.

    What’s different now is the presence of four-decade high inflation, coupled with fast-rising interest rates that the Fed hopes will ultimately cool those rising prices, although without sending the economy to a recessionary thud.

    Wednesday’s rate move is the fourth straight 75-basis-point rate hike to the federal funds rate, taking it to the 3.75% -4% range, when it was near zero last year’s holiday season. By now, Americans are all too acquainted with 2022’s fast-rising interest rates. They just haven’t gone through a Christmas and Hanakkuh with it yet.

    “It’s not the time to overspend and have a problem with paying your bills later. We know the economy is sending mixed messages,” said Michele Raneri, vice president of financial services research and consulting at TransUnion
    TRU,
    -4.31%    ,
    one of the country’s three major credit reporting companies.

    It’s extra important to think through a holiday budget and how much relies on credit, she said. “People need to think about how much they can afford to repay and how long it will take to repay it.”

    Holiday spending could be the same as 2021 for many people — but not everyone

    Last month, third-quarter earnings from major banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co.
    JPM,
    -0.92%    ,
    Wells Fargo
    WFC,
    -0.15%    ,
    Citibank
    C,
    -1.45%
    and Bank of America
    BAC,
    -0.30%
    indicated consumer finances, on the whole, are not yet showing cracks under inflation’s strains. (Other numbers show the strain, like the personal savings rate that’s been dwindling.)

    Now, two forecasts suggest many people ready to spend the same amount for this year’s holiday cheer as they did last year.

    People are planning to spend an average $1,430 on gifts, travel and entertainment this year, which is around the $1,447 spent last year, according to PwC researchers. Three-quarters of people said they were planning to spend the same or more than last year and respondents said credit cards were one of their top ways to pay.

    “ Compared to last year, credit card balances are getting bigger, more people are sitting on balances and debt costs are getting pricier.”

    By another measure, Americans will pay an average $1,455 on holiday-related gifts and experiences, essentially flat from last year, say Deloitte researchers.

    More than one-third of surveyed consumers say their financial outlook is worse than the same point last year. Nearly one-quarter of people were concerned about credit card debt as of late September, Deloitte’s numbers show in an ongoing tracking of consumer mood.

    It’s understandable to see the concern with households amassing a collective $890 billion in credit card debt through the second quarter. Compared to last year, balances are getting bigger, more people are sitting on balances and debt costs are getting pricier because the interest rates applied to those balances are rising.

    When people were carrying a credit card balance month to month, the sum was $5,474 on average, according to Raneri. That’s through the end of September and it’s a nearly 13% rise year over year, she said. The 164 million people carrying a balance is a 5% increase from last year, she noted.

    Credit cards carrying a balance during the third quarter had an average 18.43% APR, Federal Reserve data shows. That’s up from 16.65% in the second quarter and up from 17.13% in 2021’s third quarter.

    How the Fed influences credit card rates

    Credit card issuers typically determine their rates by applying a “prime rate” — typically three percentage points on top of the federal funds rate — and the issuer’s profit margin, said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com.

    By late October, the rate on new card offers was 18.73%, according to Bankrate data. At this point last year, it was 16.31%, Rossman said. In a few weeks, the rates on new offers should beat the all-time record of an average 19% APR, exclusive to new offers, he added.

    While it can take a billing cycle or two for a higher APR to make its way to an existing credit card account, Rossman noted the APRs on new offers could rise in a matter of days.

    Here’s a hypothetical to show how much more expensive credit card debt becomes with every extra hike. Suppose the $5,474 balance is on a credit card with the current 18.73% average. If a person has to resort to minimum payments, Rossman said, they’d be paying $7,118 just in interest to pay off the debt.

    “ In a few weeks, the rates on new credit card offers should beat the all-time record of an average 19% APR.”

    What if the 18.73% APR gets kicked up 75 basis points to 19.48%? If that same borrower has to pay minimums, they are now paying $7,417 in interest to snuff the principal debt of $5,474, Rossman said.

    The example has its limits because people may pay more than the minimum and they may incur more credit card debt as they pay off the old one. But it shows a bigger point: “Unfortunately, anybody dealing with credit card debt is a loser from the series of rate hikes. It was already expensive. It’s getting more so,” Rossman said.

    When do rate hikes stop?

    While decisions during the Fed’s November meeting can have a ripple effect on holiday-time borrowing costs, observers say the real question about Wednesday is the clues Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell drops for what’s next. The central bank’s committee voting on interest rate increases reconvenes in mid-December.

    On Wednesday, the Fed said in a statement it expected further rate increases, but also said it would be watching to see if there were lag effects with its tightening policies, which could slow or limit the total amount of increases.

    “People, when they hear lags, they think about a pause. It’s very premature, in my view, to think about or be talking about pausing our rate hike. We have a ways to  go,” Powell told reporters at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

    The economy is strong enough to handle higher rates, Powell said. For one thing, households have “strong balance sheets” and “strong spending power,” he noted.

    Stock markets first jumped higher after the latest interest rate announcement. But they gave up the gains — and then some — by the end of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -1.55%
    was down more than 500 points, or 1.6% while the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -2.50%
    was down 2.5% and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    -3.36%
    closed 3.4% lower.

    Top economists in major North American-based banks forecasted the Fed will keep raising interest rates “until the first quarter of next year before potentially lowering rates through the end of 2023,” Sayee Srinivasan, chief economist at the American Bankers Association, the banking sector’s trade association, said ahead of Wednesday’s latest rate hike.

    “Top economists polled as part of a banking industry panel expect Fed rate increases through at least the first quarter of 2023.”

    The forecast, coming through an ABA advisory committee, is no sure thing. “Everything depends on the ability of the Fed to bring inflation down, so that will remain their clear priority,” said Srinivasan.

    Meanwhile, rising costs may cause more people to put the holiday cheer on plastic, even their decorations. The majority of Christmas tree growers in one poll are expecting wholesale prices to climb 5% to 15% for this season.

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  • How to Job Search in 2023

    How to Job Search in 2023

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    Pandemic lockdowns, cultural shifts, and technological advancements have forced businesses to rethink how they recruit, hire, and retain talent. Employees feel more empowered to find the right fit as their priorities in work and life change.


    Shutterstock

    The job search landscape continues to evolve, and job seekers are learning to adapt as employers develop new recruitment strategies. These tips can help you understand how to job search in 2023 and get the edge on the competition.

    Apply on job search sites.

    Many savvy job seekers turn to popular job search sites to find their dream jobs. These hiring platforms host open roles from thousands of top companies.

    You can refine your searches by industry, location, experience level, full/ part-time, and specific keywords. ZipRecruiter is one popular job site that simplifies the hiring process with its sophisticated AI-matching technology that connects hiring managers with the right candidate — almost like a personal recruiter.

    Apply on-the-go with mobile applications.

    The ability to apply for jobs via mobile app is a benefit modern job seekers can take advantage of. ZipRecruiter’s #1-rated job search app1 makes searching and applying from your phone effortless. Alerts keep you informed by letting you know when your application was reviewed, and one-tap apply enables you to submit your profile to jobs anytime, anywhere.

    Prepare for more video interviews.

    Phone screening is standard for recruiters, but many employers are opting for virtual interviews during every step of the hiring process. While some people thrive during in-person interviews, meeting over video chat has its benefits.

    If the company isn’t a good fit, you save yourself a trip to their office, and taking notes for talking points is easier. Ace your next video interview by preparing your space and rehearsing answers to potential questions ahead of time.

    Is flexible work right for you?

    Modern employees are beginning to expect remote and hybrid working situations from their employers — or they will find an organization that allows it. Offering flexible working locations expands the talent pool employers can choose from and can provide a better work-life balance for employees.

    Optimize your resume.

