In the opening episode of the hit series Suits, Mike Ross bluffs his way into Harvey Specters office, then lands a job as an associate in a prestigious law firm despite never graduating from law school or officially passing the bar.The ruthless Specter cant help being impressed by Rosss brazenness.Brazen is one way to describe Specters future protege.Another might be audacious.Also:bold, brash, insolent, cocky, shameless, cheeky, spunky, or unabashed.But there is one word that includes all of these, and more.Which makes it a fitting choice for the current entry into the Ethical Lexicon:Chutzpah (chutzpah/hootsp) nounConfidence or courage bordering on arrogance, roughly equivalent to nerveThe origin of the word is not classical Hebrew but ancient Aramaic, a pidgin hybrid that evolved when Jews exiled from Israel to Babylonian blended local speech with the language of their homeland.Appearing in rabbinic literature, the root word means to peel, strip away, or lay bare.Hence the adopted Yiddish connotation of barefaced, undisguised impudence.But is it necessarily a bad thing?Six hundred years ago, an unknown German-Jewish philosopher published The Ways of the Righteous, a work now revered as an essential guide to personal development.The author proposes that there are no good or bad character traits; rather, every element of our personalities can be utilized productively or destructively.Applying practical wisdom, we can harness our natural temperament and channel our behavior in our own best interest.Consider a sledgehammer versus a feather duster: both are useful tools.The former may be indispensable for demolition but good for not much else; if used irresponsibly, it will cause enormous damage.The latter is much more difficult to misuse, but you wont want to insert it under the hood of your car with the engine running.The same model applies to character traits.Kindness has far more positive applications than ruthlessness, but misdirected kindness can enable self-destructive behavior, and dispassionate sternness may be necessary to enforce accountability.Similarly, although chutzpah is generally associated with arrogance, insolence, and disrespect, it can also describe the unapologetic straightforwardness occasionally needed to break through gridlock and get the job done.Case in point: One of the most audacious endeavors in military history was Hannibals crossing of the Alps to attack the Roman Empire within its borders. Embarking on what seemed an impossible campaign, the Carthaginian general led a contingent of 70,000 men, 20,000 horses, and 37 elephants on a 1,500-mile-long trek, overcoming treacherous terrain, bitter cold, and tribal chieftains along the way.His chutzpah paid off, culminating in a series of successful engagements against the Roman army (although he never received the reinforcements he needed to capture the capital of Rome and claim ultimate victory).In business, its hard to find a more compelling example of chutzpah than Elon Musk.Love him or hate him, his accomplishments with Tesla and SpaceX prove that refusing to bow to conventional wisdom can pay off with stratospheric success.The value of chutzpah is canonized in ancient teachings.Not long after Hannibal led his expedition over the Alps, the Jewish sage Judah ben Teima taught: Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion to fulfill the purpose for which you were created.Once upon a time, a culture that counted modesty among the highest virtues regarded the spotted leopard as the exemplar of brazenness.This is a far cry, however, from the exhibitionism and frantic attention-seeking that has become the norm in our era of social media and self-promotion.Rather, its a boldness that emerges naturally from devotion to core values and a sense of inspired purpose.Being bold, however, is easier said than done.We give lip service to the adage that there are no bad ideas.But the fear of looking foolishwhether in the eyes of our colleagues or the bossbrings the weight of self-censorship fully to bear. Its better to keep silent, is it not, than offer a proposal that might elicit a smirk, an eye-roll, a snort, or full-blown ridicule?Yet how many bright ideas never see the light of day because we suppress them fearing disapproval?Netflix founder Marc Randolph turns the adage on its head when he asserts that there are no good ideas. With the single exception of Mozart, the most celebrated composers all worked through countless revisions to produce their masterpieces, as have the most brilliant novelists, poets, scientists, and inventors.Genius does not burst into the world fully formed. It gradually takes shape over time through trial and error, through slow polish and refinement, ideally through consultation and collaboration.The worst idea may ultimately prove to be the best idea.But that only happens when we have the chutzpah to throw it out on the table and, by doing so, give it the chance to succeed.

