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WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COMTrump delights in rapturous welcome at UFC 314: 'It says we're doing a good job'President Donald Trump with UFC CEO Dana White and Elon Musk at UFC 314 Joe Raedle/Getty Images 2025-04-13T15:51:09Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? President Donald Trump received a standing ovation as he stepped out at UFC 314 in Miami on Saturday. Trump told reporters after the event that the reception was a sign "we're doing a good job." The president was joined by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and others. President Donald Trump received a standing ovation and as he walked out at UFC 314 in Miami on Saturday night.Flanked by family members and UFC CEO Dana White, the president made his way ringside to a rousing rendition of Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass" and thunderous applause from the onlooking crowd."Is there anybody else that has a walk-in, other than a fighter?" UFC commentator and podcast host Joe Rogan asked.Before long, chants of "USA" began to fill the arena as Trump greeted Rogan, who interviewed Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, and took his seat next to embattled Tesla CEO Elon Musk โ the de facto leader of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.Also present were Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; FBI director Kash Patel; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence.As if the crowd wasn't already fired up enough, Trump also later gave them a brief tease of his somewhat iconic dance to the Village People's "YMCA."Speaking after the event on board Air Force One, the reception wasn't lost on Trump."What did you think of the reaction?" he asked, adding that he thought it was "legendary.""It's a great honor to have that kind of ovation," he continued. "It says we're doing a good job. If we weren't doing a good job, we'd get the opposite." Joe Raedle/Getty Images Trump is no stranger to the UFC. He's made a string of appearances at fights over the years, including a surprise arrival at UFC 309 after his election win in November, when he was again joined by Musk and other allies and again enjoyed a rapturous welcome.It comes after a wild week in financial markets that saw Trump call for a 90-day pause to his higher rate "reciprocal" import tariffs after chaos hit both the stock and bond markets.On Saturday, the US announced that it would exempt some key tech products, like smartphones, computers, and chip-making equipment, from Trump's sweeping tariffs, in a major boost for the tech sector.The new guidance, published by the US Customs and Border Protection, appears to exempt the products from Trump's baseline 10% tariff rate on most countries as well higher duties on China.On Sunday, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said the US's decision marked a "small step" toward rectifying what it regards as a misguided policy, per Chinese state news. Recommended video0 Comments 0 Shares 20 Views
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GIZMODO.COMBeyond Showerheads: Trumpโs Attempts to Kill Appliance Regulations Cause ChaosThis story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Donald Trump makes no secret of his loathing for regulations that limit water and energy use by home appliances. For years, he has regaled supporters at his campaign rallies with fanciful stories about their impact. He is so exercised by the issue that, even as global stock markets convulsed Wednesday in response to his tariff plans, Trump took time out to issue an executive order titled โMaintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads.โ Contemporary shower fixtures are only one of the items that rankle the president, who complains that โthereโs no water coming and you end up standing there five times longer,โ making it difficult to coif his โperfectโ hair. He has frequently denounced dishwashers that he claims take so long and clean so poorly that โthe electric bill is ten times more than the waterโ; toilets that require flushing โten or 15 timesโ; and LED lightbulbs, which he faults for making him look orange. In his first term, Trump pursued an array of gimmicks to try to undermine the rules. His moves were opposed by industry and environmental groups alike. If itโs possible for regulations to be popular, these ones are. They have cut Americaโs water and energy consumption, reduced global-warming emissions and saved consumers money. Legal prohibitions stymied most of Trumpโs maneuvers back then, and the Biden administration quickly reversed the steps Trump managed to take. Trumpโs executive order on showerheads generated headlines, but itโs likely to have little effect (more on that later). Far more consequential steps have been taken outside the Oval Office. With the aid of Elon Muskโs Department of Government Efficiency team, Trump appears to be attempting an end run that could succeed where his past attempts failed: by simply terminating the consulting contract that the Department of Energy relies on to develop and enforce the rules. In late March, DOGEโs โwall of receiptsโ stated that it had โdeletedโ a Department of Energy contract for Guidehouse LLP (a PricewaterhouseCoopers spinoff) for โAppliance Standards Analysis and Regulatory Support Service,โ producing a listed savings of $247,603,000. That item has now disappeared from the DOGE website, and its current status remains unclear. This has produced confusion for everyone from appliance manufacturers to government officials to the contractors paid to enforce the rules. If the contract is indeed canceled, experts told ProPublica, it would cripple the governmentโs efficiency standards program, which relies on the consulting firmโs technical expertise and testing labs to update standards, ensure compliance and punish violators. โIt would have a huge impact,โ said George Washington University law professor Emily Hammond, who helped run the program as deputy general counsel at the Department of Energy and now serves on its appliance standards advisory committee. โDOE does not have the internal capacity to do that work. Taking that away pulls the rug out from under the agencyโs ability to run that regulatory program.โ Appliance manufacturers seem almost as concerned. โThis is not a positive development,โ said Josh Greene, vice president for government affairs at A.O. Smith, the largest manufacturer of water heaters in the U.S. Terminating the Guidehouse contract, he said, would create โa wild Wild Westโ where โupstart manufacturersโ are free to import poor-quality products because โthey know thereโs no one to enforce the rules. Thatโs not good for American manufacturing and itโs not good for consumers.โ The Department of Energy has made no public attempts to clarify the matter. An agency spokesperson did not respond to ProPublicaโs requests for comment. Emails to DOGE and the White House brought no reply. And Guidehouse officials, reportedly eager to lay low, also offered no response to multiple requests for comment. The governmentโs efficiency requirements originated with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, signed into law in 1975, when the concern was an energy shortage, not global warming. Today, the Department of Energy is required to set rules for energy and water use by more than 70 appliances and commercial products sold in the U.S. The agency must consider imposing stricter standards for each product every eight years, based on what is โtechnologically feasible and economically justified.โ Manufacturers then have three to five years to make their products measure up. The Energy Department typically stiffens a requirement only after years of study, comment, negotiation and testing (and sometimes litigation) among industry, consumer and environmental groups. The law also includes an โanti-backslidingโ provision that bars relaxation of standards that have been finalized. Guidehouse and its subcontractors have for years performed virtually all the necessary technical work; they also maintain a certification database that U.S. authorities use to keep illegal products from being imported. Republican lawmakers, anti-regulation advocates and right-wing media have long decried the efficiency rules as an impingement on personal freedom, limiting product choice. The early rollout of water-throttling products produced some of the issues Trump complains about, lampooned in a 1996 โSeinfeldโ episode titled โThe Shower Head.โ But in the decades since, the standards have been widely embraced, dramatically cutting energy and water consumption, reducing emissions and providing plenty of attractive consumer choices. In 2023, Consumer Reports found that โeven the simplest and least expensive showerheads can provide a satisfying shower.โ Dishwashers and clothes washers clean better while using less than half as much water and energy as they once did. The transition to LED light bulbs, nearly complete, is estimated to have cut energy bills by $3 billion a year and eliminated the need for about 30 large power plants. In January, days before Trump returned to office, a Department of Energy report estimated that the efficiency standards are now saving the average American household about $576 a year on their utility bills, while cutting the nationโs energy consumption by 6.5% and water consumption by 12%. A 2022 survey by the Consumer Federation of America found that 76% of Americans support the government setting efficiency standards for appliances. None of that has slowed Trumpโs attacks. During his first term, the Department of Energy ignored legal deadlines for considering efficiency updates on 28 products, blocked the long-planned rollout of new lightbulb rules and sought to bypass finalized appliance standards through byzantine legal maneuvers. Among other things, the Energy Department announced special new โproduct classesโ for dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers that completed their โnormalโ cycle in an hour or less. This would exempt any such โshort-cycleโ devices that were introduced from the existing limits on water and energy use. Manufacturers never brought those models to market. Most existing appliances already had a โshort cycleโ option that did their job well; those short on time simply had to push that button. And by mid-2022, Bidenโs Energy Department had reversed Trumpโs regulatory moves. The department went on to issue an array of tightened home appliance rules jointly recommended by industry and consumer groups; most were finalized early enough to be immune from congressional rollback. This didnโt stop Trump from boasting on the 2024 campaign trail that he had changed everything during his first term. He vowed to fix it all again when he returned to the White House. โEliminate energy efficiency standards for appliancesโ was on Project 2025โs list of โneeded reforms.