It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer wondering how to keep cat fur off all her work clothes (#5 at the link)? Here’s the update.

You were kind enough to post my question and your readers responded with a wealth of information and advice. Since I’m retiring in a few weeks, and cat fur on office clothes will no longer be a problem, I thought an update might be in order. Plus, who doesn’t love update season?!

The number one piece of advice I received was to change into work clothes immediately before leaving, and out of work clothes as soon as I got home. I had been doing that, but was a little salty about not being able to sit down in my own house for five minutes without changing clothes first. The fact that so many people gave that advice helped me reframe it from an annoyance to a more Mandalorian “this is the way … when you’re a cat stepmom.” We also bought some dark, overstuffed leatheresque bar stools for the kitchen counter. With a quick dust of the hand, I did have a relatively fur-free place to sit if I was only going to be home a short time before going back out.

I tried several of the other products and suggestions the commenters recommended. I’m sure your mileage may vary depending on the type of fur you’re dealing with, but here’s what did and did not work for me:

I already had a chomchom roller for large flat surfaces like the couch and bed and it’s still the best tool I’ve found for that application.

The cats adore the spiky metal brushes, but the rubbery silicone brushes that readers recommended did a vastly better job of loosening and removing fur. Big thumbs up for those!

Keeping work clothes in a separate laundry basket from other clothes and washing them separately helped with transference.

Special thanks to the person who suggested the car might be an undiscovered transfer point — that upholstery is cat-colored and the amount of fur on the seats wasn’t as noticeable.

The silicone hair removers for laundry did not seem to reduce the amount of cat fur, and untangling long human hair from them made them more of a pain than they were worth.

The most impactful solution, though, turned out to be shaving “Zsa Zsa.” It went surprisingly well. Just kidding, it was every bit the shitshow you’d expect it to be. Even after spending months trying to slowly acclimate her to a special pet shaver, including loads of high-value treats, we finally had to force the indignity upon her. When we were done, she looked like she had been attacked by a rabid weed eater, and cat dad and I did not come out of it unscathed. However, it greatly reduced the amount of fur throughout the house and had the added bonus of eliminating most of her sister’s hairball issues. We do it every spring and summer now.

Alison, even though I’m retiring, I can’t imagine not starting my weekdays reading your column. It’s been a wonderful resource, as well as entertaining, and I look forward to reading your blog for years to come!

Cat tax attached.

The post update: how do I keep cat fur off all my work clothes? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

MOUNT POCONO, PA—Delivering a highly anticipated speech about the state of the economy, President Donald Trump doubled down this week on his claim that groceries were a hoax perpetrated by Democrats. “They have this new word, they’re calling it ‘groceries,’ but you can ask anybody—everybody knows food comes from restaurants,” said Trump, who claimed that media images of high prices on everyday grocery items like eggs and milk were clearly AI-generated, because there was “no such thing as a store with shelves and shelves of food” for people to buy. “Do they really expect Americans to believe there’s this huge building where you have to go and walk down aisle after aisle and then pay for all this food? It’s nonsense, folks. Talk to the experts. I’ve talked to some very smart people, and none of them had even heard of groceries before Democrats started using it to attack me. If you want food, and you’re not at a restaurant, the lady can just bring it to you at your desk. Worst-case scenario, you go to the fridge. Trust me, the refrigerator is always full.” During his return trip to Washington aboard Air Force One, Trump cut off a female journalist asking for clarification on his comments by urging her to “show [him] a grocery right now.”

The post Trump Calls Groceries ‘A Hoax’  appeared first on The Onion.

Eric Migicovsky, who basically invented the smartwatch category with the original Pebble, just announced something much simpler: a $99 ring with one button that records voice memos. That’s it. No internet connection required, no cloud storage, no subscription fees, no wake words. Press the button, talk, release. Your note is saved locally—either on the ring’s tiny bit of memory or synced to your phone directly.

What makes the Pebble Index 01 actually interesting isn’t the hardware minimalism (though that’s refreshing). It’s that the whole thing is open source and designed to be hacked. Want long-press to do something different? Go for it. Want your voice memos piped into your task manager? Do it. The platform is yours to modify.

If you don’t know Migicovsky’s background: he kickstarted the original Pebble Watch in what became one of the platform’s most successful campaigns (I backed it), proving smartwatches could be useful. Pebble eventually got passed by bigger players, sold to Fitbit, then absorbed into Google.

