Pittsburghs Carnegie Museum of Art highlights the haunting Surrealist power of the Chicago artists small, unflashy canvases.

Andrew Cunningham and Lee Hutchinson have spent decades of their lives with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of Time books, and they previously brought that knowledge to bear as they recapped each first season episode and second season episode of Amazon's WoT TV series. Now we're back in the saddle for season threealong with insights, jokes, and the occasional wild theory.These recaps won't cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. We'll do our best to not spoil major future events from the books, but there's always the danger that something might slip out. If you want to stay completely unspoiled and haven't read the books, these recaps aren't for you.New episodes of The Wheel of Time season three will be posted for Amazon Prime subscribers every Thursday. This write-up covers the entire three-episode season premiere, which was released on March 13.Lee: Welcome back! Holy crap, has it only been 18 months since we left our broken and battered heroes standing in tableaux, with the sign of the Dragon flaming above Falme? Because it feels like its been about ten thousand years.Andrew: Yeah, I'm not saying I want to return to the days when every drama on TV had 26 hour-long episodes per season, but when you're doing one eight-episode run every year-and-a-half-to-two-years, you really feel those gaps. And maybe it's just [waves arms vaguely at The World], but I am genuinely happy to have this show back.This season's premiere simply whips, balancing big action set-pieces and smaller character moments in between. But the whole production seems to be hitting a confident stride. The cast has gelled; they know what book stuff they're choosing to adapt and what they're going to skip. I'm sure there will still be grumbles, but the show does finally feel like it's become its own thing. Rosamund Pike returns as as Moiraine Damodred. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Rosamund Pike returns as as Moiraine Damodred. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Lee: Oh yeah. The first episode hits the ground running, with explosions and blood and stolen terangreal. And weve got more than one episode to talk aboutthe gods of production at Amazon have given us a truly gigantic three-episode premiere, with each episode lasting more than an hour. Our content cup runneth over!Trying to straight-up recap three hours of TV isnt going to happen in the space we have available, so well probably bounce around a bit. What I wanted to talk about first was exactly what you mentioned: unlike seasons one and two, this time, the show seems to have found itself and locked right in. To me, it feels kind of like Star Trek: The Next Generations third season versus its first two.Andrew: That's a good point of comparison. I feel like a lot of TV shows fall into one of two buckets: either it starts with a great first season and gradually falls off, or it gets off to a rocky start and finds itself over time. Fewer shows get to take the second path because a "show with a rocky start" often becomes a "canceled show," but they can be more satisfying to watch.The one Big Overarching Plot Thing to know for book readers is that they're basically doing book 4 (The Shadow Rising) this season, with other odds and ends tucked in. So even if it gets canceled after this, at least they will have gotten to do what I think is probably the series' high point.Lee: Yep, we find out in our very first episode this season that were going to be heading to the Aiel Waste rather than the southern city of Tear, which is a significant re-ordering of events from the books. But unlike some of the previous seasons changes that feel like they were forced upon the show by outside factors (COVID, actors leaving, and so on), this one feels like it serves a genuine narrative purpose. Rand is reciting the Prophesies of the Dragon to himself and he knows he needs the People of the Dragon to guarantee success in Tear, and while hes not exactly sure who the "People of the Dragon" might be, its obvious that Rand has no army as of yet. Maybe the Aiel can help?Rand is doing all of this because both the angel and the devil on Rands shouldersthats the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred with cute blue angel wings and the Forsaken Lanfear in fancy black leather BDSM gearwant him wielding Callandor, The Sword That is Not a Sword (as poor Mat Cauthon explains in the Old Tongue). This powerful saangreal is located in the heart of the Stone of Tear (its the sword in the stone, get it?!), and its removal from the Stone is a major prophetic sign that the Dragon has indeed come again.Book three is dedicated to showing how all that happensbut, like you said, were not in book three anymore. Were gonna eat our book 4 dessert before our book 3 broccoli! Natasha OKeeffe as Lanfear. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Natasha OKeeffe as Lanfear. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: I like book 4 a lot (and I'd include 5 and 6 here too) because I think it's when Robert Jordan was doing his best work balancing his worldbuilding and politicking with the early books' action-adventure stuff, and including multiple character perspectives without spreading the story so thin that it could barely move forward. Book 3 was a stepping stone to this because the first two books had mainly been Rand's, and we spend almost no time in Rand's head in book 3. But you can't do that in a TV show! So they're mixing it up. Good! I am completely OK with this.Lee:What did you think of Queen Morgases flashback introduction where we see how she won the Lion Throne of Andor (flanked by a pair of giant lions that Im pretty sure came straight from Pier One Imports)? It certainly seemed a bit evil.Andrew: One of the bigger swerves that the show has taken with an established book character, I think! And well before she can claim to have been under the control of a Forsaken. (The other swerves I want to keep tabs on: Moiraine actively making frenemies with Lanfear to direct Rand, and Lan being the kind of guy who would ask Rand if he "wants to talk about it" when Rand is struggling emotionally. That one broke my brain, the books would be half as long as they are if men could openly talk to literally any other men about their states of mind.)But I am totally willing to accept that Morgase change because the alternative is chapters and chapters of people yapping about consolidating political support and daes dae'mar and on and on. Bo-ring!But speaking of Morgase and Forsaken, we're starting to spend a little time with all the new baddies who got released at the end of last season. How do you feel about the ones we've met so far? I know we were generally supportive of the fact that the show is just choosing to have fewer of them in the first place.Lee: Hah, I loved the contrast with Book Lan, who appears to only be capable of feeling stereotypically manly feelings (like rage, shame, or the German word for when duty is heavier than a mountain, which Im pretty sure is something like Bergpflichtenschwerengesellschaften). It continues to feel like all of our main characters have grown up significantly from their portrayals on the pagethey have sex, they use their words effectively, and they emotionally support each other like real people do in real life. Im very much here for that particular change.But yes, the Forsaken. We know from season two that were going to be seeing fewer than in the booksI believe weve got eight of them to deal with, and we meet almost all of them in our three-episode opening blast. Im very much enjoying Moghediens portrayal by Laia Costa, but of course Lanfear is stealing the show and chewing all the scenery. It will be fascinating to see how the show lets the others loosewe know from the books that every one of the Forsaken has a role to play (including one specific Forsaken whose existence has yet to be confirmed but who figures heavily into Rand learning more about how the One Power works), and while some of those roles can be dropped without impacting the story, several definitely cannot.And although Elaida isnt exactly a Forsaken, it was awesome to see Shohreh Aghdashloo bombing around the White Tower looking fabulous as hell. Chrisjen Avasarala would be proud. The boys, communicating and using their words like grown-ups. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios The boys, communicating and using their words like grown-ups. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: Maybe I'm exaggerating but I think Shohreh Aghdashloo's actual voice goes deeper than Hammed Animashaun's lowered-in-post-production voice for Loial. It's an incredible instrument.Meeting Morgase in these early episodes means we also meet Gaebril, and the show only fakes viewers out for a few scenes before revealing what book-readers know: that he's the Forsaken Rahvin. But I really love how these scenes play, particularly his with Elayne. After one weird, brief look, they fall into a completely convincing chummy, comfortable stepdad-stepdaughter relationship, and right after that, you find out that, oops, nope, he's been there for like 15 minutes and has successfully One Power'd everyone into believing he's been in their lives for decades.It's something that we're mostly told-not-shown in the books, and it really sells how powerful and amoral and manipulative all these characters are. Trust is extremely hard to come by in Randland, and this is why.Lee: I very much liked the way Gaebrils/Rahvins crazy compulsion comes off, and I also like the way Nuno Lopes is playing Gaebril. He seems perhaps a little bumbling, and perhaps a little self-effacingtruly, a lovable uncle kind of guy. The kind of guy who would say thank you to a servant and smile at children playing. All while, you know, plotting the downfall of the kingdom. In what is becoming a refrain, its a fun change from the books.And along the lines of unassuming folks, we get our first look at a Gray Man and the hella creepy mechanism by which theyre created. I cant recall in the books if Moghedien is explicitly mentioned as being able to fashion the things, but she definitely can in the show! (And it looks uncomfortable as hell. "Never accept an agreement that involves the forcible removal of ones soul" is an axiom I try to live by.) Olivia Williams as Queen Morgase Trakand and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Elaida do Avriny aRoihan. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Olivia Williams as Queen Morgase Trakand and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Elaida do Avriny aRoihan. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: It's just one of quite a few book things that these first few episodes speedrun. Mat has weird voices in his head and speaks in tongues! Egwene and Elayne pass the Accepted test! (Having spent most of an episode on Nynaeve's Accepted test last season, the show yada-yadas this a bit, showing us just a snippet of Egwene's Rand-related trials and none of Elayne's test at all.) Elayne's brothers Gawyn and Galad show up, and everyone thinks they're very hot, and Mat kicks their asses! The Black Ajah reveals itself in explosive fashion, and Siuan can only trust Elayne and Nynaeve to try and root them out! Min is here! Elayne and Aviendha kiss, making more of the books' homosexual subtext into actual text! But for the rest of the season, we split the party in basically three ways: Rand, Egwene, Moiraine and company head with Aviendha to the Waste, so that Rand can make allies of the Aiel. Perrin and a few companions head home to the Two Rivers and find that things are not as they left them. Nynaeve and Elayne are both dealing with White Tower intrigue. There are other threads, but I think this sets up most of what we'll be paying attention to this season.As we try to wind down this talk about three very busy episodes, is there anything you aren't currently vibing with? I feel like Josha Stradowski's Rand is getting lost in the shuffle a bit, despite this nominally being his story.Lee: I agree about Randbut, hey, the same de-centering of Rand happened in the books, so at least there is symmetry. I think the things Im not vibing with are at this point just personal dislikes. The sets still feel cheap. The costumes are great, but the Great Serpent rings are still ludicrously large and impractical.Im overjoyed the show is unafraid to shine a spotlight on queer characters, and Im also desperately glad that we arent being held hostage by Robert Jordans kinkslike, we havent seen a single Novice or Accepted get spanked, women dont peel off their tops in private meetings to prove that theyre women, and rather than titillation or weirdly uncomfortable innuendo, these characters are just straight-up screwing. (The Amyrlin even notes that shes not sure the Novices will ever recover after Gawyn and Galad come toand all overtown.)If I had to pick a moment that I enjoyed the most out of the premiere, it would probably be the entire first episodewhich in spite of its length kept me riveted the entire time. I love the momentum, the feeling of finally getting the show that Id always hoped we might get rather than the feeling of having to settle.How about you? Dislikes? Loves? Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand and Ayoola Smart as Aviendha, and they're thinking about exactly what you think they're thinking about. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand and Ayoola Smart as Aviendha, and they're thinking about exactly what you think they're thinking about. Credit: Courtesy of Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Andrew: Not a ton of dislikes, I am pretty in the tank for this at this point. But I do agree that some of the prop work is weird. The Horn of Valere in particular looks less like a legendary artifact and more like a decorative pitcher from a Crate & Barrel.There were two particular scenes/moments that I really enjoyed. Rand and Perrin and Mat just hang out, as friends, for a while in the first episode, and it's very charming. We're told in the books constantly that these three boys are lifelong pals, but (to the point about Unavailable Men we were talking about earlier) we almost never get to see actual evidence of this, either because they're physically split up or because they're so wrapped up in their own stuff that they barely want to speak to each other.I also really liked that brief moment in the first episode where a Black Ajah Aes Sedai's Warder dies, and she's like, "hell yeah, this feels awesome, this is making me horny because of how evil I am." Sometimes you don't want shades of graysometimes you just need some cartoonishly unambiguous villainy.Lee: I thought the Black Ajah getting excited over death was just the right mix of of cartoonishness and actual-for-real creepiness, yeah. These people have sold their eternal souls to the Shadow, and it probably takes a certain type. (Though, as book readers know, there are some surprising Black Ajah reveals yet to be had!)We close out our three-episode extravaganza with Mat having his famous stick fight with Zoolander-esque male models Gawyn and Galad, Liandrin and the Black Ajah setting up shop (and tying off some loose ends) in Tanchico, Perrin meeting Faile and Lord Luc in the Two Rivers, and Rand in the Aiel Waste, preparing to dowell, something important, one can be sure.Well leave things here for now. Expect us back next Friday to talk about episode four, which, based on the preview trailers already showing up online, will involve a certain city in the desert, wherein deep secrets will be revealed.Mia dovienya nesodhin soende, Andrew!Andrew: The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. Credit: WoT Wiki

an energy transition For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids Nigeria is pioneering the development of small, off-grid solar panel installations. Victoria Uwemedimoand Katarina Zimmer, Knowable Magazine Mar 15, 2025 7:07 am | 1 A general view of a hybrid minigrids station in Doma Town which is mainly powered by solar energy in Doma, Nassarawa State, Nigeria on October 16, 2023. Credit: Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images A general view of a hybrid minigrids station in Doma Town which is mainly powered by solar energy in Doma, Nassarawa State, Nigeria on October 16, 2023. Credit: Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreTo the people of Mbiabet Esieyere and Mbiabet Udouba in Nigerias deep south, sundown would mean children doing their homework by the glow of kerosene lamps, and the faint thrum of generators emanating from homes that could afford to run them. Like many rural communities, these two villages of fishermen and farmers in the community of Mbiabet, tucked away in clearings within a dense palm forest, had never been connected to the countrys national electricity grid.Most of the residents had never heard of solar power either. When, in 2021, a renewable-energy company proposed installing a solar mini-grid in their community, the villagers scoffed at the idea of the sun powering their homes. We didnt imagine that something [like this] can exist, says Solomon Andrew Obot, a resident in his early 30s.The small installation of solar panels, batteries and transmission lines proposed by the company Prado Power would service 180 households in Mbiabet Esieyere and Mbiabet Udouba, giving them significantly more reliable electricity for a fraction of the cost of diesel generators. Village leaders agreed to the installation, though many residents remained skeptical. But when the panels were set up in 2022, lights blinked on in the brightly painted two-room homes and tan mud huts dotted sparsely through the community. At a village meeting in September, locals erupted into laughter as they recalled walking from house to house, turning on lights and plugging in phone chargers. I [was] shocked, Andrew Obot says.Like many African nations, Nigeria has lagged behind Global North countries in shifting away from planet-warming fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. Solar power contributes just around 3 percent of the total electricity generated in Africathough it is the worlds sunniest continentcompared to nearly 12 percent in Germany and 6 percent in the United States.At the same time, in many African countries, solar power now stands to offer much more than environmental benefits. About 600 million Africans lack reliable access to electricity; in Nigeria specifically, almost half of the 230 million people have no access to electricity grids. Today, solar has become cheap and versatile enough to help bring affordable, reliable power to millionscreating a win-win for lives and livelihoods as well as the climate.Thats why Nigeria is placing its bets on solar mini-gridssmall installations that produce up to 10 megawatts of electricity, enough to power over 1,700 American homesthat can be set up anywhere. Crucially, the country has pioneered mini-grid development through smart policies to attract investment, setting an example for other African nations.Nearly 120 mini-grids are now installed, powering roughly 50,000 households and reaching about 250,000 people. Nigeria is actually like a poster child for mini-grid development across Africa, says energy expert Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, managing director of EnergyInc Advisors, an energy infrastructure consulting firm.Though it will take more workand fundingto expand mini-grids across the continent, Nigerias experience demonstrates that they could play a key role in weaning African communities off fossil-fuel-based power. But the people who live there are more concerned with another, immediate benefit: improving livelihoods. Affordable, reliable power from Mbiabets mini-grid has already supercharged local businesses, as it has in many places where nonprofits like Clean Technology Hub have supported mini-grid development, says Ifeoma Malo, the organizations founder. Weve seen how that has completely transformed those communities.The African energy transition takes shapeTogether, Africas countries account for less than 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and many experts, like Malo, take issue with the idea that they need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels; that task should be more urgent for the United States, China, India, the European countries and Russia, which create the bulk of emissions. Nevertheless, many African countries have set ambitious phase-out goals. Some have already turned to locally abundant renewable energy sources, like geothermal power from the Earths crust, which supplies