Heads-up: One of Googles most useful and also underappreciated features is on the brink of extinction.Im talkin about the cache-calling system that quietly existed within Google Search for yearstypically buried within an inconspicuous menu inside your search results.That system let you access a snapshot of any website from the recent past, which was an invaluable way to peek back at a site if it had just undergone some changes or even gone offline. After some sharp-eyed internet observers noticed its absence within Search earlier this year, Google confirmed it was indeed in the midst of retiring the feature.But fear not, my fellow web traveler, for you can still find a recently cached copy of almost any website without Googleif you know how.Discover all sorts of useful tech treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. A spiffy new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday!Fast cacheno Google requiredFirst things first: Technically, Googles cached page system is still available as of this moment, even if it isnt linked or mentioned anywhere. You can do a Google search for cache: followed by any web address to get directly to the results for that page.But that seemingly wont work for much longer. So nows a fine time to teach yourself a new trick for accomplishing the same feat without Googles help. The good news? Itll take you a mere one to two minutes to do. And youve got a few different and equally effective options.1. Turn to Bing or the Wayback MachineThis might be the first time in my life Ive used the phrase Bing it without any hint of sarcasm attached. But its well-deservedcause while Googles getting rid of its cache system, the equivalent feature isnt going anywhere in Microsofts search setup (for now, at least!). With that in mind, the simplest way to find a cached copy of any site is to make your way over to Bing.com and then type the full address of the page in question into the Bing search box.If a cached copy of the site is available, youll see a little down-facing arrow directly to the right of the URL in the search resultsright beneath the sites nameexactly like Google used to offer.Bing it, baby! The on-demand cache option is still only one click away within Bings web results.Click that arrow, and the option to pull up a cached, offline copy of the site will pop up right in front of you. Another good resource is the nonprofit Internet Archive and its thorough, if often slow, Wayback Machine. Head over to Archive.org and type or paste the address of the page you want to see into the Wayback Machine box at the top of the screen. Youll then see a sprawling list of all available cached copies for that page, often going back years.And either way, you can set yourself up for even easier ongoing access, if you want . . . 2. View a cached website with a simple bookmarkletOn a desktop computer browser, a simple bit of Javascript in your browsers bookmark bar will create a quick n easy on-demand website cache-summoner for you to use whenever the need strikes. Just select and copy this exact code snippet:javascript:(function(){if(location.href.indexOf(http)!=0){input=prompt(URL:,http://);if(input!=null){location.href=http://web.archive.org/web/*/+input}}else{location.href=http://web.archive.org/web/*/+location.href;}})();Then, on your desktop computer, right-click in the browser bookmark bar at the top of the screen. (If you dont see it, hit Ctrl-Shift-B to toggle it on or off.) Select the option to add a new page, then set its name to Cache and paste that code in as the URL.Thatll create a one-click button in that area of your browser to pull up the Wayback Machine results for any website youre viewing, anytime.3. View a cached website via a browser extensionLast but not least, you can rely on a ready-made browser extension to accomplish the same thing and build yourself a versatile button for on-demand website cache viewing.In Chrome or Edge, the aptly named (and open source) Web Archives extension will give you easy access to a cached version of any page youre viewing from a variety of sourcesincluding both Bing and the Wayback Machine.That extension is available only in the browsers desktop versions as of now, but its equivalent Firefox version will also work within the Firefox Android app for on-the-go access.So there you have it: three website cache calling options that dont rely on Googles soon-to-be-gone-from-this-world cache system.Just pick the path you prefer, then rest easy knowing youll never have trouble traveling to our virtual past again.Get even more productivity-boosting goodness with my free Cool Tools newslettera useful new tool in your inbox every Wednesday!

While there is no lack of long-term investment advice for young and mid-career professionalscontribute to your retirement accounts early and often!there is a lot less information for those right on the brink of retirement.This can make the transition to retirement feel a bit fraught. Many new retirees either go a little overboard with spending because they finally can, while many others become paranoid about spending too much.The five years before you retire is a great time to revisit your investment strategies, make plans for how youll access your money, and tweak your assumptions about the next step. Heres how you can do that.Set up your investment bucketsDo you know where your money will come from in the first few years after you hang up your hat? Maybe you have a decent-size nest egg, but what happens if the market takes a major downturn the year you plan to retire? You might be able to keep working as you wait for the market (and your investments) to recover, but what if youre not able to stay in your job?The way to avoid this kind of worry is to set up buckets for your investments based on time. In other words, you want to age your money so that its ready when you need it. For effective retirement planning, you will want to have your money set aside in three buckets.Short-term investments: This bucket is for the money you intend to use for living expenses for the first 1 to 5 years of retirement. Since you want this money to be ready and accessible, you want stability and liquiditymeaning youll invest in cash equivalent assets that protect the principal. Your short-term investments might include CDs, U.S. Treasury bills, and money market funds.Medium-term investments: The money you intend to use for retirement income for years 6 to 15 of your retirement will go in this bucket. Since youre not planning on using this money for a little while, you can afford to be a little more aggressive while still aiming to protect the principal. Generally, your medium-term investments will include a mix of bonds and stocks, but leaning more toward the lower-risk bonds.Long-term investments: Just because youre not 30 anymore doesnt mean you cant still invest like a whippersnapper. This investment bucket consists of money you dont intend to touch until at least 16 years into your retirement, which means you have time to allow this money to ride out any market fluctuationsand take advantage of the higher-risk/higher-return assets like stocks.Rebalance your investmentsEach year, you will rebalance these buckets as appropriate. When your long-term investments are going gangbusters, youll move some of that money into your medium-term bucket, and move some of