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“It is useless to meet revenge with revenge; it will heal nothing.”

–J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Forget what The Rolling Stones said, US workers can get some satisfaction. According to a newly released annual survey from the Conference Board, a business-research group, 62.7% of US workers say they are satisfied with their jobs, a 0.4% increase over the previous year and the highest job-satisfaction rating since the survey began in 1987.

But the data also reveals a never-before-seen paradox, per Allan Schweyer, a principal researcher at the Conference Board.

Despite overall satisfaction increasing, each one of the 26 specific categories that workers were also asked about saw a decrease in satisfaction. The steepest drops were registered for wages, promotions, health plans, and bonuses.

Some other takeaways:

• Covid-era job switchers are far less satisfied. Overall job satisfaction among people who have switched jobs since the pandemic began is down 5.6%, driven by factors like inflation eating into increased earnings, leadership quality, communications, interest in the work, coworkers, and job security.
• Men are happier with their jobs than women. ~65% of men say they are happy with their jobs, compared with ~60% of women. The largest gaps in satisfaction between men and women were related to the financial benefits of work.
• Culture is key. Over three-fourths of all job stayers, defined as those who intended to remain in their jobs, said they were satisfied with the organizational culture of their employer. For job leavers, defined as those who intended to move on, 21.8% were satisfied with culture. This 55+% gap was one of the highest ever reported.
• Job satisfaction is highest among those on a hybrid schedule. In 2023, 65.5% of hybrid workers reported overall job satisfaction, slightly higher than 64.1% of fully remote workers. People who work full time on-site reported the lowest satisfaction, at 60.2%.

The overall economy is also a paradox. While workers have reasons to feel optimistic – unemployment is low, and household wealth has been bolstered by rising stock and home prices – there are also reasons to feel pessimistic. Inflation is down from a year ago but still squeezing households, and mortgage rates and home prices in the stratosphere make it difficult to move or purchase a first home.

👀 Looking ahead… Job satisfaction may be at record levels, but many workers still feel the grass is greener on the other side. 85% of US professionals are considering looking for another job this year, according to a recent LinkedIn poll.

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Yesterday, Apple held its Let Loose event, which CEO Tim Cook heralded as "the biggest day for iPad since its introduction."

The event’s main attractions: New versions of the $999 11-inch and $1,299 13-inch iPad Pro with more vibrant OLED displays, and an upgraded iPad Air, which now has a 13-inch screen option to go along with the existing 11-inch version.

But, while the products themselves may have been the main attractions, Cook might as well have yelled “Chips Ahoy!” instead – because the chips behind the devices ended up being yesterday’s biggest stars:

• The newly unveiled iPad Pro is the first Apple product to be powered by the company’s M4 chip – which was designed specifically with AI in mind. It’s less power-hungry and more powerful: Apple says the chip can deliver the same performance as the M2 (currently used in Macs) using half the power, with an improved neural engine capable of performing 38 trillion operations/second.
• The new iPad Air also got a chip upgrade, trading in the M1 for the M2.

Between the lines: Apple has come under pressure from investors to unveil new AI features to compete with OpenAI and Google, at a time when Mac, iPhone, and iPad sales have been dropping.

👀 Looking ahead… Apple will hold its annual World Wide Developer Conference next month, which is expected to provide more insight into the company’s AI ambitions.

An important deadline is on the horizon for people who plan on flying around the US in 2025 and beyond.

Americans aged 18+ now have exactly 364 days to update their state-issued driver’s license or identification, in order to comply with new “Real ID” rules from the Department of Homeland Security.

Anyone whose state-issued identification doesn’t feature the Real ID seal by May 7, 2025, won’t be able to use that form of ID when boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft, entering nuclear power plants (this writer’s favorite pastime), or accessing certain government facilities.

• The rules are part of a larger federal law aimed at setting “minimum security standards” for identification materials, which was initially approved by Congress in 2005 but has experienced several delays.

