• Bode is a luxury fashion brand best known for its unique, hand-illustrated clothes and accessories.
• Shoppers say they especially love Bode jackets and see them as conversation pieces.
• Buying a custom jacket involves filling out a questionnaire about your hobbies, family, and more.

When vintage shop owner Chandler Lesesne West got married in April, her husband, Connor Webb, didn't wear a tuxedo.

Instead, he donned a corduroy jacket covered with hand-painted images that meaningfully nodded to their relationship.

It wasn't a DIY project, though. The couple spent $2,100 on the custom piece from Bode, a luxury clothing brand.

"All wedding attire is going to be pricey," West, 31, said. "Buying the jacket almost seemed smarter than buying a regular tuxedo."

They might have been onto something. Bode's bespoke Senior Cord pieces have become fashion symbols of originality, status, and style.

Corduroy, artistry, and Harry Styles

Emily Adams Bode Aujla founded Bode in 2016. The brand is known for its modern pieces incorporating classic styles and techniques, like quilting and mending.

Vogue reported that the brand launched its Senior Cord collection in 2018. It was inspired by the now 121-year-old Purdue University senior tradition of illustrating corduroy trousers.

The label's take on the latter took off in 2020 with the help of Harry Styles. He wore custom pants from the line for his Vogue cover feature, leading shoppers like West to discover the brand.

Bode has only continued to grow since then. The brand told Business of Fashion in 2022 that it went from having 18 wholesale accounts in 2018 to having 105 accounts in 2021. Made-to-order pieces were also up 120% at the time, the publication reported.

Bode then launched a collaboration with Nike in 2024, opened its first international store in Paris this year, and hosted a runway show during the Super Bowl to showcase its athletic sister brand, Bode Rec.

And that's not to mention how Bode's Senior Cord designs are all over platforms like TikTok.

Bode adds a survey to the typical online shopping experience

Luxury fashion brands are known for making rare pieces that are hard to find and even tougher to buy. Think about Hermès and its range of limited-edition Birkin bags.

Bode runs its business differently. While its custom jackets are all specialized, the price tag and overall design process remain the same for every shopper.

Mac Bass, a 32-year-old copywriter and content creator, decided at the start of 2025 to "pull the trigger" on his dream fashion piece: a custom Senior Cord Side Tab jacket for $2,100.

In April, he went to Bode's website, added the garment in his size to his shopping cart, and purchased it. Within hours, the brand emailed him an extensive questionnaire about his hobbies, favorite movies, lucky numbers, family, and more.

"You can do a 30-minute interview [with Bode] to go over everything if you want," Bass said. "But I thought that having the time to process it myself would be better. It took me two hours."

He aimed to be "as honest as possible" and not overthink any answer. Bode said the jacket would be complete within 10 to 12 weeks, and Bass received the finished product in early July.

West also shared her shopping experience with Business Insider, and it was the same.

A fashion trifecta: luxe, accessible, and made to order

Webb's wedding jacket is illustrated with images of the five cats he shares with West, the purple wisteria flowers that decorated their wedding venue, two fairies that resemble the couple, and more.

Bass' jacket, on the other hand, depicts the logo of his favorite hockey team, his wife's name, and an image of the first car he ever owned, among other designs.

"I think my favorite one is a little more subtle," Bass said. "On the bottom of the jacket, there's the Empire State Building in the fashion of a black-and-white cookie. Based on the answers I wrote, I think it combines how I'm half Jewish and how both sides of my family have roots in New York."

He said Bode used "roughly half" of the things he listed on his questionnaire, so not everything made the cut. Still, he loves how perfectly the jacket represents his life.

"Every time I wear it, I'm shocked by how many people come up to me," he said. "Even people who don't know Bode ask me, 'Did you do that yourself?' And I'm like, 'I wish."

Bass said Bode has achieved something that few other luxury brands have. It's created a line of conversation-starting garments that are truly unique, and also easy to purchase (if you have $2,100 to spare, that is).

West and her husband see their custom Bode piece similarly. They plan to keep their jacket in their family for generations.

"We're both going to wear this on a regular fall or winter day as our jacket," she told Business Insider. "It's going to be such a cool statement piece in both of our wardrobes, and it's going to become a family heirloom."

Now, they just have to decide who will wear it first.

Kelsey Birch remembers the crushing pressure, the sharp jerks, and the feeling of hands inside her abdomen. "I felt like I was being torn apart," she said. "I couldn't handle it."

Birch, a then 28-year-old emergency dispatcher in Colorado, hadn't gone into labor expecting surgery. She was healthy. Her first pregnancy had been going well, and her full-term baby was positioned face down — an ideal candidate for a vaginal birth. As her contractions grew stronger, a delivery room nurse urged Birch to get an epidural before the hospital anesthesiologist finished his shift. Birch agreed.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that a woman with an epidural in first-time labor push for up to four hours. Birch pushed for just over two before a doctor intervened. Her labor had failed to progress, her medical records noted, so, like one in three American women who give birth, Birch underwent a cesarean section.

The half-hour surgery began months of recovery. For weeks, Birch struggled to hold and breastfeed her newborn daughter. Her incision site was searingly painful; first as a fresh wound and again as it healed, scar tissue adhering to skin and muscle. Like many women who undergo a C-section, she learned to cope with intrusive memories of the surgery.

C-sections are now the most common inpatient surgery in America. Business Insider analyzed years of hospital delivery data from Florida, Mississippi, and Iowa and found that C-section rates can differ sharply between hospitals just miles apart — even when caring for similar, low-risk patients. Those gaps, experts say, point to how a hospital's policies, culture, and financial incentives can push surgery rates higher, helping explain why the US consistently performs far more C-sections than global health authorities consider necessary.

In 1970, just over 5% of babies in the US were delivered by C-section nationwide — too low to protect some women and their babies. That rate tripled within a decade. Now, for nearly 20 years, over 30% of babies in the United States have been born by C-section, around double the rate the World Health Organization says is "ideal" for maternal and infant health. US doctors perform these surgeries 60% more frequently than doctors in France, and nearly double the rate of Finland and Sweden.

Many of them, maternal health experts told Business Insider, are medically unnecessary. Federal health agencies consider women with low-risk pregnancies — those who are pregnant for the first time, are at full term, are not delivering twins, and whose babies are head-down rather than breech — the least likely group to require surgery to safely deliver their babies. Yet more than a quarter of those women delivered by C-section in the US in 2023, the most recently available year with national data.

One large study estimates that as many as 19% of all births should be C-sections to protect women and their babies, leaving as many as 13% possibly performed needlessly in the US.

That suggests roughly one in 10 pregnant American women — nearly half a million women each year — are operated on unnecessarily, undergoing major abdominal surgeries that carry a higher risk of hemorrhage, blood clots, and infection, and leave women more likely to develop dangerous complications in their future pregnancies.

It's not because women are asking for more C-sections. Only an estimated 2.5% of US babies are born by elective C-section each year. Instead, experts say, the reason behind the high C-section rate largely comes down to the structure of the American medical system.

C-sections are more profitable, predictable, and are perceived to be more protective against lawsuits than vaginal births, according to experts and multiple studies. They say health systems looking to keep operating rooms full, revenue up, and liability risk minimized are indirectly incentivized to keep surgery rates high.

Put plainly, a high C-section rate may just be better for business.

When C-sections hurt more than they help

C-sections are often critical, sometimes lifesaving procedures.

In medical emergencies, like when the placenta completely blocks the cervix or an umbilical cord slips down past the baby, a C-section is mandatory. Failure to promptly perform the surgery can disable or kill the woman, her baby, or both. Other factors — including a pregnant woman's age, whether she's obese, or if she's diagnosed with diabetes or pre-eclampsia — all increase the chance that a C-section is the safest way to deliver a baby.

To deliver a baby by C-section, a surgeon dissects through seven layers of body tissue: skin, fat, fascia, muscle, peritoneum, uterus, and amniotic sac. Doctors first use a scalpel; later, they may use their fingers or a blunt tool. Like any abdominal surgery, it also presents immediate risks, including infections, hemorrhages, blood clots, or injury to other organs.

The risks increase with additional C-sections, and a woman is far more likely to have another C-section once she's had her first. In 2021, 86% of women who previously had a C-section underwent the surgery again to deliver their next baby. While studies show that as many as 80% of women who have undergone a prior C-section can safely deliver their next baby vaginally, many hospitals nationwide ban women who have had a C-section from attempting a later vaginal birth, citing safety and liability concerns. Each additional surgery will increase her risk of developing severe complications, like placenta accreta, which almost always requires a hysterectomy to prevent hemorrhaging.

These complications can sometimes turn deadly. While rare, the United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality among high-income countries — 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023 — and a woman who receives a C-section is up to five times more likely to die due to pregnancy-related causes than a woman who delivers vaginally.

Even when the surgery goes as expected, some women describe the experience as extreme, even traumatic. Women are anesthetized, but most choose to remain conscious to witness the birth of their child. While some women who spoke with Business Insider said their surgeries were unremarkable and felt little of the procedure, others told Business Insider they still felt the snagging pull of the scalpel, intense pressure, and sometimes shocking pain. Their memories of the surgery are punctuated with specific detail: their arms held outstretched, pinned in restraints secured to the operating table; their bodies trembling; and their newborns held amid IV lines and the surgical drape.

After a C-section, some women endure weeks or months of painful recovery, much longer than women who deliver vaginally. Women told Business Insider they struggled to breastfeed, shower, and get out of bed to care for their newborns. Some suffered painful infections along their 4- to 6-inch surgical incisions. Others weathered panic attacks, nightmares, and lingering anxiety.

The hospital you choose can affect how likely you are to get a C-section

Doctors delivering babies have to make tough calls. If a fetal heart rate monitor alerts that a baby is in distress, or if a woman's labor is so prolonged that she or her baby is at risk of suffering severe injury, a doctor might feel compelled to intervene.

Even if the medical necessity of C-section is ambiguous, "I can't really gamble," said Dr. Elizabeth Langen, an OB-GYN and a clinical associate professor at the University of Michigan who studies C-section rates. Doctors may choose to perform a C-section because "it's devastating when a baby is born and isn't doing well," she said. "You keep thinking, 'Is there something else I could have done?'"

The health and safety of a woman and her baby aren't always the only influences at play.

Controlling for a constellation of factors — hospital obstetric care levels, delivery volume, urban or rural location, maternal age, race, health, and income — multiple studies show that one of the strongest predictors of whether a woman will get a C-section is which hospital she delivers in.

Business Insider requested data on hospital delivery data from all 50 states and DC, and analyzed data from three states that responded first to the request or had already published the data publicly: Florida, Mississippi, and Iowa. Business Insider's analysis reveals huge variations in C-section rates from one neighboring hospital to another — suggesting a woman's chance of undergoing a C-section is affected by her choice between two close-by hospitals.

A 15-minute drive is enough to swing outcomes. In 2019, the average rate of C-sections at one Palm Beach County hospital in Florida was 26% higher than at a hospital less than 5 miles away in a similarly majority white, wealthy area. Between 2010 and 2019, Business Insider found similar instances in Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, and at least five other Florida counties. The hospitals all had similar levels of obstetric care and numbers of babies delivered.

