• As an interior decorator, there are quite a few items I'd skip when designing the bedroom.
• I think vibrant colors and busy patterns can disrupt valuable wind-down time before bed.
• Personally, I think too many mirrors can be distracting to a bedroom's overall design.

• Erosion has come for yet another home on the billionaire hot spot island of Nantucket.
• A house last purchased in July was demolished on Tuesday.
• Buying on certain parts of the wealthy island has become a gamble as weather patterns intensify.

Just over six months after businessman Don Vaccaro signed the paperwork on his new property on Nantucket's coast, the beach house is no longer.

On Tuesday, the three-bedroom home was demolished after being condemned by the town after the coast eroded to within five feet of the structure, according to a filing by the town's conservation commission. Just last year, the property was valued at nearly $2 million by the town's assessor. Vaccaro spent only $200,000 on it.

The home's final demise was a surprise, Mike Melvin, the general manager at Holdgate Partners, which oversaw the demolition, told Business Insider. Just last year, his firm had updated the house when its septic tank fell into the ocean.

"It was a little bit surprising to see how fast things have eroded out there," he said.

Melvin blames storms this winter with strong southeast winds that chipped away at the island's southern shore.

"They'd be better with a nor'easter, to be honest," Melvin added.

By the end of the week, what remains of 28 Sheep Pond Road will either be turned into gravel or packed up and sent to a contractor to handle the disposal off-island. Melvin worries other homes in the area might still be at risk as the year goes on.

"It could be just one bad storm" that takes out other properties, Melvin said.

Buying a home on certain parts of Nantucket, an island off Cape Cod's coast known for attracting the ultrawealthy like billionaires Eric Schmidt and Steve Schwarzman, is a gamble. In recent years, erosion has led to the demolition of a handful of properties, many once valued at multiple millions of dollars. Other residents have spent seven figures to move their homes away from threatened bluffs.

Vaccaro, who did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, was well aware of the risk. He told the local newspaper, the Nantucket Current, that he lost more than $400,000 on the ordeal.

"The house may not last more than six months," Vaccaro told the Current when he purchased the home in July. "Inevitably, the ocean will win. The house is only temporary, everything in life is temporary."

Over the next 50 years, sea level rise, coastal flooding, and erosion are estimated to cause over $3.4 billion in cumulative damages to Nantucket, according to the island's 2021 Coastal Resilience Plan.

While there have been a number of firesales on particularly vulnerable properties, the island's larger real estate market has remained healthy. In 2024, the number of single-family homes sold on the island increased 11% year over year, according to data from local firm Fisher Real Estate. Since 2020, the number of homes sold on Nantucket for more than $10 million has increased 50% and the median home sale price reached an all-time high of $3.7 million.

"The concentration of wealth is quite stunning on Nantucket, and it keeps escalating," Bruce Percelay, a real estate developer and the publisher of the island's N Magazine, who has been vacationing on Nantucket for nearly all of his life, told BI last year. "To use a well-worn phrase, come hell or high water, people are still buying multimillion-dollar homes on Nantucket."

• Apple CEO Tim Cook said he plans to retire eventually but wants to keep working beyond traditional retirement age.
• Cook, 64, has led Apple since 2011. He said he strongly values intellectual stimulation and work.
• Cook has said he wants his successor at Apple to be an internal hire.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said he plans to retire eventually but doesn't think he'll stop working anytime soon.

Cook, who has led the tech giant since the death of founder and former CEO Steve Jobs in 2011, said in the "Table Manners" podcast with UK singer-songwriter Jessie Ware that he still wants the stimulation of work.

In the podcast, Ware's mother, Lennie Ware, asked Cook if he thought he would ever retire. Cook, 64, replied, "sure, but not the traditional definition of it."

He went on to say that he doesn't see himself "being at home doing nothing and not intellectually stimulated." Cook said he thinks he will always be "thinking about how tomorrow can be better than today."

