Saturday another day of heightened concerns, with two rival protests The scourge of violence affecting Lisbon since the killing of Odair Moniz by PSP police has reached the attention of international media, with a number of outlets predictably ‘warning tourists visiting Portugal’. As tourism operators admit, the fact that violence on the streets has been…
The 2024 Crossword Book Awards shortlists for Popular Choice.
The five-book shortlists in the six popular choice categories – Fiction, Nonfiction, Translation, Children’s, Business and Management, and Mind, Body and Spirit – for the 2024 Crossword Book Awards have been released. The longlists in the jury categories were announced earlier this month. The winners will be announced on December 12 in an in-person award ceremony in Mumbai. Each winner will receive a cash prize of Rs 50,000.Readers can cast their votes on the Crossword website till November 25.Here are the shortlisted books in each category:FictionRazor Sharp: A Kutta Kadam Thriller, Ashwin Sanghi, HarperCollins IndiaWelcome to Paradise, Twinkle Khanna, JuggernautWorld’s Best Girlfriend, Durjoy Datta, Penguin IndiaActs of God, Kanan Gill, HarperCollins IndiaThe Hidden Hindu: Book 3, Akshat Gupta, Penguin IndiaNonfictionKitne Ghazi Aye Kitne Ghazi Gaye: My Life Story, Lt Gen KJS ‘Tiny’ Dhillon, Penguin IndiaRevolutionaries: The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom, Sanjeev Sanyal, HarperCollins IndiaRAW Hitman: The Real Story of Agent Lima, S Hussain Zaidi, Simon and Schuster IndiaWhy Bharat Matters, S Jaishankar, Rupa PublicationsCommon Yet Uncommon: 14 Memorable Stories from Daily Life, Sudha Murty, Penguin IndiaBusiness and ManagementLet’s Talk Mutual Funds: A Systematic, Smart Way to Make Them Work for You, Monika Halan, HarperCollins India Chanakya’s 100 Best Sutras: Ageless Wisdom for Unlocking Your Potential and Achieving Your Goals, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Jaico Publishing Make Epic Money, Ankur Warikoo, Penguin IndiaMoney Works: The Guide to Financial Literacy, Abhijeet Kolapkar, Penguin IndiaBreaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future, Raghuram G Rajan and Rohit Lamba, Penguin IndiaChildren’s booksBipathu and a Very Big Dream, Anita Nair, Puffin BooksAll-time Favourite Nature Stories, Ruskin Bond, illustrated by David Yambem, Puffin BooksMahi: The Elephant Who Flew Over the Blue Mountains, Anand Neelakantan, illustrated by Doodlenerve, HarperCollins IndiaHow the Bamboo Got Its Bounty, Sudha Murty, Puffin BooksThe Yoga Sutras for Children, Roopa Pai, Hachette IndiaTranslationsFire Bird, Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Janani Kannan, Penguin IndiaThe Greatest Malayalam Stories Ever Told, selected and translated by AJ Thomas, Aleph Book CompanyConversations with Aurangzeb: A Novel, Charu Nivedita, translated from the Tamil by Nandini Krishnan, HarperCollins IndiaThe Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told, edited by Arunava Sinha, Aleph Book CompanySakina’s Kiss, Vivek Shanbhag, translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur, Penguin IndiaMind, body and spaceHacking Health: The Only Book You’ll Ever Need to Live Your Healthiest Life, Mukesh Bansal, Penguin IndiaThe Power of One Thought: Master Your Mind, Master Your Life, BK Shivani, HarperCollins IndiaSmall Wins Every Day: 100 Powerful Ways to Transform Your Life and Health, Luke Coutinho, Penguin IndiaEnergize Your Mind: Learn the Art of Mastering Your Thoughts, Feelings and Emotions, Gaur Gopal Das, Penguin India11 Rules For Life: Secrets to Level Up, Chetan Bhagat, HarperCollins IndiaDisclosure: Arunava Sinha is the editor of Books and Ideas section of Scroll.
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Money Stories
After 5 years traveling the world for less than I ever spent in the US, I learned a mindset to help me save money at home
Written by
Elizabeth Aldrich; edited by
Libby Kane
2024-10-26T11:44:02Z
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Author Elizabeth Aldrich.
Courtesy Elizabeth Aldrich
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I lived in Costa Rica and traveled the world for five years for less than it costs to live in the US.
I didn’t have a car, and doing work exchanges kept my fixed costs a fraction of what I spent in the US.
My mindset was also different: I didn’t feel the need to spend money to have fun like I do at home.
