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Many American business leaders assumed President Donald Trump was making empty threats to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China—that these were “mostly negotiating ploys.” They were wrong. On Tuesday, the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on China. A global trade war is now fully in effect, as Canada retaliated immediately; Mexico will announce its own retaliatory tariffs on Sunday. Investors are concerned about the future of the global economy. The stock market has already gone into its steepest decline this year. For Americans, these tariffs are going to make goods more expensive at a time when many are already feeling financially strapped. Companies are going to pay more for goods overnight, and will have no choice but to pass on these costs to consumers. On Truth Social, Trump made it seem like there was a simple fix to this problem. “IF COMPANIES MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES, THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!!!” he posted. But nobody I’ve spoken to in the business community thinks this is a reasonable response. Workers produce consumer lithium battery products in Hai’an, Jiangsu province, China, on March 4, 2025. [Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images] Fifty years ago, America was indeed a global manufacturing hub. But since the 1980s, the U.S. government has supported the globalization of the economy with free trade agreements. This allowed China, and other countries in Asia, to start building factories that make everything from clothing and furniture to iPhones. In return, Americans got access to an abundance of cheap products. There’s been a lot of debate about whether this half-century effort to flood the U.S. with cheap merchandise was entirely a good thing. Yes, it democratized access to more affordable consumer products, but it also opened the door to overconsumption, which has been a blight on the environment. Over the past few decades, some companies have focused on bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., because it is more sustainable and produces higher-quality products. A workshop in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, China, produces textiles for export to Europe, on March 3, 2025. [Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images] In the fashion industry, for instance, labels like American Giant and Buck Mason have tried to build supply chains from scratch. But it’s been a slow, laborious process. It took the founders of each brand roughly two years to identify the handful of factories in the U.S. that still had the capacity to manufacture clothing, and had workers who could cut and sew the garments they wanted to make. Given the higher cost of labor in this country, these brands are significantly more expensive than those produced overseas. An American Giant sweatshirt costs $138, while Buck Mason T-shirts cost $45. “The apparel supply chain in the U.S. has been completely hollowed out,” says Bayard Winthrop, founder and CEO of American Giant. “You’ve got to be a little crazy to try to make clothes in this country from scratch.” The struggles these brands have experienced reveal just how hard it is to bring manufacturing back to these shores in the face of a tariff. In the fashion industry this would involve setting up factories and buying industrial manufacturing equipment, which itself is now made overseas. Very few companies have the money to invest in that kind of infrastructure. In other countries, governments have been instrumental in funding and building manufacturing hubs. It would take years to set up factories here. There’s also the question of training an army of workers who understand both the delicate craft of making garments and how to operate industrial machinery. But it’s unclear where we would even find these workers. “Unemployment is at a record low,” Jon Gold, VP of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, told me during a recent interview. “Where are we going to find workers to do those jobs?” The National Retail Federation, which represent millions of retail establishments, has been lobbying against tariffs. As Gold speaks with members, he says it’s abundantly clear that it will not be possible to simply set up supply chains in the U.S. overnight. Many aren’t even bothering to try; instead, they are considering moving away from factories in China and Mexico and into countries that haven’t yet been hit by tariffs. Steve Madden, for instance, is trying to tap factories in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Brazil. “Solely relying on tariffs to bring manufacturing to the U.S. has never worked in the past,” Gold says. And it’s unlikely to work now. The result will mean a lot of pain for U.S. companies and consumers. View the full article

In a test on fields in California last year, a plot of tomatoes looked exactly like the tomatoes growing next to it. But thanks to a tweak in how they were grown, they lasted longer: After they were harvested, they still looked and tasted fresh two weeks later. The new crop wasn’t bred differently or genetically edited. Instead, the plants had been given an epigenetic treatment that fine-tunes certain traits without changing the plant’s DNA. That can happen either when the plant is a seed or by spraying a crop as it’s growing in the field. Decibel Bio, the startup behind the technology, is using the approach to help the food system deal with a range of growing challenges, including drought and extreme heat. The company emerged from stealth today, spinning out from another company called Sound Agriculture, with a $12 million financing round from Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Future Ventures, Bayer, and Syngenta. “Epigenetics is really a sort of frontier that hasn’t been tapped into yet in plant science,” says CEO and founder Travis Bayer (no relation to the family behind the agtech giant). “We’re at the forefront of that with our platform.” The field of epigenetics studies how the environment changes the way genes are expressed—in humans, for example, if we exercise or eat differently, our genes start to work differently, though the underlying DNA is the same. In the case of the tomatoes, exposing the seeds to certain pieces of the plant’s own DNA resulted in “tuning down” enzymes that naturally degrade the fruit. “What we’re really doing is working with what the plant has, but just making a little bit less of that enzyme that is responsible for the cell wall degradation,” Bayer says. The tomatoes lasted roughly twice as long as they otherwise would have. A similar approach for lettuce yielded greens that lasted three times as long without browning. In another set of approximately 50 trials that will run this summer in the Midwest, the startup will test how other treatments can help make corn drought-tolerant, better resist disease, or enhance yields. In a place like Iowa, where severe droughts are becoming more common—but don’t happen predictably every year—the treatment for drought tolerance could help farmers adapt in real time. The state often has plenty of rain (or too much of it); switching completely to a drought-tolerant variety could mean lower yields in wet years. With Decibel’s platform, farmers could grow standard corn and then spray it with the new product. The shift in plant physiology happens in around a week. “Our platform gives a grower the ability to kind of retune and rewire the plant physiology during the season,” Bayer says. “That’s something that hasn’t really been available to growers so far. If you plant a corn hybrid that doesn’t have drought tolerance and you have a drought, you don’t really have a way to deal with that.” The company is starting in the U.S. but says there’s an even greater opportunity to implement its technology in parts of the world with less irrigation, where farmers are completely dependent on rainfall. “The idea is to smooth out the variability that growers see, so they can have a more predictable harvest, a more predictable income, more predictable food security in their region,” he says. The basic platform can be used in multiple other ways. Some treatments could be applied to crops in advance of a major storm to help the plants survive floods. Another iteration could help keep plants growing under extreme heat. Treatments could also enhance photosynthesis—or help crops use less fertilizer. The company has also tested approaches to help crops like soy and peas grow with extra protein, something that can be useful for making plant-based meat. The team plans to continue developing new products, with a focus on major row crops like corn and wheat. A new type of treatment for a particular crop can be developed within a matter of months. The approach could be employed commercially on farms as soon as next year, depending on pilot results and regulatory approval. (Though the method is new, it will likely be regulated as a “biostimulant” by the Environmental Protection Agency; since the DNA of the crops doesn’t change, it isn’t regulated as a genetically modified organism, or GMO.) As climate change progresses, it could be a critical tool to help the food system. “If you talk to farmers today—or even 10 years ago—one thing that you hear over and over again is that the weather is more and more unpredictable every year,” Bayer says. “We know from climate models and a lot of data that we are seeing more extreme weather, and that impacts farmers directly on a day-to-day basis. Our big motivation here was, let’s try to give farmers some tools to adapt to this new reality.” View the full article

