Category Archives: Golden Rule

As a nation we're obsessed with DIY. In fact, we'd rather carry out our own DIY than hire a professional even when we're less than proficient. So, if you're gearing up for a summer of weekends spent working on your house, then here are the top tools you need.

Drill

Do you even DIY if you don't have a drill and multiple drill bits? The essential tool for keen DIY'ers and professional tradespeople alike. The right drill can make lightwork of boring holes, loosening, and tightening screws, and they can even help chisel away at materials.

Spirit level

From hanging pictures to hanging cupboards, a spirit level should be your go-two before you use your drill to bore holes into walls, floors, and doors. If you're trying your hand at plumbing, a spirit level can help ensure the pipes have enough of gradient to allow liquids to flow either into or out of the property.

Tape measure

A golden rule of any DIY job is to measure twice, cut once and for that you need a tape measure. Ideally, you should choose a metal retractable tape measure with both imperial and metric measurements.

Hammer

If you only buy one hammer, make it a claw hammer. You'll want to choose one with enough weight behind it that you won't have to put too much effort into swinging it. The claw side will help you remove nails and even pry off cupboards from walls.

Paint brushes

Spending over 2,626 per year on DIY, painting is one of the top DIY jobs we undertake. Whether you're giving your living room a fresh lick of paint with this seasons hottest colours (it's green by the way!), or you're upcycling an ugly sideboard you found in a charity shop, having a selection of paintbrushes will help ensure you get that finish you're looking for.

Saw

If you're looking to get started with some MDF projects or perhaps you want to transform your garden shed into a bone fide extra room, then a saw is a must. But be sure to use a saw with a sharp blade on an even surface. And if you're in an enclosed space, where goggles and even a mask to avoid inhaling sawdust.

Top DIY jobs

If you're planning a DIY project over the coming weeks, you're not alone. Some of the most popular DIY projects include reupholstering, painting doors and cabinets, and even building furniture like tables and chairs.

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The Tools Every Avid DIY'er Needs - babyboomers.com

Maurie Backman| The Motley Fool

Filing a tax return can be stressful in its own right. But then there's the notion of being audited to think about, and that can take tax-related stress to a whole new level.

Now, the reality is that the IRS audits less than 1% of all tax returns filed, so the likelihood of having yours further scrutinized is pretty low. But with the IRS taking steps to boost audit activity, that could result in more tax returns getting a second look.

A big reason the IRS audits such a small percentage of tax returns filed is that the agency doesn't have the staff to do more. But that could soon change, because the agency is hiring in an effort to ramp up auditing among filers with higher incomes.

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While the IRS currently has only 6,500 agents available to audit high-income filers, it has plans to hire thousands of additional employees in the coming months. And that could lead the way to an uptick in audits.

Between 2015 and 2019, IRS audits dropped by 44%, according to a 2021 report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Audits also dropped by 75% for filers making $1 million or more, and so now, the IRS is hoping to change that.

We fought the IRS, sort of:But half the battle was getting a human on the phone

Let's get one thing out of the way: a tax audit is not necessarily the scary thing you might expect it to be. Most of the time, IRS audits are conducted and settled by mail, and sometimes, they can work out in filers' favor (meaning, an audit doesn't result in owing more money to the IRS).

If you were honest about your income when you filed your most recent tax return, then there's really no reason to be worried about an audit. If you lied about your deductions or failed to report income, that's a different story, of course. But as long as you were truthful, there's no reason to assume that your tax return will get flagged.

Furthermore, if you're an average earner, you're less likely to get audited than a very high or very low earner. For the 2019 tax year, for example, the audit rate was just 0.2% for people earning between $25,000 and $500,000. For those earning $5 million to $10 million, it was 2%. So unless you pull down a millionaire's income, your chances of having your tax return scrutinized are very slim.

Who gets audited the most?These two groupsface the highest audit rates

If you want to reduce your chances of getting audited, though, make sure to truly report every cent of income you earn, whether it's payments for a side job or interest income from your savings account. And also, claim reasonable deductions. If you're self-employed and earn $75,000 a year and you write off $45,000 in deductions, that could raise a red flag.

But otherwise, if you commit to being honest with the IRS, there's a good chance it will leave you alone. The IRS is still extremely resource-constrained, so while it wants to ramp up auditing, the reality is that focusing on higher earners is its best bet. We're unlikely to see an uptick in audits among average earners for quite some time.

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We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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IRS is staffing up. Does that mean more people will get audited? - USA TODAY

BOSTON (WBZNewsRadio) - Finding an apartment in Boston and it's surrounding communities is a lot like using a dating app. There is a lot of cat-fishing, where the pictures or description don't match up with the genuine article.

Boston's real estate market recently as seen unprecedented prices, add inflation and rising mortgage rates and renters are now feeling the market pinch. This past April, Rent.com released a new report showing rent in the city of Boston is the highest it's ever been. Apartments are being snatched up in the blink of an eye, with some signing contracts without even seeing the property.

"I actually did the same thing." One rented told WBZ's Madison Rogers. "They didn't have a video of the actual place, so I moved in fully expecting to have a completely insane apartment but it was actually really nice. I think it depends on who you talk to."

Another renter said the online listing said the property has two bathrooms, but failed to mention the second facility was located in the basement. Another said the listing used distorted photos and used a fisheye lens that carefully disguised the floor severely bowed in the center.

