The Dreo Smart Wall Heater is efficient and affordable, and has been keeping my family warm without taking up too much space.

'Avowed' has plenty of quirks, and this guide should help you navigate them.Obsidian EntertainmentAfter an exhaustive, 60-hour Xbox playthrough of Avowed, Im nearly done. Along the way, Ive learned a lot about how the Living Lands work often too late. Ahead of my console review, and its arrival on Game Pass on February 18, it seemed like a great opportunity to pass on some helpful, spoiler-free Avowed tips.Whichever class you choose, whatever weapons you favor, and however you spend your character and ability points, there are a few things worth knowing before you explore the many mini-worlds of the Living Lands. These pointers should save you from making a few mistakes especially in the early stages of Avowed but also let you enjoy the story at your own pace and with your own preferred approach.1) Exploration is nearly always rewardedAvoweds Living Lands are absolutely bursting with treasure, to the point that nine times out of ten, a ledge, breakable barrier, or dead end will offer a chest, lockbox, skeletal remains, or something unique and immensely valuable. Nearly every camp of enemies or accessible building has goodies waiting to be found.Try not to leave any route unchecked, especially as theres no such thing as stealing. It never gets old when you rock up at an important persons house, ignore their request for a chat, and then ransack their home of all of their worldly possessions as they silently watch on.MFW a godlike runs into my house and robs all my stuffObsidian EntertainmentMORE FOR YOU2) Hoard until youre boredOne of Avoweds more forgiving quirks is that it only adds carry weight to armor and weapons. Even gloves, footwear, and crafting materials are effectively ethereal. Fallout this is not: youll never wonder why youre so bloated, only to realize youve got 72 Jets, 68 packs of Mentats, and a dozen Psychos taking up space.Youll make the games experience easier by picking up everything. Its especially important for food, which proves a much more reliable health resource than standard potions. Your wheel of abilities (LB) offers you access to your consumables, and Avowed cleverly prioritizes the amount you need at any given time. If you only need 20 to 30 health points, itll automatically feed you smaller items, including those that simultaneously refill your essence; you wont waste a 150hp-restoring cooked rabbit if you dont need to.The hoarding approach is also a good exercise in cleanliness. After battles, Xs on your minimap highlight corpses with loot. Take everything they have; leaving a potato on a xaurip might seem like the right idea, but theres every chance youll accidentally revisit that corpse once or twice, thinking its something youve missed.3) Embrace a breakdownEven though they can weigh a ton, make sure you pick up weapons, especially in the early stages of the game, and even though youll never use them. When youre bordering on over-encumbered status, break them down into parts.The party camp is vital for success.Obsidian EntertainmentAvowed uses a simple, tiered resource structure that ties ever-better resources to each world sequentially. Its easy to fall behind on the items you need to upgrade your weapons, to the point your companions endlessly remind you that your guns crap or your armors essentially crepe paper. Even simpler resources are useful you can combine four at a time at the crafting table to upgrade them to the next tier.4) but at what cost?As you reach the midpoint of the game, its also important to weigh up if its better to sell weapons rather than scrap them. Adra, a leveling-up resource that is also tiered, becomes increasingly hard to find, but a lot of people sell it and it aint cheap.Sure, you might get a few scraps of tanned hide or living iron by taking a piece of armor apart, but theres every chance you could buy these for a fraction of the pieces overall sell value.5) Know your natureWhile were talking about crafting, Avowed offers two types of green collectibles across its worlds, which appear on the map: consumables that restore health and essence, alongside much-needed, world-specific upgrade materials.Early on, you might assume these share the same icon, but they dont: the two-leafed symbol denotes food, while fern-like signs highlight essential resources.6) Theres often another routeAvoweds loot stashes are often found behind a crack in a wall or a window, but the game recognizes different playstyles, regularly giving you more than one way to access the areas. Make sure you check your options before, say, wasting lockpicks or grenades sometimes, it might just need a small, parkour-based detour.If you can keep climbing, keep climbing.Obsidian Entertainment7) Keep hold of ol faithfulsThroughout Avowed, you come across barriers that can be overcome by the elements: vines that can be burned, cage bars that turn brittle with ice, and metal boxes that run on electricity. Consider keeping hold of weapons that can do the job, especially if theyre one-handed, as theyre lightweight.For instance, one of my ever-equipped items is an electrified handgun, perfect for switches, especially over longer distances. Still, I keep hold of two other one-handed weapons a fire sword and ice axe to get through other blockers. You dont even need to upgrade them. Most importantly, these will also save you from wasting elemental throwables that are usually much more useful in battles.8) Its good to talkOne of the more frustrating elements of Avowed is how the HUD permanently reminds you when your companions want to talk to you something you can only do at a Party Camp, the area that acts as your base of operations.Keep chatting to your campmates, even if it's just to get those pesky icons off your HUD.Obsidian EntertainmentWell, theres a good reason for that. While you might just want to keep exploring, and even though some conversations can drag on, make sure you do catch up with them it turns out that occasionally, theyll give you a very important lesson or two that will improve your fortunes immensely. As a bonus, its also where Avoweds dialog, storytelling, and voice acting shine the brightest.9) Theres no shame in running awayThroughout the game, but especially early on, you happen upon camps with double- or even triple-hard bastards, as denoted by the skulls by their name, or the higher class of armor or weaponry they have, highlighted by the Roman numeral by their name. If they spot you, theres no harm in running away.Many of these are bounty missions you might accidentally discover before you get the task, or blockers that effectively force you to work through the story more. Luckily, Avowed gives them an odd territorial quirk once you step out of a predefined area, these enemies stop coming for you. Theres always the temptation to cheese battles like this keep just out of range, and pick away at them but if you want to respect the spirit of the game, just remember you can flee, avoiding a fight that will likely rinse your consumables inventory.10) Pick your battles wiselyThe element of surprise is massive in Avowed, especially when you can see enemies on the minimap. However, its important to take a breath and survey your prey. You might want to get the jump on the toughest thing there, but its often a bad idea.It's not always great to attack the toughest enemy first.Obsidian EntertainmentPriests, in particular, act as medics. You can wear a baddie down to a tenth of their life, but these cowardly, dancing idiots will undo your work in a matter of seconds. Similarly, summoner-style enemies and wraiths can create copies of themselves or other monsters to fight for them killing them also destroys their apparitions. As such, its regularly best to focus on these specialist, lower-level minions before taking on those aforementioned double-hard bastards.11) Dont forget your totemsLast but not least, one of the lesser-explained things in Avowed is the totem system. Each main world has a totem base, and you find lists of cryptic clues as to the locations of the six inset items that go in it and these give it (and you) more buffs.You can only have one active at a time, and you need to place them on a stump in your Party Camp. For hours, I assumed you could only use them once they were fully assembled I most likely skipped a tutorial, and I couldnt be arsed to read the endless notes in the menu (even if theyre very thorough and helpful) but youll be surprised just how much of an edge they can give you.Do things your wayWith these tricks at your disposal, youll get the most out of Avowed, especially as its very good at supporting a vast variety of play styles. The rest is up to you go with your gut in character building and storyline choices. Things change regularly and put you on the back foot, but stay true to yourself (or your chosen godlike) and youll make the most of the Living Lands.