President Donald Trump’s bowling-ball attitude to international relations and business was in evidence again this week as he announced a landmark $100 billion deal with Taiwanese computer chip manufacturer TSMC to bring more production capacity to the United States. The agreement with TSMC plans for five new factories to be built in the U.S., signed alongside TSMC CEO C.C. Wei in the White House on March 3. “We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here,” Trump said as he announced the deal. “It’s a matter of national security for us.” The move to onshore production of the chips that are powering the AI and broader tech revolution may well shore up U.S. national security. But those watching the deal—alongside the stock market, which reacted by lowering the price of TSMC shares—worry that the agreement trades strengthened U.S. national security for weakened Taiwanese security. “TSMC’s additional $100 billion investment is likely to further expand the U.S. presence in global advanced chip manufacturing, which is currently dominated by Taiwan,” says Ray Wang, a Washington D.C.-based analyst focusing on U.S.-China tech competition and the semiconductor industry in Asia. That’s good news for the United States. But onshoring the production of advanced computer chips that help power the AI revolution isn’t necessarily good news for Taiwan. “TSMC’s newly announced investment in manufacturing, packaging, and R&D in the United States will likely diminish Taiwan’s strategic importance for the U.S. and broader global economy in the long run,” says Wang. For years, Taiwan has managed to fend off the threat of a Chinese invasion of the small island nation because of its strategic importance as the key global factory for computer chips. It’s an advantage that the Taiwanese dubbed their “Silicon Shield.” Indeed, just days ago, the country’s economy minister, Kuo Jyh-huei, described Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as its “sacred mountain protecting the country.” Yet that sacred mountain looks a little more surmountable now. “Ultimately it reduces U.S. dependence on Taiwan—which reduces Taiwanese leverage over the U.S.,” says William Matthews, senior research fellow for China and the world in the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House. Losing that leverage is a dangerous move, Matthews says, not least because of the way the United States has taken a more transactional approach to international relations, even with its allies, under Trump. “From that point of view it reduces the incentive in Washington to defend Taiwan from China,” explains Matthews. “Unlike Ukraine, there isn’t an ongoing war, but Trump’s approach to the mineral deal is indicative of his attitude to international partnerships—transactional and potentially extractive while minimizing costs to the U.S.” The Taiwanese economics minister said earlier this month that no deal with TSMC would be signed without the express agreement of the government, suggesting that TSMC hasn’t yet granted the ability for U.S. plants to build the highest-spec chips—for now. “The Taiwanese government has said it will retain the most advanced tech but that doesn’t mean that it will do so forever, or that the U.S. won’t leap ahead with access to more advanced chip production on U.S. soil,” warns Matthews. And at that point, there’s little reason for the U.S. to defend Taiwan should the worst happen. That said, Wang, the tech competition analyst, isn’t certain that it’s a zero-sum game. “This additional investment could also strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations economically and technologically, first potentially reducing the risk of being targeted by tariffs under the Trump administration and serving as a good start for future collaboration between the two governments,” he says. But Matthews worries that it further isolates Taiwan geographically and could result in real worries in the Asia-Pacific region, where China has long threatened to invade Taiwan. “The risk for Taiwan is that China’s approach is not one that prioritizes a war outside specific circumstances—the declaration of formal independence or action taken by Taiwan or the U.S. that puts eventual unification in jeopardy,” says Matthews. Instead, Matthews foresees there could be “a long game of increasing grayzone activities like joint air and naval patrols, cyberattacks, and cable cutting, with an aim of wearing down Taiwan’s resolve.” Such asymmetrical actions that come below the point of outright military intervention make it less and less likely that Trump would intervene now that much of the chip production the U.S. relies on Taiwan for has been onshored—but ratchets up the tension nonetheless. It also gives China time to muster forces further—much as happened in Ukraine with Russia. “All of this means that if and when China does take the step to occupy Taiwan, the costs of U.S. involvement will be much greater,” says Matthews. “If all goes to China’s plan, the U.S. will decide not to get involved in a conflict it could lose, and will be even less inclined to do so if the material incentive of protecting Taiwan’s chip sector is gone.” View the full article

Figure Technologies is adding a Bitcoin option to its home equity line of credit, while Milo has done $65 million of crypto mortgages since 2021. View the full article

Nearly all job growth since 1980 has been in occupations that are social-skill intensive. Teamwork, for instance, is now considered “very” or “extremely” important in eight of 10 occupations. Not surprisingly, a Stanford study shows that people working collaboratively persist on a task for 64% longer than those working individually on the same task, and they exhibit higher levels of engagement. According to the platform LinkedIn, the most in-demand skills in 2024 include “teamwork” and “communication.” Jobs that require high levels of analytical and mathematical reasoning but low levels of relational skills have been declining because they are easier to automate. As a result, workers in positions requiring social skills are demanding higher wages. These trends align with the fact that there has been a decrease in demand for jobs involving routine tasks, whereas those that require the human touch for enhancing team productivity and flexible adaptation to changing circumstances are on the rise. David Deming, who studies social skills at Harvard University, analyzed team performance and showed that there really is such a thing as a team player. He was able to isolate and replicate the effect of an individual team member’s contribution across multiple groups, showing that a team player increases group performance quite meaningfully. Similarly, in a large research study referred to as Project Oxygen, Google examined what made the company’s employees good managers. The assumption was that it was technical skills. In fact, most successful managers were relational individuals who made time for one-to-one meetings, helped employees work through problems, and took an interest in their lives. The future belongs to those with relational intelligence, and it’s vital to instill these skills from an early age. The workplace increasingly values the skills that are typically nurtured in a preschool-like environment. Paradoxically, however, preschools are starting to shift toward a more rigid, academically focused model reminiscent of the pedagogy of the industrial era, potentially neglecting the importance of play and peer interaction. James Heckman, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, conducted pioneering research establishing the equal importance of noncognitive abilities—including social skills—along-side cognitive ones. Heckman asserted that these attributes are teachable, although he pointed out that American educational institutions may not consistently focus on cultivating them. To prepare students for the future, education systems should focus on and measure relational intelligence—the ability to interact and work effectively with others—not just mastery of academic skills or acquisition of content. A love of learning is also gaining importance in the ever-evolving world of work. Maintaining a thirst for learning is like having a dependable compass in a shifting landscape. We know that the average American will change jobs twelve times between the ages of 18 and 54, and will switch careers between three and seven times. About one in five American workers has a job with high exposure to artificial intelligence, according to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. Over time, automation may create as many jobs as it eliminates, but those new jobs will require people to retrain and acquire new skills. As technology hurdles forward, those who embrace learning will navigate the twists and turns of the modern job market with greater ease. They will have a knack for staying in the know about the new tools, technologies, and industry trends that will be crucial for remaining competitive in their careers. But the significance of a love for learning goes beyond just professional growth. It’s about personal empowerment. It’s akin to having a versatile tool set for life. A curious and open attitude can make you more adaptable, more resilient, and a sharper problem solver. When you love learning, you tend to approach challenges as opportunities for growth rather than insurmountable obstacles. That kind of mindset not only helps you flourish in your career but also enriches your personal life. In my opinion, a love of learning is an understudied competency, despite its vital role in human flourishing. What is a love of learning? It characterizes an individual’s approach to acquiring new information and skills, encompassing both a general enthusiasm for learning and a pronounced interest in specific subject matter. When I think of a love of learning, I picture someone like my younger daughter, whose passion for dance and desire for mastery cause her to continue dancing across our living room after formally training at her dance school for five hours straight. When people possess a strong love of learning, they become mentally engaged and derive positive emotions from the process of acquiring new skills, satisfying their curiosity, building upon existing knowledge, or delving into entirely new topics. Young children simply love learning. Four-year-olds ask as many as two hundred to three hundred questions a day. How can we keep that love alive and well? Adapted excerpt from Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education by Isabelle C. Hau (PublicAffairs, 2025). View the full article

Structured data markup turns your website into a strategic asset, expanding discoverability and aligning your brand’s data with the future of AI-driven search. The post CMO Guide To Schema: How Your Organization Can Implement A Structured Data Strategy appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