"I think I'll always be wired in that way and want to work," Cook said. "I mean, I was working when I was 11 or 12."

Cook shared earlier in the podcast that he got his first job on a paper route at around 11 or 12 years old before graduating to "flipping burgers" at a local restaurant by the age of 14 or 15.

"My upbringing — a lot of it — was centered on work and the belief that hard work was essential for everybody, regardless of your age," Cook said.

Last month, Cook said in a Wired Q&A that he gets questions about his retirement from the CEO position "now more than I used to."

Apple has not made any statements about Cook's retirement. A Bloomberg report in May described company insiders as saying Cook's retirement was most likely at least three years away.

Apple did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider for this story.

The Bloomberg report listed several top executives' names as potential successors for Cook. John Ternus, a senior vice president of hardware engineering, and Jeff Williams, the company's chief operating officer, were thought to be frontrunners for the position.

Cook has also said he wants his successor to be an internal hire.

"I really want the person to come from within Apple," Cook told the pop star Dua Lipa on an episode of her podcast in November 2023.

The E-Z Pass texts pretend to be from the toll system in an effort to steal your account data.

The 'Friends' actor had an interaction with the pop icon when he was a teenager, but it had nothing to do with show business.

SS Lazio has parted ways with falconer Juan Bernabe, who handled the club's mascot, after he shared photos of his penile implant surgery on social media.

Biden and Trump's exchange at the reopening of Notre Dame went viral on social media in December.

The popular TLC series released the season 11 trailer on Monday, January 13, featuring a major bombshell surprise.

Steve Witkoff, an investor and real estate mogul, has been highlighted as a key figure in securing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) show that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering proposals to expand its immigration detention capacity in at least eight states.

Why it matters: The proposals going back to September show that the Biden administration was preparing for its own expanded detention of immigrants while Democrats attacked President-elect Trump for his mass deportation plan.

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The big picture: The plans could give Trump a head start to launch the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history once he takes office since detention is the most costly and labor-intensive piece of deportation.

Zoom in: The ACLU said Wednesday that documents obtained through an open records request show proposals sought expansion of detention capacity in Michigan, California, Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington state.

• They reveal that private prison corporations — and other companies that provide services to build temporary facilities, monitor compliance and staff facilities — submitted proposals for expanded immigration detention in response to ICE's contract requests.
• Documents show GEO Group, Inc., CoreCivic, Management and Training Corporation (MTC) and Target Hospitality, which provides temporary tent facilities, submitted proposals.

Zoom out: The proposals mentioned the North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan, which is owned and operated by the GEO Group, Inc.

• Also cited was the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas, owned and operated by the GEO Group, Inc.
• Carrizo Springs, a tent facility previously used to detain immigrant minors in Carrizo Springs, Texas, owned by Target Hospitality, was also mentioned.

An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email from Axios.

What they're saying: "These records only further confirm ICE's work to expand immigration detention across the country," Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project, said in a statement.

• Cho said this includes in facilities "with clear records of abuse" and in areas where immigration detention has not previously existed.
• "Expansion of detention will only enable ICE to enact President-elect Donald Trump's plans for mass deportation."

Between the lines: The documents show that the Biden administration, just like the Obama administration, was involved in outlining its own stepped-up deportation plan while attacking Republicans for suggesting the same.

• Immigrant rights groups have criticized Trump's mass deportation plan and said it would strike fear in communities across the country.
• But many of the same groups have been reluctant to attack President Biden or Vice President Harris.
• Harris said she supported a bipartisan crackdown on immigration and border security, drawing criticism from smaller grassroots immigrant advocacy groups.

State of play: U.S. immigration courts are on pace to decide record numbers of deportation cases — and order the most removals in five years — under Biden's push to fast-track asylum decisions.

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 271,000 people last fiscal year — the most in nearly a decade, according to an annual report released last month.

