Author: openjargon

• Indonesia plans to relocate its capital from Jakarta to the new city of Nusantara.
• The new city will cost $35 billion and won't be finished until 2045.
• The climate crisis has prompted the move, with Jakarta at risk of sinking due to rising sea levels.

Jakarta, on the northwest coast of Java at the mouth of the Ciliwung river, is Indonesia's capital and its biggest city.

It's home to some 10.6 million people and about 30 million in the metropolitan area. It's also sinking, with about 40% of the area now below sea level.

The Indonesian government plans to move the capital to Nusantara, a new city being built on the eastern coast of Borneo, about 870 miles north of Jakarta.

It will cost an estimated $35 billion and won't be finished until 2045. About 6,000 government workers are expected to move there in time for the next president's inauguration in October, however.

The decision is not without precedent. Brazil shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia in 1960, while Abuja replaced Lagos as Nigeria's capital in 1991.

But this is the first time that the climate crisis has played a role in the process. In recent years, rising sea levels have made Jakarta the world's fastest-sinking megacity, which sparked the Indonesian government's decision to move the capital.

Take a closer look at Nusantara.

A new beginning

In August 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo approved a plan to move the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara.

The site in East Kalimantan was chosen because it's close to the sea and there's a relatively low risk of earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions.

Under water

This mosque in Jakarta has fallen victim to rising sea levels. Excessive groundwater withdrawals have contributed to subsidence rates of up to six inches a year, and 40% of the city is now below sea level.

Environmental experts warn that a third of Jakarta could be submerged by 2050 if subsidence continues at the current rate.

Indonesia's government is also spending tens of billions of dollars on measures to try to stop flooding in Jakarta.

Flood risk

Researchers at NASA and partner agencies used data in 2020 to produce this map to identify areas of Jakarta under threat of being flooded.

“Nusantara” roughly translates to “the outer islands”

It was chosen to reflect President Widodo's geopolitical vision and evoke Indonesia's archipelagic nature. The country's 276 million people are spread across more than 17,000 islands.

Nusantara is on Borneo, one of the world’s largest islands.

Borneo is known for its 140 million-year-old rainforests, home to endangered native species including the Bornean orangutan.

About three-quarters of the island is Indonesian territory, with Malaysia and Brunei accounting for the remainder. Borneo as a whole has a population of about 23 million people.

Construction began in July 2022.

Widodo sent some 100,000 workers to start building Nusantara, and the number later rose to between 150,000 and 200,000 as construction ramped up.

This is how the Nusantara site looked in April 2022.

The satellite image was taken by the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9.

This is how it looked in February.

A network of roads has been carved into the forest since 2022 so that the construction of government facilities and other dwellings can begin. The initial population is expected to be about 500,000, according to the project website.

Indonesia’s government has pledged to make the city 100% green.

Policymakers have claimed that Nusantara will be a "green, walkable" metropolis, powered entirely by renewable energy by 2045.

They plan to build a 50-megawatt solar plant and only electric vehicles by the end of this decade.

Some big names are involved in the project.

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair and Abu Dhabi's crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan are both on the steering committee for Nusantara. In October, the Tony Blair Institute signed a deal to build a research center in the new capital.

It's not clear where the money is going to come from, though.

While the city is expected to cost about $35 billion, the Indonesian government has only committed to providing about 20% of the funds, and is struggling to find other sources of finance. In March 2022, Japan's SoftBank pulled out of the project.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/NCJsKyO
via IFTTT

• Chinese submarine crews are training to operate farther into the Western Pacific.
• The more intense training appears to be stressing them.
• The training also seems bent on curbing cheating in China's military.

China is forcing its submarine crews to endure more intensive and realistic training exercises. The goal is to enable subs to operate farther from the Chinese coast and deeper into the Western Pacific, which requires commanders and crews capable of the flexible tactics and initiative that are the norm in Western navies.

But this change is taking a toll on submarine crews. Training has become "more realistic, rigorous, and standardized across the fleet," according to a report by the China Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College. "Though stressful on submarine equipment and crews, these changes to training may ultimately yield a more combat-capable submarine fleet operating throughout the western Pacific."

The changes date to 2014, when China's military strategy expanded from continental defense on China's border to blue water operations in the Western Pacific. To accomplish this, Chinese leaders have called for attack submarines to embrace "informatization:" Rather than prowling as solitary hunters, they would send and receive targeting data from external sources such as surface ships, aircraft and fleet headquarters.

In addition to more joint training, the People's Liberation Army Navy is now trying to make training as real as possible.

"While the PLA has addressed wartime requirements in training for years, the explicit requirement to train under conditions that are expected in combat adds an intensity and rigor to training and pushes units to consistently train for war," wrote Christopher Sharman and Terry Hess, who co-authored the CMSI report.