nearly half of the electricity produced in Kenya, and hydropower, which creates more than 80 percent of the electricity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Uganda.But hydropower and geothermal work only where those resources naturally exist. And development of more geographically versatile power sources, like solar and wind, has progressed more slowly in Africa. Though solar is cheaper than fossil-fuel-derived electricity in the long term, upfront construction costs are often higher than they are for building new fossil-fuel power plants. Thanks to its sunny, equatorial position, the African continent has an immense potential for solar power, shown here in kilowatt-hours. However, solar power contributes less than 3 percent of the electricity generated in Africa. Credit: Knowable Magazine Getting loans to finance big-ticket energy projects is especially hard in Africa, too. Compared to Europe or the United States, interest rates for loans can be two to three times higher due to perceived risksfor instance, that cash-strapped utility companies, already struggling to collect bills from customers, wont be able to pay back the loans. Rapid political shifts and currency fluctuations add to the uncertainty. To boot, some Western African nations such as Nigeria charge high tariffs on importing technologies such as solar panels. There are challenges that are definitely hindering the pace at which renewable energy development could be scaling in the region, says renewable energy expert Tim Reber of the Colorado-based US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.Some African countries are beginning to overcome these barriers and spur renewable energy development, notes Bruno Merven, an expert in energy systems modeling at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, coauthor of a look at renewable energy development in the Annual Review of Resource Economics. Super-sunny Morocco, for example, has phased out subsidies for gasoline and industrial fuel. South Africa is agreeing to buy power from new, renewable infrastructure that is replacing many coal plants that are now being retired.Nigeria, where only about a quarter of the national grid generates electricity and where many turn to generators for power, is leaning on mini-gridssince expanding the national grid to its remote communities, scattered across an area 1.3 times the size of Texas, would cost a prohibitive amount in the tens of billions of dollars. Many other countries are in the same boat. The only way by which we can help to electrify the entire continent is to invest heavily in renewable energy mini-grids, says Stephen Kansuk, the United Nations Development Programs regional technical advisor for Africa on climate change mitigation and energy issues.Experts praise the steps Nigeria has taken to spur such development. In 2016, the countrys Electricity Regulatory Commission provided legal guidelines on how developers, electricity distribution companies, regulators and communities can work together to develop the small grids. This was accompanied by a program through which organizations like the World Bank, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Bezos Earth Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation could contribute funds, making mini-grid investments less financially risky for developers.Solar power was also made more attractive by a recent decision by Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remove a long-standing government subsidy on petroleum products. Fossil-fuel costs have been soaring since, for vehicles as well as the generators that many communities rely on. Nigeria has historically been Africas largest crude oil producer, but fuel is now largely unaffordable for the average Nigerian, including those living in rural areas, who often live on less than $2 a day. In the crude-oil-rich state of Akwa Ibom, where the Mbiabet villages are located, gasoline was 1,500 naira per liter (around $1) at the time of publishing. Now that subsidies have come off petrol, says Akinkugbe-Filani, were seeing a lot more people transition to alternative sources of energy.Mini-grids take offTo plan a mini-grid in Nigeria, developers often work with government agencies that have mapped out ideal sites: sunny places where there are no plans to extend the national grid, ensuring that theres a real power need. More than 500 million Africans lack access to electricity, and where there is electricity, much of it comes from fossil fuels. Countries are taking different approaches to bring more renewable energy into the mix. Nigeria is focusing on mini-grids, which are especially useful in areas that lack national electricity grids. Morocco and South Africa are building large-scale solar power installations, while Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are making use of local renewable energy sources like geothermal and hydropower, respectively. Credit: Knowable Magazine The next step is getting communities on board, which can take months. Malo recalls a remote Indigenous village in the hills of Adamawa state in Nigerias northeast, where locals have preserved their way of life for hundreds of years and are wary of outsiders. Her team had almost given up trying to liaise with reluctant male community leaders and decided to try reaching out to the women. The women, it turned out, were fascinated by the technology and how it could help them, especially at night to fetch water from streams, to use the bathroom and to keep their children safe from snakes. We find that if we convince them, theyre able to go and convince their husbands, Malo says.The Mbiabet community took less convincing. Residents were drawn to the promise of cheap, reliable electricity and its potential to boost local businesses.Like many other mini-grids, the one in Mbiabet benefited from a small grant, this one from the Rocky Mountain Institute, a US-based nonprofit focused on renewable energy adoption. The funds allowed residents to retain 20 percent ownership of the mini-grid and reduced upfront costs for Prado Power, which built the panels with the help of local laborers.On a day in late September, its a sunny afternoon, though downpours from the days before have made their imprint on the ground. There are no paved roads and today, the dirt road leading through the tropical forest into the cluster of villages is unnavigable by car. At one point, we build an impromptu bridge of grass and vegetation across a sludgy impasse; the last stretch of the journey is made on foot. It would be costly and labor-intensive to extend the national grid here.Palm trees give way to tin roofs propped up by wooden poles, and Andrew Obot is waiting at the meeting point. He was Mbiabets vice youth president when Prado Power first contacted the community; now hes the site manager. He steers his okadaa local motorbikeup the bumpy red dirt road to go see the solar panels.Along the way, we see transmission lines threading through thick foliage. Thats the solar power, shouts Andrew Obot over the drone of the okada engine. All the lines were built by Prado Power to supply households in the two villages.We enter a grassy clearing where three rows of solar panels sit behind wire gates. Collectively, the 39 panels have a capacity of over 20 kilowattsenough to power just one large, energy-intensive American household but more than enough for the lightbulbs, cooker plates and fans in the 180 households in Mbiabet Esieyere and Mbiabet Udouba.Whereas before, electricity was more conservatively used, now it is everywhere. An Afrobeats tune blares from a small barbershop on the main road winding through Mbiabet Esieyere. Inside, surrounded by walls plastered with shiny posters of trending hairstyles including a headshot of popular musician Davido with the tagline BBCBig Boyz Cutztwo young girls sit on a bench near a humming fan, waiting for their heads to be shaved.The salon owner, Christian Aniefiok Asuquo, started his business two years ago when he was 16, just before the panels were installed. Back then, his appliances were powered by a diesel generator, which he would fill with 2,000 naira worth (around $1.20) of fuel daily. This would last around an hour. Now, he spends just 2,000 naira a month on electricity. I feel so good, he says, and his customers, too, are happy. He used to charge 500 naira ($0.30) per haircut, but now charges 300 naira ($0.18) and still makes a profit. He has more customers these days.For many Mbiabet residents, its an overall boost in their economic development, says Suleiman Babamanu, the Rocky Mountain Institutes program director in Nigeria. Also helping to encourage residents to take full advantage of their newly available power is the installation of an agro-processing hub, equipped with crop-processing machines and a community freezer to store products like fish. Provided by the company Farm Warehouse in partnership with Prado Power, the hub is leased out to locals. It includes a grinder and fryer to process cassavathe communitys primary cropinto garri, a local food staple, which many of the village women sell to neighboring communities and at local markets.The women are charged around 200 naira ($0.12) to process a small basin of garri from beginning to end. Sarah Eyakndue Monday, a 24-year-old cassava farmer, used to spend three to four hours processing cassava each day; it now takes her less than an hour. Its very easy, she says with a laugh. She produces enough garri during that time to earn up to 50,000 naira ($30.25) a weekalmost five times what she was earning before.Prado Power also installed a battery system to save some power for nighttime (theres a backup diesel generator should batteries become depleted during multiple overcast days). That has proved especially valuable to women in Mbiabet Esieyere and Mbiabet Udouba, who now feel safer. Everywhere is ... brighter than before, says Eyakndue Monday.Other African communities have experienced similar benefits, according to Renewvia Energy, a US-based solar company. In a recent company-funded survey, 2,658 Nigerian and Kenyan households and business owners were interviewed before and after they got access to Renewvias mini-grids. Remarkably, the median income of Kenyan households had quadrupled. Instead of spending hours each day walking kilometers to collect drinking water, many communities were able to install electricity-powered