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☆ Congress's UFO hearing shows the hardest part of discovering alien life may be announcing it. Here's how NASA might break the news.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

An illustration of the CoLD scale for determining confidence in a detection of alien life. The discovery of extraterrestrial life is likely to be a slow build-up, rather than an explosive eureka moment. The president or other countries could be involved in announcing extraterrestrial life existsPresident Joe Biden speaks at Delaware State University. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAnnouncing the existence of alien life would be an "administration-level" affair, Glaze said, referring to the US presidency. Needless to say, any discovery of alien life would likely lead to chaos — at least in public discourse.

Persons: NASA isn't, David Grusch, Randall Hill, UAPs, Elon Musk, John Locher, Karine Jean, Pierre, we've, Lori Glaze, Glaze, James Webb, Jean, Philippe Arles, It's, Aaron Gronstal, Mary Voytek, Joe Biden, Anna Moneymaker, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Stephen Hawking, I'm, we're Organizations: Service, NASA, Beijing, Reuters, Department of Defense, Associated Press, AP, White House, Navy, US Department of Defense, JPL, Caltech, Delaware State University Locations: Wall, Silicon, South Carolina, Surfside Beach , South Carolina, US, Alaska, Canada, Lake Huron, Rachel , Nevada, Bugarach, France

☆ Hedge fund performance in July was muted. But Citadel distanced itself from Point72, Millennium, and other competitors.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Alex Morrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Top multi-strategy hedge funds trailed the stock market in July. Citadel led the pack, gaining 1.3% last month and pushing its 2023 tally to 8.6%. Verition bested most of its peers, gaining 1.2% in July. The world's largest hedge funds, meanwhile, posted more muted gains. Among its multi-strategy hedge fund peers, Ken Griffin's $59 billion Citadel remains second to none, gaining 1.3% in July in its flagship Wellington fund.

Persons: Verition, Ken Griffin's, It's, Marshall Wace Eureka Organizations: Citadel, Citadel Wellington, Hudson, International, Representatives Locations: Wellington

☆ A New York property where a mobster ran a moonshine business during Prohibition is now on the market for $5.5 million — and he may have buried treasure worth millions on the land
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Maria Noyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A modern barn that's home to a distillery 2 hours north of New York City has hit the market for $5.5 million. The property is located in Pine Plains in Upstate New York. Google Maps, Houlihan LawrenceLocated roughly 100 miles north of New York City, Harvest Homestead hit the market for $5.5 million earlier in July. The 343-acre property, which is near the quiet hamlet of Pine Plains, comes with several buildings, including a barn that houses a modern distillery. After learning New York state was softening restrictions on smaller craft distilleries, they decided they would start one themselves on Adams' family's land.

Persons: Houlihan Lawrence, Ariel Schlein, Alex Adams, Schlein, Adams, they'd Organizations: New York City, Google, Harvest, Wall Street Locations: New York, Pine Plains, Upstate New York, New York City, Dutchess County

☆ A Texas real-estate investor created a tiny home village where sites rent for $700. Its residents get a slice of the American dream, and have formed a tight-knit community. See inside.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The village has 13 lots that cost renters, who bring their own tiny homes, around $700 each month. He encountered an array of tiny homes, non-mortgaged houses or cabins that are typically under 600 square feet. The waitlist for a spot in Lake Dallas Tiny Home Village is nearly a dozen long. While each resident's home is uniquely built, several were constructed by either Indigo River Tiny Homes or Decathlon Tiny Homes. The community garden at Lake Dallas Tiny Home Village.

Persons: Terry Lantrip, —, Terry Lantrip's, Lantrip, Alcynna Lloyd, Alcynna Lloyd Tiny, Alcynna Lloyd Lantrip, There's Organizations: Service, Urban, Dallas, Lake Dallas Tiny Home, The, Fort, North Texas Tiny House, Residents, National Organization of Alternative, Dallas Tiny Home Locations: Texas, Lake Dallas, Lewisville Lake, Lantrip, Dallas, The Dallas, Fort Worth, North, Lake, Chicago, Bridgeton , New Jersey, Albuquerque , New Mexico

☆ How Citadel, Millennium, D.E. Shaw, and Other Hedge Funds Fared in May
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Michelle Abrego | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

This year, it remains the top-performing multistrategy fund, just ahead of Steve Cohen's Point72. Here's how multistrategy hedge fund giants fared in May, from Citadel to Millennium. Billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel continues to lead the competitive multistrategy hedge fund performance race this year, despite being bested for the month of May by Izzy Englander's hedge fund. Returns are still rolling out, but the major hedge fund players did not see major movements within their flagship funds. In other hedge fund news: London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace's Eureka flagship fund, an equity fund managed by founder Paul Marshall, climbed 1.74% in May and is up 1.70% year to date.