Apple Intelligence is the marquee feature of iOS 18, and one of the biggest developments, a significant upgrade of the Siri smart assistant, may be facing possible delays, a new report claims.Apple iPhone 16 Pro: is a key feature of Apple Intelligence delayed?SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesApple Inc.s long-promised overhaul for the Siri digital assistant is facing engineering problems and software bugs, threatening to postpone or limit its release, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg.The upgraded Siri, designed to be more personal and understand context, is still coming but Apple is racing to finish the software, Gurman says. The result could be that some, though not all, features which were scheduled to land in April with iOS 18.4 could be postponed until the iOS 18.5 release expected in May or later.The more personal Siri is due to be achieved in different ways, including Siris capability to integrate with user data to improve answers to queries and a way for Siri to more precisely control a users apps.MORE FOR YOUApple didnt set a date for these improvements to arrive, but Gurman understands that the plan was to introduce them in April. This means that some of the most impressive capabilities could be held over, such as one demonstrated last June where Siri was able to locate a relatives flight and restaurant booking by scraping through emails and text messages.Gurman points out that the iOS 18.4 update, though not on general release until April, its thought, could arrive for developers in a matter of days. Another option on the table is including the features in the April release but having them turned off by default. In that scenario, Apple could then enable them automatically in the iOS 18.5 update, he says.For sure, Apple would rather delay than deliver something thats not working properly, especially when its such a central part of the iOS 18 promise. On the other hand, delaying something that was teased in June until 11 months later is not ideal.There are more Apple Intelligence features on their way, including email sorting for iPad and Mac, a new style of picture creation in Image Playground and more. Some of these are still expected to come in iOS 18.4 even if Siris upgrade is delayed.Exactly whats happening will become clearer as soon as the developer beta is released in the coming days.

Avowed is a very flexible game in terms of letting you use any weapon or piece of armor you want. Having a variety of offensive options is one of the best tips and tricks we can give you, but skills are slightly different. You will be investing points into your stats, to unlock abilities, and unlock companion abilities as you earn XP and level up. These skills will completely change how your game plays both in and out of combat, but you don't have to stick with whatever direction you picked first if you end up regretting it. Here's how you can respec your character in Avowed.Recommended VideosDifficultyEasyDuration5 minutesObsidianYou can respec your skills, abilities, and companion abilities individually in Avowed. There is a cost associated with doing so, but it is so small that it should never be a barrier.Step 1: Pause the game and go to either your Character, or Abilities tab.Step 2: If you want to refund your character points, which determine your stats and dialogue options, hold Y on controller or press R on PC to spend 100 gold to reset your spent points.RelatedStep 3: If you are resetting abilities, you will need to go to the Ability tab and press the same button.You cannot reset a single skill tree, however. If you reset your ability points, every ability tree will be reset.Step 4: Finally, you can go to the Companion tab in the Abilities menu to reset each individual companion's skills.Respecing initially costs 100 gold, but the price increases the higher level you get. Again, it never becomes too big of a barrier to do, but be aware that you won't be able to do it as much as you want later in the game.Editors Recommendations

After the tutorial teaches you the essential tips and tricks for playing Avowed, you will be set free in the Living Lands. Almost right away you will encounter a man named Sanza who has an important side quest for you to locate a missing cartographer. While you might be eager to complete the main story, side quests are important for unlocking new abilities and exploring the world. Unlike most side quests, however, this one only gives you a vague written description of where the cartographer is instead of a marker on your map to travel to. Even though each zone in Avowed isnt massive, there is still a lot of ground to cover when looking for a single person. Heres where you can find the cartographer in Dawntrail.ObsidianThe side quest only says that the cartographer should be located near some cliffs on the east side of Dawntrail, which is quite a big place to search. The area youre looking for is called Ushers Hand and is directly east of Paradis. If you go out the eastern exit and head north, you will find it no problem.Recommended VideosOnce you get in the area, you will get a search area on your map to look through, but the exact location of the cartographer is indicated on our map above. Be aware that youre actually looking for a corpse because the cartographer didnt make it, so listen for the little loot jingle that plays whenever youre near some treasure to help you find it. Once you find their body, grab their loot and the map beside them. Take this to Sanza who has returned to his emporium inside of Paradis to tell him the bad news and get your reward.Editors Recommendations

keep it plugged in Trump has thrown a wrench into a national EV charging program Electric charging projects have been thrown into chaos by the administration's directive. Lee Hedgepeth, Aman Azhar, Jake Bolster, Lisa Sorg, Sarah Mattalian, Inside Climate News Feb 15, 2025 7:07 am | 2 A row of happy EVs charge with no drama, no phone calls to the support line, and no one shuffling spots. Credit: Roberto Baldwin A row of happy EVs charge with no drama, no phone calls to the support line, and no one shuffling spots. Credit: Roberto Baldwin Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThis article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.For now, Priesters will have to stick to its famous pecans in Fort Payne, Alabama. But maybe not for long.Priesters Pecans, an Alabama staple, is one of more than half a dozen sites across the state slated to receive millions of dollars in federal funding to expand access to chargers for electric vehicles.Across the country, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law under then-President Joe Biden, is set to provide $5 billion to states for projects that expand the nations EV charging infrastructure.But in a February 6 letter, a Trump administration official notified state directors of transportation that, effectively, they cant spend it. The Federal Highway Administration rescinded guidance on the funds, which had been allocated by Congress, and is also immediately suspending the approval of all State Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment plans for all fiscal years, the letter said.Therefore, effective immediately, no new obligations may occur under the NEVI Formula Program until the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance is issued and new State plans are submitted and approved.POLITICO reported on Wednesday that a DOT spokesman said in an email that states were free to use a small portion of the fundingabout $400 millionbecause that was money the states had already obligated, or awarded to subcontractors. But that would still leave close to 90 percent of the funding up in the air.Even before the administration had issued its letter, some Republican-led states, including Alabama, had already announced pauses to their states implementation of the national EV charging program.In response to Unleashing American Energy, one of several Executive Orders that President Trump signed on January 20, 2025, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs has paused the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program as of January 28, 2025, the