The intrigue: The discovery comes just weeks after the ACLU received its first and second tranche of FOIA documents revealing that ICE is considering expanding detention facilities in several states.

By the numbers: ICE currently only has around 38,000 people in detention — prioritizing noncitizens the border patrol arrested at the Southwest Border and noncitizens with criminal histories, according to ICE's annual report.

• To hold more people from a raid surge would require a mass building project of "soft detention" centers, or temporary ad hoc facilities, to house people.

What we're watching: The Trump administration can act on the proposals from the Biden administration and seek more.

"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across New Orleans to find the best seafood boil in the city. They'll be visiting three locations in one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."

A Florida woman was found not guilty of manslaughter in the death of her grandchild, who was left inside a hot car for hours.

The two leaders spoke for 45 minutes by phone.

The president announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday.

American tennis player dedicates his first-ever Grand Slam victory to his home of Altadena, currently ravaged by the Los Angeles wildfires.

The host reached out to her fans to share her appreciation for all the love and well-wishes she's received during her long absence.

The Rangers have a lot of decisions to make after an underachieving start to 2024-25. Is a rebuild in the conversation?

• More than 400 Washington Post staffers are urging Jeff Bezos to meet with the paper's leaders.
• The letter says integrity and transparency issues have caused staff departures.
• The Post has faced subscriber losses and leadership scrutiny under CEO Will Lewis.

More than 400 Washington Post staffers sent a letter to the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, asking him to intervene after a year of crises.

The letter asked Bezos, who has owned the paper since 2013, to come to the Post and meet with its leaders.

"We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent," the letter says. "This goes far beyond the issue of the presidential endorsement, which we recognize as the owner's prerogative. This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and reestablishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication."

One newsroom insider called it notable for its representation of nonunion as well as union signatories.

"It ratchets up the pressure," said this person, who, like some others, spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about internal matters. Their identity is known to Business Insider.

Since Bezos bought the paper, the Amazon executive chairman has had regular meetings with the business side but largely stayed out of the news coverage.

"From the very beginning, he told us he wouldn't be involved in any way in the newsroom, or be a hands-on owner," the Post insider said. "Our Amazon coverage has been aggressive, and he's never pushed back. I think the plea now is to get him involved now to establish some leadership in the newsroom."

The Post has been battered by a string of recent crises under Will Lewis, its publisher and CEO. NPR reported that the outlet lost a significant number of subscribers after announcing — just days before the US presidential election in November — that it wouldn't endorse a candidate. That decision broke with 40 years of tradition and after a Kamala Harris endorsement had been planned.

Bezos later explained the decision in an opinion column, saying many people believe the media is biased and presidential endorsements don't help.

A second Post insider, who is familiar with the subscription numbers, said the paper had won back at least 20% of the subscriptions it lost after the endorsement situation. They said nearly three-fourths of those people who canceled are still using the site while their subscriptions remain active.

Since the endorsement controversy, a number of high-profile newsroom figures have defected. They include a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, who quit after the paper declined to publish her cartoon that portrayed Bezos and other media and tech CEOs sucking up to a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

A third Post insider described a nihilistic feeling at the company amid the talent exodus. They said they felt it would be hard for the paper to move forward under Bezos' ownership in a second Trump administration, given credibility issues with some left-leaning readers.

"A lot of really good institutions are going to have a really hard time in the Trump administration, from higher education to journalism," this person said. "And I think the Post, in part because of our own doing, is one of the first to have its walls shook really, really hard."

Lewis earlier faced scrutiny when he replaced the top editor, Sally Buzbee, last year, and then his choice of replacement backed out. He also faced questions over his actions during the aftermath of a UK phone-hacking scandal.

Not all Post staffers are in agreement with the petition. Another staffer, the sports columnist Sally Jenkins, said the Post's biggest problem is the underlying business challenges facing it and other legacy media.

