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Matt Losak got interested in evictions when he was nearly subject to one. He was working for a union, which required frequent travel. One month he accidentally left his rent check on his refrigerator and left. He called the property manager, who told him it wouldnt be a problem as long as he gave her the check when he returned and paid a $25 late fee, all of which he did. Six weeks later, he received an eviction notice for failure to pay rent. Losak fought the eviction off by proving that the property owners had signed the eviction papers after having already cashed his check. I caught them by the toe, he said. But the experience focused him on the fact that, in most places, landlords can move to evict tenants for any reason. Its one part of why evictions have been climbing steadily since the pandemic, even outpacing pre-pandemic levels in some places. Losak helped found Renters United Maryland in 2017, and enshrining good cause protection from eviction was his number-one issue. Good cause laws require landlords to have a specific reason for evicting someone or terminating their lease, although typically tenants can still be removed for things like violating lease agreements or failing to pay rent. The lack of good cause protections, is a major loophole, he says, allowing a landlord to, based on whim and caprice, rip somebody out of their home. When Losak first started advocating for good cause, he says state lawmakers literally laughed in my face. They didnt buy that it was a big problem, not to mention that landlords and their lobbyists, who oppose such laws, hold huge sway. But his organization has worked to build support over the years. It pushed the idea that a lack of stable housing leads to concrete costs in mental and physical health declines, lower academic achievement for children, and higher crime rates. Theres all types of costs, financial and social, that people are beginning to recognize are directly related to unstable or poor quality homes, he says. The Pandemic Effect Then came the pandemic, which clearly was an accelerant and focused state lawmakers attention on housing policy, he says. In 2020, experts and analysts put the number of potential evictions at anywhere between 17 million and 28 million. That fear of widespread evictions led courts and others to look at the eviction process differently and try things out, says Sarah Gallagher, vice president of state and local innovation at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Eventually eviction moratoria and rental assistance would help to keep the number of evictions low. Now, however, those protections are gone and rents are rising rapidly. The housing crisis, Gallagher says, is even worse than it was before the pandemic. Rents rose 29% between 2019 and 2023 and homelessness is at a record high. So lawmakers have been looking for other tools to continue helping people stay housed. Maryland was among a number of other states that considered good cause eviction protections during this years legislative session. After a bottleneck against advancing legislation was ousted, the bill came close to passage. Losak was able to marshal support from a wide coalition that included the ACLU, NAACP, unions, and even the governor. Legislation passed the state house, only to die in the senate under pressure from landlord lobbies. Losak noted that next year is an election year for the Maryland legislature. There is a bubble of anger and frustration that is growing among a huge number of Marylanders that might very well have a political impact, he says. Were optimistic. Fights are now brewing in Chicago and Rhode Island. These cities and states are looking to join a growing movement: 11 states and 27 localities have now passed good cause laws. The majority of those laws were passed in the years since 2020. It is gaining momentum, Gallagher says. Reducing eviction rates Research has found that these laws reduce eviction filing rates, keeping people both housed and firmly rooted in their communities. Academics have also found that good cause protections in California, Oregon, and New Hampshire didnt decrease housing production after they passed. New York State passed good cause eviction protection last year that went into effect immediately in New York City and allowed other places to opt in. It used to be that, as long as a New York landlord filled out all the forms correctly, it could evict someone. But now landlords cant just say, Well, I want this person out, says Judith Goldiner, attorney in charge of the civil law reform unit at The Legal Aid Society. Under the new law, landlords have to offer their tenants a lease renewal unless they can prove they have a good reason not to, such as illegal behavior or the need to demolish a building. It also capped rent increases. But the law came with a long list of exceptions, including any building built after 2009, luxury buildings, and buildings owned by someone with a portfolio of 10 or fewer units. The carveouts mean that, while its a useful tool, Goldiner says, it is often unduly complicated and hard to explain. It can be hard even to figure out what entity owns buildings, let alone how many others they own. The law is still new, so there havent been decisions hammering out exactly what counts as a good cause for evicting someone. Still, Goldiner knows of a number of tenants who were able to use it to negotiate leases instead of ending up in eviction proceedings. Definitely its been really helpful for a lot of people to actually avoid litigation, she says. Expanding tenant protections Good cause laws wont stop evictions all on their own. There isnt one protection thats going to do it all, Gallagher says. You have to look at putting in tenant protections at all stages of the housing and eviction process. That includs starting with regulating how tenants are screened by landlords so they arent discriminated against all the way to sealing eviction records after tenants are forced out so they arent penalized when trying to get housing in the future. Still, good cause laws are particularly important because they help insulate tenants from retaliation for asserting any rights they do have. They enable tenants to speak out against unsafe or unhealthy housing conditions or other abuses. Under good cause laws, landlords cant kick people out just because they, say, asked for repairs. And policies like right to counsel, which guarantees legal representation in eviction proceedings, are only useful if there are actual rights for lawyers to defend. If tenants dont have the ability to advocate for their rights, then what good is the protection? Gallagher says.
