One method of making electricity cleanly to address climate change has been quietly advancing and on Tuesday it hit a milestone.

A California utility is backing the largest new geothermal power development in the U.S. — 400 megawatts of clean electricity from the Earth’s heat — enough for some 400,000 homes.

Southern California Edison will purchase the electricity from Fervo Energy, a Houston-based geothermal company, Fervo announced.

The company is drilling up to 125 wells in southwest Utah.

Clean electricity like this reduces the need for traditional power plants that cause climate change. The boost could go a long way toward bringing down the cost of a new generation of geothermal energy, said Wilson Ricks, an energy systems researcher at Princeton University.

“If these purchases help to get this technology off the ground, it could be massively impactful for global decarbonization,” he said. Decarbonization refers to switching out things that produce carbon dioxide and methane, which cause the climate to change, in favor of machines and methods that don’t.

Today the world still relies mainly on fossil fuels for round-the-clock power. This new deal shows that clean power can meet a growing demand for electricity, said Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Fervo.

...

The Science Is Clear: Offshore Wind Isn’t What’s Killing Whales

Politicians and nonprofit groups have blamed offshore wind turbines for whale deaths, but the science doesn’t support those claims—at all

Lines of tea lights formed the large, softly flickering outline of a whale’s tail in the sand along the Jersey Shore this past October—another installment in months of protests against planned offshore wind projects in communities along the U.S. East Coast that have rallied around the slogan “Wind Kills Whales.”

This claim has been used as a talking point against wind energy by former president Donald Trump, local Republican politicians, nonprofit groups with links to the fossil-fuel industry and more than 50 Fox News segments in 2023. All have connected offshore wind development with horrific images of dead whales washing up and decaying on beaches. At a recent New Jersey campaign rally, Trump vowed to scrap the country’s offshore wind projects on the first day of a new term if he is elected again in November, declaring that “they kill the whales.”

But the current scientific consensus doesn’t back up those assertions—at all. There are “no links whatsoever between the offshore wind development activity and especially the humpback whale mortalities. None. Zero,” says Duke University marine scientist Douglas Nowacek.

The protests and spurious criticisms come at a crucial—and financially precarious—time for the nascent offshore wind industry. Some 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy (enough to power 10 million homes and offset the annual emissions of around 18.5 million passenger vehicles) need to be deployed by 2030 to meet the Biden administration’s pledge to make the power sector carbon-pollution-free by 2035. And the warming caused by those emissions does have a demonstrable impact on whales.

That isn’t to say that building huge wind turbines in the ocean doesn’t come without any environmental ramifications. “Even offshore wind proponents such as myself recognize that walking out my front door has an impact, so of course building large-scale machines in the ocean will have an impact,” says Kris Ohleth, executive director of the nonprofit Special Initiative on Offshore Wind. She, Nowacek and other experts say the key task is to understand what the potential harms of turbine surveying and construction actually are and then mitigate them.

So what is killing whales?

Several whale species dwell in and migrate through the North Atlantic, including in waters near the coastal U.S. Though populations of many of these endangered or threatened species have considerably rebounded from the effects of 19th-century whaling, significant threats remain. More than 500 humpback, minke and right whales have been seriously injured, stranded onshore or died prematurely on or near the East Coast since 2017, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Conducting necropsies on beached whales to pin down a cause of death is made difficult by the animals’ layer of blubber and by the fact that organs can literally cook inside a stranded whale. But it is starkly clear that human activity—in the form of ships that hit whales or fishing gear that wraps around them—is often to blame. “For right whales, if you take out neonatal mortality, every documented mortality in the last 25 years of a right whale has been at the hands of some human cause—ship strike or entanglement,” Nowacek says. “Every single one of them.” The New England Aquarium recently reported that a female North Atlantic right whale known by the name Shelagh had become tangled in fishing gear for the fifth known time.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16384963

