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「這次，『它』真的變得不一樣了……。」時間往前推，今年三月，全球最大的上市避險基金集團英仕曼（ManGroup），在官網發布了一篇分析報告，報告核心，圍繞在一個已開發國家近年推行的資本市場改革。報告的結論是這麼下的：「它付出的努力，曾經收效甚微，但，這一切很可能即將改變。」 「轉型」、「不一樣」……，這些象徵著自我革新與重生的語彙，指向的，是一個經濟發展停滯逾三十年的國度——日本。 「過去十年，是這個國家的盤整期，」談到日本的未來展望時，元大金控策略長吳杰用篤定與樂觀的語氣提出定調：「現在，它即將全面邁入復興的階段。」 時間回到五月十七日，當天，代表日本大型股表現的日經二二五指數升破了三萬點關卡，不僅創下二○二一年九月以來新高，更逼近一九九○年八月以來的最高水平；同期間，反映日本整體企業表現的東證指數（Topix）也突破了二一二七點，來到三十三年高位。 帶動日股創新高的一大功臣，是外資。 根據日本財務省日前公布的統計資料顯示，今年四月，外資在日本股市總計買超四．九八兆日圓，這個單月買超金額，創下自○五年一月日本開始統計外資動向以來的歷史最高紀錄。 另一邊，…

If you’ve ever learned a new language — or tried to — you know how difficult it can be. Native languages seem almost built-in. We soak them up naturally when we’re very young. But learning a new language, especially after early childhood, can be a huge task, burdened by long vocabulary lists and genders to memorize, complex cases and troublesome tenses to master. Of course, it’s worth the effort. In today’s interconnected world, learning a new language can change your life. It will certainly change your brain. ALTERNATE ROUTES Learning anything changes your brain, at least a little bit. But learning a language does it in high gear. John Grundy, a neuroscientist at Iowa State University who specializes in bilingualism and the brain, explains that learning a new language causes extensive neuroplasticity in…

How can I fix a small area of peeling paint in my bathroom? IF YOU HAVE leftover paint in the original color, check to see if it’s still usable, says Rich Handel, who oversees paint ratings at CR. You’ll know the paint is too old to use if you find a thick, rubberlike layer sitting on top of the paint, or the paint doesn’t mix well when stirred. (Paint that’s still usable should stay blended for 10 to 15 minutes after mixing.) To test it, try painting a small area on a piece of cardboard: The paint should go onto the surface smoothly, and the color should be uniform. If you determine that the paint isn’t usable, take the can to a paint or home improvement store and ask whether it…

As the pandemic has evolved and most Americans have sought vaccines for protection, and as those who chose to forgo vaccination became infected (often more than once), the risk that COVID-19 poses for most Americans has declined. It’s estimated that more than 90% of Americans have some level of immunity to COVID-19 through vaccination or prior infection. Along with this wall of immunity, approaches adopted when we had few tools to prevent spread are no longer providing benefits that always justify their costs of social disruption, diminished classroom experiences, and economic drag. But we’ve been slow to adapt our strategies to the evolving notions of risk. The CDC is soon expected to update its policies, moving away from national recommendations and instead tying to measures of local prevalence its guidance for the…

Hey there! It’s me, the stock market. I know it’s weird to write you like this, but I felt like I needed to drop a quick thank-you note for everything you’ve done for me this year. I mean, your big ol’ balance sheet is almost $3 trillion larger since early March! You’re backing up the truck and loading it with Treasuries and corporate bonds and bond ETFs, all to keep the competition to stocks from fixed-income yields as limited as Jim Cramer’s understanding of me. It’s been a dream come true, honestly. I mean, fess up: Have you been reading my diary?! Maybe you’ve noticed, but everything else is a royal mess. Covid-19 is still killing people. Parents are dreading the beginning of “school.” U.S. unemployment is still above 10%, higher…

The McDonald’s in Great Barrington, Mass., had hired extra employees to keep up with the flow of hungry customers from a marijuana shop nearby. What its managers didn’t realize, on a Saturday afternoon in December, was that the payment processing technology at the dispensary was misidentifying a purchase of pear-flavored THC chews as a withdrawal from an ATM—at the burger joint’s address. The dispensary, Theory Wellness, didn’t know about the wrong address either. But why did the purchase show up as a cash withdrawal? Theory’s payment machine, which looked to a customer a lot like a card reader at a coffee shop, was in fact running a so-called cashless ATM. Instead of spitting out $20 bills, the machines work with software that programs them to send signals down debit rails, where…

On Nov. 3, 2020, Election Day, two young entrepreneurs received a call from the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with some important news. Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour had spent the past 18 months trying to get permission to start an ambitious and controversial new type of financial exchange—one where, rather than betting on equity prices or commodity futures, people could trade instruments tied to the outcomes of real-world events, such as the passage of legislation, the weather on a particular day, or the winner of best actor at the Oscars. “Congratulations,” boomed Heath Tarbert, a Republican who’d been appointed by President Donald Trump the previous year. “You now stand with markets that have been around since the 1840s. And I have no doubt that in time you’ll…

