Author: NY TIMES

Veronica Mae McCracken and Mitchell Henry Karr first met in May 2014 on her first day at the Minneapolis architecture and design firm MSR Design, where she works as an interior designer and he as an architect. The two were dating other people at the time.It wasn’t until the annual Fusion Fashion Show hosted by the Northland chapter of the International Interior Design Association on Nov. 13, 2015, that sparks began to fly. By then, each was single.Ms. McCracken, 33, had volunteered to walk the runway and caught Mr. Karr’s attention wearing silver metallic lipstick, tin foil eyebrows, six-inch platform…

China has a housing problem. A very big one. It has nearly four million apartments that no one wants to buy, a combined expanse of unwanted living space roughly the area of Philadelphia.Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, and his deputies have called on the government to buy them.The plan, announced last week, is the boldest move yet by Beijing to stop the tailspin of a housing crisis that threatens one of the world’s biggest economies. It was also not nearly enough.China has a bigger problem lurking behind all those empty apartments: even more homes that developers already sold but have…

Federal regulators on Thursday approved an investment product tied to the cryptocurrency Ether, the most valuable digital asset after Bitcoin, in a major boost for the crypto industry.The Securities and Exchange Commission said a group of exchanges could begin listing investment products known as exchange-traded funds, or E.T.F.s, linked to the price of Ether. The products would offer an easier and simpler way for people to invest in crypto, potentially boosting prices and promoting wider adoption of digital currencies.In January, the S.E.C. approved similar products that track the price of Bitcoin, leading to a flurry of new investment that helped…

For the first time on record, cannabis has outpaced alcohol as the daily drug of choice for Americans.In 2022 there were 17.7 million people who reported using cannabis either every day or nearly every day, compared with 14.7 million who reported using alcohol with the same frequency, according to a study, published on Wednesday in the journal Addiction that analyzed data from the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health.While far more people drink than use cannabis, drinking frequently has become slightly less common than it was around 15 years ago, the study found. But the proportion of people…

The wholesome ocean-breeze look of the Beach Boys could make the group a punchline if it weren’t for their sweet sunshine sound. The origins of their intricate harmonies undergird “The Beach Boys,” a Disney documentary directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny that notes obstacles in the band’s career but mostly tries to keep the good vibrations going.Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson grew up in a musical household in Hawthorne, Calif., and eventually pooled their ample talents with a cousin, Mike Love, and a friend, Al Jardine. As told through a patchwork of polite interviews and mostly mundane clips from…

In the week since the U.S. military and allies attached a temporary pier to the Gaza shoreline, Pentagon planners have come face to face with the logistical nightmare that critics had warned would accompany the endeavor.The Defense Department predicted that a steady stream of humanitarian aid would be arriving in Gaza via the pier by now, but little relief has reached Palestinians in the besieged strip, officials acknowledged this week. Several trucks were looted as they made their way to a warehouse, the U.N. World Food Program said, and the complexity of operating the pier project in a war zone…

Just before Russian troops pushed across the Ukrainian northern border this month, members of Ukraine’s 92nd Assault Brigade lost a vital resource. Starlink satellite internet service, which soldiers use to communicate, collect intelligence and conduct drone attacks, had slowed to a crawl.Operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink has been critical to the Ukrainian military since the earliest days of the war with Russia. Without the full service, Ukrainian soldiers said, they couldn’t quickly communicate and share information about the surprise onslaught and resorted to sending text messages. Their experiences were repeated across the new northern front line, according to Ukrainian…

I’m not one to let good players pass.I know from experience that even with the best-laid plans, talent is difficult to replace if you don’t take a step back. So I understand that, at least sometimes, proven teams need to pay a little more for continuity.But recent NFL wide receiver contracts have forced me to at least question my philosophy. What this tells me is that NFL general managers and team builders are definitely thinking about this as well.It’s not because these receivers lack talent. They are all very good players. But the number of contracts makes team building more…

I expected those first few months at home to be a period of adjustment to being newly divorced and newly sober. What I hadn’t counted on was the tender longing I felt whenever I thought about Scott. Every night we talked on the phone about our time in Arizona and our day-to-day lives at home. I was surprised at how much I looked forward to those calls, and how comforting it was to hear his voice. In the light of day, I would scold myself for being so weak-minded.We had spent 30 days together in an artificial, isolated environment. In…

Some Apple customers who owned an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus and experienced audio issues may be entitled to up to $349 as part of a proposed $35 million settlement on a class-action lawsuit.The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claimed that the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues related to the “audio IC” chip in those devices, according to a settlement administrator’s website. The settlement received preliminary approval last year.Apple has denied the allegations of audio problems and has denied any wrongdoing, according to…