These types of deception aren't necessarily new. In September of 2020, Attorney General Maura Healey spoke to the Boston Globe about an increase in virtual rental scams.

There are a number of ways you can protect yourself from apartment cat-fishing. Remember the golden rule, if something seems to goo to be true, it probably is.

Landlords will use every photographic trick in the boom from filters, Photoshop, to distorted camera lenses to make a property look large or hide obvious imperfections. If you're unsure if a photograph has been tampered with, a quick internet-search may turn up the listing history of the property.

Make sure you verify potentially phony addresses. Some websites like StreetEasy and Apartments.com allow the renter to enter the full address of a property to search for it's listing history. That way potential tenants can double check descriptions, photos and floor plans.

And always vet the real estate agent or landlord before sending money. Unfortunately not all listing agents are as credentialed as they claim to be.

WBZ's Madison Rogers (@MadisonWBZ) reports

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Apartment Cat-Fishing On The Rise In Boston | WBZ NewsRadio 1030 - iHeart

Amy McVay Abbott| Louisville Courier Journal

My college friend, who would later be the best man atmy wedding,asked me out for a beerjust me. I wasnt sure what was up. We usually spent our dollar pitcher nights at Muncie, Indiana'sThe Chug with a group.

He poured me a mug. After a few rounds, my friend blurted out his secret, Im gay, he said. Unsure of how I would react as the most nave of our friends, he chose to tell me alone. I was the last to know.

I started to cry, not because I judged him, but because I knew how the larger world would. I told him I loved him and would always love him. Who he partnered with made no difference to me. I committed to always supporting him.

He stood boyishly handsome in his gray tuxedo on a beautiful autumn day as I married his dear friend. Decades later, my groom and I are still friends with our Best Man.

So whats the point of this little story? All who are straight and who desire to be allies must start somewhere. I respect that a change in perspective isnt always easy weve been programmed to see the world a certain way from early childhood, if not before. Gender as a dichotomy begins even before a childs birth with pink or blue confetti at a gender-reveal party. The event should be called a sex-reveal event. Science teaches us that gender is on a spectrum.

The reality is that gender is more complicated than sex. Since 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics has encouraged parents to affirm their childs preferred gender over sex at birth. We must be willing to listen to what advances in science tell us, that sexual organs do not always define gender. Sadly, some people will never accept that.

We all want human connection. Love is what drives us, what we seek more than anything. And I passionately believe, having lived into my seventh decade, that love is love, for the lesbian couple who raised twins who are both wildly successful college students. Or my friend who mourns her partner of thirty-plus years, who died of COVID while her family sat in the hospital parking lot, connected by FaceTime. Or the family whose young child knew they were a different gender. The parents and grandparents support and engage this child, walking in Pride events and raising them with encouragement, not judgment. The world may still be cruel, but this child knows many people love them, and thats foundational to the childs growth and development. Frankly, love and acceptance are foundational for all, no matter our age.

More: It's Pride Month! Here are 15+ ways to celebrate with events in the Louisville area

How does it hurt you to accept another human being for who they are? Isnt it ironic that many people are against same-sex marriage when heterosexual marriage doesnt have a stellar history? The CDC reports that heterosexuals have a 42% chance of getting a divorce.

So what can allies do?From GoodRx Health, An ally listens to, believes, and amplifies LGBTQ+ voices. Anyone can be an ally. This includes those outside ofandwithin the LGBTQ+ community.

Isnt it about being kind? Its so simple. Treat a person who is LGBTQ+ the same as we treat any other human. The golden rule principle treating others as we would like to be treated is at the core of many religions and creeds throughout history.

How do you want to be treated? Give back what you want to see from others. Use the correct pronoun and name of a trans person, get out to an event if you are able, support organizations that support the gay community, wear a Pride shirt, fly a rainbow flag, and love and encourage the LGBTQpeople in your life. Happy Pride Month!

Amy McVay Abbott is a journalist and author from southern Indiana. A chapter from her latest book, Centennial Farm Family, won the 2022 Elaine Spires Smith Family History Prize from the Indiana Genealogical Society. The book is available where books are sold.

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How does it hurt you to accept someone for who they are? Here's why I'm an ally - Courier Journal

When they read the inspiring columns that I publish every week, some people share this feedback. They say, Your words of motivation are good for those who have an inherent willpower to achieve more. Some further ask me, Is there any method which can help a person increase willpower? My answer is, There is no such medicine in this universe which can permanently jack up your willpower. However, five transformational practices can make your willpower damage proof when observed like a habit! Here are those:

Will Power becomes a casualty only for those who lack self-belief. Practice a high level of self-belief consciously. This does not mean one should be overconfident or arrogant, but the ability to be firm on our dreams and aspirations.

Self-belief usually generates from two vital elements:

Whatever be your goal, you must have a depth of wisdom in the domain. Your understanding of the knowledge ecosystem will keep you charged all the way. Likewise, if you practice high self-esteem, bottlenecks and failures on your way will not be able to shake your willpower.

A very fruitful habit to develop is to debate with oneself. The more critically you argue about your decisions, the more indefatigable you become. In the process, you get acquainted with otherwise unfathomable pros and cons of your decisions. This habit also prepares you to make quick decisions and take swift turns, especially when encountering roadblocks.

Recently, I met a 60-year-old person of high repute. He said, all my life, I did social service, but now I am into making big money. Most of my friends have bought high-value cars, travelled worldwide and built mansions. Well, I think it is now my turn to do it all!

