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ROME Germany and Italy vowed greater unity on Monday a pledge that could reshape the EU's power centers.

Yet as they promised closer union, some disunion was on display over a core issue: Money.

At a joint press conference in Rome, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi demonstrated a palpable divergence on whether to reform the EU's debt rules a contentious topic as the pandemic ragesand climate change looms. Still, the leaders did agree "to intensify and improve EU cooperation in areas like industrial modernization, digitalization and climate change, while noting more permanent structures for collaboration were in the works.

We need a strong and better European Union, and our two countries are of the utmost importance in ensuring that this actually succeeds, Scholz told reporters. Berlin and Rome, he said, would work on an action plan to deepen the future of this cooperation. He also raised the prospect of joint German-Italian government consultations as soon as the coronavirus situation permits.

Draghi echoed his colleague, arguing there is a necessity to work together to reinforce European integration, and also, if possible, accelerate the process of integration.

The friendly words will carry across the EU, as they raise the prospect of Italy joining the already-tight pair of Germany and France to create a power trio. Last month, Italy and France signed a cooperation treaty, while Germany and France have a longstanding partnership enshrined in the treaties of Elyse and Aachen. Officials said the new German-Italian action plan aims to serve as the missing link to a triangle featuring Berlin, Paris and Rome. The goal, they said, is to jointly advance European policies post-Brexit.

Notably, Scholz's trip to Rome only his fourth foreign capital after stops in Paris, Warsaw and Brussels comes much earlier than his predecessor Angela Merkel first made the trip. She visited London, Washington and other international capitals before making it to Rome.

Over the years, Italy and Germany have not always seen eye to eye, with frustrations over managing migration, as well as Italys high debt and inability to implementstructuralreforms.

Draghis arrival as prime minister has helped ease some of these tensions. But not all. On Monday, the two leaders diverged on questions about reforming EU debt rules, a pressing conversation as leaders seek ways to buttress the post-pandemic economy and incentivize environmentally friendly investments.

Specifically, they seemed split over how to proceed with a Franco-Italian plan to exempt certain investments from the EUs spending limits, dubbed "the golden rule." Current rules say a countrys annual deficit can't exceed 3 percent of economic output, and that its overall debt must not top 60 percent of that output.

Draghi spoke of needed changes concerning budget rules [and] state aid rules in order to be coherent with the objectives that the EU has set itself in the fields of environment, the fight against climate change and digitalization, but also in the field of defense.

Scholz, however, sounded cool about Draghis proposals. He reiterated his longstanding position that the existing EU debt rules had always shown great flexibility and [are] still doing so. He added: We have shown what we can do, within the framework of the rules we have, and therefore we will be able to use them for the future. They are a good basis for this.

He also said that the EU had already provided a lot of fresh money to countries, referring to the EUs 800 billion recovery fund, as well as 300 billion of additional aid through loans and a new unemployment scheme.

A lot of money has already been mobilized in Europe," Scholz said. "And the first ambition we should have now is to use the money."

Draghi nonetheless tried to sound optimistic that he could reach an understanding with Scholz: I think there will be a rapprochement of positions," he said. "In my view, there will be an agreement."

Indeed, the Scholz-led government has signaled some cautious openness to reforming EU spending rules. The government's three-partycoalition agreementcalled for EU fiscal rules to be simpler and more transparent, as well as more consistently enforced by Brussels. But the coalition agreement also stressed the flexibility of the current rules. Scholz's finance minister also hails from a fiscally conservative party and Scholz himself is more fiscally conservative than his Social Democratic Partys base.

Draghi has been far blunter.

Last week, the prime minister told Italy's lower house of parliament that the EU budget rules "did not work, made things worse, did not support countries in need and would have been changed anyway" and said that commitments to digital and green transition are "incompatible with the old rules."

But Draghi played coy on Monday, parrying away a reporters question about fiscal reforms with light wit.

Im not very competent, I will leave the floor to the chancellor, he quipped, triggering broad laughter in the room.

Scholz immediately objected, saying Draghi was very competent.

In reality, both have a financial background. Scholz was finance minister for three years before ascending to the chancellery, while Draghi led the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019.

Italy can consider itself lucky to have such a competent man at its helm, Scholz said.

Pleasantries aside, both leaders also offered slightly diverging views on whether to retain the EU's unanimity requirement for making financial and foreign policy decisions.

German politicians have repeatedly voiced frustration about the approach, which has sometimes hampered the bloc's ability to even issue statements a statement was blocked, for instance, on China's activities in Hong Kong. They say the threshold should be lowered to a "qualified majority" in some situations.