I was a digital nomad from 2015 to 2020, with a home base in Costa Rica. I regularly spent hundreds — sometimes thousands — of dollars less each month than I do now that I live in the US. And it wasn’t just because I lived in affordable places. While I spent a lot less in regions like Mexico and Central America, my cost of living was still lower when I spent a few months traveling through Europe or Asia.I barely had any bills when I lived abroad, and I found it easier to keep rent low. But the mindset I had while living abroad is what really helped me save: I didn’t feel the need to spend money to enjoy myself.My fixed costs were 2 to 3 times lower when I was travelingWhen I moved back to the US, to my hometown of Portland, Oregon, my fixed costs skyrocketed. I’ve spent anywhere from $1,000 (with a roommate) to $1,700 on rent since moving back in 2020.I lived in various parts of Costa Rica, where I paid $300 to $600 per month to rent furnished homes I found via word of mouth. I found the best deals on housing by booking a cheap hotel or hostel for a week and waiting until I got to a new place to look for rentals in person. The most I ever spent on housing while traveling was around $800, the month I traveled through Japan and Vietnam and stayed in a mix of hostels and capsule hotels that ranged from $5 to $10 a night in Vietnam and $15 to $50 a night in Japan.To keep housing costs low, I did a lot of what’s called “slow travel.” I tried to spend at least one month in each place rather than hopping to different locales every few days. You can get better deals by renting a furnished house or apartment for a few months. Even Airbnb hosts will often offer a steep discount if you’re willing to stay for at least one month, especially in the off-season.I also had far fewer bills and no debt when I was living abroad. Utilities and internet were always included in the short-term rentals I stayed in. I didn’t own a car for most of my time abroad, so that got rid of a car payment and car insurance. I could also afford to pay for medical and dental care out of pocket in Costa Rica, so I opted for a cheap travel insurance plan instead of US health insurance.Get Travel Insurance Quotes OnlineProtect your trip with the best travel insurance. Compare travel insurance quotes from multiple providers with Squaremouth.I did work exchanges in more expensive areas to save moneyI also subsidized my housing costs in more expensive areas by doing work exchanges for room and board that I found through Workaway International. You can browse the website for vetted hosts all over the world who are looking for “volunteers” to help on their farms, at their hotels, and more, and they’ll offer a free place to stay and sometimes meals in exchange for part-time work.In fact, I went down to Costa Rica to do a work exchange on a sustainable ranch for a few months, but I ended up staying for five years. It was the perfect introduction to a new country I’d considered moving to. I got to know locals, learned more of the language, and gained a better understanding of the culture before fully moving in.During the summer I spent traveling through Europe, I offset the cost of staying in different cities every few nights by doing a work exchange for one of the three months. I stayed and ate for free on a vineyard in a small medieval town in Tuscany owned by a sommelier In the mornings, I would spend an hour or two cleaning the owner’s natural pool and weeding her garden and then another hour or two helping her build a website for her wine tours. I had afternoons, evenings, and weekends free to do my own work and explore the area. My costs for that month were minimal, and I learned a lot about wine production and Italian culture through my host, who even taught me a few family recipes.I spent one summer living in New York City thanks to a work exchange I found on that same website. I hopped around the city doing in-home petsitting gigs for a couple of New Yorkers who owned a petsitting business. In exchange, I got free places to stay all summer and a stipend for food, and I had plenty of time to do my own work.I didn’t feel the need to spend money to enjoy myself when I lived abroadI found it much easier to fill my days with fun, free activities while living abroad. In the US, I often find myself feeling the need to buy tickets to a show, look up upcoming events, or go out to eat out of boredom. But when you’re living in a new country, there’s so much novelty and challenge in everyday life that you rarely feel bored.I could walk around a new city and look at the unique, unfamiliar architecture or hike through the forest and marvel at all the plants and wildlife I’d never seen back home and feel satisfied. Basic exchanges at the grocery store or trying to figure out which bus to take had me practicing a new language and learning new things, and that felt like entertainment enough.Going on road trips in the US pushes me back into that traveler’s mindset. The past couple of summers, I’ve gone on monthlong road trips to various national parks and cities, car camping in free or low-cost spots along the way, and I’ve spent less on those trips than I do at home.The traveler’s mindset I had while living abroad encouraged me to explore, get creative, and find fun in the simplest activities. It’s possible to have that mindset in the US if I push myself to approach my own country like a visitor.