    Employers can receive large volumes of job applications, so they use software programs to filter resumes and applications by specific keywords and criteria that meet their requirements. You can optimize your resume by referencing the words from the job listing. See what terms and keywords employers use in the job descriptions can help your application appear higher in their filtering system.

    1 Based on job seeker app ratings, Jan 2021 to Jan 2022 from AppFollow for ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, and Monster.

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  • Clutch Exotics Now Offering Luxury Car and Yacht Rentals With Unforgettable Experiences Where Drivers Can Dare to Dream

    Clutch Exotics Now Offering Luxury Car and Yacht Rentals With Unforgettable Experiences Where Drivers Can Dare to Dream

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    The rising supercar rental service provides Miami locals, wandering travelers and business executives the chance to travel in style and luxury.

    Press Release
    –

    Nov 2, 2022 12:00 EDT


    MIAMI, November 2, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Clutch Exotics, a luxury car and yacht rental service, has officially begun offering exotic rental experiences for South Florida locals and visitors. Serving communities in Miami, Boca Raton, Aventura, Delray Beach and surrounding areas, Clutch Exotics specializes in providing its clients with the most luxurious vehicles and motorized toys in the Sunshine State. 

    Currently, Clutch Exotics offers a wide variety of luxury and exotic cars ranging from coupes, sedans and SUVs. With models from renowned brands such as Lamborghini, McLaren, Bentley, Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Cadillac and BMW among others, Clutch Exotics’ customers never have to worry about a lack of selection when scanning through vehicle catalogs. 

    Clients can be picked up in or have their Clutch Exotic supercars delivered to the airport, hotel, or destination of their choice. Those seeking the VIP Clutch Exotics lifestyle can also take advantage of the Clutch Exotic chauffeur services. Clients can be driven in luxury by an experienced chauffeur, ensuring they arrive at their destination in style with every ride. 

    For those interested in enjoying unforgettable experiences at sea, Clutch Exotics offers an assortment of high-end yachts and watercraft. Book dream yachts that are perfect for parties, corporate events, and those spontaneous “just because” moments that can occur out of the blue. Clutch Exotics yachts sail from 40-foot to 120-foot long. “Sail with us today,” said Rob Kotelsky, founder and current CEO of Clutch Exotics.

    At Clutch Exotics, our jet ski club offers 72 hours of luxurious jet ski use for a period of one year. Daily rentals are available as well.

    “Our message to South Florida locals and visitors is ‘Dare to Dream with Clutch Exotics with unforgettable experiences,’” said Rob Kotelsky, the founder and current CEO of Clutch Exotics. “When our clients want to seize dream-like experiences through our selection of high-octane vehicles, yachts, and watercraft, we make sure we come in clutch to make those dreams a reality.” 

    To learn more about Clutch Exotics and the Clutch Club Exclusive Membership in which clients can drive a new supercar daily, please visit https://clutchexotics.com or call 305-744-5104.

    About Clutch Exotics 

    Exotic cars and fabulous yachts are not just for the rich and famous. Clutch Exotics will change your perspective of what luxury really is with one of the models from a current selection, which includes sports models to luxury SUVs. Whether you’re looking in Miami or Aventura (or both), we have something that surely impresses even the most selective drivers as well as 5-star service with a crewed charter exclusive yachting experience.

    We specialize in providing our clients with luxurious toys for their excitement while visiting the Sunshine State.

    Explore the rest of our website to see all the services we have to offer to you. Get in touch with us today by either clicking our Book Now or simply by giving us a call or even our email. Our experienced staff is always here to answer any question of yours. “We come in Clutch” at Clutch Exotics.

    Source: Clutch Exotics

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  • Tony Hawk uses skateboarding to teach community organizing

    Tony Hawk uses skateboarding to teach community organizing

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    Sara Campos remembers being inspired to start skateboarding after playing Tony Hawk videogames on the California family’s PlayStation 2.

    Campos, 23, who uses they/them pronouns, never dreamed they would be part of Tony Hawk’s charitable work. But last month, Campos was selected for the first class in The Skatepark Project’s fellowship program. The program trains 15 diverse skateboarding enthusiasts in community organizing and project management to be able to build a skatepark in their neighborhoods. Not only does the program hope to create a new gathering place in minority communities. It also aims to support and train young minority leaders.

    “It’s almost like a dream come true,” said Campos, who used to draw skatepark designs on printer paper to show their parents. “Getting to do that again, but for real this time, is one of those things you didn’t actually think would happen.”

    It’s almost exactly what Hawk hoped for when he launched this initiative.

    “With this program, we are engaging these kids — not only to advocate for a skatepark for their use but also to realize that their voices can matter, that they can effect change,” Hawk said. “If you’re a city looking for more projects that are inclusive, that are diverse, I think skateboarding is at the top of the list these days.”

    Hawk, who won 73 championships by age 25 and was world champion of vert skating for 12 straight years in the 1980s and ’90s, noted that the sport has changed dramatically over the years. He no longer hears people shouting, “White boy sport,” at him while he’s on his board.

    He now sees a wide array of races and genders when he visits skateparks. It’s a shift that he hopes to foster with his nonprofit work.

    “My style was so mechanical that I became an outcast within the skate community, but I did find my own sense of identity and community at the skatepark,” Hawk said. “It’s an individual pursuit, but you are bolstered by the community around you. And then they support you in your endeavors.”

    Neftalie Williams, a sociologist and expert on skateboarding culture as well as a provost postdoctoral scholar at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, said he is excited by the prospect of having skateparks built through the fellowship program.

    “These young people care passionately about skateboarding and are now getting training to be able to carry out their mission and get the work done,” Williams said. “It’s not just getting the skatepark built or getting knowledge within these young people’s hands. They’re gonna have generational knowledge that’s going to passed down and there are very few things that allow that.”

    The Skatepark Project – which began as the Tony Hawk Foundation in 2002, funded by Hawk’s $125,000 win on the celebrity edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” – saw the fellowship as a response, of sorts, to the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. Hawk said he believes the fellowship can help address racial inequality as well as provide opportunities for a new generation of minority leaders.

    Williams, who is also on The Skatepark Project’s board of directors, recalled Hawk and his team saying: “How do we do more? There’s a racial reckoning that’s going on. There needs to be more representation (in skateboarding) for LGBTQ+ communities. There needs to be more work for Indigenous folks. How do you take this platform and really take it to the next level, really empower the next generation?”

    Creating a new generation of skateboarding advocates who also understand the mechanics of community organizing is part of the answer.

    Nicole Humphrey, program coordinator for the fellowship, wants each fellow to create a skatepark that reflects their community and its needs, while also being economically sustainable. But she also wants them to feel that they can apply what they learn in this fellowship to future projects beyond skateboarding, from building other public spaces in their communities to making their voices heard on issues that concern them.

    “What I learned very early is there wasn’t a book or anything to reference,” said Humphrey, a community organizer who also co-founded the nonprofit Black Girls Skate, dedicated to supporting minority skateboarders. “There’s nothing like it. We’re really honestly building it from scratch, and it’s been fun. But I think my entry point was really just being in the organizing space.”

    Though the Skatepark Project fellowships began only in September, Campos, a communications and digital marketing specialist at Utopia PDX, has already learned much about what they need to do to build a skatepark in Northeast Portland, one that can be “a space where once you show up, you just feel like you belong there.”

    Campos also received plenty of information they can use for Queer Skate PDX, the nonprofit they co-founded to support women, LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming people getting started in skateboarding by offering them needed equipment and sponsoring events to meet other skaters.

    “As a person of color who lives in a state that is predominantly white, it makes it a little bit harder to find community groups that you can relate to,” said Campos, whose family is from Guam. “I had the idea of trying to prioritize and uplift all of these marginalized communities, as well as serving everyone as a whole.”