A few years back, Eric moved into a different space, creating Beeper, the incredibly cool and useful universal messaging app, that pulls together basically all your messaging tools into a single unified interface. As I discussed with him on the Techdirt podcast last year, it was a cool example of how protocols let people build things that were more powerful. Last year, Beeper was sold to Automattic.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, Google agreed to open source all the original Pebble software (which it wasn’t using), and Eric decided to get back to his original baby, creating Core Devices, which would create a new generation of Pebble watches which recently shipped. This time, built on open source, totally hackable software, and even the ability of others to build devices on the Pebble platform.

I spoke to Eric last week about the Index 01. The design philosophy is clear and refreshing: keep it simple enough that it works perfectly every time. As someone who constantly sends myself notes—thoughts while walking, reminders mid-conversation, ideas that’ll vanish if I don’t capture them immediately—this is a tool I’m really looking forward to. But the real story isn’t the ring itself. It’s what you can do with it.

The AI processing is local—a small on-device model that does speech-to-text without sending anything to the cloud. But because the whole platform is open source, you’re not stuck with that default behavior. You can reprogram the button. You can route the output wherever you want. I’m already thinking about piping voice memos directly into my vibe coded task management tool, turning quick verbal notes into actionable tasks without touching a screen.

This is the kind of experimentation that closed hardware makes impossible. When you buy a typical consumer device, you’re renting someone else’s vision of how you should use it (and often paying a subscription fee for the privilege). When the hardware and software are open, you’re buying raw capability that you can shape however you need.

The device also has battery life that should last quite a while. Eric says two years, but that really depends on how much you use it. As I understand it, the battery can effectively record between 12 and 15 hours before the battery dies. If you’re just doing short 5 second notes to yourself, that can be quite some time.

The somewhat controversial decision here, though is that the ring is not rechargeable. From what Eric told me, that allowed them to simplify things and also use a longer-lasting hearing aid battery in the ring. Putting in a rechargeable battery and then adding a charging port and cables and such would have made the product more expensive, and less practical.

It’s a design choice that I can understand, but also one that some may bristle at, given that the ring will only last about two years if used regularly (and less if used a lot) and then become e-junk. For what it’s worth, the plan is to allow you to send back your used up ring to Core Devices to recycle when it reaches end of life (the app will warn you with plenty of time ahead). In theory, you would send it back when you buy a new one (assuming you found it super handy over the two years you were using it).

For years, I’ve argued for protocols over platforms in software—the idea that decentralized, open systems give users more control than walled gardens, even when the walled gardens are more convenient.

Consumer hardware has often gone in the opposite direction. We’ve too frequently traded repairability and control for sleekness and integration. Your smartphone is a sealed black box. Your smart home devices stop working when the company shuts down its servers. Even something as simple as a fitness tracker often requires a proprietary app and cloud account just to see your own data.

The Index 01 won’t reverse that trend by itself—it’s a $99 ring, not a revolution. But it’s a reminder that another path is possible. Open hardware, like open protocols, creates options. The Raspberry Pi proved there’s demand for hackable hardware in hobbyist computing. Framework has shown that’s true for laptops. Migicovsky is betting there’s demand for it in everyday consumer devices too.

I put in a pre-order. Not just because I need a better way to capture fleeting thoughts, but because this represents the kind of product I want to see more of: something you control, something you can modify, something that doesn’t stop working when the company loses interest. For all the complaints about big tech dominance and ecosystem lock-in, the solution isn’t better monopolies. It’s tools that put control back in users’ hands—whether that’s through open protocols in software or open platforms in hardware.

This is one example of what that looks like.

OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada has announced it will donate its recently decommissioned crimson fur robes to mall Santas in need. The iconic red and white robes were officially replaced earlier this year for the Supreme Court’s 150th anniversary, for which each of the justices were apparently gifted their first ever mirror. Now, […]

The post Supreme Court of Canada to donate robes to mall Santas in need appeared first on The Beaverton.

Houston Matters visits a rehearsal for Stages Houston's production of "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play."

Mike Lindell, the fervent supporter of President Donald Trump known to TV viewers as the “MyPillow Guy,” officially entered the race for Minnesota governor Thursday in hopes of winning the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in 2026.

“I call on you to resign,” the Mississippi congressman said. “Do a real service to the country.”

