It’s time for kick-off. After years of anticipation for what has been billed the biggest World Cup ever, the 2026 tournament hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico is here. Not only is this year’s competition the biggest in terms of teams playing (48, up from 32), it’s expected to draw five billion viewers over its month-long run. And that’s why advertisers are spending upwards of $10.5 billion globally to get their brands in front of all those eyeballs. Of course, maybe they should’ve just sponsored Freddy the viral Germany fan traveling the country and discovering all of America’s specific…
Author: Staff Writer
In times past, when we wanted to know which team would win the World Cup, we had to turn to seers with crystal balls, use divination via tea leaves, or hope for Paul the Octopus to tell us what would happen. But modern data science can provide a better alternative. As part of a team of statisticians, I helped train a machine learning algorithm to predict the most likely course of the tournament. Probabilistic forecasts and loaded dice The algorithm we built proceeds in two steps. In the first, sophisticated statistical models and expert insight from bookmakers and transfer markets…
Soccer fans can get ready for more than just the World Cup kickoff this week. Chipotle is offering a special deal for the first day of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. On June 11, customers wearing a soccer jersey can buy one entrée and get another free. Customers in the U.S., Canada and U.K. who are wearing a jersey will be eligible for the offering starting at 3 p.m. local time, which on the U.S. East Coast coincides with the Mexico vs. South Africa game—the first match of the tournament. The offer has some restrictions, with only five free entrée…
The May inflation report came in exactly where many expected, yet the details beneath the headline reveal what is actually taking place in the economy. Consumer prices rose 0.5% for the month and 4.2% year-over-year, the highest inflation reading in three years. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose only 0.2% for the month and 2.9% annually. This is primarily an energy shock that is spreading through transportation, travel, and production costs due to the war in Iran. Government data show that energy alone accounted for more than 60% of the monthly increase in consumer prices. Energy prices rose…
There’s an art to doing nothing and I have spent years trying to perfect it. Some people master the violin, others train to run marathons. I have dedicated my early forties to the delicate balance of achieving maximum results with minimal effort. In fact, my entire second career as an author and coach, which started in my late thirties, was born out of a need to declutter and have and do less. I have nothing, literally, to thank for it. Choosing when to be lazy, or strategic laziness, as I call it, could unlock your best work yet, without it…
The Taiwan issue is not simply about reunification. That has always been far too simplistic. If Taiwan were merely a political dispute, China would not be spending trillions of yuan to build one of the largest navies on Earth. It would not be launching aircraft carriers into the Pacific. It would not be conducting large-scale naval exercises beyond the first island chain. What we are witnessing is something much larger. Japan is reporting that China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning and its accompanying strike group recently conducted extensive operations east of the Philippines. Carrier aircraft reportedly carried out roughly 170 takeoffs and…
A Maryland-based dairy manufacturer recalled all of its soft ricotta/requeson cheese in the wake of a deadly Listeria outbreak that has sickened people across three states. Clover Hill Dairy of Mechanicsville made the announcement following notification of contamination from the Maryland Department of Health. It comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating a “multi-year outbreak” of Listeria with potential links to requeson. Between March 6, 2023, and May 9, 2026, nine people have been infected with the strain of Listeria linked to Clover Hill Dairy’s cheese. Eight people…
The Pentagon has now added BYD, Alibaba, Baidu, and dozens of other Chinese firms to its list of companies allegedly linked to China’s military establishment. Washington wants the public to believe this is about national security. China’s greatest crime is not that it has a military. Every major power has a military. China’s greatest crime is that it competed too well. China is building electric vehicles that are taking market share from Western automakers. Suddenly it becomes a national security concern. China develops world-class battery technology. National security concern. China advances artificial intelligence. National security concern. China dominates solar manufacturing.…
The reason enterprise AI remains stubbornly artisanal is not because models are too weak. It is not because context windows are too short, or agents need better prompts, or companies are resisting adoption. Those are all visible problems. But they are not the deepest one. The deeper problem is that the industry is still building from metaphors. And metaphors do not industrialize. Over the last two years, enterprise AI has become filled with human analogies. We talk about memory, reflection, planning, delegation, feedback, even sleep. Business Insider recently described Anthropic’s “dreaming” technique for AI agents, a telling example of how…
COMMENT: You have always stated that wars are created by the leaders, not the people. The majority of Israelis do not want Netanyahu to run again. According to a poll released this week by the Israel Democracy Institute, it found that 61% of Israelis, including 27% of Likud members, do not want to see Netanyahu run again this fall. The same proportion said they want to see Israel adopt a two-term limit for prime ministers in the future. I understand your criticism of Netanyahu that this is an endless war that does not end well for us, according to your…