Chinese attack submarines are also expected to act more independently, take more initiative and respond flexibly to changing tactical situations rather than await orders from superiors. This may not be easy for a submarine force brought up in the Soviet tradition of rigid control, and in which each boat sails with a political commissar who shares authority with the captain.

Attack subs are most effective when they can ambush warships and merchants, missions that require tactical prowess and flexibility. So-called "boomer" submarines, by contrast, need rigid command and control to be trained and ready to fire nuclear missiles.

Since 2018, the Chinese navy has created new training infrastructure, including more use of simulators and the establishment of special naval bases that evaluate submarine crews and issue those who pass with "deep sea battlefield" certificates. "A submarine might face twenty different scenarios that are used to evaluate fifty technical and tactical tasks while operating at sea," the report noted. "For example, during one assessment, evaluators directed a submarine to sea in poor weather causing severe sea sickness among the crew. In these conditions, evaluators tested the submarine's ability to dive, avoid anti-submarine ships and aircraft, overcome a rudder hydraulic failure, perform anti-surface and anti-submarine targeting, and launch live torpedoes."

In another test, "a submarine sonar operator detected a high-speed target maneuvering toward the submarine. The submarine's captain assumed the object was an enemy torpedo and began making evasive maneuvers. The target, however, was a decoy. Because the submarine had misidentified the target, the crew failed the exam."

Training seems concerned not just with combat proficiency, but also with preventing cheating in the corruption-prone Chinese military. "Oversight prevents units from grading themselves on training evolutions, which ensures training accountability by mitigating the risk of units falsifying capabilities and validates capabilities to execute operational requirements," said the report. "Moreover, it addresses two problems that existed in PLA training: inconsistency between how similar units train and incorrect training techniques."

China's submarines face some unusual challenges, including "internal solitary waves" — common in the Western Pacific — that can sink them. The Chinese navy also has a habit of selecting low-scoring officers to command its submarines, which often operate with senior commanders aboard to ensure things are done right. Nonetheless, the idea of strenuous and realistic training would seem normal enough to Western sailors.

But for Chinese submariners, the new training is stressful. Demands for more realistic training have resulted in riskier training. "In order to execute operational guidance, the submarine force must operate at sea for longer durations, operate further from the coast, and train under simulated wartime conditions while ashore and at sea," the report said. "This places tremendous emotional stress on the crew and physical stress on the submarine platform, increasing the likelihood of a mishap caused by a mechanical malfunction or human error."

Between tougher training and mastering new equipment as Chinese subs become more sophisticated, there is a greater chance of a mishap. "Crews have less time to familiarize themselves with their equipment, and over time there is increased likelihood their lack of familiarization will contribute to an accident or mechanical failure," the report warned.

Indeed, a 2021 Chinese military newspaper article reported "a submarine that conducted a maximum self-sufficiency test to operate as long as possible at sea without external supplies," according to the CMSI study. "Reportedly, the submarine was able to operate for 90 days before returning to port. During the deployment, sailors experienced physiological difficulties such as sensory degradation, eating disorders, and internal clock disorders."

At sea, sleep rhythms are defined by when sailors stand their watches and can shift away from the 24-hour day that's characterized by the night and day submariners don't experience.

Ironically, while rigorous training is intended to create a more skilled and aggressive submarine force, these changes could backfire. "Any potential mishap in the years leading up to a conflict could adversely affect PLA leadership's confidence in the ability of the submarine force to execute high-risk missions during a conflict resulting in more conservative submarine employment during combat," the report concluded.

Sub commanders who take initiative are praised in China's military press, and in 2018, senior officers were barred from sailing aboard submarines to babysit their captains. "But uncertainty remains regarding the full autonomy of submarine commanding officers," Sharman told Business Insider.

In fact, much about China's submarines remains a mystery. What we know largely comes from open-source literature, such as Chinese military media, but this only provides limited information. "Open-source literature provides little insight into the proficiency of Chinese submarines or their crews or how capable they are," Sharman said. "What the literature does suggest is that the PLAN submarine force is simultaneously incorporating a wide range of new operational guidance, platforms, and technologies that are pushing the crews and equipment of the PLAN submarine force in ways they have not been stressed before."

For several years before Russia invaded Ukraine, Western experts claimed that the Russian military had thrown off its Soviet-era rigidity and transformed into a flexible NATO-style force. But Russia's dismal combat performance in Ukraine showed that the reforms were mostly cosmetic. It remains to be seen whether China has remolded its submarine fleet.

"My reading of the literature, and watching the PLAN for over three decades, suggests PLAN submarine capabilities have improved over time," Sharman said. "But it still must improve further to be capable of supporting what is expected of the submarine force."