Only a person with an untiring vision and an unflinching focus on the end-result can be so determined and optimistic.

I strongly suggest everyone practice honouring ones commitment, irrespective of circumstances. The more you practice such behaviour, the more powerful you make the muscle of your willpower. This character must become your DNA.

Suppose a student studying in class 12th is asked to appear in an examination conducted for the students of class 4th. Definitely, they will show outstanding performance. However, such achievement will never reflect the real potential, nor will it motivate the person to achieve more.

The golden rule to be followed is, Your aspirations must always be much bigger than your resources.

Friends, why not attempt to practice the above five habits for at least 21 days and see the change?

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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How to increase our willpower? - Times of India

In the first portion of Episode 187, Good and bad algorithms in the practice of medicine (May 19, 2022), Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks and anesthetist Dr. Richard Hurley discussed where algorithms help in medicine and where they dont. In this portion, they turn to how to get good medical care when you are dealing with an insurance company as well as medical staff and institutions. The two types of institution are, as we will see, very different.

Before we get started: Robert J. Marks, a Distinguished Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Engineering at Baylor University, has a new book, coming out Non-Computable You (June, 2022), on the need for realism in another area as well the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Stay tuned.

This portion begins at roughly 7:31 min. A partial transcript and notes, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow.

Dr. Hurley talks about battling algorithms while trying to provide spinal surgery for patients with back pain:

Richard Hurley: Theyve had all kinds of conservative care. Ultimately, I may decide to do a procedure called median branch blocks or facet nerve injections, where we anesthetize the joint to see if function and pain improves. Now, once I request that, I have to send all of my notes, all of my imaging, everything, to the insurance company. And we might hear back from them in a week. So when a patient comes in and they expect care at that particular time, I cant even offer it to them because it has to be approved.

And they [the insurance company] ask 15 different questions that my nurse will fill out electronically. But if she misses one just one or if she doesnt dot the Is and cross the Ts, then it gets denied. And the insurance companies have people who are not experts. Theyre not nurses. Theyre not even medical assistants. They are people who have been trained to read notes and then look for reasons to deny it.

Robert J. Marks: Well, this is the whole point, right? Theyre following fixed rigid algorithms which do not allow the flexibility that you need.

Richard Hurley: Right. And the companies that do this have just blossomed with managed Medicare. Everybody thinks managed Medicare is like standard Medicare. Thats false. You have standard Medicare but then you have to pay for your supplement, which is 20% of the care. Sometimes that costs more than the standard Medicare. Managed Medicare gets rid of all that. Its just one fee. So if an insurance company like Blue Cross, Blue Shield, or Aetna is involved, they can make money if they deny services or postpone them.

(Dr. Hurley explained that when insurance companies turn down payment for procedures, he is allowed to appeal and, in his case, 100% of them are approved over time. So it is a waiting game.]

Robert J. Marks: So theyre reasonable but you really have to go to battle with them. How much time do you spend battling the insurance companies?

Richard Hurley: Not all insurance companies require prior authorizations but all managed Medicare does. And almost all primary insurance does but standard Medicare does not. So if you have standard Medicare with a supplement, theres no pre-authorization People who sign up for managed Medicare are not aware that theyre going to be plagued with pre-authorizations.

Robert J. Marks: The funny thing is, I go in for procedures every once in a while and Im given an estimate of what the insurance company will pay. Invariably, almost 100% [of the time] I get a bill for extra money. In other words, the medical doctor doesnt know how much the insurance company will pay. They guess or maybe they have a standard reimbursement that they quote me but it never seems to be enough.

On one occasion I did get a check back that I paid too much, but that was a rarity. And that seems to me to be frustrating and a very bad algorithm, if you cant decide beforehand, what a procedures going to cost.

Richard Hurley: Absolutely, and you dont see that. In medicine, if there was no insurance and everybody paid cash, youd have the prices written outside on a billboard.

Robert J. Marks: So the insurance companies algorithms are, let me use the word, brittle. You cant crack them. You cant go outside of them. And that certainly must be frustrating. On the other hand, we know that we need algorithms because there needs to be some sort of constraint in terms of containing cost. So Richard, how could it be fixed?

Richard Hurley: The state of Texas came up with, in the last legislative session, the Golden Rule. Essentially, if a physician had six months of care in which virtually 90% of the requested authorizations were passed, then they would get a gold card. For the next six months, they can go ahead and schedule the procedure without getting authorization. It was supposed to have happened by, I think, the beginning of the year. But, interestingly enough, insurance companies have been trying to tack on different rules

Robert J. Marks: Now, when you or your assistant or your nurse talks to the insurance companies, I guess one of the things that must be frustrating to you is that you, as a physician, are arguing with somebody who is trying to follow a strict algorithm, but has no medical experience.

Richard Hurley: Correct.

Robert J. Marks: Yet you say that most of your controversies are concluded in a happy way. So how do they get around the algorithms? Are you given exemptions from the algorithm or what?

Richard Hurley: Well, hopefully thats going to happen. In other words, maybe one day Ill have a gold card. I dont know.

I doubt that [will happen for] interventional pain physicians, because the problem with chronic pain is that everybodys going to be a patient at some time or another. You will be. I will be Everybody copes with it differently. But authorizations for certain medications, like CGRP inhibitors for migraine, cost $600 a month. And if you think about how many millions of patients have that, and you just dump that on the system, insurers would really struggle. And I understand that as well

But the biggest problem I have is when I do a pre-authorization and it gets rejected, I go to appeal and go back and review my notes. And then I talk to the doctor there [at the appeal board]. The reason I win is because they didnt read all the notes. They didnt look at the MRI report.