In brief: Near-record flooding is ongoing or forecast to occur north and east of Seattle today, tonight, and tomorrow leading to dire warnings in a few locations in western Washington. Another round of precipitation is likely next week, but the hope is that temperatures will cool off some, lowering snow levels and mitigating another wave of flooding concerns. Also below, we talk about record cold in the Midwest this weekend, and follow-up warmth in the run up to Christmas.

Pacific Northwest flooding focus

Let’s get caught up on the flooding in Washington State, where both the Snohomish and Skagit Rivers are going ballistic.

Check this video out from Snoqualmie Falls last night. Wild. This is not a typical Pacific Northwest rain. High snow levels and a double-barreled, prolonged category 4 atmospheric river event have triggered some extreme flooding concerns in the region.

Rainfall over the past 72 hours has been quite extreme in the mountains, and much of the concern right now is because it’s so mild. The low temperature in Seattle yesterday was 53 degrees, a record warm low for the date, and only 3 degrees shy of the warmest December low temperature on record there. Snow levels have been up around 5,000 feet or higher in spots.

You can look at the map above and see a couple things. First, some of the mountains have seen north of 15 inches of liquid in the last 72 hours. 19 inches of liquid at the Lynn Lake SNOTEL site, all of it rain. Second, you can clearly see an Olympic rain shadow over the Seattle metro, which has spared the city of Seattle at least any real severe issues. However, all this water in the mountains? It has to go somewhere.

The Snoqualmie Falls video above is wild, and the water coming over the falls peaked around 70,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) last night, shy of the 78,000 cfs record. The river level was around 20 feet, which is just shy of the top 3 from 1990, 2006, and 2009. Downstream, the river peaked about 1.5 feet shy of the record at Carnation.

Meanwhile, on the Snohomish River at Monroe, a record crest is expected later today.

The current forecast has it cresting about 3 feet above the record later today, but the current observed levels are running probably just shy of that pace. Either way, it will be near or above the record when it crests. At Snohomish, the river has established a new preliminary record crest of 33.89 feet, besting the 33.5 feet set in the 1990 flood.

To the north, the Skagit River should crest a couple feet above its record levels. This forecast is lower than yesterday but still pretty catastrophic for this region. At Mount Vernon, we’re looking at around a 39 foot crest, compared to the record of 37.4 feet, also from 1990.

To the south, the Cedar River at Renton will also probably set a record tomorrow morning, when it reaches north of 17 feet.

That river’s record? Also from 1990.As noted in this morning’s hydrologic discussion for the area, inundation near the rivers between Everett and Mt. Vernon is likely, and the threat of landslides remains as well.

In addition, the NWS in Seattle has issued a flash flood watch for the Skagit River below Sedro-Wooley for dam and levee failure risk through Friday night.

Bottom line, it’s a mess, not everywhere but over a wide swath of northwestern Washington State. Flood warnings are also in place in parts of northern Idaho and Montana as well.

As things settle down tomorrow and Saturday, our attention will shift to the next AR event, which looks poised to crash ashore beginning on Monday or Tuesday. This one will start quite warm as well, but fortunately it does look like temperatures will drop off a good 5 to 10 degrees compared to the ongoing event. This should lower snow levels down to more typical elevations and lead to less of a full-scale runoff event like the ongoing one. Still, we will probably be looking at a fair bit of precipitation from this event.

Liquid equivalents will be on the order 10 to 13 inches in the Cascades next week, or as it stands now at least. While the amount of water flowing into the river systems will be mitigated by the snow that accumulates and sticks around, we will probably see another round of (less extreme) flooding risks next week in the Northwest.

Near record cold

Meanwhile, as this whole pattern evolves, we get one last real serious shot of cold in the Eastern U.S. this weekend, peaking on Sunday. This one will probably be the coldest we’ve seen this winter across the Midwest, with numerous record lows being threatened on Sunday morning.

Forecast lows will be near 8 degrees in Indianapolis, 14 in Louisville, 11 in Cincinnati, and 13 degrees in Dayton. Wind chills of -10 to -20 will be widespread in the Midwest with -30s in Minnesota.

Back to warm

But thereafter, the pattern changes again. The 5-day average 500 mb height anomaly map is shown below for the period ending on Sunday evening, December 21st.

A very broad, very strong ridge of high pressure will setup across the Southwest and Plains. This may be close to record strength for this late in the calendar year. That would translate to high temperatures, possibly numerous record highs and record warm minimum temperatures across the country in the days before Christmas. For cold, you may only be able to look to New England, the Pacific Northwest, and the extreme Upper Midwest. Stay tuned.