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/xint7fj
via IFTTT

• Luxury powerhouse LVMH is investing billions in real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The company's strategy involves purchasing older properties and creating new city centers.
• The company spent $2.1 billion last year acquiring properties in Paris ahead of the Olympic games.

Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the brand behind some of the most well-known names in fashion, wines, and spirits, is reshaping older neighborhoods across the globe into luxury plazas and shopping centers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the parent company of brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Fendi, as well as private equity firm L Catterton, is betting billions on in-person shopping by buying old shopping centers, hotels, and warehouses and turning them into mixed-use centers focused on their brands.

According to the report, much of the strategy involves buying property in sometimes historic neighborhoods — like the Pont Neuf neighborhood in Paris, which sent lawsuits LVMH's way from historians concerned about the integrity of the 150-year-old La Samaritaine department store — and transforming them into affluent neighborhoods by working with world-class architects like Frank Gehry to construct shopping centers.

Michael Burke, head of LVMH Fashion Group, told the Journal, "We're creating a city."

"We take something that does not exist and when we're done a city center has been created with the residential, retail, and cultural aspects to it," Burke told the outlet. "Most of our brands were brands that had fallen on hard times. Just like this real estate, we bought it because it was derelict. In ruins."

The "derelict" real estate includes areas like Miami's Design District, where the company turned 30 acres of warehouses and abandoned office buildings into a luxury space with museums, offices, and — of course — a retail center. Over 14 years, LVMH and a local developer took over blocks of the warehouse district. Now, asking rents for retail space in the area have increased by 200% since 2019, the Miami Design District said in a blog post, citing investment management firm JLL.

Burke told The Journal that the company's introduction to the world of real estate was in 2010 when he convinced CEO Bernard Arnault to revitalize the warehouse district in Miami. The company now has multiple sites in other cities internationally, including Paris and Montreal. According to the Journal, the company spent $2.1 billion last year acquiring properties in Paris ahead of the Olympic games.

The luxury brand is among several spending billions on luxury stores and experiences. Kering, the company behind Gucci and Saint Laurent, spent $1.4 billion on a building in Milan's Via Montenapoleone.

Chanel and LVMH are also interested in purchasing properties on New York's Fifth Avenue and the Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Journal reported.

The large-scale purchases are not without their controversies, however.

In Paris, The New York Times previously reported, luxury giants buying up property in the Marais district of Paris are contributing to the displacement of low-income immigrant businesses.

"This used to be a real neighborhood, with families and kids," Amar Sitayeb, a mini-mart owner, told the Times of the Marais district. "Now, all that's disappeared."

The Journal also reported that residents in Montreal, where the company has poured $1.5 billion into a mixed-use luxury shopping center called Royalmount, are apprehensive about the development's effect on the city's already established downtown. The Royalmount replaces a historical industrial site.

Global News Canada reported in 2019 that the project is estimated to increase car traffic by between 20,000 and 70,000 cars daily. The company responded by building a footbridge that connects the shopping center to Montreal's public transit network.

"Without proper planning and without transportation alternatives integrated and implemented, is almost like a recipe for chaos," Saint-Laurent Borough Mayor Alan DeSousa told Global News at the time.

LVMH did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/6HCUngL
via IFTTT

• Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Friday about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Trump called the third-party candidate a "Democrat 'Plant'" and "Radical Left Liberal."
• The diatribe comes as polling shows RFK Jr.'s run could siphon votes away from Trump.

Donald Trump will likely face a second contest against Joe Biden in the upcoming election, but the former president has another candidate currently in his crosshairs.

On Friday evening, Trump took to Truth Social to attack Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate running a long shot presidential campaign.

"RFK Jr. is a Democrat 'Plant,' a Radical Left Liberal who's been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden," Trump alleged in his post.

At the moment, six months before the election, Trump appears to have a razor-thin .8% lead in polls against Biden, according to national polling averages compiled by FiveThirtyEight. Polling for Kennedy shows he has 10.2% overall support, while Trump and Biden have 41.7% and 40.9%, respectively.

A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll also showed Trump as the favorite over Biden in six of seven battleground states, which is a key metric used to determine who could win the election.

So why is Trump harping over a longshot independent candidate?

Evan Siegfried, a former GOP strategist and crisis communications specialist, told Business Insider that Trump's diatribe is expected, considering another recent poll showing that Kennedy could actually hurt Trump in the election.

An NBC News poll published this month showed that Kennedy could siphon votes away from Trump, giving Biden a 2-point lead if the choices included all candidates — not just Biden and Trump.

"Honestly, this is not a surprise because in the last few weeks, polling has started to show that Kennedy takes away more from Trump than it does for Biden," Siegfried told BI. "He's clearly turned on RFK Jr. simply because he takes away from battleground states."