They just missed it. And so I always ask them, Why do you ask for us to send all the notes on the patient when you dont read them? I mean, it doesnt make any sense.

Robert J. Marks: Oh, my gosh. The gold card, the more I think about it, the better idea it is. I like the idea of vetting physicians to give them more flexibility in what they do.

Another question I have, what is the difference between the different insurance companies? They all have these brittle sort of algorithmic criteria that they impose on the practice of medicine. Are there some which are better than other ones?

Richard Hurley: Im not the expert in that, so I cant tell you. We have less problems if people can afford standard Medicare with a supplement. When they get to Medicare age, I just encourage them to go that route. Even though youre healthy, and even though you may not have used a lot of healthcare, you dont know what the futures going to bring. Even though you may be paying more, thats the way I would go. Managed healthcare changes. What I mean by that is, Blue Cross/Blue Shield may have this criterion to do median branch blocks on a patient this year but next year theyre going to change it.

Robert J. Marks: Really? So the rules keep changing?

Richard Hurley: Oh, the rules change on the first of the year. They publish it. You might get to see it; you might not. And then all of a sudden you havent met that criterion, so it gets denied.

Robert J. Marks: How do you play the game without knowing the rules?

Richard Hurley: Well yeah, its really funny. You get denials, and then all of a sudden, you find out what the new rule is. Then you start adjusting your notes so that it fits their criteria. Those are kinds of things that we, as physicians, get really frustrated with. And those rules seem to be quite arbitrary. And theyre based on what they perceive as abuse, where all of a sudden this procedures going way up. And is there any reason for it? There may not be, and it may be abuse. But theyre penalizing all the other patients involved by changing the rules and not letting us know.

Robert J. Marks: A number of different companies give health insurance. Is there a monopoly, happening unsaid, where the rules for all of these insurance companies are roughly the same? The reason I ask this is, it seems that if there were true competition in the spirit of free enterprise, in the spirit of capitalism, between the different healthcare insurance providers, there would be a competition to give the best service. Which would be a motivation to sharpen their algorithms to make them more user-friendly to the physician.

Richard Hurley: I feel sorry for the lay person who doesnt know a lot about medicine and how healthcare is done. Because you basically would think, Well, Im probably not going to buy the cheapest, but Im certainly not going to buy the most expensive. And so Im going to try to hit one in the middle of the road.

If you ask a lay person in the United States what a pre-authorization for healthcare is, many patients might know, but most people dont. And they dont ask that when they go to get their plan. But in answer to your question, all the managed care providers use other companies to develop these algorithms to decide whether a procedure is medically necessary or if its experimental.

Robert J. Marks: Really? So they farm it out then.

Richard Hurley: Right. And one of the largest companies is a company called eviCore. They manage 100 million Medicare Advantage patients. 100 million.

Richard Hurley: So I usually have to talk to eviCore. By the way, I have the right under the state of Texas, to talk to a peer. In other words, if my nurse sets up an appeal, shell say, Now, Dr. Hurley does want a pain physician, board certified, who hell talk to. And by law, they have to get that In other words, I dont have to argue in front of an oncologist or a primary care [physician].

Robert J. Marks: Its peer review, if you will?

Richard Hurley: Right. Its a peer review. If that ever changes, its time for me to retire.

Robert J. Marks: Okay. You mentioned previously, and I thought this was interesting, if we didnt have insurance, the price of every procedure of every medicine would be printed on a billboard Do you think that this price is going to be higher or lower if we didnt have insurance?

Richard Hurley: Anytime the federal government gets into anything, the price goes up. You know that as well as I do the price goes through the roof. And thats because youre very inefficient if you run anything from Washington DC, as opposed to doing something local. The state can do things cheaper than the federal government can do. And the local governments can do things cheaper than that. Or a private institution, like Baylor or whatever

Robert J. Marks: Im wondering if some of these different insurances were localized more and separated, like the divestiture of the Bell Systems Labs, where they broke up the company, that maybe we would get a better deal?

Richard Hurley: Well, the drugs that we use in the United States cost X dollars. The same drug in Canada cost 75% less because they have one payer and thats the Canadian healthcare system. They buy all the drugs and they dispense them.

Robert J. Marks: Okay, so thats a vote for socialism.

Richard Hurley: It is, and Im not saying But what Im saying is, is there any reason why two years ago the price of insulin doubled and tripled and quadrupled? I mean, I dont know. I dont know that information. But then if the federal government goes in and says, Okay, you can sell insulin, but you can only sell it for $35 a vial how many people are going to play with that? I dont know. I dont have the answers in terms of the cost and how to control it.

All I know is everybody wants American healthcare and they come here in droves to get it. Its still the best. And I think it always will be as long as we do it. And its not truly private. Theres a mixture of the federal government, state government, private enterprise and all that other stuff.

But algorithms in healthcare to help patients get better, whether in surgery or on the floor, are designed by physicians to help other physicians or providers to do things. And the algorithms for insurance companies are done differently.

Robert J. Marks: So thats another interesting question. This eviCore, do you know to what degree they employ physicians to set up these policies?