AUTHORS WHEN WE FIRST traveled to China, in the early 1990s, it was very different from what we see today. Even in Beijing many people wore Mao suits and cycled everywhere; only senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials used cars. In the countryside life retained many of its traditional elements. But over the next 30 years, thanks to policies aimed at developing the economy and increasing capital investment, China emerged as a global power, with the second-largest economy in the world and a burgeoning middle class eager to spend. One thing hasn’t changed, though: Many Western politicians and business executives still don’t get China. Believing, for example, that political freedom would follow the new economic freedoms, they wrongly assumed that China’s internet would be similar to the freewheeling and often politically disruptive…

It was finally time to say goodbye: On June 10, E! aired the series finale of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Over 20 seasons and nearly 14 years on the air, the Kardashian-Jenner clan opened their homes to camera crews and fans, building a reputation as reality television’s most famous family. But in recent months, they’ve also been accused of being among its cruelest. The claims are shocking. In just the last year, there have been lawsuits charging everything from sexual harassment and humiliation to failing to pay wages on time or give people breaks to eat. Tales of bullying nannies and thriftiness have also emerged. “Everyone I’ve spoken to who’s worked for the Kardashians says it’s absolute hell — whether it's for a couple of days or as a full-time…

1 Soundboard “In very general terms, the top is the ‘speaker cone’ of the guitar,” explains Eggle. “It’s the thing that responds to the vibration of the strings and beats in and out, which starts the air moving. “When we’re selecting a top, one of the first things that we do is check the stiffness. I’m after tops that are stiff across the grain. With a weaker piece of wood, you’d have to leave it thicker to give it sufficient strength. But that extra thickness would also make it less responsive, meaning it would take longer to react to vibration from the strings. “By contrast, a stiffer, stronger piece of wood can be made into a thinner top, so the response is more immediate and dynamic. What you’re looking for is a’board that’s…

Tacked on the wall of Anna Ewers’s childhood bedroom is an old black-and-white Calvin Klein ad featuring Kate Moss in a pair of faded jeans and little else. Ewers says she was “probably around 12” when she found the image, flipping through one of her father’s music magazines from 1993. The date on the cover was what initially caught Ewers’s eye—she was born that same year in Freiburg, Germany, a college town on the edge of the Black Forest mountains, not far from the French/Swiss border. “It was a very different time, but an amazing time for the industry,” says the now-29-year-old model, who bears more than a passing resemblance to another fashion icon of that era (and a fellow German), Claudia Schiffer. A decade after swiping the ad from her…

OCTOBER OCT 22 RON’S GONE WRONG Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, and Ed Helms lend their voices to an animated coming-of-age story about a shy student and his new “best friend out of the box,” robot Ron. (In theaters) OCT 29 ANTLERS Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons team up in a Guillermo del Toro-produced chiller about a mysterious creature haunting a small town in Oregon, and a young boy hiding a dark secret. (In theaters) ARMY OF THIEVES This prequel to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead stars Matthias Schweighöfer (who also directs) as a bank teller swept up in a robbery that happens to coincide with the zombie apocalypse. (Netflix) NOVEMBER NOV 5 THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN From cowboys to cats! Benedict Cumberbatch (yes, him again) plays eclectic British artist Louis Wain, who, after adopting a kitten,…

決戰十二月十八日，「四大公投」投票日剩下不到一個月，正、反方展開大辯論，互不相讓。 四大提案中，包括是否同意重啟核四（位於新北貢寮的龍門核能發電廠）、中油第三天然氣接收站（桃園觀塘液化天然氣接收站，以下簡稱三接）遷離桃園大潭藻礁海岸這兩案，牽動台灣「減煤增氣」、「非核家園」的能源轉型路線是否還能持續走下去。 涉及供電、減空汙、生態保護等層面的三接，從連署、成案，不同主張持續交鋒、爭吵不斷，公投若過，目前已施工近三年的三接要停工遷更是一場影響台灣能源轉型成敗的關鍵戰役。 想像一下，當台灣不要核電、不要燃煤造成空汙、要持續減碳，要綠電、天然氣等能源轉型，也要台積電、台商回流等經濟發展，又期待供電穩定、不缺電，同時還能顧及環境生態……，怎麼可能做到？這是正反雙方交鋒的火線時刻，也是全民價值選擇的關鍵時刻，這時，沒有人是局外人，取捨絕對是必要的。 三接爭議，到底吵什麼？釐清四大關鍵提問，答案或許跟你想的不一樣。 關鍵提問１》遷三接影響供電？ 全台調度更吃緊 關鍵提問一：三接遷離現址，不會影響電力供應？答案是，不只電力調度更吃緊，減煤成果也可能倒退。 打開經濟部能源局二○ 一九、二○…