wells or pumps, along with water purifiers.With all of that extra time, women in the community were able to either start their own businesses or just participate in businesses that already exist, says Renewvia engineer Nicholas Selby, and, with that, gain some income for themselves.Navigating mini-grid challengesSolar systems require regular maintenancereplacing retired batteries, cleaning, and repairing and addressing technical glitches over the 20- to 25-year lifetime of a panel. Unless plans for care are built into a project, they risk failure. In some parts of India, for example, thousands of mini-grids installed by the government in recent decades have fallen into disrepair, according to a report provided to The Washington Post. Typically, state agencies have little long-term incentive to maintain solar infrastructure, Kansuk says.Kansuk says this is less likely in situations where private companies that make money off the grids help to fund them, encouraging them to install high-quality devices and maintain them. It also helps to train locals with engineering skills so they can maintain the panels themselvescompanies like Renewvia have done this at their sites. Although Prado Power hasnt been able to provide such training to locals in Mbiabet or their other sites, they recruit locals like Andrew Obot to work as security guards, site managers and construction workers.Over the longer term, demographic shifts may also leave some mini-grids in isolated areas abandonedas in northern Nigeria, for instance, where banditry and kidnapping are forcing rural populations toward more urban settings. Thats become a huge issue, Malo says. Partly for this reason, some developers are focusing on building mini-grids in regions that are less prone to violence and have higher economic activityoften constructing interconnected mini-grids that supply multiple communities.Eventually, those close enough to the national grid will likely be connected to the larger system, says Chibuikem Agbaegbu, a Nigeria-based climate and energy expert of the Africa Policy Research Institute. They can send their excess solar-sourced electricity into the main grid, thus making a regions overall energy system greener and more reliable.The biggest challenge for mini-grids, however, is cost. Although they tend to offer cheaper, more reliable electricity compared to fossil-fuel-powered generators, it is still quite expensive for many people and often much more costly than power from national grids, which is frequently subsidized by African governments. Costs can be even higher when communities sprawl across large areas that are expensive to connect.Mini-grid companies have to charge relatively high rates in order to break even, and many communities may not be buying enough power to make a mini-grid worthwhile for the developers for instance, Kansuk says, if residents want electricity only for lighting and to run small household appliances.Kansuk adds that this is why developers like Prado Power still rely on grants or other funding sources to subsidize construction costs so they can charge locals affordable prices for electricity. Another solution, as evidenced in Mbiabet, is to introduce industrial machinery and equipment in tandem with mini-grids to increase local incomes so that people can afford the electricity tariffs.For you to be able to really transform lives in rural communities, you need to be able to improve the business viabilityboth for the mini-grid and for the community, says Babamanu. The Rocky Mountain Institute is part of an initiative that identifies suitable electrical products, from cold storage to rice mills to electric vehicle chargers, and supports their installation in communities with the mini-grids.Spreading mini-grids across the continentEnergy experts believe that these kinds of solutions will be key for expanding mini-grids across Africa. Around 60 million people in the continent gained access to electricity through mini-grids between 2009 and 2019, in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Senegal, and the United Nations Development Program is working with a total of 21 African countries, Kansuk says, including Mali, Niger and Somalia, to incentivize private companies to develop mini-grids there.But it takes more than robust policies to help mini-grids thrive. Malo says it would help if Western African countries removed import tariffs for solar panels, as many governments in Eastern Africa have done. And though Agbaegbu estimates that Nigeria has seen over $900 million in solar investments since 2018and the nation recently announced $750 million more through a multinationally funded program that aims to provide over 17.5 million Nigerians with electricity accessit needs more. If you look at what is required versus what is available, says Agbaegbu, you find that theres still a significant gap.Many in the field argue that such money should come from more industrialized, carbon-emitting countries to help pay for energy development in Global South countries in ways that dont add to the climate problem; some also argue for funds to compensate for damages caused by climate impacts, which hit these countries hardest. At the 2024 COP29 climate change conference, wealthy nations set a target of $300 billion in annual funding for climate initiatives in other countries by 2035three times more than what they had previously pledged. But African countries alone need an estimated $200 billion per year by 2030 to meet their energy goals, according to the International Energy Agency.Meanwhile, Malo adds, its important that local banks in countries like Nigeria also invest in mini-grid development, to lessen dependence on foreign financing. Thats especially the case in light of current freezes in USAID funding, she says, which has resulted in a loss of money for solar projects in Nigeria and other nations.With enough support, Reber says, mini-gridsalong with rooftop and larger solar projectscould make a sizable contribution to lowering carbon emissions in Africa. Those who already have the mini-grids seem convinced theyre on the path toward a better, economically richer future, and Babamanu knows of communities that have written letters to policymakers to express their interest.Eyakndue Monday, the cassava farmer from Mbiabet, doesnt keep her communitys news a secret. Those she has told now come to her village to charge their phones and watch television. I told a lot of my friends that our village is ... better because of the light, she says. They were just happy.This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.Victoria Uwemedimoand Katarina Zimmer, Knowable Magazine Knowable Magazine explores the real-world significance of scholarly work through a journalistic lens. 1 Comments

2025-03-15T12:31:02Z Read in app DraftKings. Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? DraftKings is expanding original games for its online casino.It's modeling the user experience after Netflix and the way it delivers recommendations.DraftKings' online casino business grew 21% year over year in the fourth quarter.DraftKings is modeling its online casino experience after Netflix as it expands its focus on original games.Chief Product Officer Corey Gottlieb said Netflix's content recommendations inspired his team at DraftKings. He spoke this week at Next.io's NextSummit, a gambling conference in New York.Netflix's app is known for surfacing shows and movies based on what users have watched, grouping titles in unique categories, and puttingSwiping through DraftKings' casino app, users can similarly find "lobbies" with carousels of games. They include the top 10 slots or table games, titles that are "only at DraftKings," recently played games, suggested games for a particular user, and games grouped by themes like "spin the wheel." The app even has an "Easter Hunt" section right now with spring-themed games like "Charmed Rabbits" and "Celtic Gold.""It was really modeled after Netflix from a content delivery perspective," Gottlieb said. "This next-gen lobby product we've created essentially allows our operators to manage dozens of lobbies concurrently with one another, and every lobby is themed."Gottlieb said there are also lobbies tailored for different types of bettors like VIPs and casual gamers.The Netflix model is part of DraftKings' merchandising strategy, one of three pillars of its product plan that also includes in-house content and gamification.DraftKings has doubled down on original content to propel its casino business. Gottlieb said the company now produces 110 original titles through its casino studio, which made up about half of the amount wagered on its casino games last year, a metric known as handle. That was out of the thousands of games it offers.While online casino gambling is legal in a small portion of the US, the business is key to DraftKings' future because of its growth potential. DraftKings acquired Golden Nugget Online Gaming and software company Blue Ribbon a few years ago to pave its entry into the space. It's also bet on adjacent areas like digital lottery through the purchase of Jackpocket.DraftKings' revenue from its online casino, referred to as igaming, grew about 21% year over year in the fourth quarter to $426 million, according to a financial presentation. Overall revenue for the period was up 13% year over year.DraftKings is developing more of its own games and betting marketsGottlieb said producing in-house content is part of a larger plan to create more originals across its business, including the sportsbook.It's creating more of its own bets, rather than relying on third parties for live betting or same-game parlays on different outcomes within a game."We have made a major investment both in bringing new content to market," and in "bringing that content in-house," Gottlieb said, referring to betting markets.He said this gives DraftKings more control over areas like pricing and the types of bets it offers, helping the company stand out in a "very redundant" marketplace.Gottlieb said that by the end of 2025, all DraftKings' live and in-game betting content will be in-house."The goal for us initially was, how do we just sort of reduce a third-party dependency, create some cost savings?" Gottlieb said. "And what we sort of found our way into was a fully functional end-to-end studio with everything from game development to in-house."

