David Lidsky's Blog, page 361

4 things executives could learn from top freelancers

You don’t become a successful freelancer without developing expertise in navigating uncertainty, and that’s a valuable skill for any top executive.

I am not a business coach. But as life in corporate America shifts, I’ve become a version of one to many of my C-suite clients who now find themselves in a career holding pattern. As the ground shifts beneath these executives, they are suddenly mighty curious about the lessons I’ve learned from four decades of navigating the kind of uncertainty freelancers deal with all the time.

Housing market update: More than 4 million homeowners could refinance their mortgages

The potential pool of homeowners who could refinance has quadrupled since June.

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A brief guide to affording eldercare for aging parents

Caregiving for elderly parents is costly, whether you’re spending time or money. Here’s how to make the math work for your family budget.

As an adult, you’ve gotten used to certain things about your parents that your childhood never prepared you for—like your mom’s affinity for pickleball or your dad’s sudden fascination with ancient alien documentaries. But the frailty that comes with aging can be the most difficult change to see in your parents. You might be tempted to ignore the signs of aging in your parents, but it’s likely that they will need some kind of eldercare in the future.

This German startup uses hops to reduce waste from beer and construction

HopfON seeks to reduce the construction industry’s waste, and its planet-warming emissions, by limiting the need for finite resources through hops-made products.

Two students in Munich, sipping beers on their dormitory couch in 2022, chatted about a recent lecture describing the use of banana fibers in Colombia to make sustainable building materials.

This slick tool monitors any web page for updates

Set up an alert once with Visualping, and never miss an important update again.

Email newsletters are great. When there’s an update, it comes straight to your inbox. You don’t have to check a web page over and over again.

Famed designer Stefan Sagmeister shares 35 years’ worth of his never-before-seen sketchbooks

Sagmeister took us inside three decades of his private sketchbooks and revealed what they say about his creative process.

Stefan Sagmeister is one of the most famous designers in the world, known for projects ranging from album covers for the Rolling Stones and David Byrne to branding for Levis and BMW to his experimental documentary on happiness. With an emphasis on an artist’s hand, Sagmeister cut through a century of strict geometries to define the visual style of the ’90s in ever-evolving work continuing today.

Why the UAW is threatening strikes against Stellantis again

Stellantis denies breaking the terms of the labor contract it signed with the United Auto Workers union only a year ago.

The United Auto Workers is taking steps toward holding strikes that could interfere with some of Stellantis’s operations in the United States. Stellantis, formed in 2021 through a merger, is the international automaker of Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, and other vehicles.

How to solve complex, real-world problems using applied math

Applied mathematicians have to find a balance between models that are realistic enough to be useful and simple enough to be implemented.

You can probably think of a time when you’ve used math to solve an everyday problem, such as calculating a tip at a restaurant or determining the square footage of a room. But what role does math play in solving complex problems such as curing a disease?

Why this tiny tribe’s $600M casino in California’s wine country may not happen

Governor Gavin Newsom and local politicians oppose the project along with the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians, who operate the nearby River Rock Casino.

For decades a small, landless tribe in Northern California has been on a mission to get land, open a casino, and tap into the gaming market enjoyed by so many other tribes that earn millions of dollars annually.

WhatsApp vs. Apple Messages: Which is the better messaging app in 2024?

We’ll explore this, based on five criteria: user interface, compatibility, useful features, fun factor, and privacy & security.

Messaging apps are one of the most frequently used apps on our phones. There’s probably not a day that goes by when most people don’t hear a ding alerting them to a new text. There’s also no shortage of messaging apps. But when it comes to the juggernauts, there are two: Meta’s WhatsApp and Apple’s Messages, the latter of which just got a big update in iOS 18.