This desert city gets less than 9 inches of rain a year and experienced the two hottest years in its recorded history in 2023 and 2024. But El Paso Water started planning decades ago for this hotter, drier climate. Last Thursday, the utility broke ground on its latest project to secure water for the city of 700,000: an advanced water purification facility that will deliver 10 million gallons per day of purified water from the city’s wastewater stream directly into its drinking water supply. El Paso’s Pure Water Center, which will go online by 2028, is the first direct-to-distribution reuse facility in the country. Treating wastewater for reuse as drinking water has long been controversial. But as the technology has advanced and water resources dwindle, more cities are exploring direct reuse. El Paso is the first out of the gate, but Phoenix and Tucson are expected to follow suit. Elsewhere in Texas, communities from the Panhandle to the Hill Country are considering their own facilities. Colorado and California recently adopted rules to regulate the treatment technology. “El Paso, Texas, is the center of the universe in water recycling right now,” said Gilbert Trejo, vice president of operations at the utility, during the groundbreaking Thursday. A rendering of the Pure Water Center, which broke ground on February 27 and is expected to be operational by 2028 [Photo: courtesy El Paso Water] Growing Acceptance of Direct Reuse El Paso Water began a pilot study in 2016 to test direct potable reuse of sewage and other wastewater with a four-step treatment process. The utility sent water samples to state-certified laboratories for testing and found that the water met all drinking water standards. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) reviewed the pilot data and authorized El Paso Water to move forward with the design of a full facility. After nearly a decade of work, TCEQ approved construction of the facility in October 2024. The advanced purification process begins with treated wastewater from the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant in El Paso. This source water then goes through a multiple barrier system, first going through reverse osmosis, in which a membrane separates water molecules from other substances. Then hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light are used to kill bacteria in the water. Next, activated carbon absorbs chemicals or compounds in the water. Lastly, chlorine is added for disinfection. TCEQ requires an online monitoring system with alarms and automatic shutdown capability. Trejo said this real-time monitoring will detect constituents breaking through the treatment process. “Before we start to break any type of threshold that would worry us, we will know well in advance so that we can take action,” he said. The utility will also work to educate residents and businesses in El Paso to discourage them from putting chemicals and pharmaceuticals down the drain. Trejo acknowledged that unwanted material will inevitably enter the sewer system, so the treatment process is designed to remove these potential contaminants. Environmental advocates have raised concerns about contaminants of emerging concern in the purified water, like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which aren’t yet regulated in drinking water. The environmental nonprofit Food and Water Watch warns, “It’s impossible to monitor every potential toxin in a direct potable reuse system.” Trejo said that the treatment process was designed to remove pharmaceuticals, emerging contaminants of concern, and future contaminants. The first step was understanding the baseline quality of the source water. To that end, the utility began collecting data from its sewer system in 2016. The utility commissioned an independent panel of experts through the National Water Research Institute to review its designs for the plant. [Image: Paul Horn/Inside Climate News] “The good thing is that our multiple-barrier approach to remove viruses, pathogens, and any of these emerging constituents of concern is in place,” Trejo said. “It’s a very robust system.” TCEQ spokesperson Richard Richter said the agency has met with El Paso Water since 2014 to review the project. TCEQ issued an authorization for the facility under Chapter 210 of Texas administrative code, which governs reclaimed water. Richter said each authorization is tailored to the specific plant design and source water quality. While TCEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency do not have specific design standards for direct potable reuse facilities, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act are the foundation for design choices. “Once the facility is constructed, there are multiple steps still required in the TCEQ review process before approval can be given for the facility to send water to customers,” he said. El Paso Focuses on Reuse El Paso Water CEO John Balliew said Thursday that the Pure Water Center “is the culmination of our efforts so far to diversify the water supply of El Paso.” The utility has spent decades securing a diverse water portfolio in the Chihuahuan Desert. El Paso historically relied on the Rio Grande, whose flows have diminished, and groundwater pumped from the Hueco Bolson, an aquifer shared with Ciudad Juárez across the border. Alex Mayer, a civil engineer and director of the University of Texas at El Paso’s Center for Environmental Resource Management, said El Paso has been a leader in “drought-proofing” water supplies. “The utility has been very effective in putting together plans that make sure the water availability is there,” he said. In the 1960s, El Paso began its water reclamation program, which distributes treated wastewater to irrigate outdoor areas. El Paso Water has also treated wastewater to drinking water standards to recharge the aquifer since the 1980s. In the 1990s, El Paso Water undertook an educational campaign to encourage residents to conserve water, which successfully brought down average consumption. Green lawns were replaced with native desert landscaping. Meanwhile the utility set in motion plans to diversify its water supply. El Paso Water brought the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant online in 2017. The plant, the largest inland desalination facility in the U.S., treats brackish groundwater from the Hueco Bolson. The utility also acquired land in Dell City, Texas, from which it will import groundwater in the future. Federal funding has aided El Paso Water’s projects. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provided $3.5 million for design of the advanced water purification facility in 2019 and provided another $20 million in 2022 for construction. Utility officials have estimated the total project cost to be $295 million. Balliew said the utility will seek additional state and federal funding to complete the facility. Balliew said the cost of water from the Pure Water Center will be about $500 per acre foot, which is comparable to the cost of water from the desalination plant. However, this is several times more expensive than the fresh water pumped from the aquifers and the Rio Grande. Mayer commended El Paso Water’s “very progressive water rates” that charge lower rates to households that consume less water, which are typically low-income. But as water rates trend up with new water sources coming online, he has researched the impacts on low-income residents. Nearly one in five El Pasoans live in poverty, well above the national average. In a 2022 PLOS One paper, UTEP researchers Josiah Heymen, Jessica Alger, and Mayer used climate change and groundwater depletion scenarios to project the impact of water rates on low-income households. They found that paying for basic water supply could become a significant burden for 40% of all households in El Paso. Mayer said he is confident the utility will continue its progressive rate structures for low-income households. “I am just a little worried about how far that can go,” he said. Texas, Western States Move Ahead on Direct Potable Reuse The first direct potable reuse plant in the world opened in 1968 in Namibia, southern Africa’s driest country. The New Goreangab Wastewater Reclamation Plant replaced the original facility in 2002. The technology is poised to grow in the U.S. as southwestern states contend with aridification and growing populations. The Texas Permian Basin town of Big Spring is home to the first direct reuse project in the United States. The Colorado River Municipal Water District began treating wastewater in Big Spring for direct reuse in 2013. Unlike in El Paso, the purified water is combined with raw water before distribution. Wichita Falls, Texas, also operated a temporary direct potable reuse facility from 2014 to 2015. Both Big Spring and Wichita Falls resorted to direct potable reuse during a severe drought. The federal government relies on states to regulate direct potable reuse. Texas adopted a guidance manual in 2022 to regulate direct potable reuse facilities. Colorado adopted rules in 2023 and California followed suit in 2024. Arizona is in the process of updating its rules for direct potable reuse. Several cities are moving ahead with new facilities. The Tucson City Council voted in January to accept $86.7 million from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to construct a direct potable reuse plant by 2032. In exchange, Tucson will leave a portion of its water supply from the Colorado River in Lake Mead over a decade. Phoenix plans to add direct potable reuse to its 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant to purify 60 million gallons per day by 2030. Communities across Texas, from Amarillo to Dripping Springs, have plans for direct potable reuse in their regional water plans filed with the Texas Water Development Board. The TCEQ spokesperson said that Liberty Hill, north of Austin, has notified the agency of its intent to pursue direct potable reuse. All eyes will be on El Paso as El Paso Water begins construction on its advanced purification facility. This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for its newsletter here. View the full article

Beauty mogul and Rhode founder Hailey Bieber recently posted a a series of editorial photos on her Instagram to tease an upcoming collaboration with Fila. One of the pictures is not like the rest. In it, Bieber is caught mid-gasp as an artful collection of vibrant carrots, ripe bananas, and glossy tomatoes tumble from a brown bag cradled in her arm. The image has ignited an impassioned discussion on social media. One X user wrote of Bieber’s post, ”That one influencer that predicted fresh food would become part of fashion in 2025, because groceries are too expensive, & it’s a status symbol to waste fresh produce ate so bad.” The influencer in question is TikTok user @kfesteryga, whose account is dedicated to tracking where food is “being positioned as a status symbol,” from the Instagram accounts of the Kardashians to the bodice of Zendaya’s Met Gala outfit. While this theory is finding traction online (the aforementioned tweet has already racked up 507,000 likes), produce-as-status-symbol is a trend that’s actually been cooking in various forms for years. According to Andrea Hernández, author of the food and beverage trends newsletter Snaxshot, “It’s not new so much as it’s now getting more attention because of ‘conspiracy’-style TikTok videos.” Food industry experts may have sniffed this out years ago, but now, flexing with vegetables is primed to go fully mainstream—and the reality of the phenomenon is pretty depressing. How did we get here? Groceries as a fashion statement can be traced all the way back to the 1930s, designer Elizabeth Goodspeed points out for It’s Nice That. But the trend has seen several revivals over the years, including the bacon craze of the 2010s or the twee cupcake fad of the same era. In 2014, the grocery store itself became a site of high fashion when Chanel hosted a supermarket-themed show that was basically unavoidable on fashion Twitter. Months later, Kristen Stewart was photographed by Elle magazine sandwiched delicately between rows of lush green lettuce and processed peanut butter. In the past few years, the trend has trickled down from runways and magazine spreads into the hands of the