Elizabeth Aldrich
Elizabeth Aldrich is a finance writer specializing in credit cards and loans, retirement planning, investing, economics, and small business. Her work has appeared on The Motley Fool, USA Today, MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, Bankrate, and Business Insider. She’s an avid credit card points collector and perpetual traveler.
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Ahead of the mega Diwali clash, Kartik Aaryan and team Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 secured a big win, despite facing strong competition from Singham Again. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Singham AgainThe festive season of Diwali will start with a big theatrical clash of Kartik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 with Ajay Devgn’s Singham Again. The representative of Kartik’s film informed that all the single-screen theatres across the Delhi-UP belt have expressed strong support for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, agreeing to offer prime-time showcasing in a favourable 3:2 ratio. This response shows a strong support towards the horror-comedy sequel.
A trade analyst said, “All single screens in Delhi UP belt have agreed to give prime time showcasing to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 in the ratio of 3:2. Their support is extending to the extent of 100 per cent showcasing too for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 if team Singham Again don’t agree on this showcasing plan.”
The trade person further added that BB 3 bagging single-screens, it’s a big win for the team. “Diwali is all about entertainment and the audience steps out to watch the film that has maximum showcasing. The idea is to ensure that BB 3 reaches out to every strata of the audience, and by securing prime-time shows on single screens, Anil Thadani has given a message loud and clear – single screens are with us. Diwali audience loves to watch films screened in cinema halls near them – be it Singham or Bhool Bhulaiyaa – and with BB 3 bagging key shows in all single screens, it’s a major win for them in the first round of showcasing battle,” the analyst added.
With Kartik Aaryan reprising his role as Rooh Baba from the superhit Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, the movie also stars Triptii Dimri, the OG Manjulika (Vidya Balan), and her partner in crime, Madhuri Dixit. Directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 gears up for a grand release this Diwali on November 1, 2024.
Also read: Ahead of Singham Again-Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, this Ajay Devgn, Anees Bazmee’s much-delayed film finally gets release date
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Specialists of the Biotechnology Department of the International Science and Technology Park of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan have patented a technology for obtaining an extract from camel thorn by microencapsulation. This was reported by “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”.
Camel thorn (Alhagi persarum) is a medicinal plant with many healing properties. It contains flavonoids, saponins, sugars, tannins, vitamins C, K and group B, carotene, ursolic acid, essential oil, resins. The plant is effective in the treatment of colds, flu, sore throat, bronchitis.
Camel thorn extract is obtained by grinding the plant and extracting useful substances using a special mixture. Microencapsulation acts as a technology that allows you to enclose active components in microscopic capsules, preserving the physicochemical and technological properties of the active substances.
The resulting extract can be used to create medical products based on plant materials, as well as in the food industry.
The main feature of the development is its increased therapeutic and prophylactic properties combined with low cost, the source notes.
BEIJING – Professor Wong Tien Yin sits in a room on the 13th floor of a big, bustling Beijing hospital affiliated with Tsinghua Medicine, a new academic health system he helped set up when he was named its founding head and chair professor in 2021.
But today, he is not here as its chief or a doctor; he is a patient who has just had surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
He is sitting up in his bed, his left knee in a cast after a fall. Despite the balmy, 25 deg C autumn day, the hospital does not run its air-conditioning – not even for a VIP.
This personal medical episode has given the 56-year-old Singaporean healthcare practitioner and administrator first-hand experience of being on the receiving end of the Chinese public healthcare system.
“I’ve practised as a doctor, and I’ve done the teacher route. Now I have the patient perspective,” the renowned ophthalmologist and physician-scientist, who is one of the most cited eye care specialists in the world, said from his hospital bed.
That perspective has allowed him to witness the problems faced by under-resourced Chinese public hospitals – where surgeons operate from the early hours of the morning till past midnight – and the inefficiencies and wastage brought on by a lack of integration.
Routine tests are often repeated because data systems between hospitals are not linked, unlike in Singapore, where significant resources have been invested to set up a national health record repository.
China’s healthcare policies also have not kept up with its rapidly ageing population, since its hospital-centric approach to care makes it difficult to manage an increasingly large number of patients.
Moreover, a shortage of doctors – exacerbated by low pay making the profession unattractive – has led to endemic corruption. The authorities launched a sweeping campaign in 2023 to root out corruption, arresting hundreds of health officials and hospital directors.
“These are China’s healthcare challenges, and coping with them is not easy,” said Prof Wong.
He was recruited after a global search to build an integrated academic and healthcare ecosystem at Tsinghua University, arguably China’s best varsity, whose alumni include many of the country’s former and current top leaders, notably President Xi Jinping.