Similar patterns were found in Mississippi, where C-section rates are among the highest in the country, as well as in Iowa, where C-section rates are among the lowest nationwide. Doctors at a hospital in northwest Iowa, performed surgeries on women who were pregnant for the first time at a rate 65% higher than doctors at a comparable hospital 15 minutes away, according to Business Insider's analysis of aggregate five-year hospital birth data from 2019 to 2023.

For C-sections performed on low-risk pregnancies, differences in hospital rates may be more telling, experts told Business Insider, as surgeries performed in this category are more likely to have been medically unnecessary.

In Mississippi, which has the highest rate of C-sections on low-risk pregnancies in the country, some hospitals had low-risk pregnancy cesarean delivery rates that swung as low as 14%. Doctors at other hospitals performed C-sections on 45% of all women with low-risk pregnancies, according to the analysis of data from 2022.

How a hospital operates — its workplace culture, administrators' priorities, and the type and number of staff employed, particularly nurses or midwives — can dramatically impact how many cesarean deliveries its doctors perform, said Dr. Emily White VanGompel, a family medicine doctor and professor at the University of Illinois Chicago who studies how organizations impact C-section rates.

Hospital administrators and care staff can foster cultures more supportive of vaginal birth, White VanGompel said. Conversely, they can also implement policies and care standards that cause doctors to intervene more in a woman's labor.

Some hospitals that treat women with high-risk pregnancies may require a high C-section rate to most safely deliver their patients' babies. A risk-adverse hospital may also lead doctors to perform more medical interventions in part to minimize its risk of a lawsuit, said Louise Roth, a sociology professor at the University of Arizona who studies how organizations and medical malpractice influence maternal health, including C-section rates.

Doctors may then practice medicine in ways that evidence-based studies show can increase the chance of a C-section: induce labor more often, continuously monitor more fetal heart rates in low-risk pregnancies, and interrupt women who push for more than a few hours — all procedures that are more insulating in the case of a lawsuit, Roth said.

OB-GYNs are among the doctors most likely to face a legal threat at least once in their career, a 2023 study found, and a lawsuit filed over the serious harm or death of a baby can result in tens of millions of dollars in jury awards.

"People often will teach young obstetricians that you don't get sued for doing a C-section, you get sued for not doing a C-section," Langen said.

Roth said doing more also satisfies another hospital demand: billing more procedures and garnering more reimbursements.

"Intervening more almost always means a C-section," Roth said, "But less intervention means less money."

In Kelsey Birch's case, the hospital where she delivered disclosed in a 2025 survey that it had an average C-section rate 22% higher than the state average.

Why the US performs so many C-sections

A C-section is major surgery. It's also lucrative.

Providers in the 1970s and 1980s responded to "market shocks" — dips in the birthrate that undercut their profits — by performing more highly reimbursed C-sections, a pioneering 1996 study found. A 2017 study revealed that California women, meanwhile, were 12% more likely to receive a C-section if their doctor was reimbursed just $420 more for the surgery than for a vaginal delivery.

On average, US insurers in 2020 paid $17,103 for a C-section and $11,453 for vaginal birth, according to one 2022 study. Physicians were paid about 16% more, on average, for a C-section than a vaginal delivery, according to a 2015 study. Because a C-section takes much less time, it's more cost-effective for both providers and hospitals.

While researchers in the early 2000s found that pregnant women who are older, obese, or who have other preexisting health issues undergo C-sections at higher rates, more recent studies have since found that controlling for these and many other patient factors doesn't eliminate the wide swings in C-section rates between hospitals or explain the high C-section rate nationwide.

Research has repeatedly shown the connection between profits and surgical deliveries. Women who gave birth at for-profit hospitals were more likely to deliver by C-section; women were more likely to undergo a C-section at hospitals that reap higher profits from each C-section than hospitals where the procedure is less lucrative; and Florida obstetricians increased the number of C-sections they performed after their practices were acquired by management companies that prioritized increasing practice revenue.

Some women are more likely to get the surgery. Black women nationwide undergo C-sections at higher rates than white women. Doctors in hospitals across New Jersey, for example, were much more likely to give Black women unnecessary C-sections to fill empty operating rooms and maximize payouts.

Directly incentivizing doctors to perform more C-sections is illegal, but other incentives like bonus payments for bringing in more money to the practice or mandatory practice revenue thresholds can influence doctors to increase the number of surgeries they perform, said Ambar La Forgia, an associate professor at Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkley, and the author of the Florida study.

"It's a known fact that C-sections reimburse more highly than a vaginal birth, but they're also easier to do and easier to schedule," said La Forgia, making them attractive procedures to healthcare companies looking to boost their bottom line.

In some cases, overuse becomes criminal. In January 2025, the Department of Justice accused Chesapeake Regional Medical Center in Southeast Virginia of fraudulently billing for unnecessary procedures, including C-sections tied to the hospital's former chief obstetrician, Javaid Perwaiz. Prosecutors said Perwaiz routinely falsified records to justify early labor inductions and C-sections timed to his weekend surgery block. The pattern was so blatant that hospital staff nicknamed the resulting NICU admissions the "Perwaiz special," according to a federal indictment.

The indictment called the fraud "patently obvious" and an "open secret" that was documented repeatedly to hospital leadership and ignored. The hospital turned a blind eye, the indictment said, because Perwaiz's actions reaped a financial reward.

The hospital had been aware of red flags around Perwaiz's history for decades, the indictment charged. Following Perwaiz's federal tax fraud conviction in 1996, another obstetrician at Chesapeake Regional warned the Virginia medical board that "unnecessary gynecologic surgery is a growth industry in Chesapeake," according to the indictment, and that Perwaiz might be incentivized to perform even more surgeries to pay off his fraud debts.

Around the same time, the indictment charged, Chesapeake Regional's president wrote a letter to the medical board supporting the reinstatement of Perwaiz's medical license, citing his value to the hospital's bottom line.

Perwaiz was charged in a separate criminal case in 2019 and convicted in 2021 for performing medically unnecessary surgeries, including C-sections. He was sentenced to 59 years in prison. His lawyers declined to comment on Business Insider's reporting.

Dr. Nick Oberheiden, Chesapeake Regional's attorney, told Business Insider that the hospital denied any wrongdoing. "We are confident that the court and a jury will find, based on the facts, the law, and the evidence, that Dr. Perwaiz was the sole wrongdoer," Oberheiden said.

The case against Chesapeake Regional is ongoing.

C-section rates can be lowered — if hospitals and states make it a priority

The C-section rate at each individual hospital isn't an intractable problem, said White VanGompel, the family medicine doctor. Since hospital policies, administration priorities, and staff culture have so much bearing on increasing C-section rates, she told Business Insider, changing policy, priorities, and culture can also lower them.

In a 2024 study, White VanGompel and co-authors studied hospitals in California and Florida that focused on safely lowering their C-section rate and managed to reduce cesarean births by 5% for at least 18 months.

They found the most successful hospitals had strong leadership support, communication between care teams supportive of vaginal delivery, and a culture that empowered nurses to advocate for their patients without retribution. (Nationwide, hospitals with more nursing staff or that employ midwives are also associated with lower C-section rates.)

California also shows what's possible at the state level. In 2015, the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative launched a campaign with policy recommendations, financial incentives, and new public transparency requirements — including publicly publishing all hospitals' annual low-risk C-section rates — aimed at lowering low-risk pregnancy C-section rates.

In 2014, California's low-risk pregnancy C-section rate mirrored the country's nationwide: 26%. Five years later, the rate had declined to 22.8% — a 12% drop.

States like Wisconsin, Illinois, and New Jersey have also seen success with initiatives meant to lower C-section rates.

These kinds of state policies and hospital-level interventions aren't just niceties, only implemented when it's convenient for providers and hospitals, White VanGompel said.

Women's health is at stake, White VanGompel said. "This is what actually gets results."

Back in Colorado, Kelsey Birch wrote a complaint letter to the administrator of the hospital where she gave birth. "I now have a scar on my uterus, which could affect any subsequent pregnancies and births," she wrote. She feared her providers had rushed her first with the epidural, and then again as she attempted to give birth vaginally.

"I believe my cesarean could have been avoided."

Have a tip? Contact Hannah Beckler via email at [email protected] or Signal at hbeckler.72. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• A college mom bought a townhome for her son to save on student housing costs.
• She thought paying upward of $12,000 a year for housing was a waste of money.
• She expects to profit, or at least break even, when she decides to sell.

This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with LeAnne Carswell, 51, a real estate agent in South Carolina who decided to buy a home for her son to live in while studying at Clemson University instead of paying his rent. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

My son started at a sister school of Clemson University in his freshman year. So he did his first year at that tech school, and then Clemson took him in as a sophomore this year, but he lived on Clemson's campus.

He was in a dorm with three roommates. I don't remember how much room and board was, but I know it was a waste of money because we were just throwing it away. [Editor's note: According to Clemson University, estimated housing costs for the 2025-2026 school year are $8,904.]

He came to me last fall and said, "We've got to start finding where I'm going to live in the fall of 2025."

I thought that was so far away, but he said everybody's going and looking. So all three of his roommates went and looked at a new high-rise near Clemson that's the trendy place to go. It was between $1,000 and $1,200 a month — and he'd still have other roommates.

I said, "I'm not paying that." So we started searching around for somewhere to buy rather than just wasting that money.

I had heard of other people owning properties while their kids were at school. I actually just got finished selling a home where the parents of a senior at Anderson University had owned it, and she had rented out three or four rooms. In that particular situation, she made a little bit of money.

I expect to at least make my money back

About 10 minutes from Clemson is a little city called Pendleton, South Carolina.

There were some new townhomes being built there. A Clemson soccer coach had gotten a new job somewhere in Texas and was leaving after having only owned the townhome for five months — she even had it all furnished. She bought it for $225,000, and we bought it from her for $227,000 in cash, fully furnished.

It has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, a one-car garage, and 1,523 square feet. All three bedrooms and a laundry room are upstairs.

We closed at the end of February, so it sat there for a while. School was still going on, so for a month, my son went back and forth between his place in Clemson and the townhome. And then he came home for two months, and we just left it vacant.

His friends went off and rented the trendy $1,000 to $1,200 a month unit somewhere else — even though I told him to tell them we're buying something and to not do anything yet. But they all were scared they were going to be homeless.

Me being in real estate, I just kind of knew what was going on in the market. I thought, "We're going to slow walk this."

We did end up renting one room to a kid my son went to high school with who's going to Clemson for $775 a month.

Then there's the smaller bedroom, which we hadn't done anything with this year. I don't know if we would be able to rent it out this semester. Maybe in the spring that would be something that they could do, but I don't know that I would get as much because it's the smallest of the rooms.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the townhome once he graduates. I've got a sister who's got two boys, so maybe I'll sell it to her, but we'll see what happens.

I expect to profit or at least break even once I sell it. I wasn't looking to lose $12,000 a year for the next three or four years — who knows how long it's going to take him to get through school?