Trump's Friday attack is a notable shift in tone on Kennedy.

On April 5, The New York Times reported that Trump considered the Democrat scion as a possible running mate, according to two sources familiar with the conversations.

"I like Trump-Kennedy," Trump told one person, according to the report. "I like the way that sounds."

Kennedy dismissed the idea and told the Times it was "not a course I would consider."

A spokesperson for the Kennedy campaign declined to comment but pointed to an X post from the candidate on April 15.

"President Trump calls me an ultra-left radical. I'm soooo liberal that his emissaries asked me to be his VP," he wrote. "I respectfully declined the offer."

Siegfried told BI that Trump would love to establish a "dynasty" and one of the best ways to do that would be to attach oneself to the Kennedy name.

But the consideration was likely a passing thought the former president was "musing on," Siegfried said, adding that even Trump's advisors probably knew it wouldn't be a reality.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/iOofT5A
via IFTTT

• Staff Sgt. Phillip Cho is a sniper for the Army's 11th Airborne Division in Alaska.
• Cho said that while movies mainly focus on precision marksmanship, there's much more to sniping. 
• Movies often don't show the true value of fieldcraft and concealment. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Staff Sgt. Phillip Cho, a US Army sniper in the 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska. It's been edited for length and clarity.

At sniper training, we focus on things like range estimation, target detection, and precision marksmanship, the last of which is the most heavily portrayed aspect in Hollywood movies.

But, really, the hardest part of being a sniper is combining all of that together, because someone good at range estimation might be terrible at detecting targets, especially in a heavily wooded area or an urban environment, for example.

For me, the easiest part is probably shooting because I was already a good shot before I became a sniper.

And then I realized that's just a small part of the job. A lot goes into being a sniper, from staying hidden from patrols or trained observers to finding targets and calling for fire, like fire missions and artillery.

Hide-and-seek for adults

Something I harp a lot on is the importance of training. If you train hard enough, and if you can do your job well under pressure in training, you can do it in real life.

Let's say you are calculating the distance of a target in training. Then you'd be able to do that in the field because you've already shown that you can right there.

Obviously, there are things you can't predict in real life, like equipment failures, but when it comes down to it, you probably would have experienced whatever failures or obstacles that you might be experiencing in the field in training.

When we train for target detection, one of the biggest games we play is hiding objects in the open and having guys find them, sitting from one position. It's like hide-and-seek for adults.

I feel like, with all the training, you will be in the zone when it comes time to do your job regardless of your nerves.

But nerves are also a good thing. One of my first recon squad leaders told me, "If you do the job long enough where you get comfortable, you' should probably stop doing it because that's how you get people killed." Complacency is absolutely unacceptable, and we have to stay sharp.

I love my .300 Win Mag

Our section in Alaska currently has a few rifles in its inventory: the M110 chambered in .308, the M2010 in .300 Winchester Magnum cartridge, the MK22, the brand new one, we only have .308 for right now, and then the M107, which is our anti-material rifle.

The MK22 is an amazing shooting system and an easy weapon to use, but I've personally never used it in a field environment.

I'll always be a M2010 guy. I love my .300 Win Mag. It's the quintessential sniper rifle, but from what I've seen, the MK22 is an excellent weapon system and something I'll get more comfortable using.

As snipers, we have to carry a ton of extra equipment, not just our rifles.

In the summer, our stuff, such as our observation and communication equipment, extra batteries, and the actual weapon and ammunition, weighs roughly around 60 to 80 pounds.

In the winter, we need things like our bunny boots, different layers to help keep us warm, and various other extreme cold weather equipment that adds to that. Snipers are typically carrying anything from 90 to 120 pounds of extra weight in the cold.

Disappearing in depth and shadows

While movies touch on concealment, they never really show the true value of what makes it effective.

Camouflaging with elements of one's surroundings is what makes things like a gillie suit effective, and it's what allows a sniper to be unseen in their operational environment even if they don't have one on.

I would rather have someone who can hide without me having to babysit him than the guy who can call a perfect distance because we can work on that. It's mastering disappearing in depth and shadows in your environment.

And that's something that we have to master as a sniper that sets us apart.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/IMp19B6
via IFTTT

• A recent tech grad received offers from Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
• Meta initially offered $210,700 in total compensation, but Google offered other appealing benefits.
• Eventually, they chose Google for its interesting work, company culture, and legacy as a tech giant. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a Google employee who requested anonymity to protect their privacy. Business Insider has verified their identity and offer letters. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I started school at a top-ranked school for tech about four years ago. When I first entered, I was undecided about my career path.

But by my sophomore year, I had my eyes set on FANG, also known as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. My ultimate dream was to work at Google,

During my sophomore year, I started grinding on applications for the summer.