the medium-term money into the short-term bucket. This way, youll always have accessible money in your short-term investments for your living expenses, and you can keep a weather eye on your medium- and long-term investments.Setting up your investment buckets before you retire will not only give you peace of mind about where you money will come from in those first few years, but it will also set you up for investing success during your retirement.Plan for Social SecurityThe amount of money you receive from Social Security depends on your earnings history and your age when you apply for benefits. The Social Security Administration uses your 35 highest earning years in your career to calculate your benefits. If you have worked fewer than 35 years, the calculation uses 0s for the missing years. This means one of the best ways to increase your Social Security benefit is to make sure you have worked at least 35 years.Your age at Social Security enrollment is the other factor that determines your benefit. Normal retirement age is between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. Beneficiaries receive their full benefit if they apply for Social Security at their normal retirement age. You can apply for benefits as early as your 62nd birthday, but taking them early will permanently reduce your monthly check. The earlier you take the benefits, the higher your reduction.However, you can also wait to take benefits until as late as age 70. Each year that you wait to take benefits between your normal retirement age and your 70th birthday increases your benefits by approximately 8% per year.Social Security benefits are guaranteed. (Really! If Social Security goes bum-over-teakettle, it will be because the U.S. government is collapsing. That may not be an impossible scenario, but its still pretty unlikelyand if it does happen, well have bigger problems than Social Security to worry about.) That means waiting to take your benefits is guaranteed to net you more money and is the best way to ensure consistent income no matter how long you live.You can check your earnings records and projected benefits at mySocialSecurity.Put money aside for healthcare expensesAn individual 65-year-old retiring in 2024 will need about $157,500 for healthcare in retirement, even though they qualify for Medicare. Unfortunately, healthcare tends to be among the largest expenses in retirement, and many retirees are not necessarily prepared for the high costs.One of the best ways to plan ahead for this expense is with a Roth IRA. Since Roth-style retirement accounts are funded with money that has already been taxed, the funds grow tax-free and can be accessed tax-free in retirement.If you have a major medical need, you can use your Roth IRA funds to pay for it, without affecting your taxes in retirement. Since Social Security benefits are taxed, avoiding a major change in your taxes when you have to take a large chunk of money from your investments will help maintain your steady retirement income.On the other hand, Roth IRA funds do not have to be used for any particular purpose. If you are hale and hearty for your entire retirement, your Roth IRA funds can be used to pay for a Jet-Skiing vacation to celebrate your 100th birthday.Counting down until retirementLooking forward toward the next chapter of your life is both exhilarating and scary, especially if youre not sure how your money will work in retirement. Taking your preretirement years to set up investment buckets for your retirement, plan your Social Security benefits timeline, and put aside money in a Roth IRA to help you pay for future medical expenses will help you feel more ready for retirement.And of course, getting your financial ducks in a row leaves you time and brainspace to plan for the fun you intend to have after you retire. Bring on the Jet Skis!

I dont mean to brag, but Ive gotten pretty awesome at jumping back and forth between Netflix rate plans.Why? Because they keep going up and I keep throttling down. Im a cheapskate.But I also have three kids, and their collective interest in Netflixwhich ebbs and flowsdetermines which plan I need to subscribe to in order to keep them all happy.And while I can assure you that Netflix will inevitably raise its rates at some point in the future, heres what to look out for with each plan in order to make sure youre not paying too much or getting too little.Netflix plans: whats the difference?OK, there are three Netflix plans and aside from their respective price tags, there are a few main things to look out for with each plan.They are:How many devices you can stream to at onceHow many devices you can download videos to at onceVideo quality (1080p vs. 4K)This is not an exhaustive list! But these are the big three.Heres a look at what you get, plan by plan.Netflix Standard with ads: some strings attachedFeatures:Price: $7 per monthVideo Quality: Full HD (1080p)Simultaneous Streams: 2Downloads: 2 devices at a timeThe ad-supported plan is a budget-friendly option for those who dont mind occasional ads. The ads arent nearly as frequent as TV ads, but . . . there are ads.And while this plan offers full-quality video streams, not all movies and shows are availablecheck the list here. Its a short list in the context of Netflixs entire catalog, but there are some big names missing.Netflix Standard: Best for most peopleFeatures:Price: $15.49 per monthVideo Quality: Full HD (1080p)Simultaneous Streams: 2Downloads: 2 devices at a timeFreeloader accounts: 1 availableThis is the current Aamoth family plan. Household harmony wobbles precariously based on the assumption that not all three kids will try to stream three separate shows to three different devices at the same time.With this plan, you also have the option of adding Grandma for $8 a month. She gets her own accountwhich you pay forand she can stream to one device at a time.Netflix Premium: Expensive but feature-filledFeatures:Price: $23 per monthVideo Quality: Ultra High Definition (4K)Simultaneous Streams: 4Downloads: 6 devices at a timeFreeloader accounts: 2 availableI begrudgingly switch to this plan a few months each year when were doing a lot of traveling because we can pre-download a bunch of stuff to our arsenal of tablets and phones beforehand.On paper, this plan offers higher-quality video than the other two, but Im embarrassed to admit that I cant tell the difference. Must be our cheapo 4K televisions.At any rate, this plan is perfect for larger families or households with multiple users who want to watch different shows or movies at the same time. You can add two nonfamily accounts at $8 a pop as well.This plan also features spatial audio for fancy headphones, Apple, Google, and Samsung devices.Choosing the right Netflix planAgain, when deciding which Netflix plan is right for you, consider the following factors.Video quality: If you have a 4K TV and want the best possible picture quality, the Premium plan is the way to go. For most users, however, the HD quality offered by the other plans is fine. You can switch plans willy-nilly, so see if you can detect a meaningful difference.Simultaneous streams and downloads: Think about how many people in your household will be using Netflix at the same time. If you have a large family or do a lot of traveling, the Premium plans four streams and six downloads might be necessary.