"My position is that we would like it if majority decisions were possible," Scholz said. "But that will certainly not be on the agenda tomorrow. After all, we have to reach a consensus on this among everyone in Europe."

Draghi, however, warned that such discussions were "not easy," adding: "Because if you reflect about what it means to renounce on the unanimity when you need to take the decision to send your soldiers in a battlefield, you realize that its pretty complex."

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Germany and Italy want unity if money doesnt get in the way - POLITICO Europe

Most diversity and implicit bias trainings are not effective because they are based on empathy rather than compassion. Having empathy, instead of compassion, as the basis for addressing racial bias is akin to using water, instead of a metal cover, to put out a grease fire. Empathy based trainings have done nothing to reduce the growing societal fires related to bias such as bullying and hate crimes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that 2020 was a record year for hate crimes in the U.S The number of "recorded bias incidents" by the FBI in 2020 was the highest in more than a decade and that was an increase of 6% compared to 2019.

In terms of where Americans work, and where diversity trainings have been the norm at large firms since 2005, a 2019 Deloitte survey of 3,000 workers showed that 64% of them "felt they had experienced bias in their workplaces during the last year." In 2016, according to research conducted by Georgetown University, nearly 66% of Americans said that they were bullied at work as compared to 50% in 1998. If diversity and implicit bias trainings are working, we should be experiencing decreases in hate crimes.Dr. Chris Kukk

A central problem of such trainings is that they are really empathy trainings. And the problem with empathy as Paul Bloom, in Against Empathy, and others have shown is that "Empathy is biased, pushing us in the direction of parochialism and racism." We (all human beings) tend to be more empathetic to people who look like us and have similar backgrounds relative to people who we deem to be different.

Empathy is centered around the person seeking understanding rather than the person that needs to be understood. If you are practicing empathy, you're searching for feelings and emotions to put into yourself. When you are trying to "walk in someone else's shoes," as the empathetic motto goes, it is centrally about you wearing the shoes but not necessarily walking with the person who is suffering.

Compassion, in contrast, is other-centered. When you practice compassion, your search is about understanding not only another's problem or suffering but also their perspective and experience (i.e., their walk) with the problem. When you are compassionating, your goal is not necessarily focused on someone else's shoes but on learning about their walk, especially in the middle of a problem, so that you can help them through it. It is not your walk that should be the center of attention or concern, but theirs.

The fuel or 'oxygen' of bias is self-centeredness and empathy's egocentricity, as compared to compassion's other-centricity, feeds the fire of an us-versus-them perspective.

Because the promise of using empathy to reduce racism is both empty and risky, the following are several ways to increase tolerance and inclusion via compassion:

(1) From Calling Out to Calling In

Loretta J. Ross, a civil and reproductive rights activist and organizer, has fostered a movement that "calls people in" rather than "calling them out" for their racism and hate. Instead of making people feel blame and shame for their bigotry, the "calling in" movement requires each of us to alternate between respectfully questioning and sincerely listening to one another so that a conversation starts rather than a fight. The calling in movement is opposite of our current "cancel culture" as it strives to "build a culture and a world that invites people in rather than pushing them out." In short, its a culture of compassion.

(2) From One & Done to Converse & Traverse

The diversity trainings that I have been required to take are usually an hour or two long and end with a personal reflection exercise. If we are seeking to change minds regarding race and inclusion, shouldn't we base our efforts on what we know works about learning from the field of educational neuroscience? For example, learning is more likely to stick when it occurs over time and through various contexts, not when only one-offs that are online with little to no conversations are offered. Our trainings, to be effective, should include on-going conversations based around ideas such as the "calling-in" movement that help us traverse the chasm between hate and love. A workplace culture of inclusion is born out of everyday happenings rather than an annual event.

(3) From Golden to Platinum Rule

A change of emphasis on the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would want done to you) to the Platinum Rule (Do unto others as they would want done to them) would move our diversity learning from self-centric to other-centric. The Platinum Rule is learning about the other and doing for them what they would want done to them based on their unique values and tastes. You cant get too more focused on the other. As George Bernard Shaw said: Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same. In contrast, followers of the Golden Rule dont require any learning about anothers wants or tastes because their actions are based entirely on their own perception of how to solve a problem.

The use of empathy in diversity trainings is well-intentioned but according to Albert Camus The Plague "good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding." Compassion offers a clear path toward understanding, tolerance and inclusion. We can either feed the firestorms of bias, bigotry and racism with empathy or smother them with compassion.