2025-03-15T11:48:02Z Read in app My husband and I renewed our vows in Hawaii to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Allison Tibaldi This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? For our 30th wedding anniversary, we renewed our vows in Hawaii.We stayed at a hotel that offers guests a free vow-renewal ceremony on the beach.It was a romantic experience that I highly recommend.My husband and I were very young when we got married in a small ceremony at City Hall in New York City. Thirty years and two kids later, we're still going strong.To celebrate our anniversary, we thought it'd be wonderful to renew our vows somewhere beautiful on a vacation. We chose Hawaii. Although far from our home in NYC, it holds a special place in our hearts as the place we went on our honeymoon and we'd been dreaming of going back.Our vow renewal ended up being even better than I'd expected.As OUTRIGGER Reef hotel guests, the simple renewal didn't cost us extra We booked a few nights at OUTRIGGER Reef Waikiki Beach Resort for our renewal. Allison Tibaldi While researching our options online, I found that OUTRIGGER Reef Waikiki Beach Resort offered a vow renewal free of charge for guests every Tuesday and Friday.I was surprised, as other hotels I'd seen were charging hundreds of dollars for renewals. The resort's website said all I needed to do was send an email to reserve a spot for the 8 a.m. ceremony. So, I did.It took place on a nearby public beach area. When we checked in on Sunday, we learned we'd be sharing our Tuesday vow renewal with another couple at the resort who'd also signed up.A staff member at the reception desk told us that it's tradition for my husband and I to present each other with a flower lei at the ceremony, available for purchase in the hotel lobby or at numerous flower shops in the neighborhood.Fortunately, the resort has a range of complimentary daily programming on its weekly activities calendar, and one event was a lei-making class.On Monday, my do-it-yourself husband created flower garlands for us to exchange at the ceremony. Our room had a mini-fridge, perfect for keeping the blooms fresh until the next morning.Our vow renewal on the beach was even better than I imagined Although the vow renewal was free, it also wasn't private. Allison Tibaldi We were still jet-lagged and awoke early Tuesday morning, with plenty of time for a cup of Kona coffee before the ceremony.The sun was bright but gentle as we headed down to the beautiful beach in front of the hotel.The wedding organizer at the resort greeted us and introduced us to the Australian couple also renewing their vows. They had traveled with their family, who were also present for the ceremony.Next, the organizer introduced us to the officiant, hula dancer, and ukulele player who'd be helping to bring our ceremony to life.We took off our shoes and walked toward the ocean until the warm water tickled our toes. Waves and tropical birdsong were the soundtrack to the ceremony.Our officiant taught us how to do the "Hawaiian kiss," where we faced each other, foreheads and noses touching.He also explained that placing the lei around each other's necks symbolized the transfer of love. In both Hawaiian and English, he said a few short vows about how lucky we were to be in love, and we repeated these to each other in English.My husband and I placed the florals around each other's necks and kissed Hawaiian-style as the hula dancer swayed and the ukulele player serenaded us.The experience was short but impactful Lastly, the officiant handed us a vow-renewal certificate with our names printed on it. The entire experience was over by 8:45 a.m.A professional photographer took photos throughout the ceremony that were available for purchase, but we didn't feel pressured to buy them. The organizer had also snapped images of us during the ceremony, as did the family of the Australian couple.Beyond our hotel stay, our vow renewal didn't cost a cent. However, the memory is priceless.The casual ceremony felt powerful and intimate, despite the fact that we were on a public beach. I was surprised that I even cried.

For most people, the Covid-19 pandemic, which officially began five years ago this month, marked their first encounter with case counts and N-95 masks and lockdown orders.Not me, though. I was a young reporter for Time magazine in Hong Kong in early spring 2003, when we started getting reports about a strange new sickness spreading in southern China, just across the border. On March 15, exactly 22 years ago today, that sickness was given a name by the World Health Organization: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).The SARS outbreak didnt get much attention in the US because the country only had a small number of cases, and the worst of it overlapped with the invasion of Iraq. But back in Hong Kong, which became an epicenter of the outbreak, we had no idea when or if it would end.Looking back on those days now, it feels like a dry run for what the entire world would experience less than two decades later with another coronavirus. Overnight, all of Hong Kong wore surgical masks. Airports, hotels, and restaurants were abandoned. At the Time offices in the city, editors sweating through uncomfortable N-95 masks debated sending some staff to work from home, to keep the magazine going if our building were to be closed. I interviewed scientists about the possibility of a vaccine or treatment, and was told that if one were needed, it would certainly take years for it to be developed.We ended up getting lucky with SARS. The coronavirus that caused it turned out to be far less infectious than it first appeared, and the outbreak ended up petering out though not before more than 8,000 people were sickened and 774 died around the world.With Covid, of course, we were not that lucky. More than 7 million people have been confirmed to have died from Covid so far, a number that is both still rising and almost surely an undercount. The political, social, and educational side effects of the pandemic were enormous, and are still playing out. It was, simply put, a global catastrophe one of the few events that is truly worthy of that name.So why in the world would I put Covid in a newsletter thats supposed to be about good news?A Covid pandemic before 2020 would have been far worseHaving lived through and covered both SARS and Covid, I sometimes like to run a thought experiment: How would we have responded back in 2003 if SARS had turned out to be as dangerous as Covid?Think back to 2003. Smartphones didnt exist, and even laptops were less common. Video-calling was essentially nonexistent if you told someone you were going to Zoom with them, you would have gotten very strange looks. What this all means is that remote work and remote schooling and telemedicine which, as problematic as they all turned out to be, did keep the economy, education, and medical care moving forward during the pandemic would have essentially been impossible. By one estimate, without remote work, US GDP would have declined twice as much as it ultimately did in that first year of the pandemic. All those Zoom meetings and cloud documents were a literal economic lifeline.Or take the virus itself. It was months after the first cases of SARS before the coronavirus causing it was successfully identified by scientists. I still remember visiting Hong Kong Universitys Queen Mary Hospital in April 2003, and peering through an electron microscope at the viruss distinctive, sun-like corona. In Covid, thanks to vast improvements in the speed of genetic sequencing, full genomes of the virus were being distributed well before the world was fully aware of what Covid was.Or vaccines. In 2003, early work on mRNA vaccine technology was only beginning, and BioNTech the company that was responsible for the groundbreaking research on mRNA vaccines wouldnt be founded for another five years.. Before Covid, it took anywhere from five to 15 years if not longer to develop a vaccine for a new virus. Had we needed one during SARS, we would have almost certainly been in for a long wait. But during Covid, the first vaccine candidates were produced by Pfizer-BioNTech on March 2, 2020 less than two months after work on the vaccines had begun. Sandra Lindsay, a nurse in New York, received the first Covid shot on December 14, 2020, less than nine months later. And while advances in science were the first necessary steps, the US government, for all its flaws, acted with impressive urgency and ambition. We never would have received vaccines as quickly without the genius of Operation Warp Speed. By supporting the simultaneous development of multiple vaccine candidates, the parallel execution of multiple stages of vaccine development and trials, and by guaranteeing a market for the vaccines with billions of dollars, Operation Warp Speed lived up to is name.Beyond the science, the bipartisan relief bills kept poverty from spiking during those first, terrible months of the pandemic. In fact, poverty actually dropped in 2021 compared to the years before the pandemic, with child poverty falling by more than half.Dont forget what we accomplishedI realize that almost no one wants to look back at the Covid pandemic, and certainly not with pride. The subsequent virus variants and new waves increasingly evaded even our best vaccines, keeping the pandemic going for years while eroding belief in them. Division over the public health decisions made during the pandemic, from mask requirements to school closures, still linger, poisoning the political atmosphere. Perhaps hundreds of millions of people are experiencing the effects of long Covid, their every day a reminder of the pandemics toll. The collective trauma we suffered is still with us. And yet, I worry that all that pain and anger will cause us to neglect the amazing accomplishments of those years. Not just the scientists and officials who got us those vaccines in record time, but the doctors and nurses who toiled endless hours on the front lines of the pandemic, or the essential workers who kept things going while the rest of us isolated. My fear is not just that well forget that heroism, but that when the next pandemic comes as it inevitably will well forget that we have shown the ability and the will to fight it.On the five-year anniversary of the pandemic, there has been no shortage of articles about what we got wrong during Covid and yes, in retrospect, we got many, many things wrong. I realize it could have been worse isnt exactly the most stirring rallying cry after something as catastrophic as Covid. But its still true, and we shouldnt overlook the people whose work ensured it wasnt.A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here! Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Four years ago, Richard Hanania was a little-known right-wing intellectual, one of many posters building a brand with tweets and Substack posts attacking wokeness and other conservative bugbears. But in the middle of 2021, one of his ideas took off. In an article called Woke Institutions is Just Civil Rights Law, Hanania argued that many issues conservatives worry about arent just cultural, but also stem from civil rights law and specifically from Executive Order 11246, an order signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 that requires most federal contractors to take affirmative action in their hiring. In 2023, Hanania expanded on the article in a book, The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics.That year, Hanania appeared on Vivek Ramaswamys podcast, where he talked to the then-presidential candidate about EO 11246 and suggested that the next Republican president should repeal it and replace it with an order banning affirmative action from government contractors. Ramaswamy said he liked the idea.On President Donald Trumps first day in office, he followed Hananias blueprint to the letter. I was happy, Hanania recently told Today, Explained co-host Noel King. I wasnt anybody special. I didnt have any reason to think anyone would listen to me. And eventually I saw the outcome that I wanted.This episode is not unique. Many Trump 2.0 decisions, from purging the federal workforce to re-hiring a DOGE employee who made racist comments online, have their origins in a small group of ring-wing intellectuals, what Voxs Andrew Prokop has called the very-online right. This group encompasses well-known figures like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen, as well as posters like Hanania.Today, Explained co-host Noel King recently spoke with Hanania about his journey from anonymously posting racist and misogynist diatribes to wielding real political influence in the early days of Trumps second administration, and why hes now grown disenchanted with the movement that adopted his ideas. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. Listen to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.In the summer of 2023, you were a public intellectual. Youd been writing op-eds for the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic. And then that August, the Huffington Post reported that years earlier youd written racist, misogynist posts on right-wing websites. Im going to read a couple of those here: For the white gene pool to be created, millions had to die. Race mixing is like destroying a unique species or a piece of art. Its shameful. Hispanic people dont have the requisite IQ to be a productive part of a first-world nation. You said Muslims cant assimilate because of genetic and IQ differences between them and native Europeans. And you suggested that people with low IQ might be sterilized. Were those sincere beliefs that you held?Yes. I cant lie to you and tell you that those werent sincere beliefs. Some of the ways I phrased it was sometimes getting a rise out of people. But I cant deny that I did hold those views. This, I should note, was around 2010, 2011. So by the time it came out of the Huffington Post, it was about 12, 13 years later. But, yeah, I had some views that I now consider repugnant, and [that] I was actually writing against, before that August 2023 exposition. What led to you holding those views?I think I was just young and angry. I saw these ideas that you couldnt talk about, certain things like male-female differences, the idea that America was a racist country, which I didnt believe at the time and I dont believe now, or at least racist enough to explain disparities between groups of people. I didnt like censorship. I didnt like a lot of the things that conservatives in later years would turn against, [like] DEI, which was at an early stage right there. And so I was angry. I was looking for people who were angry like me. And I think it was probably a lot of personal things going on in my life. By about 2012, 2013, I had sort of grown out of it, which I think often happens.In November of 2023, after the Huffington Post exposed you, you tweeted, people complain about Jews running America. Do they actually believe it should be run by the voters of Baltimore or Appalachia? Doesnt seem that anti-Semites have thought this through. So that was years after you were young.Well, I would make a distinction between that and the earlier stuff. Theres a long intellectual tradition of people not believing in a kind of naive form of direct democracy, going back to the American founders, to today and even before the American founders, going back to the ancient Greeks. I said Appalachians and inner-city Baltimore I was saying generally poor communities, which are on average less informed about politics and have views that might not be the most coherent about making policy. Bringing up the Jews in that context was defending Jews, saying, Accepting your premise, if Jews do control America, whats the alternative? They are disproportionately a smart, educated group of people. And I say smart, educated people having disproportionate power in society is a good thing. So I dont see that as as racist or hateful or anything like that. While those quotes you read at the beginning, I will grant you that those are things that I wouldnt stand by and nobody else should.By the summer of 2023, you had built a broad audience in both mainstream media and also on Twitter and Substack. What was the thrust of your main argument?I had an article which eventually turned into my book, The Origins of Woke, which argued that a lot of the cultural issues that conservatives were mad about a lot of the ideas about disparate impact, a lot of the ideas that, you know, you couldnt be hard on crime because it has an impact on one group of people more than the other group of people, or you couldnt have standardized tests or and so forth a lot of that was kind of baked into civil rights law. Not necessarily the text of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but a lot of judicial interpretation and executive action that came in the years and decades that followed. So I was arguing that conservatives were upset about this thing they called DEI or wokeness, and they were seeing it as mainly a cultural issue. Oh, look at Target, look at the State Department, look at what theyre all doing. And my argument was [that] there is a policy agenda here that you can focus on.When did it become clear to you that this argument that you were making was resonating?It was right away. It was something that conservatives were already interested in and they needed to understand that there was a policy solution to the problems they were concerned about. Vivek Ramaswamy, when he was unknown before he was running for president, wrote a book called Woke, Inc. I reviewed it for a publication called American Affairs. I criticized it based on some of my ideas, that he didnt talk about civil rights law. We were concerned about the same things, but he didnt bring up the kind of history that I talked about here. He actually reached out and we started to be in touch based on that. I explained to him a lot of these things. I appeared on his podcast. He started talking about it. He started going on campaign stops later when he was running for president and saying, First day, I will repeal Executive Order 11246 [the law requiring affirmative action in federal contracting], and this was the executive order that I mentioned in my book that Johnson signed in 65. Trump actually gets into office and Trump does sign a repeal of Executive Order 11246. It does a lot of the other things that I recommended. So it was quite a journey where I think I played a role in putting these ideas on the map.What was the goal of ending 11246? What did you want to happen?Ending Executive Order 11246 was part of a broader project to take the government out of the idea that it should be taking consideration of race and sex, or enforcing such considerations onto the private sector, in terms of hiring, in terms of promotion. Theres perhaps a role for the government to play in terms of ensuring non-discrimination as discrimination was understood. The concept was understood in 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed. But a lot of cultural changes within institutions were adopted as a defense against potential lawsuits and against potential loss of government contracts. So I wanted less DEI, less race- and sex-based governance, and less encouraging institutions to take positions that a lot of Americans dont agree with.Richard, was corporate America actually complaining? Because it seems like if you run a big American corporation [you] would look at the idea of diversity and would say, this is a good thing, because I want to sell things to American people and therefore having people within the company at a very high level who understand how to sell things to American people is a great thing. Its good if they come from all kinds of backgrounds.Well, thats true. I would respect business decisions on these things. If they want to have a program, thats one thing. But these were mandates coming from the government and also the subjects of lawsuits. And sure, you can say, I want to do market research on Hispanics, or maybe have someone in the room who knows something about womens products or things like that. I dont think that theres necessarily a strong correlation between that and, say, demographic balancing based on census categories. And I go into how the census categories were determined. Its kind of arbitrary, right? I mean, its like the government cares that you have a certain number of Blacks or Hispanics, they dont care if they are immigrants who just came here yesterday, or they are people who are culturally completely assimilated into the mainstream, as long as they have a Hispanic name. So there are good corporate reasons to sometimes take into account race, sex, cultural background. I dont deny that. I dont think that thats necessarily what civil rights law has been forcing on companies. The Trump administration did what you wanted. It eliminated DEI. And then it put Pete Hegseth in charge of the Pentagon, and Kash Patel in charge of the FBI, and Dan Bongino as the deputy director of the FBI. These gentlemen are not merit picks. And these are obvious examples. But this is why Americans who are skeptical of your argument will say, look, youre never really going to get merit. If we eliminate DEI, were going to go back to the president picks a guy who he thinks looks handsome on TV. Do you put any stock in that argument?Absolutely, Noel. Ive had some contacts with the Trump administration. I think one reason I have not been even closer to the Trump administration is that Ive been highly