It was not exactly a fast break. When the NBA last week officially spurned Warner Bros. Discoverys attempts to continue a 40-year partnership between the league and WBD subsidiary, TNT Sports, opting instead for a deal with Amazon Prime, it was the end of a long, slow, unusually public negotiation. Well, not quite the end.The NBAs rejection of WBDs offer to match Amazon has only intensified what may well be one of the most contentious rights disputes in sports history. It now appears headed for a different kind of court than what NBA games are typically played on, with WBD filing a lawsuit against the NBA in New Yorks Supreme Court. No matter how the lawsuit shakes out, though, whats at stake here is more than just one companys right to a fair negotiation, but rather the very idea of a future in which live sports continue to air on linear cable at all.The last rights deal between the NBA and Warner was done in 2014, says Corey Martin, a managing partner at entertainment law firm Granderson Des Rochers. Since then, the landscapespecifically as it pertains to streaminghas evolved significantly.As a corporate transactional attorney, Martin has represented media companies as they acquire rights to air NBA, NFL, and English Premier League games in the Caribbean and Latin America. Hes been familiar with these deals, and the way theyre structured, for long enough to have witnessed the ongoing evolution of streamings relevance in the sports media landscape.Under WBDs 2014 deal with the NBA, TNT aired 64 regular-season games, including a spotlight Thursday night doubleheader, while also covering significant portions of the Playoffs. Basketball was as central to the networks identity as its tendency to air franchise action movies in the afternoon. Once the period of exclusive negotiation between WBD and the NBA ended in April with no deal in place, however, it was clear that the league had something other than TNT in mind for its future. According to Martin, it should have perhaps been obvious earlier.On some level, even with the proliferation of cable networks over the past 30 years, there was always a ceiling to the number of broadcasters available to sports rights owners, and only so much competitive tension between them. With the rise of streaming, though, a fresh crop of nontraditional players entered the space in the past decadeand its an extremely well-capitalized crop. Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Apple TV+ have all dipped their toes into live-sports broadcasting, and the competitive tension between them has dramatically increased the value of those coveted live-sports rights. In just about every way, its a whole new ball game.If youre a rights holder like the NBA in 2024, and want to align yourself with partners that can fully exploit your content in a manner that reaches the widest possible audience, streamings gotta play a major role in any partnership from this point onwards, Martin said.The NBA ended up signing an 11-year media rights deal with Disney, which will continue airing games on ESPN; NBC, which will resume its relationship with the NBA for the first time since 2002 and also air games on its streaming platform, Peacock, for the first time; and Amazon Prime Video, who will bring more games to an international audience. The deal is reportedly worth $76 billion. After the NBAs board of governors approved it recently, WBD had a contractual five days to match Amazons offer, which is valued at $1.8 billion per year. But although WBD claims to have matched the offer, the NBA went with Amazon anyway.This is where things get a little foggy. Although parts of the paperwork have entered the public domain, they are heavily redacted, making it unclear whether WBD truly matched Amazons offeror at least matched it in ways the NBA would most prefer.[Warner Brothers Discovery] may have said theyll pay $1.8 billion for those rights, but the more you hear, the more it appears they didnt really match all the terms, Martin says. For example, he says, it was widely reported that Amazons offer was for both NBA games and WNBA games, and then reports surfaced that Warner Brothers Discovery was offering a bit less because it only wanted NBA games. If thats true, thats a material deviation from the agreement between the NBA and Amazon, says Martin. Plus, Warner Brothers Discovery has indicated it wanted the right to broadcast certain games on linear cable on TNT, as it has done since 1988, as well as other games exclusively on Max for streaming. Well, the Amazon deal that they matched is a streaming-only dealanother material deviation, Martin says.The fact that all these negotiating terms have played out in public ever since the deal expired in April makes this a rather atypical rights jump-ball. That the NBA and WBD will now have to continue their current business relationship until the new deal kicks in at the top of the 2025-2026 season, perhaps while in active litigation against each other, makes it unprecedented.According to Martin, heres how that litigation will likely play out. WBD filed its complaint last week, and now the NBA will eventually file a formal written response, addressing each allegationand likely seek a motion to dismiss, claiming that the complaint has no merit. That motion to dismiss will itself likely be rejected because some of WBDs allegations may be difficult to prove or refute without moving forward at least to the discovery phasethats discovery with a lowercase dof a potential trial. At this point, Martin indicates, the NBA will likely settle the case for a monetary amount, rather than any future broadcasting rights. The only alternative is going to trial, which could potentially cost far more in legal fees than whatever amount WBD would accept as a settlement.What will be more fascinating to watch, however, is what happens beyond this lawsuit, as other parent companies with linear cable subsidiaries attempt to ink future deals. While streaming continues its aggressive move into live eventsthe last remaining stronghold of how TV worked in the 20th centurya lot of the traditional media players will likely have more existential considerations on their hands than whether they can make a competitive offer to air live sports.I would say its a fairly safe bet that, by the time these rights deals come to a conclusion in 2035, linear cable may not exist, Martin says. And if it does exist, it will probably be in such a diminished form, itll be equivalent to our grandparents televisions with bunny ears on top.