average consumer, most often in the form of kitschy novelty goods. There have been bags inspired by Heinz packets and pizza boxes, hand-beaded butter purses, and enough tomato-inspired prints to last a lifetime. The food-inspired design frenzy has historically been unoffensive. Recently, though, a bleaker take on the trends appears to be emerging, and it strips away the glitz and whimsy to reveal the unfortunate truth: Fresh produce is increasingly considered a luxury good. Carrot-chic Ongoing inflation has consistently ranked as a central concern for Americans in the years since the pandemic, and 2025 is no different. According to a report this month from the Labor Department, the consumer price index increased 3% year-over-year. The index accounts for rises in key purchases like gas, cars, and groceries. “[Groceries-as-luxury] is definitely a post-2020 sentiment, and as we’re halfway in the decade, it’s no surprise to see it permeate into the mainstream,” Hernández says. “Food scarcity and grocery prices skyrocketing is real, and our generation made fancy smoothies a form of affordable affluence. It’s Gen Z’s ‘avocado toast trope.’” Indeed, despite outrage over the ever-increasing cost of living, Gen Z seems almost morbidly fascinated with trends like Erewhon’s $20 smoothies or, more recently, the store’s viral $19 strawberry. “You can’t afford a house, but you can splurge on $25 smoothies,” Hernández quips. Meanwhile, on social media, Gen Zers are earnestly romanticizing a frugal adult life, one that still seems out of reach in the current economic climate: “One day you’ll be buying groceries to cook dinner in the small apartment you rent,” a viral aspirational tweet reads. As grocery prices surge, luxury foods gain more mystique and social clout. Now, though, prices are so prohibitive that access to plain old produce is becoming a wealth signaler. Bieber’s recent Instagram post is one example of this shift, but, on her TikTok account, @kfesteryga has documented plenty of other recent instances of the trend. These include an Instagram story from Kim Kardashian highlighting an untouched plate of out-of-season grapes; a Stylist cover of Adam Brody next to a cake topped with bright red cherries; and a photo shoot of Pamela Anderson enjoying a multitier fruit platter. These posts show that there’s no longer the need for the aesthetic trappings of the supermarket or the eye-catching repurposing of processed foods into leather handbags to convey a sense of exclusivity. A simple brown bag of carrots and bananas can do that all by itself. View the full article

Alexander Balan was on a California beach when the idea for a new kind of drone came to him. While tossing a football, he realized that its form factor could translate into a lightweight unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed for rapid deployment and autonomous targeting. This eureka moment led Balan to found Xdown, the company that’s building the P.S. Killer (PSK)—an autonomous kamikaze drone that works like a hand grenade and can be thrown like a football. To create the PSK, Xdown teamed up with several defense companies, including Corvid Technologies, a North Carolina-based military contractor that specializes in the design, development, and prototyping of weapons systems. While the Xdown hasn’t completed all the planned capabilities of the drone (it’s currently in the testing phase), its form factor, deployment mechanism, and propulsion system could completely change the way soldiers operate drones. Instead of depending on remote controls, the PSK will be operated by AI. And if the PSK works how Balan says it should, it could change the battlefield as we know it. The Xdown drone stands in sharp contrast to current first-person-view drones (FPV), which require time to set up (you need to put on goggles and gamepads for control) and the expertise to fly them. Balan, an engineer with a background in high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (HSVTOL) systems, has been a keen observer of the increasing use of low-cost drones in Ukraine’s defense against Russia, a force superior in numbers and equipment. “Drones are the future of modern warfare,” he says. With an estimated 15,500 Russian armored vehicles lost to Ukrainian FPVs, it’s fair to say drones are the present of modern warfare. But Balan believes that in a world where one second could be the difference between life and death, a drone needs to be more accessible and easily deployable. He says soldiers should be able to grab it, switch it on, and throw it—just like a football. Inside the design According to Balan, the football form factor serves two purposes. Operationally, the shape is so compact and sturdy that you can carry it anywhere. Made of composite material, the drone weighs 1.7 pounds when empty and is capable of carrying another 1.7 pounds, which could be an explosive head or other cargo. The PSK can carry one or two 40 mm grenades commonly used in grenade launchers today. The grenades could be high-explosive dual purpose, designed to penetrate armor while also creating an explosive fragmentation effect against personnel. These grenades can also “airburst”—programmed to explode in the air above a target for maximum effect. This allows for multiple mission scenarios. Infantry, special operations, and counterterrorism units can easily store PSK drones in a field backpack and tote them around, taking one out to throw at any given time. They can also be packed by the dozen in cargo airplanes, which can fly over an area and drop swarms of them for targeted bombing runs in which each drone goes for a designated objective. Aerodynamically, the shape is also good for flight, Balan says, as any quarterback can tell you. The PSK has a thrust-vectoring propulsion system, which can both make it fly much longer and change its course as needed. Balan claims it can reach speeds of up to 135 knots and has a range of more than 40 miles. [Photo: Xdown] Once thrown, the device activates within two seconds in the air, deploying articulated stabilizer fins and rotor blades that appear from thin slots on its sides. The PSK is a “throw-and-forget” drone, Balan says, referencing the “fire-and-forget” missile that, once locked on to a target, can seek it on its own. The PSK is designed to autonomously identify and strike high-value targets such as armored vehicles, enemy UAVs, and personnel. He tells me that once Xdown finishes its development, the drone will eventually operate through multiple layers of targeting logic. “The PSK is programmed with mission parameters and general target signatures,” he says. This means that the AI knows what to look for—say, a Russian T-80 tank—and go for it. “Once deployed, its onboard AI processes data from optical cameras, infrared sensors, radar, and lidar to classify and track potential threats,” Balan explains, noting that the system continuously evaluates battlefield conditions and selects targets based on predefined threat-assessment parameters. It can also serve as a reconnaissance drone when equipped with a video sensor head. When launched as a swarm, multiple PSKs will be able to communicate in real time, distributing targets among themselves to optimize strike efficiency, Balan claims. This swarm coordination prevents redundant attacks and maximizes battlefield effectiveness. According to Xdown, the PSK will have a wide range of potential applications. It can be an asset in maritime security operations, where it could be used to intercept small, fast-moving vessels, or conduct reconnaissance. The drone could also be employed for convoy protection, detecting threats such as teams armed with shoulder-mounted weapons or roadside bombs before they strike. Special operations forces could use it for high-value targets, leveraging its compact size and autonomous targeting to strike enemy positions with minimal setup time. Counterterrorism units could deploy the PSK for precision strikes in urban environments, reducing collateral damage compared to conventional airstrikes. It could even become a counter-UAV system, capable of autonomously identifying and intercepting enemy drones. Balan says the company is also working on a nonlethal version of the PSK, replacing its warhead with a supply container so that it’s able to “deliver food, medical kits, or ammunition to frontline troops in contested environments” (though given the 1.7-pound payload capacity, such packages would obviously be small). [Photo: Xdown] The dangers of AI targeting This targeting and “reduced collateral damage” is precisely one of PSK’s murky points, however. The drone is preprogrammed to detect certain types of enemy targets, but as Elon Musk or anyone who has tried autonomous driving can tell you, this can be problematic in the known, predictable environments of a city at peace. In the battlefield, where chaos reigns and actors can disguise themselves in different shapes and forms, it can get extremely tricky. AI can get confused and attack innocent civilians who might be near military vehicles or get mistaken for enemy soldiers. Conversely, the enemy can also disguise itself to confuse the AI systems and avoid detection. AI will continue to improve to the point of being able to mitigate these issues, but it’s not there yet. There’s a reason why scientists want to regulate autonomous killing machines and ban the use of AI for kill decisions. Ukraine is already using the HX-2, a kamikaze strike drone with AI capable of autonomous targeting. The medium-size drone, designed and made by German manufacturer Helsing, requires approval by a human to make the kill. But the Ukrainians are in such dire need that it’s logical to expect these fail-safes to eventually be switched off. As Vincent Boulanin—program director of the governance of AI at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute—told me during a recent interview: “It’s difficult for Ukraine to think of high-level principles about what constitutes the responsible use of autonomy right now, fighting the war.” Balan says that the PSK has an abort-and-return function that gets activated if no viable target is detected. “The abort function relies on telemetry override and onboard navigation. The drone calculates the optimal return route and either glides back to the operator or enters a controlled descent,” he explains, noting that this feature prevents unnecessary munition waste and increases operational efficiency. Xdown claims that the PSK can operate in GPS-denied environments, resisting electronic warfare measures that typically disable other drones, thanks to its AI and visible light and infrared camera sensors. And it’s so small and so quiet (it has an acoustic signature of 55 decibels at 20 feet), the company contends, that it is nearly undetectable to conventional air defense systems. How far from actual combat? Balan says Xdown has “already secured thousands of preorders from both domestic and allied military buyers.” The company plans to begin delivery of training models by midsummer, with full-scale production set for 2026. “The initial technology readiness levels demonstrated that the design exceeds current requirements, and we believe this is the ultimate tactical UAS for modern and future warfare,” Balan says. Xdown is currently refining its aerodynamic performance and guidance systems through controlled throws and simulations. “We anticipate multiple test throws over the next two months to optimize thrust vectoring and wing articulation under different conditions,” Balan says. Thrust vectoring means that the rotor can adjust the orientation of the blades in real time to correct its course, fly, find, and destroy its target, so it can be operated effectively even by someone who isn’t particularly dexterous at throwing a football. Balan says that one Defense Department official told him “This is the most American munition I have ever seen.” Which, of course it is. Time will tell whether the PSK lives up to its ambitious claims. But if it works as advertised, it could mark a major shift in drone warfare on its launch convenience alone. View the full article

