レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Data and tech are helping ski resorts operate more efficiently.

A New Hampshire mountain destination is using technology to analyze everything from how many ski runs its customers complete to the busiest time for selling hot dogs.

The Black Mountain resort is owned by businessman Erik Mogensen. He calls it a “quintessential independent mountain.” But behind the scenes, the experience is now propelled by a high-tech system designed to increase efficiency at the state’s oldest ski area.

The company builds systems that put lift tickets sales, lesson reservations and equipment rentals online, while collecting detailed data to inform decisions like where to make more snow and how much.

“When you don't have data to fall back on and you don't have a marketing plan to fall back on, you're just kind of, like, hoping that it snows one day. And hoping that it snows is not a business plan,” he says.

So, his team crunches the numbers to monitor exactly what his customers are doing so they can adjust staffing and resources accordingly.

“A lot of general managers will go out and look how many rows of cars are parked and that's kind of how they tell how busy they are. We really want to look at transactional data, down to the deepest level. When are people buying hot dogs and hamburgers, right? How do we staff the cafeteria and at what time?” he says.

The entrepreneur is betting that technology will be a great equalizer” with the larger players.

“Vail and Alterra and the large operators, they can do a lot of things at scale that we can't. They can buy 20 snow cats at a time, ten chairlifts. Those type of things. We can't do that. But we're really nimble here at Black. We can decide to change the way we groom very quickly or change the way we open trails,” he says.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

They may belong to the TikTok generation, but a group of Australian high schoolers is reviving the classic tradition of the student magazine. The teens believe it’s more crucial than ever that their voices are heard away from the realm of social media.

Student Spotlight is now up to its seventh issue and between student writers, editors and graphic designers, it can count on more than 20 volunteers to fill its pages. It is available online to all the schools of the Greater Darwin region.

For these students of the social media era, going “old-school” was very appealing.

“Someone has sat down and really put their time and effort into this, and I feel like there's more care, and people will take that more seriously, rather than just ‘oh, an Instagram reel, scroll’,” says contributor Nicole.

Featuring impactful news, edgy short stories, and sharp opinion pieces, no subject is out of bounds.

“This is entirely student-driven. I'm just here as a supervisor, and I think they’re showing what students are capable of when we sit back and let them take charge,” says teacher Trilokesh Chanmugam.

Student Spotlight was founded by 16-year-old Pak who grew up in Hong Kong, where he says he witnessed violent arrests of young pro-democracy protesters.

“I think just seeing those protests and seeing so many young people not being heard really left a long-lasting impact in how I think and how I act,” explains Pak.

The students hope their magazine will give young people in Australia's Northern Territory a voice.

“The Northern Territory fosters a lot of great young people and a lot of the time they have to work under less resources, but they're very resilient and they’re also very good at finding different opportunities, there must be a way to showcase that,” says Pak.

“Even if I'm one person, one person still makes a massive difference,” concludes Nicole.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Lori Matthias and her husband had tired of Atlanta traffic when they moved to St. Augustine, Florida, in 2023. For Mike Waldron and his wife, moving from the Boston area in 2020 to a place that bills itself as the nation's oldest city was motivated by a desire to be closer to their adult children.

They were among thousands of white-collar remote workers who migrated to the St. Augustine area in recent years, transforming the touristy beach town into one of the top remote work hubs in the United States.

Matthias fell in love with St. Augustine's small-town feeling, trading the hour-long commute she had in Atlanta for bumping into friends and acquaintances while running errands.

The whole pace here is slower and I'm attracted to that, said Matthias, who does sales and marketing for a power tool company. My commute is like 30 steps from my kitchen to my office. It's just different. It's just relaxed and friendly.

Centuries before becoming a remote work hub, the St. Augustine area was claimed by the Spanish crown in the early 16th century after explorer Juan Ponce de Leon's arrival. In modern times, it is best known for its Spanish architecture of terra cotta roofs and arched doorways, tourist-carrying trolleys, a historic fort, an alligator farm, lighthouses and a shipwreck museum.

In St. Johns County, home to St. Augustine, the percentage of workers who did their jobs from home nearly tripled from 8.6% in 2018 to almost 24% in 2023, moving the Northeast Florida county into the top ranks of U.S. counties with the largest share of people working remotely, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Scott Maynard, a vice president of economic development for the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, attributes the initial influx of new residents to Florida's lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in businesses and schools in the fall of 2020 while much of the country remained locked down.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

For Allyson Howell, her hometown library is more than just a place to borrow a book; it's also a unique space where different cultures from the U.S. and Canada have mingled and developed ties for more than a century.

Howell and others fear that could change under a new regulation implemented by President Donald Trump’s administration as tensions continue to rise between the two countries.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the line between Howell's town of Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec. The entrance to the imposing Victorian-style brick and stone building is on the U.S. side, but an informal agreement between the two countries has always allowed Canadians to enter without a passport.

Canadians cross the border on a sidewalk leading directly to the library which is monitored by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The nearest border checkpoint is not within the eyesight of the building.

