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It may be winter and there may be a biting chill in the air, but the dozen men and women who have packed this small sauna room in east London are happily sweating away in their swimwear. Its more than 90 degrees Celcius (194 Fahrenheit) in here and its about to get even hotter. As ice blocks infused with lavender oil melt over sizzling hot stones, releasing fragrant steam, sauna master Oliver Beryl turns on some ambient music and starts to vigorously wave a towel in a circular motion above his head to spread overpowering waves of dry heat around the room. Now try finding someone and sit back to back with them,” Beryl suggests. Or, if you want, maintain eye contact with the person sitting next to you. A brief hesitation, but most gamely oblige for a few minutes. Sauna-bathing has taken London and the rest of the U.K. by storm, particularly among trendy 20- and 30-somethings interested in trying a new pastime that’s healthier than nights out in pubs and bars. Sweating it out in communal spaces for relaxation, physical or mental therapy and socializing has long been a staple of many cultures around the world, from Scandinavias saunas and Native American sweat lodges to Japans onsens and Turkish baths. But the most popular saunas now are those that emphasize community and connectedness,” or offer something novel alongside sitting in a heated box. Think sauna club nights featuring DJs, saunas combined with a poetry workshop, or aufguss (meaning infusion in German) rituals like the one hosted by Beryl an intense session blending heat therapy, music and scent. Many sites also offer open-air ice baths next to the saunas so people can cycle between hot and cold. ‘It’s exhilarating’ I loved the feeling of losing yourself. Its a 15-minute detachment from normal life,” said Jess Carmichael as she emerged from her first aufguss at Community Sauna Baths in Stratford, east London. She likened the exhilaration she felt to the experience of running into the freezing sea with hundreds of others on New Years Day. I think people need this right now this warmth coming from the outside and feeling that youre sharing an experience with others, she added. Charlie Duckworth, a co-founder of Community Sauna Baths, said it all started in 2022 when he and fellow sauna nutters installed two small saunas including one in a horse box in a disused parking lot in the trendy neighborhood of Hackney. The not-for-profit social enterprise proved so popular that it has since expanded to four sites across the capital, with two more opening soon. A large part of the appeal for many fans is that saunas serve as “a place of communion, much like a pub or a church, Duckworth said. Sauna lowers inhibitions and also gives you a feeling of mild euphoria,” not unlike the effects of social drinking, he said. I think its an excellent place to socialize. Around the U.K., the number of public sauna sites has jumped from 45 in 2023 to 147 so far this year, according to the British Sauna Society. Have a bit more fun with it Compared to countries where the practice is steeped in tradition, one benefit of the U.K.’s sauna culture being so new is that providers can “have a bit more fun with it and be more creative, Duckworth said. At Peckham Sauna Social in south London, weekends feature relaxed ambient sauna nights with resident DJs and a non-alcoholic cocktail bar. One of its most popular monthly sessions is the creative writing sauna”: a short poetry reading followed by a chai tea and writing workshop afterward in the lounge. Reading in the sauna was something Id never done before just being hot and sweaty and dripping onto the page was challenging at first, said Caroline Druitt, a writer who leads the workshops. Something about sharing a chat with other semi-clothed strangers in the sauna seemed to encourage participants to be more open about sharing their ideas and writings, Druitt said. Besides, I know that many of my best ideas have come out of the bath, she added. Reported health benefits Besides reducing stress and getting ideas flowing, some swear by saunas and cold plunges for soothing joint inflammation and improving heart health and sleep. Some studies go further, with one suggesting a link between going to the sauna at least four times a week and a reduction in the risk of psychosis among middle-aged Finnish men. Authentic sauna done well should be as regular as the gym, and doing it regularly is what offers the reported health benefits, said Gabrielle Reason, secretary at the British Sauna Society. While those health benefits aren’t yet well established and those with high blood pressure or heart conditions should check with their doctors before going to a sauna and ice bath many converts return regularly for the mood boost. It just resets your brain in a really lovely way, said Callum Heinrich, submerged in a barrel of frigid water, his skin still steaming from the sauna. He says he attends twice a week when he can. For your mental health, it is the best thing in the world. Sylvia Hui, Associated Press
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A new memoir that paints Facebook’s parent company and its executives in a negative light is rising on Amazon’s Best Sellers rankings faster than you can ask a Meta AI assistant to define “Streisand effect.” Careless People, written by former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams, was the No. 5 best-selling book on Amazon as of early Thursday afternoon, one day after an arbitrator ordered the author to temporarily stop promoting the book. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone applauded the emergency ruling yesterday on Threads, saying it affirmed that the “false and defamatory book should never have been published.” However, the legal fight appears to have drawn increased attention to Careless People, which was ranked around No. 81 shortly after Stone’s postmeaning it rose more than 75 places since then. Amazon’s sales rankings are based on recent activity around a product and tend to fluctuate frequently, but getting into the top five in the books category on any given day is an enviable position for an author. Additionally, the book is No. 1 in three subcategories: scientist biographies, politics and social sciences, and industries. What is Careless People about? Wynn-Williams worked as the global director of public policy for Meta when it was still called Facebook. She was fired in 2017 for what Meta describes as “poor performance and toxic behavior.” Careless People details her time at the social media giant and apparently contains unflattering portrayals of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg. One claim in the book that has been making the rounds in media circles involves Zuckerberg’s attempts to enter China, which included supposed anti-censorship tools to appease the Communist government. Meta has said these details were reported years ago. What happens next? The arbitration order essentially prevents Wynn-Williams from saying anything critical about Meta, presumably until the two sides can privately arbitrate the matter. Reached for comment by Fast Company, a Meta spokesperson continued to cast aspersions on the author and pointed to the emergency arbitration ruling as a victory. “This urgent legal action was made necessary by Williams, who more than eight years after being terminated by the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industrys standard fact-checking process in order to rush it to shelves after waiting for eight years,” the company said. However, a spokesperson for Flatiron Books, the Macmillan imprint that published Careless People, didn’t seem ready to back down. The arbitration order has no impact on Macmillan,” Flatiron spokesperson Marlena Bittner told Fast Company. “However, we are appalled by Meta’s tactics to silence our author through the use of a non-disparagement clause in a severance agreement . . . The book went through a thorough editing and vetting process, and we remain committed to publishing important books such as this. We will absolutely continue to support and promote it.
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E-Commerce
A California federal judge on Thursday ordered six U.S. agencies to reinstate thousands of recently-hired employees who lost their jobs as part of President Donald Trump’s purge of the federal workforce. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup during a hearing in San Francisco is the most significant blow yet to the effort by Trump and top adviser Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy. Government agencies are facing a Thursday deadline to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs and to slash their budgets. Alsup’s ruling applies to probationary employees at the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department. The judge said the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department for federal agencies, had improperly ordered those agencies to fire workers en masse even though it lacked the power to do so. It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well thats a lie, said Alsup, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton. Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees. They have fewer job protections than other government workers but in general can only be fired for performance issues. Alsup ordered the agencies to reinstate workers who were fired over the last few weeks, pending the outcome of a lawsuit by unions, nonprofit groups, and the state of Washington. He did not order the 16 other agencies named in the lawsuit to reinstate workers, but said he would promptly issue a written decision that could expand on Thursday’s ruling. A Veterans Affairs spokesperson declined to comment. A Department of Interior spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on litigation over personnel matters. The White House and the other agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The plaintiffs include the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 federal workers. The union’s president, Everett Kelley, in a statement said the decision was an important victory against “an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public.” 25,000 workers Alsup last month had temporarily blocked OPM from ordering agencies to fire probationary employees, but declined at the time to require that fired workers get their jobs back. The plaintiffs subsequently amended their lawsuit to include the agencies that fired probationary workers. About 25,000 workers across the U.S. government had been fired as of March 5, according to a Reuters tally, and another 75,000 have taken a buyout. The Trump administration has not released statistics on the firings, and it was not immediately clear how many employees could be affected by Thursday’s decision. In the lawsuit before Alsup, the plaintiffs claim the mass firings were unlawful because they were ordered by OPM rather than left to the discretion of individual agencies. OPM has maintained that it merely asked agencies in a January 20 memo to identify probationary workers and decide which ones were not “mission critical” and could be fired, and did not order them to terminate anyone. The agency on March 4 revised that memo, adding that it was not directing agencies to take any specific actions with respect to probationary employees. OPM has pointed to the updated memo and to press releases by agencies as proof that it had no control over agencies’ decisions. Alsup on Thursday told the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer representing OPM, Kelsey Helland, that he did not believe that was true, and scolded the government for not presenting OPM’s acting director, Charles Ezell, to testify at the hearing. Ive been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years and I know how we get at the truth, and youre not helping me get at the truth. Youre giving me press releases, sham documents, Alsup said. Helland said it was common for presidential administrations to prevent high-ranking agency officials from testifying in court, and that the information provided by OPM in court filings was enough to prove that it never ordered agencies to terminate workers. Along with the lawsuit in California, several other challenges to the mass firings have been filed, including cases by 20 Democrat-led states and a proposed class action by a group of fired workers. The Merit Systems Protection Board, which reviews federal employees’ appeals when they are fired, earlier this month ordered the Agriculture Department to reinstate nearly 6,000 probationary workers at least temporarily. Daniel Wiessner and Brendan Pierson, Reuters
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