Author: KnowledgeHippo

Jennifer Caldwell was active and energetic, working two jobs and caring for her daughter and parents, when she developed a bacterial infection followed by severe dizziness, fatigue and memory problems.That was almost a decade ago, and since then she has been battling the condition known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS. Ms Caldwell, 56, of Hillsborough, NC, said she went from being able to ski, dance and work two jobs as a clinical research coordinator and caterer to having to stay in bed most times every day.”I haven’t been right since and I haven’t worked a day since,” said…

Apart from Brazil, no nation produces more coffee than Vietnam. Introduced by French settlers in the 19th century, the country’s coffee cultivation is now a $3 billion business and accounts for nearly 15 percent of the global market, making Vietnam the java giant of Southeast Asia.Quality, however, has only recently begun to catch up with quantity, largely because farmers have begun to augment the long-term cultivation of cheaper, easy-to-grow robusta beans in Vietnam with its connoisseur favorite, arabica.A major beneficiary has been the cafe scene in the country’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). Thanks to direct farm-to-shop…

Gabriel Attal, 34, is a new type of French prime minister, more inclined to Diet Coke than good Burgundy, at home with social media and revelations about his personal life, a natural communicator who gets off the press “France rhymes with power” to assert his “authority,” a favorite word.Since taking office in early January, the boyish Mr. Attal has taken to the countryside, far from his familiar haunts in Paris’ posh districts, muddied his shoes, rested his notes on a choreographed hay bale and calmed down protests farmers through skilful negotiations leavened by multiple concessions.He told rail workers threatening to…

A woman’s body was found Thursday in a wooded area on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, according to university officials, who said her death was suspected to be foul play.The victim, Laken Riley, was an undergraduate student at the school until spring 2023 and then enrolled in Augusta University’s nursing program, which has a campus in Athens, school officials said.Shortly after noon, a friend reported to campus police that Ms. Riley was missing after she did not return from a run near the university’s intramural fields, the University of Georgia Police Department said.At 12:38 p.m., officers found her…

There’s an easy knock on the space dreams of Jeff Bezos and his rocket company, Blue Origin: In its 24th year of existence, the company has yet to launch a single thing into orbit.Blue Origin’s achievements to date have been modest — a small vehicle known as New Shepard carrying space tourists and experimenting with short suborbital excursions. In contrast, SpaceX, the rocket company started by another high-profile space billionaire, Elon Musk, dominates the launch market today.On Wednesday, Blue Origin hopes to change the narrative by throwing a party for its new big rocket.In the morning, at Launch Complex 36…

Reddit, the community-focused message board site, filed for a public offering on Thursday, paving the way for it to be the first major social media company to debut publicly in years and a test for private companies after a drought in the initial public offerings.In an offering prospectus, Reddit revealed its financial performance in preparation for selling shares to investors. The San Francisco-based company reported revenue rose more than 20 percent as losses narrowed last year. He added that it had 73 million daily users and more than 100,000 active communities.The prospectus kicks off an IPO process, with the 18-year-old…

For the fertility patients whose embryos were destroyed at an Alabama clinic, the conditions must have been shocking. Somehow, a patient at the hospital that housed the clinic had wandered into a warehouse, pulled the embryos from a tank of liquid nitrogen, and then dumped them on the floor—probably because the tank was kept at minus 360 degrees.The strange episode was the focus of lawsuits filed by three families that eventually reached the Alabama Supreme Court. On Friday, a panel of judges ruled that embryos destroyed at the clinic should be considered children under state law, a decision that shocked…

Ask any frequent traveler their rules for a trip and you’ll likely hear the same advice: Never check a bag. Hand luggage only. But fitting everything you need, especially for a longer stay, into a small suitcase and a bag or backpack requires some ingenuity: The maximum dimensions for luggage that go in most bins are 22 by 14 by 9 inches, and although the most domestic flights don’t have—or at least don’t enforce—weight limits, some international and transpacific flights do (some Delta flights to Asia, for example, have a 22-pound limit, while Hawaiian Airlines’ maximum is 25 pounds ).…

Americans are deeply divided over whether gender identity should be taught in school, according to two polls released this week that underscored the extent of the divide on one of the most controversial issues in education.Many groups, including Democrats, teachers and teenagers, are divided over whether schools should teach about gender identity — a person’s internal sense of gender and whether it aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth , according to a survey by researchers at the University of Southern California and a separate survey by the Pew Research Center.But on issues of race, another issue that…

France is entering a period of austerity as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, economic slowdowns in Germany and China and record high interest rates weigh on growth more than expected.The French will face 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in cuts to government spending, on issues such as environmental subsidies and education, the government announced Thursday, on top of 16 billion euros in cuts announced a few months ago. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday revised up his forecast for economic growth this year to 1 percent, from 1.4 percent at the end of last year.”Lower growth means lower…