Monday, April 29

BUSINESS

Witchcraft Practitioners’ Connection To The Natural World Is Changing, As The Craft Becomes A Multibillion-Dollar Business
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BUSINESS, CULTURE

Witchcraft Practitioners’ Connection To The Natural World Is Changing, As The Craft Becomes A Multibillion-Dollar Business

As witchcraft becomes a multibillion-dollar business, practitioners’ connection to the natural world is changing. Witches, Wiccans and other contemporary Pagans see divinity in trees, streams, plants and animals. Most Pagans view the Earth as the Goddess, with a body that humans must care for, and from which they gain emotional, spiritual and physical sustenance. Paganism is an umbrella term that includes religions that view their practices as returning to those of pre-Christian societies, in which they believe the Goddess was worshipped along with the gods and the land was seen as sacred. Wicca focuses specifically on the practice of the British Isles. Witchcraft has also become a multibillion-dollar business. As a sociologist who has been researching this religion for more than 30 year...
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Cornering The Baseball Cards Market
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BUSINESS, SPORTS

Cornering The Baseball Cards Market

‘The Amazon of Sports’ has already cornered baseball’s apparel market – and is now on the verge of subsuming baseball cards, too. During spring training, Major League Baseball’s official uniform supplier, Fanatics, became a focal point for all the wrong reasons. After arriving in Florida and Arizona, players began to complain about the quality of their new, Fanatics-manufactured uniforms. One player for the Baltimore Orioles groused that the new uniforms looked “like a knockoff jersey from T.J. Maxx.” Others were dismayed to learn that the white pants were transparent, with seams from tucked-in jerseys – and sometimes more than just seams – visible to all. The spring training uniform fiasco has led to more scrutiny for Fanatics, a company that had, until recently, been widely considere...
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Diversity On Corporate Boards — What The Numbers Say
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BUSINESS

Diversity On Corporate Boards — What The Numbers Say

What the numbers say about diversity on corporate boards. Through the decades, corporate boards have been mostly white and mostly male. That started changing in the early 1970s. Fueled by the historic gains of the Civil Rights Movement that broke down racial and gender barriers, a variety of social groups such as the National Black MBA Association and the National Organization for Women pressured corporations to build diversity programs into their management structures. Over the years, a dramatic change has occurred. My latest research on the corporate boards of the top 50 companies from 2011 to 2023 shows that the percentage of whites dropped to 73.6%, the percentage of men dropped to 65.3% and, rather remarkably, the percentage of white men dropped below 50%, to 49.5%. My research inc...
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Climbing The Corporate Ladder: And The Price For Success
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BUSINESS

Climbing The Corporate Ladder: And The Price For Success

Women want to climb the corporate ladder — but not at any price. The consulting firm Spencer Stuart recently published a study of top management at Fortune 500 companies, the 500 richest companies in the United States. The analysis focused specifically on the gender of the people in these positions, their functions and the source of their appointments, whether they came from inside or outside the organization. Studying the composition of top management, often referred to as the C-Suite, is particularly important since it allows us to see how many women make it to the position of CEO in an organization. Respectively Dean of the John Molson School of Business, and an expert for several decades on the place of women in the upper echelons of the business world, we will discuss the main find...
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What Are The Benefits Of Turning Annual Performance Reviews Into Humble Encounters?
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BUSINESS, POLITICS

What Are The Benefits Of Turning Annual Performance Reviews Into Humble Encounters?

Turning annual performance reviews into ‘humble encounters’ yields dividends for employees and managers. Every year, employees worldwide enter annual performance reviews with mixed feelings. Do employees enter these conversations with enthusiasm to learn new things? Rarely. Are managers eager to have these conversations and coach their employees on how they can improve in the coming year? No. These meetings are typically experienced as difficult conversations. Opportunities for learning and relationship-building are often missed. In an ideal world, employees would learn and improve from the feedback their manager provides in the annual review. But there are at least two obstacles that can stand in the way of that best-case scenario. It can be hard to hear painful truths. Critical feedba...
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Are You Looking To Stretch Your Advertising Dollar? Here’s What You Should Know
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BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, RECOMMENDATIONS

