Odds are youâre getting a costume from Spirit Halloween this week, at one of their 1,400 seasonal locations â But Spiritâs real estate operation follows a strict 3-part calculation.
Microsoft just completed its biggest acquisition ever: $69B for video games â Microsoftâs âhouse of brandsâ is 2nd in value only to Appleâs âbranded houseâ.
And Costco makes more money selling clothing than Lululemon or Ralph Lauren do â And itâs all because Costcoâs co-founder believes prices can be like a drug.
Artificial intelligence can code computer programs, draw pictures and even take notes for doctors. Now, researchers are excited about the possibility that AI speeds up the scientific process â from quicker drug design to someday developing new hypotheses. Science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel talks about his visit to one protein lab already seeing promising results.
On this episode: Jamilah Lemieux is joined by Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett, authors of This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained. They explain how puberty has changed over the last few decades, what these shifts mean for todayâs kids, and how caregivers can guide these young adults through this transition. If you want to check out more of Cara and Vanessaâs wonderful advice, they also host The Puberty Podcast.Â
Join us on Facebook and email us at momanddad@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of todayâs show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.Â
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many showsâyouâll also be supporting the work we do here on Mom and Dad are Fighting. Sign up now at slate.com/momanddadplus to help support our work.
Podcast produced by Rosemary Belson and Maura Currie.
While mounting a military response to Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to unite his far-right wing with his political rival, centrist Benny Gantz, a former military Chief of Staff. The plans for retaliation that are emerging are unlike any of Israelâs past skirmishes with Hamas.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudenceâand youâll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Melissa, Kate, and Leah recap the oral arguments the Supreme Court heard last week, including a big one about voting rights and redistricting (Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP). Plus, an update on the shenanigans around the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the tomfoolery in the Fifth Circuit.
Read ProPublica's reporting on  how U.S. Representative James Clyburn was involved in the South Carolina redistricting plan that's now before the Supreme Court
Please consider donating the memorial fund for Maggie Rossman, a college classmate of Leah's who recently died from complications in childbirth
Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram for more original content, host takeovers and other community events.
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE â The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
A freelance writer and editor is speaking out about the negative effects of a recent California law, saying she questioned how she was âgoing to surviveâ after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation, known as AB 5.Â
âThe law ... was signed ⌠on Sept. 18, 2019, and when I woke up that morning and I read about it, you know, the next day, I thought, âThis is going to be an existential threat to my career,'â recalls Karen Anderson, founder of Freelancers Against AB5, a Facebook group with over 18,000 members.
âIâm not going toâhow am I going to survive?â Anderson adds of her thoughts at the time.
The website of the California Franchise Tax Board notes: âAB 5 is a bill the governor signed into law in September 2019 addressing employment status when a hiring entity claims that the person it hired is an independent contractor.â
Anderson says she has worked for almost 25 years as a freelance writer, an editor or managing editor, and a photographer. She says she âstarted investigatingâ the stateâs new law âand I realized that ⌠it encompassed all professions.â
âSo golf caddies, videographers, photographers, nurse practitioners, whatever. So I thought, well, I want to find out how itâs affecting other people, not just me,â Anderson says of the law, adding:
And so I started this public Facebook group just to see if I could hear some peopleâs stories and ⌠sure enough, they started coming in in ⌠November and December, people started losing their livelihoods overnight.Â
Anderson, a participant in a recent Heritage Foundation panel discussion, is todayâs guest on âThe Daily Signal Podcast.â She shares the No. 1 takeaway of the California law with listeners and discusses whatâs being done to change it.
Novelist Barbara Kingsolver loves living in the Appalachian hills of southwestern Virginia. But she says she feels that the region is often misconstrued by mainstream media. Her new book, Demon Copperhead, follows a young boy grappling with the consequences of loss, addiction and poverty â but also finding ways to survive through creativity and imagination. In this episode, Kingsolver speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about the Dickensian influences in the novel, the divide between urban and rural, and the idea that "the middle of nowhere is relative."
Robert sits down with YouTuber and investigator Dan Olson to talk about his research into the cult that developed around the GameStop Stock shorting movement of 2021.
