James' World 2

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Brutally cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills stayed put across much of the U.S. Monday, promising the coldest temperatures ever for Iowa’s presidential nominating contest, holding up travelers, and testing the mettle of NFL fans in Buffalo for a playoff game that was delayed a day by wind-whipped snow.

About 150 million Americans were under a windchill warning or advisory for dangerous cold and wind, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, as an Arctic air mass spilled south and eastward across the U.S.

Sunday morning saw temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6.7 degrees Celsius) to minus 40 F (minus 40 c) in northern and northeast Montana. Saco, Montana, dropped to minus 51 F (minus 26 C). Subzero lows reached as far south as Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and parts of Indiana, Taylor said.

About 114,000 U.S. homes and businesses were without power late Monday, the bulk of them in Oregon after widespread outages that started Saturday. Portland General Electric warned that strong winds forecast for Monday and threat of an ice storm Tuesday could delay restoration efforts.

Classes were canceled Tuesday for students in major cities including Chicago — the nation’s fourth-largest public school district — Denver, Dallas, and Fort Worth.

The storm was blamed for at least four-weekend deaths around Portland, including two people who died of suspected hypothermia. Another man was killed after a tree fell on his house, and a woman died in a fire that spread from an open-flame stove after a tree fell onto an RV.

Three deaths of homeless people were under investigation in the Milwaukee area. They likely died from hypothermia, officials said. A 64-year-old man was found dead under a bridge Friday, a 69-year-man was pronounced dead after being found in a vehicle on Saturday, and on Monday a 40-year-old man was found dead near railroad tracks, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

In Utah, where almost four feet (1.2 meters) of snow fell in the mountains over a 24-hour period, a snowmobiler was struck and killed Sunday night by a semitrailer about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. The victim was attempting to cross U.S. Highway 40.

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For Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s eyes are never very far away. Surveillance drones buzz constantly from the skies. The highly-secured border is awash with security cameras and soldiers on guard. Intelligence agencies work sources and cyber capabilities to draw out a bevy of information.

But Israel’s eyes appeared to have been closed in the lead-up to an unprecedented onslaught by the militant Hamas group, which broke down Israeli border barriers and sent hundreds of militants into Israel to carry out a brazen attack that has killed hundreds and pushed the region toward conflict.

Israel’s intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements. Israel has foiled plots seeded in the West Bank, allegedly hunted down Hamas operatives in Dubai, and has been accused of killing Iranian nuclear scientists in the heart of Iran. Even when their efforts have stumbled, agencies like the Mossad, Shin Bet, and military intelligence have maintained their mystique.

But the weekend’s assault, which caught Israel off guard on a major Jewish holiday, plunges that reputation into doubt and raises questions about the country’s readiness in the face of a weaker but determined foe. Over 48 hours later, Hamas militants continued to battle Israeli forces inside Israeli territory, and dozens of Israelis were in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

“This is a major failure,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This operation actually proves that the (intelligence) abilities in Gaza were no good.”

Amidror declined to offer an explanation for the failure, saying lessons must be learned when the dust settles.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, acknowledged the army owes the public an explanation. But he said now is not the time. “First, we fight, then we investigate,” he said.

Some say it is too early to pin the blame solely on an intelligence fault. They point to a wave of low-level violence in the West Bank that shifted some military resources there and the political chaos roiling Israel over steps by Netanyahu’s far-right government to overhaul the judiciary. The controversial plan has threatened the cohesion of the country’s powerful military.

But the apparent lack of prior knowledge of Hamas’ plot will likely be seen as a prime culprit in the chain of events that led to the deadliest attack against Israelis in decades.

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A recent Stanford University study won’t end the raging war over what we should eat for optimal health, but it does give vegans a leg up.

Published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open in November, the first-of-its-kind study recruited 22 pairs of identical twins, split up by diet. In each twin pair, one was randomly assigned to eat a healthy vegan diet for eight weeks while the other was assigned a healthy omnivore diet that included meat, eggs, and dairy. Those in the vegan cohort ended the study with much better health outcomes, particularly lower fasting insulin and lower cholesterol — a key indicator for heart health.

While most nutrition research is published with little fanfare, the twin study has received outsize attention thanks to an accompanying Netflix documentary series — You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment — that follows the culinary journeys of four of the twin pairs participating in the study. It was released in early January — right in time for New Year’s resolutions — and quickly became one of the streaming platform’s most watched television programs in the US.

“Identical twins are the perfect natural experiment because each individual has identical genes in every cell of its body, so they are a perfect way to tell nature from nurture,” Tim Spector, a professor on twin research at King’s College London who was not involved in the study, said in the Netflix series. Researchers also noted that the twins said they had similar lifestyles and were raised in the same households.

The study results are in line with a large body of nutrition research on the benefits of healthy plant-based diets. But I worry its findings could be undermined by the sometimes oversimplified nutrition advice served up by the cast of mostly vegan advocates starring in You Are What You Eat. It’ll likely be effective in persuading a lot of its viewers to give plant-based eating a try, but in others, it could instill some skepticism.