โ Sure enough, on his first day back in the White House, Trump issued two executive orders targeting the efficiency rules. On Feb. 11, he posted on Truth Social: โI am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standard and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOLIETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe. I look forward to signing these orders.โ (In fact, the rules Trump cited were issued and enforced by the Department of Energy, not the Environmental Protection Agency, where Administrator Zeldin presides.) None of the standards Trump listed were subject to an executive order, or any other kind of rapid rollback. In simple terms, Trump did not have the legal authority to change these rules. No matter. Energy Secretary Chris Wright โ who had listed โaffordability and consumer choice in home appliancesโ among his top nine priorities โ took up the cause. Three days after Trumpโs Truth Social post, Wright announced that the Department of Energy was postponing โseven of the Biden-Harris administrationโs restrictive mandates on home appliances,โ which โhave driven up costs, reduced choice and diminished the quality of Americansโ home appliances.โ Wrightโs list of seven affected โhome appliancesโ actually included three types of commercial equipment and three other regulations long past the point where they could be undone. That left only one household-product regulation that could be challenged. It involved an item that seemed like an improbable symbol of โfreedomโ and โconsumer choiceโ: the tankless, gas-fueled hot water heater. The vast majority of U.S. homes have traditional water heaters with 40- to 50-gallon tanks. By contrast, tankless gas products represent 10% of sales. They are about the size of a carry-on suitcase and heat a stream of water on demand. Theyโre energy-efficient and roughly twice as expensive as standard heaters. But the rules governing tankless gas water heaters were vulnerable because they were issued in the final weeks of Bidenโs term. That meant lawmakers could reverse them under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to block a recently enacted agency rule, if a resolution to do so passes both houses and is signed by the president. Appearing at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 20, Wright drew cheers as he offered a Trumpian litany โ โMy dishwasher has to run for two hours now, and at the end I got to clean the dishesโ โ before turning to hot water heaters. โWe have a factory in the southeastern part of the United States that employs hundreds of people to build a particularly popular product these days,โ Wright said. โIt is a tankless water heater powered by natural gas,โ which he described as โselling like hotcakes.โ So, what did the Biden administration do, he asked. โThey passed a regulation that would make that product illegal, and that company would be dead.โ But under Trump, declared Wright, waving his arms, โwe are fixing that problem. That factory is staying open. โฆ America is back, baby!โ Wright returned to โthe hot-water thingโ in a FoxBusiness interview a month later. Assailing โnanny-state, crazy, top-down mandates that makes it more expensive for American consumers and businesses to buy what they want,โ he said the new rule was going to shut down a factory โjust built in the southeast United States.โ Wright acknowledged that U.S. law bars elimination of other efficiency updates that he and Trump have targeted because theyโve already been finalized. โWe canโt officially get rid of them,โ he commented. โSo we just pushed back the enforcement date, hopefully, to never.โ Wrightโs portrayal omitted significant details. The administrationโs actions involve a single beneficiary: Rinnai, a Japanese appliance company with $3.3 billion in revenues last year. In 2022, Rinnai opened a $70 million factory south of Atlanta, where about 250 U.S. workers build โnon-condensingโ tankless gas water heaters, a major moneymaker for the company. โNon-condensingโ tankless heaters are less efficient and less expensive than โcondensingโ tankless heaters, which reuse heat from their exhaust gases. As a result, Rinnai wouldnโt be able to continue selling them when the new standards went into effect in December 2029. That, however, wasnโt going to put the company out of business; it wasnโt likely to shut down its U.S. factory, either, though Rinnai raised that specter in government filings where its U.S. president warned the new standards would make the Georgia plant โlargely obsolete โฆ eliminatingโ all its jobs. Rinnai sells a broad array of products across the world. It also already sold condensing tankless heaters in the U.S. that met the new standard and were imported from Japan. And Rinnai had plans to make them in Georgia, according to the companyโs most recent annual report. (Rinnai agreed to make its U.S. chief, Frank Windsor, available for an interview with ProPublica, then canceled twice at the last minute. The company ultimately declined to respond to questions about its public representations.) Nonetheless, the company, now backed by the Trump administration, has pursued a multitrack campaign to roll back the new standards. Its efforts appear to be on the point of success. A resolution has passed the House and won Senate approval on Thursday. Rinnai has spent $375,000 on Washington lobbyists since 2023, according to disclosure reports. The company also joined with Republican attorneys general in a court challenge to the energy rule. Three major Rinnai competitors supported the Biden-era regulations. Wisconsin-based A.O. Smith has actively lobbied against Rinnaiโs effort to win a congressional rollback. Greene said blocking the standard will โdisadvantageโ U.S. companies, which have already invested in more efficient condensing technology, by allowing continued sale of Rinnaiโs less expensive competing products. โIn this time of โAmerica First,โ it just seems to us a shame that where weโre heading is rewarding foreign manufacturers,โ Greene said. โThere should be a level playing field.โ Meanwhile the administrationโs campaign has expanded to multiple fronts. On Wednesday, the Department of Energy announced a review of its procedures for energy standards, which one expert described as a reprise of the first Trump administrationโs attempts to create procedural hurdles to updating efficiency standards. Then there was the executive order on showerheads that same day. It, too, seeks to revive a move by the first Trump administration: to circumvent the limits on waterflow by redefining โshowerheadsโ to include multiple nozzles, each of which could emit as much water as the entire showerhead was previously allowed. The Biden-era Energy Department killed that regulation, and Trump is attempting to bring it back while proclaiming that โnotice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal.โ That order will have virtually no effect because manufacturers have little interest in making showerheads that exceed the current limits, according to Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a nonprofit coalition of groups that support the efficiency rules. โThe president is asserting king-like authority,โ he added, about Trumpโs claim that he does not have to follow administrative procedures. In the end, DOGE could have more of an impact than a would-be monarch, if itโs able to kill the Guidehouse contract. Then, deLaski said, โit would be next to impossible for DOE to enforce its efficiency standards.โ Doris Burke, Mark Olalde and Pratheek Rebala contributed research.0 Comments 0 Shares 25 Views
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WWW.ARCHDAILY.COMHouse of Landes / Maud Caubet ArchitectesHouse of Landes / Maud Caubet ArchitectesSave this picture!ยฉ Amaury LaparraโขLandes, France Architects: Maud Caubet Architects Area Area of this architecture project Area:ย 178 mยฒ Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:ย 2024 Photographs Photographs:Amaury Laparra More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. In Lit-et-Mixe (Landes, France), nestled in the forest just steps from the ocean, Maud Caubet has recently completed a new project for a private client on a 1,510 mยฒ plot. Designed as an extension of an initial project completed in 2018, this 178 mยฒ (SDP) house (130 mยฒ built in 2018, with an additional 48 mยฒ in 2024) embraces an evolving approach to architecture.Save this picture!Save this picture!A HOUSE IN THE TREES? Six years after her first intuition, Maud Caubet refines her concept of a home in harmony with its environment. The volumes, construction methods, materials, and finishes all interact with the existing landscape, forming a cohesive ensemble where contemporary architecture blends seamlessly with the natural surroundings. The H-shaped layout is accentuated by a raw concrete staircase leading to a panoramic terrace with an ocean view. From the outset in 2018, Maud Caubet's approach was to integrate the house into its environment, utilizing local resources and embracing the site's existing character.Save this picture!Save this picture!Built on concrete stilts, the house elevates above the ground, aligning with the verticality of the pine trees while introducing an unexpected contrast within the forest's uniformity. The faรงades, clad in dark brown-saturated Landes maritime pine, echo the texture of tree bark, reinforcing this continuity. Off-site prefabricationโincluding timber-frame walls and wood fiber insulationโwas carried out by a local carpenter, allowing both the house and its extension to be assembled with minimal site disturbance. By preserving the natural ground, the under-house space remains available for storage or shaded summer comfort, further enhanced by a lap pool discreetly nestled beneath the second volume. The green roof and joineries feature adjustable wooden louvers that filter sunlight while providing privacy.Save this picture!Save this picture!AN EVOLVING HABITAT - Now comprising two interconnected volumes, the house is designed with future expansions in mindโpotentially adding a third or fourth module, reinforcing the concept of a home composed of interlinked spaces. The west volume houses the living room, kitchen, garage, and two bedrooms, with a south-facing terrace shaded by an extended roof overhang. The smaller volume is dedicated to the master suite, featuring a bedroom, dressing room, office, and bathroom, opening onto a west-facing terrace with breathtaking views of the forest.Save this picture!These two autonomous "cabins" are connected via a sheltered passageway. Inside, the composition, orientation and shape of the rooms are born of use and views, the ambiances are composed with the natural environment outside: water green, dark green, ocean blue, bark brownโฆ These colors extend into the central patio, where the play between interior and exterior elementsโaccentuated by the wooden claddingโcreates a unique atmosphere in every room. And throughout the home, the scent of the ocean lingers in the air.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less About this office MaterialWoodMaterials and TagsPublished on April 13, 2025Cite: "House of Landes / Maud Caubet Architectes" 13 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028905/house-of-landes-maud-caubet-architectes&gt ISSN 0719-8884Saveไธ็ไธๆๅๆฌข่ฟ็ๅปบ็ญ็ฝ็ซ็ฐๅทฒๆจๅบไฝ ็ๆฏ่ฏญ็ๆฌ!ๆณๆต่งArchDailyไธญๅฝๅ?ๆฏๅฆ You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream0 Comments 0 Shares 20 Views
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WWW.YOUTUBE.COMUnreal Engine 5 Real Time Strategy Game with C++ - Part 26 - Build OptionsProject Files: https://www.patreon.com/posts/126484273 . This is the 26th part of the tutorial series, where we are going to implement a Real Time Strategy game using Unreal Engine and C++. In this episode, we will implement a system to show the build options on the action panel, when we select an actor or actors with the ability to build buildings. I can't that represent the building types the character can build will appear on left bottom of the screen and we would be able to click on those buttons and go into building placement mode and place buildings wherever the valid places you need. Full C++ RTS Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou5_PYxEdjNbAgbVRn-daOga . Unreal Strategy game with Blueprints series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou4Eulmi8YIfzHiNZEzfbSMk โบ ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฅ // ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง! https://www.patreon.com/codelikeme โบPatrons will have access to project files of all the stuff I do in the channel and other extra benefits Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb6Jh9EBV7a_Nm52Ipll_Q/join Like my facebook page for more content : https://www.facebook.com/gamedevelopersclub/ Follow me on twitter : https://twitter.com/CodeLikeMe2 Follow me on reddit : https://www.reddit.com/user/codelikeme #CodeLikeMe #unrealengine #ue5 #ue4 #indiegamedev0 Comments 0 Shares 19 Views
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WWW.NATURE.COMWater abundance in the lunar farside mantleNature, Published online: 09 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08870-xAn estimate of water abundance in the lunar mantle indicates that the farside mantle is potentially drier than its nearside counterpart.0 Comments 0 Shares 21 Views
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WWW.LIVESCIENCE.COMScientific consensus shows race is a human invention, not biological realityAn executive order critiques the idea that race is a human invention. But that's exactly what modern science supports.0 Comments 0 Shares 22 Views
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WWW.REDDIT.COMHow can i make bro look less creepy?submitted by /u/Coffeeviber [link] [comments]0 Comments 0 Shares 27 Views
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X.COMEx-Blizzard Boss On Top Issues For Diablo IV That Are Crucial For The Franchise's Future Blizzard has released the 2025 Roadmap for Diablo IV, giving ...Ex-Blizzard Boss On Top Issues For Diablo IV That Are Crucial For The Franchise's FutureBlizzard has released the 2025 Roadmap for Diablo IV, giving the information on all new features to be released in the upcoming year, including the highly-anticipated Leaderboards though its 2026 launch window has disappointed many.This roadmap has brought lots of discussions in the community. One participant is Mike Ybarra, the former president of Blizzard, who left his position last January following the layoff of 1,900 workers at Activision and Xbox. He took to Twitter to share his personal opinions on the top issues that need to be resolved.Three major issues were pointed out. Firstly, there is a weird cycle where Blizzard ships Seasons just to "check a box", yet it resulted in another two months to fix issues and then repeating. Secondly, the team needs to take a break and focus on addressing the end-game issues; and last but not least, the expansion schedule is too long and should be yearly.ย "Story" investment, which is a one-time element in an ARPG, should be reduced and more resources should be allocated to "new classes, new mob types, new end-game activities that last more than a few days.""If the cycle continues to just ship w/o fixing the fundamental issues, then I'm not sure where Diablo is going," he said, pessimistic about the situation's future, as the same thing could happen repeatedly if Blizzard doesn't stop and reflect on the situation and factors.Diablo IV is the latest installment in the renowned Diablo series. It is Blizzard'sย fastest-selling game of all time, withย the highest pre-launch unit sales ever.Do you agree with the points he believes Blizzard should address to improve Diablo VI? Share your thoughts with us.0 Comments 0 Shares 36 Views
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