As President Donald Trump’s threats of a trade war with two U.S. neighbors becomes a reality, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is asking Canadians to buy local. The “Made in Canada” label and other local country-of-origin labeling is about to take on a whole new level of significance. Country-of-origin labels are a helpful way to advertise that a product is locally made, but with the threat of wide-ranging tariffs, these labels could soon also signal to consumers that a product’s price tag isn’t artificially inflated due to Trump’s trade war. Speaking last month after announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. should Trump go forward with his plans, Trudeau said for Canadians, it was “the time to choose Canada.” "Buy Canadian Instead" signs going up in BC Liquor stores pic.twitter.com/FjgGqKViUO — Riley Donovan (@valdombre) February 2, 2025 “It might mean checking the labels at the supermarket and picking Canadian-made products,” he said. “It might mean opting for Canadian rye over Kentucky bourbon, or foregoing Florida orange juice altogether.” Already, “Buy Canadian Instead” signs went up at a B.C. Liquor Store in Vancouver while in Ontario, a province-controlled alcohol wholesaler pulled U.S. liquor from the shelves. There could soon be more to come, and there are signs other countries are looking to protect their own domestic production. On Monday, the Australian government said it would invest in protecting and promoting the country’s “Australian Made, Australian Grown” initiative over the next three years. The homegrown boost There’s a benefit to homegrown goods. A 2023 Morning Consult report found nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers said they seek out products that are “Made in America” and nearly 50% said they would be willing to pay more. But for some products, like cars, which are made across multiple countries, it isn’t always as simple as slapping on a simple sticker about where it was made. The Canadian government regulates what claims products can make about being made in the country. Its Competition Bureau requires products that claim to be a “Product of Canada” to have 98% Canadian content while products that claim to be “Made in Canada” must have at least 51% Canadian content and include a qualifying statement that the product is made in part from imported content. In the U.S., “Made in America USA” claims are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission which makes its own allowances for products made across borders, like “Made in U.S. from Imported Parts” for a product assembled in the U.S. with parts from other countries. The rise of economic nationalism could draw more attention to where our products come from and the varied countries that make up our supply chain. Should patriotic purchasing become a higher priority for consumers, then, country-of-origin labels could carry more weight than ever. View the full article

WordPress redirects ensure your users (and Google) can find your content when you: Change the URL Combine two pieces of content Move your entire site to a new domain Using redirects avoids creating broken links (bad for user experience), or losing the authority of your backlinks (bad for your SEO). In this guide, I’ll show you how to redirect your WordPress URLs with and without plugins. When Should You Use WordPress Redirects? You typically set up WordPress redirects any time you want visitors (and search engines) to end up at a different URL than the one they originally tried to access. That might be because you changed an old link, or because you’re testing a new landing page. Here’s a quick breakdown of the most common scenarios: Use Case Example Why It Matters Changing page URLs You updated your post slug from /old-page to /new-page A redirect ensures visitors who save, bookmark, or click the old link don’t land on a 404 error Deleting or merging content You remove outdated pages or combine two posts into one Redirects in these cases ensure you don’t lose valuable backlinks Rebranding or domain changes You switch from olddomain.com to newdomain.com A sitewide redirect preserves your site’s SEO and minimizes traffic lost during the migration Temporary promotions You create a holiday sale page that’s active for one week A temporary (302) redirect lets you direct traffic to the special offer, then you can revert back to the original URL when it’s over Types of WordPress Redirects You’ll mostly rely on two key types of redirects: 301 and 302. (Even then, 301 is the type you’ll likely use most often.) While there are others (like meta refresh), they don’t come up nearly as often in day-to-day site management (and they’re typically not best practice either). So I won’t talk about them here. There are also subtle variations of these standard redirects (like 307 and 308 redirects). But these have very specific use cases that most site owners don’t need to worry about. (If you do want to learn more about these, check out this extensive redirects guide.) Here’s a summary of what you actually need to know: 301 Permanent Redirect This is the go-to redirect for any page move that’s meant to last forever. You use it when you’ve changed your URL structure, merged content, or changed your domain. Search engines treat this as a permanent change and usually transfer most of the old page’s authority to the new page. 302 Temporary Redirect You use 302 redirects when you plan to send visitors to a new page for a limited time. This could be when you’re running a seasonal promotion or an A/B test to see which version of your page performs best. A 302 redirect tells search engines that the old URL is coming back eventually, so they shouldn’t transfer the SEO value to the new page just yet. What to Do Before You Create WordPress Redirects Redirecting pages, no matter why or how you do it, always comes with an inherent risk. It’s easy to make mistakes, like creating redirect chains: Or redirect loops: So it’s best to do some planning before you get started. Understand What Kind of WordPress Site You Own There are two flavors of WordPress: WordPress.com: These sites are built on and hosted by WordPress WordPress.org: These sites run the WordPress software, but you host them elsewhere Most sites you’ll see talking about WordPress redirects, and everything I’ll discuss below, only really applies to owners of sites running via WordPress.org. Sites running on WordPress.com typically have more limited customization options, and this applies to redirecting URLs. For example, users on WordPress’s cheapest plan can’t install plugins, so they won’t be able to redirect URLs with this method. This means you’ll need to use WordPress’s built-in redirect tool. You can learn more about the different use cases in this support article. If you run a WordPress.org site (i.e., you pay for separate hosting), you can use either of the methods below. Create a Backup It’s always a good idea to back up your site before making any significant changes—redirects included. Most good web hosts offer an option for this, but you’ll also find external solutions and even WordPress plugins to do it for you. Create a URL Map Another good idea if you’re redirecting a lot of URLs or moving to a new domain is to map all of your current URLs to their new versions. You can do this using tools like Screaming Frog to get a comprehensive list of all your site’s pages. Or, if your site isn’t that big, just create a list manually (with the help of your sitemap). This gives you a reference for setting up all the redirects. And you can tick them all off as you put them in place and verify that they work. Consider Whether You Need a Redirect Finally, consider whether you even need a redirect at all. I’ve covered a few common situations above, but sometimes you might be better off: Updating the content and keeping the current URL Deleting the page Leaving it as is For example, you might have outdated content or a page that’s no longer relevant, but no relevant page to redirect it to. But you don’t want to lose the traffic or backlinks that post has attracted over time. In this case, it’s often just best to leave it as is. Here’s a flowchart to help you decide what to do: But if you do need a redirect, here’s how to implement them. Note: It should go without saying that you’ll need to own the domain you’re redirecting. Otherwise anyone could redirect any domain to their own website. How to Redirect WordPress URLs with a Plugin Using a plugin is by far the easiest way to handle redirects in WordPress. You don’t have to touch any code, and they’re usually pretty easy to set up. Here’s an overview of the most popular WordPress plugins for creating redirects: Plugin Key Benefit Price Redirection Handles 301 redirects with a simple interface Free 301 Redirects Quick setup for basic redirects Free (with optional paid plans) Rank Math Offers advanced SEO tools plus auto-redirects when you change URL slugs Free (Premium available) Yoast All-in-one SEO plugin Paid (annual license) AIO SEO A range of SEO features and simple redirects Paid (annual plans) Note: I won’t be going through all the steps for setting each of these up. In most cases, it’s something like this: Install plugin Navigate to the redirects/redirections menu within that plugin’s settings Set up your redirects I’ll show the main interface for each one below, but it’s pretty self-explanatory. The main things to consider are any other plugin features you might need and whether you can do it for free. Redirection Types of redirects: 301/302/303/304/307/308 Redirection is the most popular free plugin for simple 301 redirects. It does exactly what the name implies and is a plugin purely for creating and managing redirects. You can add new redirects very easily, and the plugin automatically tracks any 404 errors on your site. Plus, if you update the URL of a page, you can set it to automatically create a redirect for it. That means you don’t need to worry about broken links appearing that could cost you traffic and rankings. You can also choose various HTTP status codes for pages. This is handy if you’re deleting content and want the URL to send a 410 gone status code, for example. The Redirection plugin can also handle a few useful sitewide redirects: HTTP to HTTPS Removing WWW Adding WWW As I’ll show you later, you can set these kinds of redirects up through .htaccess. But if you want a simple, no-code way to do it, this is SUPER useful. If you’re looking for something lightweight and focused purely on redirects, this plugin is a great choice. 