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Are you overly reliant on an emotional-support lol at the end of a text? Do you stop yourself from adding lol to work emails and Slack messages? Are you, by chance, a millennial? Those three small letters have become the topic of a generational debate that has been dividing the internet in recent months. The conversation started earlier this year across X, Threads, and Reddit when one user suggested: Millennials use lol like STOP at the end of a telegram lol. In the comments millennials quickly defended their favorite acronym. What of it? one wrote. Hold steady lads, another added. In a culture that has taken everything from you, never let them strip you of your lols. What of it?— Skylar Romines (@skylarromines) June 4, 2025 The debate resurfaced on TikTok when creator Anna Gaddis backed the use of lol and its many functions. Millennials invented the language so how about no one tells us anything, one commenter wrote. They will never erase our culture lol, added another. @annagaddis And we wont stop! lol. #lol #millennial #humor original sound – Anna Gaddis LOL entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011 (Merriam-Webster also lists it in all caps, noting that the all-lowercase version is considered a variant). Since then, its meaning has shifted from signaling laughter to acting as punctuation. Lol is to millennials as . . . is to boomers, explained one X user. But it often does much more. Lol is to millennials as is to boomers— Anna Carter NYC (@meetannacarter) June 5, 2025 Some sentences need an lol at the beginning or end to set tone. Without the cues of expression, tone of voice, and body language, text can feel flator harsh. Thats where the three letters carry weight. It can be hard to decipher whether the person youre texting is joking or deadly serious, happy or mad. This is where the three little letters do the most heavy lifting. For example: I need to ask you something. Aggressive, direct, anxiety-inducing. Whereas, I need to ask you something lol. Lighthearted, curious, friendly.
Category:
E-Commerce
A federal court has ruled that embattled Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire her.The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over the traditionally independent Fed, which sets short-term interest rates to achieve its congressionally mandated goals of stable prices and maximum employment. Congress has also sought to insulate the Fed from day-to-day politics.U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb late Tuesday granted Cook’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking her firing while the dispute makes its way through the courts. Cobb ruled that Cook would likely prevail in the lawsuit she filed late last month to overturn her firing.Trump, a Republican, said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 over allegations raised by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of saying the properties were “primary residences,” which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates than if either was designated a second home or investment property.The White House insisted Trump had the right to fire Cook.“President Trump lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause due to credible allegations of mortgage fraud from her highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said Wednesday in a statement. “This ruling will not be the last say on the matter, and the Trump Administration will continue to work to restore accountability and confidence in the Fed.”But Cobb ruled that the allegations likely weren’t sufficient legal cause to fire Cook. Under the law governing the Fed, governors can only be removed “for cause,” which Cobb said was limited to actions taken during a governor’s time in office.The “removal of a Federal Reserve Governor extends only to concerns about the Board member’s ability to effectively and faithfully execute their statutory duties, in light of events that have occurred while they are in office,” Cobb wrote. Cobb was appointed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.“President Trump has not stated a legally permissible cause for Cook’s removal,” the ruling added.The decision means Cook will be able to participate in the Fed’s meeting Sept. 16-17, when it is expected to reduce its key short-term rate by a quarter-point to between 4% and 4.25%.Federal Reserve governors aren’t like cabinet secretaries and the law doesn’t allow a president to fire them over policy disagreements or because he simply wants to replace them. Congress sought to insulate the Fed from political pressure, the court noted, by giving Fed governors long, staggered terms that make it unlikely a president can appoint a majority of the board in a single term.“Allowing the President to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law,” Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a written statement. “Governor Cook will continue to carry out her sworn duties as a Senate-confirmed Board Governor.”The court also directed the Fed’s board of governors and its chair, Jerome Powell, “to allow Cook to continue to operate as a member of the Board for the pendency of this litigation.”Lowell had argued in court filings that Cook was entitled to a hearing and a chance to respond to the charges before being fired but was not provided either. The court agreed that she was not provided due process by the Trump administration. Her lawsuit denied the charges but did not provide more details.The case could become a turning point for the 112-year-old Federal Reserve. No president has sought to fire a Fed governor before. Economists prefer independent central banks because they can do unpopular things like lifting interest rates to combat inflation more easily than elected officials.Many economists worry that if the Fed falls under the control of the White House, it will keep its key interest rate lower than justified by economic fundamentals to satisfy Trump’s demands for cheaper borrowing. That could accelerate inflation and could also push up longer-term interest rates, such as those on mortgages and car loans. Investors may demand a higher yield to own bonds to offset greater inflation in the future, lifting borrowing costs for the U.S. government, and the entire economy.If Trump can replace Cook, he may be able to gain a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s governing board. Trump appointed two board members during his first term and has nominated a key White House economic adviser, Stephen Miran, to replace Adriana Kugler, another Fed governor who stepped down unexpectedly Aug. 1. The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on Miran’s nomination.Trump has said he will only appoint to the Fed people who will support lower rates.Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell and the other members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee for not cutting the short-term interest rate they control more quickly. It currently stands at 4.3%, after Fed policymakers reduced it by a full percentage point late last year. Trump has said he thinks it should be as low as 1.3%, a level that no Fed official and few economists support.Powell recently signaled that the central bank was leaning toward cutting its rate at its meeting next week.Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and prior to joining the board she taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. AP writer Will Weissert contributed to this report. Christopher Rugaber and Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Oracle Corp. started September by making headlines for layoffs. Then, on Tuesday, September 9, it reported first-quarter financial results that missed the mark for revenue and earnings. Yet, you wouldnt guess any of this based on how its stock has rallied. The software companys shares (NYSE:ORCL) rose over 32% through after-hours and into premarket trading on Wednesday. The boost comes down to Oracles revenue projections rather than the lackluster results for fiscal year (FY) 2026s first quarter. The company predicts that Oracle Cloud Infrastructures entire FY 2026 revenue will reach $18 billiona 77% jump year-over-year (YOY). Thats just the start. Oracle further expects revenue for its cloud infrastructure business to reach $32 billion in 2027, $73 billion the following year, and $114 billion and $144 billion in 2029 and 2030, respectively. ‘The who’s who of AI’ Oracle signed four multibillion-dollar contracts during quarter one, stemming from three different customers, it said. CEO Safra Catz stated in the report that the company expects to sign several more multibillion-dollar customers over the next few months. Then there was the July announcement that Oracle is teaming up with OpenAI to create 4.5 gigawatts of Stargate data center capacity in the U.S. Clearly, we had an amazing start to the year because Oracle has become the go-to place for AI workloads. We have signed significant cloud contracts with the who’s who of AI, including OpenAI, xAI, Meta, Nvidia, AMD, and many others, Catz said in an earnings call. At the end of Q1, Remaining Performance Obligations, or RPO, now top $455 billion. This is up 359% from last year and up $317 billion from the end of Q4. Our cloud RPO grew nearly 500% on top of 83% growth last year. Catz predicted that Oracles RPO will likely surpass $500 billion in the coming months. So with these developments in mind, investors dont seem bothered by Oracle reporting $14.93 billion in quarter one revenue, falling short of Wall Streets predicted $15.04 billion, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. There was also a slight miss in earnings per share, reaching $1.47 adjusted, rather than the $1.48 expected. Oracle Cloud Infrastructures tremendous predicted growth further overshadowed recent layoffs, which were reported by local outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Kansas City, and elsewhere.
Category:
E-Commerce
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