Nearly three years since he left Singapore – and his job as deputy group chief executive for research and education at SingHealth – Prof Wong has transformed what was once a network of independent or loosely affiliated schools and hospitals into a cohesive structure. His goal is to improve medical education, research and innovation, and produce a new generation of physician-scientists at Tsinghua University.
In November, Tsinghua Medicine will announce the plans that Prof Wong – the highest-ranking foreigner in a university in China – has systematically laid the groundwork for.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than a month before the Nov. 5 election, Jim Justice declared victory in his Senate race in deeply Republican West Virginia, a chest thump at the same time the two-term governor was in a behind-the-scenes fight to keep some of his family businesses in good standing. In a state where Donald Trump won every county in the past two presidential elections, Justice crowned himself as the runaway successor to retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, whose seat had been one of the last lines of defense for Democrats trying to preserve their slim majority. “I say over and over, judge me by my deeds,” Justice told reporters on Sept. 19.That challenge could have had another meaning, serving as a reminder about the banks, creditors, federal agencies and others who have hounded Justice for years to pay his debts, including loan defaults, late payments, court fines. He’s faced threats of foreclosure. Early in his administration, the governor was sued for not living in the governor’s mansion in Charleston as required by law, and when he was there, his list of accomplishments wasn’t particularly long or noteworthy.Most recently, Justice’s family paid a debt obligation to ward off a collection company’s threat to auction off his Greenbrier resort’s historic hotel.And yet Justice’s boasting probably was justified. The politician with the folksy manner and a pet bulldog named Babydog by his side is in line for a seat that national Democrats pretty much conceded as soon as Manchin decided not to run again. Republicans had made it a top target, and leaders of both parties had come to believe that even Manchin couldn’t win a third full term as a Democrat in a state that had become among the most Republican in the nation.According to AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending data, Democrats have been outspent on the race by Republicans by more than a 5-to-1 margin, with Democrat Glenn Elliott receiving less than $3 million in help from outside groups.West Virginia Democratic Senate candidate Glenn Elliott gives a victory speech during the primary election results, May 14, 2024, in Wheeling, W.Va.
Mexico’s official entry to the Oscars, “Sujo,” made a sweep of the 22nd Morelia Int’l Film Festival (FICM), winning the festival’s Ojo Awards for Best Film, Director and Screenplay.
Co-helmer-scribes Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, whose debut pic “Identifying Features” won a couple of Sundance awards and took the Best International Feature prize at the Gotham Awards in 2021, also snagged the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema with “Sujo,” their sophomore feature, in January.
Hailed by Variety as an “optimistic alternative to violent drug war movies,” the poignant coming-of-age story revolves around the impact of drug cartels on the youth. The tale follows young Sujo (played by Kevin Uriel Aguilar Luna and Juan Jesús Varela) who grows up surrounded by their violence. When his father, a sicario (hired assassin), is killed, he becomes a target but Sujo’s intrepid aunt rescues him.
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Sujo’s win caps a luminary-packed festival that included Francis Ford Coppola, Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuaron, Liv Tyler, Ava DuVernay, Ira Sachs and Leos Carax in attendance.
Popular on Variety
The festival led by Daniela Michel opened Oct. 18 with France’s submission to the Oscars, “Emilia Pérez” by Jacques Audiard, which won the Cannes Jury Prize and the Best Actress Award for its four leads, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz. The latter two were special guests at the 22nd FICM.
Coppola’s latest opus “Megalopolis” was featured among the festival’s gala screenings, where the five-time Academy Award winner was bestowed FICM’s Artistic Excellence Award.
Furthermore, multi-Oscar nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto presented his directorial debut, “Pedro Páramo,” a film adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s literary classic for Netflix.
Prieto has been nominated for his lens work in Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” and Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” “The Irishman” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Cuaron, winner of multiple Academy Awards for “Gravity” and “Roma,” closed the festival Oct. 25 with his latest work, the AppleTV+ limited series, “Disclaimer.”