My GPA at the time was a 4.0, which definitely helped. But I also spent a ton of time doing Leet Code practice, which are algorithm brain teasers to test if you understand the fundamentals of theoretical computer science.

My hard work paid off and I was able to get an offer from Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

I ended up interning at Google for two summers, and the experience was everything I hoped for. I received great mentorship and worked on interesting projects that I learned a lot from.

When I finished my second internship, I received hiring committee approval, which allows former interns to get matched with a team full-time.

The issue was that it wasn't a guaranteed match — and if you don't get matched within a year, it expires.

I got full-time offers from Microsoft, Meta, and Google

I started off the job hunt process pretty confident. But a couple of months before graduating, I still hadn't heard from Google.

I sent several follow-ups asking about the matching process, but they had no updates for me.

So I started looking at other companies and ended up applying to at least 100 companies over the next few months. Once the market picked up, I started to receive a lot of DMs and cold emails from recruiters, including Meta.

I spent a couple of months interviewing and eventually received offers from Meta and Microsoft. Right as I was about to accept my offer from Meta, Google let me know that they found a match for me.

Meta initially offered a higher total comp, but Google had some attractive benefits

The offers from Meta and Google were most attractive to me so I was deciding between those two.

Meta gave me a better offer initially. It included $131,000 in base pay, 10% of my base as a bonus with the potential for an additional 10% based on performance, a $16,000 signing bonus, and $150,000 in stock options over four years. The total compensation came out to around $210,700.

The companywide performance bonus isn't given out every year, but if it does well, it will most likely be given out to its engineers.

Google originally offered me less in total compensation, but I was able to get them to increase the offer to $218,360 in total compensation, including a $138,000 base salary, 15% bonus, and $157,000 in stock options over four years.

Google also offered a $13,000 cash stipend for relocation, which made a difference. Meta's relocation package offered cash in lieu of some of the services they offered, like employment housing for 30 days, but the recruiter told me I could only cash out up to $5,000.

Google's front-loaded stock schedule also made a big difference in my first-year compensation, which appealed to me. At Google, I would receive 38% in the first year, 32% in the second year, 20% in the third year, and 10% in the fourth. At Meta, I would've received 25% every year.

Google also offered work for a month anywhere in the world, which was pretty cool.

Both have hybrid work structures, but Meta seemed stricter about it. The recruiter at Meta told me three days a week, in-person were required. At Google, it was a suggestion, and in the two summers I worked there, it wasn't enforced. Some weeks I didn't come in person at all and it wasn't an issue.

I would have chosen Google either way

If Google didn't increase its total compensation offer, I would've had a really tough decision to make. But I still would have chosen Google because the role itself was more interesting to me.

That, and it's the company I always wanted to work for.

Google made an impact on me early on. Before college and working in tech, Google was a name that stood out to me. It's a hallmark of company culture, and it started off bigger than the other tech companies that have emerged.

Google may not be the one leading the AI train, but I think they'll catch up. Google is the top search engine in the world. They have access to a ton of data.

After working at Google for two summers, I know how the company runs, and I believe in its vision.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/9nGuj0h
via IFTTT

• Employees are starting new workplace trends that push back on employers and help them climb the ranks. 
• Enter "corporate flirting" and "Bare Minimum Mondays" and poking fun at the corporate accent. 
• Check out these and other viral trends — and what experts have to say about them.

Employees are pushing back against the grueling demands of modern work through a host of workplace trends.

We've seen "rage applying." And who could forget "lazy girl jobs" or having "Bare Minimum Mondays"? Now, people are even pushing back on that nasally, passive aggressive, professional voice known as "the corporate accent."

And they're drumming up new ways to get ahead, through networking hacks like "corporate flirting."

Here's a look at the trends that have gone viral in recent months. 

Young workers are making fun of the "corporate accent."

You probably know someone that uses a "corporate accent," that nasally, passive aggressive, professional tone of voice used to convey confidence. They likely enunciate every, single word, too.  

The term itself was coined by TikToker Lisa Beasley who often plays a character called "Corporate Erin" in her videos on the platform. 

Another TikToker, inspired by Beasley, explained it as a worker's "nine-to-five voice," and "by changing the speed, rhythm, and inflection points of my speech I can convey a level of confidence where otherwise none exists." 

Younger workers have taken to criticizing the "corporate accent" as they struggle with the rules of office conversations — from when to use corporate jargon to mask your true opinions to how to make small talk. Almost half of Gen Zers and millennials reported feeling left out at work because they struggled to keep up with workplace jargon, and adjusted the way they spoke to fit in, a LinkedIn and Duolingo survey found in 2023. 

