Re-imagined Piece: Embrace and Move on
Drawing from Dunedin Airport in New Zealand’s ingenious approach, one cannot help but appreciate their innovative directive to sentimental travellers. Signs stationed outside the terminal building advise passengers to hasten their emotional farewells. The signs give travellers a strict “hug time” of three minutes. For those yearning for more heartfelt partings, they are directed to the car park for a maximum of 15 minutes instead.
At first glance, it could be astute tourism advertisement from the city of South Island. However, according to the airport, this “affection limit”, which was set up in September, aims to facilitate a seamless flow in a remodelled passenger drop-off point.
The airport’s top executive, Daniel De Bono, further elaborated to Associated Press that three minutes gives ample time to stop, bid your loved ones farewell, and proceed. In addition, this peculiar strategy happens to be more economical compared to various airports’ recent drop-off tariffs.
De Bono added that the administration will adopt a light enforcement. “A hug constabulary is not present,” he joked.
From the perspective of airport congestion management, there have been more absurd ideas.
Looking at the Data: Misplaced Satellites
The US Space Force is currently trailing 20 “component parts” of an IS-33e communications satellite, manufactured by Boeing, after it shattered in space. Its controller, Intelsat, confirmed it as a “total write-off”. Monitoring company, ExoAnalytic Solutions, is tracking 57 fragments from the same astral vessel. Regardless of the actual count, the satellite’s life expectancy, intended to be 15 years post its 2016 takeoff, has unfortunately not been great.
Moreover, the IS-29e, a different satellite produced by Boeing, only lasted three years before a fuel leakage led to its classification as a “total loss” in 2019.
Understanding the Scenario: EY’s Multitaskers
In the field of professional services, particularly among the Big Four firms, the practice of streaming multiple training videos concurrently isn’t considered an advancement worth recognition. In contrast, it led EY in the United States to terminate numerous staff members who did so during their ‘Ignite Learning Week’ aimed at achieving mandatory professional training credits.
Many of the dismissed employees claimed they were unaware of any violation of EY’s policies. They were only trying to complete as many modules as feasible. As quoted by the Financial Times, one individual stated, “We typically use three screens at work.” Another colleague argued that the company’s approach to training promotes multitasking, which leads to a high workload in addition to accumulating billable periods. Some employees have even labelled these terminations as excessive and are now advocating focusing on one task at a time for safety’s sake.
The Facts: Musk’s Misinformation in Elections
A recent CBS News examination discovered that more than half of Elon Musk’s internet posts related to election security contained dubious or incorrect information, or endorsed such material. Therefore, what kind of misinformation is he propagating?
1. Claims of Electoral Fraud: Musk made 361 references to this topic in 2024, repeatedly discussing likely vote machine manipulation. These posts reached an average of 9.3 million viewers, which CBS claimed could potentially lead to post-election mayhem by propagating misconceptions.
2. Immigration Conspiracy: “The ultimate goal has been to bring in as many illicit voters as possible,” stated the tech mogul in a post in July. Ironically, this assertion is nowhere near the actual Democratic Party’s stance on immigration.
3. Michigan Misstatements: Musk inaccurately claimed in a post that Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens. This resulted in a correction from Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson. Musk then accused Benson of deliberately deceiving the public, thereby provoking a flurry of threats towards her office.
Musk has been caught spreading erroneous posts from a bigoted account called EndWokeness. This account falsely alleged a major surge in the number of individuals in three states registering to vote without photo identification, a claim which Musk supported with an ‘extremely concerning’ statement, showing no consideration of the actual facts.
He also stated last month that the continuity of freedom and meritocracy in America hinges on Trump’s victory, under the assertion that the very fabric of society as we recognise it stands in jeopardy. This might be true, but Musk’s reasoning for it does not hold water.