301 Redirects Types of redirects: 301/302/307 301 Redirects is another option if you just want basic link redirection without any extra features. The free version handles most common redirect scenarios through a simple interface. But there’s a premium version available if you want other features like: Redirect management and matching rules Detailed 404 monitoring Link scanning Rank Math Types of redirects: 301/302/307 Rank Math is an all-in-one SEO plugin that also lets you create redirects—without needing a premium subscription. Note that you can set up three types of redirects and choose 410 or 451 status codes. Its standout feature (for this discussion) is the auto-redirect function: when you change a URL slug, the plugin sets up a redirect for you automatically. This saves you from having to remember to do it yourself. It also includes an array of other SEO tools—like keyword optimization and schema settings. So, if you need a plugin that can handle other aspects of your site’s SEO, Rank Math is a good pick. Yoast Types of redirects: 301/302/307/410/451 Yoast is one of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress. The downside is that you need the premium version to access the built-in redirect manager. If you’re already using Yoast Premium for other features though, it’s a no-brainer. You’ll get a user-friendly interface for setting up 301 or 302 redirects (and 410/451 status codes), and it’ll automatically set up redirects when you change URLs. AIO SEO Types of redirects: 301/302/303/304/307/308 AIO SEO (All in One SEO) is another heavyweight in the SEO world. It offers redirect features, but you need a paid subscription to unlock them. In return, you get a clean, well-structured dashboard where you can manage redirects alongside other SEO tasks. Like the others, the redirect manager is straightforward—just enter the old URL, the new URL, and save. If you’re already using AIO SEO for keyword optimization or sitemap management, upgrading for the redirect module could make sense. Note: You probably won’t want to use any combination of Rank Math, Yoast, and AIO SEO. They all do many of the same things, and conflicts between them can cause issues with your site. How to Set Up a Redirect in WordPress via .htaccess If you’re comfortable taking a more hands-on approach, you can skip plugins entirely and create redirects by editing your site’s .htaccess file. (Note that this only applies to WordPress sites running on Apache, not Nginx.) This file tells your server how to handle certain requests, and it’s often used for things like permalinks and redirect rules. It can be faster than installing a plugin, and if you already have lots of plugins on your site, it limits how much extra “bloat” you add to it. In other words: your site might run faster. The catch is that one wrong line of code can bring your whole site down. So I strongly recommend you consult your developer if possible. Or, at the very least, take a lot of care when doing it yourself. How to Access .htaccess The usual method to edit your .htaccess file involves an FTP client. This is a “file transfer protocol” program that lets you access your server’s files from your computer. There are lots of options, like Cyberduck, FileZilla, and WinSCP. Check out this guide to .htaccess files for a walkthrough of how to do this. In many cases, you can edit your .htaccess file right inside your hosting control panel (like cPanel or a similar dashboard). Look for a “File Manager” or something similar: Then, look in your site’s root folder (often called public_html) for your .htaccess file. It might be hidden by default—there’s usually an option in your settings to change that. You’ll see lines of code that might look a bit intimidating, but don’t panic. You don’t need to edit any of them. We’ll just be adding some additional lines of code to our .htaccess file. Before You Start For some redirects, you’ll need to add a few lines of code like this: Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On You don’t need to worry too much about what this does, but essentially it lets you add certain rules that’ll execute specific types of redirects. (Some hosts might enable the first line by default, but it’s fine to add it here anyway.) You don’t need these for a basic single redirect, but you will for the more complex ones. You also only need to add it once in your .htaccess file (provided you don’t also have “RewriteEngine Off” somewhere else in the file). But I’ve included it in each of the instances below that require it. Finally, it’s important to note that these .htaccess rules don’t “create” any new pages. You need to ensure the pages you’re redirecting to are live when you add the rule. Otherwise the redirect will lead to an error page. With that in mind, here are the most common types of WordPress redirects you can add to your .htaccess file. In each case, add them at the start of your .htaccess file. Free resource: To make things even easier, download our free .htaccess WordPress redirects cheat sheet. Redirecting a Single Page To redirect a single page using your .htaccess file, add this line of code, replacing the /old-url and /new-url parts with your own URLs: Redirect 301 /old-url https://yourdomain.com/new-url Note: The first part (/old-url) should be the relative form of the URL. But the second part should be the full URL, including the protocol (https://) and domain name. Redirecting a Single Folder When you want to redirect a folder (e.g., moving a /blog category over to your /news category), use this code: Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^blog/(.*)$ /news/$1 [L,R=301] Again, you’d replace the blog and news parts with your own folder names. But what do all the other parts mean? You don’t need to know the specifics, as there are lots of possible combinations. But this particular case does the following: ^ means “start looking at the beginning of the URL path” blog/ is the folder we’re redirecting from (.*) captures everything after blog/ (think of it like copying it to the clipboard) $ basically says “that’s the end of what we’re looking for” /news/ is the new folder we’re redirecting to $1 essentially “pastes” everything we “copied” with (.*) into the new location L means stop processing rules for this specific request once it matches this rule R=301 means it’s a 301 redirect (as opposed to 302, for example) So, it would redirect a URL like: https://yourdomain.com/blog/post-1 To: https://yourdomain.com/news/post-1 Redirecting to a New Domain Redirecting to a new domain is where things can get tricky. Having done this myself, I strongly recommend you speak to your developer first. But if you plan to do it yourself, here’s one example of a rule you can add to your .htaccess file (obviously subbing in your specific old and new domains, with or without www as required): Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?olddomain.com [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301] As with redirecting folders, there are a lot of symbols in there. I won’t go over them all individually, but here are a few important parts: RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} essentially means “check what domain the user is trying to access” ^(www.)? matches either www. or nothing at the start of the domain—this ensures it catches both www.olddomain.com and olddomain.com [NC] means “not case sensitive,” so OLDDOMAIN.com would also match ^(.*)$ captures the entire URL path after the domain (like /about or /contact) So this code would redirect: https://olddomain.com/about > https://newdomain.com/about https://www.olddomain.com/blog > https://newdomain.com/blog https://olddomain.com/product/item > https://newdomain.com/product/item This maintains the same structure for each URL but on the new domain. You can tweak some of the symbols to catch or ignore specific parts of the URL. But again, it’s probably best to seek help from your developer if you need a more precise solution. Remember: This .htaccess rule doesn’t create any pages on the new site. If you try to redirect “olddomain.com/example-page” but there’s no “newdomain.com/example-page” or its URL is slightly different (e.g., newdomain.com/example-page1), the user will get a 404 error. That’s why you should create a redirect map before starting a site move. For more on this, see our website migration checklist. Redirecting HTTP to HTTPS You can also redirect your website from HTTP (unsecure) to HTTPS (secure) via .htaccess. (You’ll, of course, need a valid SSL certificate.) However: You might not need to. There’s a good chance your web host offers a method to do this for you. Or you might already have a plugin that does it. In either case, you shouldn’t then add a separate .htaccess rule to redirect to HTTPS. Doing so can actually lead to issues. But if you do want to add it, here’s the code: Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301] You can copy and paste this rule directly into your .htaccess file without subbing anything in. Redirecting WWW to Non-WWW As with redirecting to HTTPS, you can usually redirect from the www. version of your website without touching your .htaccess file. One method is through your WordPress dashboard’s “General” settings tab. Just enter the URL you want to use for your domain name in the “WordPress Address” and “Site Address Boxes”: But if you want to do this via .htaccess, here’s the code to add (you can copy and paste it in without changing anything): Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.(.