Alabama agency responsible for implementing NEVI posted on its website. In addition, for applications for funding that were originally due on March 17, 2025, ADECA has closed the application window until further notice.Despite the announcement by the Trump administration, however, legal experts and those familiar with the electric charging program at issue say the president does not have the power to permanently nix the NEVI program.NEVI funding was appropriated by Congress as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law, and it cannot be canceled by the executive branch, said Elizabeth Turnbull, director of policy and regulatory affairs at the Alliance for Transportation Electrification, a trade group for the electric vehicle industry. Its not clear that the secretary of transportation has the authority to revoke states NEVI plans, and its quite clear that the executive branch lacks the authority to withhold the funding for any sustained period. So, we expect recent executive branch actions to be successfully challenged in court.Even under the most aggressive arguments for a strong executive branch, the Supreme Court has stated clearly that the Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to appropriate and legislate.Lawmakers, too, have weighed in on the legality of the Trump administrations NEVI directive, saying officials acted with blatant disregard for the law.In a letter to administration officials, Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works urged the Department of Transportation to retract its February 6 letter and implement the law according to your responsibilities. Credit: Lee Hedgepeth/ Inside Climate News The Democrats letter also asked for responses to questions about the legal basis for the action and for information about the involvement of individuals associated with Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE is not an official department, and multiple reports show that Musks team has been dismantling parts or all of some federal agencies.Tesla, Musks electric vehicle company, currently has the largest network of fast chargers in the country. Its not yet clear if any new policies on NEVI, or the pause on building out a more robust network for all EV drivers, could benefit Tesla.The Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administrations parent agency, did not respond to a request for comment.With or without NEVI, the move toward the electrification of transportation is inevitable, experts say. But they warn that although the administrations pause of the program will likely be reversed by the courts, even a temporary delay in EV charging infrastructure can harm the nations ability to quickly and efficiently transition to electric vehicles. And the Trump administration ignored an earlier court order to lift a broad freeze on federal funds, a federal judge ruled this week.Meanwhile, Trumps NEVI freeze has sown confusion across the country, with EV stakeholders and state governments scrambling to figure out what the funding pause will mean and how to respond.Beyond Alabama, interviews across the country found officials in deep red Wyoming contemplating a possible return of funds, while those in progressive states like Illinois and Maryland remain firmly committed to the EV buildout, with or without federal funding. In purple North Carolina, officials are in limbo, having already spent some NEVI funds, but not sure how to proceed with the next round of projects.AlabamaIn Alabama, officials had already announced plans to fund more than a dozen chargers at sites across the state along interstates and major highways, including installing two dual-port chargers at eight Loves Travel Stops and another at Priesters Pecans off I-65 in Fort Deposit.At the time, state officials, including Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, praised the funding.Having strategic electric vehicle charging stations across Alabama not only benefits EV drivers, but it also benefits those companies that produce electric vehicles, including many of them right here in Alabama, resulting in more high-paying jobs for Alabamians, Ivey said when the funding allocation was announced in July 2024. This latest round of projects will provide added assurance that Alabamians and travelers to our state who choose electric vehicles can travel those highways and know a charging station is within a reliable distance on their routes.In total, Alabama was set to receive $79 million in funding through the program, including $2.4 million to expand training programs for the installation, testing, operation, and maintenance of EVs and EV chargers at Bevill State Community College in the central part of the state. The college did not respond to a request for comment on whether the money had been disbursed to the institution before the announced pause. Credit: Paul Horn/Inside Climate News In an email exchange this week, a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs confirmed what the agency had posted to its website in the wake of Trumps inaugurationthat the state would pause NEVI projects and await further guidance from the Trump administration.Even with a pause, however, stakeholders in Alabama and across the country have expressed a commitment to continuing the expansion of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.For its part, Loves Travel Stops, a 42-state chain that had been set to receive more than $5.8 million in funding for EV chargers in Alabama alone, said it will continue to roll out electric chargers at locations nationwide.Loves remains committed to meeting customers needs regardless of fuel type and believes a robust electric vehicle charging network is a part of that, Kim Okafor, general manager of zero emissions for Love's, said in an emailed statement. Loves will continue to monitor related executive orders and subsequent changes in law to determine the next steps. This includes the Alabama Department of Transportations Electric Vehicle charging plan timelines.The state of Alabama, meanwhile, has its own EV charger program apart from NEVI that has already funded millions of dollars worth of charging infrastructure.In January, even after its announced pause of NEVI implementation, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs announced the awarding of six grants totaling $2.26 million from state funds for the construction of EV chargers in Huntsville, Hoover, Tuscaloosa, and Mobile.The installation of electric vehicle charging stations at places like hotels are investments that can attract customers and add to local economies, ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said at the time.North CarolinaIn North Carolina, the full buildout of the states electric charging network under NEVI is in limbo just four months after the NC Department of Transportation announced the initial recipients of the funds.NC DOT spokesman Jamie Kritzer said that based on the federal governments directive, the agency is continuing with awarded projects but pausing the next round of requests for proposals, as well as future phases of the buildout.If that pause were to become permanent, the state would be forced to abandon $103 million in federal infrastructure money that would have paid for an additional 41 stations to be built as part of Phase 1.Last September the state announced it had awarded nearly $6 million to six companies to build nine public charging stations. Locations include shopping centers, travel plazas, and restaurants, most of them in economically disadvantaged communities.NEVI requires EV charging stations in the first phase to be installed every 50 miles along the federally approved alternative fuel corridors, and that they be within one mile of those routes. The state has also prioritized Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) stations, which can charge a vehicle to 80 percent in 20 to 30 minutes.The NEVI program is structured to reimburse private companies for up to 80 percent of the cost to construct and operate electric vehicle charging stations for five years, after which the charging stations will continue to operate without government support, according to the state DOT.The state estimated it would have