> There’s a good chance that when you were a teenager, getting your driver’s license was seen as a rite of passage, and you probably couldn’t wait for the freedom promised by that shiny new card in your credit card-less wallet. At least, that’s unless you’re a teenager today, and then the picture might not be so cut and dry. Unlike when I got my learner’s permit 20 years ago, today’s teenagers have already been enjoying a new form of affordable and effective transportation freedom: electric bikes. > > And it’s changing the way they view getting a driver’s license. > > Electric bicycles have been gaining popularity in the US for over a decade, but they’ve taken off in impressive numbers over the last several years. > > Once considered an alternative for older riders looking to get back on two wheels, electric bikes have now gained favor with just about every age group. There are balance e-bikes for toddlers, children’s models, e-bikes popular with teenagers, models for the general public, and models/companies that cater to older riders. > > With more teenagers flocking to e-bikes than ever before, the “freedom” that traditionally came at 16 years old with a driver’s license is now available to teens even earlier. And while that also comes with some real concern from some parents, plenty of other parents have embraced the freedom and independence that electric bikes have offered to their teenagers. > > As Olivia Rockeman pointed out recently in the Wall Street Journal, “Many parents see e-bikes as alternatives to shepherding their kids between school and sports practices, particularly as the number of teens with driver’s licenses has fallen by about 8% over the past two decades, according to the latest data from the Federal Highway Administration. The e-bikes also grant more independence to teens not yet old enough to drive.” > > Encinitas, California resident Aaron Hebshi, whose 17-year-old daughter put off getting her driver’s license in favor of her electric bicycle, explained to Rockeman that his teen isn’t in a rush to get behind the wheel. “There wasn’t quite the imperative for her to get a license that kids may have felt when I was growing up. Before we were 16, we couldn’t go anywhere without our parents in San Diego.” > > Mother of two teen boys in Hermosa Beach, Erika Mamber, shared that e-bikes for her kids have saved her countless car trips to school, sports practice, and tutoring sessions. > > Those views are gaining steam among a wider group of teenagers and their parents, who have discovered that e-bikes are giving those kids more freedom, and by extension, giving more freedom to parents. > What’s driving teens away from cars and onto e-bikes? > > This shift from getting a “first car” to getting a “first e-bike” is driven by many factors. Still, some of the largest motivations include a mix of economic, practical factors, and environmental concerns that are reshaping the landscape of personal transportation for the younger generation. > > The economic advantage > > For many teens and their families, the cost of car ownership is a significant deterrent. From the price of the vehicle itself to insurance, fuel, and maintenance, the expenses can quickly add up. > > E-bikes, on the other hand, offer a more affordable alternative. The initial purchase price is considerably lower, and operational costs are almost zero, outside of occasional new brake pads and tires. With the rising cost of living, many families find e-bikes to be a financially savvy choice. > > For under $1,000, American teenagers can find a good e-bike. I made that much mowing lawns one summer as a teenager and that was twenty years ago. For $3,000, teens can find a great e-bike with even higher quality and longevity. Compare that to the price of new or even used cars. Just the summer-long maintenance and fuel on a car can cost as much as an entire electric bike. > > Independence and convenience > > E-bikes also provide a level of independence that many teens crave. Unlike cars, which require a driver’s license and often parental supervision during the long learning period, e-bikes are accessible immediately. Teens can start riding as soon as they have a bike and (hopefully) the necessary safety gear. > > They also don’t need to spend hours in a driver’s education course learning the nuances of car control. Most kids grow up learning to ride a bicycle and so the handling skills are already there. > > Still, driver’s education courses designed for cyclists are highly encouraged for teens who eschew cars in favor of e-bikes. The rules of the road apply equally to cyclists and car drivers, and not learning the rules is not an excuse for breaking them. > > Safety considerations > > While e-bikes offer many advantages, safety is a key concern for parents and teens alike. Many cities are adapting to the increase in e-bike usage by expanding bike lanes and implementing stricter regulations to ensure rider safety. > > Helmets, proper lighting, and adherence to traffic rules are essential components of safe e-bike riding and are highly recommended for teenagers who regularly travel by e-bike. > > At the same time, many teens have accepted the growing notion that a 6,000 lb vehicle might not be the safest option when considering all road users. Whereas many adults have their eyes on the largest trucks and SUVs, many teenagers value smaller and lighter vehicles, especially options that can get them out of the road and into the bike lane. > > The concept isn’t exactly pervasive, and America’s addiction to massive vehicles is unlikely to break anytime soon, but a growing number of younger Americans aren’t buying the same promises that the automotive industry is selling their parents. > > Environmental consciousness > > Much more so than a generation ago, today’s teenagers are increasingly environmentally conscious. The impact of climate change and the importance of sustainable living are at the forefront of many teenagers’ minds. > > E-bikes, with their zero emissions, offer an eco-friendly alternative to cars. Many teens feel that choosing an e-bike over a car is a tangible way to contribute to a greener planet. > > More than just an expanding trend > > The trend of teenagers choosing e-bikes over cars is growing. As more teens delay or forego getting their driver’s licenses, the shift is proving to be not just a passing fad but rather a reflection of changing attitudes toward transportation and lifestyle. > > Cities continue to evolve and adapt to new modes of transportation, and the role of e-bikes is likely to expand. For now, the sight of teens zipping around town on their electric bikes is becoming increasingly common, signaling a new era in personal mobility.