我們是美國，沒有什麼事情是我們無法一起做到的！」美國時間七月四日晚間，美國總統拜登在白宮南草坪舉辦的國慶日園遊會上，用這段話，為將近十五分鐘的致詞作結。 這場約千人出席的「派對」，相較於七月一日在北京天安門廣場舉行的中共建黨百年慶祝大典，規格顯得迷你；拜登著重美國如何逐漸擺脫疫情陰霾的談話，也明顯少了中共總書記習近平一番警告外來勢力恐將「頭破血流」的霸氣。 兩大強權，一周內的兩場慶典，東方巨龍的聲勢更為浩大，但華裔美籍的中國研究專家裴敏欣在中共建黨百年大典隔天撰文評論，對中國而言，「拜登，可能是更可怕的敵人。」理由是：「不同於川普以侮辱、威脅和關稅疏遠盟友，拜登修復了美國的聯盟，成功形塑一條相對團結的抗中戰線。」 六月，當台灣社會聚焦於新冠疫情，太平洋另一端的拜登政府則是連續出手，從最外顯的地緣政治，到5G戰、科技戰、金融戰，都像是在這一個月內完成了關鍵布陣，上任至今許多曖昧或決斷的背後意義，也似乎在此一個月間豁然開朗，攸關全球政經格局的「拜登規則」瞬間清晰──如同裴敏欣的解讀，這是一套「比川普更兇狠」的對中戰略。…

Curiosity, anticipation, confusion, skepticism. The launch of the Flare Moustache created quite a stir in the free flying community. What is it? Who needs it? And how does it fly? We found out from the designers and then took the Moustache to the test. Flare is a new brand from the same company as Skywalk. In March they released their one and only new wing, the Moustache. They call it a parakite, and it’s designed for having fun in strong winds on the dunes or at soaring sites. It looks like a paraglider but Flare don't call it that, and it’s not made for thermal flying. Beni Kälin, paragliding and speedflying instructor and part of the Flare development team says: "It’s a kite made to fly." Who is it for? The target group…

一隻看不見、摸不到的病毒，顛覆全球七十八億人口的生活。 空蕩蕩的街道、渺無人煙的海灘，猶如電影《二十八週毀滅倒數：全球封閉》。對台灣而言，這些曾經虛幻的場景，如今卻全部都化為真實的日常。 二○○八年的金融海嘯，世界各國體認到過去追求經濟發展，忽視分配而出現反省聲浪；二○二○年的新冠病毒，卻讓狂飆下的高風險社會現了形。 「後疫情時代，中產階級充分感受到生活一夕之間逆轉，」台大社工系教授古允文說，當政府或社會沒有妥善的安全制度，人民只好透過搶保單來抵禦風險。 然而，世上沒有任何一張保單，可以保障我們所有幸福安康。病毒再強大，台灣終需從眼前的挫敗中再起，此時需要的是趁機重新省思過去經濟發展模式，以及在新生疫病和氣候變遷的催化下，打造給予人民美好生活、創造永續幸福的新模式。 為檢視台灣在各面向的發展狀況，《天下雜誌》依據OECD（經濟合作暨發展組織）從二○一一年起公布的「美好生活指數」（Better Life Index），進行二○二一「天下幸福生活指數」調查，以攸關人們生活和福祉的十一項領域，涵括二十四個主、客觀指標，全方位評比，並比照OECD四十個主要會員國和伙伴國家排名。（表1）…

On a rainy day in July 2019, Michael Prior-Jones spent eight hours slip-sliding across a Greenland glacier. To help a colleague test the conditions deep beneath the ice’s surface, he played an intricate game of cat’s cradle with over 3,000 feet of wire cable. Pacing back and forth, he placed the cable on the ice to smooth out tangles and attach sensors that help indicate the speed at which the glacier is melting and moving toward open water. By the end, he was cold and soggy, but the wire was snarl-free and prepped for its descent into the glacier. For decades, researchers like Prior-Jones have affixed instruments to cables, dropped them down cracks and boreholes, and analyzed the data that streams back through the wires. By extracting secrets from the depths…

“Always ask yourself, ‘Am I keeping an item for my life as it is right now or a fantasy version of myself?’ Organize for the person you are. You only need the stuff you’re actually going to use.”—KAY PATTERSON, THE ORGANIZED SOPRANO ALMOST NO ONE is immune to clutter, whether it’s stacks of paperwork, out-of-control collections of herbs and spices, tangles of tech cables and cords, or simply a corner of your home that’s gradually being taken over by too much junk. But order can be yours. Following are seven common challenges, many of them suggested by CR’s members, that you can return to shipshape in a day or less. These bite-sized jobs will help you avoid a familiar problem: taking on a huge decluttering task and giving up before you’ve successfully…

Slowly and deliberately, I searched shallow, underwater outcrops covered in colors. Weightless amidst the invisible push and pull of the current, pink coralline algae hung closely to rock surfaces or branched skyward against sporadic patches of neon green and glimmering iridescence. Shades of yellow, brown, white and orange flora began to appear as I drifted past micro-environments dictated by sunlight and structure. I allowed my scientific brain to go to work underwater, relying on one of my first developed senses: observation. I had come to this underwater world to seek out a nudibranch. I had heard of this elusive marine organism, but until recently, knew almost nothing about it. My goal at the moment was just to find one, to examine it with my own eyes. I’ve always been drawn to scuba…