Dr. Chris Kukk is the Sharp Dean of the Cormier Honors College at Longwood University and author ofThe Compassionate Achiever.

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Why Diversity Trainings Don't Work: The Empty of Empathy - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

Over the last few months, South Asia has been caught in yet another cycle of religious violence.

In October, Muslim extremist mobs in Bangladesh inflicted serious violence against the countrys Hindu minority during its most important festival, Durga Puja. The trigger? A Facebook post showing the Quran being placed on an image of a Hindu deity. To some Muslims, this offensive post justified attacks on Hindu shops, temples, and homes across Bangladesh.

The violence didnt stop here, though. In the neighboring Indian state of Tripura, Hindu extremist groups protesting the Bangladesh violence engaged in retaliatory attacks on the states Muslim minority.

Sadly, its all too common for religious violence in South Asia to be spurred by incidents of religious offense or blasphemy. Strengthened by colonial-era laws which make religious offense a crime, sometimes punishable by death, citizens often take matters into their own hands, leading to a bloody cycle of violence and global headlines of mob violence and lynchings.

For those of us in the South Asian diaspora, these headlines are painful to read. For some of us, our friends and family back home are under threat. But unfortunately, not everyone agrees on how to break free from this cycle.

The predictable cycles of religious violence in South Asia can be described fairly simply. First, a member of a religious or ethnic minority is accused of offending the religious sentiments of another community. In India, Muslim or Dalit men may be accused of slaughtering a cow. In Pakistan, a Christian woman may be accused of disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad, or a Hindu boy may be accused of urinating in a madrasa library. In many instances, this is enough to put someone in jail. In Pakistan, blasphemy merits the death penalty. In India, those who are seen as engaging in religious offense (listed under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code) can face a prison sentence, a hefty fine, or an extra-judicial killing.

Whatever the trigger is, and whether or not arrests are made, we see that violence often takes place shortly after. Often, these rumors spread via Facebook or WhatsApp. Soon, a mob will gather. They will destroy homes, shops, and places of worship belonging to the minority community. Law enforcement will often turn a blind eye, or in some cases, actively participate in the violence.

Finally, violence in one country ignites retaliatory violence in another. We saw this recently, where attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh led to attacks on Muslims in Tripura. Similarly, the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a medieval mosque, by a Hindu mob in India in 1992 triggered violence against Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as many religiously-motivated pogroms afterwards.

A few weeks ago, I spoke on the phone with a leader of New York Citys Bangladeshi Hindu community, who was extremely resistant to making the connection between the persecution of his fellow Hindus in Bangladesh and the persecution of Muslims in India. He insisted, Please dont tell me about India. I only want to focus on my people, Hindus in Bangladesh.

I suggested that there was folly in focusing on the minorities in Bangladesh without considering the minorities in other neighboring countries, particularly India. I reminded him of Martin Luther King, Jr.s quote: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

And then, something clicked for him, and he said, In 1992, I was a child. A mosque called Babri Masjid was broken in India [by Hindus], and my relatives in Bangladesh were killed in revenge. I didnt even know what Babri Masjid was. All I know is that we paid with our lives.

His recollection hinted at something deeper: It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge that your religious community can be an aggressor in one country and a persecuted minority in another.

Unfortunately, most Hindu organizations in the diaspora have ignored this uneasy truth. Rather, many of these groups condemn anti-minority violence when its committed against Hindus, but then make excuses for anti-minority violence when its committed by Hindus.

For an example of this, we can look at how one of the largest Hindu-American organizations, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), reacted to the violence in Bangladesh and Tripura. The VHPA is aligned closely with the political ideology of Hindu nationalism, and has a proven track record of collaborating with Hindu extremist ideologues such as Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, who has publicly declared that Islam should be eradicated from Earth all Muslims should be eliminated.

Following the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, the VHPA signed a letter to the Bangladeshi ambassador to the United States calling on him to ensure the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh. And yet, when the VHPAs Indian counterpart led attacks on Tripuras Muslim minority as revenge, they went silent.

This is not a sustainable course of action. By turning a blind eye to violence committed by their fellow Hindus in India, Hindu-American organizations like the VHPA are fueling the cycle of violence in South Asia. And although Im talking about Hindu extremists here, what Im saying applies equally to fundamentalists of any faith.