There’s a good chance that when you were a teenager, getting your driver’s license was seen as a rite of passage, and you probably couldn’t wait for the freedom promised by that shiny new card in your credit card-less wallet. At least, that’s unless you’re a teenager today, and then the picture might not be so cut and dry. Unlike when I got my learner’s permit 20 years ago, today’s teenagers have already been enjoying a new form of affordable and effective transportation freedom: electric bikes.

And it’s changing the way they view getting a driver’s license.

Electric bicycles have been gaining popularity in the US for over a decade, but they’ve taken off in impressive numbers over the last several years.

Once considered an alternative for older riders looking to get back on two wheels, electric bikes have now gained favor with just about every age group. There are balance e-bikes for toddlers, children’s models, e-bikes popular with teenagers, models for the general public, and models/companies that cater to older riders.

With more teenagers flocking to e-bikes than ever before, the “freedom” that traditionally came at 16 years old with a driver’s license is now available to teens even earlier. And while that also comes with some real concern from some parents, plenty of other parents have embraced the freedom and independence that electric bikes have offered to their teenagers.

As Olivia Rockeman pointed out recently in the Wall Street Journal, “Many parents see e-bikes as alternatives to shepherding their kids between school and sports practices, particularly as the number of teens with driver’s licenses has fallen by about 8% over the past two decades, according to the latest data from the Federal Highway Administration. The e-bikes also grant more independence to teens not yet old enough to drive.”

Encinitas, California resident Aaron Hebshi, whose 17-year-old daughter put off getting her driver’s license in favor of her electric bicycle, explained to Rockeman that his teen isn’t in a rush to get behind the wheel. “There wasn’t quite the imperative for her to get a license that kids may have felt when I was growing up. Before we were 16, we couldn’t go anywhere without our parents in San Diego.”

Mother of two teen boys in Hermosa Beach, Erika Mamber, shared that e-bikes for her kids have saved her countless car trips to school, sports practice, and tutoring sessions.

Those views are gaining steam among a wider group of teenagers and their parents, who have discovered that e-bikes are giving those kids more freedom, and by extension, giving more freedom to parents. What’s driving teens away from cars and onto e-bikes?

This shift from getting a “first car” to getting a “first e-bike” is driven by many factors. Still, some of the largest motivations include a mix of economic, practical factors, and environmental concerns that are reshaping the landscape of personal transportation for the younger generation.

The economic advantage

For many teens and their families, the cost of car ownership is a significant deterrent. From the price of the vehicle itself to insurance, fuel, and maintenance, the expenses can quickly add up.

E-bikes, on the other hand, offer a more affordable alternative. The initial purchase price is considerably lower, and operational costs are almost zero, outside of occasional new brake pads and tires. With the rising cost of living, many families find e-bikes to be a financially savvy choice.

For under $1,000, American teenagers can find a good e-bike. I made that much mowing lawns one summer as a teenager and that was twenty years ago. For $3,000, teens can find a great e-bike with even higher quality and longevity. Compare that to the price of new or even used cars. Just the summer-long maintenance and fuel on a car can cost as much as an entire electric bike.

Independence and convenience

E-bikes also provide a level of independence that many teens crave. Unlike cars, which require a driver’s license and often parental supervision during the long learning period, e-bikes are accessible immediately. Teens can start riding as soon as they have a bike and (hopefully) the necessary safety gear.

They also don’t need to spend hours in a driver’s education course learning the nuances of car control. Most kids grow up learning to ride a bicycle and so the handling skills are already there.