TikToker Srinidhi Rajesh went viral for promoting a networking approach she calls "corporate flirting."

In a TikTok video Rajesh describes corporate flirting as "a foolproof way to act and speak with charisma in almost every single situation, especially corporate ones." The video has racked up millions of views and over 260,000 likes. 

If you want to get to know someone better at work, for example, Rajesh said to start by asking them a basic question like where they went to college. Once they answer, Rajesh said respond in way that acknowledges that you heard them and adds "some outside context," but also pokes fun at them in a nice way. 

If they said they went to Northwestern University, for example, Rajesh said to respond with "Oh so you're really smart but you like freezing to death for half the year?'" This gives them an opportunity to joke back and continue the conversation. 

And don't be surprised if you find a Gen Z worker using this hack on you as a growing number get tips from TikTok. Seventy percent of Gen Z said they turned to TikTok for advice on their careers, according to a report by Edubirdie, an essay-service platform for students, that 2,000 Gen Zers between the ages of 18 to 26 in the US  about the influence of TikTok in their lives. 

 

Rage applying is the mass application to jobs — fueled by feelings of unhappiness at work. And it seems it has the potential to pay off.

After being passed over for a promotion, Jordan Smith — a 28-year-old working in the music industry in LA — "rage-applied" for five jobs and landed a better-paying role within a week. 

However, rage applying might not be the best approach for everyone.

Career coach Kelsey Wat advises against conducting a job search from an emotional place of "fear, resentment, or burnout." 

"I think it's helpful for job seekers to get more clarity and be more centered and grounded in what they want … so they can develop a job search strategy that is aligned with their values," she said. 

 

As companies cut back on hiring amid recession fears, "quiet hiring" — tapping internal talent instead of increasing head count — emerged as a new buzzy workplace term.

"This is a trend that's helpful for employees also," said Toni Frana, lead career expert at FlexJobs. "We know that employees like professional development opportunities … like the opportunity to upskill and increase their bandwidth and further their knowledge in terms of skills they acquire in a role." 

Wat said it's important for prospective employees to gauge an employer's willingness to provide internal growth opportunities during the job interview process.

"It's really important to ask how success is measured in a role, and when you're interviewing, asking questions about what previous people in the role are doing now so that you have a sense of whether there is mobility in the company," she said. 

Resenteeism, describes the act of staying in an unsatisfying job due to a perceived lack of options, even as resentment grows.

Gallup's 2023 State of the Global Workplace report found that roughly 1 in 5 workers were "loud quitting" at their jobs, which just means they were "actively disengaged" at work, as opposed to quiet quitters, who were simply "not engaged."

"They're detached from the organization but also emotionally against the organization, and they'll be vocal about it," said Jim Harter, the lead author of the report and the chief scientist for Gallup's workplace management and well-being practices. "The loud-quitting employees are going to be much, much more likely to take another job pretty quickly if it becomes available, and they won't need as much money to do that."

Frana said in some cases, employees should try to raise workplace issues with their managers before dissatisfaction festers. 

"I certainly think what a lot of things boil down to is communication and having conversations with your manager about potential opportunities or shifts in the type of work that you might be doing," she said. "You can oftentimes get to the heart of a matter, and you might be able to make some direct changes." 

Think of Bare Minimum Monday as a way to ease into work at the start of the week. It took off in 2023 — and is still going strong into 2024.

TikToker Marisa Jo popularized the term, which describes a way to resist the Sunday scaries and the pressure many people feel to hit the ground running full-speed when they return to work again on Monday.

"The second I got rid of the pressure and allowed myself to have whatever kind of day unfolded, I was able to do stuff," she said in a TikTok.

In a video documenting one of her Bare Minimum Mondays, Jo goes through activities like journaling, her skincare routine, and making progress on a creative project before beginning work, which she notes "doesn't start until noon" on Bare Minimum Mondays, though she notes she's able to finish all of her work in the shorter allotted time anyway.

Chaotic working, aka "malicious compliance," involves employees using their position at work to help customers or clients at the employer's expense.

Though it often entails breaking some rules, workers may do it without fear of repercussion because they're simply fed up with their job, employer, or the general state of work.

Anti-work sentiments helped the trend grow over the past several months. 

A TikTok from user The Speech Prof says examples of chaotic working include giving customers employee discounts or upsizing their food order for free.

Kelsey Wat, the career coach, says workers engaging in the practice should be aware that they may be jeopardizing their jobs: "I would be concerned that's not going to end well."

Some workers are dusting off their resumes and shoring up their skills to protect themselves in case they're laid off in trend called "career cushioning."

This trend, which involves workers starting to look for other jobs while still in their current roles, is often called "career cushioning," or "recession-proofing." The term started to take off late in 2022 and has continues as many companies announced job cuts. 

