Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com
When Brightline first launched its train service in Florida five years ago, it was a turning point for passenger rail in the U.S. The sleek new trains were fast and equipped with features like free wi-fi; the spotless new train stations looked more like modern hotel lobbies than the aging depots used at many Amtrak stops. It was the first privately-owned intercity rail in the U.S. in decades, and boosters argued that it was proof that private companies could build rail faster and better than the government. The route covers more than 200 miles of track and reaches six cities,…
Published June 3, 2026 03:08AMMaine has been celebrated as “Vacationland,” a nickname that appears on license plates, signs, and graphic T-shirts, since the 1930s. And planning a trip to Maine in the summer is more popular than ever: the state expects more than 7 million visitors before Labor Day. But what makes this largely rural state (89 percent forestland!) such a great place to explore, unwind, and have fun?I was born and raised in Maine, have been a Registered Maine Guide for five years, and I’ve written three guidebooks about hikes in Maine. I also lead guided hikes and adventures…
“In some ways I really think of myself as a generalist… if you look through my background, you would [say], ‘what is this lady actually good at?’ Right? ‘She doesn’t have a law degree. She’s not a computer scientist,’” says Daniela Amodei, president and cofounder of Anthropic, in an interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business in May.“But the ability to be curious, [to] learn across a lot of disciplines and to have a strong foundation of wanting to have impact, regardless of the area that you’re working in, I think that is an underrated quality.”That ethos has worked…
Published June 3, 2026 03:10AMIt feels like wading through a sea of green. With every step, sword ferns and prickly branches slap at my pant legs and sleeves. I can’t see the ground, so I search for footing between slick rocks and spongy mosses. Overhead, towering conifers rise out of sight. “A tree with a shrinking range,” I ponder, “that has a beautiful yellow wood with an odd smell.”I’m following an unmaintained trail above Big Creek in Olympic National Park. My destination is a remote mountainside that’s home to the nation’s largest yellow cedar. Today, the species is called Alaska…
I opened my South by Southwest (SXSW) session with a confession: I have a video from over a decade ago where I am impersonating Ron Burgundy from “Anchorman.” Stiff delivery, robotic cadence, completely inauthentic. Did I say video? I’ll clarify and say this was footage broadcast on the local news during my stint as a local TV news reporter. I thought that’s what “being on camera” was supposed to look like. I was wrong. Today I speak on stages across the country, host a podcast, and coach founders and executives on how to show up confidently on video. The transformation…
Stanford put together a bold symposium on where AI for mental health is headed.gettyIn today’s column, I analyze an important symposium on AI for mental health that took place at Stanford University on June 1, 2026, an event that was part of Stanford’s notable initiative known as AI4MH (AI for mental health).Avid readers know that I have been covering this crucial and groundbreaking Stanford AI4MH initiative on an ongoing basis; for example, see my coverage at the link here and the link here. This exciting initiative is under the auspices of the Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and…
President Donald Trump on Monday adjusted tariffs on some steel, aluminum, and copper imports, lowering some tariffs on farming equipment and extending the lower rate to other equipment. In an executive order, Trump lowered tariffs on agricultural equipment—including combines and harvesters, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems—to 15% from 25%. He expanded the existing category of industrial equipment that is subject to a 15% tariff to include mobile industrial equipment like bulldozers and forklifts—when they’re imported from countries that have a trade deal with the U.S. The order says countries that use at least 85% melted and poured or…
AI agents promise to automate work, make decisions and transform business operations, but giving machines more autonomy also creates new risks.Adobe StockAI agents are moving from hype to deployment, and that is where things start to get serious.For the past couple of years, most of the conversation has focused on what AI agents can do. They can answer customer queries, analyze information, trigger workflows, support HR teams, help with finance tasks and carry out repetitive work that currently eats up human time.That is the attractive part. The more important question is whether businesses are ready for what happens when AI…
From the spreadsheet, cutting a benefit looks like one of the cleanest decisions available to a leader under cost pressure. It removes a recurring expense, it saves cash fast, and the workforce will absorb it. At least that is the assumption. It is sometimes a correct assumption. When it is not, the cost is several years of trust the company cannot quite buy back. The current news cycle shows both outcomes playing out at once. Deloitte halved parental leave for its internal-services workforce, ended pension accruals after 2026, and scrapped a $50,000 reimbursement that helped employees adopt, surrogate, or pursue…
A woman holds a sign reading “Make America Healthy Again” at a press conference with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP) (Photo by OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesAmerican healthcare has a strange relationship with prevention.We celebrate it rhetorically. We promote it at conferences. We publish studies about it. We devote entire departments to population health and wellness. Yet structurally, we continue to finance the opposite.The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement led by Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump has generated…