If were to break free from this cycle of violence, we must speak up for each others right to thrive and live with safety and dignity, no matter who we are or where we live. For me, as a Hindu, Im taught to see every person, and every aspect of the universe, as equally divine. This is not unlike whats known in other traditions as The Golden Rule. And while treating others as we would want to be treated is one of the first things parents teach their children across nearly every culture and religion, clearly we grownups are in need of a reminder.

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How Do We Break the Cycle of Religious Violence in South Asia? - Religion Dispatches

This story is part of Gamepurs Best of 2021 round-up.

The fascinating thing about indie games is that theyre unlimited in what they can do. They arent held back by a big company that can dictate what can and cannot be in them, making each title that comes out in the genre different. This list has our top five indie titles released in 2021, all of which have a great story, engaging gameplay, and amazing overall quality to them that puts them over the rest of the titles released this year.

In a year in which many visual novels have been released, Gnosia stands out as one of the best of 2021. You play as an amnesiac crew member aboard the ship. Some of your crew members are malicious beings known as Gnosia and its your job to find out who. The catch? Every time you find out who the Gnosia is, successfully or not, you are brought back to the beginning, repeating each day with additional crew members and conditions. Its your job to find out more about who everyone is, the underlying circumstances of the time loop, and how to break out of it.

The gameplay is much like the beloved tabletop game Werewolf where everyone is assigned roles each route. In some loops youll be a regular crewmate, in others youll be the Gnosia, or a different role like Guardian Angel. Youll have to deduce who is lying and point out the real threat. Or, if youre the bad guy, youll need to point the finger at someone else. If youre a fan of social deduction games but always wanted an emotional tale attached to it, Gnosia is a story that will stick with you for a long time after you put it down.

Escape Simulator is an online escape room where you can play with your friends. Much like regular escape rooms, you are tasked with solving multiple puzzles, but the game takes it a step further by having a multitude of rooms for you to solve before you can reach the end. Just like in real escape rooms, youll have to search every nook and cranny in order to find keys or pieces to one of the puzzles in the room. The rooms that come with the game are creative and highly interactive. With the addition of community-made rooms, theres new content constantly coming out for Escape Simulator that will keep you and your friends entertained for hours even after finishing the base rooms.

In Boyfriend Dungeon, you play as a young adult who moves into their cousins apartment for the summer. Youre there to get out of your comfort zone and finally start dating people. To help you gain confidence in yourself and get to know people, you go into dunjs to earn some cash with cool-looking weapons. But it turns out those weapons youre wielding are the very people you can date. As you go through the game, youll hack and slash your way while getting closer to your shapeshifting weapon of choice.

The game has a diverse cast of romance characters, including non-binary romance options, and in a genre thats heavily dominated by cis-gendered, white characters, its incredible to finally see more people in the world get represented in a tasteful way. Overall, Boyfriend Dungeon is a much-needed title in the romance genre that teaches players about the good and bad of dating, emphasizing that even with the bad, you shouldnt let that stop you from being happy.

The popular tabletop game Gloomhaven found its way onto Steam this year. You take control of a team of mercenaries, who adventure throughout all of Gloomhaven to face the terrifying creatures that plague the land. However, if youre not feeling up to playing the game alone, you can play with three other friends online, which is the best way to experience this game.

Each mission you complete, known as scenarios in this game, will unlock items in the shop and new missions, some of which are branching. So, if you decide to side with Jeksarah, a woman who wants to overthrow the government and replace them with the undead, not only will you be locked out of certain quests tied to the incumbent government, but the land of Gloomhaven will be changed forever. With 11 mercenaries to unlock, totaling 17 total playable characters, theres a character for everyone. Gloomhaven is a comprehensive, incredibly tough game thats faithful to its source material. For those looking for a challenging but rewarding experience to play with their friends, Gloomhaven is a title you all should pick up.

Originally a mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Forgotten City is a time-loop mystery thats now a fully-fledged video game packed with updated graphics and voice acting. Youre transported back 2,000 years to a Roman city. Youre told that in this city, everyone lives under the Golden Rule: if one person commits a crime, everyone suffers and is turned into gold. Youre then tasked with preventing the Golden Rule from being broken.

The game does a fantastic job at exploring the moral dilemma of having the perfect city with no crime. Although it sounds good on paper, youll come to realize just how hard that really is. No one is perfect in The Forgotten City theyre all flawed individuals who might end up breaking the Golden Room, dooming everyone, and forcing you to start from the beginning. But thanks to the games wonderful time-loop mechanic, you keep all the information youve learned as well as the items you picked up. The Forgotten City is an incredible mystery that makes great use of the time-loop mechanic and its one game that you wont be able to put down until the credits start rolling.