Richard Hurley: I have no idea, but they must have hundreds, if not thousands of physicians that work either part-time. But please dont give me that job. I dont want to have to answer the phone and listen to appeals. I couldnt do that job.

Robert J. Marks: The interesting thing is probably all those medical doctors make these recommendations and its eventually decided by a bunch of guys with MBAs.

Richard Hurley: It may be true.

Robert J. Marks: Yeah, that would be my hunch. Okay. Any final words, Richard?

Richard Hurley: No, Im glad we had a chance to at least talk about this. I doubt that the public is aware of the algorithms that are involved in pre-authorization of patients for procedures or medications.

Frequently they blame the physician. Okay. Why are you not getting this done? Why am I having to wait? They dont realize that the hangup is not at the office where you see your physician. But its in computers and insurance companies that actually want a say in whether you can have that care or not.

My suggestion for people who are buying health insurance is: How much pre-authorization is this product going to have? And I might run away from it.

Always ask What, is the procedure? Do I have to have pre-authorization to be admitted to the hospital? Do I have to have pre-authorization for this type of surgery? All of those things.

Here is the first portion of this episode, with partial transcript, links, and notes:

Algorithms in medicine: Where they help and where they dont Removing creativity, nuance, and insight from medicine may result in cheaper care but not better care. Surgery robots help many surgeons today but, as anesthetist Richard Hurley explains to Robert Marks, insurance algorithms on who gets care can flop badly.

You may also wish to read Dr. Hurleys thoughts about addiction:

Opioids: The high is brief, the death toll is ghastly. Fentanyl has medical uses in, say, open heart operations where the patient is on life support; otherwise, it is a one-way ticket off the planet. Anesthesiologist Richard Hurley tells Robert J. Marks how Fentanyl affects the brain and why the street version is so deadly.

and

What anti-opioid strategies could really lower the death toll? Anesthetist Dr. Richard Hurley discussed with Robert J. Marks the value of cognitive behavior therapy reframing the problem. Life expectancy in the United States is decreasing due to opioid deaths, though the problem is now primarily street drugs, not medically prescribed ones.

Podcast Transcript Download

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The Challenges of Medical Care When Insurance Algorithms Rule - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Andres is back to the office three days a week, and like many knowledge workers, hes not happy about it. He says that while he and the other executive assistants at his Boston law firm have been forced back, the attorneys havent been following the rules. Thats partly because the rules dont quite make sense, and people in all types of jobs are only coming in because they have to, not because theres a good reason to go in.

People have adapted to remote work, and truthfully, the firm has done a tremendous job at adapting in the pandemic, said Andres, who would prefer going in two days, as long as others were actually there. But I think its more the returning to work that theyre struggling on. He, like a number of other office workers, spoke with Recode anonymously to avoid getting in trouble with his employer.

Andres enjoys working from home and thinks he does a good job of it and it allows him to escape a long commute that has only gotten 45 minutes longer thanks to construction projects on his route.

The majority of Americans dont work from home, but among those who do, theres a battle going on about where theyll work in the future. And its not just people who enjoy remote work who are upset about the return to the office.

Those who want to be remote are upset because they enjoyed working from home and dont understand why, after two years of doing good work there, they have to return to the office. People who couldnt wait to go back are not finding the same situation they enjoyed before the pandemic, with empty offices and fewer amenities. Those who said they prefer hybrid 60 percent of office workers are not always getting the interactions with colleagues theyd hoped for.

The reasons the return to the office isnt working out are numerous. Bosses and employees have different understandings of what the office is for, and after more than two years of working remotely, everyone has developed their own varied expectations about how best to spend their time. As more and more knowledge workers return to the office, their experience at work their ability to focus, their stress levels, their level of satisfaction at work has deteriorated. Thats a liability for their employers, as the rates of job openings and quits are near record highs for professional and business services, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

There are, however, ways to make the return to the office better, but those will require some deep soul-searching about why employers want employees in the office and when they should let it go.

For now, many employees are just noticing the hassle of the office, even if theyre going in way less than they did pre-pandemic. This is whats known as the hybrid model, and even though people like the remote work aspect of it, for many its still unclear what the office part of it is for.

If I go into the office and there are people but none of them are on my team, I dont gain anything besides a commute, Mathew, who works at a large payroll company in New Jersey, said. Instead of sitting at my own desk, Im sitting at a desk in Roseland.

Mathews company is asking people to come in three days a week, but he says people are mostly showing up two.

Further complicating things is that, while the main reason hybrid workers cite for wanting to go into the office is to see colleagues, they also dont want to be told when to go in, according to Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford professor who, along with other academics, has been conducting a large, ongoing study of remote workers called WFH Research.

Employees say that management has yet to really penalize people for failing to follow office guidance, likely out of fear of alienating a workforce in a climate where its so hard to hire and retain employees. Many others moved farther from the office during the pandemic, making the commute harder. The result is circular: People go into the office to see other people but then dont actually see those people so they stop going into the office as much.

With 70 percent of office workers globally now back in the office at least one day a week, the excitement many people felt a few months ago is wearing off. For many, that novelty is turning into an existential question: Why are we ever here?

It was sort of like the first day of school when youre back from summer vacation and its nice to see people and catch up with them, Brian Lomax, who works at the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC and who is expected to come in two days a week, said. But now its, Oh, hey, good to see you, and then you go on about your day, an experience he says is the same as working from home and reaching out to people via Microsoft Teams.

