Today Briefly

Today Briefly

A positive working environment boosts creativity, productivity, retention, and long-term business success through workspace, wellbeing, feedback, burnout prevention, and development.

Under-$25 travel-friendly beauty and skincare stocking stuffers provide compact, hydrating, and TSA-approved solutions to refresh lips, eyes, and hair while traveling.

Using an inexpensive cordless landline plus a Bluetooth adapter to keep a smartphone out of reach reduces distraction and produces calmer, more focused mornings.

Sustained workplace motivation and well-being are driven most by meaning, built through community, contribution, and challenge; daily habits reinforcing these sustain change.

Curating and saving favorite links using modern bookmarking tools optimizes discovery, organization, and sharing of books, songs, articles, and creative resources.

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS shows anomalous comet-like behavior prompting speculation about possible non-natural origins, including deliberate seeding by advanced life.

Galaxy Cluster Abell 209 contains over 100 galaxies about 2.8 billion light-years away whose combined mass gravitationally lenses and stretches background galaxies.

Three Waymo vehicles stalled on a dead-end San Francisco street after two apparently collided, blocking residents from exiting and creating a traffic logjam.

By 2026, organisations must deploy secure, legally compliant, data-driven, employee-friendly whistleblowing systems integrated with GRC strategies to support compliance, culture, and global scalability.

Choose between thought-shaped interfaces atop legacy systems or rebuilding software from the ground up to faithfully represent human thought and preserve agency.

EU users can choose fully personalized ads by consenting to full data sharing or less personalized ads by sharing less personal data, from January 2026.

Meta Platforms and Alphabet are positioned to gain in the Nasdaq bull market supported by major hedge-fund purchases and Meta's ad and AI advantages.

Design problems usually stem from unclear thinking, not Figma; clarify users, goals, and business needs before high-fidelity prototyping.

A fan-made web calculator for The Forge computes forging probabilities, optimizes inventory for tank/damage builds, and previews weapon and armor stats.

Instagram and Facebook users in the EU can choose to limit personalised ads beginning January 2026 to meet EU Digital Markets Act requirements.

Phreeli is a US MVNO offering privacy-by-design mobile service requiring only ZIP code, username, and payment, with prepaid plans and optional crypto payments.

Platforms that prioritize adult monetization over child safety enable harmful interactions; robust age verification and developer controls are necessary to protect minors online.

Google Cloud prioritizes diversified energy sourcing and extreme efficiency to meet massive AI computing electricity demands and avoid data‑center energy bottlenecks.

The Colorado Rockies will hire Alon Leichman as pitching coach to improve a struggling staff and address pitching and analytics deficiencies.

Pete Carroll ordered a late field goal to create extra time for an onside kick, requested 8 seconds, and prioritized strategy over public opinion.

A federal judge vacated and declared unlawful President Trump's executive order pausing wind energy leasing and permitting as arbitrary, capricious, and in violation of U.S. law.

Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant opened a second retail location at Marin County Mart in Larkspur, expanding beyond its long-standing Berkeley storefront.

AI video interviews can streamline hiring and prioritize candidates but can be unreliable and introduce technical failures that disrupt candidate assessment.

A growing mismatch between employer needs and worker skills threatens U.S. economic stability and requires education, employer-policy collaboration, and AI-enabled upskilling.

Luis Castillo remains a key, non-trade candidate for the Mariners, providing reliable innings under a contract with two years and a potential 2028 vesting option.

Forkable replaced real restaurant photos with AI-generated images, including fake Boichik Bagels, prompting restaurateurs' anger and concerns about misleading customers.

An innate human love of nature actively shapes, heals, and transforms minds and perceptions when people immerse themselves in environments.

A vertical, closed-loop aquaponic dome stacks four salinity-tiered ecosystems that recycle fish waste into hydroponic crops for resilient urban food production.

Taco Bell's soft tacos use flour tortillas, differ in texture and allergens, may cost slightly more, and contain about 180 calories with modest protein.

Eight widely sold gin brands are recommended to avoid because they deliver flat, one-dimensional flavors or rely on popularity over quality.

Notable 2025 novels combine sweeping historical scope, intense character focus, and themes of immigration, contingency, and longing across American and global settings.

Goodreads Choice Awards 2025 reflected reader favorites with 7.5 million votes across 300 nominees, highlighting winners like Fredrik Backman, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and John Green.

Writing a book revealed an introverted temperament through solitary work, focused routines, and preference for small-group interactions.

A digital-first, humor-led campaign repositioned Cif Creams to demonstrate product usage and win back Millennials and Gen Z, targeting a +500 basis-point penetration increase.

People aged 55–64 are driving rapid social-media growth, creating major opportunities for influencers and platforms targeting midlife and older audiences.