Persons: Ken Griffin's, Steve Cohen's Point72, Ken Griffin's Citadel, Izzy Englander's, Marshall, Paul Marshall Organizations: Millennium, Point72, Wellington, Nvidia, Tactical Trading Locations: Citadel, Wellington, Miami, London

☆ California's electricity bills could soon be based on how much you make — and some people are furious
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Brad Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A California law would set a sliding scale for electricity bills based on a household's income. It doesn't totally take out of the equation how much power each household uses: Part of each bill will still be based on that. But each bill also will have "fixed charges" that will be set based on income. Cities like Los Angeles need to build out their electric system to deal with increased demand. "This makes it cheaper to use electricity to operate electric cars or appliances," the NRDC argues — something that could become key in stoking demand for EVs.

Persons: that's, —, you've, Erik Von Weber, That's, they've, it's Organizations: Service, Privacy, Washington Post, California Public Utilities Commission, Pacific Gas & Electric San Diego Gas & Electric Southern Cal, Edison, The Washington Post, Getty, Natural Resources Defense Council Locations: California, Los Angeles, San Diego, Eureka

☆ How Ford, GM auto dealers are thinking about Detroit's EV transition and their future
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Trevor Laurence Jockims | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

If consumers are to be sold on the mass adoption of battery-powered electric vehicles, car dealers are going to be essential to the pitch. But she expects more Ford dealers will opt in at a future date, once they observe a meaningful consumer shift to EVs. "Despite significant increases in EV sales in 2023, dealers are largely skeptical about the OEM's timeframes on the EV rollout," Kerrigan said. A dealer in Santa Monica may decide more quickly, "I need to be all-in on EVs," Maas said. It also caps their total EV sales at 25% of inventory.

Persons: Robb Hernandez, Hernandez, Brian Maas, Maas, EVs, Kerrigan, Ford, Erin Kerrigan, Kelley, BEV, Dealers, Jim Farley, Farley, Tesla, Tesla's, Ford's Organizations: Ford, Bloomberg, Getty, EV, GM, Camino Real Chevrolet, Car Dealers, California Air Resources Board, Kerrigan Advisors, Toyota, ICE, CNBC, Auto Locations: Colma , California, Monterey Park, Calif, California, U.S, Santa Monica, EVs, Eureka

☆ Melbourne rocked by largest earthquake in over 120 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Melbourne was shaken Sunday by a rare and shallow earthquake – the largest earthquake to hit the Australian city in over a century – swaying buildings but ultimately causing very little damage. Adam Pascale, chief scientist at the Victoria-based Seismology Research Centre, said the earthquake was the largest within 40 kilometers of Melbourne since a magnitude 4.5 quake hit in 1902. “Felt like a plane crashed next to my house or something,” one resident said, according to CNN affiliate 7News. Earthquakes are not as common in Australia though the continent does experience seismic activity due to tectonic plate movement. In 2021, Victoria experienced a magnitude 5.9 earthquake that caused some minor structural damage in Melbourne despite hitting nearly 200 kilometers away.

☆ There's a cheat code out there to help businesses cut supply-chain emissions — but hardly anyone uses it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

That's because they'll travel on different models of ships and likely at different speeds — maybe even with different fuel. The toy giant Hasbro, for example, has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 — with a 40% reduction by 2030. Eventually, they'll have to wade into their supply chains — where 90% of most companies' emissions come from — and transportation is a key element. When companies look closer, they often find they're producing fewer emissions than they think, and identifying places to reduce gets even easier. Saving money equals reduction," Eric Rempel, the chief innovation officer of Redwood Logistics, said.

☆ European police arrest more than 100 mafia suspects in drug crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The swoop was part of an investigation spanning Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Romania, Brazil and Panama, according to European Union law enforcement agency Europol. The network was devoted primarily to international drug trafficking from South America to both Europe and Australia, Europol said in a statement. A total of 108 people were arrested in Italy and other EU countries on the orders of police in the southern city of Reggio Calabria, Italian police said. Related investigations led to the arrest of 24 people in Germany, they said, as well as a further 53 detentions in northern Italy. The interior minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia said 18 of the arrests were made there.