Most of the people we spoke to use software like Teams, Slack, and Zoom to communicate even while theyre in the office, making the experience similar to home. If one person in a meeting is on a video call from home say, because theyre immunocompromised, or they have child care duties, or it just happens to be the day they work from home that week everyone is. Theres actually been an uptick in virtual meetings, despite the return to the office, according to Calendly. In April, 64 percent of meetings set up through the appointment scheduling software included videoconferencing or phone details, compared with 48 percent a year earlier.

One issue is that hybrid means different things from company to company and even team to team. Typically, it seems employers are asking workers to come in a set number of days per week, usually two or three. Some employers are specifying which days; some are doing it by teams; some are leaving it up to individual workers. Almost half of office visits are just once a week and over a third of these visits are for less than six hours, according to data from workplace occupancy analytics company Basking.io as reported by Bloomberg. The middle of the week tends to be much busier than Mondays and Fridays, when there are empty cubicles as far as the eye can see.

Theres also a disconnect between why employees think theyre being called in. Employees cite their companys sunk real estate investments, their bosses need for control, and their middle managers raison detre. Employers, meanwhile, think going into the office is good for creativity, innovation, and culture building. Nearly 80 percent of employees think theyve been just as or more productive than they were before the pandemic, while less than half of leaders think so, according to Microsofts Work Trends Index.

Employers and employees generally tend to agree that a good reason to go into the office is to see colleagues face to face and onboard new employees. Data from Time Is Ltd. found that employees that started during the pandemic are collaborating with less than 70 percent of colleagues and clients as their tenured peers would have been at this point. Slacks Future Forum survey found that while executives were more likely to say people should come into the office full time, they are less likely to do so themselves.

The nature of individuals jobs also determines how much, if at all, they think they should be in the office. Melissa, a government policy analyst in DC, is supposed to go in twice a week but has only been going in once because she says her work involves collaborating with others but not usually at the same time. She might write a draft, send it to others to read, and then theyll make comments and perhaps, at some point, they all get together to talk about it.

I see a lot of these ads for these teamwork apps they always show these pictures of people sitting at a conference table and they have paper and all sorts of things on the wall and theyre really collaborating on product development or something, Melissa said. And Im like, thats not what were doing. Still, she thinks that from managers perspectives, in-person is the gold standard, regardless of the actualities of the job.

It feels like they just want people in the office, she said.

It also depends on the pace of work. A financing services employee at Wells Fargo in Iowa said he works more efficiently at the office but that since his job consists of working on deals that come in sporadically throughout the day, that efficiency means he ends up wasting a lot of time playing on his phone or pacing around the office in between.

What makes this so frustrating is that my wife will send me a photo of her and my 10-month-old son going out for a walk, he said. If I had a break at home, Id go on a walk with them.

Employers are certainly feeling the frustration from their employees and have been walking back how much theyre asking employees to be in the office. Last summer, office workers reported that their employers would allow them to work from home 1.6 days a week; now thats gone up to 2.3 days, according to WFH Research.

Companies are rolling back return-to-office, or RTO, plans at law firms, insurance agencies, and everywhere in between. Even finance companies like JPMorgan Chase, whose CEO has been especially vocal about asking people to return to their offices, have loosened up.

Tech companies have long been at the forefront when it comes to allowing hybrid or remote work, and now even more tech companies, including Airbnb, Cisco, and Twitter, are joining the club. Even Apple, which has been much stricter than its peers in coaxing employees back to the office, has paused its plan to increase days in the office to three a week, after employee pushback and the resignation of a prominent machine learning engineer.

It seems like, for now, office workers have the upper hand. Many dont expect to be penalized by management for not working from the office when theyre supposed to, partly because they dont think management believes in the rules themselves.

Our retention is better than expected and our employee engagement is better than expected, so I dont think [our executives are] seeing any downside, said Rob Carr, who works at an insurance company in Columbus, Ohio, where people are expected to be in three days a week but, as far as hes seen, rarely go. Honestly, if they were, I think theyd be cracking down, and theyre not.

Carr himself goes into the office every day, but only because he and his wife downsized houses and moved a short bike ride from his office. Otherwise Carr, who is on the autism spectrum and says he doesnt do well with in-person interactions, would be completely happy working from home as he is from his empty office.

Hats off to Apple for innovation, Carr said, but they are, certainly from a Silicon Valley perspective, an old company.

Solving the office conundrum is not easy, and in all likelihood it will be impossible to make everyone happy. But its important to remember that going to the office never really worked for everyone, it was just what everyone did. Now, two years after the pandemic sent office workers to their living rooms, their employers may have a chance to make more people happy than before.

The problem right now is youve set something thats unrealistic and doesnt work, and when employees try it out and it doesnt work, they give up, Bloom, the Stanford professor, said. If employees refuse to come in, it means the system isnt working.

To fix that, employers should explore not only why they want people in the office, but whether bringing people into the office is achieving those goals. If the main reason to bring people back is to collaborate with colleagues, for example, they need to set terms that ensure that happens. That could mean making people who should be working together come in on the same days a problem around which a whole cottage industry of remote scheduling software has cropped up.

That said, Bloom believes theres no golden rule on how often its necessary to go in to get the benefits of the office. Importantly, when workers do come in, they shouldnt be bogged down with anything they could be doing at home.

First, figure out how many days a week or a month constructively would it be good to have people face to face, and that depends on how much time you spend on activities that are best in person, he said, referring to things like onboarding, training, and socializing.