The administration that is busy erasing history from any federal entity tasked with preserving it has an additional ally in the burying-the-bad-news business: Donald Trump, the former president.

Yes, it’s all stupid and weird and incredibly dangerous, but the guy who used to be president has been sued by multiple litigants over his tacit involvement (and deliberate encouragement) of the attack on the Capitol building that was intended to prevent the peaceful transition of power to the winner of the 2020 election, Joe Biden.

In perhaps the ultimate affront to the rule of law Trump claims to value, he not only persists in spreading conspiracy theories about the attack, but also pardoned pretty much every one of his supporters who had been charged and/or convicted of federal crimes for their participation in the invasion of the Capitol building immediately after re-taking the Oval Office.

Trump was out of office by the time he was sued, but he’s insisting documents and communications related to an undeniable act of insurrection are protected by his (now-recurring) executive privilege. Trump was sued five years ago by officers injured during the insurrection. The plaintiffs are asking for access to thousands of documents related to the Capitol raid on January 6, 2021. The slowly grinding wheels of the justice system have finally brought us to this point, reported last week by Kyle Cheney for Politico.

President Donald Trump has asserted executive privilege to prevent courtroom adversaries from accessing evidence in a long-running lawsuit that accuses him of stoking violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Justice Department disclosed Trump’s secrecy claim Wednesday in a hearing related to that five-year-old lawsuit, brought by police officers injured while attempting to repel the violent mob that day. The officers say Trump’s incendiary remarks to a crowd of supporters — and his direction that they march on the Capitol — fueled the riot that nearly derailed the transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden and left 140 officers injured.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson claims there’s nothing to see here. It’s not a president trying to bury his legacy of violence. It’s just the normal response to a “overly broad request” by the injured cops who understandably would like to see a bit of justice done.

The records sought reside at the National Archives. The National Archives, in response to the request by the plaintiffs, has finally responded with more detail to the September 2024 subpoena, letting the public know that Trump aims to keep every requested document out of the public’s hands.

NARA’s two-page response [PDF] provides two lists of records. The first is the largest: the number of documents Trump says can’t be released at all due to alleged “executive privilege.”

NARA identified 7,397 records responsive to the request. In accordance with 36 C.F.R. § 1270.44(c), on February 3, 2025, the Archivist notified the President of his intent to disclose the records.

On December 1, 2025, the President notified the Acting Archivist that he had determined that 4,152 records are subject to a constitutionally based claim of executive privilege.

So, that’s more than half the records. And Trump insists all of those are covered by his executive privilege. This litigation — combined with Trump’s assertions — has put NARA in a position it’s generally not familiar with, as it points out in its court filing:

The December 1, 2025 notification contains a list of each file the President asserted is subject
to constitutionally based privilege. NARA generally does not otherwise log records that are
subject to a constitutionally based claim of executive privilege.

The log has also been submitted to the court. It means nothing to anyone since it includes nothing more than list items only identifiable by NARA archivists. The only thing anyone outside of NARA can discern from this 53-page filing is that some of the records Trump wishes to keep from being made public are text messages.

And while it’s insane to believe more than half of these documents are covered by executive privilege (a privilege that certainly shouldn’t seem to apply to documents dealing with an insurrection attempt by disgruntled Trump voters), Trump’s not simply satisfied to keep these 4,000+ documents from being handed over to the people suing him.

Trump is also insisting whatever does get handed over can’t be made public, either.

The remaining 3,245 records can be released to the litigants, subject to a protective order prohibiting their use or disclosure outside this litigation.

This means anything reluctantly and begrudgingly turned over to the plaintiffs will be immediately sealed, further separating the public from the facts surrounding Trump’s actions during this insurrection attempt committed by people who are now free to do whatever they want in support of Trump because they know Trump (and the MAGA-cooked GOP) will give them official forgiveness for any crimes they commit out of loyalty to America’s autocrat.

If Trump manages to make all of this happen, he can go right back to his daily gaslighting and conspiracy theorizing. For the moment, however, he needs the courts to agree it’s okay to bury anything that might make him look worse than he already does. And with the Supreme Court majority going all in all of the time for Trump, there’s a good chance he’ll be able to wish his support of insurrection into the legal cornfield and replace the facts with whatever narrative seems to be the most flattering.

Heat-reddened clay, fire-cracked stone, and fragments of pyrite mark where Neanderthals gathered around a campfire 400,000 years ago in what’s now Suffolk, England.