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E-Commerce
Its time to bust out your best tennis skirts and collared shirts: The 2025 U.S. Open is upon us, with singles play beginning Sunday, August 24. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York, is the place to be for tennis fans. If you cant get there in person, never fearwe’ll get into how to tune in. Fans should stretch their necks, to prepare to follow all the action swiftly moving back and forth across the court. Let’s take a look at how the tournament breaks down, and who’s favored to win it all in the singles categories. The 2025 U.S. Open schedule The U.S. Open is two weeks of tennis competition, a sort of Olympic-type event for one specific sport. Leading up to week one is fan week, which kicked off on August 18 and featured the mixed doubles tournament, qualifying matches, and lots of practice. There were also family friendly events such as Marvel comic giveaways.The singles competition, which is the the main event of the U.S. Open, begins on Sunday, August 24. This week also features men’s and women’s doubles competitions. Week two will continue the singles matches, culminating on Saturday, September 6 with the womens final. The men’s final takes place the following day. Junior competitors also get in on the action during the second week. For the full schedule of events, click here. How do players qualify for the U.S. Open? Most players qualify for the U.S. Open because of their high rankings. Others have to compete in the qualifying tournament during fan week to earn a spot. The third and final way to get a chance to compete is through a wild card invitation from USTA. Whos favored to become the U.S. Open women’s singles champion? Last years winner, Aryna Sabalenka, would love to win two years in a row. Coco Gauff, who recently won the French Open and was the U.S. Open champion in 2023, would love to reclaim the title as well. Iga Świątek, who also has 2025 Wimbledon and 2022 U.S. Open wins under her belt, is also a contender. Whos favored to become the U.S. Open men’s singles champion? On the mens side, defending champion Jannik Sinner is the number one ranked player in the world. He thrives on hard courts, so will use that to his advantage during the U.S. Open. Carlos Alcaraz, the number two ranked player, is determined to stop Sinner. He has a 2022 U.S. Open title to his name, and won the 2025 French Open. What are the prizes for winning the U.S. Open men’s and women’s singles? The men’s and women’s champions in the singles category will each take home $5 million in prize money. Those who make it to the quarterfinals are rewarded with $660,000. Semifinalists win $1.26 million, while finalists earn $2.5 million. How to tune in the U.S. Open The entire U.S. Open is broadcast across ABC, ESPNs networks, and the Tennis Channel. To catch the first round of men and womens singles play, tune into ABC on Sunday, August 24, at 12 p.m. ET. If that doesnt fit into your schedule, it will be re-aired at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Additionally, full primetime coverage of the first day begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.If you cut the cord, you can tune in with some live TV streaming services, such as Hulu + Live TV, which carries both ABC and ESPN2 in most regions. You can also stream it on ESPN+ from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET beginning on Sunday, August 24.