IF A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT BREAKS INSIDE CAPTAIN Kaz “Dexter” Moffett’s underground command center at the Alpha-01 Missile Alert Facility, it’s marked with a paper tag that reads either WARNING or DANGER. A few of those are hanging in this cramped capsule buried about 70 ft. below the high plains of eastern Wyoming. One is stuck to the shut-off valves that control water flow in the event of an emergency. There’s another one on a ventilation hatch. The entire command capsule itself is jury-rigged on top of steel stilts because the shock-absorber system, which was first installed in 1963 to survive a thermonuclear blast, is now inoperative. So there’s a tag for Air Force maintenance teams to fix that too. Then there are malfunctions that aren’t marked. Moffett’s computer monitor—the one…

No hay nada mejor que tener un remanso de paz y tranquilidad en el que desconectar y descansar del ajetreo del día a día. Y quienes bien lo saben (y lo practican a conciencia) son los empresarios, artistas y deportistas que tienen sus refugios exclusivos en lugares recónditos en los que huir de la ciudad (o de la fama) y sentirse un vecino más. Una de las zonas de moda entre la alta sociedad en España es la comarca de La Vera, un rincón idílico entre Cáceres, Ávila y Toledo. En Jarandilla de la Vera cuentan con finca Alejandro Sanz (arregló varios secaderos de tabaco para convertirlos en El Sueño de los Parrales); Ana Rosa Quintana 7, que tiene una casita en Cuacos de Yuste; el empresario Florentino Pérez; y…

In Kyrgyzstan, a member of parliament urgently called on the government to start creating jobs and setting up temporary housing for the information technology professionals now arriving daily from Russia. Even a poor Central Asian nation that exports cheap migrant labor for Russian construction sites and fast-food restaurants looks like a safe haven to thousands of educated Russians fleeing the cataclysm Vladimir Putin created by invading Ukraine. This can no longer be described as brain drain: It’s a stampede for the exits. Konstantin Sonin, an economist at the University of Chicago, has estimated that some 200,000 Russians fled in the first 10 days of the invasion—to Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Israel—any country that admits Russians visa-free. That’s a small number compared with the 2.8 million refugees who’ve left Ukraine, but…

For the past decade, while cryptocurrencies, Fed policy, meme stocks, and Elon Musk have captured all the headlines, investors have been quietly funneling a billion dollars a day into the greatest money-transfer machine in the history of capitalism: Vanguard. Yet the company shouldn’t even exist. An asset manager owned by its investors? That invests in passive indexes? That charges only microscopic fees? That’s made millions of Americans fabulously wealthy and bankrolled countless retirements without succumbing to Wall Street? The money manager now has more than $8 trillion in assets—second only to BlackRock, which it could surpass in a few years—as well as the three biggest funds in the world and another three in the top 10. Vanguard’s influence extends well beyond the numbers on any scoreboard. The entire investing universe now…

After helping Occidental Petroleum Corp. win a bidding war for Anadarko Petroleum by purchasing $10 billion of Oxy’s preferred stock in 2019 and then quietly buying up a sizable stake in regular shares during the following months, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. suddenly disappeared from the common stock in 2020, giving no reason for the investor’s about-face. Now, Buffett is once again on the Occidental bandwagon—and with more momentum than ever. Just as billionaire investor Carl Icahn exited his own stake in Occidental, Berkshire disclosed in a regulatory filing in March a rekindled interest that’s led to a buying spree. In just a few weeks, Berkshire stacked up an investment worth about $7.7 billion on top of its preferred stock holding, making it the biggest shareholder at Occidental and landing the…

On May 20, Elon Musk flew to São Paulo to announce an expansion of his satellite internet service, Starlink. The moment could, and perhaps should, have been regarded as the latest in a list of achievements that have made Musk the best-known technologist of his generation and the richest person in the world. His rocket company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., was the first private company to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. It now sends so many rockets to orbit, with such regularity, that it has put in place a constellation of thousands of satellites—Starlink—to provide internet service just about anywhere on Earth. The business serves hundreds of thousands of customers around the world, including in Ukraine—which has relied on Starlink-provided connectivity during the Russian invasion—and, according to the new…

In the grillroom of McArthur Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., this winter, two retired pitchers were talking baseball. Jim Kaat pitched 25 seasons in the big leagues, in four decades, for six teams, while one-time Phillies prospect Bill Parcells topped out as a teenager in New Jersey, only to become a football coach of some renown. Still, both men fondly recalled the oversize sweats—some were feed bags fashioned into baseball pants—they wore to practice sliding in the 1950s should they ever have to leg out a double. “We wanted to be baseball players, not pitchers,” says Kaat, 82. “We wanted to learn to bunt, slide, run the bases and help ourselves out with the bat.” BASEBALL PREVIEW Major league pitchers have been batting for 150 years now. Their walk-up music, in…