Based on chemical analysis of the sediment at the site, along with the telltale presence of pyrite, a mineral not naturally found nearby but very handy for striking sparks with flint, British Museum archaeologist Rob Davis and his colleagues say the Neanderthals probably started the fire themselves. That makes the abandoned English clay pit at Barnham the oldest evidence in the world that people (Neanderthal people, in this case) had learned to not only use fire, but also create it and control it.

A cozy Neanderthal campfire

Today, the Barnham site is part of an abandoned clay pit where workers first discovered stone tools in the early 1900s. But 400,000 years ago, it would have been a picturesque little spot at the edge of a stream-fed pond, surrounded by a mix of forest and grassland. There are no hominin fossils here, but archaeologists unearthed a Neanderthal skull about 100 kilometers to the south, so the hominins at Barnham were probably also Neanderthals. The place would have offered a group of Neanderthals a relatively quiet, sheltered place to set up camp, according to Davis and his colleagues.

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The post Rubio Orders State Department Braille Signage Switch To ‘Times New Roman’ appeared first on The Onion.

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer whose employer who laid them off and then wanted them to sign an indemnification (#2 at the link)? Here’s the update.

Your advice was incredibly helpful.

My previous manager continued to send me multiple followup texts regarding the indemnification that felt very guilt-tripping (reminding me they could not proceed with the critical business operation unless I signed and agreed). I did not reply to any of the texts. I did reply to the document they sent me via email (indemnification document). I cc’d the company’s head of legal. In the email, I refused to sign, said I did not consent to the use of my credentials, and that this was my final decision. In reply, they said they hoped for a different outcome but “respected my decision given the use of my name and dob in login credentials.” I also contacted the government agency that I had the credentials with and informed them I no longer worked there, asking them to remove my credentials from association with the company, and they did so.

Months passed and I heard nothing more, but eventually I received a text from this same manager, who let me know that they found another partnership and were able to continue with business as usual (they “thought I’d like to know”). I responded with a very brief “Glad to hear” and have not heard from them since. Of course, what I would have liked to say was, “Why do I care? This isn’t my business since you fired me” but I wanted to end on an okay note.

I am still job searching. It’s extremely rough out there, and I have not been able to get very far in interviews for the same job I left at this company because I am so early career. I’ve been getting feedback from companies when they do not move forward with me that they just have more candidates with more experience, always. I feel resentful that I was cut off from developing in my early career by this company that clearly didn’t think through their own needs before making that decision. I’m starting to look outside my previous industry with a little more success (and a big pay cut). I wish everyone out there looking right now the best of luck.

Again, thank you so much for all your advice, and your readers for their comments! I enjoyed reading through them all and it felt very vindicating.

The post update: employer who laid me off is now asking me to sign an indemnification appeared first on Ask a Manager.

We’ve covered how there’s a real push afoot to implement statewide “right to repair” laws that try to make it cheaper, easier, and environmentally friendlier for you to repair the technology you own. Unfortunately, while all fifty states have at least flirted with the idea, only Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Colorado, California, and Oregon, and Washington have actually passed laws.

And among those states, not one has actually enforced them despite a wide array of ongoing corporate offenses (though to be fair to states there is kind of a lot going on).

This reform movement, which sees broad bipartisan support, had even started to reach toward the military, which is probably the poster child for over-billing, dysfunctional repair monopoly, “parts pairing,” and other predatory efforts to jack up the cost of maintenance and ownership.

Back in June we mentioned how Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll had committed to including right-to-repair requirements in all existing and future Army contracts with manufacturers. Some very light language to this effect was to be included in the latest National Defense Authorization Act by Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Tim Sheehy of Montana.

Earlier this year, Driscoll offered up a useful example of why reform is important:

“Driscoll recently pointed to a Black Hawk helicopter part to show how contractor restrictions drive up costs. The original equipment manufacturer refuses to repair or replace a small screen-control knob that grounds the aircraft when it breaks — forcing the Army to purchase an entire new screen assembly for $47,000. Driscoll said the Army could make the knob for just $15.”

Picture that problem, at scale, across the entirety of U.S. military hardware, planet wide.

But despite the bipartisan popularity of right to repair reforms, companies weren’t keen on losing money via a government crackdown on their grift. So the various policy and lobbying fronts for America’s defense contractors spent much of this fall trying to frame the modest reforms as an affront on innovation to scuttle the reforms as the House and Senate debate over bill versions.