Do you have a story to share about buying property for your college-age children? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Arthur C. Brooks is a bestselling author, columnist, and Harvard Business School professor.
• His own research helps him optimize his day so he can focus on writing and teaching.
• After work, he spends quality time with his family, who mostly live with him or nearby.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard professor, columnist at The Atlantic, and bestselling author of books such as "The Happiness Files." This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

For about 12 years, I was a French horn player in Barcelona. At 28, I went back to school and got my bachelor's degree through distance learning.

Then, I became a behavioral scientist. First, I got my master's in economics. For my Ph.D., I focused on public policy analysis and human behavior, learning what makes people tick. I thought: "Where's this stuff been my whole life?"

I was a professor at two universities before becoming the president of a think tank for just over 10 years. When I left, I saw a world that was growing unhappier, lonelier, and more polarized, and I wanted to do something about it.

I became a professor of practice at Harvard, but everything I do is teaching: my podcasts, my column, my books. I'm just a college professor, but I'm using these means to reach millions and millions.

Given that I have to do a lot in a day, I stack everything so my brain chemistry is optimized for work.

I wake up at 4:30 a.m. to work out

I have two objectives every morning. No. 1 is creativity and focus, because I write every day. No. 2 is managing negative affect, or mood. Like a quarter of the population, I'm above average in both positive and negative affect.

I get up at 4:30 am. There's a lot of research that shows creativity and productivity are heightened if you get up before dawn. It's also neurocognitively good for you to see the sunrise.

I take a multivitamin, electrolytes, and creatine before getting to the gym at 4:45 a.m. I work out hard for an hour every day, and I don't work while working out. I'm not listening to neuroscience podcasts because I'll be depleting dopamine, a neuromodulator of focus.

My workout combines zone 2 cardio and resistance training. I've been doing this routine for 25 years.

I attend Catholic mass

I attend Catholic mass every day at 6:30 a.m.

When I'm at home, I go with my wife, Ester. If I'm on the road, I have an app on my phone that tells me where the closest mass is. The great thing about being Catholic is that it's like Starbucks—it's like a franchise system, with the same product in every place.

I'm an authentically religious person, but mass is also important to me as a scientist, because I know that meditative focus is good for managing negative affect down and managing creativity and focus up.

I eat a protein bomb for breakfast

Around 7:30 a.m., I eat a protein bomb that's high in tryptophan, an essential amino acid that helps with muscle growth. I have Greek yogurt, protein powder, nuts, and berries. This gives me around 60 grams of protein.

Then I'm good to go. From 8 a.m. to noon, I've got the best concentration.

I write for 3 to 4 hours

When I'm writing, nobody gets in. I don't take calls or look at social media.

About two and a half of my work windows are dedicated to "How to Build a Life," the Atlantic column. I'm always 10 weeks ahead of publication, because I'm often a guinea pig for the techniques I'm writing about. If something doesn't work, I don't publish a column.

I also work on books, which are harder. I don't usually throw away five paragraphs unless I'm trashing the whole column, but writing a book, I'll write five paragraphs and say, "This is garbage, this is a dog's breakfast." Books can bring out just the absolute depths of despair.

I teach the rest of the day

Around noon, I eat another bolus of protein, usually something with cottage cheese or a salad with salmon.

For the rest of the day, I focus on teaching, whether I'm instructing courses or recording podcast episodes. This requires less dopamine than writing since I'm being asked questions instead of coming up with big ideas.

I teach leadership and happiness science classes at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. The key to not burning out is making sure that you still have a life; I work with a lot of people who keep me organized, so I don't have to work 12 hours a day over the weekend.

I spend time in my multigenerational household

I'm on the road 48 weeks a year, but I'm almost always home on the weekends.

I have homes in Boston, where I teach, and northern Virginia, where my family is. When I'm in Virginia, I finish work at 6 p.m. and spend the rest of the evening with my family.

We have a multigenerational household. We asked our three kids where they wanted to raise their families so that we could help. They chose to be near the DC area, where they were also raised. It's hard for me to commute to my job in Boston, but it's a lot worse to commute to your grandkids.

My oldest son, 27, lives on the first floor of our house with his wife and son. Our 25-year-old son is expecting his second child; his family lives up the street. And our 22-year-old daughter is in the Marine Corps, 45 minutes away.

This arrangement is great for everybody. We eat supper as a family. I do a lot of the cooking and usually make some lean protein and vegetables. Then we all go do our own thing.

I go on 40-minute walks with my wife

I'm super in love with my wife. We've been married for 34 years.

We always go for a 40-minute walk after dinner because it's a good way to metabolize calories. My wife works in Catholic theology for Spanish-speaking audiences. We talk about something she read or something that I'm working on. For us, it's go deep or go home.

We end the day by praying the rosary together, which is an ancient Catholic meditation.

I wind down without screens

My wife and I go to bed around 9 p.m., and we try not to look at screens.

I can't afford not to be structured. I have terrible longevity in my family. I'm 61 years old; at my age, my mom had severe severe dementia, and I'm not much younger than when my dad died at 66. I don't smoke, drink alcohol, or do any euphoric substances because they're neurotoxic.

It's a joy to focus on the things that I love, which are my family, my faith, and my work that lifts people up. The least I can do is design my life so I'm good at it.

• Jack and Ardith Weber are a married couple who are both still working into their 80s.
• Jack works at a library, while Ardith works as a senior medical patrol worker and an assistant.
• Both work out of financial necessity, but said they feel fulfilled by their work.

This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Jack and Ardith Weber, a married couple of 65 years who both still work for financial reasons. Jack, 88, works at his county's library in Kentucky, while Ardith, 83, works as a senior medical patrol worker and an assistant for an anti-poverty organization.

Both took part in digital skills training through Goodwill, which administers the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), a program created in 1965 to assist low-income adults 55 and older in finding work. Over $300 million in national funding to SCSEP was paused in July. Many employees in the program may lose their jobs, and many looking for work may lose access to one of the nation's only job training programs for older Americans.

A Department of Labor spokesperson told Business Insider: "The funding for SCSEP national grantees is under review."

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Jack Weber: I'm 88 and work two hours every other day at our county library.

Ardith Weber: I'm 83 years old and work a maximum of 26 hours a week at two part-time jobs.

We really need to work because in 2017, we purchased a home and didn't expect the expenses that came up, like the cost of redoing the floors.

Without my SCSEP training, I couldn't do these jobs. It's been such a blessing to me. The program is so considerate of elderly people. I never had to worry about being mistreated and have been shown respect and dignity. Our memories aren't as good as they used to be, and many times, we try to articulate what we want to say, but it doesn't work. Taking the classes and working through situations in lessons was really helpful.

Now the government's doing cuts and all kinds of things with grants.

We worked many different jobs across our careers

Jack: Early in my career, I did a multitude of different jobs to stay afloat. One of the most fascinating jobs I've ever had was my first — running a printing press.

I worked in a greenhouse and in the fields in Washington state, and was a truck driver in Seattle, working behind a street sweeper on the freeway.

Ardith: My first job was in an office doing invoices until the company moved. From there, I worked in a nursing home. After we married, I worked in adult foster care while Jack decided to go to college.

Jack: I got my bachelor's degree in counseling and theology.

Ardith: I became a cook in the college kitchen. After Jack graduated, we went into ministry and worked at a campground. I did the support tasks like answering the telephones, teaching some classes, and scrubbing the floors.

Looking for jobs in our 60s and beyond

Jack: In 2000, I started in an SCSEP program in Cadillac, Michigan, when I was searching for a job in my 60s. I didn't know anything about computers and wanted to learn. The program would teach me those skills, although the work I'd do wouldn't be on a computer.

Through SCSEP, I started at the Forest Service and worked in a garage, cleaning up cars and trucks. I wanted to move to Kentucky, so I called all the different Forest Service locations to see if there were any openings. They kept telling me no. Eventually, I found an opening for the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

From there, I landed a job as a dispatcher. I did that for almost three years, and then drove a school bus for eight and a half years.

Ardith: I started at SCSEP a year after Jack and also worked at the Forest Service. I stayed at home for a while after that, then worked at a hearing aid store.

New jobs 80 years into life

Jack: In 2019, I got involved with SCSEP again, through Goodwill. I first worked for an organization called The Good Samaritan, which handed out food for low-income folks, and then I was moved to a new job with the Logan County Public Library.

One day, I was sitting there doing the skills-building work that Goodwill requires, like learning how to use the computer. Along came the library director, who said to me, "You want to do that kind of work, Jack?" I said sure — I figured it would be a whole lot better than dusting book covers.

He took me into this back room with all these old books, and told me he wanted me to make some indexes for them. Every day, I set up my computer and sit down with a book, going through each page and looking for names. For every name I find, I write down where I found it.

Ardith: When we moved to our current home in Kentucky, we didn't know anybody in the area, and I suspected my mental health wouldn't be good if I stayed home, so I re-enrolled in SCSEP in 2020.

Through the program, I got jobs at a community center and a senior center. I also took basic computer lessons.

In my work now with the Kentucky Senior Medical Patrol, I give talks at senior centers and health fairs about Medicare and Medicare fraud, including how to protect yourself and what not to do.

Our jobs allow us to help people

Jack: Most people would say my job is the most boring thing you could ever do. But it gets me out of the house, and I get a lot of joy from it. There are people who come in asking if there's anything on the shelves that would help them know what their relative looked like when they were young. They'll sit on the floor and go through our school yearbooks. All of a sudden, I hear them say, "That's what they looked like when they were 18. They sure don't look like that now."

Ardith: My second job is as a support staff member with the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Community Services Block Grant, which helps qualifying residents pay their utility bills. My supervisor does all of the interviews, and I do the filings with people's addresses and phone numbers.

We have lots of young people who need help coming through our office — younger families who haven't been able to find work or have disabilities. Things have gotten really expensive, and their income isn't high enough to take care of everything.

We don't have plans to stop working

Jack: I work two hours every other day. I used to work four hours a day, but I had a heart issue and had to lay off work.

After being home for three months, I called the director and said, "Can I please come back? I can't stand this anymore. Sitting at home drives me nuts." He told me that once I got clearance from my doctor, I could walk right in. I got cleared by my primary doctor; I do have to go back to my heart doctor, though.

Now, I'm thankful to be back. I told my director that I'll work two hours every other day until I'm back up to speed.

He says he's glad to see me and that he's got so much for me to do. "You'll have to be 100 years old before you can ever retire," he says. It's a plus for me because I don't ever have to worry about running out of work to do.

Ardith: He tells me all about how the other ladies who work there have done this and that for him. When his computer didn't work and he couldn't figure it out, this gal came and helped him. I get all of that feedback when he gets home.

I hope to keep working all the time. Otherwise, I'd just sit at home with the television, which is as boring as can be. I love to garden, but physically, I just can't do that anymore. I couldn't ask for a better current work situation. My supervisors are encouraging and supportive.

I need to be around people; if I'm not, it does things to my mental health. I don't want that to happen.

• Kevin O'Leary shared five pieces of life advice with Business Insider.
• The "Shark Tank" investor warned against wasting money, getting distracted, and talking too much.
• "Mr. Wonderful" said new couples should talk money on the third date, and kids need to fly the nest.