Are You Looking To Stretch Your Advertising Dollar? Here’s What You Should Know

For the next 4 days (November 14 - November 18) we are offering two paid ads for the price of one. This includes any paid ad posted on our classifieds (local, all cities or banner). After posting a paid ad you will receive a Promo Code to the email address you used to post your ad with. If you are logged into your account while posting your ad, the Promo Code will be in your account. Then post a new ad and enter the Promo Code. Your new ad will be automatically promoted with the same features as your paid ad. There's no limit how many paid ads you can post during the sale. For each paid ad posted you will receive a unique Promo Code. All Promo Codes must be redeemed before the end of the sale. Note: 1. Use local or all cities Promo Codes for local or all cities ads only and banner Promo Co...
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If AIs Are Soon To Run Businesses — These ‘Artificial Persons’ Must Follow The Law
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AI, BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENT, FOR BUSINESS

If AIs Are Soon To Run Businesses — These ‘Artificial Persons’ Must Follow The Law

AIs could soon run businesses – it’s an opportunity to ensure these ‘artificial persons’ follow the law. Only “persons” can engage with the legal system – for example, by signing contracts or filing lawsuits. There are two main categories of persons: humans, termed “natural persons,” and creations of the law, termed “artificial persons.” These include corporations, nonprofit organizations and limited liability companies (LLCs). Up to now, artificial persons have served the purpose of helping humans achieve certain goals. For example, people can pool assets in a corporation and limit their liability vis-à-vis customers or other persons who interact with the corporation. But a new type of artificial person is poised to enter the scene – artificial intelligence systems, and they won’t necessa...
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10 Ways To Master AI Email Marketing- Don’t Miss Out!
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AI, BUSINESS, DIGITAL MARKETING, SCIENCE

10 Ways To Master AI Email Marketing- Don’t Miss Out!

With artificial intelligence (AI), email marketing is transforming the way you communicate with your customers.  That’s not all!  It’s taking your email game to the next level and helping you achieve better engagement and higher conversions. Today, in this blog, we will help you embark on an interactive journey through 11 game-changing AI email marketing techniques. So, let’s get started! TRY OUTGROW FOR FREE! Imagine emails that know your audience better than you do. Emails that adapt, evolve, and deliver results you never thought were possible. Welcome to the AI email marketing world, where your campaigns are more than just messages. With artificial intelligence (AI), email marketing is transforming the way you communicate with your customers.  That’s not all!  It’s taking your email g...
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Prioritizing Profits Over Human Rights — Corporate Landlords Are Eroding Affordable Housing
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BUSINESS

Prioritizing Profits Over Human Rights — Corporate Landlords Are Eroding Affordable Housing

How corporate landlords are eroding affordable housing — and prioritizing profits over human rights. One factor driving the housing crisis across the country is a shift away from publicly built housing toward large corporate-owned buildings where, as today’s guest Prof. Nemoy Lewis puts it, “housing is treated as a commodity, not a human right.” For many people living in Canada, housing has emerged as one of the most challenging issues. This is especially true in our largest cities, where financial stress plagues many households. Home ownership is widely out of reach and for renters, housing is scarce, expensive and precarious. In Toronto, Canada’s largest city, vacancy rates are at their lowest levels in nearly two decades and average rents have jumped nearly 10 per cent — the sharpe...
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Black Families Are Being Squeezed Out Of Home Ownership In Metro Atlanta By Corporate Investors
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BUSINESS

Black Families Are Being Squeezed Out Of Home Ownership In Metro Atlanta By Corporate Investors

I studied 1 million home sales in metro Atlanta and found that Black families are being squeezed out of homeownership by corporate investors. In the years since the Great Recession, when housing prices dramatically fell, Wall Street investors have been buying large numbers of single-family homes to use as rentals. As of 2022, big investment firms owned nearly 600,000 such properties nationwide. Critics say this practice drives up home prices and worsens the housing shortage, making it harder for families to afford to buy. Industry advocates dismiss such charges, arguing that large investment firms own a tiny fraction of single-family rental housing across the U.S. – less than 4% of the total. As a professor of public policy at Georgia Tech, I wanted to understand how this trend was affecti...
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