AUTHORS To stay competitive, today’s business leaders are investing millions in digital tools, agile methodologies, and lean strategies. Too often, however, those efforts produce neither the breakthrough operational processes nor the blockbuster business models companies need—at least not before their competitors introduce their own advances. And a key culprit is the inability to make quick and effective innovation decisions. The discovery-driven innovation processes companies now rely on involve an unprecedented number of choices, from big go/no-go gates that govern which ideas are pursued to countless decisions about how to conduct experiments, what data to collect, how to interpret findings, and how to act on them. But in companies that are just learning to experiment, too many decisions are made inefficiently or informed by past experience and narrow perspectives. As a result, critical risks…

We all survey the vastness of space with a certain amount of wonder and awe. Exploring and understanding the cosmos requires units to express its size — including volume. But because of that vastness, we often revert to nonstandard metaphors to help convey it. To express the volume of something big, like the Sun for example, writers commonly say that a million planet Earths would fit inside it. Tiny objects demand similarly creative analogies. The universe contains mostly hydrogen atoms, whose mass is concentrated in the nucleus, usually as a single proton. That proton is 1,836 times heavier than the electron buzzing around it. But a true picture requires us to also visualize its structure, which is mostly empty space. We’d succeed by representing that proton as a raisin in the…

The winds this April morning were giving Wayne Boone’s massive 2007 semitrailer a good lashing. A driver for a paper recycling company in Virginia, US, Boone steered the empty 18-wheeler up a stretch of the highway, to pick up his first load of the day. The 53-year-old driver pulled into the eastbound left lane of the G.A. Treakle Memorial Bridge, known to locals as the I-64 High Rise, a four-lane drawbridge traversing the Elizabeth River. On the span, the storm let loose its full force, finding no obstacles in its path but vehicles, which it pummelled. Boone slowed as wind and rain hammered his windshield. At the bridge’s crest, 21 metres above the rushing estuary, the concrete road gave way to steel decking. Boone’s front wheels met the slick steel just as…

ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE Zakopane – the base for exploring the area – is a two-hour drive from Kraków Balice airport. It’s served by BA and others including Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz and Jet2 (from £70; wizzair.com). You could travel by train from London to Kraków in 22 hours, or make the most of it with some great city stop-offs en route. One such option would be going via Brussels, Copenhagen and Berlin (trainline.com). GETTING AROUND The trip is possible without a car. Take a bus or airport transfer to Zakopane and go by foot and city buses, private mini-buses and taxis. A car gives more freedom, and you you shouldn’t need snow chains or a 4WD on main roads (all major outlets operate from the airport, from £16 per day; arguscarhire.com). FURTHER INFO See Lonely Planet’s…

In for the Kill In the zombie apocalypse, who’s the bigger threat: walkers or people? Before AMC’s The Walking Dead begins its final season on Aug. 22, we crunch the numbers on the human casualties that mattered to us (not accounting for deaths such as “Nameless Savior No. 7”). —NICK ROMANO MOST MEMORABLE DEATH, BY SEASON S1: AMY (EMMA BELL) Andrea (Laurie Holden) issues the ugliest of cries for her bitten sister. S2: DALE (JEFFREY DEMUNN) A walker gave him one of the, um, gutsiest moments in show history. S3: LORI (SARAH WAYNE CALLIES) Some childbirths are more like nightmares than happy occasions. S4: LIZZIE (BRIGHTON SHARBINO) Carol (Melissa McBride) made sure that little Lizzie will never look at flowers the same way again. S5: TYREESE (CHAD L. COLEMAN) We know you were trying to give the guy a hand by taking…

NOT LONG AGO, HALLE BERRY APPEARED as a guest on Hot Ones, the viral YouTube talk show in which assorted celebrities (Billie Eilish, Charlize Theron, Shaq) agree to eat chicken wings of increasingly ungodly spice levels until they either quit, cry, or lose control of their fine motor skills. As she worked her way through a series of sauces with names like Chocolate Plague and Da’ Bomb Beyond Insanity, Berry came across as charming and funny and self-deprecating, talking easily about old Kanye lyrics and dog-training tips. But when the show’s host presented her with an endurance trophy at the finish line and asked whether there was anyone she’d like to thank, she turned unexpectedly blunt: “I’m gonna thank my damn self on this one,” she shook her head, half-delirious…

CINEMAPS Ticket to Ride ON JULY 30, DWAYNE JOHNSON AND EMILY BLUNT TEAM UP AND HEAD DOWN THE AMAZON IN JUNGLE CRUISE, A DISNEY FANTASY- adventure film inspired by the three-continent riverboat tour at Disney theme parks. Usually, it’s the reverse: The movie begets the ride. Sure, you know the biggies (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey! Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance!), but hang on for your cinematic life as we visit some of the more obscure attractions for your amusement. 1 / Borg Assimilator Flying roller coaster (2004–2008, Carowinds, North Carolina) R.I.P. Smurf Island, which was destroyed for the Collective good—to make room for the Assimillator. 2 / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Ride Dark ride (2006–2015, Alton Towers Theme Park, England) A boat journey on a chocolate river led to an uplifting experience inside the…