Kevin O’Leary, the "Shark Tank" star who sold his software company to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999, shared some harsh advice on life and wealth in a recent interview with Business Insider.

Known as "Mr. Wonderful," O’Leary offered five nuggets of wisdom: Stop wasting money, focus your efforts, listen more than you speak, have the money talk on the third date, and ensure kids learn to fend for themselves.

Think before you spend

"Stop buying $7 coffees. Don't pay 40 bucks for lunch. Make it yourself," O'Leary said. "Ask yourself every time you're about to buy something: Do I really need this?"

"Look in your closet at all the clothes you don't wear," he added. "It's all crap you don't need, and that crap could have been earning you market returns of anywhere from 8% to 10% over your entire lifetime."

O'Leary said that, if historical returns continue, someone earning $70,000 a year who invests 15% of their monthly income in a diversified portfolio starting in their late 20s and continuing until 65 can expect to retire a millionaire.

Focus on 3 things you need to get done at work each day

Workers should ask themselves what three things they need to get done each day, and not allow anything to distract them from completing those tasks, O'Leary said.

“You’ll become very productive and a very valued employee,” he said. Filtering out the noise helps you to “avoid getting sucked down that vortex” and falling short of achieving your most important goals, he added.

O'Leary had some blunt advice for anyone who disagrees with the direction their bosses are taking the company in: “Get another job.”

Listen more, it's a 'superpower'

Many entrepreneurs have "huge egos" and "love to hear themselves talk," O'Leary said. But when they're talking, they're not listening to the market, their customers, their investors, or their employees, he said.

"You have to learn how to shut up," he said, describing listening as a "superpower."

"It's akin to having your ear to the rail and hearing the train coming down the track that's going to run you over," O'Leary said, adding, "To know to get off the track. That's what listening does."

Talk about money on the third date

New couples should talk about money early on, when both sides are clearly interested in one another but aren't yet blinded by love, O'Leary said.

"You get to a third date, after the second drink, bring up money," he said. "That's Mr. Wonderful's advice, and I'm always right."

He recommends couples sign a prenup before getting married as that "forces you to do due diligence" and find out if your partner is buying drugs, racking up credit-card debt, or comes from a bankrupt family.

"Nobody wants to deal with this stuff when you're in the euphoria of courtship," he said. "But it's the reason you're going to get divorced if you don't get it right."

Children need to leave the nest

O'Leary warned about the "curse of entitlement" that can bedevil the kids of wealthy parents.

He recalled his mother's words to him at his graduation: "The dead bird under the nest never learned how to fly." When he asked what that meant, she explained that she had supported him all the way through his education, but there would be "no more checks," and he would have to fend for himself.

O'Leary added that some rich kids were "screwed up" by being funded for too long, meaning they had "no reason to launch."

"The risk in their life has been removed. They've been guaranteed a free ride for the rest of their lives. They become lost in a sea of mediocrity. It's a disaster for them," he said.

O'Leary emulated his mother's approach with his two children, providing for them from birth through to the last day of their education. He recalled telling them, "Full ride, but after that, you'll become a dead bird if you don't figure it out."

• Jackie Flores pays her mortgage on her six-bedroom house by being an Airbnb host.
• Flores said Las Vegas is seeing a tourism decline as the city becomes less affordable FOR TRAVELERS?.
• Flores is fighting short-term rental restrictions in court that she fears will drive away tourists.

Jackie Flores is an Airbnb host in Las Vegas and the founder of the Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association. She is one of a group of property owners in Clark County, Nevada, who have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the county and state's ability to enforce restrictions on providing short-term rentals to visitors. Airbnb has joined the lawsuit.

Clark County's short-term rental ordinance and Nevada Assembly Bill 363 created a 2,500-foot no short-term rental buffer zone for resort hotels, a lottery-based permit system that requires hosts to register as business owners, and caps on the number of permits allowed. Clark County has primarily cited a loss of tax revenue from unreported rentals as a reason to impose restrictions.

Being an Airbnb host in Las Vegas has helped me afford a house and make ends meet during some of my most challenging times.

I now make enough through renting out rooms to cover my mortgage and other bills related to my house.

And when tourism dollars are spread around the community instead of being concentrated in a few resorts, travelers are able to enjoy a more affordable and authentic Las Vegas experience.

Now, more than 15 years into being a host in Las Vegas, I am fighting a tourism downturn and local regulations that could ban me from renting out my rooms.

Airbnb helped me become a homeowner

It was 2008, and my business had to shut down during the real estate crash, and I needed another way to make ends meet. It also just so happens that my roommate decided to move to another state, leaving the entire three-bedroom apartment to me.

At first, I worried about having strangers in my home. But guests were respectful, and what started as a short-term fix became so much more.

Before, I always feared losing my job or having another life emergency, but knowing that this is an extra income stream gave me the confidence to finally buy a house, knowing that renting out rooms could cover my mortgage.

I got to put down roots in Las Vegas and furnished the home with the money I have saved by hosting at my previous place. The house was transformed from being completely empty with nothing in the yard, to a place where people loved to stay.

Now, my six-bedroom house is just 10 to 15 minutes south of the Strip in Clark County, where most residents in the area live. It has a pool in the yard, barbecue space, outdoor seating, and a game room for travelers to enjoy when they want more space and comfort than they would get in a hotel room.

Las Vegas is battling rising costs

Over the years, Las Vegas has gotten more expensive, especially for visitors. Even locals avoid the Strip now because of how high the prices have gotten.

I recently celebrated my birthday at a resort with some friends, and for just two nights, we spent about $1,200 on a single hotel room. Drinks were $20 each at the lounge, and meals were equally pricey.

That's why so many travelers are looking for alternatives. At my house, a group can stay for $500 a night, which is around $1,000 for a weekend. That's for an entire home, not just one room. If guests want just a couple of rooms, the price drops even more. For families or groups, it's a much better deal.

To fight the tourism decline, I have been working to collaborate with small businesses in my neighborhood.

Guests who stay at my place don't just spend money with me — they go to local restaurants, markets, and shops. I'm partnering with these businesses to create incentives, like discounts and special offers, so travelers feel like they're getting more value out of their stay.

I'm fighting short-term rental restrictions

When visitors come, it boosts everyone, not just me.

That's why I'm currently fighting Clark County's short-term rental restrictions that would remove our Airbnb listings if we don't go through a complicated process to obtain a special license.

By renovating and cleaning my place to ensure that guests are able to relax, I'm also creating jobs for local cleaners, contractors, and people transporting the guests.

I'm now going through hearings for an injunctive order to block the short-term rental restrictions, but I'm trying not to let the lawsuit be my only focus. For me, it's also about finding ways to keep tourism alive in Las Vegas. I keep my prices reasonable, I work with other small businesses, and I make sure guests feel welcome in a city that has become less affordable for so many.

Clark County told Business Insider in a statement that it cannot comment on an ongoing litigation at the moment.

• Dr. Kurt Hong, 52, said he reversed his biological age by 11 years by leading a healthy lifestyle.
• Hong, a nutrition researcher, follows the fruit- and veggie-packed Mediterranean diet.
• He takes a vitamin D supplement and does both cardio and weightlifting workouts each week.

Dr. Kurt Hong, an obesity doctor, nutrition researcher, and professor of medicine and aging, takes leading a healthy lifestyle seriously.

So far, it's working.

The 52-year-old father of three leads a full life and has no chronic health conditions. He told Business Insider that his most recent "biological age" tests, taken around 18 months ago, said he was 41, or 11 years younger than his chronological age. There's no consensus on how to define or measure biological age, but Hong used the PhenoAge algorithm, which measures nine biomarkers associated with aging, including inflammation levels and metabolic health.

"A lot of the age-related chronic diseases are directly related to what you eat and your weight," he said. "The key is really to be proactive."

Hong follows a Mediterranean diet, which is packed with fresh produce and is widely considered the healthiest way to eat for a longer life. He also leads an active lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight.

He shared three daily habits he's established in the hopes of living a long, healthy life.

Cardio and resistance training

Hong, who is the chief medical officer of Lifeforce, a concierge preventive medicine company based in Los Angeles, does a mixture of aerobic exercise, or cardio, and resistance training each week. "They contribute to different things," he said.

"Aerobic exercise without question really contributes to your cardiovascular fitness and health," he said. Strength training helps build and maintain muscle and bone density.

For cardio, Hong likes running, hiking, and swimming in the summertime. He makes the most of the SoCal weather and exercises outside as much as possible. "My aerobic stuff I like to do outside the gym," he said.

He also has a gym membership and uses the weight machines for 45 minutes a few times a week. "There are some people who will be at the gym for two, three hours. For me, I'm getting in and out of there," he said.

Hong tells his patients to find a physical activity they enjoy and to start by doing it twice a week.

His "anything's better than nothing" approach to exercise reflects the findings of a large 2023 study, published in the British Journal of Medicine Sports. The systematic review looked at self-reported data from more than 30 million people and found that those who exercised an average of 2.5 hours a week had a lower risk of early death, cardiovascular disease, and cancer than their sedentary peers.

The study found that people who exercised up to 2.5 hours longer than the average gained even more health benefits. But even working out for an hour and 15 minutes — half the recommended time of 2.5 hours — lowered the risk of early death, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, compared with no exercise.

Vitamin D

Hong doesn't believe in taking stacks of buzzy supplements, but said they can be useful for people with certain deficiencies or health conditions. "I only take one," he said.

He takes a vitamin D supplement each day for bone health as he ages and because testing revealed that his levels are low.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, which is crucial for bone density, which naturally starts to decline around the time we hit 35. Many biohackers and longevity researchers take vitamin D because of the beneficial effects it can have on bones, the immune system, and on cancer risk.

Challenge your brain

To keep his mind sharp, for an hour or two each day, Hong makes sure he does something that challenges his brain. "Your brain's like a muscle — if you don't use it, you lose it" he said.

Often, work will be enough stimulation for him, but on the weekends, for example, he might play a game of chess or checkers with his kids, or read. Screentime doesn't count, he said.

Mental stimulation can't prevent the brain from aging, but evidence suggests it can help build resilience against Alzheimer's disease symptoms such as forgetfulness. This resilience is known as cognitive reserve, and studies have found that people with larger reserves, which are built through cognitive activity, developed Alzheimer's disease later in life and had fewer symptoms.

"The most important thing I tell all my patients is age is really a number," Hong said. "Your body may tell you you're 52 years old, but you can behave or you can feel like a 35-year-old. And it can also be the other way around."

• Labubu is set to get smaller and cuter.
• Pop Mart announced a new line of miniature The Monsters keychains.
• Small enough to hang on mobile phones, the new charms will be released on August 29.

The small plush doll with the creepy grin that has had the world in a chokehold for the past year is set to get even smaller.

On Friday, Chinese toymaker Pop Mart announced the launch of mini Labubu dolls in its new "The Monsters Pin For Love Series."

According to a release from Pop Mart, the little Labubus will cost $22.99. The dolls will be around 4 inches in height and small enough to hook onto mobile phones. For reference, an iPhone 16 has a height of 5.8 inches.

People looking to land the little Labubus should mark their calendars for August 29. The dolls will come in 30 different colors.