taken two to three years to finish Phase 1.Under Phase 2, the state would award federal funds to build community-level electric vehicle charging stations, farther from the major highways, including in disadvantaged communities.That is particularly important in North Carolina, which has the second-largest rural population in the US in terms of percentage. A third of the states residents live in rural areas, which are underserved by electric vehicle charging stations.There are already more than 1,700 public electric charging stations and 4,850 ports in North Carolina, according to the US Department of Energys Alternative Fuels Data Center. But they arent evenly dispersed throughout the state. Alleghany and Ashe counties, in the western mountains, have just one charging station each. Credit: Paul Horn/Insider Climate News Vickie Atkinson, who lives in the country between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro in central North Carolina, drives a plug-in hybrid Ford Escape, which is powered by an electric engine or gas, unlike full electric models, which have no gas option. Plug-in hybrids typically have fully electric ranges of 35 to 40 miles.I try to drive on battery whenever possible, Atkinson said. But shes frustrated that she cant drive from her home to downtown Siler City and backa 60-mile round tripwithout resorting to the gas engine. There are two chargers on the outskirts along US 64only one of them is a fast chargerbut none downtown.I really hope the chargers are installed, Atkinson said. I fear they wont and I find that very frustrating.Former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, advocated for wider adoption of electric vehicles and infrastructure. In a 2018 executive order, Cooper established a benchmark of 80,000 registered zero-emission vehicles in the state by 2025.North Carolina met that goal. State DOT registration data shows there were 81,658 electric vehicles and 24,457 plug-in hybrids as of September, the latest figures available.Cooper issued a subsequent executive order in 2022 that set a more aggressive goal: 1.2 million registered electric vehicles by 2030. At the current pace of electric vehicle adoption, its unlikely the state will achieve that benchmark.The electric vehicle industry is an economic driver in North Carolina. Toyota just opened a $13.9 billion battery plant in the small town of Liberty and says it will create about 5,100 new jobs. The company is scheduled to begin shipping batteries in April.Natron Energy is building a plant in Edgecombe County, east of Raleigh, to manufacture sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Experts say they are cheaper and environmentally superior to lithium-ion batteries and less likely to catch fire, although they store less energy.The global company Kempower opened its first North American factory in Durham, where it builds charging infrastructure. Jed Routh, its vice president of markets and products for North America, said that while the rapidly shifting market is difficult to forecast and interest in electric vehicles may slow at times over the next four years, we dont expect it to go away. We believe that the industry will remain strong and Kempower remains committed to define, produce, and improve EV charging infrastructure throughout North America.North Carolina does have a separate funding source for electric charging stations that is protected from the Trump administrations program cuts and cancellations. The state received $92 million from Volkswagen, part of the EPAs multi-billion-dollar national settlement in 2016 with the car company, which had installed software in some of its diesel cars to cheat on emissions tests.The Department of Environmental Quality used the settlement money to pay for 994 EV charging ports at 318 sites in North Carolina. The agency expects to add more charging stations with $1.8 million in unspent settlement funds.Electrify America was created by the Volkswagen Group of America to implement a $2 billion portion of the settlement. It required the car company to invest in electric charging infrastructure and in the promotion of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.Electrify America operates 20 charging NEVI-compliant, high-speed stations in North Carolina, using the settlement money. However, the funding pause could affect the company because it works with potential site developers and small businesses to comply with the NEVI requirements.The company is still reviewing the details in the federal memo, company spokeswoman Tara Geiger said.Electrify America continues to engage with stakeholders to understand developments impacting the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, Geiger wrote in an email. We remain committed to growing our coast-to-coast Hyper-Fast network to support transportation electrification.WyomingIn Wyoming, Doug McGee, a state Department of Transportation spokesperson, said the agency is taking a wait and see approach to NEVI moving forward, and is not ruling out a return of funding. About half a dozen people at the department handle NEVI along with other daily responsibilities, McGee said, and it will be easy for them to put NEVI on hold while they await further instruction.The department was in the process of soliciting proposals for EV charging stations and has not yet spent any money under NEVI. There was very little to pause, McGee said.Across 6,800 miles of highway in Wyoming, there are 110 public EV charging stations, making the states EV infrastructure the third-smallest in the country, ahead of charging networks in only North Dakota and Alaska.IllinoisMore progressive states, including Illinois, have explicitly said they will redouble their efforts to support the expansion of EV charging infrastructure in the wake of the Trump administrations NEVI pause.The state of Illinois has said it remains committed to the goal of helping consumers and the public sector transition to EVs in 2025 through state funding sources, even if some NEVI projects are halted.Commonwealth Edison Co. (ComEd), the largest electric utility in Illinois and the primary electric provider in Chicago, also announced a $100 million rebate program on Feb. 6 at the Chicago Auto Show, funds that are currently available to boost EV adoption throughout the state.The funds are for residential EV charger and installation costs, all-electric fleet vehicles, and charging infrastructure in both the public and private sectors.According to Cristina Botero, senior manager for beneficial electrification at ComEd, the rebate is part of a total investment of $231 million from ComEd as part of its Beneficial Electrification plan programs to promote electrification and EV adoption.While the $231 million wont be impacted by the Trump administrations order, other EV projects funded by NEVI are halted. In 2022, for example, $148 million from NEVI was set to be disbursed in Illinois over the course of five years, focusing on Direct Current Fast Charging to fulfill the requirement to build charging stations every 50 miles, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.We are still in the process of reviewing the impacts of last weeks order and evaluating next steps going forward, said Maria Castaneda, spokesperson at IDOT, in an emailed statement.The NEVI funds were also set to help achieve Gov. J.B. Pritzkers goal to have 1 million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030. Officials estimated that at least 10,000 EV charging stations are needed in order to achieve this 2030 goal. Last fall, there were 1,200 charging stations open to the public.In January, Illinois was awarded federal funds totaling $114 million from the US Department of Transportation to build 14 truck charging hubs, adding to the statewide charging infrastructure.According to Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for the Respiratory Health Association, most of that funding is either frozen or at risk.However, programs like the recent ComEd rebate will not be impacted. This is at the state level and not dictated by federal policy, Botero said.MarylandIn Maryland, state officials are trying to assess the fallout and find alternative ways to keep EV