Profile ESG 又稱責任投資或永續投資，指投資人在選擇投資的企業時，不只關注傳統財務指標，還著重企業在環境保護（E）、社會責任（S）、公司治理（G）三面向的表現，是一種更全面評估企業的投資方式。 「本基金『未』以永續投資為目標，亦『未』以環境或社會特色為訴求……。」 二月初，在台灣核備發行的某境外基金系列全面修改公開說明書，其中有多檔基金，就在說明書加入了上面那一段話。在「ESG」、「永續投資」成為金融市場最夯關鍵字的當下，這句表明自家基金並未鎖定永續、環境、社會議題的標註，簡直是百分百的「政治不正確」。 不只一家，三月以來，國內各投信、投顧業者也都忙著擬妥信函寄給投資人，告知他們，公司所代理的部分境外基金即將修改公開說明書內容；很快的，這些基金也得毫無模糊空間地對外交代，自己究竟是不是「以永續投資為目標」。…

選股會是你的困擾嗎？獲利成長的好公司，當你發現時，股價是不是都已經漲到買不下手了？你是不是在想，如果能找到獲利成長，股價又很便宜的公司該有多好？《投資家日報》總監孫慶龍表示，投資大師喬伊．葛林布雷（Joel Greenblt）有一個平均年賺40%的神奇公式，套用在台股也可以讓你找到，平均年賺40%的標的。 葛林布雷是誰？他是美國哥倫比亞商學院的教授，同時也是戈坦資本投資（GothamCapital）的創辦人，該公司成立於1985年，之後的20年間，每年平均報酬率達40%，竟然比股神巴菲特（WarrenBuffett）的績效還高！ 孫慶龍 出生：1977年 學歷： 成功大學中國文學系、英國艾克斯特（Exeter）大學財務管理研究所 經歷：致理科技大學財金系講師 現職：《投資家日報》總監 以稅前淨利為計算基礎更能貼近公司營運狀況 葛林布雷著作有3本暢銷書籍，《你也可以成為股市天才（You Can Be a Stock MarketGenius）》、《超越大盤的獲利公式（The Little Book That Beats the Market）》，以及《不買飆股，年均獲利40%（The…

EVEN IF IT’S BEEN a while since health class, you likely know how estrogen impacts reproductive health. Its levels rise as we reach puberty; then each month it surges, causing the uterine lining to prep for a potential fertilized egg, and drops, kick-starting menstruation. As the years go on, levels ricochet up and down in perimenopause and drop at menopause. And along the way, estrogen gets blamed for breakouts and breakups, mood dips and weight gains. But what else does the hormone do? The better question may be “What doesn’t it do?” “Estrogen touches basically every cell,” says Jen Gunter, MD, a gynecologist and author of The Menopause Manifesto (Citadel, 2021). “Until recently, we didn’t recognize its importance beyond reproduction,” adds Elizabeth Poynor, MD, a gynecologic surgeon and founder of the…

EVEN BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, HOPIN WAS A good idea. The British startup, founded by first-time entrepreneur Johnny Boufarhat in 2019, offered an online venue for virtual talks, breakout rooms, and one-on-one networking – an engaging alternative to expensive, large-scale conferences. Hopin began 2020 with a 10,000-strong waitlist of conference organisers seeking early access. But, in February that year, when coronavirus swept in-person events off the table, potential customers got impatient. “We had a ton of people that were upset with us for not letting them through, so we decided we need to expand as fast as we can and to hire as quickly as possible,” Boufarhat recalls. “I was on Twitter looking for people who had just been furloughed, because I knew they’d be able to start tomorrow; I had people…

The Dadisi Crew is an eclectic bunch. Dre is athletic and passionate about astronomy, Maya is adventurous and loves to code, and Amara is a budding environmental scientist who encourages her friends to recycle. A couple of things bind the group together: Each member is fascinated with a cutting-edge discipline, and they’re all Black characters. The fictional clique and their circle of friends are the creation of Terri-Nichelle Bradley, a Black mom of four who’s determined to inspire Black kids to pursue well-paying careers in STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. The characters are at the heart of her company, Brown Toy Box, which makes educational play kits featuring fields such as chemistry, museum arts, and robotics. “My dream is for a child to walk up to me 10 years from now,…

It’s unusual for a governor to denounce one of his state’s biggest and most prominent employers. But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s attacks on Walt Disney Co. for criticizing a new law curtailing what schools can teach students about gender identity and sexual orientation aren’t likely to be a limited instance. Instead, they’re another sign that political fights—especially for presidential hopefuls like DeSantis—are expanding from legislatures to corporations and the business world. Last month, under pressure from activists and its own employees, Disney put out a statement declaring that the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, as critics have dubbed it, “should never have been passed and should never have been signed into law.” The company vowed to work to help get it repealed or struck down in court. Disney’s actions follow what’s recently become…