Still, driver’s education courses designed for cyclists are highly encouraged for teens who eschew cars in favor of e-bikes. The rules of the road apply equally to cyclists and car drivers, and not learning the rules is not an excuse for breaking them.

Safety considerations

While e-bikes offer many advantages, safety is a key concern for parents and teens alike. Many cities are adapting to the increase in e-bike usage by expanding bike lanes and implementing stricter regulations to ensure rider safety.

Helmets, proper lighting, and adherence to traffic rules are essential components of safe e-bike riding and are highly recommended for teenagers who regularly travel by e-bike.

At the same time, many teens have accepted the growing notion that a 6,000 lb vehicle might not be the safest option when considering all road users. Whereas many adults have their eyes on the largest trucks and SUVs, many teenagers value smaller and lighter vehicles, especially options that can get them out of the road and into the bike lane.

The concept isn’t exactly pervasive, and America’s addiction to massive vehicles is unlikely to break anytime soon, but a growing number of younger Americans aren’t buying the same promises that the automotive industry is selling their parents.

Environmental consciousness

Much more so than a generation ago, today’s teenagers are increasingly environmentally conscious. The impact of climate change and the importance of sustainable living are at the forefront of many teenagers’ minds.

E-bikes, with their zero emissions, offer an eco-friendly alternative to cars. Many teens feel that choosing an e-bike over a car is a tangible way to contribute to a greener planet.

More than just an expanding trend

The trend of teenagers choosing e-bikes over cars is growing. As more teens delay or forego getting their driver’s licenses, the shift is proving to be not just a passing fad but rather a reflection of changing attitudes toward transportation and lifestyle.

Cities continue to evolve and adapt to new modes of transportation, and the role of e-bikes is likely to expand. For now, the sight of teens zipping around town on their electric bikes is becoming increasingly common, signaling a new era in personal mobility.

We’re not playing, Rich. Fuck them, we’re not playing. Just tell them that we’re not playing. That’s what I heard on 10 July 2015, on a call from Christie Rampone, the captain of the USWNT. I was the executive director of the Women’s National Team Players Association, the official collective bargaining unit for the USWNT. Rampone called me five days after the USWNT’s World Cup victory. While Rampone talked with me, the team were on their way from the midtown Manhattan set of Good Morning America to the beginning of the ticker tape parade in lower Manhattan’s “Canyon of Heroes” to celebrate their title.

Just a few days earlier, on the morning after the team’s World Cup victory, Sunil Gulati, the longtime president of US Soccer, called captains Abby Wambach and Rampone to tell them that the team’s request for the weekend off was denied, and they were all going to be forced to play their National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) games.

As recounted to me by Rampone, the response from Gulati was immediate. He told Rampone that the players had to play those NWSL games. He noted that all the NWSL teams had developed huge marketing and promotional campaigns around the World Cup champions to sell out their stadiums that weekend, and that he didn’t care how the players were feeling, that no matter what, they were going to play.

...

The study made some strong remarks about the kind of people who would modify their car's exhaust. If psychopathy and sadism aren't bad enough, apparently loud truck owners would do even worse.

• A professor in Ontario, Canada, has released results of a study of people's attitudes toward loud vehicles.
• Having asked undergraduate business students whether they think such vehicles are "cool," the result, not totally surprisingly, was that many of them do.
• Respondents also scored high on the "psychopathy and sadism" scale, but the study was only for cars. Truck and motorcycle owners, the study suggests, might score even worse.

A new study by Western University in Ontario says that if you've got a car with a modified exhaust system, odds are you're a guy and probably also psychotic and sadistic. Slapping a Cherry Bomb glasspack on your Monte Carlo doesn't (necessarily) mean you're a Ted Bundy–level psycho, but the data someone points to a personality that enjoys inflicting unpleasantness on others. The study—catchily titled, "A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism"—was commissioned by professor Julie Aitken Schermer, who heard many a loud car in London, Ontario, and wondered what kind of person would want their car exhaust to be louder than normal. She probably could have saved a lot of time by simply looking up Cadillac Escalade-V registrations. ...

Joe Biden will this week sign an executive order to temporarily close the southern US border to asylum seekers in a sharp political U-turn aimed at winning support on a key voter concern in a presidential election year.

