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Works are informed by dialogue with Northwestern Engineering researchers during five-year residency  Exhibition a tribute to NASA Golden Record creator, 'whose heart has left the solar system' Opening conversation with the artist will take place at 2 p.m. on Feb. 4 EVANSTON, Ill. --- American artist Dario Robleto (b. 1972) believes artists and scientists share a common aspiration: to increase the sensitivity of their observations.   From understanding the human body's pulses and brainwaves to viewing the faintest glimmers of light from the edge of the observable universe, groundbreaking science pushes the limits of perception. Similarly, the perceptive work of artists can extend the boundaries of empathy and understanding.  Since 2018, Robleto served as an artist-at-large at the McCormick School of Engineering. This unique program partnership between The Block Museum and McCormick gave the artist an open "hall pass" to lea...

Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a business model that uses contractors to promote the company's products or services. Rather than using a traditional salesforce, multi-level marketers such as Amway, Herbalife, Shaklee and others employ third parties as a kind of external salesforce. These individual members are compensated in two ways: commissions from selling products directly and commissions from the sales of the members they've recruited. The commission from their recruits is called a "downline," and it's usually the most lucrative element of a multi-level marketing company's compensation structure, making it valuable to recruit productive members. Key insights Facts about MLMs: Participation in MLMs is prevalent, with 7.7 percent of American adults having participated in one, according to a 2018 study by AARP. About 47 percent of respondents in the AARP survey reported that they lost money by participating in th...

Pay Dirt is Slate's money advice column.  Have a question?  Send it to Lillian, Athena, and Elizabeth here .  (It's anonymous!) Dear Pay Dirt, My mom has been out of work since she married my father. She went from having a good job in her country to being a stay-at-home mom. I am grateful she was there when we were growing up and I think my dad was until he decided to check out of the marriage; they divorced last year. She tried to go back to work multiple times throughout my childhood and adolescence, even when I was an emerging adult. But my dad dissuaded her most of the time or she felt guilty. It doesn't help that she only has outdated qualifications from her home country and no records of her schooling. This brings me to the problem. My mom has fallen victim to quite a few multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes over the years. She's probably lost some thousands of dollars and has learned th...

Raging inflation is a tough nut to crack for income. By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET. Consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, is now impacted by sharp price drops for fuel and durable goods, and sharp price increases for services. Inflation continues to rage in services, even as goods prices have dropped.  I discussed these PCE price indices here a minute ago. So consumers are paying less for many goods than they had to pay a few months ago, but they're paying a lot more for services. About 62% of what consumers spend goes to services. Spending on services , not adjusted for inflation, jumped 0.5% in December from November, and by 8.7% year-over-year, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. But adjusted for inflation by the PCE price index for services, "real" spending on services remained flat for the month and was up 3.3% from a year ago – 3.3% is decen...

By Katie Friel in Features, Jan | Feb 2023 on January 1, 2023 at 7:00 am | Amy Porter with members of Texas Cheer & Pom. On a warm September day in 2016, Amy Porter put on her Texas cheerleading uniform and headed toward Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to cheer on The University of Texas Longhorns against the UTEP Miners. As she walked onto the field alongside her former squad mates, cameras quickly panned around and trained their lenses on Porter and crew. What photographers caught was Porter surprising her daughter, Morgan Baker, then a sophomore, who was already cheering on the sidelines. After a quick hug—and a look of utter disbelief from Baker—Porter picked up a pair of poms and joined her to become the first mother-daughter duo to cheer together at a UT game.   It had been more than 20 years s...

He was arguably one of the biggest con artists in the world — ruining the lives of thousands of people — while masterminding the largest Ponzi scheme ever in the United States. His crimes were called "extraordinarily evil" by the judge who sentenced him, and a "stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions" by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). How did Bernie Madoff ruin the financial fortunes of so many, and how did his crimes go undetected for so long — ultimately only exposed by Madoff himself? These are questions many are still trying to come to grips with to this day. The former Nasdaq chairman was arrested and charged with securities fraud a little over 14 years ago. The then 70-year-old operated an investment advisory business — which was separate from Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, a securities broker dealer — according to the Department of Justice. RELATED: Bernie Madoff, Infamous Ponzi Scheme Architect, Die...

In this article, we will discuss the 9 famous pyramid scheme companies in US history. If you want to read about similar companies, you can also take a look at 5 Famous Pyramid Scheme Companies in US History . Pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, and MLM scams have been a part of the American economy since the early 20th century. Over the years, many such schemes have come and gone, leaving behind stories of financial ruin and heartache. Among the most notorious of these pyramid schemes are those that have become so famous that they still linger in the public consciousness. Companies like the infamous Ponzi scheme run by Charles Ponzi and the notorious Stanford Financial Group are infamous for their fraudulent activities and the lives they ruined. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most famous pyramid scheme companies in US history, and the stories behind them. But before that, let's first understand what are pyramid schemes and how are they different from Ponzi schemes ...