infrastructure efforts alive. The outcome hinges on new federal guidance and potential legal battles over the suspension.Maryland is allocated $63 million over five years under NEVI. The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) launched the first $12.1 million round last summer to build 126 fast-charging ports at 22 sites across many of the states counties. At least some are expected to be operational by late 2025.In December, MDOT issued a new call for proposals for building up to 29 additional highway charging stations, expecting stable federal support. At the time, senior MDOT officials told Inside Climate News they were confident in the programs security since it was authorized under law.But Trumps funding pause has upended those plans.The Maryland Department of Transportation is moving forward with its obligated NEVI funding and is awaiting new guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation to advance future funding rounds, said Carter Elliott, a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore, in an emailed statement.The Moore administration reaffirmed its commitment to EV expansion, calling charging essential to reducing consumer costs and cutting climate pollution. Gov. Moore is committed to making the state more competitive by pressing forward with the administrations strategy to deliver charging infrastructure for clean cars to drivers across the state, the statement added.In written comments, an MDOT spokesperson said the agency is determining its options for future funding needs and solicitations.Katherine Garca, director of the Sierra Clubs Clean Transportation for All program, said that freezing the EV charging funds was an unsound and illegal move by the Trump administration. This is an attack on bipartisan funding that Congress approved years ago and is driving investment and innovation in every state, she said.She said that the NEVI program is helping the US build out the infrastructure needed to support the transition to vehicles that dont pollute the air.The Sierra Clubs Josh Stebbins lamented the slow pace of the EV charger buildout across the state. We are not sure when Maryland's NEVI chargers will be operational, he said. States must move faster and accelerate the installation of NEVI stations. It has been frustratingly slow, and the public needs to see a return on its investment.Maryland EV ambitions are high stakes. Transportation remains the states largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and public officials and advocates see EV adoption as critical to meet its net-zero carbon goal by 2045. NEVI is also a key plank of the states broader Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Planning initiative, designed to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.What happens nextAs litigation is brought over the Trump administrations pause on NEVI funds, experts like Turnbull of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification believe the United States remains, despite this bump, on the road toward electrification.We are not shifting into reverse, Turnbull said. The EV market will continue to grow across all market segments driven by market innovation and consumer demand, both within the United States and globally. By pretending the EV transition doesnt exist, this administration risks the USs global competitiveness, national security, and economic growth. Lee Hedgepeth, Aman Azhar, Jake Bolster, Lisa Sorg, Sarah Mattalian, Inside Climate News 2 Comments

datamining in dungeons How Diablo hackers uncovered a speedrun scandal Investigators decompiled the game to search through 2.2 billion random dungeon seeds. Kyle Orland Feb 15, 2025 6:45 am | 7 The word Debunk radiating flames against a demonic background Credit: Aurich Lawson The word Debunk radiating flames against a demonic background Credit: Aurich Lawson Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreFor years, Maciej "Groobo" Maselewskistood as the undisputed champion of Diablo speedrunning. His 3-minute, 12-second Sorceror run looked all but unbeatable thanks to a combination of powerful (and allowable) glitch exploits along with what seemed like some unbelievable luck in the game's randomly generated dungeon.But when a team of other speedrunners started trying and failing to replicate that luck using outside software and analysis tools, the story behind Groobo's run began to fall apart. As the inconsistencies in the run started to mount, that team would conduct an automated search through billions of legitimate Diablo dungeons to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Groobo's game couldn't have taken place in any of them."We just had a lot of curiosity and resentment that drove us to dig even deeper," team member Staphen told Ars Technica of their investigation. "Betrayal might be another way to describe it," team member AJenbo added. "To find out that this had been done illegitimately... and the person had both gotten and taken a lot of praise for their achievement."If we have unearned luckIf you have any familiarity with Diablo or speedrunning, watching Groobo's run feels like watching someone win the lottery. First, there's the dungeon itself, which features a sequence of stairways that appear just steps from each other, forming a quick and enemy-free path down to the dungeon's deeper levels. Then there's Groobo's lucky find of Naj's Puzzler on level 9, a unique item that enables the teleporting necessary for many of the run's late-game maneuvers. Groobo's 3:12 Diablo speedrun, as submitted to Speed Demos Archive in 2009 "It seemed very unusual that we would have so many levels with the upstairs and the downstairs right next to each other," Allan "DwangoAC" Cecil said at a recent presentation attended by Ars Technica. "We wanted to find some way of replicating this."When Cecil and a team of tool-assisted speedrunners (TAS) started that search process in earnest last February, they said they used Groobo's run as a baseline to try to improve from. While Groobo ostensibly had to rely on his own human luck in prepping his run, the TAS runners could use techniques and tools from outside the game to replicate Groobo's run (or something very similar) every time.To find an RNG seed that could do just that, the TAS team created a custom-built map generation tool by reverse-engineering a disassembled Diablo executable. That tool can take any of the game's billions of possible random seeds and quickly determine the map layout, item distribution, and quest placement available in the generated save file. A scanner built on top of that tool can then quickly look through those generated dungeons for ones that might be optimal for speedrunning."We were working on finding the best seed for our TAS, and we were trying to identify the seed from Groobo's run, both to validate that our scanner works and to potentially straight-up use it for the run," Stephan said of the effort. "We naturally had a lot of trouble finding [that seed] because it doesn't exist."A thorough searchIn their effort to find Groobo's storied run (or at least one that resembled it), the TAS team conducted a distributed search across the game's roughly 2.2 billion valid RNG seeds. Each of these seeds represents a different specific second on the system clock when a Diablo save file is created, ranging from between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 2038 (the only valid dates accepted by the game).After comparing each of those billions of those RNG dungeons to a re-creation of the dungeon seen in Groobo's run, the team couldn't find a single example containing the crucial level 9 Naj's Puzzler drop. After that, the team started searching through "impossible" seeds, which could only be created by using save modification tools to force a creation date after the year 2038.The team eventually found dungeons matching Naj's Puzzler drop in Groobo's video, using seeds associated with the years 2056 and 2074. After an exhaustive search, the TAS team couldn't find a dungeon with Naj's Puzzler dropped in the place Groobo's run said it should be. Credit: Analysis of Groobo's Diablo WR Speedrun After an exhaustive search, the TAS team couldn't find a dungeon with Naj's