☆ Factbox: The 'Ndrangheta: Italy's most powerful mafia group
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

May 3 (Reuters) - Italy's 'Ndrangheta has supplanted Sicily's Cosa Nostra as the country's most powerful mafia organisation, and has spread across Europe and the rest of the world. ORIGIN, CELEBRITY KIDNAPPING AND COCAINEThe 'Ndrangheta originates from Calabria, the impoverished southern region at the tip of Italy's boot. Its name is believed to come from the ancient Greek words "andros" and "agathos", meaning brave or valiant man. POWER AND WEALTHIn its latest six-monthly report, Italy's Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) calls the 'Ndrangheta "the absolute dominant force in the criminal world" well beyond its home turf of Calabria. In 2008, Italian research group Eurispes valued the 'Ndrangheta's annual turnover at a staggering 44 billion euros ($48.54 billion), about 3% of Italy's gross domestic product at the time.

☆ Dozens arrested in Germany in European probe of Italian organised crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, May 3 (Reuters) - German police arrested dozens of people across the country on Wednesday in an investigation of the Italian 'Ndrangheta organised crime group, German public prosecutors and state police said. The crackdown was part of a coordinated probe by investigators in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain as well as Europol and Eurojust, they said. Among those arrested were four people in Bavaria, 15 in North Rhine-Westphalia, and 10 in the southwestern German state of Rhineland Palatinate, and police seized potential evidence at dozens of locations including homes and offices. Two suspects who were under investigation in the western state of Saarland, were arrested in Italy. German prosecutors said they would hold a news conference later on Wednesday.

☆ This 44-year-old founder and CEO is stepping down to go on a 3-year religious mission. 'I feel such confidence that this is the right thing.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Davis Smith founded Cotopaxi, an outdoor gear company and certified B Corporation, in 2014. In July, he will step down as CEO to go on a 3-year religious mission in Brazil. Damien Huang, Cotopaxi's president who joined the company from Eddie Bauer, where he was CEO, will move into the role. "But I feel such confidence that this is the right thing." And we don't do that by isolating ourselves or saying, "We're better than you," or "You're not doing it right."

☆ Eureka! After California’s Heavy Rains, Gold Seekers Are Giddy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Thomas Fuller | Jim Wilson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WHY WE’RE HEREWe’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Northern California, prospectors are looking to strike gold after the winter storms, recalling a storied era in state history. April 22, 2023PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Albert Fausel spends his days at the family hardware store sorting through boxes of bolts and pacing the old, creaking floorboards to greet his loyal clientele. But on a recent sunny afternoon, he threw on his wet suit and diver’s mask and inserted himself face down in the shallow creek near his home. In just 20 minutes of rooting around the creek bed, Mr. Fausel had found about $100 worth of gold.

spray really isn't butter, U.S. appeals court says9th Circuit ruling affirms dismissal of false advertising class actionApril 18 (Reuters) - Unilever's (ULVR.L) "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" A split 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims that Unilever based its zero-fat, zero-calorie advertising for the spray on artificially low serving sizes. Representatives for Unilever and Upfield, the Unilever spinoff that now sells "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" products, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The court said the FDA properly classified the product as a spray, and that if the plaintiffs "believe that Butter! The case is Pardini v. Unilever United States Inc, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, No.

☆ Hollywood Wants You to Tear Up Over Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( John Jurgensen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘Flamin’ Hot,’ which tells the origin story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, is in a wave of movies about famous products and the people behind them. Famous products are the stars of a new batch of movies rolling off the assembly line to theaters and streaming platforms. Their titles leverage the brand recognition of their subjects: an addictive videogame from the ’80s (“Tetris”), a once-hot smartphone (“ BlackBerry ”), a spicy line of snacks (“Flamin’ Hot”) and history’s most collectible sneaker (“Air”). They’re origin stories about the people who brought hit merchandise to market. Their eureka moments, pitch meetings and contract negotiations are the stuff of cinematic drama.

☆ American, Delta, and United have collectively dropped 74 US airports since the pandemic — see the full list
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Taylor Rains | Bianca Giacobone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines have exited 74 airports since 2020. Some of the airports are in the Essential Air Service program and are now served by a new airline. In September 2022, the company's research revealed American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines had exited 59 airports. In total, American has left 19 airports, Delta has exited 17, and United has departed 38. American, Delta, and United have all cut routes in recent years, citing poor performance and the pilot shortage as contributing factors.