Inside the library, there is a line on the floor marking the international border, though residents of both countries have been able to move freely among the stacks.

But since March 25, the only Canadian visitors able to enter on the U.S. side have been cardholders and library workers. All others have had to use an emergency exit on the Canadian side. Starting October 1, all Canadians will have to enter from their side of the border or pass through a security checkpoint on the U.S. side. It’s a big change from the honor system arrangement the two countries have always used, users of the library said.

The new U.S. regulation strikes at the heart of what the library stands for, according to members of communities on both sides of the border. It was built in the early 1900s with a goal of uniting those communities with literacy, art and culture, said Sylvie Boudreau, president of the library’s board of trustees. The library is run by a private board and largely operates on an honor system that binds the two countries, Boudreau said.

“We’re all friends, we’re all family. We stick together.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

After sending its most famous work to be featured in Amsterdam's blockbuster 2023 exhibition of nearly every work by Johannes Vermeer, the Mauritshuis museum found itself with a blank space where the iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring had been displayed.

The Hague-based institution turned to more than 2,700 artists, from Texas to Ukraine, from age 7 to 70, who created their own interpretations of the 17th-century masterpiece.

A selection of 60 works using materials ranging from orange peels to bottle caps to sweatshirts was exhibited in the museum while the painting was on loan 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the north.

The submissions continue to come, it will never end with her, Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis museum, told The Associated Press, pointing to the ongoing popularity of works featuring the mystery girl.

A 2020 investigation into the painting using a battery of modern imaging techniques uncovered details about Vermeer's methods and the makeup of his pigments, but not the young woman's identity.

I bring together the original The Girl with a Pearl Earring and the face of a Wayang puppet, artist Rob de Heer told the AP, standing in front of a screen in the museum's foyer where all of the winning submissions are displayed.

De Heer, who primarily works with mixed media, wanted to take an image from the Golden Age history of the Netherlands and combine it with one evoking its colonial legacy. Wayang puppets are a traditional form of theater in parts of Indonesia, which was ruled by the Netherlands until 1949.

His surrealist work is followed in the rolling display by a piece featuring the original girl's face superimposed on an antique tea tin.

Other submissions include works by South Korean artist Nanan Kang, who used an ear of corn for the face; Georgian artist Nino Kavazauri, who reimagined a modern girl waiting at a bus stop with a cup of coffee; and Simon Chong, a Welsh animator, who works on the popular television series Bob's Burgers and created a girl in the show's cartoon style.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Dollar Tree's decade-long effort to fold the Family Dollar chain into its business is ending after agreeing to sell the bargain store chain to a pair of private equity firms for $1 billion.

Dollar Tree Inc. bought Family Dollar with its over 7,000 stores ten years ago for more than $8 billion.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said that Dollar Tree struggled with supply chain issues, poor store locations and other operational difficulties ever since making the acquisition.

Family Dollar carries a range of household staples, from food to laundry detergent. The stores are largely located in underserved, urban areas. Store closings that are underway, and those that may take place under new ownership, are likely to have an outsized impact on customers living in those areas.

Access to affordable, essential goods may become more challenging for lower-income families as more Family Dollar stores close, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor at Circana, a market research firm.

“The lower-income consumer will be losing a critical place to be able to purchase value products, Cohen said. They’re losing the breadth of the assortment and the depth of the discount and the convenience.”

The mom-and-pop stores found in such densely populated urban areas have less selection and prices are typically higher, Cohen said.

Dollar Tree stores, whose customer base is about 50% middle-income shoppers, are found in many suburban locations. Its shelves are more likely to feature seasonal goods, party supplies, crafts and snacks.

The sale will likely free Dollar Tree to focus on its core customers, Truist Securities analyst Scot Ciccarelli believes.

“Family Dollar turnaround efforts had been consuming massive amounts of both management focus and financial resources and now the company can focus all of its efforts toward growing and optimizing Dollar Tree,” he wrote in a client note.

Bargain chains like Dollar Tree, which have raised some of their prices in recent years, are finding that they have little room to maneuver. Americans have tightened their spending as consumer confidence in the economy slides.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Around the world, plastics are finding their way into farm fields—coated over the ground in fertilizer, wrapped around seeds, stretched as tarps to lock in moisture and as plastic waste from other industries.

It's a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where a plague of plastic bags, locally known as buveera, is woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries.

Climate change makes agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, even more unavoidable for some farmers. Meanwhile, research continues to show that itty-bitty microplastics alter ecosystems and end up in human bodies. Scientists, farmers and consumers all worry about how that's affecting human health, and many seek solutions. But industry experts say it’s difficult to know where plastic ends up or get rid of it completely, even with the best intentions of reuse and recycling programs.

According to a 2021 report on plastics in agriculture by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, soil is one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics. Some studies have estimated that soils are more polluted by microplastics than the oceans.

“Microplastic is a very big challenge. We experience so many plastics and that is brought up by the reason of having so many plastic factories or industries of bottling companies for water, for juice, and then for energy drinks, so they process so many plastics,” said Nicholas Kayondo, who is a crop scientist and a farmer in the outskirts of the Ugandan Capital Kampala.