Puzzler dropped in the place Groobo's run said it should be. Credit: Analysis of Groobo's Diablo WR Speedrun The early presumption that Groobo's run was legitimate ended up costing the team weeks of work. "It was baffling when we couldn't find [the early Naj's Puzzler] in any of the searches we did," Cecil said. "We were always worried that the scanner might have bugs in it," Staphen added.The TAS team's thorough search also showed troubling inconsistencies in the other dungeon levels shown in Groobo's run. "Normally you would only need to identify a single level to replicate a run since all the other levels are generated from the same seed," AJenbo told Ars. But the levels seen in Groobo's run came from multiple different seeds, which would require splicing footage from multiple different saves."At that point we also wanted to figure out how manipulated the run was," AJenbo said. "Was it a legit run except for [dungeon level] 9? Was it three good runs combined? In the end we only found two levels that had come from the same run so at least 13 (probably 15) runs were spliced into one video, which is a lot for a game with just 16 levels."The evidence piles upAfter Groobo's dungeon generation problems came to light, other inconsistencies in his run started to become apparent. Some of these are relatively easy to spot with the naked eye once you know what you're looking for.For instance, the "19962001" copyright date seen on the title screen in Groobo's video is inconsistent with the v1.00 shown on the initial menu screen, suggesting Groobo's run was spliced together from runs on multiple different versions of the game. Items acquired early in the run also disappear from the inventory later on with no apparent explanation. This copyright date doesn't line up with the "V1.00" seen later on the menu screen in Groobo's run. Credit: Analysis of Groobo's Diablo WR Speedrun This copyright date doesn't line up with the "V1.00" seen later on the menu screen in Groobo's run. Credit: Analysis of Groobo's Diablo WR Speedrun Even months after the investigation first started, new inconsistencies are still coming to light. Groobo's final fight against Diablo, for instance, required just 19 fireballs to take him out. While that's technically possible with perfect luck for the level 12 Sorceror seen in the footage, the TAS team found that the specific damage dealt and boss behavior only matched when they attempted the same attacks using a level 26 Sorceror.After the TAS team compiled their many findings into a lengthy document, Groobo defended his submission in a discussion with Cecil (screenshots of which were viewed by Ars Technica). "My run is a segmented/spliced run," Groobo said. "It always has been and it was never passed off as anything else, nor was it part of any competition or leaderboards. The Speed Demos Archive [SDA] page states that outright." Indeed, an archived version of Groobo's record-setting Speed Demos Archive submission does say directly that it's made up of "27 segments appended to one file."But simply splitting a run into segments doesn't explain away all of the problems the TAS team found. Getting Naj's Puzzler on dungeon level 9, for instance, still requires outside modification of a save file, which is specifically prohibited by longstanding Speed Demos Archive rules that "manually editing/adding/removing game files is generally not allowed." Groobo's apparent splicing of multiple game versions and differently seeded save files also seems to go against SDA rules, which say that "there obviously needs to be continuity between segments in terms of inventory, experience points or whatever is applicable for the individual game."After being presented with the TAS team's evidence, SDA wrote that "it has been determined that Groobo's run very likely does not stem from only legitimate techniques, and as such, has itself been banished barring new developments." But Groobo's record is still listed as the "Fastest completion of an RPG videogame" by Guinness World Records, which has not offered a substantive response to the team's findings (Guinness has not responded to a request for comment from Ars Technica). A recent Diablo speedrun on a confirmed legitimate dungeon seed. This might seem like a pretty petty issue to spend weeks of time and attention debunking. But at a recent presentation attended by Ars, Cecil said he was motivated to pursue it because "it did harm. Groobo's alleged cheating in 2009 completely stopped interest in speedrunning this category [of Diablo]. No one tried, no one could."Because of Groobo's previously unknown modifications to make an impossible-to-beat run, "this big running community just stopped trying to run this game in that category," Cecil said. "For more than a decade, this had a chilling impact on that community." With Groobo's run out of the way, though, new runners are setting new records on confirmed legitimate RNG seeds, and with the aid of TAS tools.In the end, Cecil said he hopes the evidence regarding Groobo's run will make people look more carefully at other record submissions. "Groobo had created a number of well-respected ... speedruns," he said. "[People thought] there wasn't any good reason to doubt him. In other words, there was bias in familiarity. This was a familiar character. Why would they cheat?"Kyle OrlandSenior Gaming EditorKyle OrlandSenior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. 7 Comments

Denver-based Boom Supersonic wants to revive Mach-speed travel with its Overture plane.Overture would feature improved efficiency, safety, and a quieter engine than Concorde.Boom's innovations include a homegrown engine and the potential for overland supersonic flights.A startup wants to revive the era of the supersonic Concorde for the generations of flyers that missed out but without the noisy boom and expensive ticket prices. Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl explained to Business Insider how his company's future "Overture" airliner would look and operate compared to the iconic Concorde.He said Overture's airframe, cabin, and avionics have been developed to improve efficiency and safety, and Boom plans to build its own homegrown supersonic engine capable of running off biofuels.The company also recently announced progress in its intention to operate Mach-speed flights over land without the sonic boom reaching the ground. Rendering of a Boom Overture plane at the gate. Boom Supersonic This "Boomless Cruise" could help Overture achieve a feat Concorde never could assuming regulators allow it."We didn't invent anything," Scholl said. "Concorde proved you can fly a supersonic airplane with passengers on it half a century ago. The job of the Overture is to do it economically."An advanced airframe with no moveable noseThe Concorde which was an expensive government project between the UK and France first flew nearly 50 years ago but retired in 2003 after a deadly crash.Boom, a private company, will take Concorde's proven ideasand apply modern designs to improve efficiency and safety. Passenger flights are expected to begin in 2029.Overture kept Concorde's Delta-wing design that minimizes aerodynamic "wave drag" at high speeds meaning the basic airframes look similar. Wave drag results from shock waves forming around an airplane, decreasing efficiency. Only 14 Concordes were built for commercial service. Air France and British Airways operated them. Associated Press Scholl said Boom has changed Overture's fuselage materials and shape to make it 20% more aerodynamically efficient than its predecessor."We can design a very efficient shape with [wind tunnel] simulation," he said. "The whole thing is accurate to the width of a human hair across a 70-foot fuselage."Scholl added Overture's carbon fiber composite is lighter-weight than the Concorde's aluminum materials, saving fuel.Overture also ditches the moveable nose, a staple of the Concorde design that helped pilots see out the front windshield when traversing airports. The Concorde's nose was lowered during taxi, takeoff, and landing but raised during cruise for the best aerodynamic efficiency. Douglas McFadd/Getty Images Scholl said Overture would replace that with an "augmented