
Celebrities find love in Instagram DMs as dating app fatigue sets in
As the official start to the US summer approaches, many singles are on the hunt for a romantic partner to spend the season with. Some may be on the prowl at parties or swiping through dating apps, others may be shooting their shot on Instagram.
For celebrities in particular,
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Malaysiakini
22 minutes ago
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SST and health: Nutritionist highlights local fruits to meet daily needs
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Mint
26 minutes ago
- Mint
The em dash does not belong to ChatGPT
A writer-journalist friend was recently told that something he wrote felt like it was ChatGPT-coded. This was because of his liberal use of the em dash—that long punctuation mark which signals a mid-sentence shift to add emphasis, or to frame a detail too important to sideline. Over the last few months, there has been a lot of clamour around em dashes showing up frequently in AI-generated writing. The assumption, now gathering steam in certain corners of the internet, is that if you use too many em dashes in your social media posts, you must be using AI to aid your writing. Furious at the allegation, my friend took to LinkedIn to post a spirited rant—part grammar lesson, part love letter—breaking down the em dash, the en dash, and the humble hyphen. It got me thinking. As a reader, when I see a detail framed by em dashes, I take it more seriously than if it were cushioned inside parentheses. In my head, parentheses whisper and giggle, but em dashes declare. Even if a thought comes engulfed in parentheses inside my head, when I put it on paper, I often use em dashes instead, because I want the reader to think they still carry the same weight as the stuff that came before and after. Incidentally, Jane Austen, the subject of our cover this week, was famously em-dash-happy. In 2019, writer Kressie Kornis published findings from a two-year study of dashes in Austen's manuscripts and published work, which excluded hyphens and dashes used in place of proper nouns. Some of her drafts, Kornis noted, used up to 67% more dashes than her published works. This also suggests that Austen's editors may have deliberately dumbed down her writing style. Even more fascinating: Austen's dash usage increased with age. On Instagram, I stumbled upon handles like @emdashphilips of American poet Emilia Philips, and a private account @emdashes belonging to an Emily Gordon who mentions punctuation in her bio. It was delightful to see people are building their online identities around this punctuation mark. And why shouldn't they? The em dash is serious business. Translator and academician Arunava Sinha says, 'As a reader, an em dash tells me to stop, think, and then move on. I like reading in a rush, so I appreciate it when a writer asks me to pause.' Even though he's partial to commas when he writes, he admits they make every portion of a sentence look identical. The em dash, however, 'allows for emphasis'. Author Nona Uppal from Delhi has long memorised 'Option+Shift+ Hyphen' command on her Macbook to summon the em dash. 'I've been doing it for years,' she says. 'I think I should just create a shortcut key instead,' she says, almost as if sandwiching the thought between em dashes as she speaks. 'But I like that there's some friction in the process of placing an em dash,' she reckons almost immediately after. 'I don't want to overuse it. The em dash should capture an inner layer of thought that I want the reader to pay attention to,' Uppal says. While there are many writers speaking up in defence of the em dash ever since the AI link-up, I do wonder if this will make the silent majority of those not too confident about their place as writers pipe down on their genuine em-dashing. 'Interestingly, if they do, the frequency of em dashes in AI-writing will reduce too,' says Avinash Pandey, a faculty member in the linguistics department at the University of Mumbai. 'After all, AI simply regurgitates what has been fed to it.'


Hindustan Times
30 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
'I plan to do it until…': Why 'Mr Cash Drop' is hiding money across New Jersey?
What are the odds of stumbling upon $500 on a casual day out? For Cassi Fitzgerald and her husband, James, that improbable scenario became reality when they discovered $500 hidden along the Hudson River promenade at Liberty State Park. While taking part in a light-hearted scavenger hunt, the couple found themselves in the right place at exactly the right time, turning an ordinary afternoon into an unforgettable stroke of luck, reported the New York Post. 'We found $500,' said Cassi, who's in her 20s. She recalled the moment they uncovered the cash during a one-hour scavenger hunt in late May, which involved around 10 people scouring the two-mile stretch. Their lucky break wasn't just coincidence; it was all thanks to a man named Sam, better known online as 'Mr. Cash Drop.' 'I just go around, hide [varying sums of] cash at different locations, post a video teasing where the money is, then wait for my followers to show up and find it,' said Sam, 42, a relatively new resident of the Garden State with a growing social media following of 125,000. Sam explained that the people who find the money are often truly grateful. 'They're like, 'Oh man, you don't know how much this really helps out.'' Sam insists the whole idea is simply meant to bring joy. Alongside his girlfriend, Trina, a New Jersey native, he launched the project in March and has since made it a regular activity, visiting different towns across the state. 'I just do this for fun because it is fun to watch these people come out and find money,' said Sam, who chooses to keep his identity somewhat private out of concern that people might mistake him for being extremely wealthy. He is one of many participating in a growing social media trend across the US, a real-world cash scavenger hunt fuelled by Instagram and TikTok clues. From New York to California, content creators hide cash near popular landmarks and let online followers hunt for it. Prizes typically range from $50 ( ₹4300) to $500 ( ₹43,000). One such group, the minds behind the account @FindCashNY, recently gave away $500 in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Followers who pay over ₹400 per month ($4.99) for a subscription to Sam's verified Instagram page get exclusive access to his bigger drops, such as the one Cassi and James won. However, most of Sam's treasure hunts are funded through local sponsorships. Small businesses, such as pet stores and pizza joints, contribute cash in return for mentions on his platforms. Also read: 'Whole building started to fall apart': Tel Aviv eyewitness shares chilling moment of Iranian attack Despite the sponsorships, Sam isn't making a profit from the initiative. In fact, for the Liberty State Park drop, he funded the entire ₹41,700 himself. 'Once I saw that the cash drop was local, we jumped in the car with our 7-month-old baby and went straight to Liberty State Park,' said Cassi, who also works in logistics. After competing with others, it was James, a private hitting coach for baseball and softball, who finally spotted the cash taped under a riverside railing. He posed with the bundle of bills and a handmade 'golden ticket,' with the Statue of Liberty standing tall behind him. 'I was ready to scream and shout, 'We got it!'' Cassi laughed. 'But my husband wanted to keep a low profile.' They plan to save the money for their child's future. 'It's really cool that there are good people in the world, like Sam, who are doing kind acts like this,' Cassi added. Also read: Missiles rain down on Israel in raw footage: Iranian media release video of strikes Sam, meanwhile, says he's not stopping anytime soon. 'I plan to do it until the fun runs out.'