How do I upgrade my license to Real ID? Applicants must visit their local DMV and provide documentation showing their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, lawful status, and two proofs of address of principal residence. States may impose additional requirements beyond that, so check your local DMV website before visiting.

• There is one exception: enhanced driver’s licenses – only issued by Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington – are considered acceptable alternatives to Real ID-compliant cards.

📝 Bottom line: If you have other forms of identification that TSA accepts, like a passport or permanent resident card, there probably isn’t an immediate reason to obtain a Real ID. But for everyone else, the clock is ticking.

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💬 Quoted: “I’ve been working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus more on quality.”

• Is Marvel fatigue a treatable condition? Disney CEO Bob Iger sure thinks so. In the entertainment giant’s quarterly earnings call yesterday, Iger revealed that Marvel will release a maximum of three new movies and two TV shows each year, instead of its current rate of around four apiece. Iger’s announcement is at odds with Disney’s most recent release calendar, however, which has four Marvel films slated for both 2025 and 2026.

🏫 Stat of the Day: The number of American students who are chronically absent – defined as missing 10+% of the school year – has made like a spaceship and skyrocketed since the start of Covid. This year, an estimated 30% of all public school students are considered chronically absent, up from 15% before the pandemic, according to data from the NY Times and American Enterprise Institute.

🤔 Did You Know? Between 2008-2021, more tourists died from taking selfies (140) than from shark attacks (90).

📰 Worth a Read: “When you’re furious get curious”: How to handle emotional hijacking → (Big Think)

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the best science images from April, as selected by the journal Nature’s photo team.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with The Motley Fool

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: +0.1%; Nasdaq: -0.1%). | 🍏 Apple stock remained relatively unchanged following the company’s Let Loose event (+0.38%).
• 🐭 Disney beat analysts' estimates on earnings in Q2 but missed expectations on revenue; Disney+ and Hulu turned their first profit; the company also provided lower-than-expected forward guidance; shares fell 10% on the day.
• 📝 An independent investigation released yesterday found widespread sexual harassment and other misconduct at the FDIC.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏡 Drake‘s Toronto mansion was the scene of a drive-by shooting early Tuesday; the rapper is safe but a member of his security detail was shot and rushed to the hospital.
• ⚖️ TikTok filed a lawsuit aiming to block its impending ban.
• 🏆 The Pulitzer Prizes, honoring American achievements in journalism, letters and drama, and music, were awarded this week. See the full list of winners.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🖼️ OpenAI unveiled a new tool that detects 98% of pictures generated by its text-to-image generator DALL-E 3, but its success drops if the images are altered or generated by another AI model.
• 🧑‍🚀 SpaceX debuted a spacesuit with a heads-up display inside the helmet.
• 🦷 Scientists are set to conduct the world's first clinical trials for a medicine that aims to regrow teeth.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌪️ Several Midwest states were under tornado warnings yesterday due to an ongoing severe storm system; the same storm on Monday produced a tornado that killed one person and destroyed dozens of homes in a small Oklahoma town.
• 🦅 The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name to Scouting America ​​in an effort to emphasize inclusion; the name change will officially take place next February, on the organization’s 115th birthday.
• ⚖️ Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who’s a central figure in the New York hush-money criminal case against former President Trump, testified in court yesterday. (Read more)

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🌌 What happens when you fall into a black hole? Check out NASA's simulation.

It was a standard day at the Shendiaoshan Wild Animal Nature Reserve in Weihai, China, when a toddler accidentally dropped their shoe into the elephant enclosure.

🩴 Saving the shoe... A group of onlookers, who thought the tiny sandal was lost for good, were delighted when a clever elephant named Shanmai gently picked up the shoe and extended their trunk towards the barrier, returning the shoe to its owner.

• Shanmai was rewarded with a ripe piece of watermelon for their efforts.

How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Then you guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

• 🥚 15%: How much of an egg’s weight is comprised of its shell
• 🫘 5: Number of days it takes to make a jelly bean
• 🌋 60%: Amount of Earth’s volcanic activity that occurs underwater

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1. Under, 11%
2. Over, between 7-14
3. Over, 75%