    Campos said the fellowship has given them a deeper knowledge about the history of skateboarding as well as what the sport has done for them.

    “Skating has brought me a group of friends and connections and community that I would not have if it wasn’t for skating,” Campos said, adding that she also met her partner, Rochelle, through the sport. “It’s taught me a lot in terms of falling down and getting back up. It’s taught me a lot about courage.”

    —————

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • 2 police officers shot in Newark; suspect at large

    2 police officers shot in Newark; suspect at large

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    NEWARK, N.J. — Two Newark police officers were in stable condition Tuesday after being wounded in a confrontation with a gunman being sought in connection with another shooting, authorities said.

    The afternoon shooting occurred outside an apartment building in residential neighborhood about a mile west of Newark Liberty International Airport. Frightened residents were forced to remain inside as police blocked off nearby streets to search for the gunman, who was still at large in the early evening.

    One officer was shot in the leg. The other officer’s neck was grazed by a bullet that lodged in his shoulder, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said at an evening news conference.

    The two officers returned fire and the gunman fled into the apartment building, Baraka said. Police believed he was hiding in an apartment and were searching door to door, while moving residents to safety.

    “Prayerfully, we can end this with a person in custody this evening,” Baraka said.

    Police had responded at approximately 1 p.m. after a citizen who had seen a flier about a previous shooting called in a tip about the suspect’s possible identity, according to Baraka. Police were exiting the building when they encountered the suspect in the parking lot and, during an altercation, he pulled a gun and began shooting, the mayor said.

    A video taken by a bystander and posted online appeared to show someone helping an officer off the ground and soon after, others in uniform helping the limping officer into a car.

    Video taken from news helicopters showed police officers in tactical gear staging on streets in the neighborhood and searching on top of and around the base of at least one multistory apartment building. Police vehicles could be seen placed to block roads in the area.

    As darkness fell, Lauren Adelsky was still waiting to be allowed past the yellow tape and back to her building near where police were stationed. She had been waiting since about 4 pm, when she came back from work.

    “I’m hungry, I’m tired, I just want to go home,” she said.

    Elijah Moore was in his bedroom when he heard gunshots ring through his neighborhood. He immediately moved away from the window after hearing what he said were “a lot of shots,” possibly more than a dozen.

    “I didn’t know what to do, if they were getting into my building,” said Moore, 33.

    He turned on the television where he learned more about the shooting. His panic subsided minutes later, he said, when he saw police swarming his neighborhood.

    Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement that he was monitoring “an unfolding situation in Newark,” but didn’t immediately share details.

    “I am in touch with local authorities and the state is providing resources as requested. We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe,” he said.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Bobby Caina Calvan contributed to this story from New York.

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  • 1 dead, 7 wounded after Halloween party shooting in Kansas

    1 dead, 7 wounded after Halloween party shooting in Kansas

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    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — One person was killed and seven others were wounded after gunfire erupted at a crowded Halloween party in Kansas City, Kansas.

    The shooting happened Monday night at a home, the Kansas City Star reported. Between 70 and 100 people were at the party, including high school-aged teenagers.

    Police were called around 9 p.m. and found the deceased person and several others with gunshot wounds. No information about the victims has been released.

    Officer Marshee London said people suspected in the shootings entered the home and were asked to leave. Afterward, bullets were fired from the outside into the house.

    No arrests have been made.

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  • S. Korea police admit responsibility for Halloween tragedy

    S. Korea police admit responsibility for Halloween tragedy

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    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s police chief admitted “a heavy responsibility” for failing to prevent a recent crowd surge that killed more than 150 people during Halloween festivities in Seoul, saying Tuesday that officers didn’t effectively handle earlier emergency calls about the impending disaster.

    The admission came as the South Korean government faces growing public scrutiny over whether the crowd surge Saturday night in Seoul’s Itaewon district, a popular nightlife neighborhood, could have been prevented and who should take the responsibility for the country’s worst disaster in years.

    “I feel a heavy responsibility (for the disaster) as the head of one of related government offices,” Yoon Hee Keun, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, told a televised news conference. “Police will do their best to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.”

    Yoon said an initial investigation has found that there were many urgent calls by citizens notifying authorities about the potential danger of a crowd gathering in Itaewon, but officers who had received those calls didn’t respond to them in a satisfactory manner.

    Yoon said police have subsequently launched an intense internal probe to look deeper into the officers’ handling of the emergency calls and other issues like their on-the-spot response to the crowd surge in Itaewon at that night.

    The disaster — which left at least 156 people dead and 151 others injured — was concentrated in a downhill, narrow alley in Itaewon. Witnesses described people falling on one another, suffering severe breathing difficulties and falling unconscious. They also recalled rescuers and ambulances failed to reach the crammed alleys in time because the entire Itaewon area was extremely packed with slow-moving vehicles and a crowd of partygoers clad in Halloween costumes.

    During a Cabinet council meeting Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol also acknowledged that South Korea lacks research on a crowd management. He called for using drones and other high-tech resources to develop an effective crowd control capability. He said the government will soon hold a meeting with experts to review overall national safety rules.

    The crowd surge is South Korea’s deadliest disaster since the 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people and exposed the country’s lax safety rules and regulatory failures. Saturday’s crowd surge has subsequently raised public questions about what South Korea has done to prevent human-made disasters.

    After the Itaewon disaster, police launched a 475-member task force to find its cause.

    Senior police officer Nam Gu-Jun told reporters Monday that officers have obtained videos taken by about 50 security cameras in the area and were analyzing video clips posted on social media. Nam said police have also interviewed more than 40 witnesses and survivors so far.

    Police said they had sent 137 officers to maintain order during Halloween festivities on Saturday, much more than the 34-90 officers mobilized in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic. But some observers questioned whether the 137 officers were enough to handle the estimated 100,00 people gathered Saturday in Itaewon.

    Adding more questions about the role of police was the fact that they sent 7,000 officers to another part of Seoul earlier Saturday to monitor dueling protests involving tens of thousands of people. Police also acknowledged that the 137 officers dispatched to Itaewon were primarily assigned to monitor crime, with a particular focus on narcotics use — not the crowd control.

    The death toll could rise as officials said that 29 of the injured were in serious condition. The dead included some 26 foreign nationals from Iran, China, Russia, the United States, Japan and elsewhere.

    President Yoon asked officials to provide the same government support to the bereaved families of the foreign victims as to South Korean dead and injured people. He also thanked many world leaders for sending condolence messages over the disaster.

    The Itaewon area, known for its expat-friendly, cosmopolitan atmosphere, is the country’s hottest spot for Halloween-themed events and parties, with young South Koreans taking part in costume competitions at bars, clubs and restaurants. Saturday’s gathering of the estimated 100,000 people in Itaewon was the biggest Halloween celebration in the area since the pandemic began.

    Halloween festivities in Itaewon have no official organizers. South Korean police said Monday they don’t have any specific procedures for handling incidents such as crowd surges during an event that has no organizers.

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  • Omaha officer shoots driver at annual Halloween block party

    Omaha officer shoots driver at annual Halloween block party

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    OMAHA, Nebraska — A Halloween celebration turned frantic after a man drove through a barricaded area and was shot by an Omaha police officer Monday night, police said.

    The Omaha World-Herald reports that the shooting occurred during the popular annual “Halloween on the Boulevard” block party in the Minne Lusa neighborhood in Omaha.

    Children and adults were out in the neighborhood trick-or-treating when a car drove recklessly through a blocked-off area shortly after 7 p.m., Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci said.

    The driver of the vehicle was shot by an Omaha police officer and taken to Nebraska Medical Center with serious injuries. The name of the driver has not yet been released. Police say no one else was injured.

    Chrissy Lopez, a resident of the neighborhood, told the Omaha World-Herald that the vehicle initially drove slowly through the crowd as people yelled at the driver to stop.