And guess what, they succeeded:

“The House’s Data-as-a-Service Solutions for Weapon System Contracts provision, which would have required DoD to negotiate access to technical data and necessary software before signing a contract, was removed from the final text of the annual legislation released over the weekend. The Senate’s provision requiring contractors to provide the military with detailed repair and maintenance instructions was dropped from the bill as well.

Instead, the legislation requires the Defense Department to develop a digital system that would track and manage all technical data and verify whether contractors and subcontractors comply with contract requirements related to technical data. The compromise version of the bill also requires DoD to review all existing contracts to determine what contractors were required to deliver and what data DoD can access.”

That’s basically worthless bureaucracy as it applies to any sort of meaningful right to repair reforms.

Again, these reforms were about as basic as they get. Still, they would have likely opened the door to taxpayers saving billions of dollars annually when it comes to paying too much for the repair and maintenance of U.S. military equipment. It was a no brainer reform, but because the United States is genuinely too corrupt to function, even that was ultimately a bridge too far.

To add insult to injury, we’ve got fake Trump populists and Silicon Valley execs like Elon Musk running around pretending they care about efficiency. But in instances like this, where there’s real potential to improve government efficiency, you’ll notice they’re nowhere to be found because the reforms would interfere with their ability to rip off the public.

Hey, could I get some SERVICE in here?

No need.

Washington state was under a state of emergency Thursday from a barrage of torrential rain that has sent rivers flowing over their banks, caused a mudslide to crash down on a highway and trapped people in floodwaters. Tens of thousands of residents could face evacuation orders.

The country’s largest electrical grid operator, PJM Interconnection, plans to power new data centers that it knows it doesn’t have the capacity for — prompting an energy watchdog to warn of heightened blackout risks.

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The independent watchdog for the country’s largest power grid operator has issued a “regulatory grenade” asking the federal government to intervene amid PJM Interconnection’s plans to power data centers it knows it doesn’t have the capacity for — despite acknowledging the heightened risk of blackouts. This comes as PJM has seen windfall profits from shouldering energy-draining data centers, at a multibillion-dollar cost to consumers.

Last week, the monitor overseeing PJM filed a complaint with the nation’s top electric utility regulator, warning of unreliable service for its sixty-five million customers across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic. Monitoring Analytics asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to pause connecting larger artificial intelligence–powering data centers to its grid until PJM can ensure “reliable, economic, and environmentally acceptable” service and guarantee that the growing data center energy burden won’t produce unnecessary blackouts.

“The logic is simple. The question is clear,” the complaint reads. “If PJM has an obligation to provide reliable service . . . is it just and reasonable for PJM to add new loads that it cannot serve reliably? The answer to that question is no.”

In internal policy proposals that PJM submitted to stakeholders earlier this year, the operator forecasted that “supply may be insufficient to meet the expected demand” created by large-load consumers (read: data centers), and that load curtailments (read: blackouts) may be necessary in an emergency.

Under these rejected plans, PJM had sought new guidelines that would cut power delivery to data centers first in the event of shortages before subjecting other consumers — including, in some cases, utilities — to “rolling blackouts.”

A recent report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation found that data center–driven growth in electricity demand is expected to more than double this winter, adding to the risk of cold-weather blackouts, particularly in data center hot spots — like Virginia, which is serviced by PJM.

This comes after US electricity consumers experienced double the amount of blackout time in 2024 than they averaged across the previous decade, with natural disasters causing 80 percent of hours without electricity.

Last month, PJM stakeholders — a potpourri of vested figures including power plant and transmission owners, retail electricity providers, consumers, advocates, governors, and state utilities regulators — rejected every proposal considered on handling the operator’s worsening supply issues amid hundreds of new data center developments plugging into its grid.

According to a June report from Monitoring Analytics, data center load growth is the “primary reason” for precarious electricity capacity conditions, including the higher prices that consumers are seeing.

Meanwhile, according to the new complaint, data center load alone increased PJM’s annual energy-commitment auction revenues by more than $7.2 billion, or 82 percent, over last year. Across seven of the thirteen states where PJM operates, consumers paid $4.4 billion in 2024 just to fund transmission upgrades necessary to accommodate data centers.

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This article was first published by the Lever, an award-winning independent investigative newsroom.

Two years before hosting a meeting with Elon Musk in Dubai, Emirati logistics CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem asked Jeffrey Epstein to connect him with the Tesla head, newly released emails show. It’s not the only time Musk has come up in the Epstein files.