critical of a lot of the non-DEI-related actions that hes taken. I agree with you. I think some of these picks are certainly not merit-based. They dont even rise to the level of public decorum and ethics you often expect from someone whos going to be the FBI director or the head of the Department of Defense. I dont think those are the only two choices: DEI/race-based governance or people that Trump thinks looks good on TV. I think you could have a merit-based system that looks at people, takes them as individuals, takes into account their qualifications, takes into account what the president is trying to accomplish, and that has more responsible people in positions of power. Youve clearly become disenchanted with MAGA. You wrote a piece this week thats making the rounds. Its called Liberals Only Censor. Musk Seeks To Lobotomize. What happened, Richard?When it looked like Trump was going to be the nominee and he might be president, I wanted my ideas to be listened to, and I wanted them to do certain things. At the same time, I dont just write about DEI. I write about a wide range of topics. I say what I believe on those topics. I think theres a level of corruption here, a level of blatant sort of corruption to the way government is working that is unprecedented, at least in our recent history. I was always against social media censorship. I thought this was a way to suppress conservative voices. But then Elon Musk buys Twitter. Im happy. I say, Okay, were going to have free speech. And my goodness, its become a sewer! And I think that honesty and virtue and politics matter, and what Ive seen from the conservative movement, that Ive seen from MAGA, the conservative movement in general, as its become MAGA-fied, has just horrified me. And Ive felt the need to speak out about this.How do you feel about this movement that you are a part of, descending into what we have today?Im unhappy. We all know Trumps flaws. The first administration, though, we saw him surround himself with mostly responsible people. And so you can have a distaste for Trump and say, Look, hes still putting the same judges on the federal judiciary that DeSantis or in many cases, Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush would have. And so you could say, Well, I dont like Trump, he can be sort of distasteful, but the movement is more than just Trump. Now, you cant really say that anymore. I mean, hes picking people who nobody would have believed it possible to have a high-level government position, like Robert F. Kennedy [Jr.], like Kash Patel. These are people who would only be chosen, appointed by Trump. The Trump administration, if youre just looking in terms of pure policy, theres a lot I like, theres no reason to be too upset there. But if youre looking at where the movement is going, [when it comes to] how political movements and how people in power should behave and act in their relationship to truth and the relationship to the rest of society, I think its gotten pretty bad. See More:

The owner of a data brokerage business recently put out a creepy-ass video in which he bragged about the degree to which his industry could collect and analyze data on the habits of billions of people. In 2019, the data broker Epsilon was acquired by French advertising conglomerate Publicis Groupe. Then, earlier this month, Publicis also acquired Lotame, another data and advertising firm, and announced it plans to integrate it with Epsilons business. At the time, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun said that the new corporate integration would allow his company to deliver personalized messaging at scale to some 91 percent of the internets adult web users. To deliver that kind of personalized messaging (i.e., advertising), Publicis must gather an extraordinary amount of information on the people it serves ads to. In a newly released video, Sadoun breaks down what kind of information his company claims to have its hands on. The video, which concerns a software program, CoreAI, shows the degree to which the company can analyze and predict the habits and behavior of individual consumers. To demonstrate this, Sadoun introduces the audience to Lola, a hypothetical young woman who represents the typical web user that Publicis now has data about. At a base level, we know who she is, what she watches, what she reads, and who she lives with, Sadoun says. Through the power of connected identity, we also know who she follows on social media, what she buys online and offline, where she buys, when she buys, and more importantly, why she buys. It gets worse. We know that Lola has two children and that her kids drink lots of premium fruit juice. We can see that the price of the SKU she buys has been steadily rising on her local retailers shelf. We can also see that Lolas income has not been keeping pace with inflation. With CoreAI, we can predict that Lola has a high propensity to trade down to private label, Sadoun says, meaning that the algorithm apprehends whether Lola is likely to start buying a cheaper brand of juice. If the software decides this is the case, the CoreAI algo can automatically start showing Lola ads for those reduced price juice brands, Sadoun says. Poor Lola. The big problem is that its not just Lola that is subjected to this all-encompassing corporate gazeit is, apparently, almost everybody on the internet.Thanks to CoreAI, we can do that with 91 percent of adults all around the world, the CEO brags. That amounts to nearly four billion people. Lena Cohen, a technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that data brokers like Publicis collect as much information as they can about web users. The data broker industry is under-regulated, opaque, and dangerous, because as you saw in the video, brokers have detailed information on billions of people, but we know relatively little about them, Cohen said. You dont know what information a data broker has on you, who theyre selling it to, and what the people who buy your data are doing with it. Theres a real power/knowledge asymmetry. Meaningful regulation is notably absent from the data broker industry, Cohen said, allowing for companies to operate without much transparency or oversight. The U.S. needs comprehensive federal privacy law, Cohen said, while noting: I dont know how likely that is right now.Even when state-level privacy regulations are passed (such as the California Consumer Privacy Law), those cases are often not given enough focus or resources for the laws to be enforced effectively. Most government agencies dont have the resources to enforce privacy laws at the scale that theyre being broken, Cohen said. Cohen added that she felt online behavioral advertisingthat is, advertising that is based on an individual web users specific browsing activityshould be illegal. Thats not data that advertisers should have, she said, noting that contextual advertising (which is based on the content in a particular webpage) should be effective enough for companies. Banning behavioral ads would fundamentally change the financial incentive for online actors to constantly surveil web users and share their data with brokers, Cohen said.

By Margherita Bassi Published March 15, 2025 | Comments (0) | Researchers discover a gene linked to obesity in both Labs and humans. Freepik Whats social, playful, and more likely to gain weight if it has a particular gene variant? Both humans and Labradors, apparently. Researchers in the UK have identified variants, or versions, of genes associated with obesity in British Labrador Retrievers. The bad news is that they found variants of the same gene, also linked to excessive weight gain, in humans. The good news is that both Labradors and people with the offending variants can prevent weight gain by following a strict diet and workout routine, according to the study published March 6 in the journal Science. By studying dogs we could measure their desire for food separately to the control owners exerted over their dogs diet and exercise. In human studies, its harder to study how genetically driven appetite requires greater willpower to remain slim, as both are affecting the one person, lead author Eleanor Raffan, a veterinary surgeon and researcher at the University of Cambridge, said in a university statement. The team measured body fat, determined greediness levels, and collected saliva samples from 241 Labradors. They then compared each dogs body fat to the genetic information revealed by its saliva samples to pinpoint which genetic components were most likely linked to canine obesity. While all dogs have a gene called DENND1B, the researchers discovered that those with a particular variant of DENND1Bcalled rs24430444had approximately 8% more body fat than those without it. While the researchers also identified other genes similarly linked to canine obesity, the DENND1B variant had the strongest association.We measured how much dogs pestered their owners for food and whether they were fussy eaters. Dogs at high genetic risk of obesity [carrying the gene variants linked to obesity] showed signs of having higher appetite, as has also been shown for people at high genetic risk of obesity, explained Natalie Wallis, co-author of the study. Wallis is a researcher in the University of Cambridges department of physiology, development, and neuroscience. In fact, Wallis and her colleagues revealed that DENND1B, along with four other genes theyd linked to canine obesity, were also implicated in human obesity. DENND1B is involved in the brains leptin melanocortin pathway, a network of neurons that regulates the bodys energy balance.Unfortunately, these genes are not immediately obvious targets for weight-loss drugs, because they control other key biological processes in the body that should not be interfered with. But the results emphasise the importance of fundamental brain pathways in controlling appetite and body weight, said Alyce McClellan, a biologist from University of Cambridge who also participated in the study. However, the team also noted that owners who imposed a strict eating and exercise regimen on dogs carrying the DENND1B variant were able to prevent obesity in their pets, though it required significantly more effort. Studying the dogs showed us something really powerful: owners of slim dogs are not morally superior. The same is true of slim people. If you have a high genetic risk of obesity, then when theres lots of food available youre prone to overeating and gaining weight unless you put a huge effort into not doing so, said Raffan. In other words, humans with the DENND1B variant linked to obesity are not predestined to gain weight, but it will be much harder for them to keep it off compared to others due to their hypothesized genetic predisposition.This work shows how similar dogs are to humans genetically, she added. Studying the dogs meant we had reason to focus on this particular gene, which has led to a big advance in understanding how our own brain controls our eating behaviour and energy use. So the next time you admonish your Lab for begging, remember that you might have more in common than you think!Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published February 25, 2025 By Ed Cara Published January 29, 2025 By Ed Cara Published January 17, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published January 15, 2025 By Ed Cara Published January 14, 2025 By Ed Cara Published January 12, 2025