    “He would stop and then drive a little more,” she said. “I heard his engine rev and people started screaming, and I thought ‘Oh no.’ And then I heard the gunshots, and everybody just started screaming and running and crying.”

    Police and firefighters were already on the scene for the block party, which is put on by the Miller Park Minne Lusa Neighborhood Association and draws thousands of people to the area each year.

    The shooting is under investigation.

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  • EPA: Water in Mississippi’s capital city is safe to drink

    EPA: Water in Mississippi’s capital city is safe to drink

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    JACKSON, Miss — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Monday that the water in Mississippi’s capital city is safe to drink, after months of sampling at a treatment plant overwhelmed by August flooding that caused wide supply disruptions.

    The beleaguered O.B. Curtis water treatment plant fell into crisis after the late summer flooding left 150,000 people without running water for several days. People waited in lines for water to drink, bathe, cook and flush toilets. The crisis also added to the rising costs for business owners already saddled with a labor shortage and high inflation.

    The city had already been under a boil-water notice since late July because the state health department found cloudy water that could make people ill. But current water samples pass muster for safe consumption, the EPA said.

    “Current sampling confirms water delivered from J.H. Fewell Water and O.B. Curtis Water Treatment is safe to drink,” said Maria Michalos, a spokesperson for the EPA, referring to the city’s two water treatment plants.

    The agency encouraged Jackson residents to stay vigilant about updates and follow all future boil water advisories, as “localized issues” may resurface. It is not yet certain whether Jackson has too much lead and copper in its water. Sampling for lead and copper has been completed and results are expected in mid-November.

    The sampling was collected during a series of tests over the last several months conducted by the EPA and the Mississippi Department of Health, said Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.

    At a news conference, Lumumba said Monday that city officials had been informed that Jackson was “in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act,” the federal law that gives the EPA authority to set standards for drinking water quality.

    Current samples indicate that Jackson’s water quality meets federal standards although testing is ongoing.

    The EPA is coordinating with the city and the state health department to sample the water and “confirm drinking water delivered to customers meets Safe Drinking Water Act standards,” Michalos said.

    Although water pressure was restored in the days after the late August crisis and a boil water notice lifted, many people still don’t drink the water and haven’t been doing so for years amid lingering distrust of the supply.

    In September, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice said they were “prepared to file an action” against the city under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but hoped they could avoid a legal dispute by reaching an “enforceable agreement.” Federal attorneys said state and local officials “had not acted to protect public health.”

    On Monday, Lumumba said negotiations between city attorneys and the federal government are continuing.

    In response to a question about whether Jackson could still face legal action under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Michalos said the “EPA does not comment on ongoing enforcement matters.”

    In an Oct. 20 announcement, the EPA said it was investigating whether Mississippi state agencies have discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund water system improvements in the city, where more than 80% of residents are Black and about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

    Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents Jackson, said the EPA civil investigation is expected to take about four months.

    Lumumba also said the city is pressing ahead with plans to secure a private firm to operate the O.B. Curtis water treatment plant. Several firms have already toured the plant, Lumumba said. Even as the city looks to outsource the plant’s operations and maintenance to a private company, Lumumba has been adamant that ownership of the city’s water system should remain in public hands.

    On Friday, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves extended the state of emergency over the water crisis until Nov. 22. City officials aim to have a contract in place with a private operator by Nov. 17, Lumumba said.

    ———

    Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mikergoldberg.

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  • How Your Enneagram Type Determines Your Wealth and Success

    How Your Enneagram Type Determines Your Wealth and Success

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Life is short, and our professional lives are even shorter. We don’t have time to waste. It’s essential to understand how your Enneagram type determines your wealth because it will enable you to identify better who and what to avoid.

    Not only that, but it will offer you a blueprint to follow regarding how to create the levels of wealth you desire.

    Related: 10 Ways to Grow Leaders in Your Business

    What is an “Enneagram”?

    The Enneagram is a personality typing system that takes the form of a nine-pointed diagram or “map.” It represents the patterns in personality types that describe how we as individuals experience the world.

    Each of the nine personality types stems from a core belief about how the world works. The Enneagram aims to identify which of those personality types best describes you, how much of each personality you have within you and how that unique combination dictates how you operate.

    If you’ve never done one, I recommend taking ten minutes to try it.

    What your Enneagram type says about your capacity for wealth is less of a direct determination and more of an indication of your current situation. If you’re finding yourself in a state of frustration or like you constantly have to force things, your Enneagram type could well be incompatible with your strategies.

    To be clear, we’re talking about “wealth,” not “worth.”

    What we’re talking about is how resourced your life is. Are you able to do the things that you want to do? Are your needs taken care of?

    You can probably see how your resources (time, money, energy, health, etc.) can be limited by trying to force yourself down a path at odds with who you are.

    I am sure that there are probably money-making practices and strategies that feel entirely alien to you. Futures trading, perhaps. FOREX. Real estate. Crypto.

    A lot of people find the jargon alone completely impenetrable!

    Now imagine the lengths you’d have to go to force yourself to become not merely competent at any of those, but world-class!

    And when I say: “world-class,” I mean that you are so competent at strategizing and have demonstrated this competence so prevalently that people will pay for your knowledge to enrich themselves.

    Yeah…tall order, isn’t it?

    Let’s look at an example of an Enneagram test result, and explore how it would determine that person’s wealth.

    Here are the results of a friend of mine. He took the test, and his results were: 8-4-3-1-5-6-7-9.

    Let’s look at his top three personality types and what they say about how he creates wealth.

    8 – The Challenger

    This personality type is fiercely independent and fears being controlled by others. It is preoccupied with gaining influence and seeking truth. Their vice is lust, and their trap is justice.

    4 – The Individualist

    The individualist is sensitive and withdrawn but also expressive and dramatic. They can be self-absorbed and temperamental.

    3 – The Achiever

    This type is very success-oriented. They are pragmatic and adaptive. As you might imagine, they are driven to succeed. They can also be very image conscious.

    Now, these are only the first three of my friend’s Enneagram personality types. They only form a partial picture; if we were to actually use this to build a plan of action for him, we’d need to examine it.

    With his three strongest personality types, you can probably already get a sense of what would (and would not) work for him.

    Related: 10 Powerful Attributes of Insanely Successful People

    What wouldn’t work for him?

    Being fiercely independent, fearful of being controlled, and success-oriented, climbing the corporate ladder just isn’t going to work for him. He would spend far too much time railing against the corporate structures to get anywhere.

    The individualist personality type adds a layer to this; he probably won’t be very good at simply selling his time. He would be no good at bookkeeping or PA work, for example.

    Such jobs wouldn’t value his creativity. Quite the opposite; he’d be required to conform to stringent rules, which would be seriously unfulfilling.

    The Achiever type wants to rise above and be recognized as unusually competent or talented. So combined with being a challenger and individualist, my friend already has a clear path ahead.

    What would work?

    My friend would need to find ways to make money that value him and his uniqueness.

    Because of his temperamental, dramatic and withdrawn nature, he would need something that allowed him to be flexible with his time. He would work in bursts of energy and inspiration, so he’d need flexibility in his personal life to afford him the space to create.

    Whatever he did, however, he’d need to ensure that he was highly skilled and competent at it! He and his knowledge would have to become invaluable to his clients. It may seem like my friend is limited in how he could grow his wealth, but if he orients his talents and drives in a scaleable way, he could make infinite amounts of money.

    His unique offering would need to be ‘downloaded’ from him and into something that others could possess (for a price).

    With that out there, making him scaleable profits that don’t require him to work, he could turn his hand to being of value without the need to turn a profit.

    That’s where a real life of wealth and abundance lies.