Employers need to be realistic about how much in-person work really needs to happen. Rather than making people come in a few times a week at random, where colleagues pass like ships in the night, they could all come in on the same day of the week or even once a month or quarter. And on those days, the perks of coming in have to be more than tacos and T-shirts, too. While fun, free food and swag arent actually good reasons to go to the office.

How much someone needs to come into the office might also vary by team or job type.

For me, coming in to do teaching and to go to research seminars, that might be twice a week, Bloom said. But for other people, like coders, it may just be a big coding meeting and a few trainings once a month. For people in marketing and advertising, mad men, thats very much around meetings, discussions, problem-solving that may be two or three days.

Another thing to consider, especially for those who truly like the office, is how they can get that experience with fewer of the downsides.

Currently, even employees who still like their offices a lot arent necessarily using them. Real estate services company JLL found that a third of office workers are using so-called third places like cafes and coworking spaces to work, even when they have offices they can go to.

Matt Burkhard, who leads a team of 30 at Flatiron Health, is one of those workers. He says he works better at an office than at home, where he has two young children. And while Burkhard enjoys going into his office and goes there once or twice per week, though he wont be required to do so until later this summer, the trip to Manhattan isnt always feasible, especially if he has to do child care for part of the day. So hes been going to Daybase, a coworking space near his home in Hoboken, NJ, three or four times per week.

Im just a lot more focused when everyone is in the same place working, Burkhard said, noting that he hasnt asked his company to pay for the $50 a month membership fee.

For many office workers, the current state of affairs just isnt working out. So theyre doing what they can to make their experience of work better, whether that means renting coworking space or not showing up for arbitrary in-office days. They dont necessarily hate the office. What they hate is not having a good reason to be there.

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Why employees don't want to return to the office - Vox.com

Lets be honest, as much as were acutely aware that the majority of us wont be playing the sport for a living, we all want to get better. Theres nothing worse than feeling as though youve plateaued, or worse, gone backwards. Whilst age or injury may contribute to higher scores, there are definitive, and proven ways to improve your scores. Be warned though, theres no silver bullet as much as we often wish that there was!

Its difficult to make significant improvement in your game if youre only playing once a week. Its no surprise that the juniors at your club make vast improvements during the summer, after playing for 30-days in a row! Whilst this might not be feasible for most of us, there are opportunities to bridge the gap between Saturday morning rounds. With the sun shining until 7pm between April-September, theres no excuse for not trying to get out for 9-holes or so in the evening. Along with keeping your game sharp, and allowing you to work on a few bits, it's likely that this will also help maximise your enjoyment of the sport as you wander around without the stresses that come with the weekly competition or friendly fourball

Whether you head up the club during the week, or spend some time on a weekend afternoon, few things are better for your game than putting dedicated work in on the course itself. Throw some balls down in regular nerve-inducing scenarios - behind a bunker, the long par-5 tee shot, the par-3 over water - and get used to hitting these shots with the knowledge that there are no consequences to hitting a bad shot. It should make things a lot easier the next time youre faced with the same thing in the monthly medal.

However, if things are really going array, then its probably worth forgoing a trip to the course in favour of one to the range. Ben Hogan famously talked about finding the secret to the sport in the dirt, and a good hour or so spent with a bucket of balls can often be hugely confidence-inspiring before you next head to the course. Wed recommend limiting your time at the range, preferring to work on your scoring on the course itself - but you need to be keeping the ball in play for that to worthwhile! Grind out the swing on the range for a while, until you at least know where the ball is likely to be heading, and then get back to the course to drill in your new swing in a live environment.

One of the biggest developments over recent years has been the accessibility of statistics for the average golfer. There are a myriad of Apps and websites that can help you to track your stats, including the hugely popular Golfshake Score Tracker, helping to paint a picture of where your game is at. One of the most useful ways of analysing your game is through a methodology known as strokes gained. First pioneered by Mark Brodie, this allows you to see where youre giving up shots compared to other players of a similar ability, thus giving you something to work on. Be aware though, you do need to build up your own data set to ensure the results are relevant to the overall shape of your game. Furthermore, you need to have some acceptance of what a player of your own ability should be doing from each spot. The worlds best golfers only hole 50% of their 8ft putts - that means that youre allowed to miss a few every now and again!

One of the most busted-myths from the greater introduction of statistics is that scratch golfers are making bundles of birdies each round. In actual fact, a player that shoots in the 70s will only make a birdie or two a round more than one that shoots in the 90s. The biggest differentiation between the two though is amount of bogeys and doubles the higher handicapper will shoot. Whilst some of these shots are missed off the tee, the vast majority can be saved around the greens. Youll notice it in your own games - that scratch player at your club always seems to get up and down and holes everything. It's no coincidence why their handicap is as low as it is, and we bet that youll also see them more than most on the practice green! There is quite literally no downside to spending time on your short game, and with the addition of ever-better training aids, you can even do this from the comfort of your own home!

Never follow one mistake with another.Its an easy mantra to repeat, but often much harder to do in practice. However, the majority of times that we do fall foul of this golden rule, its because the red mist has descended! Take a breath, reassess and plan out your next shot. For those that cant help the sudden build-up of negative energy following a poor shot, why not follow Tiger Woods 10-step rule. You can be as angry as you like once youve hit the shot, but after 10 steps forward it has to be gone, with a focus on the next shot, forgetting everything that has happened.