+)$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%1/$1 [L,R=301] Remember: You only need to add one instance of “RewriteEngine On” in your .htaccess file. Pros and Cons of Using .htaccess for WordPress Redirects The main advantages of using .htaccess to redirect WordPress URLs include: Fewer plugins, less bloat: Every plugin you install can slow down your site. Changes to .htaccess don’t rely on lots of extra code running in the background. Extra control: You can set up advanced redirect rules, and you can be very specific about what does and doesn’t redirect. Fast execution: Because .htaccess rules run at the server level, your redirects happen quickly. But there are a few drawbacks: Risk of breaking your site: One small typo can cause major errors. Double-check everything, and always keep a backup. No built-in tracking: Unlike plugin dashboards that log errors and hits, you won’t see which URLs have triggered the redirect unless you check your server logs. Potential performance impact: While the actual redirects might be fast, adding lots of .htaccess rules could impact overall performance and page speed (although it won’t be noticeable in most cases). A big caveat here, though, is that which method is right for you will depend on how many redirects you need to implement and the nature of them. Need to redirect a couple of pages, and want an easy way to do it as needed? The likely small performance impact of a single plugin is probably worth it for the flexibility and convenience. Redirecting one URL? It’s probably most efficient to add it to your .htaccess file (it’s just one line of code). Performing a massive site migration with thousands or millions of redirects? For massive sites, it’s probably not worth taking any risks trying to use a plugin or editing your .htaccess file. This is where you’ll likely want to seek expert assistance. How to Check Your WordPress Redirects Are Working Whether you set your redirects up using a plugin or via .htaccess, I recommend testing to make sure they work as soon as you’ve implemented them. This lets you fix errors before they impact your users (or your SEO). You can do this manually by checking the URLs if you didn’t create that many redirects. But if you have lots of them, you can use a tool like Semrush’s Site Audit to check for issues across your entire site. You just set up your audit and once it runs, you’ll head to the “Issues” tab. Search for “links” to bring up any relevant issues: Pay particular attention to these errors and warnings: # internal links are broken # pages returned 4XX status code # redirect chains and loops # pages with a broken canonical link # links couldn’t be crawled (incorrect URL formats) # links on HTTPS pages lead to HTTP page These often occur when you implement lots of redirects and set up some (or all) of them incorrectly. You can audit your site for free for up to 100 URLs. But for crawling more than that, try a Pro plan for free for 14 days with this link. The post WordPress Redirects Made Easy: Plugin & Code Methods appeared first on Backlinko. View the full article

“Violence is just part of the job. Every nurse and healthcare worker experiences it at some point.” Sentiments like this echo across American hospitals and healthcare facilities, capturing a disturbing and growing reality. Though Americans think of nursing as the most trusted profession, we often fail to see that it’s also one of the most dangerous. An alarming 8 in 10 nurses face violence at work. As a result, healthcare workers are more than four times as likely to be injured by workplace violence than workers in all other industries combined. Despite these staggering numbers, the full extent of this epidemic may not be fully understood because nurses and other healthcare workers chronically underreport violent encounters. The American Nurses Association estimates that only 20% to 60% of incidents are accounted for. Additionally, there is no agreed-upon definition for workplace violence or clear way of tracking it on a national level. As a practicing bedside nurse, I have experienced my fair share of workplace violence. As a professor of nursing, my research shows that violence has become a normalized but underreported part of working in healthcare and that it affects the care patients receive in pervasive ways. What really counts as workplace violence in healthcare? When people think about workplace violence, they often imagine dramatic physical assaults. Assaults do happen, but violence directed at workers can take many other forms, including verbal threats, intimidation, sexual aggression, and bullying. What makes defining and measuring workplace violence especially difficult in healthcare settings is the range of people involved. Violence may stem from patients, their families, coworkers, or even disgruntled members of the public. Nurses and healthcare staff work with people during incredibly stressful moments in their lives. Sometimes patients are experiencing medical conditions that may cause them to act out or be confused, such as dementia, delirium, psychosis, or even postoperative reactions to anesthesia. Some healthcare organizations use vague definitions, such as “workplace violence is any violent act or threat of violence,” while nursing organizations advocate for tiered definitions delineating between perpetrator and intent. Although not all employees can recite their organization’s official definition of workplace violence, ask a nurse whether they have ever experienced a threatening situation at work and they will likely have stories at the ready. In my 14 years of nursing practice, nurses shared many different types of threatening encounters. They reported being screamed at by distraught visitors and having their hair and wrists grabbed by patients who are trying to bite or spit at them. I have personally experienced having objects thrown at me from across the room and being threatened with retribution by patients’ family members. Nurses also shared more extreme experiences in which they or their coworkers were injured in the course of trying to simply deliver care. Many described the emotional impact of watching a coworker hurt badly enough to require medical attention. From my observations, it’s not just the major incidents but the countless small threats or insensitive behaviors that add up over a nurse’s career. These seemingly less-threatening events are much harder to document, and many nurses shrug them off, but the small infractions take a toll when they happen repeatedly. Breaking the culture of silence A culture of silence makes such incidents hard to track. The medical-surgical nursing unit at the hospital where I conducted my research has a healthy and supportive culture. Yet in my ongoing doctoral work, which will be published in May, of the 74% percent of staff that acknowledged experiencing workplace violence in the past year, only 30% reported the event. When nurses stay silent, whether from fear, futility or institutional pressure, violence becomes an accepted part of the job. Without accurate data, healthcare facilities don’t understand the true extent of the problem, can’t implement effective safety measures, and struggle to support their workers in meaningful ways. There are common themes as to why nurses underreport violence. Some nurses think reporting does not make a difference. Others find the lack of clarity in defining workplace violence or reporting policies demotivating and confusing. Nurses also report a lack of support from management, a fear of reprisal, or a sense of shame when reporting. Commonly, many nurses simply find reporting tools to be too difficult and time-consuming to use. The hidden costs to healthcare For healthcare workers, the consequences extend far beyond physical injuries. Workplace violence in all its forms contributes to anxiety, depression or PTSD, as well as job dissatisfaction. Dangerous workplace violence trends are a contributing factor in 55% of healthcare workers feeling burned out and 18% of newly licensed registered nurses leaving the profession within the first year. That is a huge problem, considering that the United States is projected to have 193,100 nursing job openings per year until 2032, yet will produce only roughly 177,400 new nurses in that time frame. This also has vast repercussions for patient care. During my nursing career, I observed my peers developing complex strategies to protect themselves while trying to provide compassionate care. Like me, they tended to carefully position themselves near doorways, maintained constant awareness of their surroundings and silently assessed each new interaction for potential risks. These invisible precautions reflect the far-reaching effects of healthcare violence. When nurses are hypervigilant about their safety, they have less emotional energy for patient care. When they’re rushing between rooms due to short staffing caused by violence-related turnover, they have less time for each patient. When they are worried about what the next patient encounter may bring, they are increasing their anxiety, fear, and stress rather than focusing on delivering quality care. Creating safer healthcare together Each healthcare visit is a chance for patients and their families to improve nursing care for everyone. When you visit a hospital or clinic, try to understand the stress that healthcare workers are under and express your needs and concerns calmly. You never know what your nurse is dealing with in their interactions with other patients. They try to compartmentalize and give you their full attention, but they might also be experiencing a difficult and traumatic situation right next door. It also helps to share information that might be relevant to caring for your family member, such as whether their medical condition is causing them to act differently than normal. And you should speak up if you witness any forms of aggressive behavior. These actions might seem small, but they support healthcare staff and help prevent violence in healthcare settings. Nurses are trained to keep information private, to be problem-solvers and to bear the burden of the job, so they don’t always seek support. If you have a nurse or healthcare worker in your family or circle of friends, let them know you care. Supporting their safety validates their work and leads to better care for everyone. Jason Blomquist is an assistant professor of nursing at Boise State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