THE PREVAILING NARRATIVE in business today is one of ever faster change and creative destruction: Big Tech companies are taking over, the number of unicorns (start-ups worth $1 billion) keeps growing, the average tenure of old-economy companies on the S&P 500 is plummeting, and incumbency has never been worth less. The message to established firms—play catch-up or die—is bleak. But let’s look at the bigger picture. Yes, there’s no denying the exponential growth of the large tech companies or the cautionary tales of disruption’s famous victims (think Nokia, Kodak, and Blockbuster). However, over the past three decades many large sectors of the economy have not been disrupted—that is, taken over by tech-enabled competitors that serve customers more efficiently and cheaply than incumbents do—to any significant degree. Indeed, most established firms are…

WATCH THE MASTERS ESPN and CBS, April 8–11 Tony Finau should be one of the biggest stars in golf. Everything about his game is outsize, from his height (6' 4") to his power off the tee (he has said he is chasing Bryson DeChambeau, and he is one of the few who can catch him) to his smile. He has a memorable name, a fun backstory, he is perpetually in contention and he might be the nicest player on the PGA Tour. There is just one small problem: He never wins. From October 2017 through the beginning of March, Finau finished in second place eight times. He didn’t win once. His run of near-greatness is maddening; it seems so statistically unlikely that one wonders whether Finau was born with a severe trophy allergy, or…

Since ancient times, I, the esteemed pomegranate (Punica granatum), have been regarded with reverence as a symbol of your human central beliefs. In many cultures and virtually every religion, I have come to represent life and death, fertility and marriage, beauty and abundance. Why, you may ask? It all has to do with my seeds (my name means ‘apple with many seeds’), while my orb shape and crown of sepals take on a different meaning all together. Buddhists revere me as one of the three blessed fruit (the other two are peach and citrus); in some Hindu traditions I’m a symbol of prosperity and fertility, while for Muslims I’m a symbol of beauty. As a romantic symbol I have featured in sonnets and literature, as well as Renaissance paintings. Sandro Botticelli and…

如果你不先停下來問自己5 個關鍵問題，那麼就算你想說服別人什麼也毫無意義： There's no point even trying to persuade someone else of something until you first stop and ask yourself five key questions: 永遠先問自己對的問題Always ask yourself the right questions first 1 你想實現什麼？WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH? 2 你的目標是什麼？WHAT IS YOUR OBJECTIVE? 3 你如何衡量成功？HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS? 4 誰是你的陪審團？WHO IS YOUR JURY? 5 證明起來有多難？HOW HARD WILL IT BE TO PROVE?…

MICHAEL C. HALL can guess what you’re thinking, Dexter fans: Eight years later, you’re probably still mad about that final episode—the one that ended up on countless “worst series finales of all time” lists. And he’s mindful of how devoted you are, especially those who’ve asked him to autograph their kitchen knives. So yes, he feels your pain. “It was so confounding for people,” Hall, 50, says of the series ender, in which Dexter Morgan—forensic-blood-splatter analyst by day, vigilante serial killer, um, also by day—threw his dead sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), into the angry waters off Miami. “I can appreciate how it was pretty dissatisfying for anyone who was hoping for something definitive or some sense of closure,” the actor adds of Dexter faking his own death and moving to a…

They said we’d never last. They were off, thankfully, by approximately 32 years and some 1,600 issues, but the armchair pundits had a point: Who could have guessed that a weekly entertainment magazine born at the dawn of The Simpsons and CD-ROMs would go on to become its own cultural touchstone? The idea at the time—either revolutionary or delusional, depending on your framing—was to create a new space in journalism, a publication that didn’t just cover what was new in movies and television and books and music (streaming was yet but a twinkle of a dream) but lived for it, from every angle. And for the next three-plus decades, EW would share one promise with its readers: that we were as incurably curious and passionate and outright obsessive about all…

「老兵聽到炮彈飛過去的聲音，就知道事情不太對了……。」 台大急診室主治醫師石富元經歷過二○○三年SARS（嚴重急性呼吸道症候群）疫情的災難，十八年後，老兵竟然又遇到同樣嚴峻的狀況。五月十四日開始，台灣新冠肺炎（COVID-19）疫情猛爆惡化，從十五日的一八○個本土病例到十八日的二四○個本土病例，社區感染擴大，過去的太平好日子，忽然不見了。待過沙場的，嗅覺總是特別靈光，石富元苦笑，「兩、三周前，我就一直跟朋友說，能取消聚餐就盡量取消。」 疫情爆發後一年多的時間，「台灣馬照跑，舞照跳。」 但身處防疫第一線，石富元清楚知道病人不見得會一五一十交代自己的暴露史，再看到華航機師、諾富特飯店事件、宜蘭遊藝場病例，他已經嗅到，「風險明顯在堆高。」 風險積累著，而且現在它們凝結成巨大的壓力球，破空而來。 亞東醫院驚天96小時的啟示 台灣防疫進入新階段 亞東醫院五月十七日爆出九名院內感染個案，「院內感染」聽起來很不祥，也勾起人們對SARS疫情期間，和平醫院封院的恐怖回憶。人在火線上的亞東醫院副院長邱冠明，談起院內感染的始末，「疫情慢慢悶著，到了上週，所有狀況都變得有感……。」…

