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The Book Club: “Ethan Frome,” “A Chateau Under Siege” and more reviews from readers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this new series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].“Ethan Frome,” by Edith Wharton (1911)Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Wordsworth Classics, 2005 reprint of 1911 novel)It’s not often I have such a love-hate relationship with a book as I do with “Ethan Frome.” Love: Wharton packs so much into this novella. Using an anonymous narrator, the structure of the story keeps me wondering. We know the outcome from the beginning, but it’s not until the very end that we know how Ethan became this disabled, broken man. Wharton describes both the natural world and p...

Broncos need a long winning streak or two in quest to rejoin playoff picture, but Bills represent tough task: “There’s no better script to get a season turned around”

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

There’s never a bad time for a bye week in the NFL, especially in the middle of the season.But if ever a team might have wanted to play through, it’d be the Broncos. They finally put back-to-back wins on the board late last month. Their active roster is almost entirely healthy. They finally vanquished Kansas City. They finally, maybe, figured out their recipe for winning.Then they went 15 days between games.So, what will Denver look like when it takes the field Monday night in Western New York? Like a group that flashed and reverts to early-season form? Or like a team on an upward trajectory?“You can’t start saying something like you’re beating the world after two wins, but we’re starting to believe,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “That’s the only thing that matters is this team believes it can win, and when it gets in those moments, it doesn’t back down, doesn’t cower, doesn’t emotionally check out. It’s alright, we got this. We can do this.“We trust in the coaching and what t...

Elon Musk will speak at the Russian AI Conference

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

Musk's participation in the Russian AI conference may be related to the recent announcement of his Grok neural network from xAI, which will become a competitor to ChatGPT. The developers describe the neural network as follows:“Grok is an AI modelled after The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask! Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humour!”They clarify that the main advantage of Grok is the ability to answer almost any question thanks to online access to the X social media big data. The neural network is planned to be integrated into the social network X in the near future.According to our sources, the billionaire and the owner of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk will be a speaker at the upcoming international conference on artificial intelligence in Russia, which is going to be held in the near future — AI Journey 2023. ...

Drug arrests plunge, overdose deaths soar in California: Connection or coincidence?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

Riverside County jail inmates (File photo) Once upon a time, California’s jails were stuffed with low-level drug offenders.This was wastefully expensive for the public and wholly ineffective for the drug offenders, reformers argued.So in 2014, with the best of intentions, voters passed Proposition 47. This reduced a great many drug-related offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, and kept a great many low-level drug offenders out of jail. The money saved on incarceration would go into effective addiction treatment, among other things, reformers said.Since then, there has been an interesting, and perhaps tragic, convergence of events:Drug offense arrests have plunged 85% — from 137,054 in 2014 to 20,574 in 2022, according to data from the California Department of Justice.While drug overdose deaths have more than doubled — from 4,519 in 2014 to 10,410 in 2022, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.Is there any relationship between these numbers? There’s...

Bullied Amazon worker who quit job at California warehouse wins $1.2 million jury award

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

Michael Kopp didn’t want to lose his job at the Amazon Fullfilment Center in San Bernardino, but says he reached his limit after four years of persistent bullying by co-workers started taking a physical toll.“I just couldn’t take it anymore,” said Kopp, 29, of San Bernardino, who in the third grade was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndome, a condition characterized by difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication. “I was constantly throwing up. I was dizzy. I had diarrhea. I had sweats. My stomach had great pain. It was terrible.”On Sept. 21, 2020, after a night in Kaiser urgent care, Kopp showed up at work with a doctor’s note authorizing him to take the day off due to work-related stress, according to a lawsuit he filed against Amazon.com Services in February 2021. He was told by his manager, an onsite nurse and a human resources manager that Amazon didn’t accept doctor’s notes, the suit alleges. Kopp was not granted the day off and told he had to work.Kopp walked ou...

Kamada: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

REHOVOT, Israel (AP) — REHOVOT, Israel (AP) — Kamada Ltd. (KMDA) on Monday reported profit of $3.2 million in its third quarter.On a per-share basis, the Rehovot, Israel-based company said it had profit of 6 cents.The biopharmaceutical posted revenue of $37.9 million in the period.Kamada expects full-year revenue in the range of $138 million to $146 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on KMDA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/KMDASource

Tower Semiconductor: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel (AP) — MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel (AP) — Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (TSEM) on Monday reported net income of $342.1 million in its third quarter.The Migdal Haemek, Israel-based company said it had profit of $3.07 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 54 cents per share.The chipmaker posted revenue of $358.2 million in the period.For the current quarter ending in December, Tower Semiconductor said it expects revenue in the range of $350 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on TSEM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TSEMSource

Monday.com: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

TEL AVIV-YAFO, Israel (AP) — TEL AVIV-YAFO, Israel (AP) — Monday.com Ltd. (MNDY) on Monday reported third-quarter profit of $7.5 million.The Tel aviv-Yafo, Israel-based company said it had net income of 15 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense, were 64 cents per share.The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 18 cents per share.The project management software developer posted revenue of $189.2 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $182.4 million.For the current quarter ending in December, Monday.com said it expects revenue in the range of $196 million to $198 million.The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $723 million to $725 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report...

N-able: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) — BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) — N-able Inc. (NABL) on Monday reported net income of $6 million in its third quarter.The Burlington, Massachusetts-based company said it had net income of 3 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 9 cents per share.The provider of cloud-based software services posted revenue of $107.6 million in the period.For the current quarter ending in December, N-able said it expects revenue in the range of $106.5 million to $107 million.The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $420 million to $420.5 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NABL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NABLSource

Donald Trump Jr. is returning to the stand as defense looks to undercut New York civil fraud claims

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Foiled in their long-shot bid for an early verdict, Donald Trump’s lawyers will start calling witnesses of their own Monday in the New York civil fraud trial that threatens the former president’s real estate empire.First up: Donald Trump Jr., who’ll be returning to the witness stand two weeks after state lawyers quizzed him during a major stretch of the trial that also featured testimony from his father and siblings Eric and Ivanka Trump.Trump’s oldest son, a Trump Organization executive vice president, originally testified on Nov. 1 and 2. He said he never worked on the annual financial statements at the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. He said he relied on the company’s longtime finance chief and outside accounts to verify their accuracy.James alleges Donald Trump, his company and executives including Eric and Donald Jr. exaggerated his wealth by billions of dollars on financial statements given to banks, insurers and others. The documents...