International Travel to the U.S. Sees Double-Digit Decline Under Trump

Donald Trump in the White House has foreign tourists saying, "Thanks, but no thanks," on travel to the United States. International tourism in the U.S. is down by as much as 16% since October 2016, according to a new analysis from Foursquare. While the data doesn't pinpoint the exact cause of the decline, there is little doubt the president's rhetoric on immigration and controversial travel ban are at least partially to blame. And the dip in travel to the U.S. could have big implications for a number of U.S. industries and the economy at large.
Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/international-travel-u-sees-double-190800415.html?source=Snapzu

Tech in the sticks: How technology is defining the future of the rural world

Here's why the 'country' should not be irrelevant to the considerations of any high-tech companies.
Read more: https://insights.hpe.com/articles/tech-in-the-sticks-how-technology-is-defining-the-future-of-the-rural-world-1705.html?source=Snapzu

German Unemployment Declines as Economy Poised for More Growth

German unemployment fell to a new record low as Europe’s largest economy continued to power ahead. The jobless rate dropped to 5.7 percent in May from 5.8 percent, data from the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg showed on Wednesday. The number of people out of work slid by a seasonally adjusted 9,000 in May to 2.54 million, compared with a decline of 15,000 forecast in a Bloomberg survey.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-31/german-unemployment-declines-as-economy-poised-for-more-growth?source=Snapzu

British Airways meltdown: Compensation and other costs could hit $100 million

The computer system failure that grounded thousands of British Airways flights over the weekend could cost the airline more than $100 million. British Airways canceled all Saturday flights from London's two biggest airports following the tech meltdown. The outage was caused by a power surge that affected messaging across the airline's system, and there was no evidence that hackers were to blame, it said.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/29/news/british-airways-cancellations-compensation-cost/index.html?category=news?source=Snapzu

Chasing the Harvest: ‘If You Want to Die, Stay at the Ranch’

In this oral history, a former sheepherder describes the loneliness and medical hardship he experienced while tending sheep in California’s Central Valley. By Heraclio Astete, with journalist Gabriel Thompson.
Read more: https://longreads.com/2017/05/17/chasing-the-harvest-heraclio-astete/?source=Snapzu

Why does Des Moines, Iowa have worse affordable housing than Brooklyn?

The gap between the number of affordable units available and low-income families in one Iowa county is wide, with just 30 units for every 100 families
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/26/des-moines-iowa-affordable-housing-brooklyn?source=Snapzu

First Came Normcore. Now Get Ready for Gorpcore

Declaring oneself seriously outdoorsy and politically aware. By Jason Chen.
Read more: https://www.thecut.com/2017/05/new-fashion-trends-normcore-gorpcore.html?mid=twitter_cut?source=Snapzu

British Airways boss 'tries to gag staff' on IT meltdown which has hit 300,000 passengers after 'inexperienced staff outsourced to India didn't know to launch back up system'

THE British Airways boss is alleged to have tried to “gag staff” over the IT meltdown which hit 300,000 passengers – as inexperienced staff in India didn’t know how to launch the back up system, it has been claimed. The airline’s check-in and operational systems crashed on Saturday and saw thousands of people trying to travel on Bank Holiday weekend left stranded.
Read more: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3672676/british-airways-boss-tries-gag-staff-it-failure/?source=Snapzu

Life is Getting Much Worse for the [U.S.] Poor

Housing, Food and Essentials Eat Up the Meager Incomes. By Ebony Slaughter-Johnson. By Ebony Slaughter-Johnson.
Read more: http://www.alternet.org/economy/price-poverty-how-housing-food-and-essentials-eat-meager-incomes-city-residents?source=Snapzu

Under Trumpcare, Having a High Fever Once Is a Pre-Existing Condition

There are horror stories of all kinds of crazy things being deemed “pre-existing conditions” before the Affordable Care Act. By Kaleigh Rogers.
Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/under-trumpcare-having-a-high-fever-once-is-a-pre-existing-condition?source=Snapzu

Alone on the Open Road: Truckers Feel Like ‘Throwaway People’

President Trump ignited a national discussion of blue-collar jobs. Truck driving, once a road to the middle class, is now low-paying, grinding, unhealthy work. We talked with drivers about why they do it. By “Trip Gabriel.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/trucking-jobs.html?source=Snapzu

This Turtle Tourist Center Also Raises Endangered Turtles for Meat

Advocates accuse the Cayman Turtle Centre of mistreating its sea turtles and stoking demand for the meat of an endangered species, claims it denies. By Rachael Bale.
Read more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/wildlife-watch-cayman-turtle-farm-welfare-controversy/?source=Snapzu