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E-Commerce
Pick up an August 2025 issue of Vogue, and youll come across an advertisement for the brand Guess featuring a stunning model. Yet tucked away in small print is a startling admission: She isnt real. She was generated entirely by AI. For decades, fashion images have been retouched. But this isnt airbrushing a real person; its a person created from scratch, a digital composite of data points, engineered to appear as a beautiful woman. The backlash to the Guess ad was swift. Veteran model Felicity Hayward called the move lazy and cheap, warning that it undermines years of work to promote diversity. After all, why hire models of different sizes, ages, and ethnicities when a machine can generate a narrow, market-tested ideal of beauty on demand? I study human-AI collaboration, and my work focuses on how artificial intelligence influences decision-making, trust, and human agency, all of which came into play during the Vogue controversy. This new reality is not a cause for doom. However, now that its becoming much harderif not impossibleto tell whether something is created by a human or a machine, its worth asking whats gained and whats lost from this technology. Most importantly, what does it say about what we truly value in art? The forensic viewer and listener In 1950, computer scientist Alan Turing wondered whether a machine could exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human. He proposed his famous imitation game. In it, a human judges whether theyre conversing with a person or a computer. If the human cant tell the difference, the computer passes the test. For decades, this remained a theoretical benchmark. But with the recent explosion of powerful chatbots, the original Turing Test for conversation has arguably been passed. This breakthrough raises a new question: If AI can master conversation, can it master art? The evidence suggests it has already passed what might be called an aesthetic Turing Test. AI can generate music, images, and movies so convincingly that people struggle to distinguish them from human creations. In music, platforms like Suno and Udio can produce original songs, complete with vocals and lyrics, in any imaginable genre in seconds. Some are so good theyve gone viral. Meanwhile, photorealistic images are equally deceptive. In 2023, millions believed that the fabricated photo of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket was real, a stunning example of AIs power to create convincing fiction. Why our brains are being fooled So why are we falling for it? First, AI has become an expert forger of human patterns. These models are trained on gigantic libraries of human-made art. They have analyzed more paintings, songs, and photographs than any person ever could. These models may not have a soul, but they have learned the mathematical recipe for what we find beautiful or catchy. Second, AI has bridged the uncanny valley. This is the term for the creepy feeling we get when something looks almost human but not quitelike a humanoid robot or a doll with vacant eyes. That subtle sense of wrongness has been our built-in detector for fakes. But the latest AI is so sophisticated that it has climbed out of the valley. It no longer makes the small mistakes that trigger our alarm bells. Finally, AI does not just copy reality; it creates a perfected version of it. The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard called this a simulacruma copy with no original. The AI model in Vogue is the perfect example. She is not a picture of a real woman. She is a hyperreal ideal that no living person can compete with. Viewers dont flag her as fake because she is, in a sense, more perfect than real. The future of art in a synthetic world When art is this easy to generateand its origin this hard to verifysomething precious risks being lost. The German thinker Walter Benjamin once wrote about the aura of an original artworkthe sense of history and human touch that makes it special. A painting has an aura because you can see the brushstrokes; an old photograph has an aura because it captured a real moment in time. AI-generated art has no such aura. It is infinitely reproducible, has no history, and lacks a human story. This is why, even when it is technically perfect, it can feel hollow. When you become suspicious of a works origins, the act of listening to a song or viewing a photograph is no longer simply about feeling the rhythm or wondering what may have existed outside the frame. It also requires running a mental checklist, searching for the statistical ghost in the machine. And that moment of analytical doubt pulls viewers and listeners out of the works emotional world. To me, the aesthetic Turing Test is not just about whether a machine can fool us; its a challenge that asks us to decide what we really want from art. If a machine creates a song that brings a person to tears, does it matter that the machine felt nothing? Where does the meaning of art truly residein the mind of the creator or in the heart of the observer? We have built a mirror that reflects our own creativity back at us, and now we must decide: Do we prefer perfection without humanity, or