"Given the fact that we've had high inflation, we're potentially moving into more of a recession, I think that if you have concerns about layoffs, or you're in an industry that is affected by layoffs, I think it's really, really healthy and a good idea to make sure that you are networking, make sure that you are prepared for anything that can happen," Wat said. 

"I think it's a good strategy for everybody." 

Popularized by TikToker Gabrielle Judge, "lazy girl jobs" typically refer to low-stress jobs that still pay well.

Judge, a self-proclaimed "anti-work girlboss," told BI of the trend: "I really want people to understand our time is so valuable and should be focused on efforts that are most aligned with their individual priorities, not a company."

While some girls with so-called lazy jobs say it's helped them establish better work-life balance and keep stress in check at work, experts warn it can put your job in jeopardy.

"The problem with having the lazy girl job is that they're the first ones to get laid off when tough times come," Marc Cenedella, a careers expert and founder of the job search site Ladders, told Insider.

Cenedella added there's a risk bosses will see if you post about your lazy girl job online and take disciplinary action accordingly, and said you may also stunt your career growth and future prospects by taking it easy.

Being in your "snail girl era" is the natural companion to "lazy girl jobs," and an inherent rejection of the girlboss lifestyle.

The TikTok-popular term was coined by Sienna Ludbey in a September article for Fashion Journal titled "'Snail girl era': Why I'm slowing down and choosing to be happy rather than busy." Ludbey designs and sells bags and accessories through her shop, Hello Sisi.

In her article, Ludbey described the snail girl ethos: "A snail girl takes her time and creates to create. The speed at which everything is put out into the world is just getting faster, but she doesn't care. She's running her own race, and maybe that race isn't going anywhere but home and back to bed."

Suzy Welch, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, previously told BI that embracing the snail girl lifestyle of prioritizing happiness and self-care instead of overworking could have financial repercussions.

"The jury is out," Welch said. "We can be pretty sure that it will not be a career accelerator for those who choose it, but I think most of them know that. That will, of course, have financial consequences, and we may see in five years that a whole group of self-chosen 'snails' decide to become 'roadracers' when they find their trade-offs need to be calibrated."

 

 

"Loud laborers" aren't new, but the term appears to have hit the scene in recent months. And we've probably all known at least one person who fits this mold.

They're the ones who spend more time talking about their work than actually doing it — the ones who readily flaunt their achievements to their bosses or on LinkedIn but are slow to get to work.

These workers can have a negative effect on morale.

"Some people are motivated by external rewards and recognition rather than the inherent satisfaction of the work itself," Nicole Price, a leadership coach and workplace expert, told CNBC. "This can lead to a focus on visibility and self-promotion in order to attract these rewards." 

"The constant self-promotion may create an atmosphere of competition rather than collaboration," Price told CNBC. 

While Hot Labor Summer isn't new, this year's was one to remember.

Thousands of screenwriters from the Writers Guild of America and actors from the SAG-AFTRA are on a historic strike. The last time the two were on strike together was in 1960.

More than 11,000 Los Angeles city workers went on a 1-day strike this week. LA also saw thousands of hotel workers go on strike.

And the UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents roughly 340,000 UPS package handlers and drivers, reached a tentative agreement, averting a strike that could have had far-reaching repercussions.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/iGg0fvX
via IFTTT

• An Arizona lawmaker says GOP "extremism" has led many state voters to increasingly back Democrats.
• "The Republican party has become extreme in the age of Trumpism," the state senator told Politico.
• Arizona in recent years has become a hotly-contested swing state up and down the ballot.

In recent years, Arizona — after decades as a GOP bastion — has emerged as one of the most prominent electoral prizes for Democrats.

President Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020, the first time that a Democratic presidential nominee had carried the state since 1996. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly won a special election for his seat in 2020 and then won a full term in 2022. And Katie Hobbs was elected to the governorship in 2022, the first time that a Democrat had won the post since 2006.

This November, Democrats are hopeful that Rep. Ruben Gallego can hold the seat of retiring Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, as he's set for a likely face-off with Republican Kari Lake.

However, despite Arizona's seemingly clear shift to the left, a Democratic lawmaker recently said that the state was not as blue as it might appear, pointing to what she said was voter distaste with GOP "extremism" as a reason why her party has found success.

"The trajectory of Arizona has been steadily trending bluer on a statewide level," state Sen. Priya Sundareshan recently told Politico. "It's not because Arizona is necessarily a blue state but it's because Arizona has rejected extremism and the Republican party has become extreme in the age of Trumpism."

Arizona, one of the key swing states that'll be hotly contested by both Biden and former President Donald Trump this fall, has become ground-zero for major issues like immigration and reproductive rights.