Judy Smith is a crisis manager whose career was the inspiration for the TV show Scandalspecifically its lead character, Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington. For more than 25 years, Smith has advised world leaders and Fortune 500 CEOs. In 1993, she founded Smith & Co., a crisis management firm with offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, and London. She was involved in the Iran-Contra investigation, advised Monica Lewinsky when the former White House interns relationship with President Bill Clinton became public, and served as an adviser during the COVID-19 outbreak.Fast Company asked Smith to analyze the CrowdStrike outage, which shut down millions of computers and caused thousands of flight cancellations. Smith, who is personable and an easy conversationalist, was bubbling over with suggestions.What did CrowdStrike do well?I think its important to note that the CrowdStrike IT outage was caused by an update glitch, and had nothing to do with bad actors. Companies are rightly focused on hackers, preparing in case they are victimized by a cyberattack. In this case, one of the largest global outages in history was caused by a content error. It shows that companies have to prepare for anything, as part of the frustration from the public is the relatively slow response and recovery.In terms of what they did well: First, they apologized within hours after the incident and accepted responsibility for the damage that that was caused. Second, they confirmed quickly that the actual incident was the result of an outage, not a breach. Sometimes people wait a bit, and what that does is leave a bad empty space for rumors, speculation, and fake news. They were able to position themselves as the experts and authority on the issue: They knew what was going on and heres how they were addressing it. Third, they tried to communicate through several channelsnews, social mediait was such a widespread issue that they were trying to reach everyone, which is good.What could they have improved?Well, a crisis is never going to be received well. However, had they done proper planning, some of this could have been mitigated. They should have had a crisis communication plan in place. That way, the moment this hit they would know how they were going to communicate with various stakeholders through various channels and who is in charge of that. Their first public statement was overly corporatefilled with a lot of jargon. In todays environment, executives need to speak more plainly and address consumers head-on. You also need to give a timeline for recovery. I know this is hard, but not having one leaves people frustrated.Also, they offered a laughable $10 Uber Eats gift certificate as an apology. This caused additional outrage that the organization didnt grasp the magnitude of the situation, and caused more reputational damage. It felt tone-deaf.In addition, they tried to offer support to customers, but it was inadequatecustomers were confused and couldnt find proper lines of communication to get their needs met.What do they need to do going forward?A sincere apology to priority stakeholders goes a long way. Thats when leadership acknowledges the issue, takes responsibility, pledges to evaluate what went wrong, and commits to enhancing systems to avoid this in the future. Empathy matters. Statements filled with legalese are not going to pass the sniff test. Their communication needs to be very genuine as they move forward in the future.Its important to reach out to stakeholders. You want frontline assessments. It shouldnt be a small group talking about what went wrong and how to fix it. You want to find out from people firsthand what went wrong.They should also enlist an independent third party to conduct a review. This demonstrates that they are taking this seriously. When we do this for companies, we speak to the CEO and individually with everyone to get their assessment about what they think went right and what went wrong. We do it individually so people give honest assessments. Then we prepare a report that lays out the findings of the review as well as additional risks the company might face. We always ask: What other risks does the company have that you feel unprepared to meet?Whats the biggest mistake companies make when they are in situations like this?The biggest mistake is they focus on legal too much. Everyone is concerned about legal risk and damage and implications, but you need to weigh those considerations against communicating with stakeholders in a way thats honest and authentic and resonates.In addition, you need to plan for crisis management and then you need to practice the plan. You need to anticipate your biggest risk and lay out who is going to be in charge of the crisis, and the group needs to come together on a regular basis and make sure they are prepared. You dont want to write a plan and then stick it in a drawer. The team that is handling the crisis needs to have a relationship and know how to work together so theres already trust when the crisis hits. Our landscape is changing constantly and you need to be ready.

