Author: James Dorman
Elon Musk, the man who has steered Twitter into the more conservative-centric X, has been locked in an ideological battle with the state of California. He has many gripes with the liberal Golden State and is not shy about voicing them. But his chickens may be coming home to roost as Tesla sales in California have taken a significant hit. California’s EV Boom Source: CHUTTERSNAP/Unsplash California is leading the way with regards to drivers adopting electric vehicles (EVs). In 2023, California motorists purchased over 400,000 new EVs. This makes the state an extremely fertile marketplace for EV manufacturers, and in…
Costco customers have enjoyed relative stability, at least in terms of their membership fees, as inflation and a rising cost of living have impacted the American chain. This stability looks to be coming to an end, though, as Costco customers will be experiencing an increase in the cost of their memberships for the first time in a long time. Membership Fee Increase Source: Alexander Mils/Unsplash Costco Wholesale announced that its membership fees will be going up for the first time since 2017. The announcement comes less than four months since new finance chief Gary Millerchip took the post and will…
Drive just 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, into the desert of California’s Antelope Valley, and you’ll find the third-largest city on the state map. Though you probably wouldn’t know it. Welcome to California City, the city that never quite was. Miles of dusty roads and ambition mark what was once intended to be a bustling metropolis of the Golden State. What Can You Find? Source: Smm413/Wikimedia Commons Venture into the desert to California City and you’ll find the blueprint for an expansive city etched into the sand. The eastern half of the city has miles of unpaved roads intersecting…
Tipping is ingrained in American service culture. It is almost a reflex to tip after any encounter with a server or employee in virtually every sales interaction. But there are situations where people are reluctant to tip and do so not because the tip is earned but because they feel pressured into it. This is why one woman is being applauded for listening to her gut and refusing to give in to the pressure to tip. Tipping and American Culture Source: Daniel Bradley/Unsplash Tipping is commonplace among American consumers. Tip jars at the counters of coffee shops are a familiar…
If you think American cars, there’s probably a very clear mental image that crystallizes — full-size or even oversized SUVs. Pickups. The bigger, the better. Heavy-duty vehicles like the Ford Expedition are popular family vehicles. But Ford’s CEO, of all people, is now asking for U.S. motorists to break this automotive addiction if the American car industry is to have a future. The Electric Future Source: CHUTTERSNAP/Unsplash Automakers across the industry, including Ford, are looking to venture more and more into the EV space. However, in doing so, they face stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers like BYD. For the long-term…
The Arthurian legend is a famous piece of British folklore. Whoever could pull the mythical sword Excalibur from the stone would gain the British throne. Not to be outdone, it seems Britain’s French neighbors have their own mythical sword in the stone. Or rather, they did. It’s mysteriously vanished. The French Excalibur Source: Archimatth/Wikipedia The sword in question is the famed Durandal sword. Durandal was the sword of Roland, a legendary knight (or paladin). In French history and literature, Roland was an officer of Charlemagne. The mythical history of Durandal goes back centuries, with its magical qualities detailed in the…
A massive product recall is underway as the FDA flags a number of chocolate and confectionary products as posing a risk to the health of the public. Just how much chocolate? A whopping 4,383,201 pounds of sweet products. The reason for this huge recall operation — potential contamination with Salmonella. The FDA Recall Source: Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya/Wikimedia Commons The FDA initiated a recall on May 3 for a range of chocolate and confectionary products produced by Wisconsin-based Clasen Quality Chocolate Inc. (CQC). The recall, updated on June 18, was for the potential presence of Salmonella. The FDA has identified the…
By and large, it seems that the scientific community rejects the concept of the divine or any sort of intelligent design behind the creation of the universe. Indeed, read the works of Richard Dawkins and one would think being an atheist was a prerequisite for being a scientist. But a new publication not only shows that science and faith can coexist, but there are some within the scientific community who believe in the existence of God — and present evidence of his hand in creation. The Return of the God Hypothesis Source: Wikimedia Commons The general notion of how science…
One of the main barriers to the next great breakthrough in space exploration is how we propel spacecraft. A renowned scientist and his team of experts claim to have made a discovery that could revolutionize space travel and exploration in a way that was previously believed to defy all laws of physics. No Need for Propellant Source: NASA/Unsplash To give this new discovery proper of context, we need to first go back a little. Since the earliest days of rocket design and space exploration, scientists have pondered the feasibility of propellantless drive. Basically, they have explored theoretical ways rockets could…
Researchers off the coast of Cuba discovered the remains of an underwater city so ancient, it predates the Pyramids of Giza. This discovery was made more than two decades ago and its true origins remain shrouded in mystery. Some believe it marks the existence of a lost civilization, while others think the remains prove the existence of the fabled lost city of Atlantis. The Initial Expedition Source: Juan Luis Ozaez/Unsplash It all began just over 20 years ago with a research team from Canadian company Advanced Digital Communications (ADC), headed by the owners of ADC: marine engineer Pauline Zalitzki and…