The US president is expected to sign the order as early as Tuesday to seal the border with Mexico to migrants when numbers of asylum claimants rise above a daily threshold of 2,500.

Mayors of several US border cities are expected to be present in the White House for Biden’s announcement.

Biden’s move echoes a similar approach adopted by Donald Trump in 2018 when he was president and reverses his one-time philosophical opposition to his predecessor’s hostility to migrants. When he was a presidential candidate, Biden denounced Trump’s policy, saying it upended decades of US asylum law.

He has been forced to change course as the number of asylum seekers coming through the US-Mexico border has surged during his presidency, with opinion polls consistently showing immigration to be at or near the top of voters’ concerns, ahead of inflation and the economy.

An attempt by the White House to cobble together legislation tightening border restrictions by tying it to aid to Ukraine and Israel failed earlier this year after Republican lawmakers withdrew support, apparently at the urging of Trump, who did not want Biden to claim credit for resolving an issue he has attempted to make his own.

According to CBS, which broke the story, Biden’s executive order will enable US immigration officials to quickly deport migrants who enter the country illegally without processing their asylum claims.

Controversially, it will rely on a presidential authority known as 212 (f) which became infamous during Trump’s presidency because of its use to enforce certain immigration restrictions, including travel bans from Muslim countries.

Like Trump’s restrictions, Biden’s order is likely to face legal challenges.

Migration at the southern border surged to record numbers at the end of last year. But the order comes at a moment when the number of migrants crossing from Mexico is down in the past six months, a trend attributed to stronger enforcement on the part of the Mexican authorities but which is not expected to sustain itself.

An estimated 179,000 “border encounters” were recorded in April, according to US Customs and Border Protection figures, compared with a record high of 302,000 last December. More than 3,500 migrants were said to have crossed various points along the 2,000-mile border illegally on Sunday alone.

Biden initially rolled back Trump’s restrictive border policies after taking office in January 2021, issuing orders to freeze his predecessor’s border wall construction and reissuing protections set up under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) scheme originally adopted by the Barack Obama White House.

Biden suspended Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy – whereby asylum seekers were forced to wait in Mexico while their US immigration claims were being considered – on the first day of his administration before the homeland security department formally cancelled it months later. The US supreme court subsequently upheld Biden’s approach following a lower court ruling against it.

When Trump’s policy was in operation, Biden denounced it, saying: “This is the first president in the history of the United States of America [under whom] anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country. That’s never happened before.”

A recent Associated Press poll showed about two-thirds of voters, including 40% of Democrats, disapproved of Biden’s handling of the southern border.

Just when you thought ultra-endurance racer Lael Wilcox couldn’t go any further, any faster, she manages to surprise you. On Sunday, the Tour Divide winner set off on a new adventure: an 18,000-mile journey around the world by bike. Her trip kicked off in Chicago, Illinois, and her goal is to complete the trip in 110 days.

Two days in, she’s already covered 525 miles, riding through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, heading towards Pennsylvania. “The first day, I rode into a headwind with dark skies and thunderstorms — a lot of rain, but it wasn’t too cold. Since then, the weather has been perfect,” she shared on Instagram.

“The ride has just felt like a celebration. People are coming out to meet me and telling me that I’m riding right by their house. This ride feels special — I’m riding through people’s lives.”

Wilcox’s goal is to ride the 18,000 miles—the distance required to set the official record—in 110 days. First, she’ll head to Newark, NJ, then fly to Portugal to roll across Europe to Tbilisi, Georgia. From there, she’ll head to Australia and New Zealand before returning to the US by way of Anchorage, riding south to Los Angeles, then back over to Chicago. Obviously, this trip doesn’t actually go ‘around the world’ but covers a good chunk of it. And to set the official record, Guinness simply demands a route of 18,000 miles that is done continuously and in one direction. You can follow along on the live tracker here and scope the entire route.

...

Paywall-free link: https://archive.ph/3tLtL

The crash occurred on September 25, 2021, the first crisp day of fall after a hot Texas summer. Claudius Galo intended to ride a hundred miles or more that morning. “There was a chill in the air. It felt so good. The energy was high,” he recalls of the small group that gathered to ride with him.