Americans' Savings Make Wealth Managers Rich

There was an interesting and slightly scary article in the Wall Street Journal recently, in which reporter Andrea Fuller tries to find out what fees she’s paying to the financial adviser who manages her money. At long last, after a torturous experience with the company, she finally manages to find out how much she’s paying -- 1.4 percent of assets every year, with 0.85 percentage point of that going to the advisers who manage her investments, and 0.55 percentage point to the funds they invest in.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-16/americans-savings-make-wealth-managers-rich?source=Snapzu

Three Nigerians sentenced to 235 years in prison for online scamming

A court in Mississippi has sentenced three Nigerian men to 235 years in prison for running online scams that duped people out of tens of millions of dollars. Oladimeji Seun Ayelotan, 30, was sentenced to 95 years in prison today, with associates Rasaq Aderoju Raheem, 31, getting 115 years and Femi Alexander Mewase, 45, getting 25 years. A jury found all three guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, credit card fraud and theft of government property.
Read more: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/25/nigerians_sentenced_to_prison_online_scamming/?source=Snapzu

Tragedy strikes as Uber CEO Kalanick loses mother in boating accident, father in serious condition

We've received word from Uber that the Kalanick family suffered a tragic event this weekend. CEO Travis Kalanick's parents were in a boating accident...
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/27/tragedy-strikes-as-uber-ceo-kalanick-loses-mother-in-boating-accident-father-in-serious-condition/?source=Snapzu

Bitcoin exchange Coinbase crashes after Asian buying frenzy

Japanese investors rush in after cryptocurrency was made legal
Read more: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/26/coinbase_crashes_after_buying_frenzy/?source=Snapzu

Google debuts a new way to follow your footsteps around the web

New machine-learning tool aims to deliver even more information to Google’s advertisers about your ‘consumer journey’
Read more: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/05/25/google-debuts-a-new-way-to-follow-your-footsteps-around-the-web/?source=Snapzu

My Adventures With the Accountants of Germany

On freelancing and paying taxes in Berlin. By Vanessa Ellingham.
Read more: https://thebillfold.com/my-adventures-with-the-accountants-of-germany-1199dd80ed4e?source=Snapzu

Shave the Billionaire

Until recently, corruption was almost never punished in Brazil. Now it’s jailing its billionaires, leaving the plutocrats desperate to reassert their power. By Alex Cuadros.
Read more: https://thebaffler.com/latest/shave-the-billionaire-cuadros?source=Snapzu

Single-Payer Health Care Is Less Expensive—Deal With It

Practically everyone (except Kevin Drum at Mother Jones) believes single-payer would cut health care costs. It’s the heart of the whole debate. By Jon Walker.
Read more: https://shadowproof.com/2017/05/24/single-payer-health-care-less-expensive-deal/?source=Snapzu

The Booming Industry Emerging From Louisiana’s Vanishing Coast

Here’s how a shrinking state is paving the future of building. By Leslie Nguyen-Okwu.
Read more: http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-booming-industry-emerging-from-louisianas-vanishing-coast/77380?source=Snapzu

The Promised Land

Canada’s thirst for oil pitted against its commitment to First Nations. By Patrick Michels.
Read more: https://apps.revealnews.org/transmountain/index.html?source=Snapzu

Accused of underpaying women, Google says it's too expensive to get wage data

Google argued that it was too financially burdensome and logistically challenging to compile and hand over salary records that the government has requested, sparking a strong rebuke from the US Department of Labor (DoL), which has accused the Silicon Valley firm of underpaying women.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/26/google-gender-discrimination-case-salary-records?source=Snapzu

Piracy Killing Hollywood So Bad That Disney Made More Money In 2016 Than Any Studio Ever

Remember, to hear the MPAA tell it, piracy is really killing the movie industry. It's been whining about piracy for basically my entire lifetime, and constantly predicting its own demise if "something" is not done. And, despite the fact that Congress has repeatedly obliged Hollywood in ratcheting up copyright anti-piracy laws and despite the fact that the MPAA has been clearly wrong repeatedly (such that the new technologies it feared actually helped expand Hollywood's business), the studios continue to...
Read more: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170525/10481837456/piracy-killing-hollywood-so-bad-that-disney-made-more-money-2016-than-any-studio-ever.shtml?source=Snapzu

Netflix Nearing 180 Million International Subscribers

If it’s possible, it’s starting to look like people could have been underestimating Netflix’s international potential. Media analysts at PiperJaffray announced this week that current estimates for Netflix overseas are likely underselling what will really happen. When you compare international progress with how we know domestic progress went, they say, it’s clear Netflix is going to beat what experts are predicting by a large margin.
Read more: https://www.scribblrs.com/netflix-likely-180-million-international-subscribers/?source=Snapzu