"I think the Post is in the middle of trying to find solutions, and it takes a lot of time," she said. "Would I love it if Jeff Bezos came to the newsroom? Sure. I just think things are much more complicated than, 'Oh, things will be fine if Jeff Bezos comes in and talks to some editors.'"

Like many other news outlets, the paper has struggled on the revenue side. Last week, it began laying off 4% of staff on the business side, Reuters reported.

Here's the full text of the letter:

To Jeff Bezos:

You recently wrote that ensuring the long-term success and editorial independence of this newspaper is essential. We agree, and we believe you take as much pride in The Washington Post as we do.

We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent. This goes far beyond the issue of the presidential endorsement, which we recognize as the owner's prerogative. This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and reestablishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication.

We urge you to come to our office and meet with Post leaders, as you have in the past, about what has been happening at The Post. We understand the need for change, and we are eager to deliver the news in innovative ways. But we need a clear vision we can believe in.

We are committed to pursuing independent journalism that holds power to account and to reporting the news without fear or favor. That will never change. Nothing will shake our determination to follow the reporting wherever it leads.

As you wrote when you first became The Post's owner in 2013, "The values of The Post do not need changing." We urge you to stand with us in reaffirming those values.

Signed,

Staffers of The Washington Post

• TikTok users are reacting to a potential US ban by creating memes.
• The US government has cited national security concerns, impacting TikTok's future in America.
• Users, sad to lose the platform, are turning to humor to cope with the uncertainty.

It's a week of mourning for TikTok users, and they're using humor to make peace with the looming ban.

A slew of videos and photos have emerged as TikTokers make memes to say goodbye to the short-form video platform. A TikTok ban isn't certain, but users will find out the app's fate on Sunday — the deadline for its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to find a buyer in the US.

In true internet fashion, TikTokers are posting what could be their final jokes on the app. Some of them are hosting fake funerals for TikTok; others are bidding goodbye to their "Chinese spy," a reference to the US's concerns about whether it represents a threat to national security.

Meanwhile, others are blaming the US government, president-elect Donald Trump, and social networking billionaire Mark Zuckerberg for trying to take away TikTok. Zuckerberg could win big if "TikTok refugees," as they call themselves, flocked to Meta's Instagram to watch short-form reels.

Some, like TikToker Santina Rizzi, aren't so sure Zuckerberg is "going to get" the top spot for short videos if a ban goes through. She said that users would go to YouTube instead.

"I'll be touching grass before I return to anything Meta," a top comment said.

Still, users are finding ways to laugh instead of panicking about the potential shutdown.

Some say they're willing to move countries to have access to TikTok, and others say they're willing to learn Chinese to use a rising platform called Xiaohongshu. The China-based app shot to the top of the Apple App Store this week as people sought an alternative to Instagram reels or YouTube shorts.

While some have found substitute apps to fill the void, others have pondered turning a new leaf in their social media usage and trying to regain some of their time and energy.

"I think I'm just going to finally read a book," one commenter said in response to a video from Sierra Boudreaux (@averagesisi).

"I'll probably actually start getting my 10k steps in," another added.

Over the years, TikTok has been the birthplace of iconic memes, phrases that have entered the cultural lexicon, or just a place for people to consume short-form content tailored to their interests.

Without TikTok, the world might know terms like "unalive," "rizz," or "demure" that have become commonplace after becoming popular on the platform.

But many users have also made peace with the potential dissolution of TikTok, and they're trying to enjoy the time they have left with the app — however long that may be.

This isn't the first time a beloved social media app has faced a big change. Twitter users mourned the platform as they knew it before it became X under Elon Musk's ownership. Like TikTok, users laughed and despaired over the fate of their go-to platform.

TikTok's future is yet to be determined, but the jokes are still flying in case this is the last week to do so.

And if all else fails, there's always the library.