Some farmers say agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, is becoming even more necessary as climate change fuels extreme weather. But for those tending the fields that microplastics end up in, there's a growing sense of frustration.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Minimalism is out for 2025, and exuberance is in, according to top interior designers. People looking to improve their homes and gardens are increasingly wanting something posher and more high-tech according to style gurus at the Ideal Home Show in London.

The Ideal Home Show is the UK's largest interior design show and has been setting trends since 1908.

Each year, interior designers curate the Ideal Home at the show, packing this show home with the latest trends and technology to inspire visitors. The home features typical rooms found in every home—including a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom—all packed with design flourishes.

And for 2025, minimalism is dead, and interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, known for his love of color and pattern, could not be happier. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen says, It's this extraordinary moment where it feels like the whole planet is crawling out from underneath the gray rock under which it has been imprisoned for the last five or six years. Suddenly, it's all about color. Suddenly, it's all about pattern.

Wallpapers and bedsheets are patterned with splashes of color, and design touches like the underlit marble kitchen island create an air of opulence.

Llewelyn-Bowen thinks it is a reaction to the cost-of-living crisis but also because people have been inspired by the box sets they have been bingeing on. He mentions popular TV series like The Gentlemen or Jilly Cooper's Rivals as the major inspirations for home decor.

It's like people want something much more glamorous. Dare I say they want something that feels a little bit posh. They love the big scale wallpapers, they love the drinks tray, he says.

So, is the era of less-is-more over? Of course, some people will still embrace minimalism in the home.

Obviously, there will be people out there that are into Scandi-Japanese minimalism, he says.

The Ideal Home Show ran at London's Olympia from March 21 to April 6, 2025, and featured 600 brands.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The phrase “hybrid athlete” is gaining popularity on social media, with thousands of followers embracing a multi-disciplinary approach to training and racing.

While it’s considered a positive trend, experts warn that diving into an intense training routine can be risky if not executed properly.

Hyrox is a fitness competition that blends running with functional exercises. It's rapidly becoming one of the fastest-growing fitness sports globally, with events held in more than 11 countries and 30 cities.

Karla Maganto Parisotto started competing over a year ago. Since then, she's witnessed its popularity skyrocket. “It just went crazy, I just knew everyone doing it and then in Melbourne as well and now it's just the new thing,” she says.

Hyrox is a key element of a growing social media trend, called “hybrid training.” A “hybrid athlete” typically refers to someone who combines various types of training, such as endurance and strength.

Though the concept isn't new to athletes, fitness influencers are popularizing the approach with demanding workout routines, inspiring thousands of followers to give it a try.

“Seeing muscle-bound guys with their shirts off running marathon distances is intriguing, is interesting, is extraordinary and all of these things feed engagement on social media,” says musculoskeletal physiotherapist, Nick Ilic.

Overall, hybrid training is a positive concept, but experts warn that if not done correctly, an unrealistic routine can have harmful consequences.

“Do so slowly and progressively. Make sure you're fueling appropriately and just making small changes to your training and making sure there's enough recovery in there,” says Ilic. Done right, it can lead to a positive community.

“I think it's really good to motivate people to get out there and do stuff as long as they get out there and do things gradually and gradually expose themselves to these big strength loads or big endurance loads,” adds Ilic.

“Different fitness components, different ages, different body types, I saw there was a very big community in it and everyone pushing each other,” adds Maganto Parisotto.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Hansen, a retired Danish police officer, loaded up his basket at the supermarket, carefully checking each product to avoid buying anything made in the United States. No more Coca-Cola, no more California Zinfandel wine or almonds.

On his recent shopping trip, Hansen returned home with dates from Iran. It shocked him to realize that he now perceives the United States as a greater threat than Iran.

Trump really looks like a bully who tries in every way to intimidate, threaten others to get his way, he told The Associated Press. I will fight against that kind of thing.

Hansen is just one supporter of a growing movement across Europe and Canada to boycott U.S. products. People are joining Facebook groups where they exchange ideas about how to avoid U.S. products and find alternatives. Feelings are especially strong across the Nordic region—and possibly strongest in Denmark, given Trump's threats to seize Greenland.

Google Trends showed a spike in searches for the terms Boycott USA and Boycott America as Trump announced new tariffs, with the top regions including Denmark, Canada and France. At the same time, a global backlash is also building against Tesla as the brand becomes tied to Trump, with plunging sales in Europe and Canada. In Germany, police were investigating after four Teslas were set on fire.

Responding to consumer demand, Denmark's largest supermarket chain, the Salling Group, created a star-shaped label this March to mark European-made goods sold in its stores. CEO Anders Hagh said it's not a boycott, but a response to consumers demanding a way to easily avoid American products.

Our stores will continue to have brands on the shelves from all over the world, and it will always be up to customers to choose. The new label is only an additional service for customers who want to buy goods with European labels, he said in a LinkedIn post.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.