Messenger App Kik Debuts Its Own Digital Currency

Messaging app Kik Interactive is the latest and potentially most well-established company to delve into a quirky new form of fundraising -- creating its own digital currency. Kik, based in Waterloo, Canada, unveiled plans for an “initial coin offering,” a process by which it sells tokens that can be used to buy services on its platform. The idea is that as more and more people use Kik, the value of those tokens, called “Kin”, will rise in value.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-25/kik-messenger-app-debuts-own-digital-currency-amid-bitcoin-boom?source=Snapzu

Fidelity May Back Climate Resolutions, a Milestone for Activists

Fidelity Investments may support shareholder proxy proposals calling on companies to report on sustainability matters this year, a major shift by the Boston asset manager as climate activists gain more traction at large U.S. corporations.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-fidelity-climatechange-idUSKBN18M110?source=Snapzu

Class action lawsuit alleges 705,000 GM diesel trucks have emissions test 'defeat devices' installed

GM says it plans to defend itself against "baseless" allegations. General Motors has been accused of installing "defeat devices" similar to the ones Volkswagen used in order to beat emissions tests on hundreds of thousands of diesel truck engines.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/gm-defeat-device-emissions-1.4131104?source=Snapzu

Uber, Lyft returning to Austin on Monday

Uber and Lyft are returning to Austin on Monday, the same day Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign ride-hailing legislation passed by Texas lawmakers. 
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/25/uber-lyft-returning-austin-monday/?source=Snapzu

Lessons From The Nation’s Oldest Voucher Program

Milwaukee’s voucher program serves some 28,000 students. Most of them are African-American and come from low-income families. By Claudio Sanchez.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/19/527429292/the-nations-oldest-voucher-program-beacon-of-hope-or-failed-experiment?source=Snapzu

What Plato knew about behavioural economics. (A lot)

How much did Plato know about behavioural economics and cognitive biases? Pretty much everything, it turns out. By Nick Romeo.
Read more: https://aeon.co/essays/what-plato-knew-about-behavioural-economics-a-lot?source=Snapzu

Fire on the Mountain: The Gatlinburg Wildfires

A night of terror in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. By Justin Heckert.
Read more: http://gardenandgun.com/feature/gatlinburg-tennessee-wildfires-fire-on-the-mountain/?source=Snapzu

How The Economist Thinks

Is it fair to trash The Economist? You bet it is. By Nathan J. Robinson.
Read more: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/05/how-the-economist-thinks?source=Snapzu

It's time for academics to take back control of research journals

The evolution to a high-profit industry was never planned. Academics need to make the case for lower-cost journals
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/may/25/its-time-for-academics-to-take-back-control-of-research-journals?source=Snapzu

$70/Week and Free Cookies! Why Selling Plasma is the Perfect Side Gig

With all the ways to make money while in college, why not try one that lets you study at the same time? Selling your blood plasma is a simple way to earn cash while catching up on your reading or reviewing class notes. By Charlotte Edwards.
Read more: https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/jobs-making-money/side-gigs/selling-plasma-great-college-gig/?source=Snapzu

Rising Seas May Wipe Out These Jersey Towns, but They're Still Rated AAA

Few parts of the U.S. are as exposed to the threats from climate change as Ocean County, New Jersey. It was here in Seaside Heights that Hurricane Sandy flooded an oceanfront amusement park, leaving an inundated roller coaster as an iconic image of rising sea levels. Scientists say more floods and stronger hurricanes are likely as the planet warms. By Christopher Flavelle.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-25/investors-say-it-s-time-to-price-climate-into-cities-bond-risks?source=Snapzu

The Spirit of ’40 and ’45 and ’74 and ’79 and ’97

The entire pitch of May’s snap election campaign has been predicated on a strange elision of the Britain of 1940 and the Britain of 2017. By Owen Hatherly.
Read more: https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/the-spirit-of-40-and-45-and-74-and-79-and-97/?source=Snapzu

Hundreds protest over minimum wage at McDonald's stockholder meeting

Hundreds of fast-food workers demanded wage increases as they marched outside McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) headquarters during the company's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. The demonstrators were part of a nationwide protest organized by "Fight for 15," a labor group that has regularly targeted McDonald's in calls for higher pay and union rights for workers. More than two dozen protesters were arrested outside the United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) shareholder meeting in downtown Chicago.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wages-protest-idUSKBN18K2EB?source=Snapzu

Photos: Inside Amazon’s first New York City bookstore

After helping drive many U.S. bookstore chains out of business, Amazon has been opening its own retail stores, starting in Seattle in late 2015. Its first Amazon Books location in New York City opens Thursday morning in Manhattan’s Shops at Columbus Circle, which was previously home to a pretty large — and now closed — Borders Books and Music.
Read more: https://www.recode.net/2017/5/24/15683852/amazon-books-nyc-time-warner-center-photos?source=Snapzu