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The five best indie games of 2021 - Gamepur

I love watching Christmas movies. And there are quite a few of them. Ive been known to watch some even when it wasnt the holiday season. They are almost always of the feel good variety unless you count Die Hard as a Christmas classic. You know what I mean. Theres a great story line and theres a happy ending. Happy endings are important to me. How many times have you watched a movie, only to be left hanging at the end with no resolve to the plot? No ending leaves me very disappointed.

Other feel-good movies that I have particularly enjoyed include When Harry Met Sally, Toy Story, Father of the Bride, Trains, Planes and Automobiles Ferris Buellers Day Off and of course a Christmas classic, Christmas Vacation.

One of my favorite movies is Its a Wonderful Life starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. The plot is that an angel (Clarence) is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) by showing him whatlifewould have been like if he had never existed. Theres the villain banker, Mr. Potter, who represents evil and greed. And theres Mary (Donna Reed), Georges devoted wife. Do you all know any individuals with these traits? I know I do, and Im fortunate that I have a lot of angels who surround me with love and optimism.

Back to the story line. Clarence is a down-on-his-luck angel who has yet to win his wings. He has an incredibly challenging job of guiding George as he reflects on his life to date, which had been fairly ordinary. But as the plot continues, George has the opportunity to see how his actions significantly impacted many lives. It is only when Clarence presents to him how things would have been had he never existed that George is able to realize the extent to which his life has indeed been very meaningful.

How many times have we stopped to analyze the impact of our existence? If you have had a child, that right there is monumental. That child wouldnt have existed if not for you. And think about the impact your birth had on your parents. Your actions, both big and small, make a difference. Your kindness and caring have an enormous impact on a daily basis. If, however, you lack conscience and empathy, that can only be harmful and negative.

How many times do you hear news reports every day about the crimes and misdeeds of people whose existence bring nothing but misery, despair, and grief? Can it be these people are without a conscience? There are so many who have no realization of the anguish they inflict on their fellow humans. And they seem not to care.

So, as you go about your day-to-day, think of the impact you have on everyone with whom you come in contact. Sure, it takes only minimal effort to be kind and courteous to random strangers. But we should all exercise the golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated.

What Clarence says is true: Strange, isnt it? Each mans life touches so many other lives. And when he isnt around, he leaves an awful hole, doesnt he? Be mindful of the lives you touch and be grateful for those lives that touch you.

Bonnie Brown writes a weekly column for The Oxford Eagle. She can be reached at bbrown@olemiss.edu.

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Be mindful of the lives you touch - The Oxford Eagle - Oxford Eagle

For someone whose golden rule is, when writing these curiosities, dont mix work with pleasure, I find myself dipping my toes more frequently into teaching waters with the passing years. During what seems like one of the longest terms of my career, for some unfathomable reason, we, on a five-minute respite, found ourselves back in the classroom in the 1980s as punters, as we discussed what we miss from teachers of yesteryear.

No doubt in 30 years time, my current charges will discuss me and my colleagues: "You remember that bald chap who wore those awful black crepes and laughed at his own jokes," they may say. Well, thats the hope: that we are remembered fondly once we are in career decline, and they hit their occupational peaks.

I used to have a French teacher who I didn't think was very good. In fairness, neither was I, as my current linguistic Francois skills still amount to being able to tell a random Pierre my name, where I live, and to ask them to point me in the direction of the nearest boulangerie. This teacher looked like Neil from the Young ones, with long greasy hair, as he called everyone man and smelt of exotic herb. He was also an advocate for Deep Purple and wore the widest flares I have ever been unfortunate enough to witness in the flesh. While he was writing something about French cats on the blackboard, I climbed under his desk with a ruler and measured the girth of his trouser hems, much to the merriment of the rest of the disengaged. At the end of the lesson Neil had a chat which resulted in him lifting me clean off the ground as he held me against the wall and told me in no uncertain terms that his flares were not to be measured. I took the hint and had a grudging respect for him after, as he gained a well-deserved reputation as the hardest hippy in town.

As well as the dress sense, which has come on leaps and bounds since teaching in the 1980s (I have only once seen a leather elbowed jacket in my entire careerand yes, it was a geography teacher), the one major change, thankfully, is the eradication of violence meted out to kids at that time which, strangely, the parents never seemed to kick off about. Violence, nay fear, nay discipline was viewed differently then, and the backing would generally fall on the side of the teacher, who would have had just cause for such sadistic outbursts.