Sundareshan, an environmental attorney who in 2022 was elected to the state Senate from a Tucson-area district, is one of the leading Democratic legislative leaders seeking to repeal Arizona's Civil War-era near-total abortion ban — which the state's conservative Supreme Court reinstated earlier this month.

The GOP-controlled state House of Representatives earlier this week voted to repeal the law after three Republicans joined the lower chamber's Democrats to roll back the measure. The state Senate is set to vote on the repeal next week.

If the repeal passes both chambers, Hobbs, a supporter of abortion rights, is expected to sign it into law.

Top Republicans are scrambling to contain the fallout over the abortion ban, especially given the party's precarious position in critical suburbs across the country — which includes scores of voters in Arizona's populous Maricopa County.

Despite appointing three anti-abortion associate justices to the US Supreme Court who backed the demise of Roe v. Wade, Trump earlier this month stated that the Arizona court's decision went too far. And the former president has also seemingly rejected the conservative push for a national abortion ban.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/Et32kSu
via IFTTT

• Discord banned accounts tied to Spy.Pet, a website known for mining and selling millions of users' messages.
• Spy.Pet used bots to scrape data from 14,000 servers, affecting nearly 620 million Discord users.
• Discord says it is considering legal action against the cite.

Discord banned several accounts linked to a website that was scraping and selling millions of users messages.

404 Media first reported on Spy.Pet, a website that was mining millions of Discord user's messages and selling access to the information for anyone willing to pay.

Discord is a a highly popular group-chatting app. Originally designed for gamers, the app has become a platform for all kinds of communities because of its voice chat, video-chat, and other capabilities like livestreaming.

The site used bots to scrape users messages and other data from 14,000 Discord servers. Using bot accounts, the bots would enter popular public servers for games like Minecraft and then collect information in all the server members, such as what other servers they are members of, according to 404.

In all, the bots collected data from nearly 620 million Discord users, according to Kotaku.

Following the report, Discord announced that it has banned several accounts related to the site after an investigation.

"Based on our investigation, these accounts accessed Discord servers that were open and available for anyone to join or where the accounts had easy access to a valid invite link," Discord told 404 in a statement. "Once in these spaces, these accounts could only access the same information as any other user in those servers."

Spy.Pet administrators acknowledged that Discord banned some of its bots, but claimed the removal of its website was unrelated, according to PC Gamer.

Spy.Pet administrators said on Telegram that they intend to get their website domain back and continue the site, PC Gamer reported. Discord added that it's considering "appropriate legal action," according to 404.

The crackdown follows layoffs at Discord in January for more than 170 employees. In an email to staff, CEO Jason Citron blamed the layoffs on the company's fast growth during the pandemic.

"We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020," Citron said in an email obtained by The Verge. "As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated."

Discord did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment Saturday.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/N0sI1FC
via IFTTT

• Scammers reportedly tricked a woman into believing she won $3 million, then stole $400,000 from her.
• They targeted the woman because she was elderly and showing early signs of dementia, police say.
• The FTC has urged vigilance against sweepstakes scams that demand upfront payment.

Scammers in Florida tricked a woman into thinking she won $3 million, then stole $400,000 from her bank account.

Police arrested Michael Lawrence and Max Richards in connection to the scam, but were only able to recover around $40,000 of the money, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference on Friday, according to Fox 13.

Lawrence and Richards face felony charges of first-degree theft and scheme to defraud, according to court records.

Judd, 70, is known online for his boisterous press conferences where he shares information about the people that the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrests.

During Friday's press conference, Judd said the scammers targeted an elderly woman with early signs of dementia. They told her she won $3 million in a Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes, and that she needed to pay them taxes, Judd said.

By the end, she had sent Lawrence and Richards $477,000 in three separate checks, Judd said.

An attorney for Lawrence did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment. It was unclear from court records whether Richards has retained an attorney.

The Federal Trade Commission says the best way to spot a sweepstakes scam is to look at what the party offering the money asks you to do next. If they try to get you to hand over money or send them your account information, it's likely a scam, the agency says.

"If someone tells you to pay a fee for 'taxes,' 'shipping and handling charges,' or 'processing fees' to get your prize, you're dealing with a scammer," the agency warned.

If you do pay money to a scammer, the FTC recommends asking whatever company you sent money through to help recover it if possible.

Polk said in the press conference that money lost in scams is often difficult to get back. The sheriff's office only recovered around $40,000 of the woman's money, he said.

"You go obtain subpoenas and then the bank takes their time about getting data back, the money is gone, long gone," Judd said according to Fox.

Lawrence appeared in court on Friday and does not have another hearing scheduled yet on the court docket.

Publisher's Clearing House did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

from All Content from Business Insider https://ift.tt/3ydNGYh
via IFTTT