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Ever miss the thrill of the 2016 Pokémon Go craze? A new anti-swiping dating app has come to fill that void, but instead of cute Pokémon you can catch yourself a hot date. These days, trying to find a partner IRL, whether at a bar or reluctantly joining a singles running club, is no easy task. Dating apps are still one of the most common places for people trying to meet The One, but . . . have you seen the apps? 2024 has been widely dissed as the year the dating apps died. Both Bumble and Match Group saw stock prices steadily decline since reaching all-time highs in 2021. Left Field, the latest dating app launched in New York City this week, has the goal to combat swipe fatigue and bring back spontaneity in dating. The app uses location-based notifications to engineer real-life meet-cutes. Instead of actively swiping through endless profiles, the app sends push notifications of a potential match in the area (when location services are switched on) and two users could happen to cross paths. Samantha Martin and Kate Sieler began building Left Field last year to address their own mounting frustrations with existing dating apps. “We interviewed over a hundred Gen Zers and heard the same three complaints again and again,” the founders told Fast Company in an email. “First, dating apps are a massive time drain; people are spending hours swiping each week. The second issue is the rise of paywalls—it feels like apps are prioritizing monetization over connections. And finally, dating feels more forced and inorganic than ever.” In 2024, 78% of dating app users reportedly feel “emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted” from the apps, according to one Forbes Health survey. “At its core, dating should feel fun and serendipitous,” they added. “We believe the future of dating isn’t about making swiping slightly better, but about shifting the focus back to real-life connections.” The app officially launched on the Apple App Store in February, and to build its community, Left Field is leaning on in-person events and social media. It’s collaborating with comedy influencers on Instagram and TikTok while hosting singles events across New York—teaming up with bars, running clubs, and comedy venues. Looking ahead, Left Field plans to expand to college campuses in May, rolling out student ambassador programs to help spread the word. “We believe the best connections happen when you are not actively searching for them but just out living your life,” said Martin and Sieler. Gotta catch ’em all. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker keeps a wall of embarrassing photos of former coworkers I started a new job at a start-up a few months ago and one of my coworkers, who I work closely with, has a wall next to his desk where he has pinned up half a dozen enlarged photos of everyone who has left the company recently. He finds an old school photo, or them in a costume, or with braces, whatever he thinks is funny. As soon as someone puts in their two weeks, their photo goes up on the wall. He recently got told by HR to take the photos down after someone complained. Everyone in my corner of the office is vocally on his side and against the reporter. They all seem to agree that the photos are all in good fun and shouldn’t be something to get upset about. They joke about making everyone take down family photos to show the reporter how silly they are. I have had a neutral opinion of the photo wall so far, but now I am on the side of the reporter. If I were to resign, I definitely would not like the idea of my photo on that wall. I also don’t want to say anything since the team is very chummy and I’m trying to fit in as the newbie. What should I do? Are the photos appropriate or not? That’s a really odd thing for him to do, and HR was right to tell him to stop. It wouldn’t be a big deal if he did it once or twice as a good-natured joke with resigning employees who he was friends with, but it’s his system that he does every time someone leaves? He’s in the wrong to make a big deal of being told to stop, and the coworkers who are outraged that he was told to stop are being ridiculous too. If it’s “all in good fun,” then they’d surely want to be sensitive to anyone who doesn’t want to be included, right? The fact that they’re not says that it’s not really “in good fun” at all. But as for what you should do as a new person, it’s okay to just stay out of it! If someone directly asks what you think, you can shrug and say, “Eh, if someone was upset by it, it doesn’t seem that weird that the company told him to stop.” 2. Manager says staff absences are too high I work at a company where each employee receives PTO that can be used for sick or personal reasons. PTO requires a doctor’s note or written explanation for absences longer than three consecutive days. Each person also has a separate bank of vacation time. The amount of paid time off we are given is typical for our industry. Most people use all or most of their vacation time and some of their PTO as needed. While various employees have had medical issues and/or leaves of absences over the years, I don’t think anyone abuses the system. It doesn’t seem like anyone has excessive absences. One of my managers, Dan, disagrees. He has made several comments in the past year to indicate that employee absences are too high (within the allotted time, he admits, but still too high in his opinion). He called a meeting this week specifically to discuss attendance. Dan feels absences are to blame for a big issue we’re having, and he asked us to brainstorm ways to increase attendance without spending any money (insert eye roll). I disagree. The issue we’re having has about 10 causes — half could be solved by management with moderate effort (like reworking the production schedule), and half are out of our control (such as industry-wide supply issues). Attendance may be a minor cause but not enough to warrant the time and effort we are now dedicating to “solve” it. It feels like scapegoating, putting the blame on us rather than attempting to address the other causes. However, Dan is senior management and well-liked by the CEO/owner, so no one ever challenges him. No one spoke up in this meeting, although several colleagues later told me they were shocked and upset. Even if attendance was the sole cause of the issue, my opinion is that if people are not exceeding their allotted PTO and vacation time, then they are within their right to take the time given to them. Am I wrong? If I’m correct, then do you have any suggestions on how to tell him that? Dan does not take well to anyone questioning his opinion, so it would need to be carefully worded. We are meeting again soon to hear what (free!) ideas we’ve come up with. You are correct. If the company offers paid time off, it’s part of people’s compensation and they should take it, and managers should expect they will take it. Dan sounds like A Problem, so I’m not sure there will be any benefit to trying to set him straight (as opposed to just letting him continue to wring his hands over the dreadful problem of people using their time off). But if you want to, you could try saying, “The amount of time off in our benefits package is consistent with industry norms and people obviously need time off in order not to burn out, so if you think there’s a coverage issue, we should look at increasing staffing.” After delivering this bad news to him, you could then immediately pivot to other solutions to whatever he’s reacting to, like changes to the production schedule and planning differently for supply issues. If he starts actively interfering with people’s ability to use their time off or making people feel they’ll be penalized if they do, that’s time to bring in HR, framing it as “not allowing people to use their promised benefits.” 3. When I ask my team for updates, should I share my own as the boss? I am a new department head and would like to introduce a weekly check-in during our department meeting to ask everyone what they are currently working on and what they accomplished in the past week. Should I include myself in this process and answer these questions as well for transparency reasons? My work is much more abstract than that of my team members, and many of my tasks are repetitive (meetings, etc.). My progress is often harder to define because it largely depends on the progress of my team. Yes. It doesn’t need to be comprehensive, but you should have at least one thing to share each week about what you’re working on, ideally something that will be relevant to at least some of the team. That said … do you have a good reason for introducing these meetings? You very well might! Sometimes it’s really important for reasons of communication or team cohesion that people regularly hear about what others on their team are working on. Sometimes, though, this kind of meeting isn’t a great use of people’s time and can feel like something that’s happening because the manager vaguely thought it sounded like a good idea but can’t tie it to any real impact on people’s work. I’m not assuming it won’t be useful in your case — it often is! — just urging you to make sure you know what results you’re looking for from it (and how you’ll know if it is or isn’t getting you those results), and can communicate that to your team too. 4. Measles and traveling for work conferences I am attending a national conference next month and, given the current measles outbreak, I asked my doctor about the need for a booster since my last (and only) MMR vaccination was decades ago. My doctor did recommend that anyone with an immunization history like mine get a booster, which I did. We have many other employees also attending national conferences, and I wonder how much we can say to encourage them to check with their own doctors about a booster during this outbreak. Would there be any liability for not mentioning it? Your company can absolutely encourage people to make sure they’re up-to-date on vaccinations, and can cite the measles outbreak specifically and suggest people check with their doctors to see if they need any boosters and/or can share info like this from the CDC (or this piece from NPR, which does a better job of answering “do I need a booster as an adult?”). But there’s no legal liability to not mentioning it, either. 5. Start date coincides with a planned vacation I’m hoping to get a job, and there’s a good chance I’m a lead candidate. They want overlap with the existing job holder and the new person, which sounds great to me. Problem is, that person’s last day is the Friday before my kid’s spring break, for which we already have paid plans for Sunday through Wednesday. Do I bring this up at all now, or wait until I have an actual offer? And then, is “doing the right thing” offering to come back that Thursday, which would cause some childcare complications, or is it reasonable to ask for the whole week off? To clarify, this would be the first week of me in the role flying solo. There is a part-time assistant. This is in the middle of a big organization-wide project. In my current job, I’ve had to work every single vacation I’ve ever taken, near or far. I’m trying to get away from that. This organization doesn’t have that culture, but this timing really stinks. Wait until you have the offer. Then explain you have pre-paid vacation plans for that week and that normally you’d suggest starting after that but you know they’d like you to have overlap with the person leaving, and so you’re hoping you could simply take that week unpaid, so that it works out for everyone. I wouldn’t start by offering the Thursday return date; wait and see how they respond. If they seem worried about it, at that point you can offer the Thursday return date as a compromise. It’s great to move away from working every vacation, but this this is a different set of circumstances — this is trying to work something out when you’re brand new to a job and wouldn’t normally expect to have a full week off right after starting. Related: everything you need to know about time off when you start a new job View the full article

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