Galo had moved to the Houston area from Rio de Janeiro, about 14 years prior. A calm and inquisitive engineer who works in the oil and gas industry, Galo had become unhealthy and overweight in his late thirties. He tried running but got hurt, so his doctor recommended adding swimming and cycling. Now 45, he’d lost 60 pounds and completed six Ironmans and almost a dozen half Ironmans. Tamy Valiente, 45, had come to the United States from Costa Rica nine years before. Inspired by the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in her twenties, she’d dreamt of becoming a competitive bike rider, but first, “I had to raise my babies,” she says. After going through a divorce, she eventually saved enough money to buy a bike frame and slowly began building her first racing bike part by part. She would often wake at 4 a.m. to train on the narrow roads close to her home back near San José, where buses crept by within inches of her handlebar. To Valiente, the U.S. felt like paradise. “The roads seemed safe. The traffic laws were actually enforced,” she says.

On the day of the crash, David Reynolds, a 45-year-old tattooed photographer with two teenage children, had ridden 11.5 miles to meet the group at Hockley Community Center, about 30 miles west of downtown Houston. Cycling was his “Zen time,” when he could zone out and let all his worries wash through him. Though he wasn’t training for an event, he had ridden for nearly 600 consecutive days. “I just like to ride,” he says. The group that rolled out that morning included three other experienced cyclists: Craig Staples, Brad Stauffer, and Keith Conrad. The six regularly met up to ride through Waller County, an agricultural and ranching community just outside the sprawling metropolis. The group would become known as the Waller 6.

. . .

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15642866

> >In a statement, Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler pointed to the contrast between the dcpi’s staffing surge and Mayor Eric Adams’s cuts to other city services, including hundreds of layoffs in the Department of Buildings. “It’s stunning to see the nypd Communications Department more than double to 86 staff while so many of our City agencies are struggling to fulfill their mandates without workers.” > > Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240521114200/https://nysfocus.com/2024/05/14/nypd-dcpi-tarik-sheppard-protests-pr

Volkswagen has ended talks with Renault to launch an affordable EV, according to sources. However, a low-cost Volkswagen electric car is still in the plans.

A report from Germany’s Handelsblatt last December hinted at a partnership between Volkswagen and Renault to build an EV under 20,000 euros ($21,500).

The report noted that talks were still in a “very early stage,” but a Renault spokesperson explained that partnering would be necessary to stay competitive. “We are in different discussions, but nothing has been finalized,” the source said.

Renault announced plans to launch the Twingo e-Tech successor, the Legend, last November. The entry-level EV is expected to start at around 20,000 euros ($21,500).

Despite Renault confirming it was in “good discussions” with Volkswagen to build an affordable EV in February, it looks like the automakers may go their separate ways.

According to sources familiar with the matter, VW is walking away from the partnership. A new Reuters report claims Volkswagen has ended talks with Renault to build a low-cost electric version of its Twingo.

When Bloomberg reported that Spotify would be upping the cost of its premium subscription from $9.99 to $10.99, and including 15 hours of audiobooks per month in the U.S., the change sounded like a win for songwriters and publishers. Higher subscription prices typically equate to a bump in U.S. mechanical royalties — but not this time.

By adding audiobooks into Spotify’s premium tier, the streaming service now claims it qualifies to pay a discounted “bundle” rate to songwriters for premium streams, given Spotify now has to pay licensing for both books and music from the same price tag — which will only be a dollar higher than when music was the only premium offering. Additionally, Spotify will reclassify its duo and family subscription plans as bundles as well.

Lynn Williams cannot be stopped.

The 29-year-old forward added another goal Sunday against the Chicago Red Stars, bringing her total for the regular season to four and tying for the league lead. With Williams leading the way, Gotham FC have won four of their first six regular-season matches, already equaling their win total from 2022.

The club also is tied for second in the league in points with 12.

LYNN WILLIAMS REFUSES TO STOP SCORING 😤 pic.twitter.com/3sXIzN6ei7 — Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) May 8, 2023

For Williams, Sunday’s tally marked her 103rd goal contribution (goals and assists) across all NWSL competitions. According to OptaJack, that gives her the most in league history, as she surpasses Sam Kerr, who had 102 goal contributions in her seven NWSL seasons.