• Martha Kilner, from London, was a teacher for 20 years.
• She ended up in hospital after a panic attack due to the increasing stress and workload.
• She became a virtual assistant in early 2024 and was fully booked within three weeks.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Martha Kilner. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I wanted to be a teacher ever since I did my psychology degree. I did my dissertation on dyslexia in children, which involved lots of visits to schools, and I felt really comfortable being in front of a class. So I became a teacher in 2002, at the age of 22.

For years, I gave it my heart and soul. The school felt like a family, and teaching was my purpose and calling. I got married in 2010 and had three children in three and a half years. I took maternity leave and returned to teaching full time in 2018.

I realized that I couldn't have a family and be a teacher, so I became a virtual assistant in 2024.

I had no life-work balance as a teacher

Almost as soon as I went back, I realized that it wasn't working anymore. It became clear that it wasn't family-friendly. I used to think teaching would be great when I had kids because of all the vacations you get. But I was leaving for work at 7 a.m. and not getting home until 6 p.m. a lot of the time, so I hardly saw my children. The workload was also never-ending.

I started having lots of health issues, which I attributed to teaching. I was having hair loss and heart palpitations, and I had a ticking in my ear. After sitting down for six hours straight during a parents' evening, I ended up with deep vein thrombosis. I just felt like I wasn't living my life anymore, and things came to a head in 2019 when, after a session with a student teacher, my heart started racing. My colleagues called an ambulance, and I was taken to the hospital; as it turned out, I'd had a panic attack.

But I didn't quit teaching then. I thought it was me, that it was because I had been out of teaching, that it was a new school, and I needed to get into the swing of things, and it would all be fine.

The school offered me a new job but I knew it was time to leave

Then 2020 came, and the Covid lockdowns happened. On my 40th birthday, the announcement came that schools were closed and teaching would go online. We had the Easter vacation to prepare, and I had never had much to do with Google Classroom. I taught third grade, so they weren't used to using computers regularly and accessing resources online. It was stressful at first, but I actually enjoyed meeting my class online in small groups while being at home and not spending so many hours at school.

During maternity leave, I learned to crochet as I found it relaxing, and it was during the pandemic that I thought I could turn it into a side hustle by creating online crochet tutorials. I couldn't quite make it profitable, but I had already decided I wasn't returning to in person teaching. My school offered me a role as their marketing and communications officer — a role I actually loved, managing the school's social media, PR, and newsletters. But it was a low-paid, entry-level job, which wasn't sustainable financially.

I became a virtual assistant

A friend then suggested becoming a virtual assistant (or VA). I found a website called "The VA Handbook" and a Facebook group called "The VA Handbookers" and learned everything I needed to know about becoming a VA. It was mainly about marketing myself because I already knew how to build websites and organize spreadsheets and calendars. From my crochet business experience, I knew getting clients would be the hardest part.

I posted on my personal social media that I was going to try being a VA. Someone I had previously worked with booked me for 30 hours a month there and then, as she had just set up her own marketing agency. That gave me the confidence to officially set up my VA business. I then put up a LinkedIn post about it. So many people who I'd worked with before vouched for me, and I was fully booked within three weeks.

I now have four VA clients who work from 10 hours a month to 60 hours a month. I do everything from inbox and calendar management to social media and websites, proofreading and editing documents, data entry, and customer support. I'm more of a business assistant, as there are so many different aspects of a business that I help with.

I'm more present for my kids

Life is so different now. I take my kids to school every day, and I go for a 6k walk afterward, either with a friend or listening to a podcast. On a Thursday, a friend comes to my house to work, and on Friday, my husband, who's a lawyer, works from home, so I still have work buddies.

I actually make more money, too, and work fewer hours. I can earn about $58,000 a year as a VA, working about 30 hours a week, while I was making about $54,000 a year in my last teaching role. I don't get company retirement payments anymore — I will have to pay into a retirement fund myself — and of course, I don't get the teacher vacation anymore. But weighing up the pros and cons, I still think I have a better deal now. My cholesterol and blood pressure are now normal.