    So…I hope this makes sense and gives you an idea of your Enneagram type’s value in determining your wealth. It’s not something that renders you powerless or that you must submit to.

    Not at all!

    It is the blueprint to reveal more aligned ways of creating wealth. A path of “least resistance,” if you will, that will free you from feelings of being trapped, frustrated and like you don’t belong.

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    Daniel Mangena

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  • Feel Awkward? This Founder Wants to Fix Your Social Anxiety.

    Feel Awkward? This Founder Wants to Fix Your Social Anxiety.

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    Why do some people struggle to make friends while others have no trouble at all?


    Courtesy of SocialSelf

    David Morin, now the founder of startup SocialSelf, wanted an answer to that question — but nobody seemed to have one.

    “They never know,” Morin explains. “They just say, ‘Well, that person is just really likable.’ Almost like it’s magic.”

    Morin wanted to crack the code, so he launched a company that offers an automated solution for the “loneliness pandemic.” Today, SocialSelf boasts one million monthly users.

    Entrepreneur sat down with Morin to learn more about SocialSelf’s evolution, “social overthinkers” and how being uncomfortable can be a good thing.

    Related: How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers

    An automated solution for the ‘loneliness pandemic’

    Before Morin began SocialSelf, he was already well-versed in entrepreneurship. At 17, he co-founded an electronics company, which he sold as a multimillion-dollar entity. Then he started another company to sell advertising space on websites.

    But an encounter with Robin Sharma’s book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, which contends that happiness is found through helping others, changed Morin’s perspective.

    Morin started to consider what made him truly happy. Ultimately, he landed on something simple: Having everyday experiences with friends.

    “If you have good friends, you can go through any struggle in life,” Morin says. “But if you have everything else in life and you still feel lonely, it’s like nothing is worth it.”

    But he also recognized that forging meaningful relationships is difficult for some people — and he wanted to help them.

    Morin launched SocialSelf in 2012 as a simple blog with a focus on social psychology. But the site garnered a larger audience during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Now, SocialSelf offers content authored by counselors and therapists, free training to help people build their social confidence and paid courses for those who want to go more in-depth.

    Related: Welcome to the Age of FOMU (Fear of Meeting Up)

    ‘Hardcore’ customer development helped build SocialSelf

    In his research to build out SocialSelf’s courses, Morin spoke to at least 10 people for each one, working out to 20-30 hours of phone calls.

    Undertaking this “hardcore version of customer development” was essential, Morin says, as he needed to have a deeper understanding of various socialization issues — or risk providing overly general advice that could be ineffective or even detrimental to SocialSelf members.

    Consider the example of someone who struggles to connect with others in a social setting. The root of the problem could be social anxiety, but it could also just as easily be a lack of empathy. Naturally, telling someone with social anxiety to develop empathy is counterproductive.

    “If you read the advice online to ask more questions because people like to talk about themselves, that sounds like a good piece of advice,” Morin explains. “But then when we interviewed our members, it turns out that many of them feel like they aren’t really interesting, so they never talk about themselves. And then they read that piece of advice and think, Oh, I need to ask even more questions. And then they still don’t connect.”

    When users navigate to SocialSelf, they have the option to take a brief survey. Based on those results, users are assigned tags in the SocialSelf system, which then customizes their next steps through automation.

    SocialSelf’s courses aren’t a replacement for therapy, Morin notes, but they can still provide value to a lot of people — without the equivalent price tag.

    “If you [go to] a therapist, they ask you quite simple questions at first to try to figure out how to help you,” Morin says. “And, if it’s a [cognitive behavior] therapist, they use proven methods that are based on what your situation is and what your goals are. And that’s actually not that hard to do in an automated shape.”

    Related: 4 Important Social Skills You Need to Succeed at Work

    Image Credit: Courtesy of SocialSelf

    What is a “social overthinker”?

    Morin kept encountering the term “social overthinker” during his research process.

    It was an idea that resonated with people who saw others socialize in a seemingly careless, easy way — while they were trapped in a cycle of overthinking that made those same kinds of interactions difficult.

    “Often, these people are quite well-off and smart,” Morin says of social overthinkers. “They have good jobs and everything, but when it comes to socializing, they get nervous because they put pressure on themselves, and they complicate things in their heads.”

    But there’s some good news for social overthinkers too: People tend to think they come across as more awkward or nervous than they actually do.

    Morin cites the example of people who give speeches and believe they appear more anxious than their audience does — empirical research backs that finding.

    But so does the common experience many people have had: They return to their seat after giving a presentation and lament how nervous they were, only to be told that they didn’t look nervous at all.

    Related: 10 Tips to Beat Your Fear of Public Speaking

    Socializing isn’t easy — and some things make it even harder

    Many people believe socializing should be easy because we’ve been doing it since childhood, but it’s an incredibly complex process, Morin says.

    Covid-19 added another layer of difficulty: A report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education found that 36% of all Americans, including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children, feel “serious loneliness” in the wake of the pandemic.

    Yet at the same time, Covid’s socialization restrictions were a relief for people who suffer from social anxiety, Morin says. It became normal not to socialize, which, in turn, only exacerbated those underlying issues.

    “When you socialize less, it just gets harder because if you socialize over chat, for example, there are so many thousands of nuances that you don’t pick up on and that you aren’t getting used to,” Morin explains.

    That’s why some social overthinkers are finding the return to school or work — and the social interactions that come with that — more difficult than ever before.

    Social media is another complicating factor, Morin says. He likens it to eating candy: It fills you up to an extent — you’re not really satisfied, but you lack the incentive to go to the kitchen and prepare a real meal.

    “There seems to be some type of mechanism where people use social media, and because of that, they aren’t motivated enough to go and actually socialize in real life,” Morin explains.

    Related: How the Health Crisis Will Change Socializing in Business Settings

    Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

    Some people who have social anxiety when they’re young grow out of it with time, Morin says, while others move in the opposite direction — becoming less socially savvy over the years.

    What makes the difference? Whether or not someone is putting themselves in situations that require those socialization skills, Morin says. Essentially, only those people who get comfortable with being uncomfortable will be able to find a more natural social footing.

    But that doesn’t just mean showing up to the party you don’t want to go to — you have to engage in the behaviors that create the discomfort, Morin explains. Spending the whole time on your phone or helping wash the dishes won’t stretch those socialization muscles.

    Instead, start that conversation — and keep it going longer than you might like.

    “If it’s uncomfortable to keep a conversation going a little bit extra, and you’d rather just cut it short because you’re afraid that there’s going to be an awkward silence if you push yourself to make conversation for a few more minutes, that’s what turns out to be helpful,” Morin says.

    And that’s exactly what Morin wants to do — keep helping people enrich their lives through socialization. He hopes to turn SocialSelf’s one million users into 10 million one day.

    “I want to continue to scale this,” Morin says, “so that it can maybe make a little bit of a difference in society as a whole, [help] people feel more confident and able to better bond with other people.”

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  • Witnesses describe ‘a hell’ inside South Korean crowd surge

    Witnesses describe ‘a hell’ inside South Korean crowd surge

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    SEOUL, South Korea — In one moment, thousands of Halloween revelers crammed into the narrow, vibrant streets of Seoul’s most cosmopolitan neighborhood, eager to show off their capes, wizard hats and bat wings.

    In the next, a surge of panic spread as an unmanageable mass of people jammed into a narrow alley in Itaewon. Toppled revelers were trapped for as long as 40 minutes, stacked on one another “like dominoes” in a chaotic crush so intense that clothes were ripped off.

    A stunned Seoul was just beginning on Monday to put together the huge scope of the crowd surge on Saturday night that killed at least 153, mostly people in their 20s and 30s, including foreign nationals. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said it expected more deaths because there were more than 130 injured, many in serious condition.