上周，筆者忙著為香港朋 友做「公共服務」，協助 緊急求援，以下是三個案例。 案例一：八月十四日，香 港某證券公司執行副總經理來 台開戶，匯入一百萬美元。 Karen ：（八月十二日透 過WhatsApp傳來英文訊息， 以下為中譯）我相信你已經 看到昨夜香港警察的可怕行 徑⋯⋯，事情演變讓人不安， 我的心中充滿憤怒。 乾隆來（本文作者）：台北也充滿同樣的情緒。 Karen ：（八月十三日中 譯訊息）香港人能在台灣開立 美元戶頭嗎？我是香港註冊的 金融從業人員，無法開立個人 理財帳戶。我與先生已經決定 把錢移出香港，但匯到加拿大 會有稅負問題，所以先生已經 去新加坡的花旗銀行排隊，我 負責在台灣開戶⋯⋯。 案例二：八月十一日，香 港某行銷公司創意總監，決定 申請台灣投資移民。 Austin今年即將慶祝五十 歲生日。他是香港某行銷公司 創意總監，客戶都是著名的美 國上市公司。他非常喜歡台 灣，重慶北路的三元號滷肉 飯、長春路的雞家莊，還有大 街小巷新開的潮店，比不少老 台北還熟悉。 八月九日，Austin跑來台 北找朋友長談，十一日的深 夜，他決定申請台灣的投資移…

A room with a view is nice while on vacation, but research has increasingly shown that it can be downright critical during a hospital visit. In an often-cited 1984 analysis of gallbladder surgery patients, those who had a view of a natural environment had shorter stays and took fewer painkillers compared to those who had to contemplate the side of a brick building. Drawing upon this and other studies, the new Stanford Hospital places a particular emphasis on restorative views of greenery and physical access to gardens. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the hospital has landscape design that is not only on the ground plane, but on two acres of rooftop, and aims to promote patient and staff health alike. “This project had huge potential from the beginning:…

四月二十六日，星宇航空創辦人張國煒親自執飛，台北洛杉磯的首航。 這是重要性不亞於三年前開航的飛行任務。 飛向北美天空，意味著星宇從區域走向國際。猶如四十年前，張國煒的父親張榮發獨排眾議，大膽開出橫跨太平洋與大西洋的雙向環球航線，讓長榮海運由亞洲船公司變成世界第一。 「他們（父子）DNA是一樣的，都很有魄力、很有魅力，」長榮集團出身、前中菲行執行長林天送評論。 北美首航，轉動了星宇最關鍵的中轉客商模。這位台灣唯一、世界少數同時擁有機師和維修證照的航空公司董事長，要驗證自己「從王子變成King（國王）」，只能贏不能輸的不可能任務。 首航倒數前兩天，星宇航空的營運大腦，張國煒與執行長翟健華所在的內湖總部十六樓，透明辦公室一目了然，從主管房內到開放空間的討論區，沒有一張會議桌是空的，都處於作戰模式。就連秘書遞送文件也都急如風、甚至小跑步。 競爭對手不是兩位老大哥 當年， 看好亞洲成為世界工廠，張榮發大膽擴張海運版圖，捉住趨勢破浪。而張國煒眼中的航空市場，「台灣的地理位置這麼好，如果你善用它，台灣市場無限大，真的太大了，」張國煒左右手，翟健華提高音調分析。…

Profile CPTPP 正式名稱： 跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定（Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership） 生效時間：2018年12月30日 會員國： 紐西蘭、新加坡、澳洲、越南、加拿大、墨西哥、日本、祕魯、馬來西亞、智利、汶萊11國完成簽署協定。前８國已完成國內批准程序，協議生效。 申請中：英國、中國、台灣 規模： 人口5.02億，占全球7％；總GDP為10.8兆美元，占全球13.1％，是亞太區僅次於中國主導RCEP的第二大區域經濟組織。 經過10年耐心等待，台灣政府終於正式遞件，申請加入《跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定》（CPTPP）。 這是台灣拒絕在區域經貿整合浪潮中遭邊緣化的關鍵一搏，也是讓經濟動能不再過度依賴電子資通訊產品的絕佳契機。 但貿易談判從來不是容易的任務，中國搶先一步申請加入，又讓情勢更為錯綜複雜。 加入CPTPP的種種考驗，也是台灣再一次啟動經濟轉型的試煉。 「十年磨一劍」，是最能精準詮釋台灣與《跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定》（CPTPP）之間關係的一句話…

I ENJOYED your August 2021 report on WiFi problems. After doing some of the checks mentioned in the article, I found that my issue was with my laptop’s WiFi card. My desktop computer was getting 225 mps via WiFi, while the laptop in the same room was getting 25 mps. —James Webber, Granbury, TX XFINITY/COMCAST PRICES are high in the stores—and even over the phone. Signing up on the internet as a new customer is the cheapest. So every two years, when our guaranteed-rate contract expires, my wife and I switch accounts. If the account is in my name, I cancel and then she signs up as a new customer. (We have our own modem and router, so there’s no equipment to turn in.) Our current $59.99 a month for internet expires…