Portland-based books in 2025 emphasized empathy and solidarity across genres as many of the country's leading writers live and work in Oregon.

The FTC denied Scott Zuckerman’s petition and kept a ban preventing him from offering, promoting, selling, or advertising any surveillance app, service, or business.

Live facial recognition reshapes police suspicion and undermines human-in-the-loop safeguards by making officers intermediaries acting on algorithmic suggestions, normalizing automated surveillance.

An unplanned month in Mexico City provided healing, restored sanity, and immersion in present through local interactions, sensory experiences, and deliberate disengagement from distressing news.

Belgium rejected using frozen Russian assets as collateral for a reparations loan, citing major economic, financial and legal risks and potential legal action.

Short turnarounds and injuries made Gameweek 14 difficult for FPL managers; five free transfers will help manage AFCON-related absences.

Wine Enthusiast opened its first physical SoHo flagship at 27 Greene Street, offering monthly pours, accessories, consultations, and event programming.

Bay Area offers diverse holiday events including themed dinners, wine and Champagne experiences, family markets, performances, and cultural festivals for winter celebrations.

Belarus-launched balloons repeatedly closed Vilnius airport, causing major disruptions and prompting Lithuania to call the incidents deliberate hybrid attacks amid Belarus-Russia tensions.

Nancy Pelosi was a more effective House Speaker than any Republican this century.

CAT, FC Barcelona's expressive yellow, blue, and claret mascot, became a surprise commercial hit when its first official plush rapidly sold out.

Ann Michael Maye gained social-media fame for daily baking videos and "Bakemas", sharing recipes and bringing leftovers to the Patriots facility.

Maple Leafs can still reach the playoffs if full centre health boosts defensive play, physical bottom-six contributions, and consistent secondary scoring despite a poor start.

Letterboxd is offering four festival-acclaimed films as time-limited, region-restricted digital rentals through its Video Store from December 10 to January 9.

A 2,939-square-foot Oakland home at 3600 Butters Drive sold Oct. 9, 2025 for $1,600,000, equal to $544 per square foot.

Mindfulness meditation strengthens attentional control, enabling the redirection of focus from worry to present-moment experience to reduce anxiety.

Dead body found in illegally parked, heavily-tinted car near 90th Precinct after about a week, exposing NYPD failure to enforce parking rules.

San Francisco advocates push for a $260 million transit funding measure to prevent Muni cuts and expand service, with equity protections for renters and seniors.

Baby portrays São Paulo's marginalized youth as an 18-year-old turns to sex work and drugs, finding precarious protection and chosen family amid urban loneliness.

Matthew Maggio dramatically improved his AHL production this season, scoring 4 goals and 16 points in 21 games after a slow professional start.

Murder charges filed in SF General stabbing; local earthquakes and police shooting reported; national focus on a contentious military strike, Supreme Court firing-power, and Ukraine.

A community mural festival transformed multiple East San Jose business exteriors, celebrating immigrant heritage and empowering local artists and residents.

A 57-year-old man was beaten and robbed in a Downtown Brooklyn home invasion; suspects stole about $100 and the victim is expected to recover.

Ilya Sorokin earned NHL First Star of the Week after a 3-0 run, posting a .960 save percentage, a 2-0 shutout that tied the Islanders' franchise shutout record, and strong season numbers.

Judy Murray calls for prioritising physical education across Scottish schools and expands the 'Learn to Lead' programme to empower girls and promote daily exercise.

Flatlands Brooklyn residents have sought a speed bump for over a decade after repeated severe injuries and a fatality caused by speeding drivers.

Digital Girl empowers inner-city youth, especially girls, to pursue STEM careers and reduces gender and diversity gaps through hands-on, engaging computer science programs.

A $20 ESP32-based system recreates Need for Speed Underground 2-style GPS mini-map in a real car using 2.5M map tiles and optimized loading.

Paul Dano received widespread public support from actors and filmmakers after Quentin Tarantino criticized his acting.

New Year's museum event offers a medicinal-morning-cocktail lecture, Champagne history and popping demo with a complimentary glass; 21+; proceeds support the Museum of the Eye.

Shohei Ohtani is likely to serve only as a hitter for Japan in the World Baseball Classic while the Dodgers remain cautious about him pitching.

Sick City Records, a 20-year Echo Park record shop and barbershop, faces closure due to rising rent, decreased foot traffic, and sustained economic losses.

EU interior ministers approved major migration reforms to speed deportations and asylum processing, create return hubs and safe-country lists, and fund solidarity measures.

Russian forces continued attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions, causing deaths, power outages, territorial gains, and prompting Ukrainian counterstrikes and diplomatic efforts to secure allied support.

A bright comet observed by the Chinese in 5 BC could account for the Star of Bethlehem’s described motion and extraordinary daytime visibility.