☆ How an often overlooked World War II-era shipbuilder designed the boat that Eisenhower said 'won the war for us'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Katie Sanders | Mara Storey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Higgins boat is one of the iconic vessels of World War II. Andrew Higgins, center, developed several kinds of landing craft that were invaluable during World War II. His landing craft were used in every major amphibious assault of World War II, from the shores of Europe to the Pacific islands. National World War II MuseumBorn in Nebraska in 1886, Higgins ran newspaper routes and started a lawn-mowing company as a child. In one instance, Navy officials expressed interest in seeing a design for a new 56-foot tank landing craft three days before a scheduled visit to see another type of landing craft.

☆ The world's first 3D-printed rocket is about to launch into space. Here's how it could beat Elon Musk's SpaceX to Mars.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Relativity Space wants to be for rockets what Tesla was for electric cars, says Ellis. Tim Ellis, CEO of Relativity Space. Relativity spaceEllis, CEO and co-founder of Relativity Space, said his eureka moment came while working at Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Ellis decided he would disrupt the rocket business by putting metal 3D printers at the core of the manufacturing process. "The way you have to design for a nearly entirely 3D printed rocket is very different," he said.

☆ Inside California's tiny-home takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

For the state with the most dire housing shortage, the move could be a game changer — eventually. As the US grapples with a massive housing shortage, one possible solution is playing out in California right now — and the state may have struck gold. Oregon, Maine, and Nebraska, as well as cities like Miami, have enacted laws similar to California's. There's been opposition to ADUs from homeowners worried about the density of their neighborhoods and sometimes the aesthetics of the structures. Ultimately, the housing shortage could be alleviated, she said.

Musk on Wednesday announced the news with the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, and the Tesla CEO later told CNBC that putting the engineering hub in California means it is "effectively a headquarters of Tesla." Democratic-controlled California, the most populous U.S. state, has more electric vehicles than any other and provided Tesla with tax incentives as it grew. "Given that the Bay Area in California is home to many leading tech companies, it makes sense for Tesla’s engineering headquarters to be located there as a way to attract top talent," said Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar. The new Tesla engineering headquarters will be in a former Hewlett Packard building in Palo Alto. "This is a poetic transition from the company that founded Silicon Valley to Tesla," Musk said.

☆ The UFO shoot-downs show the hardest part of discovering alien life may be announcing it. Here's how NASA might break the news.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Extraterrestrial life likely wouldn't show up as flying objects, but finding it could cause similar chaos. An illustration of the CoLD scale for determining confidence in a detection of alien life. The president or other countries could be involved in announcing extraterrestrial life existsPresident Joe Biden speaks at Delaware State University. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAnnouncing the existence of alien life would be an "administration-level" affair, Glaze said, referring to the US presidency. Needless to say, any discovery of alien life would likely lead to chaos — at least in public discourse.

Early on Friday, the core of the cold air mass, driven from Arctic Canada into the United States by high-altitude air currents, was centered over the U.S. Plains, said weather service forecaster Bob Oravec. International Falls, Minnesota, was the coldest spot as of 7 a.m., with temperatures hovering around -36 F (-38 C). "It's moving into the Northeast" and temperatures will drop throughout the day on Friday, he said. By comparison, air temperatures in Eureka, Canada's northernmost Arctic weather station, were hovering at -41 F (-41 C) on Friday morning. Boston was about 22 above zero F (-6 C) on Friday morning, with temperatures expected to plummet throughout the day and hit -3 F (-19 C) by midnight.

☆ She Turned a 93-Year-Old Ford Into a Hot Rod
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( A.J. Baime | Photographs Tracy Nguyen For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stacie Depner , 46, a mechanical engineer and medical device product-development director living in Anaheim, Calif., on her 1930 Ford Model A hot rod, as told to A.J. When I was in my second year in college, I was living on University Avenue in Minneapolis and every weekend I would see old cars drive by. I found out that everyone was going to Porky’s, a famous drive-in, for cruise nights. I thought: “I wonder what other cool car events are going on around here?” That’s when I found out about Back to the 50’s, which is one of the biggest annual car shows in the country. I first went in 1996, and this was a eureka moment for me.

☆ American is cutting 3 more cities and leaving one without airline service entirely — see the full list of 19 cities it has dropped since the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

American Airlines is cutting 3 cities from its network, blaming the pilot shortage and "soft demand." One small airport — Del Rio, Texas — will lose airline service entirely after the carrier's exit. Del Rio, a tiny city in southern Texas with only about 35,000 people, is currently served by American from Dallas/Fort Worth. However, the airline's announced exit will leave Del Rio without any air service link to the rest of the country. Del Rio joins a growing list of 19 cities that American has dropped since the pandemic, the carrier confirmed to Insider.

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