It was also her 61st regular-season career goal, giving her sole possession of the second-most goals in NWSL history. Kerr holds the record with 77 regular-season goals.

“This is a massive win. It shows the style and the winning mentality that this team has,” head coach Juan Carlos Amorós said. “Credit to all of the players, whether they played today or not, and to the staff. This is a big win for Gotham.”

This YouTube channel does really good film study of games, someone shared it on Mastodon and I've enjoyed it.

There are lots of reasons to want to shut off your car’s data collection. The Mozilla Foundation has called modern cars “surveillance machines on wheels” and ranked them worse than any other product category last year, with all 25 car brands they reviewed failing to offer adequate privacy protections.

With sensors, microphones, and cameras, cars collect way more data than needed to operate the vehicle. They also share and sell that information to third parties, something many Americans don’t realize they’re opting into when they buy these cars. Companies are quick to flaunt their privacy policies, but those amount to pages upon pages of legalese that leave even professionals stumped about what exactly car companies collect and where that information might go.

So what can they collect?

“Pretty much everything,” said Misha Rykov, a research associate at the Mozilla Foundation, who worked on the car-privacy report. “Sex-life data, biometric data, demographic, race, sexual orientation, gender — everything.” . . .

For the last two years, a small "skunkworks" at the Ford Motor Company has been working on a low-cost electric vehicle platform, according to Ford CEO Jim Farley. Farley revealed the existence of this new platform during the automaker's quarterly financial results call with investors on Tuesday evening. The company is rethinking its electrification strategy, having now faced up to the reality that the current crop of EVs are too expensive for mass-market adoption to take off.

Ford was early to market with its Mustang Mach-E crossover, itself the product of a skunkworks-style development process: an internal group called Team Edison, formed to add some excitement to what was originally going to be a more boring compliance car. The team also took the bold step of making a fully electric version of the country's bestselling vehicle, the F-150 pickup truck.

Demand for the electric F-150 Lightning appeared strong, but a series of price hikes has resulted in really expensive trucks languishing on dealer forecourts and Ford cutting production shifts to reduce output. The Mustang Mach-E is still selling, although with barely any growth year on year.

Ford also split its EV activities into a separate division, called Model e, which exposes just how much money this is all costing—a loss of $4.7 billion. That's quite a lot more than the $3 billion it thought Model e would lose in 2023.

Farley said the company will develop smaller and cheaper EVs, although he did not announce any specific new models by name. "All of our EV teams are ruthlessly focused on cost and efficiency in our EV products because the ultimate competition is going to be the affordable Tesla and the Chinese OEMs," he said.

"We made a bet in silence two years ago," Farley said of Ford's newest skunkworks. "They've developed a flexible platform that will not only deploy to several types of vehicles but will be a large install base for software and services," he told investors.

Ford may scale back some of its battery factory ambitions, too. "One of the things we’re taking advantage of in taking some timing delays is rationalizing the level and timing of our battery capacity to match demand and actually reassessing the vertical integration that we’re relying on, and betting on new chemistries and capacities," Farley said.

In 2023, Ford announced and then canceled a $3.5 billion plant to manufacture lithium iron phosphate battery packs in Michigan. But there are also three lithium-ion factories in the works in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Ford no longer expects Model e to be profitable by 2026, but Ford CFO John Lawler said that Model e would need to stop losing money "sooner or later."

"EVs are here to stay, customer adoption is growing, and their long-term upside is central to Ford+," said Lawler. "The customer insights we’re getting by being an early mover in electric pickups, SUVs, and commercial vehicles are invaluable—especially as we're developing next-generation EVs that are going to surprise customers and be profitable within a year of launch."

We know that airlines overbook their seats, then count on no-shows and rebookings to make the system work. This helps ensure that each flight will be as full as possible, but it also leads to situations where passengers must be paid to take a different flight. What if the airlines are doing the same thing with overhead bins and “allowing” more carry-on luggage than a plane can even hold? What if they’re overbooking those compartments in the hopes or expectation that some passengers won’t bother with a Rollaboard and will simply check their bags instead?

If that’s the case, then the aisle pandemonium can’t be chalked up to passengers’ misbehavior or to honest confusion at the gate. No, it would mean that all this hassle is a natural outcome of the airlines’ cabin-stowage arbitrage. It would indicate inconvenience by design.