One of the best questions you can ask yourself over each shot is what does a good shot look like from each scenario. Not only will it give you a focus, itll likely help you make better decisions on the course, and prevent you from making silly mistakes - in turn, helping to keep your cool. Its often thought of as a bit of a chicken & egg situation. You play your best when youre happy, but youre also happy because youre playing your best. That said, wed contend that its much easier to try to control your happiness than it is the flight of a little white ball!

Really, this should be point #1. But research has continued to show that golfers dont seek dedicated outside counsel as much as they probably should. If youre serious about improvement, then there really is no better way than to invest in a series of lessons from a professional. The odd tweak-up can help, but realistically, if youre looking for long-term improvement, youre going to have to have an honest look at some of your fundamentals. Whilst getting slightly better at chipping and putting might save a shot or three, a professional can help you make improvements that you might not have thought possible. Furthermore, theres no reason why these lessons cant be focussed on some of the other areas weve discussed. A good pro will look at your whole game, spending time on your short game and mental game, as well as your technical abilities.

And this one is last for a reason! As tempting as it can be, buying the latest club is unlikely to be an immediate solve for poor scoring. However, there are occasions when it can be justified in the search for glory in the monthly medal. IIl-fitting products could be hampering your scores, or a swing change with your new coach might necessitate a different loft in your driver or flex in your irons. It might be that you want to add a higher-lofted wedge to help with your bunker play or just one with grooves that arent 30-years old! Well let you come up with your own reason for buying that new club, and we certainly arent saying that it wont help - but wed recommend trying some of our other suggestions first!

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How to Improve Your Scores in The Monthly Medal - Golfshake

SPOKANE, Wash. The city of Spokane in Washington is the birthplace of Fathers Day. It started in the craftsman-style home known as the Fathers Day House, or the Dodd House.

A Spokane resident named Sonora Louise Smart Dodd was inspired to dedicate a day to fathers while listening to a Mothers Day sermon at a church in 1909.

Her father, William Smart, was a Civil War veteran who raised Dodd and her five younger brothers after her mom died during childbirth.

The idea, I think, of having a single father in those years with six small children it was really important to her that he be recognized for all that he did, Kirstin Davis, communications manager for the City of Spokane, told NTD Television.

A plaque in front of the house honoring Dodd reads: He felt fatherhood was a lifelong task, Sonora Smart Dodd said, and he never relinquished its duties and responsibilities until his death in 1919. Even after my brothers and I were married, he was mindful of his obligations for he was a golden rule type of father.

Dodd started a petition to create a day honoring fathers. With the help of the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and the local YMCA, the Spokane mayor and the Washington governor signed proclamations to celebrate the first Fathers Day in June 1910.

After that, Dodd advocated for 60 years for Fathers Day to become a national holiday.

She decided to make it a very promotional effort and partnered with businesses that would benefit from selling mens items,Davis said. Whether those are ties, or greeting cards, whisky, things that dads might appreciate.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the third Sunday in June to be Fathers Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon made the holiday permanent.

Dodd became known as the Mother of Fathers Day.

On the 100th anniversary of Fathers Day, the National Register of Historic Places added the Dodd House to its list.

Now Spokane celebrates Fathers Day just like everywhere else.

Daviss birthday also falls in the third week of June. Before her father passed away, she used to celebrate it together with Fathers Day.

[Fathers Day is] just honoring that relationship, Davis said. Usually theres some really good food involved, and hopefully we get a nice day and we can be outside and enjoy each others company.

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Ilene is a reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area covering Northern California news.

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The Mother of Father's Day - The Epoch Times

A wrenching new video shows an out-of-control parasail pulling a mother and two children along the water in the Florida Keys on Monday before they smashed into a bridge, killing the woman and injuring both kids.

Supraja Alaparthi, 33, was parasailing with her young son and nephew on Memorial Day when high winds suddenly kicked up and threatened to drag the boat that was towing them.

Captain Daniel Couch, 49, made the decision to cut the tow line, hoping that he would be able to rescue the visitors from Illinois once the parasail descended.

But the parasail continued to hurtle forward and dragged the victims at high speed atop the water for nearly two miles before they hit a bridge, according to police and video from WPLG.

Alaparthi died from the impact while her nephew, 9-year-old Vishant Sadda, suffered serious injuries. Her son, 10-year-old Shriakshith Alaparthi, sustained minor wounds.

Couchs strategy has been questioned by a parasailing expert who said he should not have severed the cable to the harness.

Parasailing trailblazer Mark McCulloh, 66, told the Miami Herald that Couch breached a golden rule in cutting the line.

He should never have done that, McCulloch said. Thats the golden rule. Do not cut the line.

McCulloch said Couch should have tried other maneuvers to combat the gusting winds. Zigzagging the boat, he said, would have slowly deflated the parasail.

McCulloh told Fox 35 that the tragedy was absolutely preventable.

Ive actually experimented cutting the line in high winds throughout my lifetime in this industry and I found out that that wasnt a good idea, he said. Once youve cut the line, youve lost control of the situation.

A good Samaritan witnessed the incident from his fishing boat and brought the victims to a nearby restaurant while administering CPR before emergency units took over.

It was pretty much the worst thing you could imagine, John Callion told the Herald. It was real bad.

Florida officials are continuing to probe the incident.

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New video shows mother and two children being dragged by parasail before fatal accident - New York Post