FICM, which recognizes and showcases the best Mexican works of the year, also hosted the Mexican premieres of such prominent titles as Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist, “Mark Cousins’ documentary “A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things,” Luis Ortega’s “El Jockey,” DuVernay’s “Origin,” Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man,“ and the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner, Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” as well as Sean Baker’s “Anora,” winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
22nd FICM Winners:
Best Mexican Fiction Film
“Sujo,” Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez
Best Director
Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, “Sujo”
Best Screenplay
Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, “Sujo”
Best Actor
Andrés Revo, “Fine Young Men” (“Hombres íntegros”)
Best Actress
Diana Laura Di, “Violent Butterflies” (“Violentas mariposas”)
Best Mexican Documentary
“I Died” (“Li cham”), Ana Ts’uyeb
Special Mention for Mexican Documentary
“Cracked” (“La falla”), Alana Simoes
Best Mexican Fiction Short Film
“Spiritum,” Adolfo Margulis
Best Mexican Animated Short Film
“The Black Stain” (“La mancha negra”), Yareni Velázquez Mendoza
Best Mexican Documentary Short Film
“Looking for a Donkey” (“Buscando un burro”), Juan Vicente Manrique
Special Jury Prize
“Renta Imagen: Niño halcón duerme entre visiones de un incendio,” Mauricio Sáenz-Cánovas
Best Michoacan Short Film
“Imprint” (“Impronta”), Rafael Martínez-García
Best Michoacán Short Film Screenplay
“Antesala al primer beso,” Adrián A. González Camargo
Fuzuli, October 26, AZERTACA group of international travelers consisting of 33 members from the British club Piki Reels kicked off on Saturday their visit to Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur regions.The delegation led by Head of Piki Reels club, Belgian citizen Yves Bouvier first arrived at the Fuzuli International Airport, known as the air gateway to Karabakh.During the three-day trip, the delegation will visit Fuzuli, Khojavand, Shusha, Khojali, Aghdam, Kalbajar, Lachin, Gubadli, Zangilan and Jabrayil districts of Azerbaijan.Over the past four years, the large delegations of the major international travel networks have visited Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur eleven times. In total, over 400 international travelers from more than 50 countries participated in these trips.The trip is of great importance in terms of promoting Azerbaijani liberated territories within the framework of “black tourism.”
With the first volume of a new series and an instructional book on magic, the “Watchmen” author wants an imaginary revolution.“Have you got a name or should I just keep thinking of you as ‘the liability?’” a beautiful young woman named Grace asks the protagonist of Alan Moore’s THE GREAT WHEN (Bloomsbury, 315 pp., $29.99).He does indeed: Our hero rejoices in the name of Dennis Knuckleyard, and that’s the least of his problems. Dennis, a miserable teenager who works in a bookshop for a phlegmy old crone named Coffin Ada, has been sold a dangerous book — “A London Walk,” which ought not to exist outside the fiction of horror writer Arthur Machen, but has somehow left the world of ideas and entered his possession. He must properly dispose of it or be drawn into a magical world called Long London that exists parallel to the Shoreditch of 1949 where Dennis usually resides. Also, at least some of Long London’s inhabitants possess the ability and possibly the inclination to turn Dennis inside out.“The Great When,” a book with a keen sense of the uncanny, has a pleasant lightness. At his 40th birthday party in 1993, Moore announced after what he later described as “more beers than I should have had” that he was going to become a magician, and his work has changed dramatically in the intervening not-quite 31 years. He is still the same formally daring writer who, in “Watchmen” with the artist Dave Gibbons, dealt American superhero comics a blow from which they never really recovered.But his goals have become far loftier. His final comics project and arguably his masterpiece, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” with Kevin O’Neill, ballooned into a MAD-style parody of … well, of everything. His last novel, “Jerusalem,” was a work of similarly staggering ambition and density, part historical survey of Northampton — his lifelong hometown — and part meditation on the afterlife, with smatterings of literary homage, autobiography and semiotics. “The Great When” is a third as long as “Jerusalem,” paced like the kind of adventure story at which Moore so excelled in his comics scripts, and written in an urbane voice rich with jokes and memorable names and turns of phrase. It’s a sort of reversal of Waugh or Wodehouse — the witty narration is retained but instead of a realistic novel about the marriageable upper classes, we have a monster-filled fantasy about a virginal working-class sad sack.“The Great When” is one of two new books — both clad in purple covers — from Moore this October, the other being a long-awaited gold-encrusted grimoire called THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC (Top Shelf, 350 pp., $49.99), which is best described as an instruction manual for getting into the magical realm in “The Great When” by yourself and having a look around. The “Bumper Book” is written with Steve Moore, who died in 2014, six years after the pair announced the project, and illustrated by Rick Veitch, Ben Wickey, John Coulthart and Kevin O’Neill. Steve (no relation) was Alan’s partner in his occult studies and an editor of a little magazine about the strangest fringes of the news called “The Fortean Times” (named for Charles Fort, the turn-of-the-century journalist who became popular writing about dubious phenomena like spontaneous human combustion and ball lightning).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.