These mini dolls, like their larger counterparts, will also be sold in blind boxes — which means collectors will only know which color they pulled after opening their boxes.

"The Monsters Pin For Love" series also includes a set of 30 letter charm pendants, each with a unique pattern and a metal Labubu charm. The letter charms are about 4.5 inches in height, per the product listing on Pop Mart's website.

This charm series will also be sold in blind boxes, and will be priced at $18.99, per Popmart's press release.

The "Pin for Love" series "allows collectors to spell names, initials, or secret messages," the release said. Fans can purchase the mini Labubus and letter charms from Pop Mart's website starting August 29 and choose shipping or in-store pickup.

Pop Mart's CEO, Wang Ning, teased the launch of mini Labubus during an earnings call this week.

The company released its first-half 2025 earnings on Tuesday. It reported a 204% increase in revenue in the first half of the year compared to the year before, with global sales of 13.87 billion Chinese yuan, or about $1.94 billion. It also reported a 401% increase in profits compared to the year before.

The Monsters IP, which includes fan favorite Labubu, contributed 4.81 billion Chinese yuan to the company's total sales in the first half of the year, per its earnings report. Pop Mart said its results were unaudited.

The company, listed in Hong Kong, has seen its stock price rise about 18% in the last five days and more than 550% in the past year.

Labubus have spiked in popularity over the past year. Desperate to get their hands on the dolls, which are released via unannounced drops, fans around the world have formed snaking queues outside Pop Mart stores.

To curb queues, the company has had to halt physical Labubu sales in some countries, such as the UK and South Korea. The doll has become so popular that its bootleg cousin, Lafufu, enjoyed its own cultural moment.

• Phil Coachman resigned from Microsoft in January due to layoffs and culture shifts.
• He said the layoffs and management changes, part of the Great Flattening, had affected morale.
• He shared the strategy that helped him land a new tech role after nine months.

Phil Coachman loved working at Microsoft for most of his nearly decadelong tenure. But as the culture began to shift and layoffs piled up, he decided it was time to move on.

He started looking for a new role in July 2024 when he was still at Microsoft, but struggled to get much traction. In January, he resigned from his role as a senior cloud solution architect to focus on his job search.

"I just didn't feel happy there anymore," said the 44-year-old, who lives in Pennsylvania. "I wanted to just continue making cool stuff and not have this constant fear of losing my job every week."

Coachman said company layoffs — including the elimination of about 10,000 roles in 2023 — took a toll on his morale and that of his co-workers. He said he knew several people who were let go, including one teammate he regarded as a "top performer."

"Every team that I worked with was just down," he said. "So now you go to work and everybody's depressed every day."

Coachman is among the current and former Microsoft employees who have been affected by workforce reductions — either by losing a job or being left to adjust to coworker departures. After cutting about 6,000 jobs in May, the company laid off roughly 9,000 more in July. A Microsoft spokesperson previously told Business Insider that the company was focused on reducing management layers and streamlining processes. The cuts have also included many individual contributor roles.

Microsoft isn't alone. Google, Intel, Amazon, and Walmart are among the companies that have also announced plans to reduce the number of managers in a trend dubbed the "Great Flattening." Layoffs remain low by historical standards, but tech workers have been hit hard — just as white-collar hiring has slowed. That's made it more difficult for workers like Coachman to switch jobs — or find new ones after they resign or are laid off.

"It just got to a point where morale was no longer up to par," Coachman said, "and ultimately it got to a place where it was time to make a change."

The 'Great Flattening' and other strategic shifts affected company culture

After working as a Microsoft contractor for several years, Coachman joined the company full-time in 2015. He said he's extremely grateful for his time at the company, and that before joining, he was earning far less and just trying to get by. He'd be open to returning in the future, he said, if he saw signs of a positive culture shift.

During his final years at Microsoft, Coachman said there appeared to be a push to reduce the number of managers in an effort to increase what the company calls "span of control" — or the number of employees who report to each manager.

While his own manager's number of direct reports didn't change during his time on the team, he said they are now working in an individual contributor role. He also said he saw the number of reports per manager increase on other teams.

"I saw managers leave and other managers absorb that head count, so you go from managing 10 people to now maybe 18 people, which when you talk to those managers, becomes really hard," he said. "The great flattening was definitely happening."

Beyond layoffs and shifts in management structure, Coachman said he also began being asked to focus more on performance metrics, which he felt came at the cost of flexibility and meaningful customer work. In recent years, Big Tech firms, including Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon, have revamped their performance review and compensation structures to better reward top performers and weed out underperformers in pursuit of smaller, higher-performing teams.

Another key factor in his decision to resign was the uptick in business travel. He said he was on the road about three times a month — a return to pre-pandemic norms.

"It just got to a point where I was missing too much of my kids' lives," he said, adding that his work frustrations made travel less tolerable. "It was different when I was traveling and the job was awesome."

Taking the risk of resigning without a new job

When Coachman started his job search in July 2024, he thought it was going to be fairly easy.

There seemed to be plenty of job postings on platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed, so after pinpointing a few roles he felt qualified for, he figured he'd be able to get interviews and eventually land an offer. But he quickly realized it wouldn't be that simple. After all, US businesses were hiring at nearly the slowest pace in more than a decade.

"It was six months of basically just being ghosted," he said. "It was a completely different world than when I had applied to a job decades ago."

Coachman said he went through several rounds of résumé tweaks — thinking the format might be the issue — but still got little response.

As his job search dragged on, Coachman said he was hesitant to resign from his Microsoft job before having another role lined up because it would mean giving up a steady paycheck and unvested company stock. However, he said the "rainy day fund" he'd built over the years helped him feel more comfortable.

"I had enough savings that even if it would take me a year to find a job, I would be fine," he said. "So it was just getting the courage to take that jump."

In early 2024, Coachman said he hired a life coach — in part to help him navigate the changes he was experiencing at work. He said the life coach helped him get confident in his decision to resign, adding that hiring them was maybe the "best investment" he'd ever made.

His network made the difference

After resigning, Coachman said he adjusted his job search strategy. Rather than simply applying for jobs, he spent more time tapping into the network he'd built over the years. He targeted roles at companies where he knew someone, then reached out to ask whether they thought he'd be a good fit — and if they'd be willing to refer him.

In one instance, he saw a few open roles at the data analytics and AI startup Databricks, where a former Microsoft colleague of his worked. After reaching out, Coachman said they recommended he focus on one specific role that they'd be willing to refer him for. The next day, Coachman received a call from a company recruiter. After the interview process, he received an offer and started working for the company in April.

"Finding my next gig was 100% through my network," he said.

Coachman said his pay is comparable to what he earned at Microsoft, and that the signing bonus helped make up for what he left behind in unvested stock. He said his travel is also now limited to no more than once a month, which was a big factor in his decision to accept the offer.

Over the course of his roughly nine-month job search, Coachman said he applied to hundreds of jobs and received two offers — one for his current role and another from a startup he turned down due to concerns about job security.

His top advice for job seekers: build your network and lean on it. Rather than just connecting on LinkedIn, he said, it's better to have real conversations that help foster relationships. He said this could boost your chances of landing a referral down the road — giving your application the "personal touch" it might need to get past applicant tracking system scanners.

"It's real connections with people that I think make all the difference," he said.

• Another F/A-18 Hornet has suffered a mishap, this time in Malaysia.
• Video shows the fighter jet catching fire as it took off, forcing its crew to eject.
• The incident in Malaysia came one day after a US Navy F/A-18 crash off Virginia.

A Malaysian F/A-18D Hornet caught fire on Thursday night as it was taking off, the country's air force said.

Malaysia's air force, which owns eight of the US-made fighter jets, said in a statement that the aircraft had been involved in an "accident" at 9:05 p.m. local time.

The statement said the take-off incident happened at Kuantan Air Base, roughly 110 miles east of the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Both the 34-year-old pilot and 28-year-old weapons system officer ejected and were later discharged from a military hospital, the air force said in a separate statement.

"Both officers are now in stable condition with no serious injuries," Gen. Muhamad Norazlan Aris said.

It's unclear what caused the mishap with the fighter jet, which entered service with Malaysia's air force in 1997.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wrote in a statement on Friday morning that he had instructed authorities to "conduct a thorough investigation to identify the cause of the incident."

A viral video of the take-off incident appears to show the jet catching fire in a flash of light at the end of the runway.

Photos of the airfield posted by the Malaysian air force showed debris from the aircraft on and near a runway.

The air force statement said the plane had crashed during a routine training flight.

Malaysia encountered a separate take-off accident involving one of its Hornets during an aerospace exhibition in 2019, when the aircraft's left engine caught fire. Local media reported at the time that a foreign object had entered the engine.

A string of mishaps

The F/A-18 is a family of twin-engine fighter jets developed primarily by McDonnell Douglas — now Boeing — and first built for the US Navy and Marine Corps. They're designed to take off from both aircraft carriers and airfields and handle both air combat and ground attack missions.

The early Hornet models were later followed by the Super Hornet, a mainstay of US naval aviation even as the F-35 takes on more of a role in the fleet. The Hornets are also flown by American allies and partners.

The latest F/A-18 incident adds to a list of several recent mishaps involving the aircraft family. A day earlier, a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed into the water off Virginia during a training flight. The pilot ejected safely, and the cause of the incident is under investigation.

In May, the US Navy lost another of its Super Hornets after it fell off the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. It was the second Super Hornet to roll off the same aircraft carrier, after a similar incident occurred in April while the Truman was taking evasive action against Houthi rebel fire in the Red Sea.

In December last year, another Super Hornet was mistakenly shot down by a US missile cruiser in a friendly-fire incident in the Red Sea. Each of the Super Hornets costs over $60 million.

The Thursday incident comes as Malaysia received US approval in June to purchase 33 secondhand F/A-18C and F/A-18D Hornets from Kuwait, which is phasing out the older fourth-generation fighter aircraft for a batch of Super Hornets and Eurofighter Typhoons.

Malaysia's air force also operates 18 Russian Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighter jets.

• Elon Musk said that his AI venture, xAI, is working to simulate software companies like Microsoft.
• He's said on X that it's a "purely AI software company called Macrohard."
• Musk said it should be possible since companies like Microsoft don't make physical hardware.

Elon Musk announced he wants to "simulate" software companies like Microsoft using only artificial intelligence. He's even got a name for the new venture: Macrohard.

Musk said in a Friday X post that his AI startup, xAI, is building a "purely AI software company called Macrohard."

"It's a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!" he said. "In principle, given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate them entirely with AI."

Musk didn't provide more details, and a spokesperson for xAI did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.

Brent Mayo, an engineer working for xAI, retweeted Musk's post.

Grok, Musk's AI, responded to comments on X and said that AI could theoretically replicate Microsoft's "entire operations" from coding to management, adding that the company is now hiring.

Documents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office also show that a mark for "macrohard" was filed on August 1 by xAI.

Doug Rettew, a trademark attorney who is listed in the application, did not return a request for comment.

The application lists a broad range of AI-focused goods and services for Macrohard, including "downloadable computer software for the artificial production of human speech and text" and "downloadable computer software for designing, coding, running, and playing video games using artificial intelligence."