Downtown Seattle's Banana Market Has Crashed. Thanks, Amazon

Turns out there's no money in the banana stands. At the moment, the banana market around Amazon’s downtown Seattle headquarters is a bit of a mess.* According to the Wall Street Journal, they’re tough to find in grocery stores in the area, and some restaurants have stopped selling them. And it’s all because Amazon has been handing out free bananas to anyone and everyone.
Read more: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/amazon-banana-stand-seattle-market?source=Snapzu

Yes, Geek Squad can search your files and hand you over to the police

Judge rules images found on a defendant’s hard drive inadmissible – but bats away contention that he had an expectation of privacy when he passed his PC to Geek Squad
Read more: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/05/22/yes-geek-squad-can-search-your-files-and-hand-you-over-to-the-police/?source=Snapzu

Why Did a Chinese Peroxide Company Pay $1 Billion for a Talking Cat?

Samo and Iza Login were Slovenian high school sweethearts who studied computer science in college and then decided, in 2009, to get into the business of apps. Steve Jobs had introduced the Apple App Store the year before, and it was easy to believe that an overnight fortune was just an eccentric idea away. With $250,000 they’d saved while working for local IT companies, the Logins—who legally changed their surname to sound techy—started a company called Outfit7.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-05-17/why-did-a-chinese-peroxide-company-pay-1-billion-for-a-talking-cat?source=Snapzu

Uber Fares Will Soon Be Based On How Much Uber Thinks You’re Willing To Pay

If you’ve ever hailed an Uber ride and thought afterward that you paid a lot less than you should have, those days may soon be over. The company’s latest change to its pricing model will offer you a rate that isn’t based purely on time and distance, but on what Uber’s computers think you’ll be willing to pay. Uber executives revealed the “route-based pricing” system in an interview with Bloomberg today, noting that the currently-being-tested fare-setting system will be used in the 14 cities where Uber carpooling service is available.
Read more: https://consumerist.com/2017/05/19/uber-fares-will-soon-be-based-on-how-much-uber-thinks-youre-willing-to-pay/?source=Snapzu

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg: When choosing a job, prioritize this over salary

Business magnate Michael Bloomberg, a man worth an estimated $48.9 billion, says that when he was 22, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his career. In a commencement speech at Villanova University on Friday, the former mayor of New York City shared how he navigated the transition from school to the workforce.
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/22/michael-bloomberg-when-choosing-a-job-prioritize-this-over-salary.html?source=Snapzu

The Beleaguered Tenants of ‘Kushnerville’

Tenants in more than a dozen Baltimore-area rental complexes complain about a property owner who they say leaves their homes in disrepair, humiliates late-paying renters and often sues them when they try to move out. Few of them know that their landlord is the president’s son-in-law.
Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-beleaguered-tenants-of-kushnerville?source=Snapzu

A Home of Last Resort

Breaking ground— and betting big—on a doomsday community for the rich. By Sonia Smith.
Read more: http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-edge/dispatch-from-ector-a-home-of-last-resort/?source=Snapzu

Valve confirm they've hired the Kerbal Space Program team

The Kerbal Space Program community has been abuzz today with the news that a portion of the KSP team at Squad have been hired by Valve. It all began when an ex valve artist spoke about the hires during a recent podcast.  Further reading: The best VR games. 
Read more: https://www.pcgamesn.com/kerbal-space-program/valve-hire-kerbal-space-program-team?source=Snapzu

The Advantage Of Being A Little Underemployed

The biggest employment change of the last century is the number of careers that shifted from physically exhausting to mentally exhausting. From doing stuff with your arms to doing stuff with your head. Since the constraints of physically exhausting jobs are visible, we took decisive action when things weren’t working, like the Adamson Act. But the limits of mentally exhausting jobs are nuanced and less visible, so we get trapped in a spot where most of us work a schedule that doesn’t maximize our productivity, yet we do nothing about it.
Read more: http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-advantage-of-being-a-little-bit-underemployed/?source=Snapzu

Floral designer is turning NYC trash cans into giant vases overflowing with flowers.

One man's trash (can) is another man's beautiful bouquet.
Read more: http://mymodernmet.com/trash-can-flowers-nyc-lewis-miller/?source=Snapzu

Dubious Corporate Practices Get a Rubber Stamp From Big Investors

Arconic, the industrial materials company that spun off Alcoa, has been treated with kid gloves by big asset managers. Thursday’s annual meeting could change things. By Gretchen Morgenson.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/business/gretchen-morgenson-arconic-activist-investors.html?ref=business?source=Snapzu