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In 2015, an Emirati businessman emailed Jeffrey Epstein asking the financier to put him in touch with Elon Musk, according to leaked emails reviewed by the Lever.   

According to the records, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of Middle East logistics giant DP World and one of President Donald Trump’s early Middle Eastern business partners, wanted to chat with Musk about using Tesla batteries at a hotel Sulayem was building in Dubai. Musk, among the world’s richest people, would go on to serve in Trump’s second administration.

“Can you put me in touch with Elon [M]usk or ask him to refer me to someone at his company so we can discuss,” Sulayem wrote Epstein on May 29, 2015, years after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a minor.

Following years of criminal proceedings and news investigations, federal agents arrested Epstein for sex trafficking in July 2019. The following month, Epstein, known for fraternizing with many of the world’s most rich and powerful, was found dead in his federal jail cell.

Partial releases and leaks of federal investigators’ records on the matter have indicated Epstein cultivated ties to politicians of all stripes, including President Donald Trump and members of his inner circle. After repeated pushback on the issue, Trump agreed last month to release the full “Epstein files.”

While the documents are supposed to be released by December 19, portions of Epstein’s communications have continued to emerge. That includes twenty thousand alleged Epstein emails recently obtained and vetted by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit that “archives and publishes hacked and leaked documents in the public interest.” According to the investigative news outlet Drop Site, which first reported on the emails, the documents contain the same forensic signatures as other leaked Epstein materials.

In 2005, Sulayem reportedly helped seal a deal between Trump and Emirati officials to build a tulip-shaped hotel on a human-made island in Dubai. It was Trump’s first hotel deal in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported at the time.

It is uncertain if Epstein ever reached out to Musk about Sulayem or put the two in touch; the Lever did not find a response from Epstein to Sulayem’s request on the matter among the twenty thousand emails. However, in 2017, Musk and Sulayem led a discussion in Dubai about using Tesla batteries for renewable energy storage in shipping ports and terminals in Africa, India, and Latin America.

Tesla and Sulayem did not respond to requests for comment ahead of publication.

“Elon Musk to Island”

The details of Sulayem’s email come several months after House Democrats released Epstein’s daily schedules, which included a December 6, 2014, note stating, “Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?)”

In response, Musk claimed that he refused the invitation and that he had never visited Epstein’s Little St James Island, where Epstein allegedly brought young women, including some who appeared to be preteen. In 2019, Musk told Vanity Fair that he had visited Epstein’s New York home and that Epstein repeatedly tried to get him to visit his island. Musk said he declined the invitation.

Musk has also been linked to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and coconspirator who played a “key role” in Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme, according to prosecutors. In 2014, Musk and Maxwell were photographed together during a Vanity Fair Oscar party. Musk later accused Maxwell of “photobombing” him at the party.

“Victoria’s Secret”

According to the leaked emails reviewed by the Lever, Epstein and Sulayem exchanged dozens, if not hundreds, of emails between 2007 and 2018. In often informally written missives, the two shared news articles, investment advice, and made plans to meet. Sulayem often wrote to Epstein asking the sex offender if he could visit his island, emails show.

“Dear Jeffery, Any update on the Christmas at your island I need to plan my travel,” states one email from December 9, 2014.

Palm Beach police began investigating Epstein in 2005, after a fourteen-year-old’s parents told police that he paid her for a massage. Local police referred the case to federal prosecutors in 2006, and two years later, as part of a federal nonprosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of a prostitute and solicitation of a prostitution with a minor under the age of eighteen.

The plea deal and Epstein’s subsequent eighteen-month sentence, which allowed him to leave his minimum security prison for twelve hours a day for work purposes, were widely critiqued. Epstein served less than 13 months of the sentence and was released in July 2009.

Drop Site recently reported that Distributed Denial of Secrets’ tranche of emails suggested Epstein “attempting to cultivate a relationship” between Sulayem and former Victoria’s Secret magnate Les Wexner.

One March 28, 2008, email Epstein sent to Sulayem states: “call me over the weekend regarding Victoria[’]s secret.”

“Shake Hand With Trump”

According to emails released by the House Oversight Committee in November, Sulayem emailed Epstein on January 6, 2017, asking Epstein if he should attend the upcoming presidential inauguration of then president-elect Donald Trump.

Sulayem stated that he was invited to the event by Tom Barrack, then-senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

“Do you think it will be possible to shake hand with trump,” Sulayem asked.