    Witnesses described a nightmarish scene as people performed CPR on the dying and carried limp bodies to ambulances, while dance music pulsed from garish clubs lit in bright neon. Others tried desperately to pull out those trapped at the bottom of the crush of people, but often failed because there were too many of the fallen on top of them.

    “We were just stuck together so tightly we couldn’t even shift to call out and report the situation,” said one survivor, surnamed Lee. “We were strangers, but we held each others’ hands and repeatedly shouted out, ‘Let’s survive!’”

    Kim Mi Sung, who works for a non-profit organization in Itaewon, told The Associated Press that nine out of the 10 people she gave CPR to eventually died. Many were bleeding from their noses and mouths. Most were women who dressed as witches or were in other Halloween costumes; two were foreigners.

    “It was like a hell,” Kim said. “I still can’t believe what happened.”

    In this ultra-wired, high-tech country, anguish, terror and grief — as well as many of the details of what happened — are playing out most vividly on social media. Users posted messages desperately seeking friends and loved ones, as witnesses and survivors described what they went through.

    “I thought I was dying,” one woman said in posts on Twitter. “My entire body was stuck among everyone else, while people laughed from a terrace and videotaped us. I thought I would really die if I cried out. I stretched my hands out to (others) who were above me and I managed to get out.”

    An unidentified woman in her 20s wept as she described the scene to the Yonhap news agency: “It looked like the graves of people piled upon one another. Some of them were slowly losing consciousness and others seemed to have already died.”

    A man, surnamed Kong, said he managed to escape to a nearby bar with his friends after the crush happened. He saw through the bar windows that people were falling on top of each other “like dominoes,” Yonhap reported.

    When a 27-year-old office worker who gave only his surname, Choi, left the bar he’d been in during the crush, he saw dozens of police and paramedics. “It kind of looked like a war zone,” he said.

    The bodies of 10 to 15 people were lined up in front of the King Kebab restaurant on the asphalt and were being covered up with blue tarps as he walked by.

    “It looked like they were sleeping — eyes closed, mouth opened. They looked like mannequins,” Choi said.

    Friends and family members gathered at a local government office to try to find news about the missing.

    One Twitter user posted a series of messages asking for information about a 17-year-old friend who had gone to Itaewon to celebrate wearing a hairband that looked like cat ears.

    “I lost contact with her. She’s been a friend of mine for 12 years, and we were like family. Please help me,” the message said.

    Even after the crush, witnesses said they saw some revelers not immediately making way for emergency vehicles, rescuers and police officers. One viral video clip on Twitter showing a crowd of young people dancing and singing near the carnage drew several insults from South Koreans.

    Ken Fallas, a Costa Rican architect who has worked in Seoul for the past eight years, watched stunned as a dozen or more unconscious partygoers were carried out from a narrow backstreet packed with youngsters dressed like movie characters.

    Fallas said police and emergency workers pleaded with people to step up if they knew how to give CPR because they were overwhelmed by the large number of injured.

    “I saw a lot of (young) people laughing, but I don’t think they were (really) laughing because, you know, what’s funny?” Fallas said. “They were laughing because they were too scared. Because to be in front of a thing like that is not easy. Not everyone knows how to process that.”

    ———

    AP journalists Juwon Park in Seoul, South Korea, and Jee-won Jeong and Kiko Rosario in Bangkok contributed to this story.

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  • As subscription prices rise, here’s what’s worth streaming in November 2022: ‘The Crown,’ ‘Willow,’ ‘Mythic Quest’ and more

    As subscription prices rise, here’s what’s worth streaming in November 2022: ‘The Crown,’ ‘Willow,’ ‘Mythic Quest’ and more

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    So here’s some bad news and some, well, slightly less bad news.

    First, the bad-bad: Streaming prices are increasing almost across the board (Hulu and Apple TV+ rose in October, Disney+ will rise in December, while Netflix and Prime Video rose earlier this year), putting even more of a crunch on budget-conscious consumers.

    But now the less bad: If you can put up with commercials, there are cheaper, ad-supported versions coming your way (Netflix on Nov. 3, Disney+ in December).

    Of course, the other money-saving solution is to double down on a churn-and-return strategy and cut down on recurring subscriptions even more.

    Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold and sell. We also pick the best content to help you make your monthly decisions.

    Consumers can take full advantage of cord-cutting by churning and returning — adding and dropping streaming services each month. All it takes is good planning. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month, and keep an eye out for lower-priced tiers, limited-time discounts, free trials and cost-saving bundles. There are a lot of offers out there, but the deals don’t last forever.

    Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in November 2022, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee.

    Netflix ($6.99 a month for basic with ads starting Nov. 3, $9.99 basic without ads, $15.49 standard without ads, $19.99 premium without ads)

    Netflix has another really good month coming up.

     “The Crown” (Nov. 9), returns for its fifth season, set this time in the 1990s as scandals involving Charles and Diana plaster London’s tabloids and the role of Britain’s monarchy in modern society is thrown into question. Imelda Staunton takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth, with Dominic West as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip. Controversy has already erupted over the new season, which will include Diana’s tragic death, as some have spoken out about the show’s increasingly blurry line between truth and fiction. Pryce recently told Vanity Fair, ““The vast majority of people know it’s a drama,” not a documentary. And it’s a pretty good drama.

    Netflix
    NFLX,
    -0.41%
    hasn’t had much success developing original sitcoms, but is hoping to finally break through with “Blockbuster” (Nov. 3), a workplace comedy set at the last Blockbuster video store in America, starring network sitcom veterans Randall Park (“Fresh Off the Boat”) and Melissa Fumero (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”). There’s also “Wednesday” (Nov. 23), a horror-comedy series from Tim Burton starring Jenna Ortega as the terrifyingly snarky teen Wednesday Addams, with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman playing her creepy and kooky parents, Morticia and Gomez; and the third and final season of the dark comedy “Dead to Me” (Nov. 17), starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, which returns after a two-and-a-half-year layoff.

    On the drama side, there’s “1899” (Nov. 17), a mystery-horror series set aboard a transatlantic steamer ship at the turn of the last century, from the makers of the mind-bending German sci-fi series “Dark” — and if it’s even half as trippy and addictive, it’ll be terrific; Part 1 of the fourth season of the supernatural drama “Manifest” (Nov. 4), which Netflix rescued from NBC’s cancellation; and Season 6 of the soapy Spanish high-school drama “Elite” (Nov 18).

    More: Here’s everything new coming to Netflix in November 2022, and what’s leaving

    There’s also the timely documentary “FIFA Uncovered” (Nov. 9), digging into the scandal-plagued organization behind the World Cup; “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet” (Nov. 17), a documentary about a man who sued Pepsi in the 1980s to get a free Harrier fighter jet; the fifth installment of “The Great British Baking Show: Holidays” (Nov. 18); and the new standup comedy special from the outgoing “Daily Show” host, “Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would” (Nov. 22).

    On the movie front, there’s “Enola Holmes 2” (Nov. 4), a sequel to the hit 2020 movie about Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister, played by Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”), as young detective Enola sets out to investigate her first case; “Slumberland” (Nov. 18), a comedy adventure about a young girl exploring the dreamworld, starring Mallow Barkley and Jason Mamoa; and Lindsay Lohan is back with a Christmas rom-com, “Falling for Christmas” (Nov. 10).

    Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.

    Play, pause or stop? Play. When it’s at the top of its game, as it is again this month, Netflix is a must-have, at whatever price tier.

    Disney+ ($7.99 a month)

    The TV world has been abuzz about prequels for the past few months, but it’s all about sequels in November for Disney+.

    The biggest of the bunch is “Willow” (Nov. 30), a follow-up series to the cult-favorite 1988 fantasy movie of the same name. The magical adventure is set 20 years after the events of the film, and Warwick Davis returns as farmer-turned-sorcerer Willow Ufgood, who leads an unlikely group of heroes on a quest to save their world. It should be fun for the whole family.