Touching the Earth Lightly: How Freeing the Ground Plane Shapes Architectural AtmospherePresented by:Save this picture!Camposanto Mapfre Chiclayo, Monsef / TERRITORIAL. Image Cristobal PalmaArchitecture and its atmospheric qualities have long been a subject of discussion, yet reaching a consensus on the matter remains elusive. This is largely because spatial experience is deeply personalrooted in emotions, sensory perceptions, and individual preferences that are difficult to articulate in words alone. The way one perceives, feels, and interacts with a space adds another layer of complexity, making it challenging to define and agree upon its atmospheric impact. Nevertheless, architects and designers continuously strive to shape environments that are not only functional and comfortable but also capable of evoking emotions and leaving a lasting impression on their occupants. In Kissing Architecture, Sylvia Lavin examines the intimate relationship between humans and architecture, emphasizing the significance of surface as a point of interaction. She writes: Architecture's most kissable aspect is its surface. Space is hard to get a hold on. Structure has historically been inadequately pliant. Geometrywell, who really wants to kiss a square? Architecture also has more surface and more kinds of surface than anything else: outside, inside, soft and hard, there's a surface for everyone. Finally, surfaces are where architecture gets close to turning into something else and therefore exactly where it becomes vulnerable and full of potential. - Sylvia Lavin, in Kissing Architecture Related Article Cities Without Ground: A Guide to Hong Kong's Elevated Walkways Could we extend our focus to the most fundamental and omnipresent architectural surfacethe ground plane? How does the treatment of the ground influence the atmosphere in private, public, and reflective spaces? What happens when structures float above, providing shelter while maintaining a continuous spatial connection with the exterior? Exploring these questions allows us to reconsider how the environmental atmosphere is crafted and experienced, revealing the power of space when architecture interacts seamlessly with its ground plane.Save this picture!Empowerment Through Freeing the Ground Plane: Rethinking Ground and SpaceThe concept of elevating architecture as a design strategy was perhaps first powerfully articulated in Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye. Supported by slender pilotis, the house is lifted above the ground, allowing for a continuous plane underneath. The ribbon windows, emphasizing lightness and proportion, further enhance the perception of a floating structure. More than an aesthetic gesture, this elevated ground plane fundamentally shaped the experience of the housegranting the automobile direct access, allowing residents to drive through the structure before ascending into the living spaces above. In this way, Villa Savoye showcased how lifting a building could create a new relationship between architecture, movement, and the landscape. While its openness was primarily for private use, it represented luxury, beauty, and a novel integration of modern living with nature.Save this picture!In contemporary society, priorities have shifted. Rather than celebrating automobiles, machinery, and material wealth, architecture increasingly emphasizes sustainability, nature, and community integration. Unemori Architects' Blank Garden takes the concept of an open ground plane furthernot merely extending the site ground into the house, but rediscovering it. Unlike its paved urban surroundings, the interior ground of the house is left as porous soil, punctuated with cement tiles and lush vegetation, as if reversing back to nature before human interventions were made. Though a private residence, its openness allows greenery to be appreciated beyond the home's boundaries, creating a shared visual and atmospheric experience. Here, the continuous ground plane not only blurs the line between interior and exterior but also symbolically restores what once existedearth, plants, and an organic connection to nature with the neighborhood and community.Save this picture!In the realm of public architecture, Kenzo Tange's Hiroshima Peace Center and Memorial Park stands as one of the most profound examples of an open ground plane used to evoke memory and resilience. Built in a city devastated in an instant, the design dedicates a vast, uninterrupted ground levelone that extends through the memorial building itself. This openness embodies a sense of collectivity, freedom, and remembrance. At the same time, it subtly reminds visitors that the land they walk on is entirely reconstructedonce reduced to nothing, now laid bare as a foundation for renewal. From this strong horizontal plane, the building rises, appearing to float above the landscape. In doing so, it harmonizes with Hiroshima's skyline while providing shelter and a space for public gathering beneath it. As visitors move through, beneath, and into the structure, they experience an architecture that is both solemn and empoweringone that allows memory, space, and public life to coexist.Save this picture!Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le CorbusierSave this picture!Blank Garden / Unemori ArchitectsSave this picture!AD Classics: Hiroshima Peace Center and Memorial Park / Kenzo TangeSave this picture!Blurring Boundaries: Ground, Structure, and ReflectionSemi-open ground planes, beyond serving private and public needs, can create immersive and contemplative spatial experiences. In TERRITORIAL's Camposanto Mapfre Chiclayo, Monsef, the integration of an open-ground plan with a chapel fosters a setting for deep reflection. The project's material palettedominated by gray tones of stone and concreteestablishes a solemn and grounded atmosphere. A faded crimson-red structure introduces contrast within this composition, defining the otherwise open ground plane and subtly guiding visitors' focus. Against the blue sky and expansive lush green landscape, the red structure, illuminated by natural light, becomes a poetic spatial element, framing the surrounding environment through its openings. This intervention not only distinguishes itself from the vast openness of the site but also creates a more intimate relationship with visitors, directing their gaze upward toward the materiality and verticality of the space, offering a striking counterpoint to the openness of the ground below.Save this picture!In another example, the semi-open ground plane is a strategy to mediate between built surfaces and natural landscapes. SANAA's Grace Farms is designed to integrate seamlessly with its rolling topography. Beyond its organic, flowing form, the project maintains a largely open ground plane, blurring the line between interior and exterior. Rather than allowing nature to completely take over, the architects employ a neutral, built surface resembling pebble pavingdurable enough to accommodate large groups while still harmonizing with the natural landscape. Unlike Camposanto Mapfre Chiclayo, Monsef, which evokes awe through contrast, Grace Farms fosters harmony. Its design invites visitors to move slowly, to meander in a contemplative manner, and to appreciate the surrounding environment. The meticulous attention to detailincluding the use of wood for the underside of the roofreinforces a sense of balance between architecture and nature. Grace Farms cultivates an effortless yet deeply intentional connection to its site through its geometry, materiality, and sensitivity to the open ground.Save this picture!When designing an open ground plane for reflection, what better way to emphasize its presence than by making visitors physically experience and visualize the power of the ground itself? In Ryue Nishizawa's Teshima Art Museum, the project reinterprets the notion of a freed ground plane in an unconventional way. Instead of lifting a structure to create openness beneath, the architecture casts the ground into a sheltering formtransforming the earth into a roof. Here, the continuity of the ground is inverted, its presence both preserved and reimagined as the very structure visitors inhabit. The entry thresholds, carved into the cast surfaces, act as portalsmoments where the ground plane transitions into the roof plane. Within, visitors gaze up at thoughtfully placed openings, framing the sky and landscape beyond, encouraging an appreciation of the natural world from a new perspective. In freeing the ground plane, this project not only reveals the inherent beauty of the earth's form but also prompts a deeper reflection on the relationship between ground and sky, the artificial and the natural. Is a casted ground geometryone that expresses and preserves the land's contoursmore artificial than a meticulously controlled, manicured garden? Teshima Art Museum challenges our understanding of how architecture can shape, reinterpret, and celebrate the environment we inhabit through its spatial poetics with the open ground.Save this picture!Camposanto Mapfre Chiclayo, Monsef / TERRITORIALSave this picture!Grace Farms / SANAASave this picture!Teshima Art Museum / Ryue NishizawaSave this picture!This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Atmosphere in Architecture and Perception of Space, proudly presented by Vitrocsa, the original minimalist windows since 1992.Vitrocsa created the original minimalist window systems, offering frameless solutions with the narrowest sightline barriers in the world. For over 30 years, we have pursued innovation and Swiss-made excellence to transform ambitious architectural visions into reality, enhancing atmospheres through light, transparency, and design.Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorJonathan YeungAuthorCite: Jonathan Yeung. "Touching the Earth Lightly: How Freeing the Ground Plane Shapes Architectural Atmosphere " 15 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027777/touching-the-earth-lightly-how-freeing-the-ground-plane-shapes-architectural-atmosphere&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! 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