Macrohard would be added to Musk's long lineup of ventures, which he either partially owns or operates. At the moment, Musk is simultaneously in charge of Tesla, xAI, X Corp, The Boring Company, SpaceX, and Neuralink.

The creation of Macrohard also comes as Musk pushes further into AI and robotics, including encouraging Tesla to invest in xAI. In a 2024 earnings call, Musk said that those thinking of Tesla merely as an auto company are holding "the wrong framework," and called Tesla an "AI robotics company."

Musk has also been placing increasing emphasis on projects like robotaxis and humanoid robots.

• The Justice Department released transcripts of its interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell.
• The convicted sex-trafficker said only positive things about Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
• She dropped a hint about a mystery female billionaire she said Epstein worked for.

Ghislaine Maxwell had a tough time recalling anything specific about what happened between Jeffrey Epstein and a number of powerful people, including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates.

In a two-day interview on July 24 and 25, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche peppered Maxwell with questions about her long relationship with Epstein, his business practices, his sexual abuse of girls, and conspiracy theories surrounding his life and death.

The Justice Department granted Maxwell an unusual "queen for a day" proffer agreement, which allows people to speak to prosecutors without worrying about facing additional criminal charges. On Friday, the department made transcripts and audio recordings of the interview public, with some victim information redacted.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking girls to Epstein for sex. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also accused her of perjury for lying about sexual abuse in a deposition, but dropped those charges after her sex-trafficking conviction. Maxwell is appealing her conviction.

Blanche, who was one of Trump's personal attorneys before being appointed second-in-command at the Justice Department, led the two-day interview.

None of the prosecutors in Maxwell's criminal trial, nor Epstein's own sex-trafficking cases, which ended when he died in jail awaiting trial, were present.

Maxwell was represented by her longtime personal attorney, Leah Saffian, and her criminal appeal lawyers, David Oscar Markus and Melissa Madrigal.

Her answers in the interview largely hewed to the main argument her defense attorneys presented in her Manhattan criminal trial: that Epstein compartmentalized his life and that she was not aware of any potential sexual abuse.

"Ghislaine Maxwell is innocent and never should have been tried, much less convicted, in this case," Markus said in a statement. "She never committed or participated in sexual abuse against minors, or anyone else, for that matter. "

In the interview, Maxwell said she had been acquainted with several tech billionaires — including Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Reid Hoffman — but did not accuse any of wrongdoing.

After the interview, Maxwell was moved from her prison in Florida to a lower-security one in Texas.

The Justice Department didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the transcript of Maxwell's interview.

Maxwell had nothing but praise for Trump

Maxwell told Blanche she first met Trump shortly after she moved from Europe to the United States in 1990, while working for her father, the British media baron Robert Maxwell.

"I may have met Donald Trump at that time, because my father was friendly with him and liked him very much," Maxwell said. "And I think should be said that he also very much liked Ivana because she was also from Czechoslovakia, where my dad was from.

Maxwell also praised the "extraordinary achievement" of Trump's ascent to the presidency. When journalists asked in recent weeks whether he would pardon Maxwell, Trump said, "It would be inappropriate to talk about it."

"Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me," Maxwell said in her Justice Department interview. "And I just want to say that I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now. And I like him, and I've always liked him. So that is the sum and substance of my entire relationship with him."

Asked whether "President Trump had done anything inappropriate with masseuses or with anybody in your world, Maxwell responded, "Absolutely never, in any context."

Maxwell said a mysterious female billionaire from Ohio was one of Epstein's business clients

Maxwell denied Epstein had any sort of "client list" of men to whom he arranged girls for sex.

She said Epstein's clients were wealthy people to whom he provided valuable financial services, and that he took fees for that work.

Epstein's fortune — he had $630 million in assets at the time of his death, according to court filings — came largely from his work for Les Wexner, the Ohio billionaire who previously ran Victoria's Secret, and former Apollo Global Management CEO and Chairman Leon Black.

Maxwell said Epstein had another significant client, a female billionaire whose name she couldn't remember. "There's a woman in Ohio. I just can't think of her name," Maxwell said on the first day of her interview.

Maxwell said she would check her notes and try to remember her name for the interview's second day. But she didn't revisit the subject on July 25, and Blanche did not ask her about it, according to the interview transcript.

Attorneys for Maxwell declined to comment on the record.

Epstein's services for Wexner were extensive, Maxwell said. She said he did everything from managing investments to drafting contracts for maids.

"He said no detail was too small," Maxwell said. "Because everything that affected how they lived and how they managed their life, was something that he felt he was — if they want, he would be responsible for."

Maxwell also said Epstein provided financial services to Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth Johnson and Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a British businesswoman.

"I know that he helped Lynn Forester, who became Lynn de Rothschild," Maxwell said. "She'll deny it and she has."

A spokesperson for Rothschild has previously denied that Epstein provided her any financial assistance. Both Wexner and Black have denied any wrongdoing linked to Epstein and have said they regret their past associations with him. It's not clear what services Epstein provided to Johnson, who died in 2017 and whose association with Epstein in the 1990s has been previously reported.

Maxwell said Jeffrey Epstein didn't work for intelligence agencies

Maxwell disputed the widely held theory that Epstein did work for an intelligence agency. She said she did not believe he worked for Israel's Mossad, and that the idea he worked for the CIA was "bullshit."

"I think if he was for real, I think he would've bragged about it to me as a show off, because he could be a show off," Maxwell said. "And if he wasn't, he might have dropped it like he was cool. And I don't think — I don't remember him doing either."

Business Insider previously spoke to four people with access to the vast trove of material the FBI seized from Epstein's properties during its sex-trafficking investigation, who all said they saw no signs of any connections to intelligence agencies.

Maxwell said Epstein didn't record any blackmail videos

Maxwell said she didn't believe Epstein ever blackmailed anyone with sexual videos, another long-held theory.

She also said he didn't have secret cameras in bedrooms or bathrooms — with one exception.

Maxwell said Epstein worked with the police to install security cameras in some rooms of his Palm Beach mansion. He ultimately caught an employee stealing money and fired him.

"In Palm Beach, Epstein was having money stolen. He noticed money was being stolen from his briefcase. And he called in the Palm Beach police, and they — the Palm Beach police — installed cameras on where he kept his briefcase," Maxwell said.

Photos of Epstein's Manhattan mansion obtained by The New York Times appear to show a camera in one of its bedrooms.

Maxwell disputes some of the most damning allegations about her and Epstein

In the interview, Maxwell said again that Virginia Giuffre — one of the most outspoken Epstein accusers, who died earlier this year — is a liar.

Maxwell said an infamous photo of her, Prince Andrew, and Giuffre in her London home was fabricated. She said Giuffre's story about having sex with the British royal in her home didn't make sense because her house was really small.

"The idea of him doing anything of that nature in my house, that's the size of this room, is so mind-blowingly not conceivable to me," she said.

In 2022, Prince Andrew settled a civil lawsuit where Giuffre accused him of repeatedly sexually abusing her.

Maxwell couldn't remember Trump sending a birthday letter to Epstein

In the interview, Blanche repeatedly pressed Maxwell about a book of letters written by Epstein's friends and acquaintances for his 50th birthday.

The celebration took place in 2003, well before Epstein was publicly accused of sexual misconduct.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that a "bawdy" letter from Trump was included in the book.

"Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret," the letter, which featured a drawing of a nude woman and Trump's signature, said, according to the Journal.

Trump's attorneys have said the letter does not exist and filed a defamation lawsuit against the Journal and executive Rupert Murdoch, which remains ongoing.

Maxwell said she didn't remember one way or another whether Trump contributed a letter for the book.

"It's been so long," she said. "I want to tell you, but I don't remember."

Maxwell, not Epstein, was friends with Bill Clinton

Blanche also repeatedly pressed Maxwell about Clinton's relationship with Epstein. Flight records show the former president flew on Epstein's private jet 26 times. According to White House visitor logs, Epstein visited 17 times during Clinton's presidency.

Maxwell said that she was the personal glue of that relationship. Maxwell had attended Chelsea Clinton's wedding, and she said in the Justice Department interview that she was "very central" to starting the Clinton Global Initiative. She also said she found Epstein's painting of Clinton wearing a blue dress "hideous."

"President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein's friend," Maxwell said.

Maxwell also said she didn't see Clinton ever getting a "massage" while with Epstein, and that she didn't believe Clinton had any involvement with Epstein after she left the financier's orbit in the early 2000s.

"President Clinton liked me, and we got along terribly well. But I never saw that warmth, or however you want to characterize it, with Mr. Epstein — so I didn't see that," Maxwell said. "I didn't see President Clinton being interested in Epstein. He was just a rich guy with a plane."

Blanche didn't ask about lingering mysteries with Epstein's finances

The interview transcripts don't show Blanche asking Maxwell about Epstein's investments with figures like tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Nor do they ask about Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, Epstein's longtime personal lawyer and accountant, who are now the executors of his estate.

Court records filed in the US Virgin Islands show that the estate will eventually convert into a successor estate, where Epstein's remaining assets will be administered to beneficiaries.

It's not clear who will be a beneficiary of Epstein's remaining millions, and whether Maxwell will receive any funds.

• Kimbal Musk supports Elon Musk's pay package and plan to invest in xAI.
• Musk's pay and Tesla's investment in xAI are key issues ahead of Tesla's shareholder meeting.
• Some investors are skeptical of Musk's interim pay package and of Tesla's pivot into robotics.

Kimbal Musk weighed in on his brother's Tesla pay package and Tesla's potential investment in xAI.

"I think my brother deserves to be paid," the younger Musk said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "He has zero pay for the past six to eight years. I don't think that's right. I'll let Tesla shareholders make that decision, but I believe that it does need to be. He needs to be paid."

"Tesla can't go without a deep, deep understanding of AI. We have a great business relationship with xAI," Kimbal Musk, who sits on the Tesla board, added. "I will again let the shareholders decide that, but we are Tesla, an AI company. As any advanced technology company — Nova, Tesla, others — AI is built into everything you do."

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The question of Elon Musk's pay and whether Tesla should invest in xAI, which is Musk's AI company, are both contentious issues ahead of the company's November shareholder meeting.

Musk doesn't receive a salary or cash bonuses at Tesla. Instead, he receives stock-based performance awards tied to milestones the EV maker achieves.

A Delaware judge struck down Musk's $56 billion pay package in January 2024, ruling that Tesla's board had failed to properly justify what would be the highest pay a public company CEO has ever received in the US. Even though the shareholder upheld his pay package, the judge upheld her ruling again in December 2024.

Tesla has been appealing the ruling since, and the legal limbo has left Musk without compensation until earlier in August, when Tesla's board granted Musk an interim package worth roughly $29 billion in stock, equal to about 96 million shares.

The move was to incentivize Musk to focus on the company, and he can only claim the new award if he remains in a top executive role for another two years. The company would be voting on a long-term pay plan for Musk in the November shareholder meeting, according to an August 4 shareholder letter.

Musk also made clear his desire for Tesla to continue to invest in xAI, in a tweet in July that said Tesla would have invested in his AI company "long ago" if it were entirely up to him. The issue will also be put to a shareholder vote in November, according to Musk's post on X.

Not every shareholder is in agreement with the board and Musk's plan.

The SOC Investment Group, which represents union pension funds, urged Nasdaq on Wednesday to investigate whether Tesla violated listing rules by not securing shareholder approval for the interim pay package.

Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, who manages between $60 and $70 million worth of Tesla shares, previously told Business Insider that he is skeptical of Tesla's pivot away from its core EV business into robotics and cab services.

• Cracker Barrel's new logo swaps the overall-wearing man for simple text. It caused a social media uproar.
• The restaurant chain has faced other controversies in its 56-year history.
• Read the full history of Cracker Barrel, from its origins as a roadside stop to its post-COVID slump.

For decades, Cracker Barrel's logo included an overall-clad man with his arm on one of the namesake barrels. This year, the restaurant chain decided to change it.

Following the change, social media users revolted, and the company's stock price dropped.

It's not the company's first controversy. Founded decades ago as a roadside stop for sit-down meals, the restaurant and general store chain has endured protests, discrimination lawsuits, and trademark infringement claims.

Here is Cracker Barrel's history, from its gas station origins to its post-COVID relevance crisis and recent rebrand.

Dan Evins founded Cracker Barrel as a roadside stop in 1969.

Dan Evins' family was in the gasoline business. The American highway system was still young, meaning food on the road was difficult to come by.

"What Evins had in mind was the kind of place he'd been to hundreds of times as a boy," the company's site reads. "Evins figured maybe folks traveling on the big, new interstate system might appreciate a clean, comfortable, relaxed place to stop in for a good meal and some shopping."

Evins opened the first Cracker Barrel location in 1969 on Highway 109 in Lebanon, TN.

The name "Cracker Barrel" dates back to the country stores that Evins modeled his restaurant chain after. These stores would receive large shipments of soda crackers stored in barrels to prevent cracking. After the barrels were emptied, customers would use them as makeshift tables for checkers.

These barrels became symbols of camaraderie — and the brand's namesake.

Country stores have always been an inspiration for Cracker Barrel restaurants.

When Evins opened his first restaurant, he invited local antique store owners Don and Kathleen Singleton to curate the chain's general stores. The couple eventually joined as full-time designers.

In 1979, Kathleen retired after an illness, and her son Larry began to learn the trade from his father. Larry began stocking the brand's 19 locations, visiting flea markets and auctions across the country.

For 39 years, Larry served as Cracker Barrel's chief picker. He retired in 2019.

Cracker Barrels stopped carrying gas after the 1970s OPEC oil embargo.

After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) instituted a total ban on exporting oil to countries that had supported Israel. Gasoline in the United States became scarce, and prices skyrocketed.

Thanks to his family's business, Evins' first handful of Cracker Barrels had gasoline pumps on-site. After the OPEC embargo, Evins' new restaurants stopped carrying gasoline.

By 1977, Evins had built 13 Cracker Barrels from Tennessee to Georgia.

In 1981, Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores went public on the stock market.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores went public in November 1981 as part of a plan to expand beyond the American Southeast. On the day of its public offering, CRBL offered slightly over 600,000 shares at $10.00 per share.

Within five years, the company had doubled its store count to 47 and hit net annual sales of $81 million. By 1992, the company was valued at $1 billion.

Cracker Barrel said it would stop employing those without "normal heterosexual values" in 1991, sparking protests.

On February 21, 1991, Cracker Barrel's vice president of human resources William A. Bridges sent out a message: They would stop employing individuals "whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society."

Multiple workers were fired in this period, before Cracker Barrel walked back the policy, saying that it would "continue to employ those folks who will provide the quality service our customers have come to expect from us."

Activists said that the statement was not a retraction of the policy, and that Cracker Barrel had not rehired fired employees. The Los Angeles Times reported that Evins was also quoted in a Tennessee newspaper saying that Cracker Barrel would not hire homosexuals in rural communities.

Gay and lesbian activists protested and picketed Cracker Barrel. They also bought up stock, trying to financially pressure the restaurant chain.

In 2002, Cracker Barrel changed its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation.

Cracker Barrel tested a stand-alone gift shop before refocusing in the late 1990s.

In the mid-1990s, Cracker Barrel tried to move off the roadside and into the suburbs. It launched Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Corner Market, a chain of gift shops without attached restaurants. Cracker Barrel also briefly expressed an interest in building hotels.

By 1997, the stores were shut down, and Cracker Barrel refocused on its dining and hospitality business. "At Cracker Barrel, we're serving country food, country music, and we've got an old country store," Ron Magruder, then-president of Cracker Barrel, told the Orlando Sentinel.

By 2000, there were 423 Cracker Barrel locations.

Kraft sued Cracker Barrel in 2013 for trademark infringement

In November 2012, Cracker Barrel signed a licensing agreement with John Morrell Food Group to sell branded products in grocery stores. But Kraft already had a line of unaffiliated Cracker Barrel cheese products. The company sued Cracker Barrel for trademark infringement.

In 2013, Cracker Barrel agreed to sell its products under a different name: CB Old Country Store.

Employees and customers sued Cracker Barrel over racial discrimination in 1999 and 2001.

In 1999, thirteen current and former Cracker Barrel employees sued the company for racial discrimination. They later petitioned to turn the case into a class action suit, which was denied.

In 2001, 21 Black customers sued Cracker Barrel, accusing the company of widespread racism, from denying service to segregating their smoking section. Cracker Barrel's then-president Donald Turner said that the accusations were false. "We believe in good service -- and good service is colorblind," he said.

Both lawsuits were settled by Cracker Barrel in 2004.

That same year, the Justice Department sued Cracker Barrel for discriminating against Black customers. The company settled, signing a five-year agreement to implement nondiscrimination policies, create new training programs, and retain an outside investigator to ensure compliance.

Cracker Barrel struggled coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cracker Barrel made multiple attempts to court customers back after the COVID-19 pandemic, including adding alcohol to the menu. The company also bolstered its takeout and catering business.

But some customers weren't coming back. Between 2020 and 2024, Cracker Barrel lost 16% of its diners. "We're just not as relevant as we once were," CEO Julie Masino said on an investor call.

In 2024, Business Insider spoke with longtime patrons of the restaurant. They said food quality had declined.

Cracker Barrel launched a controversial new logo in 2025.

On Tuesday, Cracker Barrel debuted a new logo as part of its fall marketing plan.

The logo drew criticism from social media users. "I'm all for minimalism, but this is too much," one user said. On X, Donald Trump Jr posted, "WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?"

Shares of Cracker Barrel were trading down 12% on Thursday afternoon.

• The US government has reached a deal to take a 9.9% stake in Intel.
• The deal involves the US investing $8.9 billion in Intel common stock.
• President Donald Trump talked about the agreement on Friday during remarks at the White House.

The US government is officially investing in Intel, a remarkable development and a rare example of the government getting financially involved in a private company.

Under the terms of the deal, the US is investing $8.9 billion into the chipmaker, "reflecting the confidence the Administration has in Intel to advance key national priorities and the critically important role the company plays in expanding the domestic semiconductor industry," the chipmaker said in a Friday announcement.

The agreement means the US government will hold a 9.9% stake in Intel.

"The $8.9 billion investment is in addition to the $2.2 billion in CHIPS grants Intel has received to date, making for a total investment of $11.1 billion," Intel said.

"Under the terms of today's announcement, the government agrees to purchase 433.3 million primary shares of Intel common stock at a price of $20.47 per share, equivalent to a 9.9% stake in the company," Intel added. "This investment provides American taxpayers with a discount to the current market price while enabling the US and existing shareholders to benefit from Intel's long-term business success."

Earlier on Friday, President Donald Trump talked about the agreement and his discussions with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Intel's stock soared following the remarks, finishing the trading day up nearly 6%. The stock was trading down around 1% in after-hours trading following Intel's confirmation of a deal.

"The government's investment in Intel will be a passive ownership, with no Board representation or other governance or information rights," Intel said in its announcement. "The government also agrees to vote with the Company's Board of Directors on matters requiring shareholder approval, with limited exceptions."

A struggling American tech giant whose CEO came under political scrutiny

Intel has seen its market share decline as foreign rivals like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company grow.

The company is attempting a turnaround, and its CEO recently found himself caught up in political crosshairs.

Trump met with Intel's CEO earlier this month at the White House after calling for Tan's "immediate" resignation due to his reported investments in Chinese companies. Following the meeting, Trump sounded a much different tone, praising Tan's "amazing story."

Trump talked about some of his recent deal discussions with Tan in his White House remarks on Friday.

"I said, you know what, I think the United States should be given 10% of Intel," Trump said. "And he said, I would consider that. I said, well, I'd like you to do that because Intel's been left behind as, you know, compared to Jensen."

"I said I think it would be good having the United States as your partner. He agreed. And they've agreed to do it, and I think it's a great deal for them, and I think it's a great deal," Trump added.

"He walked in wanting to keep his job, and he wound up giving us $10 billion to the United States. So we picked up $10 billion," Trump said. "And we do a lot of deals like that. I'll do more of them."

Earlier in the week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the US would not use any stake in Intel to pressure companies.

"Yeah, the last thing we're going to do is put pressure, is to take a stake and then try to drum up business," Bessent said during an interview on CNBC.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, but like his predecessor, he wants to increase the share of semiconductors made in the US.

"A revitalized US chip industry will generate thousands of high-paying jobs, reinforce our technological leadership, and protect our supply chains from disruption by foreign rivals," reads Trump's AI Action Plan, which was published last month.

Semiconductors are difficult to manufacture, especially the more advanced a chip becomes. Still, they are a major component in everything from smartphones to AI. Global chip shortages, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened concerns that the US is too reliant on foreign production for the cornerstone of modern technology. Intel is one of just a handful of US companies that both manufactures and designs chips.

The US taking a stake in Intel illustrates the White House's growing support for aggressive intervention into the private sector. The US holds a so-called "golden share" in United States Steel Corp, and the Pentagon announced in July that it would take a $400 million preferred equity stake in MP Materials Corp, a US-based rare earth producer.

"As the only semiconductor company that does leading-edge logic R&D and manufacturing in the US, Intel is deeply committed to ensuring the world's most advanced technologies are American-made," Intel CEO Tan said in the Friday announcement.

• Ukraine is using ground robots to help its soldiers as it lacks manpower against Russia.
• They are used in a host of ways from collecting injured soldiers to firing at Russia, but have some flaws.
• An operator said he thinks one way is most promising: as a bomb that can drive right up to Russia.

Laying mines, carrying cargo, and transporting dead bodies: These are all ways Ukraine's soldiers are using ground robots in their fight against Russia.

Oleksandr Yabchanka, the head of the robotic systems for Ukraine's Da Vinci Wolves Battalion, told Business Insider there are at least eight ways these robots are being used. In addition to the above, they're also being used to transport injured soldiers, to de-mine, to fire at Russian positions, to explode like a bomb near Russian targets, and to gather intelligence.

He said one of these uses is the "most promising" for Ukraine's forces: Its use as a bomb.