    Disney
    DIS,
    +1.45%
    also has “Disenchanted” (Nov. 18), a sequel to the 2007 hit movie “Enchanted.” The musical fantasy is set 10 years after the happily-ever-after ending, with Giselle (Amy Adams) questioning her happiness and inadvertently setting her two worlds askew. Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Maya Rudolph co-star. And then there’s “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 16), as Tim Allen reprises his role of Santa Claus, who’s now facing retirement and looking for a replacement, in a new miniseries spinoff of the family-movie trilogy.

    Also of note: “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” (Nov. 25), as Star-Lord and the gang kidnap Kevin Bacon; the live performance “Elton John: Live from Dodger Stadium” (Nov. 20), the pop icon’s final show in North America; and weekly episodes of “Dancing With the Stars” (season finale Nov. 21), the “Star Wars” prequel “Andor” (season finale Nov. 23) and “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” (season finale Nov. 30).

    And heads up: Prices for the ad-free tier will jump to $10.99 a month in December, after Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier for $7.99 a month.

    Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s library can be lacking.

    Play, pause or stop? Play. There’s something for everyone in the household — even grumps who aren’t “Star Wars” fans can get into “Andor,” which absolutely works as a dark, gripping, spy thriller. Meanwhile, fans are realizing it just might be the best “Star Wars” series or movie ever made.

    HBO Max ($9.99 a month with ads, or $14.99 without ads)

    HBO Max is bringing back  “The Sex Lives of College Girls” (Nov. 17) for its second season. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble (who also teamed on Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever”), the ensemble comedy about four college roommates picks up right after Thanksgiving break, with the girls organizing a “sex-positive” male strip show. It’s sharp, funny, and less cringey than its title suggests.

    Then there’s “A Christmas Story Christmas” (Nov. 17), a nostalgic sequel to the 1983 classic, starring Peter Billingsley as a grown-up Ralphie who returns to his hometown to try to give his kids a perfect Christmas. It’s risky reviving such a beloved movie, and this could either be wonderful or terrible, there’s really no middle ground.

    HBO Max also has a slew of documentaries, including “Love, Lizzo” (Nov. 24), about the pop superstar’s inspiring life story; “Shaq” (Nov. 23), a four-part docuseries chronicling the rise to superstardom of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal; “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty” (Nov. 3), a true-crime series about a South Carolina lawyer’s scandalous fall; and “Say Hey, Willie Mays!” (Nov. 8), a film exploring the life, career and social impact of the greatest baseball player who ever played the game.

    See more: Here’s everything new coming to HBO Max in November 2022, and what’s leaving

    And every week brings new episodes of Season 2 of the very dark vacation comedy “The White Lotus,” Season 3 of “Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler” and Season 2 of the cult documentary “The Vow.”

    Who’s HBO Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. “The White Lotus” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls” are both worth watching, but beyond that it’s kinda “meh” this month. And Max is too pricey for “meh.”

    Amazon Prime Video ($14.99 a month)

    Amazon
    AMZN,
    -6.80%
    is bringing the star power in November, starting with the Western drama series “The English” (Nov. 11), starring Emily Blunt as an aristocratic Englishwoman who teams with a Pawnee scout (Chaske Spencer) on a mission to cross the violent 1890s American frontier. It looks stylish and bloody — and promising.

    Meanwhile, James Corden and Sally Hawkins star in “Mammals” (Nov. 11), a dark comedy series about modern marriage; pop star-turned-actor Harry Styles stars in “My Policeman” (Nov. 4), a drama about forbidden romance that’s getting very “meh” reviews in its theatrical release; and Kristen Bell, Ben Platt and Allison Janney star in “The People We Hate at the Wedding” (Nov. 18), a raunchy comedy set at a dysfunctional family wedding.

    More: Here’s what’s coming to Amazon’s Prime Video in November 2022

    There’s also NFL Thursday Night Football every week, and new episodes of the intriguing sci-fi drama “The Peripheral,” which is giving very “Westworld”-but-slightly-less-confusing vibes.

    Who’s Amazon Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s good stuff here, but nothing that feels must-see.

    Paramount+ ($4.99 a month with ads but not live CBS, $9.99 without ads)

    Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone,” “1883,” “Mayor of Kingstown”) has another new series: “Tulsa King” (Nov. 13), starring Sylvester Stallone as a former New York mafia capo who gets freed from prison after 25 years and settles in Tulsa, Okla., to build a criminal empire of his own. Showrunner Terence Winter (“The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire”) knows a thing or two about mob shows, and this one could be good.

    Paramount+ also has the spinoff series “Criminal Minds: Evolution” (Nov. 24), about an elite team of FBI profilers unraveling a network of serial killers; the family movie “Fantasy Football” (Nov. 25), about a girl who can magically control how her NFL-player dad performs on the field; and the series finale of “The Good Fight” (Nov. 10), which its creators promise will be “cataclysmic.”

    There’s also the Thanksgiving Day Parade (Nov. 24) and a ton of live sports, including college football on Saturdays, NFL football on Sundays (and Thanksgiving Day), and group-stage matches for UEFA’s Champions and Europe leagues.

    Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global 
    PARA,
    +3.37%
     broadcast and cable shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause. Besides its solid live-sports lineup, it’s a good time to catch up and binge “The Good Fight,” and “Tulsa King” could be worth a watch too.

    Hulu ($7.99 a month with ads, or $14.99 with no ads)

    Hulu has a couple of interesting offerings in November, but nothing that screams must-see. Yet, at least.

    FX’s “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (Nov. 17) stars Jesse Eisenberg as a newly divorced dad whose promiscuous dive into app-based dating is disrupted when his ex-wife disappears and leaves him with their kids. Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody co-star in the eight-episode drama, which is based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s best-selling novel.

    There’s also “Welcome to Chippendales” (Nov. 22), a true-crime series starring Kumail Nanjiani as the immigrant founder of the 1980s male-stripper franchise, which chronicles his business empire’s rise and fall amid a blizzard of sex, drugs and violence.

    Meanwhile, Adam McKay (“The Big Short”) and Billy Corben (“Cocaine Cowboys”) have the documentary  “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty” (Nov. 1), about the private life of Christian televangelist and former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. and his very public downfall.

    See: Here’s everything new on Hulu in November 2022 — and what’s leaving

    There are also the final two episodes of “Atlanta” (series finale Nov. 10), whose fourth season has returned to brilliance after an underwhelming Season 3 over the summer, and new episodes every week of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.”

    Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. While you won’t regret paying for Hulu if you already do, there’s not a lot to lure new subscribers this month.

    Apple TV+ ($6.99 a month)

    Apple TV+ is too inconsistent to be worth the $2-a-month price hike that was just announced, so it’s best to strategically plan when to stream — wait until a good series or two are completed, for example, and binge them all in a month, then cancel. Repeat as needed.

    And it actually is a decent month for Apple. Its second-best comedy, “Mythic Quest” Nov. 11), returns for its third season, with Ian (Rob McElhenny) and Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) gearing up for war against their old videogame company. With a perfect blend of humor and heart, it’s one of the best workplace comedies on TV.

    Meanwhile, Season 2 of “The Mosquito Coast” (Nov. 4) finds the fugitive Fox family finally hiding out in Central America, after a tedious premise-pilot of a first season that wasted good actors (Justin Theroux and Melissa George) and beautiful cinematography with nonsensical plot twists, while the action series “Echo 3” (Nov. 23) stars Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman as former soldiers trying to rescue a kidnapped scientist in the jungles of South America.