reality vision system" powered by two cameras on the landing gear, which has already been successfully demonstrated on Boom's XB-1 prototype."The pilot gets a virtual window through the nose," he said. "It's much lighter, much more efficient, much more reliable than mechanical equipment, and gives the pilots a much better view than any kind of traditional windscreen."Boom is building its own engineBoom's homegrown turbofan engine, Symphony, is being built to propel Overture between New York and London in less than four hours or between Seattle and Tokyo in less than five.They're expected to run at a maximum Mach 1.7 slower than Concorde's Mach 2.04.The company decided to build its own engine, which is expected to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuels, after major manufacturers declined to help. Boom CEO Blake Scholl discussing the Symphony engine at the Paris Air Show in June 2023. Pete Syme/Business Insider Scholl said the four engines would sit under the wings making them easily accessible for maintenance and be 20% more fuel efficient than those on the Concorde. The Concorde also had four engines but used turbojets instead of more efficient and quieter turbofans."This is not a new technology, it's the kind of engine that's been around since the 1940s," Scholl said. "What we're doing is building the first turbofan that is designed to fit a supersonic airliner perfectly."He added that Symphony won't need the afterburners that are common in supersonic engines. This would make Overture's engine more efficient at high speeds, require less maintenance, and be more noise-friendly to airport communities.Possible supersonic flights over landOne of Boom's biggest challenges is flying supersonic over land without producing a disruptive sonic boom. Regulators restricted Concorde's Mach-speed flying to only over oceans because of this.Scholl initially said eliminating the noisy overland boom would be a focus of later versions of Overture. Boom's subscale XB-1 prototype broke the sound barrier for the first time on January 28. It flew in a special supersonic corridor over the Mohave Desert. Boom Supersonic However, the company's recent Boomless Cruise findings which explored a physics concept called "Mach cutoff" that refracts the boom and dissipates it before hitting the ground may pave the way for a quicker rollout."This allows Boom to reexamine the possibilities of Overture quietly breaking the sound barrier over land," a spokesperson told BI, adding that data was collected and evaluated via XB-1's supersonic flights.Boom's push for supersonic overland flights has the backing of Elon Musk, who said the Trump Administration would "get rid of all regulations that make no sense, like this one."If the law is amended, Boom could offer domestic Mach-speed travel for the first time.Lower airfare and a taller cabinBoom's plan to eliminate the high costs associated with the Concorde may bring down supersonic ticket prices making the jet more affordable for airlines and customers.Scholl said business fares would hover around $5,000 roundtrip instead of the Concorde's up to $20,000 and that's with fewer seats onboard to sell. Most travelers who flew on the Concorde were businesspeople, but it also attracted wealthy leisure travelers. Martyn Hayhow/AFP via Getty Images "It's not yet for everybody, but the top 20% of flyers are already at that price point today," he said. "That's tens of millions of people, so for the same price point, you'd be able to get there in half the time."Boom has secured 130 Overture orders from carriers like American Airlines and United Airlines, and Scholl said they'd boast a better cabin than what British Airways and Air France fit on the Concorde.Specifically, Boom's airliner is designed to have between 64 and 80 seats, instead of up to 128 on Concorde offering more space to travelers. The seats are expected to be innovated for comfort. Overture aims to feature bigger but fewer business class seats in a 11 layout instead of the Concorde's 22. Boom Supersonic The Concorde was infamous for its low door and ceiling. Scholl said Overture's entry door would be 10 inches taller."That's an inch taller than [the door] on a Boeing 737," he said. "Unless you're LeBron James, you won't have to duck to get on."

I spent the final night of a ski trip in Italy at a hotel near Venice's Marco Polo Airport.The hotel was simple, but its convenience to the city and the airport was a surprising perk.Instead of spending my last night sad that the trip was over, I spent it wandering around Venice's canals.Like practically everyone, I dread the end of a trip.It's heartbreaking to realize that your time in a new destination is ending and that normal life will resume once you've returned.Beyond that, the task of getting back home is often a drag. Long-haul flights in economy, early mornings and late nights, jet lag, packing and unpacking are all the tasks I despise at the end of a trip.That was exactly the case for my last trip. After a week of skiing in Italy's Dolomites mountain range, my friend and I had a 10-hour flight back home to Denver.However, our decision to spend the night at an airport hotel was a surprisingly positive end to our time in Italy. The exterior of Annia Park Hotel. Monica Humphries/Business Insider I spent my last night in Italy at a hotel near the Venice airportThe day before leaving Italy, my friend and I dined on a slow breakfast, packed our suitcases and ski bags, and crammed it all into a tiny rental car. Then, we left Brixen, Italy, for Annia Park Hotel our lodge for the night.The drive was four hours long, and I booked the hotel room because I didn't want to add a long drive to what was about to be an already long travel day.Instead, I wanted the trip to end with convenience. I didn't want to worry about traffic or missed flights. I wanted a good night's sleep before leaving Italy. And ultimately, I wanted a relaxing evening to reflect on the trip.Annia Park was surprisingly that. The interior of the author's hotel room. Monica Humphries/Business Insider Our room cost $180 for the night. It was basic with an all-neutral interior, simple amenities, a paid continental breakfast, and 5 euro airport transfers.While it wasn't a lavish stay, the property had its perks. It was just a five-minute drive to Venice's Marco Polo Airport, and even better, it would take just 15 minutes to get to historic Venice. The author and her friend in Venice. Monica Humphries/Business Insider The highlight of the hotel was its proximity to VeniceWhen I booked my flights, it originally felt like a missed opportunity to fly into Venice without ever stepping into the city itself.I would miss the narrow canals, colorful homes, and marble bridges.As my friend and I eyed our itinerary, we realized we didn't have to miss the city. If we left Brixen a few hours earlier than initially planned, we'd make it to the airport hotel with enough time for dinner in Venice.My friend and I checked into the hotel at 5:30 p.m. with stomachs grumbling. The hotel receptionist outlined the ways we could get into the city. We could get on a bus, he could call us a taxi, or we could take our rental car and drive ourselves.We picked the latter, did a quick search for parking lots, and headed into the city. Side-by-side pictures of Venice. Monica Humphries/Business Insider By 6:30 p.m., my friend and I were wandering the canals of Venice instead of dreading the impending end of our trip. We found a cozy restaurant for dinner, frolicked around Piazza San Marco, and got lost in narrow alleyways.We had both visited the city before, so we didn't mind that our time was limited. Instead, exploring Venice at night was an entirely new experience.After a long evening, we returned to our car, which cost $20 to park. It was cheaper than taxis and easier than taking the bus. If it had been during the day, we would've splurged on a water taxi from the airport for a true Venetian experience.While finding a hotel in the city could've been delightful, the convenience of the airport hotel won again. It was nice to head back to Annia Park and know that the following morning, we were a short drive away from the true end of our Italy trip.