A typical example of teacher chic. Pixabay

There were no computers: I spent a total of about 10 minutes on one until the age of 23 when, at university in my second year, I had to go in and ask some young bucks how to turn this thing on and get that thing you write on, on the screen. Instead, many hours were spent by educators in science writing up lessons on acetate and then projecting them onto a white wall, as we watched the dust particles float past and wished we were back in French. Running barefoot through the fields if you forgot your PE kit was accepted practice, as was the daily slap around the head.

And so, we move on: such practice has, mercifully, been assigned to the education dustbin of history. Your kids are genuinely safeguarded, from my experience, and treated in the main with the utmost respect, but maybe we have, as a collective, gone too far:

As I believe I may have mentioned in these pages before, aged around 15, I was called into the school hall with three others (and by God, we were thankful as we got away from the smells of the lab and the teacher with the dark green sweat patches on his underarms) to speak to an old man who fancies a chat.

We spent a good couple of hours in his company as he asked questions and did these random, yet hilarious comedy skits with funny voices, faces and walks as his eyes glistened through being appreciated by his intimate audience, despite their being a definitive sadness behind his eyes. Nowadays if a random old man turned up at the school for a chin wag, he would no doubt be carted off to the nearest police station.

Upon arriving home, having had a pleasant afternoon after legitimately skipping Science, I told my dad about the old chap. Who was he he asked. Not a clueSpike something he was called. Milligan? he asked. I responded in the affirmative before I got a telling off for not knowing I was talking to one of the comedy greats. That said, I was thankful the old fella didnt slap me around the head with a blackboard rubber, for my unfortunate teenage oversight.

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Looking back on education in the 1980s - Watford Observer

The golden rule of beauty gifting is and shall always be one for them and one for yourself. As we look across all the incredible beauty gift sets of 2021, it's been a celebration of balancing self-care with all-out glamour. In addition, 2021 beauty trends have allowed us to embrace trendy moments of duality, because we're big fans of luxe joggers, a nude skin palette, and a wisp of shimmer!

Beauty bundles in every category, from bath to hair care and beyond, have been spilling over in our online shopping carts. So let your beauty-centric gifts celebrate both the empowerment that comes with a bold makeover as well as the effortless beauty of a natural look.

We're super excited to share these 2021 beauty bundles highlights, which are a smattering of the year's best-loved beauty gifts. Of course, there's an endless list of gifting opportunities including birthdays, holidays, and milestones but the best gifts are for the unexpected "just because" moments in between.

Be beautiful. Be kind. And remember: Those two things are one and the same. So, gloss up, smile, and gift on!

The founders of Mented Cosmetics created avegan, paraben-free, non-toxic, and cruelty-free brand that celebrates the beauty of all skin tones. Though the brand name is a fun play on words, its products deliver serious beauty results. With some online love from Well + Good, the brand'slipstick set continues to wow with ninenude and neutral shades to choose from.

With five travel-friendly sized haircare products, the amikaSignature Healthy Hair Set is the perfect gift for people on the go. The set includes shampoo, conditioner, a nourishing hair mask, dry shampoo, and amika's famous Wizard Detangling Primer. One of Fashionista's eight fave haircare product lines of 2021, this amika beauty gift is our new mane squeeze. Get it?

Eighteen shades of outta-this-world eye shadow are enough to make us starry-eyed, but adding twolip balms into the mix is a straight-up cause for celebration. Pat McGrath is a makeup legend for a reason, and her MTHRSHP MEGA beauty gift set is equally legendary. This set is perfect for the friend that wants one palette to grant all her wishes. It's no wonder the set caught the eye of The Zoe Report. Look at that magical mossy green shimmer just winking at us from within the color choices. Yes, please!

Oh my goodness!The unexpected superstar of self-care beauty has arrived. Spongell's Flower Child Collection features three body wash-infused buffers. It's important to exfoliate and moisturize, but this set does both while making it feel luxurious! Each infused body buffer lasts for at least 14 heavenly, bubbly washes. Suggestcaptures the brand's spa-like quality and giftable price points, and we're also here for it.

Full disclosure: This beauty gift set's packaging had us at "hello."Thier candles are celebrated across the internet by outlets including Bustle, and now this everything set is our new go-to gift. With hints ofplum, cardamom, and amber, theMount Bachelor Gift Set includes soap, lotion, a candle, a roller perfume, and linen spray that doubles as body spray. We're basically giving it to everyone. For every occasion.

When Oprah recommends a product, you listen up and add it to your cart. And according to Oprah Daily, the daytime TV queen loves the bareMinerals gifting sets. There's no argument here we're also swooning for the Mini Skincare Favorites Set. It includes the Deep Cleansing Foam, PorelessExfoliating Essence,Long Life Herb Serum,Bare Haven Soft Moisturizer, andLong Life Herb Eye Treatment. When you feel like doing the bare minimum, this bareMinerals set will ensure flawless skin. Wrap it up and cue the bestie of the year awards!

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The Best Beauty Gift Sets Of 2021 - The List

While companies push to return to their offices, employees would rather stay at home, according to a new global survey from Insider.

This gap between companies and employees shows up when it comes to who makes decisions about working models, who is consulted during the decision-making process, and how the new rules of the workplace are enforced.

Insider readers from the United States, Mexico, France, Spain, Poland, and South Africa participated in an online survey that asked for their feelings about returning to the office.

Many employees in all countries especially the USA and South Africa prefer not to work at the office for even a single day a week, the survey found.

An important element for many more employees who took the survey was having the ability to decide on the number of days at their office based on their own preferences and work needs.

No matter the country, respondents said that most companies (over 60% on average) prefer to use a hybrid work model partly at home, partly at the office with 3-5 days a week spent at the office.

Fewer than half of survey respondents in most countries said their employers asked them about their preferences for their post-pandemic routine.

58% of survey respondents in the US are considering looking for another job. The Great Resignation phenomenon is mostly limited to the US, but still about a third of the employees in Poland, France, and South Africa indicated that they are considering changing their jobs.

Meanwhile, two of America's largest employers, Google and Apple, have summoned their US employees back to their offices in January and February 2022, respectively. As these dates approach, corporate workers from the two big tech companies are leaking letters of discontent to the media, demanding that their firms be more flexible and inclusive in their approach.

Insider's survey shows that companies are indeed pushing to return to in-person working with about half of respondents in France and Spain already back at the office.

Over 50% of US respondents will return in January 2022, while over 40% of the respondents in South Africa will return in the first quarter of next year assuming no further changes on the trajectory of the pandemic.

Who should decide on the model? In the US, South Africa, and Poland, companies are more likely to leave this responsibility with top management, the survey found, while employees and middle managers have more influence over the model in France, Spain, and Mexico.

There is no golden rule for the number of days in the office, and the survey showed geographic variations in this area, too.

While US and French companies often impose a set number of office days for all staff, those in Spain, Mexico, South Africa, and Poland often leave it to the team leader or the employee to decide based on their work needs.

While companies prefer the office, employees' dream workplace is their home. 82% of our respondents said so, on average, with the share of satisfied American, South African, and French workers reaching as high as 87%, 88%, and 89%, respectively. Only Spanish workers were significantly less enthusiastic.

Employers can enforce their hybrid work solutions, but may face a new risk: one of massive resignation. Companies have the tools to close the gap between employee and company with more internal consultation or leaving decisions with teams.

Employers understand very well that the role of the office as the center of corporate life will diminish over time. Some of them have already made appropriate decisions about their real estate needs. As the survey respondents attest, one in four companies has already reduced its rented office space as a result of its new work model.

The Business Insider Global Trends return-to-office survey was completed online by close to 1,400 users from Insider and Business Insider sites in the United States, Mexico, Spain, France, Poland, and South Africa.

The respondents represented a wide range of company sizes, with small companies (up to 50 employees) accounting for 19%, medium-sized ones (from 50 to 1000) for 44%, and large ones (from 1000 to 10000 or more) for 38%.

The survey data was collected in November 2021. The global results were premiered at the Business Insider Global Trends return-to-office webinar on December 6, 2021.

You can access a free report based on the survey results by visiting this link.

Originally posted here:

Results of our global trends return-to-office survey - Business Insider

Why are we the way we are? Can we blame it on somebody else, like the British colonists, for instance?

By we I dont mean just you and me. I dont even include us necessarily. I am thinking about folks who live in North Carolina and the surrounding regions.

You know the kind I mean. Hard-nosed, sometimes rebellious, resistant to direction from those who think they know it all, suspicious of people in charge, unwilling to give up individual choice to some kind of group direction.

It is not just those anti-vaxxers who will not accept an infinitesimal risk to themselves or their children in order to reduce to great risks all of us face from the ongoing series of COVID epidemics. It is not just them whom I am talking about.

Nor is it just the Republicans. Or the Democrats.

