Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com

Social media has been abuzz in recent days about America’s new, upcoming automatic military draft registration system. And it’s no surprise why.America is engaged in a war with Iran, and many worry the conflict, which is currently on pause due to a fragile ceasefire agreement, could spill over into a situation where American boots are deployed on the ground.This has left many wondering whether the news of the new automatic draft registration system and the conflict in Iran are linked. Here’s what you need to know.Are Americans about to be drafted?First things first, let’s get the question that is on…

Updated April 10, 2026 08:31AMCades Cove is spectacular. Not in a Niagara Falls, “in your face” sort of way, but in a subtle, “notice the dance between shadow and light” sort of way. Bright green mountains rise steeply from a grassy valley and then taller mountains, a deep shade of blue, rising higher beyond that first row of peaks, and then another ridgeline beyond that…rows of mountains progressing in lighter shades of blue that eventually melt into the sky. Broad meadows are hemmed in by lush hardwoods with horses frolicking in the grass between the forested border.I’m not the only…

In operating reviews and boardrooms, I keep seeing the same pattern: leadership asks for rigor, teams deliver the numbers, and promising AI efforts get judged as underperforming before the organization has actually learned what it takes to make them real. Then someone pulls the plug, scales back the investment, or lets the initiative quietly expire. Sometimes they’re right. But often, they’ve just used the wrong test. The problem isn’t that leaders care about measurement. Strong measurement discipline is exactly what separates organizations that scale AI from those that accumulate pilots. The problem is that many leaders are applying a mature-business…

There has been no shortage of retailers closing locations over the last few years as consumer behaviors shift online and foot traffic at brick-and-mortar stores continues to decline for many chains. And now, iPhone maker Apple has announced that it will join the ranks of companies closing locations, with multiple Apple stores to close for good this summer. Here’s what you need to know.Which Apple retail stores are closing?Yesterday, Apple confirmed that it will close three Apple retail stores in the United States. While there have been a few instances in the past of Apple closing a retail store, this…

Hello again, and welcome back to Fast Company’s Plugged In.For years, progress in AI has been motivated by an industry-wide yen to create software that’s at least as capable as humans—not at some tasks, but all of them. The precise definition of the goal varies, and two maddeningly overlapping terms, artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence, both get bandied around. But no matter how you look at the aspiration (or how long you think it will take to achieve), it’s about the ways the world will change when software can do everything extraordinarily well.I’ve written—here and here—about why I believe…

Ever find yourself behind the wheel watching all the other cars go by and think to yourself, “Man, I’m a much better driver than all these clowns on the road?”It’s a funny thing about this question. Pretty much everyone reading this is likely to say “yes.” It seems we all think we’re better drivers than the next guy.In a landmark 1981 study, psychologist Ola Svenson asked people in the U.S. and Sweden to rate their driving skills compared to the average person. The results? Around 80–93% rated themselves “above” average—statistically impossible—with an eye-popping 93% in the American sample doing so.Psychologists…

With most of New York City surrounded by water, climate change poses a grave threat to its infrastructure, as devastating storm surges and coastal flooding have shown. Inland blocks are in danger, too.Researchers at the New York Botanical Garden have created a new interactive map of the city showing the areas most at risk of flooding. They’re calling them “Blue Zones,” places where water is, used to be, or will be due to climate change. More than one-fifth of the city is in a Blue Zone, according to a paper published in the Annals of the New York Academy of…

Does your backcountry leader always know best? Our ethics columnist, himself a former guide, explains what to do if your guide’s approach feels dangerous. Should you disobey your guide during a backcountry adventure? (Photo: Reg Speller / Getty Images)Published April 10, 2026 03:16AMDear Sundog,On a recent guided rafting trip down the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia, my guide was taking what seems to be a lot of extra risks. He’d always hit the hole, run the slot, even deliberately flip the boat. The rest of the customers loved it. I was terrified. I’m no expert, but I could see…

When Winter storm Fern tore across the country in late January, more than a million Americans lost power. In Nashville, the utility recorded its highest outage total in history. In Louisiana, some families waited nearly two weeks for the lights to come back on. Officials issued emergency orders in several states as the storm exposed the fragility of our centralized energy system.And yet, during that same storm, a different story was quietly playing out. Households with the ability to generate and store their own power with home solar and storage kept the lights on, ran their heat, and charged their…

Nevada’s largest utility says it will need three times the electricity required to power Las Vegas just to handle proposed data centers — and it probably can’t do that without fossil fuels.That means the utility could miss Nevada’s clean energy targets requiring 50% renewable power by 2030.“I can’t remember a time in the history of the industry where we’ve seen as much interest in adding load, which is primarily driven by data centers,” said Shawn Elicegui, senior vice president of regulatory and resource planning for NV Energy, which provides electricity to 90% of the state.It’s one of many utilities across…