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stopping all aid to South Africa and offering refugee status to white South Africans. The order decried government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation and accuses South Africa of a shocking disregard of its citizens rights. It specifically called for the resettlement of white Afrikaners, who are predominantly descendants of Dutch settlers and part of the countrys white minority.Trumps order focuses on a South African law, the Expropriation Act of 2024, which passed last month and allows the South African government to seize ethnic Afrikaners farm land without compensation when it is not being used, or when it would be in the public interest.The act is meant to address inequalities that have plagued the country since colonial rule and enshrined under apartheid, a system of legalized racial segregation and discrimination, when Black residents were dispossessed of their land. Even though apartheid ended in the early 1990s, the inequalities persist. White South Africans make up about 7 percent of the countrys population and own around 70 percent of the countrys private farmland.Trump and his ally Elon Musk himself born and raised in South Africa have repeatedly accused the South African government of anti-white racism, a charge South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denies. Ramaphosa, Afrikaner rights groups, and critics of the land reform act have said that Trumps order is based on misinformation and that private property rights are protected.Cutting aid to South Africa would stop nearly half a billion dollars a year in funding, most of which pays for the worlds largest HIV/AIDS program. Today, Explained host Noel King spoke with Jonny Steinberg, a South African writer and senior lecturer on African politics at Yale, about why the Afrikaners have gained Trumps attention.Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. Theres much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.Can you tell us what apartheid was like?Apartheid is famously one of many brutal regimes in the 20th century. Many millions of people were displaced from their homes. In the political struggle against apartheid, many thousands of people were killed and detained. It was a long, bitter, bloody, difficult struggle for democracy, which miraculously ended peacefully in a negotiated settlement in 1994.What happened in 94?Well, four years earlier, in 1990, the last president of apartheid, F. W. de Klerk, released Nelson Mandela, unbanned his party, the ANC, and decided that apartheid would end by a negotiated settlement with the people who were once his enemy. That settlement took four years. In the course of those four years, de Klerk went to the white electors and asked them if they wanted him to continue. There was a referendum in 1992 and 68 percent of white people said yes. So it was really a process of mutual consent. A lot of people died in those four years there was a lot of violence. It was a complicated process, but it was in the end a peaceful settlement that both sides agreed to, bringing in democracy in April 1994.The Afrikaners went from having all of the power and from having this system, apartheid, that basically kept them in power. After the negotiated settlement, what happened to this group?It was a pretty gentle settlement on white people. Afrikaans people were about just over half of the white population. Most people carried on living their lives pretty much as they were before, to be honest. Thats a simple version of the story. When you scratch underneath, more complicated things are happening. One of the things happening is that crime rates absolutely soared in the late apartheid and early post-apartheid era. And white people became victims of crimes in ways that they didnt know under apartheid, which was very frightening. Another thing happening: a policy of land redress was introduced in the mid-1990s. And to explain what happened, its necessary to go back to 1913 when a law was passed disallowing Black ownership of land in South Africa. Many, many people were displaced from their land in the decades after that. By the early 1970s, several million people had been displaced from their land. And a policy of redress was set in place in the mid-1990s and, among other things, it allowed people who could show that they had had their land taken away from them after 1913 to get it back. But not by confiscating land, not by taking it away from those who owned it, but by buying it back at market prices. So that was the core of the land reform scheme, just stated at its most simple.So in the mid-1990s, theres this process of land reform, and its now 30 years later. Is that process still underway?It is underway, and I think many white peoples grievances about that process are less about the policies themselves than the way that theyve been implemented. Black and white South Africans are both enormously frustrated with South Africas government for its levels of inefficiency and its corruption. And very often anger at that melds with anger over the substance and the content of policy. A fair amount of land has been redistributed. It has not been a particularly successful or a particularly well-managed process. It has left both poor Black people and white landholders and others dissatisfied. So a lot has to do with the corruption and inefficiencies of the process itself.President Trump doesnt always speak with a great deal of accuracy. When he talks about South Africa now, as he has been doing recently, he will say things like the land of white South Africans is being stolen. Is this an idea that Donald Trump just came up with himself, or is this idea prevalent in South Africa also? If you look at South Africas response to Donald Trump, nobody has agreed with him. Land has not been stolen from anybody in South Africa since 1994. A lot of land has been bought at market prices and redistributed but not stolen.As for where these ideas come from, there have been South African organizations that have lobbied Trump very vocally, very persistently, for a number of years on matters of land redistribution, but also on matters of crime, of the extent to which people who live in rural South Africa are vulnerable. Many white farmers have been victims of very violent crime, and Trump has heard about all of that from a very vocal, very articulate lobby that says that violent crime against farmers is not coincidental, that its organized, that theres something behind it its an attempt to push them off the land. He has been told that by pretty extreme forces in South African society, not mainstream ones.Could I ask you to dig in a bit more on violence against white farmers? What does that mean? What does that look like?Farmers generally live in remote areas. Theyre far from police. There are a lot of guns in South Africa. Theres a lot of unemployed young men in South Africa, a lot of people making a living from crime. People enter a remote property and hold up the people at gunpoint to take their possessions, sometimes kill them. Levels of violence in South Africa are extreme. In a country of 62-63 million people, there are 20,000 murders a year. That is breathtaking. Its a violent place. And its absolutely understandable and natural that the white farming community would feel under siege, would feel vulnerable, would feel scared. But its another thing to say that theres an organized plot against them, that this is a manifestation of a deeper attempt to throw them off their land. If you look at who is killed in South Africa, if you look at per capita murder rates, those most vulnerable to being killed are unemployed young Black men. And thats not for a moment to say that white farmers should not feel afraid and should not take action to defend themselves. But the idea that theyre especially victimized is untenable.So, responding to this, President Trump has made this offer to help resettle Afrikaners in the United States. Have any of them said, Yeah, wed like to go? Whats the response there?People are pretty bewildered by the offer, including the people whove been lobbying Trump. Nobody has taken him up on it. The head of Agri South Africa a pretty mainstream, perhaps a center-right organization said, Were farming here and were farming successfully. The day after Trump made that announcement, I was on a flight from Johannesburg to London, and boarding the plane. It was full of white South Africans who were joking about it saying, Well, lets divert our flights to New York. It was really an object of fun.Here in the United States, the cutting remark is, Donald Trump is finally sympathetic to Africans, but theyre white Africans. Is that acknowledged at all? That Donald Trump seems to have sympathies for a certain type of African?Yeah, absolutely. I mean, theres great irony in the fact that a successful, reasonably well-off farming community are those being given preferential access in a continent where theres a great deal of poverty and strife. The irony is obvious and everybody sees that.Why do you think President Trump is making this offer? Do you have any sense of what is really behind this?Well, I think its because its easy for him because theres no downside. He gets to perform a very powerful and entertaining anti-DEI performance in front of the world. He also potentially gets a middle-sized country to change its foreign policy or certainly be under enormous pressure to do that. So, South Africa becomes an exemplar. It becomes a lesson to the world in what American power under Trump might mean.See More: