Monthly Archives: November 2021

Crops grow better in Mars soil when given good bacteria, study finds | New Atlas

Uber Eats deliveries to Mars are going to be expensive, so the first colonists of the Red Planet will need to figure out how to grow their own food locally. A new study has shown that dosing plants with symbiotic bacteria can drastically improve their growth in barren Mars-like soil.

Extremely dry and dusty, the rocky dirt that gives the Red Planet its characteristic tinge is terrible for farming. The regolith, as it’s known, lacks the usual organic matter from plants and animals that provide nutrients for crops, meaning attempts to grow things in this dirt alone have left scientists hungry.

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I tested the Margaritaville frozen drink maker, and it’s as ridiculous as you think | Mashable

Nobody — and I’m talking absolutely no one — needs a Margaritaville-branded frozen drink maker that automatically rotates between three pitchers, blasting frozen concoctions out in record time. Not even Jimmy Buffett himself needs that.

But damn if it isn’t fun and absolutely preposterous all at once. I might even buy one if it didn’t cost — wait for it — more than $500.

Frankly this thing is built for exactly who you’d expect it to be built for: a boomer-aged Parrot Head with money and lots of parties to host. And that’s OK. Not every product is for everyone.

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Japan: Ikea is offering a tiny apartment in Tokyo for less than $1 per month | CNN

Swedish retailer Ikea is becoming a landlord in Japan with a tiny apartment it will rent out in Tokyo.

The 10-square-meter (107-square-foot) apartment is located in the Shinjuku district and will cost just 99 yen ($0.86) per month to rent, according to details released by Ikea this week.

Only one unit is available, and it is fully furnished with Ikea furniture and accessories. The company is accepting applications from potential tenants, who must be over 20 years old, until December 3.

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Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? | Live Science

Zebras are iconic for their distinctive coats, but have you ever wondered whether zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

The stunning black-and-white coloration of the zebra’s hide stands out in stark contrast with the dry, brown-and-green, treeless grasslands and savannah woodlands of their home territories of East and southern Africa, according to the African Wildlife Foundation.

These stripes are unique to each individual. There are three zebra species living today — the plains zebra (Equus quagga), the mountain zebra (E. zebra) and the Grevy’s zebra (E. grevyi) — and each of those species has a different striping pattern, too. For some, the darker portions of their hide are black, whereas others have browner coloring, and some have stripes only on their bodies but not on their legs. An extinct subspecies of the plains zebra called a quagga (E. quagga quagga) had minimal striping on its head, mane and neck, according to The Quagga Project.

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Hometown Girl Turned Cupcake Diva – Lucky Cupcake Company Profile | businessnewsdaily.com

The Lucky Cupcake Company is one sweet success story. Cupcake diva Joanne Jarin, owner and self-taught pastry chef, was baking in her home just two years ago.

Today, her Lucky Cupcake Company, located  in upscale Bucks County, Pa., a dozen employees, three of them full-time, and a reputation that keeps pulling in the customers, locals as well as tourists. In the fabled county where desserts at restaurants often are priced at $9.00 each, a fancy cupcake for $2.75 is a bargain.

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20 Monthly Goals Ideas To Help You Grow in 2022 | Life Hack

Personal growth is the most rewarding because it honors hard work on what matters most. If you desire to become more successful personally and professionally, then you should set monthly goals to establish a purposeful mindset.

Schedules and commitments can get a little unruly. Utilize the definition of S.M.A.R.T. goals to personalize them accordingly to preferences. Here is where you will gain a tremendous amount of personal development and set yourself up for success this year. Prioritize these 20 monthly goal ideas to help you grow the coming year and be amazed at how your productivity and success accelerate.

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The chances someone has COVID at your Thanksgiving gathering | Fast Company

Thanksgiving is just days away and with it comes parties, dinners, and gatherings. And while experts say the fully vaccinated should enjoy the holiday with their friends and family, the case and infection rates of COVID-19 remains at high levels in most of America, which means it’s possible someone at your gathering could have COVID and not know it.

But just what are the chances of someone at your gathering being infected with COVID-19? A free online tool from the Georgia Institute of Technology can give you an idea (via the Springfield News-Leader). Called the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool, the tool shows you the chances that at least one person has COVID depending on the size of your gathering.

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TS Conductor redesigns power lines to make the electric grid more efficient | Fast Company

Though the use of renewable energy is growing—in 2020, wind, solar, and other sources of renewable electricity accounted for nearly 20% of electricity generation in the U.S., up 90% from the year 2000—the basic infrastructure of the grid itself has been slower to change. Almost all overhead electricity lines use the same basic, inefficient design that’s been in use since 1908. The technology isn’t a good fit to accommodate the shift to renewables.

“You may have an existing grid, but if you put in over 500 megawatts of wind because you build a new wind farm, and you connect it to the grid, the grid itself may not be able to absorb that electricity,” says Herve Touati, chief strategy officer for TS Conductor, a startup making high-efficiency conductors for the electricity grid. “So you need to increase the capacity of the grid.”

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14 Recruiting Hacks to Find the Best Job Candidates | AllBusiness.com

Sifting through piles of job applications and resumes can be tedious work. However, you can take advantage of certain recruiting “hacks” to find the best job candidates, people who are likely to be a great fit right from the start.

To learn more about methods that work, 14 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) shared their favorite recruiting tips for finding the best of the best.

What’s your best recruiting “hack” for finding the most qualified candidates for your business? Why does this work so well?

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6 Marketing Translation Tips to Grow a Small Business | AllBusiness.com

When it comes to the global market, many people tend to think of it as a playground for big businesses. But that doesn’t have to be the case—it’s now easier than ever for small businesses to do business abroad, thanks to the possibilities of digital marketing and international logistics.

But if you want your business to truly reach a global audience, you need to speak to them on their terms; English alone isn’t going to cut it. Research shows that 76% of consumers around the world prefer to buy products with information in their own language.

What this means is that any business looking to break into a foreign market needs to consider marketing translation a part of their expansion strategy. If you look at successful businesses with a solid global reach, you’ll find that they make the effort to reach out to customers in their native language in many areas, including product design, advertising, and customer service.

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