Strong offshore winds have the potential to supply coastlines with massive, consistent flows of clean electricity. One study estimates offshore wind farms could meet 11 times the projected global electricity demand in 2040.The U.S. East Coast is an ideal location to capture this power, but theres a problem: getting electricity from ocean wind farms to the cities and towns that need it.While everyone wants reliable electricity in their homes and businesses, few support the construction of the transmission lines necessary to get it there. This has always been a problem, both in the U.S. and internationally, but it is becoming an even bigger challenge as countries speed toward net-zero carbon energy systems that will use more electricity.The U.S. Department of Energy and 10 states in the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission are working on a potentially transformative solution: plans for an offshore electric power grid.At the core of this grid would be backbone transmission lines off the East Coast, from North Carolina to Maine, where dozens of offshore wind projects are already in the pipeline.The plans envision it supporting at least 85 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050close to the U.S. goal of 110 gigawatts of installed wind power by midcentury, enough to power 40 million homes and up from 0.2 gigawatts today. The Department of Energy and the Northeast States Collaborative formalized their goals in July 2024 through a multistate memorandum of understanding.Emerging research from the Department of Energy, the research company Brattle, and other groups suggests that an offshore electric power grid could mitigate key challenges to building new transmission lines on land and reduce the costs of offshore wind power.Cutting costs would be welcome newsoffshore wind project costs rose as much as 50% from 2021 to 2023. While some of the underlying causes have subsided, such as inflation and global supply chain disruptions, interest rates remain high, and the industry is still trying to find its footing in the U.S.What is an offshore electric power grid?Todays offshore wind projects use a point-to-point, or radial design, where each offshore wind farm is individually connected to the onshore grid.This method works if a region has only a few projects, but it quickly becomes more expensive due to the cabling and other infrastructure. Its lines are also disruptive to communities and marine life. And it requires more costly onshore grid upgrades.Coordinated offshore transmission can avoid many of those costs with what the Department of Energy calls meshed or backbone designs.Rather than individual connections to land, many offshore wind farms would be connected to a shared transmission line, which would connect to the onshore grid through strategically placed points of interconnection. This way, electricity produced by an offshore wind farm would be transmitted to where it is most needed, up and down the East Coast.Even better, electricity generated onshore could also be transmitted through these shared lines to move energy to where it is needed. This could improve the resilience of power grids and reduce the need for new transmission lines over land, which have been notoriously difficult to gain approval for, especially on the East Coast.Coordinated offshore transmission was part of early U.S. discussions on offshore wind planning and development. In the late 2000s when Google and partners first proposed the Atlantic Wind Connection, an offshore transmission project, the benefits in both offshore renewables and the entire energy system were intriguing. At the time, the U.S. had just one utility-scale offshore wind project in the pipeline, and it ultimately failed.Today, the U.S. has 53 gigawatts of offshore wind projects being planned or developed. As energy researchers, we believe coordinated offshore transmission is important for the industry to succeed at scale.Offshore grid could save money, reduce impactsBy enabling power from offshore wind farms and onshore electricity generators to travel to more places, coordinated transmission can enhance grid reliability and enable electricity to get to where it is most needed. This reduces the need for more expensive and often more polluting power plants.A 2024 report from the National Renewable Energy Lab found the benefits of a coordinated design are nearly three times higher than the costs when compared with a standard point-to-point design.Studies from Europe, the U.K., and Brattle have pointed to additional benefits, including reducing planet-warming carbon emissions, cutting the number of beach crossings by a third and reducing the miles of transmission cables needed by 35% to 60%.In the U.S., offshore transmission lines would be almost entirely in federal waters, potentially avoiding many of the conflicts associated with onshore projects, though it would still face challenges.Challenges and next stepsBuilding an offshore grid will require some important changes.First is changing government incentives. The federal investment tax credit for offshore wind, which covers at least 30% of the upfront capital cost of a project, does not currently help pay for coordinated transmission designs.Second, planning needs to take everyones concerns into account from the beginning. While the overall benefits of coordinated transmission designs outweigh overall costs, who receives the benefits and who bears the costs matters. For example, more expensive power generators could earn less, and some communities feel threatened by offshore development.Third, greater coordination will be needed among everyone involved to dispatch power to and from the regional grids. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions recent Order 1920, requiring power providers to plan for future needs, may serve as a blueprint, but it does not apply to interregional projects, such as an offshore transmission backbone connecting more than a dozen states across three regions.The U.S. reached an important milestone in March 2024 with the completion of South Fork Wind, the countrys first utility-scale wind farm, bringing U.S. offshore wind power capacity to nearly 200 megawatts. Eight more projects are under construction or approved for construction. Once built, they would bring installed capacity to over 13 gigawatts, roughly the same as three dozen coal-fired power plants.An offshore transmission backbone could support offshore wind development and the East Coasts energy needs for generations to come.Tyler Hansen is a research associate in environmental studies at Dartmouth College.Abraham Silverman is a research scholar at the Ralph OConnor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University.Elizabeth J. Wilson is a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.Erin Baker is a professor of industrial engineering applied to energy policy at UMass Amherst.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