What happens when you go vegan for two months

For the first four weeks of the Stanford study, each participant ate preprepared frozen meals; for the final four, they had to provide their own food following a few basic principles: Choose minimally processed foods and consume a variety of vegetables, starches, proteins, and healthy fats.

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Pam and Wendy, one of the twin pairs in the Stanford study and the accompanying Netflix series You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment. Netflix

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This week, we explore Martin Luther King Jr.’s enduring legacy of advocating for equality, including his historic meeting with Malcolm X in 1964. We also spotlight civil rights icon John Lewis and his tribute to Nelson Mandela. Unraveling the global resonance of Dr. King’s legacy, streets worldwide bear his name as a universal call for equality. Our journey navigates Alabama’s civil rights movement, shedding light on the intricate dance between heritage and progress in the Deep South.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY CENTRAL PRESS/GETTY

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1. When someone is rude to you

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The 3-word response

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Nowadays, though, a news topic that was once the exclusive province of tabloids has entered mainstream media. This past summer, a congressional subcommittee heard testimony about the discovery of nonhuman “biologics” at U.F.O. crash sites. In “The Little Book of Aliens” (2023), the astrophysicist Adam Frank argues that we’re closer than ever to being able to look for possible signs of civilization in outer space — just in time for a population that feels alienated from life on Earth.

The new generation of alien-focused pop culture reflects that shift, in which suspicion and fear have been replaced by something closer to affinity. In Marc Turtletaub’s 2023 film, “Jules,” Milton (Ben Kingsley) feels a sort of kinship with the alien (Jade Quon) whose craft crashes in his backyard. The new arrival ends up being more protective of 70-something Milton and his buddies than local cops ever have been so, when the feds show up, the seniors side with the alien.

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Keith Haring’s “Untitled” (1982). Credit…© Keith Haring Foundation, courtesy of the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection

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What is the Gaza Strip? 

The Gaza Strip refers to a narrow strip of land wedged between Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea that is roughly the size of Washington, D.C. Occupied in turn by the Ottoman Empire and then the British Empire, it forms the smaller of the two Palestinian territories — the other being the West Bank. 

After the creation of Israel in 1948, Egypt controlled Gaza for nearly two decades. After Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War against its Arab neighbors, it gained control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. For the next 38 years, it controlled the strip and enabled the construction of 21 Jewish settlements.

In 2005, under international and domestic pressure, Israel withdrew around 9,000 Israeli settlers and its military forces from Gaza, leaving the enclave to be governed by the Palestinian Authority, which also controlled parts of the occupied West Bank.

Today, with over 2 million Palestinians living within roughly 140 square miles, it is “one of the world’s most densely populated territories,” according to Gisha, an Israeli nongovernmental organization. Half of Palestinians living in Gaza are under age 19, but they have few to no prospects for socioeconomic growth and limited access to the outside world.

Who governs and who controls it?

Hamas, which has clashed repeatedly with the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank who negotiated the Oslo Peace Accords, is a militant Palestinian nationalist movement currently led by Ismail Haniyeh. It took control of Gaza after it won elections there in 2006. Since then, no elections have been held.

Despite pleas from the United Nations and human rights groups, Israel has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on Gaza since 2007 that has had a devastating effect on Palestinian civilians. Israel says the blockade, which gives it control of Gaza’s borders and is also enforced by Egypt, is necessary to protect Israeli citizens from Hamas.

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A man takes an early morning walk with a cup of coffee along a street in Gaza City on Oct. 3. Mohammed Abed / AFP-Getty Images file

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Acing a job interview is all about making a good first impression, and one big way to miss the mark is to answer an age-old question with a cliche.

Responding to the question “what are your weaknesses?” by painting yourself as a perfectionist or a workaholic will likely prompt an eye-roll from Tom Gimbel, CEO of the staffing agency LaSalle Network.

“Oh, yeah, that’s a real weakness all right,” says Gimbel, who says he’s extended offers to “hundreds and hundreds” of people during his 25 years in the hiring business. “You want to be perfect and you work all the time. It’s a trick answer.”

Rather, when Gimbel poses that question to candidates, he’s looking for two things: that you’re self-aware, and that you have solutions for your shortcomings.

“The real question that employers have is not what your weaknesses are, it’s what your solution to compensate for that is,” he says.

Here’s how to prepare a solid answer: Think about a technical or a soft skills you’d like to improve and how you’re actually taking action on it.

For example, you might discuss that you’re not as quick on a certain software related to your work, and you’ve realized you want to take some classes on it. Or, you might point out that you’re not a great writer, so you’re working with a writing coach or having a mentor proofread your emails.

“That’s a weakness solution,” Gimbel says. “We all have weaknesses, and we need to admit what we’re not good at.”

Overall, Gimbel’s No. 1 underrated tip for excelling at a job interview comes down to a little humility: “Be honest about what you stink at.”

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Draw clear boundaries

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