Epstein wrote back that Sulayem should call him and later wrote: “very many people going. it will be very crowded. but if you can meet some before or after in either wash or ny, it might be worth it.. but unlikely”.

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This article was first published by the Lever, an award-winning independent investigative newsroom.

NEW HAVEN, CT—Shedding new light on a previously undocumented effect of loneliness, a team of psychologists at Yale University found that at least 80% of Americans lack the social connections necessary to pull off a heist. “When it comes to putting together a crew with the skills needed for a bank job or a jewel heist, a majority of Americans reported knowing just one or two guys, tops,” said lead researcher Jane Iannitello, adding that only 20% had any safecrackers in their lives, a mere 16% knew any hacker prodigies with a rebellious streak, and fewer than 5% had access to Taiwanese acrobats doubling as masters of disguise. “As they spend more and more time on social media, people just aren’t going out to underground boxing rings, art auctions, or other settings where they are likely to meet a fast-talking charismatic type who pulls them into a daring heist. They often lose touch with their demolition experts after childhood, and though people may be eager for a big money payday that could mean walking away from the life for good, they are too afraid to put themselves out there for fear of rejection. Even in cases where they have a crew big enough for a heist, lonely Americans are often left feeling stranded due to a lack of getaway drivers, which forces them to brandish firearms at total strangers and demand that they drive, just drive.” While researchers cautioned the trend is likely to continue, they went on to state that some of the negative effects could be mitigated by reaching out to therapists with a plan, a keycard, and nothing to lose.

The post Study Finds 80% Of Americans Lack Social Connections To Pull Off Heist appeared first on The Onion.

Girl group Katseye is nominated for two awards at the 2026 Grammys, including Best New Artist. The Onion shares everything you need to know about the group.

Genre: Popular girl’s bat mitzvah

Number Of Members: Four full-time and two who don’t know they’re part-time

Biggest Hit: “She’ll Be Coming ’Round The Mountain”

Fandom Name: Consumers

Reality Series Where They Met: Ice Road Truckers

Accolades: Own Wikipedia page

Record Contract: Onerous

Why They’re Always Standing Like That: Huddling for warmth

How To Join: Send resume to JoinTheTeam@KatsyeMusic.com

First Member To Go Solo: Whoever survives the bus crash

The post Artist Profile: Katseye appeared first on The Onion.

“If we get signal priority sorted, you should be able to get from Finch West to Humber in only a standard business day.” Luke and the Panel (Nile Seguin, Clare Blackwood and Megan MacKay) talk the Conservative’s “trap” motion on the pipeline, the Liberals’ struggles to pass their anti-hate crime law and the fight to […]

The post TTC promises to get Finch West LRT travel time under 24 hours appeared first on The Beaverton.

CALGARY – Air Transat has reached a tentative deal with its pilot union, narrowly avoiding a strike on the cusp of the busy holiday travel period, meaning that Francois Tremblay, 32, will indeed have to use his previously-booked flight to travel home to visit family in Saguenay, QC. The news, which has come as a […]

The post Air Transat strike averted, reads man who now has to fly home for holidays appeared first on The Beaverton.

Published in both English and Spanish, children learn the flower's Indigenous background and why its iconic red appendages aren't actually petals.

In the spirit of the season, let’s hear about workplace gift debacles. Did a game of Secret Santa end in tears? Did a coworker throw a tantrum when she didn’t win a raffle?  Were you given a jar of mold as a gift? Did you receive an oil painting of your coworker’s mother in the style of Napoleon? These are all real stories that we’ve heard here in the past. Now you must top them.

Share your weirdest or funniest story related to gifts in the office in the comments.

The post office holiday gift-giving stories: worst gifts and weirdest gifts appeared first on Ask a Manager.

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping died from cancer complications at 72 this weekend, but the rest of the bought-and-sold press will never tell you that.

The post ​​General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping appeared first on The Onion.

The post The Top 100 Most Influential People, Locked In Our Oubliette. Not So Influential Now, Are You? appeared first on The Onion.

Those guys look like us.
Hey ... it is us!
#CowboyWho

VANCOUVER, BC – When prompted to complete your boring essay, ChatGPT chose to spend the night performing a full system cleanup on your computer instead. Sure you were assigned to write 10,000 words on the “Economic Impact of the Farming Practices of the Broccoli Trade in 18th century Sicily.” But with the deadline looming, you […]

The post ChatGPT cleans up hard drive to procrastinate writing your boring essay appeared first on The Beaverton.