In life, work, and leadership succession, things rarely go to plan, and the ability to pivot during transitions differentiates those who capitalize on the moment from those who falter and retreat. Regardless of your political stance or personal feelings about President Bidens decision to end his reelection campaign, these events are reminders of the vital importance of building resilience and discipline into your succession plans. Done poorly, leadership transitions seed fear and distraction; done well, they infuse fresh thinking, optimism, and energy into an organization (or a country).Acknowledge the human elementThe complex and emotional decision-making of the past few weeks no doubt took a significant toll on President Biden and his family. One of the great dilemmas of leadership is the need to display enough confidence and certainty to galvanize a wide range of stakeholders while possessing sufficient humility to pivot and adapt. Nowhere is this dilemma more present than in a leaders self-assessment of when its time to step away. Ive seen powerful and fearless leaders grapple on a deeply vulnerable level with the need to confront their own limitations and acknowledge when its time to move on.When succession plans attend only to process and ignore the human dynamics, they eventually derail as unaddressed issues emerge. By contrast, when a leader is prepared, they can be fully engaged and objective in making the best decision for the future.Make it a collective decisionWith all the emotional and strategic complexity involved in transitions, its impossible to do it well alone. By all accounts, the weeks leading up to President Bidens decision were filled with family retreats and closed-door sessions with trusted advisers. Boards of directors and chosen advisers are responsible for addressing the hard questions around an executives transition and driving an ongoing dialogue around timingnot at the moment of crisis but in an ongoing cadence.In my work with first-time CEOs, one of the most frequent early observations they make is how isolating the role can be. Those around them are increasingly aligned and supportive and those outside have rare and limited access. For a group of advisers to be effective, they must possess and be given the authority and freedom to speak honestly and challenge assumptions.As President Biden grappled with one of the most difficult decisions of his career, how many of those around him were telling him what he wanted to hear, and how many were saying what he needed to hear? To ask and answer the toughest questions around succession and timing, a leader must resist the tide of consensus, encourage dissent, and seek out opinions that disrupt and reshape their thinking.Root in context and optionalityDetermining the right time for transition is not just about the leader and their general fitness for duty; its also determined by the broader context and the demands it creates. Much like the notion of wartime and peacetime presidents, companies have discreet chapters that call for distinct leadership.Its critical to look beyond the person to determine what the situation requires before assessing if a leader continues to be the right one for the moment. Many who weighed in on a second Biden term focused on what he achieved in his first. The better question might have been, what needs to be achieved to win and deliver a second term, and who is the best person for the moment?The strongest succession plans depend not on a sole anointed candidate or a fixed timeline but rather on a range of options that are dynamically tracked, developed, and evaluated. With this approach, as the time of transition nears, leaders can embrace their exits with the confidence that a viable plan is in place.Instill organizational confidence in the next leadersVice President Harriss rapid amassing of support was undoubtedly initiated by the presidents firmly expressed backing. One of the most critical roles a leader plays in their own transition is the unwavering advocacy for their successor. Humans and organizations alike thrive in predictability and certainty and wither in chaos.A leaders ability to step aside, suspend their own ego, and give space to their successor signals to the organization that there is little to fear and reason to be hopeful. The smoothest CEO successions Ive experienced have all been characterized by thoughtful planning, balanced timing, and disciplined communication, leaving little space for confusion and fracturing.Major life transitions are always challenging. Ones that impact thousands if not millions of people are infinitely more so. Doing succession well requires acknowledging that its both a very structured and a very human process. With no right answers or simple solutions, the best approaches navigate the delicate balance with discipline, humanity, and optionality.

If youre excited to get your hands on Apples new generative AI platform, known as Apple Intelligence, I have some good news and some bad news for you. First, the bad news: Apple Intelligence, the flagship feature of the iPhones upcoming iOS 18 software update, will now reportedly not be immediately available when iOS 18.0 launches in September. The company has said merely that it will come out sometime in the fall.Now the good news: You dont have to wait. You can try it out today. Heres how:Apple Intelligence delayedBack in June, Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence, its long-awaited entry into the generative AI space. Apple Intelligence bakes in generative AI features across the iPhones iOS 18 operating system. These features include an AI-powered Siri, generative text capabilities, generative art (and emoji) creation, and ChatGPT integration.The news pleased Wall Street and Apple fans alike, the former seeing Apple Intelligencewhich is limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and upcoming iPhone 16 modelsas the driver for an iPhone upgrade supercycle this fall, and the latter just excited to get their hands on Apples first dedicated AI tools.But theyre going to have to wait a little longer. Thats because Apple has decided to delay the rollout of Apple Intelligence from iOS 18.0 (available in September) to iOS 18.1 (likely not available till October). According to a Bloomberg report, delays are being made to give the company more time to fix bugs.But this doesnt mean you need to wait until October to use the iPhones new AI tools. In fact, you can start now.How to get Apple intelligence on your iPhone todayThis week, Apple took the unusual step of releasing a second version of the iOS 18 developer beta to members of its Apple Developer Program. The primary iOS 18 developer beta was released in early June, and it covers the iOS 18.0 build of the iPhones upcoming operating systemthe one still scheduled to launch in September.But now Apple has also released a separate iOS 18 developer beta, which is the iOS 18.1 version of the softwarethe build that will include Apple Intelligence and ship to all users in October.If you are a member of the Apple Developer Program, or want to enroll for membership, you can get that iOS 18.1 beta on your iPhone today, granting you access to Apple Intelligence features that the general public now wont gain access to until October.But in addition to being an Apple Developer Program member, if you want get access to to the iOS 18.1 beta with Apple Intelligence, youll also need to have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max. This is because Apple Intelligence requires an iPhone 15 Pro to run (all iPhone 16 models will support Apple Intelligence when they are released this fall).Once you are an Apple Developer Program member, you can download the iOS 18.1 beta with Apple Intelligence onto your iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max immediately.Should I download the iOS 18.1 beta?If you arent an actual developer, its best to avoid the iOS 18.1 beta for now. This is because betas are notoriously buggy, and those bugs can have disastrous consequences for the data on your iPhone.Developer betas are designed for those who have the technical knowledge to help troubleshoot problems that may arise from using beta software. Non-developers typically lack such skills, making using developer betas a riskier proposition.Plus, its likely that in August Apple will release a public beta of iOS 18.1 to ordinary users who have signed up for its public beta program. Public betas are usually more stable, making them less risky to use. If youre a non-developer its just better to hold off until Apple releases this public beta.Besides, its not like the iOS 18.1 developer beta has all the features of Apple Intelligence included. As MacRumors notes, many of the coolest features of Apple Intelligence are nowhere to be found in the current iOS 18.1 developer beta. Missing features include flagship tools like the revamped Siri, generative art tools, generative emoji, and ChatGPT integration.But even if you decide to hold off on installing the iOS 18.1 beta, you wont have to wait long. Itll only be a few more months until Apple Intelligence rolls out for anyone with the right iPhone to use.