imperfection with meaning? Do we choose the flawless, disposable reflection, or the messy, fun house mirror of the human mind? Tamilla Triantoro is an associate professor of business analytics and information systems at Quinnipiac University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Most business advice tells you to avoid making enemies. I’m here to tell you the opposite: if your brand doesn’t have an enemy, you’re doing it wrong. This isn’t to suggest you need to create conflict for conflict’s sake. But there’s power in opposition. When you stand so clearly for something that you inevitably stand against something else, you create clarity. And in this very cluttered marketplace, that clarity isn’t just helpful, it’s essential for survival. The Problem with Playing it Safe When brands attempt universal appeal, they typically achieve universal mediocrity. People think you’re fine. Fine pays the bills, but it doesnt create category leaders. The numbers prove it: distinctive brands see a 62% higher ROI than campaigns that lack distinctiveness. That’s no small difference between being remembered and being forgotten. Distinctive brands put a stake in the ground and say, “This is who were for,” whether through visuals, tone, or messaging. Brands chasing universal appeal usually sand off their edges and end up forgettable. The companies that break through today aren’t the ones avoiding conflict. They’re the ones brave enough to pick a side and fight for it. Why Your Enemy Isnt Your Competition Competition is tactical. It’s about market share, features, and pricing. Your enemy is philosophical. It’s a way of thinking, a set of values, or a specific worldview that your brand exists to challenge. Think of giving your business an enemy in this way: Bigger than a competitor: Your enemy transcends individual companies. Ideological: It represents a philosophy or approach you oppose. Galvanizing: It gives your audience something to rally against. Clarifying: It forces you to define what you really stand for. The Psychology of Taking Sides As humans, its natural for us to pick teams and stick with our tribe. Our brand choices become part of our identity, from the coffee we drink to the phones we carry. It’s those brands that establish clear us-versus-them psychology that win. They make customers feel “they get me.” This creates tribal loyalty where the brand becomes part of someone’s personaand they’ll defend it at any cost. Here are some examples of how some of the most memorable brands took on an enemy: Apple vs. Ordinary Apple positioned itself as the ultimate creative company, calling competitors “Orwellian” in its 1984 campaign and boring in the Mac vs. PC ads. It established its core as the creative side of humanity and never wavered. Sure, it’s 1,000 times larger now, but its commitment to opposing “ordinary” remains unchanged. Southwest Airlines vs. Complexity Southwest’s enemy was airline complexity. Buy a fare, grab a seat, and bring your bags. No extra charges, no caste system with 11 boarding groups, no material guilt about your life choices if you weren’t in the top five. Outsiders called this process a “cattle call,” but Southwest turned a deaf ear to the noise, and its core kept growing. However, Southwest recently announced it’s adopting traditional airline practices in 202526, abandoning its differentiating enemy. We’ll see how the loyalists respond now that there’s nothing separating Southwest from its competitors. Creating Your Enemy Ready to find your companys natural opponent? Here’s how to do it strategically:Step 1: Identify Your Natural Opposition Which way of thinking or doing business does your company naturally push back against? What frustrates your founders and leaders about the industry? What cultural perspective seems bonkers to you? Step 2: Articulate the Stakes Why does this opposition matter? What’s at risk if the enemy worldview wins? In its Mac vs. PC ads, Apple positioned the competition as out of touch and un-inventive, making the stakes crystal clear by casting itself as the creative outlet for the future. Step 3: Rally Your Core Communicate your position in a way that makes your ideal customers feel seen and understood. They should think: Finally, someone gets it. Dairy brand Tillamook rallied its core by leaning into quality over scale, unapologetically charging more for real ingredients and a small-batch approach, even when that meant losing price-sensitive shoppers. Step 4: Accept the Tradeoffs Not everyone will like you. That’s the point. Oatly came out of the gate directly challenging Big Dairy with its “like milk, but made for humans” stancefully accepting that it would alienate traditionalists in order to build a cult following among plant-based loyalists. Why This Works Now More Than Ever Differentiation is survival. People are overwhelmed with choices and increasingly loyal to companies that feel authentic and purposeful. Having a clear enemy provides both. Your enemy isn’t trying to destroy you. Instead, it’s saving you from irrelevance. Without something to stand against, there’s no reason for anyone to stand with you. Remember: you will never win without your enemy. Your enemy always wins without you.
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E-Commerce
Youve heard plenty of solutions for stress. From meditation and nature walks to cold therapy and yoga, the list is long. But a less well-known strategy can deliver some powerful results: storytelling. In fact, there is evidence that storytelling is good for your mental health and well-being for multiple reasons. Thinking about the best ways to reduce stress has become increasingly relevant. According to Gallup, 49% of Americans report they frequently experience stress. A survey by Talker Research found that a third of people also say they expect this to be the most stressful year yet, with even more stress than the last three years. But storytelling can have a positive impact on how we feel and how we relate to others. Heres why, and how to use storytelling to feel better, enhance well-being, and beat stress. STORYTELLING BUILDS RELATIONSHIPS One of the biggest reasons that storytelling has a positive effect is because it can build relationships. Storytelling helps us find common experiences and bond. According to research, this was true from the first hunter-gatherer tribes in which storytelling helped to clarify the norms and expectations of the group and reinforce cooperation. In addition, storytellers tended to be popular. They were the people others choose to be with most. In another study where older adults wrote their life stories, researchers found storytelling reduced depression. The study found that developing stories was helpful, but the process of sharing stories and spending time together also had a significant impact on well-being. You can use storytelling to connect with others by asking questions, both at work and in your personal life. Instead of just asking someone how its going or what they did over the weekend, ask them a question that gives them a chance to tell a story: ask what surprised them lately or what made them laugh. Listen as they tell stories to answer your questions. Dont be afraid to share your own stories about things that are interesting or meaningful to you. All of these will create more space for enhanced time and connections. STORYTELLING CREATES MEANING Another key element of storytelling is that it can help us create meaning and identity. When we repeat the story about how we bravely stood up for something that was especially important to us at work, we reinforce that we are courageous. When we talk about the time we had the great idea that transformed a solution, were reinforcing our role as innovators on a team. When we share the adventures and antics that occurred on our family vacation, were reinforcing our love of family and our fun-loving nature. In one study by the Family Institute at Northwestern University, couples were asked to tell stories about their relationships. When couples developed stories about their experiences, it helped reinforce their shared identity and it gave them greater meaning and purpose. You can use storytelling to enhance well-being and create meaning by intentionally reflecting on your experiences. For example, at the end of a vacation, consider the time you spent with family and friends and what the experiences meant to you. Talk to each other about your favorite elements of your time together in order to cement your memories. Or the end of the workweek, reflect on your accomplishments and challenges and give thought to how they show your strengths and contributions to your team and your organization. Capturing these stories can help reinforce your meaning and identity. STORYTELLING HELPS US PROCESS Storytelling can also help us make sense of things. In, a survey of almost 30,000 people in 31 countries, GlobeScan found that 78% of respondents believe that the world is changing too fast for them to keep up, and its creating anxiety. Storytelling can help us think things through. We consider what happened to us, why it was important, and how we feel about it as we create a story. The process of reflecting so we can tell a story clarifies our thinking and helps us make sense of disparate facts. Storytelling can also help us put things into context and help us think about where to go next. In the Northwestern University study, when couples told stories, they were able to consider future growth and motivate themselves to be a legacy to others in their lives. A study of storytelling published in the journal Healthcare (Basel) found that when sick patients shared their stories, it helped them to make sense of their experiences and even nurture a more positive, healing viewpoint. You can use storytelling to enhance well-being and make sense of things by slowing down to reflect on whats happening and giving thought to why its important to you. Also prioritize how you might respond and how youd like the story to end based on the action you take. Use story to understand yourself and whats going on around you, as well as where youd like to go from here. THE POWER OF STORYTELLING We are moved by stories and they help us build empathy. Stories can also inspire us to take action. In fact, a study found when Super Bowl ads tell complete stories, they tend to get more views, more shares, better ratings; and they tend to result in greater sales. We prefer to learn through stories, and we thrive in communities with plenty of narrative shared among the group. When we face pressure, challenges, and struggles, storytelling helps us make connections, creat meaning, and make sense of it all.
Category:
E-Commerce
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