That's a lot of water
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
It’s the Most Hated Airline in America. You’ll Miss It When It’s Gone
In defense of Spirit, the great equalizer of the skies.
Not long ago, I found myself in a position every American air traveler is taught to dread: I was about to board a Spirit Airlines flight.
Spirit Flight 492 was scheduled to take me from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, not far from the carrier’s headquarters, to Columbus, Ohio, where I was living at the time. My wife and I were flying home from a wedding in South Florida, and Spirit was the easy choice and the cheapest choice. It was also the choice that allowed me to avoid Miami International Airport, one of the few on-ground places I hate more than being in the air.
As a perpetually anxious flyer, I dreaded getting on any plane that could make my nerves even worse. Would the horror stories prove true? Would I be able to move in my seat? Would I have to take out my credit card for water? If there were a problem with the flight, would I be trapped in Florida forever?
These were not entirely out-of-pocket questions. To understand Spirit Airlines is to understand what it is to be hated—truly despised—by most people.
How Unusual Has This Hurricane Season Actually Been?
Hurricanes Helene and Milton – which have devastated parts of the south-east United States – have bookended an exceptionally busy period of tropical storms.
In less than two weeks, five hurricanes formed, which is not far off what the Atlantic would typically get in an entire year.
The storms were powerful, gaining strength with rapid speed.
Yet in early September, when hurricane activity is normally at its peak, there were peculiarly few storms.
So, how unusual has this hurricane season been – and what is behind it?
A Second Trump Presidency Stands to Radically Remake World Trade
Tariffs could rise to highest levels since the 1930s. Anything from a global trade war to a U.S.-led system against China could be the result.
In his first term as president, Donald Trump resurrected tariffs as a tool of economic diplomacy, regularly deploying them as a lever to extract new trade deals from other countries. The result was a world trading system with a bit more friction, but it remained largely intact.
If Trump carries out what he has described on the campaign trail, his potential second term would be radically different. More than just a tool for negotiation, higher tariffs would be an end unto themselves. By one estimate, tariffs could reach their highest level since the 1930s.
In the short run, some prices in the U.S. would rise, and growth might suffer as consumers and businesses adjust to the new taxes on imported goods. The long-term impact depends crucially on whether other countries retaliate, and how far Trump would be willing to negotiate. The outcome could be anything from an all-out trade war, to a new trading system among U.S. allies united by their collective frustration with China.
The free trade consensus that prevailed from 1995 until Trump’s election in 2016 isn’t going to return even if Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, wins. She may add to the mix of tariffs imposed on China during Trump’s first term and manufacturing support overseen by President Biden. But these would represent incremental changes, whereas a re-elected Trump could fundamentally remake the world trading system.
Is Every Car Dealer Trying to Rip Me Off?
Why buying a car is the worst kind of shopping.
Americans have long hated the car-buying experience. It’s not uncommon to spend hours (or even the whole day) at a dealership, finally reaching a deal and still walking away feeling vaguely hoodwinked.
“It’s a process that generally stinks, and it’s designed that way,” says Tom McParland, founder of Automatch Consulting, a service that helps car buyers find the best price on the vehicle they want.
A lot of the distaste comes down to the uncertainty of what you’ll end up paying. In an age when you can buy almost anything online without interacting with another human being, where you can easily shop around for the best deal, cars remain one of the few purchases where your personal negotiation skills — as well as, sometimes, your race, gender, and income — can determine the price.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 184,000 auto-related consumer complaints, making it the third most common category after complaints about credit bureaus, as well as banks and lenders.
While there are some fair dealers, the car marketplace has “a lot of sharp and unethical business practices, and consumers are hurt by it,” says Chuck Bell, programs director of advocacy at Consumer Reports. “By the time that the consumer gets out the door, they feel like they’ve been doing battle.”
They Were Driving Through a Tunnel. Then the Water Rushed In.
A leak in the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and the race to plug it revealed the fragility of New York City’s aging transportation network.
Titus Ogilvie-Laing was driving through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel last month in his beekeeping company’s van when he spotted something alarming. A stream of water was blasting out of the ceiling and pouring onto the enclosed roadway.
His mind flashed to a video he’d seen not long before: Dozens of vehicles were trapped in a flooded tunnel in China, with no way out. It was the sort of viral horror story that sticks with you — a nightmare scenario that New Yorkers don’t like to contemplate — and it suddenly felt a little too close to home.
His co-worker in the passenger seat, Matthew Flood, a native New Yorker, used his phone to capture the underwater waterfall.
“That’s a lot of water,” Mr. Flood, 27, recalled thinking aloud. “There’s no way that’s normal.”
Mr. Ogilvie-Laing, 33, focused on getting through the tunnel and out from under the East River — a waterway he was separated from by an 84-year-old feat of engineering that he did not fully comprehend.
By the time the beekeepers descended into the tunnel that day, the workers who maintain it had already been trying for hours to figure out what had gone wrong. The answer, they would eventually discover, was an apparent mistake made high above the gushing water — one that revealed the fragility of New York City’s aging transportation network.
But from the scramble to solve the mystery and quickly repair the leak, a different sort of picture emerges: of the resilience of the city’s infrastructure and of the everyday ingenuity and expertise required to maintain it.
Standing Desks Do Not Reduce Risk of Stroke and Heart Failure, Study Suggests
Researchers say people who sit or stand for long periods should schedule regular movements throughout the day
They have been billed as the ultimate antidote to sitting in front of a screen all day at the office. But a study suggests standing desks, which have soared in popularity in recent years, do not compensate for being inactive and may even increase the risk of conditions such as swollen veins and blood clots in the legs.
Research involving more than 80,000 adults in the UK has also discovered that standing does not reduce the risk of diseases such as stroke and heart failure, despite the widely held belief that it does.
Dr Matthew Ahmadi, of the University of Sydney’s faculty of medicine and health, said people who sat or stood for long periods should schedule regular movement throughout the day.
“The key takeaway is that standing for too long will not offset an otherwise sedentary lifestyle and could be risky for some people in terms of circulatory health. We found that standing more does not improve cardiovascular health over the long-term and increases the risk of circulatory issues,” Ahmadi said.
5 Lifestyle Habits That Can Help You Live to 100, According to Leading Longevity Researchers
There is steady interest — from everyday people to researchers alike — in what it takes to live a long, healthy life. From cookbooks to research papers to the hundreds of articles you can access with a quick Google search, the amount of information to digest and advice to take in can get overwhelming.
But there are simple approaches you can take and easy changes to implement if you’re hoping to live to 100.
For nearly two years, I’ve been reporting on longevity and the lifestyle choices that seem to help people live longer. Here are five habits that stand out.
Looks like some good weekend reading when my emails slow down; all except the political ads though. I’ll be so glad when the election is over and my filters will actually work. Have a good weekend Bill.
I bought a new car this summer and I can tell you that it's a pain in the you-know-what dealing with car dealerships/salespeople. They did add on a protective coating and stuff and then I was sold on extended warranty. But as the new cars have so much computer-related items, I thought it prudent to add the warranty so I don't have to worry about a catastrophic meltdown costing me thousands of dollars. Is peace of mind worth the price I paid? I hope so. If I don't buy another car again in my lifetime, I'd be happy as a clam.