Tucked within the expansive Native American halls of the American Museum of Natural History is a diminutive wooden doll that holds a sacred place among the tribes whose territories once included Manhattan.For more than six months now, the ceremonial Ohtas, or Doll Being, has been hidden from view after the museum and others nationally took dramatic steps to board up or paper over exhibits in response to new federal rules requiring institutions to return sacred or culturally significant items to tribesor at least to obtain consent to display or study them.Museum officials are reviewing more than 1,800 items as they work to comply with the requirements while also eyeing a broader overhaul of the more than half-century-old exhibits.But some tribal leaders remain skeptical, saying museums have not acted swiftly enough. The new rules, after all, were prompted by years of complaints from tribes that hundreds of thousands of items that should have been returned under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 still remain in museum custody.If things move slowly, then address that, said Joe Baker, a Manhattan resident and member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, descendants of the Lenape peoples European traders encountered more than 400 years ago. The collections, theyre part of our story, part of our family. We need them home. We need them close.Sean Decatur, the New York museums president, promised tribes will hear from officials soon. He said staff these past few months have been reexamining the displayed objects in order to begin contacting tribal communities.Museum officials envision a total overhaul of the closed Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains hallsakin to the five-year, $19 million renovation of its Northwest Coast Hall, completed in 2022 in close collaboration with tribes, Decatur added.The ultimate aim is to make sure were getting the stories right, he said.Discussions with tribal representatives over the Ohtas began in 2021 and will continue, museum officials said, even though the doll does actually not fall under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act because it is associated with a tribe outside the U.S., the Munsee-Delaware Nation in Ontario, Canada.The museum also plans to open a small exhibit in the fall incorporating Native American voices and explaining the history of the closed halls, why changes are being made and what the future holds, he said.Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe in New Yorks Hamptons, said he worries about the loss of representation of local tribes in public institutions, with exhibit closures likely stretching into years.The American Museum of Natural History, he noted, is one of New Yorks major tourism draws and also a mainstay for generations of area students learning about the regions tribes.He suggests museums use replicas made by Native peoples so that sensitive cultural items arent physically on display.I dont think tribes want to have our history written out of museums, Gumbs said. Theres got to be a better way than using artifacts that literally were stolen out of gravesites.Gordon Yellowman, who heads the department of language and culture for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, said museums should look to create more digital and virtual exhibits.He said the tribes, in Oklahoma, will be seeking from the New York museum a sketchbook by the Cheyenne warrior Little Finger Nail that contains his drawings and illustrations from battle.The book, which is in storage and not on display, was plucked from his body after he and other tribe members were killed by U.S. soldiers in Nebraska in 1879.These drawings werent just made because they were beautiful, Yellowman said. They were made to show the actual history of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people.Institutions elsewhere are taking other approaches.In Chicago, the Field Museum has established a Center for Repatriation after covering up several cases in its halls dedicated to ancient America and the peoples of the coastal Northwest and Arctic.The museum has completed four repatriations to tribes involving around 40 items over the past six months, with at least three more repatriations pending involving additional items. Those repatriations were through efforts that were underway before the new regulations, according to Field Museum spokesperson Bridgette Russell.At the Cleveland Museum in Ohio, a case displaying artifacts from the Tlingit people in Alaska has been reopened after their leadership gave consent, according to Todd Mesek, the museums spokesperson. But two other displays remain covered up, with one containing funerary objects from the ancient Southwest to be redone with a different topic and materials.And at Harvard, the Peabody Museums North American Indian hall reopened in February after about 15% of its roughly 350 items were removed from displays, university spokesperson Nicole Rura said.Chuck Hoskin, chief of the Cherokee Nation, said he believes many institutions now understand they can no longer treat Indigenous items as museum curiosities from peoples that no longer exist.The leader of the tribe in Oklahoma said he visited the Peabody this year after the university reached out about returning hair clippings collected in the early 1930s from hundreds of Indigenous children, including Cherokees, forced to assimilate in the notorious Indian boarding schools.The fact that were in a position to sit down with Harvard and have a really meaningful conversation, thats progress for the country, he said.As for Baker, he wants the Ohtas returned to its tribe. He said the ceremonial doll should never have been on display, especially arranged as it was among wooden bowls, spoons, and other everyday items.It has a spirit. Its a living being, Baker said. So if you think about it being hung on a wall all these years in a static case, suffocating for lack of air, its just horrific, really.By Philip Marcelo, Associated Press