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☆ Inside Smashmallow, Silicon Valley's Failed Marshmallow Startup
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

"We wanted a marshmallow to have a little bite to it, not just be a foamy air," he says. Jon Sebastiani, Smashmallow founderSmashmallow had a killer brand — but the product was still basically being made one batch at a time, on kitchen counters. If Smashmallow couldn't produce enough marshmallows, Tanis wouldn't get its dough. The thing is, even though Smashmallow failed, Sebastiani didn't. "In that industry, a snackable marshmallow is a Smashmallow, like a copy machine is a Xerox," says Kwasniewski.

Persons: Jon Sebastiani, Sebastiani, Krave, jonesing, marshmallows, Liam Eisenberg, aerated, Cook, Jens Hoj, Hoj, Smashmallow, he'd, It's, Theranos, wasn't, Elizabeth Holmes, Tanis, Wolfgang Confectioners, Smashmallow Smashmallow, Wolfgang, Tanis wouldn't, Smashmallow couldn't, Richard Hartel, Sebastiani didn't, David Kwasniewski, Kwasniewski, Smashmallows, it's, Adam Rogers Organizations: Hershey, Michelin, BI, Kraft, Target, Walmart, Doumak, Workers, University of Wisconsin, Area, Xerox, marshmallows, Business Locations: Paris, California, Sonoma, Hershey, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Hobart, Chicago, Las Vegas, Netherlands, Tanis, Pennsylvania, America, Sonoma Capital, Smashmallow, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Colorado, North America

☆ Families Cut Adrift by Concrete Crisis in U.K. Schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Megan Specia | More About Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It’s been kind of in free fall really,” said Ms. Burness, 47, of how the week has played out. “And how much longer will it be?”By Thursday morning, Ms. Burness and her husband, who both run their own businesses, were juggling parenting duties and their jobs, unable to find specialist child care at short notice. On Friday, the school said classes would resume the following week, but added that some rooms would be inaccessible and adjustments would have to be made. Britain’s Conservative government has faced acute criticism since the announcement last week that more than 100 schools would have to close buildings because of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or RAAC, a bubbly, lightweight material known to pose a risk of sudden collapse. The crisis intensified after it became clear that senior government officials had ignored repeated warnings about the material, with a former Department for Education official accusing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of refusing to rebuild more schools while he was chancellor of the Exchequer, despite being told of a “critical risk to life.” (Mr. Sunak said it was “completely and utterly wrong” to hold him responsible for the funding shortfall.)

Persons: “, ”, Burness, Rishi Sunak, Sunak Organizations: Conservative, Department for Education

☆ Britain has a new big problem: crumbling concrete in schools, hospitals, airports, and theaters
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The "crumbly concrete" was used in hundreds of schools and some have been shut over fears of collapses. The UK government said more than 100 schools faced closure because they contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), a material typically used in roof planks and wall panels. AdvertisementAdvertisementOther structures such as hospitals, theaters, universities and some apartment buildings are also being checked for the concrete. Why was the concrete used? According to the think-tank the Institute for Government, those cuts are linked with schools' RAAC closures.

Persons: Matthew Byatt, RAAC, –, Chris Goodier, What's, Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak's, NAO, Gareth Davies, Rishi Sunak Organizations: Service, Health, Safety, National Audit Office, Guardian, Financial Times, of Structural Engineers, Labour, Loughborough University, Department for Education, Institute for Government, The Times, National Health Service, European Union Locations: Wall, Silicon, Heathrow, Gatwick, Kent, Sweden, London, he's, India

☆ Hundreds more UK school buildings could be crumbling, says minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Sachin Ravikumar | Thomson Reuters | Sachin Ravikumar Is A Correspondent For Reuters In London Covering General News Across The Uk. Over Nine Years At Reuters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds more school buildings in England might be crumbling and unsafe, Britain's Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said on Monday after authorities ordered 104 schools to shut buildings with old and weak concrete. The revelations of crumbling school buildings only days before the start of a new term has sparked anger among parents and teachers, representing a new political headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of an election expected next year. Keegan told BBC Radio that schools suspected to have RAAC would be inspected in the next two weeks, adding that "most of them won't have RAAC". When asked if there could be hundreds more schools, she acknowledged that "it could be hundreds". Sunak, meanwhile, said that 95% of the roughly 22,000 schools in England would not be affected.

Persons: Gillian Keegan, Rishi Sunak, Keegan, Sunak, Jonathan Slater, Sachin Ravikumar, Kylie MacLellan, Peter Graff, David Goodman Organizations: BBC Radio, Thomson Locations: England, Britain

☆ More Than 100 Schools in England Ordered Closed Over Faulty Concrete
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Megan Specia | More About Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON — More than 100 schools across England were ordered to close Thursday because they were built using unsafe concrete, the Department for Education said in a statement Thursday afternoon, a few days before the start of a new school year for most students. The schools were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, a lightweight concrete material known as RAAC that was used between the 1950s and mid-1990s and has been determined to be prone to failures and crumbling. In all, 104 schools were ordered closed. Some 156 schools were confirmed to have used the lightweight concrete in their buildings, but 52 have put in safety measures to mitigate the risks. That could mean using other buildings for classes, sharing space with other schools or, in some cases, erecting temporary buildings.

Organizations: Department for Education Locations: England

☆ Caviar Gets Even More Refined
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

So it’s perhaps no surprise that chefs are turning their attention to something more rarefied than your everyday osetra: albino caviar, which ranges in color from alabaster to golden, and is the result of uncommon mutations. The most sought after is that of the beluga sturgeon but, says Hermes Gehnen, the founder of N25 Caviar, an international purveyor, “restaurants generally can’t afford it. Although white caviar stock is limited, they aren’t the only pale orbs worth chasing. Snail eggs, which have a mushroomlike flavor, have the same visual appeal despite their earthy taste. “Sometimes,” says Munk, “you’ll pay even more money for snail eggs than you do for caviar.” — Lauren JosephThe Thing: Jewel-Toned Glass Lamps From Hermès

Persons: Hermes Gehnen, ”, Angie Mar, Rasmus Munk, Araki, Marty Lau, Munk, “, ” — Lauren Joseph The Organizations: Trois, Alchemist Locations: New York, Copenhagen, London

☆ You can now have your body composted after death in New York. Here's how it works and why it's greener.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

New York recently became the sixth state to legalize body composting after death. Also known as natural organic reduction, the process turns your body into soil that your loved ones can use to grow plants in. We asked Recompose, a Washington-based natural organic service, how it works and why the process is more eco-friendly than a traditional burial. Mat Hayward/Getty Images for RecomposeLoved ones can place flowers or other organic materials with the body before it is transferred to the composting area. And the body itself is burned, so the carbon from the body is also released to the atmosphere," he said.

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