    Apple
    AAPL,
    +7.56%
    also has a pair of high-profile original movies: “Causeway” (Nov. 3), starring Jennifer Lawrence as a former soldier struggling to adjust to civilian life in New Orleans, co-starring Brian Tyree Henry, and “Spirited” (Nov. 18), a musical twist on “A Christmas Carol” told from the ghosts’ point of view, starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell.

    Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s just not enough to justify a month-to-month subscription. December is a better bet, with “Mythic Quest” and a new season of “Slow Horses” running concurrently.

    Peacock (free basic level, Premium for $4.99 a month with ads, or $9.99 a month with no ads)

    The World Cup from Qatar (Nov. 20-Dec. 18) will be broadcast on Fox and FS1, so cord-cutters are out of luck, unless you subscribe to a live-streaming service like Hulu Live or YouTube TV. However, Peacock will stream every match in Spanish, which could be a decent Plan B for soccer fans.

    And that “it’ll-do-but-it’s-not-exactly-what-I’m-looking-for” description is the running theme for Peacock. November will bring a handful of originals that are unlikely to move the needle, subscriber-wise: There’s the musical-comedy spinoff series “Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin” (Nov. 23), starring Adam Devine; “The Calling” (Nov. 10), a crime drama about a religious cop, from David E. Kelley and Barry Levinson; the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (Nov. 24); and the streaming debut of Jordan Poole’s sci-fi/horror hit “Nope” (Nov. 18).

    Sports-wise, Peacock has the National Dog Show (hey, it’s a competition!) on Nov. 24, NFL Sunday Night Football every weekend, a full slate of English Premier League matches through Nov. 13, and a ton of golf and winter sports.

    Who’s Peacock for? If you have a Comcast 
    CMCSA,
    -0.06%
     or Cox cable subscription, you likely have free access to the Premium tier (with ads) — though reportedly not for much longer. The free tier is almost worthless, but the recent addition of next-day streaming of NBC and Bravo shows (like “Saturday Night Live” and “Real Housewives”) bolsters the case for paying for a subscription. Still, Peacock is still not really necessary unless you need it for sports.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s not a lot that’s particularly enticing right now, even on the sports side.

    Discovery+ ($4.99 a month with ads, or $6.99 with no ads)

    More of the same in November for Discovery+, which is a feature, not a bug. Highlights include the vegan cook-and-chat show “Mary McCartney Serves It Up” (Nov. 1); “Tut’s Lost City Revealed” (Nov. 3), about a 3,000-year-old Egyptian city recently discovered by archaeologists; “Vardy vs Rooney: The Wagatha Trial” (Nov. 19), the inside story of the tabloid-fodder “Wagatha” scandal between the wives of English soccer stars; and Season 2 of the excellent CNN food series “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” (Nov. 30). Full disclosure: There are also a handful of sappy holiday movies guest-starring some HGTV and Food Network stars, but they look terrible and I expect better from you, a discerning reader/viewer.

    Who’s Discovery+ for? Cord-cutters who miss their unscripted TV or who are really, really into “90 Day Fiancé.”

    Play, pause or stop?  Stop. Discovery+ is still fantastic for background TV, but it’s not worth the cost. Still, it should add value when the reconfigured Warner Bros. Discovery 
    WBD,
    +3.68%
      combines it with HBO Max next summer.

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  • Witness recalls harrowing moment of Seoul crowd surge

    Witness recalls harrowing moment of Seoul crowd surge

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    SEOUL, South Korea — As he watched a dozen or more unconscious partygoers carried out from a narrow backstreet packed with youngsters dressed like movie characters, an overwhelmed Ken Fallas couldn’t process what was happening.

    Fallas, a Costa Rican architect who has worked in Seoul for the past eight years, said Saturday’s Halloween festivities at the city’s nightlife district of Itaewon were a long-awaited occasion to hang out with fellow expats following years of COVID-19 restrictions

    Instead, the 32-year-old became a front-row witness to one of the most horrific disasters South Korea has seen.

    The smartphone video Fallas took following the deadly crowd surge shows groups of Halloween revelers carrying out their unconscious peers, one after another, from an alley near Hamilton Hotel, passing by throngs of people dressed in capes and Miyazaki movie costumes. Some people are seen administrating CPR to injured people on the pavement while others shout for help above blaring dance music.

    Fallas said police and emergency workers were constantly pleading with people to step up if they knew how to give CPR because they were overwhelmed by the large number of the injured laid out on the street.

    “I saw a lot of (young) people laughing, but I don’t think they were (really) laughing because, you know, what’s funny?” Fallas said. “They were laughing because they were too scared. Because to be in front of a thing like that is not easy. Not everyone knows how to process that.”

    Fallas said he and his friends were trapped among the huge throngs of people pushing toward the alley when police officers began breaking the lines from behind to approach the injured. He said people near his group didn’t initially know what was happening.

    “We were we were unable to move back. The music was loud. Nobody knew what was happening. People were still partying with the emergency happening in front of us,” he said. “We were like, ‘What’s going on from here, where we can go?’ There was no exit.”

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  • University of Kentucky student dies in Seoul Halloween crush

    University of Kentucky student dies in Seoul Halloween crush

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    LEXINGTON, Ky. — A University of Kentucky student who was studying in South Korea was one of more than 150 people killed when a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul, the school said Sunday.

    Anne Gieske, a nursing student from northern Kentucky, died in the crush of people in the Itaewon area of Seoul on Saturday night, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said in a statement posted on the school’s website.

    Gieske was studying in South Korea this semester with an education abroad program, Capilouto said. The university also has two other students and a faculty member there, but they have been contacted and they are safe, he said.

    “We have been in contact with Anne’s family and will provide whatever support we can — now and in the days ahead — as they cope with this indescribable loss,” the statement said.

    The university is located in Lexington, Kentucky. The school has offered online and phone resources for students who are grieving, including the services of a mental health clinician. The university has nearly 80 students from South Korea, the statement said.

    “As a community, it is a sacred responsibility we must keep — to be there for each other in moments of sheer joy and in those of deepest sadness,” Capilouto said. “That is what compassionate communities do.”

    It remained unclear what led the crowd to surge into the downhill alley, and authorities promised a thorough investigation. Witnesses said people fell on each other “like dominoes,” and some victims were bleeding from their noses and mouths while being given CPR.

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  • Perfect Your Putting with a Prime Day-Like Deal

    Perfect Your Putting with a Prime Day-Like Deal

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    The golf season is slowly coming to a close in many parts of the country, and that just means you’ll have some time to work on your game before you hit the links again in the spring. The golf course can be a great place to do business, but not if you’re embarrassing yourself every single day you’re out there.


    StackCommerce

    Fortunately for you, we’ve got a host of overstock deals that we’re bringing down to Prime Day-esque prices, including the award-winning Pressure Putt Trainer. If your short game is your biggest struggle, you’ll be able to practice your short game all winter long.

    This ISPO Award Winner is the ultimate training aid designed to simulate the exact conditions of putting on a real green, even when you’re indoors. The ground-breaking parabolic curved design ensures that each successful putt is returned to you at the perfect distance. If you putt too hard, it’ll return to you the exact distance it would have gone past the hole, and if you putt too soft, it just won’t reach. It’s all about perfecting your pace and helping you improve your aim.

    The clever product was invented in London by product designer Martin Riddiford and developed using drills that pro golfers use in their own practice. Made from high-quality elastomer and translucent polycarbonate, the Pressure Putt Trainer is a portable tool that folds up and fits easily into your golf bag so you can play at home or take it to the local green on a sunny day. No matter where you like to practice and play, you’ll be able to do it like a pro.

    Take advantage of this limited-time deal to hone your short game in the off-season. From now until October 31, you can get the Pressure Putt Trainer for over half off $43 at just $19.99. Get it in blue, green, orange, and white.

    Prices subject to change.

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