Lots of us on both sides of the political divide share a common resistance to authority. How do we explain it?

Writing in The New Yorker on Oct. 4, the author and columnist Joe Klein gave it a try, writing, The divide between maskers and anti-maskers, vaxxers and anti-vaxxers is as old as Plymouth Rock. It is deeper than politics; it is cultural.

For his ideas, Klein credited a 1989 book, Albions Seed: Four British Folkways in America, by David Hackett Fischer. This book, Klein says, explains how the history of four centuries ago still shapes American culture and politics.

Focusing on the South, Klein says the original settlers were, a wild caste of emigrants from the borderlands of Scotland and England. They brought their clannish, violent, independent culture, which had evolved over seven centuries of border warfare.

According to Fisher, these emigrants came from a society of autonomous individuals who were unable to endure external control and incapable of restraining their rage against anyone who stood in the way.

Fisher writes that the Scots-Irish in the southern hill country were intensely resistant to change and suspicious of foreigners. In the early 20th century, they would become negrophobic and antisemitic.

Other parts of colonial America were settled by different groups.

For instance, Klein writes about the Virginia-Cavalier tradition.

The Virginia definition of freedom was complex, contradictory and remains problematic. It was hierarchical, the freedom to be unequal. I am an aristocrat, John Randolph of Roanoke said. I love liberty; I hate equality. Freedom was defined by what it wasnt. It wasnt slavery. It was the freedom to enslave. It was a freedom, granted to the plantation masters, to indulge themselves, gamble and debauch.

Over time, Klein continues, this plutocratic libertarianism found natural allies, if strange bedfellows, in the fiercely egalitarian Scots-Irish hill country folk.

Neither wanted to be ruled by a strong central government.

Klein says things were just the opposite in New England. For the Puritans, Everything was regulated.

Order was an obsession.

Local officials reported on the domestic tranquility of every family in their jurisdiction. Cotton Mather defined an honorable person as one who was studious, humble, patient, reserved and mortified.

About a different group of settlers, Klein writes that the Quakers seem an afterthought, but their migration was larger in size than that of the Puritans or Cavaliers. And their version of liberty seems most amenable today. It was reciprocal freedom, based on the golden rule.

Fischer notes the Scots-Irish practiced the opposite: Do unto others as they threatened to do unto you.

The Scots-Irish, Virginia, Puritan, and Quaker legacies are very different and are, perhaps, diluted over the almost 300 years since these immigrants came. But the influence of each continues.

The Scots-Irish influence in our region is still tenacious, which explains why the Do unto others as they threatened to do unto you rule is widely practiced by people across the political spectrum.

Read more from the original source:

Blame the Scots-Irish - Up & Coming Weekly

For many of us, its been awhile since weve dined in at a restaurant. Its daunting, especially for those with social anxiety, to think about going to a restaurant after so much time confined in our homes. Im here to let you know that youre not alone! As someone whos worked in the hospitality industry, I have the pleasure of listing some tips to ensure you and your server have a pleasant experience next time you go out. So without further ado, here are few tips on how to be a good customer:

Identify your situation

Before even stepping foot into the establishment, its important to ask your party a few questions. Is the restaurant dine-in or takeout only? Its a bummer wanting to dine in at a restaurant, only to find that they do takeout only.

Do I have a large party? If you do, it might be best to reserve a table. This way you dont have to wait too long and your server doesnt have to scramble to find table space.

Masks

Were in a weird time. Masks are required indoors but eating requires masks off. To be safest, wear your mask until your meal is served. Put the mask back on to go to the bathroom or ask your server a question. Itll make the restaurant workers and fellow diners feel more comfortable. And if theres outside dining available, please utilize that option.

Common courtesy

Remember those magic words: please and thank you! Those phrases can go a long way. The golden rule stays true put yourself in their shoes. Dont seat yourself unless instructed, dont interrupt your server, dont leave the table a mess, dont snap your fingers at a worker, etc.

Tipping

In American society, tipping is a must! Before you go out, make sure you have enough money allocated to the meal itself and the tip. 15-20% is the standard and if you have an amazing server, feel free to tip more. Itll make their day a little brighter. FYI: Writing a compliment on the receipt without a tip is almost worse than no tip at all (yes, people do this and yes, it hurts).

And of course, if youre feeling any COVID symptoms, please stay home! We all want to return to normal as soon as possible, but its in everyones best interest to stay home if youre feeling under the weather.

Read the original post:

From Home Cooking to Dining Out | | dailyemerald.com - Oregon Daily Emerald