That's because the robots can be piled with far more explosives than a sky drone can carry, and get closer than any human can safely.

"A crucial difference between aerial and on-the-ground unmanned systems is the mass that they can carry," Yabchanka said. That's key as Ukraine needs to "always be one step, half a step ahead of the enemy in terms of the powers of destruction."

He said the biggest aerial drones can carry mines weighing 22 pounds each, while the smallest ground robots he works with can carry more than 48 pounds, and can carry a lot more than that on average.

The drones can also get much closer to Russian positions before exploding than any soldier can do safely. Some videos from the battlefields show the robots driving into Russian trenches and dugouts before exploding.

This video, captured by Yabchanka's unit, shows how the robots can get into Russian positions:

Yabchanka said that a few hours before he spoke with Business Insider in March, his unit sent a robot carrying 66 pounds of explosives into a Russian basement.

It exploded in the actual basement, "not in the next street, not nearby," and killed Russian infantry. Business Insider could not independently verify that claim.

Flaws in the system

The robot technology is evolving and improving, but Yabchanka said it's still flawed.

The robots can gather intelligence through their cameras, but not as effectively as drones in the sky. Even simple obstacles, like grass, can limit that function, Yabchanka said.

Another problem is that they can lose communications and then become "just an expensive pile of metal scrap," Yabchanka said. Many companies are using AI and other technology to let the robots move without any operator input, but it's a constant development race.

By collecting injured soldiers, for example, the robots can get soldiers while risking fewer other troops. But Yabchanka said it's only used as a last resort, because if the platform becomes disconnected, it leaves the vulnerable soldier in the open and far from comrades, visible to Russia's drones.

Laying mines and hauling munitions

The robots are being armed with rifles and other weapons so they can fire at Russian positions while keeping Ukrainian soldiers away from return fire. Yabchanka described this function as the "most complex in terms of implementation," but one that lets his unit do things that can't be done "even by the bravest infantry people."

The robots can lay mines, which Yabchanka said is "quite dangerous" for soldiers to do, as "you have a flock of the enemy's drones all hovering over you." The robots can also carry more mines than soldiers can.

In addition to mines, the robots can carry the cargo that soldiers need, everything from food and water to ammunition. Yabchanka said one average-sized robotized system can carry more than what around 10 servicemen can typically carry.

And unlike aerial drones, robots can demine.

The robots can go ahead of soldiers to see if the route is clear. They'll sustain damage if they hit a mine, which is preferable to a human being hurt or killed.

Yabchanka said his unit has started to use robots to collect the bodies of fallen servicemen. Typically, doing that takes around eight soldiers, and it risks their lives. It's not a perfect solution, Yabchanka said: The robot can become disconnected or hit by a mine, meaning soldiers still have to help.

The tech is evolving in real time

The tech is still evolving, and both companies and soldiers are finding new ways to develop and use it.

Yabchanka said his unit sometimes talks to the manufacturers by way of video calls from trenches.

One ground robot company said Ukrainian soldiers were even finding ways to use its robots that it was not expecting.

The use of ground robots in war is not entirely new, and Western companies have used versions of them in recent conflicts. But what stands out in Ukraine is the scale of their use and the rapid innovation in how they're used.

It's something the West is watching, with companies and militaries upgrading their tech in response. But Russia is doing the same.

Yabchanka said that when it comes to any of the new uses that Ukraine and its allies find for the robots, "the question is not if but when" Russia will do the same.

"So the question is who will do it faster?" he said.

"We need to scale all these things up quicker than the Russians do," he said, urging European industry to work closely with Ukrainian troops and industry to innovate fast.

• I tried pumpkin drinks from Dunkin', Dutch Bros, and Starbucks to see which chain does it best.
• Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte was good, but it wasn't my favorite drink.
• Dutch Bros' caramel and pumpkin drink blew the competition away.

Summer may not be over, but the fall-favorite Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte or "PSL" is set to return to the chain's menu next week.

Many consumers have looked forward to the limited release of the drink every year since its 2003 debut. Since then, many competing cafés and popular coffee chains have offered their own variations of it.

Though Starbucks is the "OG," I wanted to see how its PSL compared to pumpkin-flavored iced drinks at other big chains, Dutch Bros and Dunkin'. Here's how they stacked up.

Editor's Note: This piece was originally published on October 30, 2024, and most recently updated on August 22, 2025. Prices are subject to change, and some drinks may not currently be available.

First, I ordered from Dutch Bros.

There's nothing more satisfying to me than pulling into an empty Dutch Bros parking lot super early on a weekday.

The Oregon-based chain has more than 900 locations across the US, and it's drive-up/drive-thru only.

I usually just go through the drive-thru, but I ordered my caramel pumpkin-brûlée breve ahead of time on the app so I could park and walk up to the window. Since Dunkin' only offers an iced pumpkin beverage, that's how I ordered this one, too.

The 24-ounce, medium-sized drink cost me $7.59.

The added caramel gave the drink a boost of smooth flavor.

The seasonal drink had almost no trace of pumpkin-pie spices. However, I did taste a hint of nuttiness that I associate with actual pumpkins.

The smooth, sweet caramel added a lot to the drink. Mixed with the other flavors, it almost tasted smoky, which felt very autumnal to me.

Additionally, when the sweetened cold foam on top seeped into the drink, it added a lovely creamy texture.

Then, I headed to Starbucks.

I took a right out of the Dutch Bros' parking lot, crossed through one light, and swung right into Starbucks.

It's not necessarily surprising that the chain was so easy to find, considering there are tens of thousands of locations around the world.

I placed a pick-up order for my iced Pumpkin Spice Latte. The medium, 16-ounce drink cost me $7.21.

The PSL was full of flavor.

Starbucks' PSL has changed over the years — for example, in 2015 the chain began using a real pumpkin puree in its sauce.

The beverage I tasted seemed allspice-heavy and came topped with thick whipped cream and cinnamon.

Of the three drinks I tried, Starbucks had the darkest brew of coffee.

Although the flavor was nice and full, which paired well with the warming spices, the aftertaste seemed bitter.

Lastly, I grabbed the iced drink at Dunkin'.

Dunkin' has introduced a rotating cast of seasonal drinks and doughnuts to its fall lineup over the last 10 or so years.

Although you can find the Massachusetts-based chain on street corners across the East Coast, it's a little less common in my Midwest city. Luckily, there's a drive-thru-only Dunkin' not too far from me.

I placed my order on the app, and my pumpkin-spice iced signature latte was ready as soon as I pulled up to the window.

The medium, 24-ounce drink came to $6.01, making it the best value on this list.

Dunkin’s pumpkin latte tasted more like chai to me.

I don't have Dunkin' that often, so I'm not sure if this is standard, but the espresso shot was pretty weak. It tasted more like a chai latte to me.

The pumpkin-spice syrup was also super sweet, and the drink wasn't as creamy as the other two.

One of the saving graces was the big pile of whipped cream on top. It was thick and added a buttery flavor to the beverage.

For me, Dutch Bros' pumpkin drink dethroned Starbucks' PSL.

Dutch Bros' sweet, creamy caramel pumpkin-brûlée breve was the winner for me. Even though the seasonal drink didn't taste like traditional pumpkin spice, I thought it had a unique, autumnal vibe.

Although I didn't dislike Starbucks' PSL, it was a little too bitter for me — especially with the strong mulling spices.

Dunkin's drink tasted more like an overly sweet chai latte, so I probably wouldn't order it again.

• The latest ad from the Gap featuring girl group Katseye has been a viral hit.
• Gap has been doing ensemble dance videos, sometimes with celebs, for nearly 30 years.
• Like a cozy Gap tee, it was safe and just worked.

This week, Gap released a new ad for its denim line featuring girl group Katseye dancing to Kelis's "Milkshake." The ad is undeniably fun to watch (and rewatch) and has gone viral online with an outpouring of positive responses. There's a lesson here: playing it safe and sticking to a formula that works — while adding a trendy twist — pays off.

Gap's competitors, American Eagle and Lucky Brand, also recently released celebrity-endorsed ads — but with Sydney Sweeney (to some, ahem, controversy) and Addison Rae, respectively. My colleague Jordan Hart reports that the social media engagement on Gap's Katseye ad was far ahead of its peers, and it was clearly winning the back-to-school jeans war.

The Gap has been creating visually and thematically distinctive ads — models, sometimes celebs, singing or dancing against a monochromatic backdrop since the late '90s. It's a template that's distinctive and has worked — and the latest Katseye ad is hitting a particular sweet spot of throwback and zeitgeist.

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

1998: Swing khakis. If you weren't around to remember this, just trust me: this ad of people dancing in tan pants to "Jump, Jive, an' Wail" was huge. It hit on a weird microtrend moment of a swing dancing revival in the late '90s, and there's even some new-at-the-time "Matrix"-style camera effects! This turned out to be one of the most iconic TV ads of the decade — and Gap was very happy to iterate on it.

1999: Mellow Yellow cords. This time, instead of dancers, the ad features bored-looking models (look out for a young Rashida Jones) singing the 1966 Donovan song "Mellow Yellow".

2001: Daft Punk and Juliette Lewis. Celebrities start getting into the mix now. At the time, neither Juliette Lewis nor Daft Punk were huge superstars, but both had some cool credibility that made the ad work — it made Gap jeans seem cool. (This is maybe a personal favorite? A friend recently revealed he could do the entire Juliette Lewis dance from memory, which is a great party trick).

2002: "Love Train" holiday stripes. The striped skinny scarf era gives me hives to look at (both thinking about and remembering the itchiness). At this point, the ads were comfortable and predictable, like a Gap sweater.

2003: Into the Hollywood Groove. Madonna and Missy Elliott performed in an ad where Madonna sang a mashup of "Into the Groove" and "Hollywood." For me, this doesn't quite land — it's hard to believe either Madonna or Missy Elliott, both known for their distinctive personal style, wear clothes from the Gap.

2004: Sarah Jessica Parker and Lenny Kravitz. This came out just a few months after "Sex and the City" ended, and Sarah Jessica Parker was a huge star with a ton of fashion credibility (she somehow makes a fedora work here).

This goes on and on. In the last few years, there have been ads with Tyla and Troye Sivan, and this spring, with Parker Posey — right at the peak of her "White Lotus" fame.

And yes, there were some years when the Gap was a little lost in the wilderness — particularly in the early aughts — and probably wanted to move away from these ads to feel fresh (let's never mention the disastrous logo rebrand).

The rise of fast fashion put the screws to it, and in the last decade, it's gone through some corporate reshuffling.

There's always been a slightly evolving question of what the Gap is, and who it is for. Is it plain basics for everyone? Boring soccer mom clothes? Trendier items to appeal to younger shoppers? More designer-y stuff for a sophisticated crowd?

For now, it seems the Gap is experiencing a moment in the sun. It has a new CEO, former Mattel executive Richard Dickson, who started in 2023 and brought on designer Zac Posen as creative director. Its sales for the first quarter of 2025 were up, although it predicted flat growth for the spring and summer, citing tariffs. But overall, things are looking pretty good for the Gap.

The Katseye ad hits just at the right moment. The group, which formed on a competition show from K-pop label Hybe, is incredibly popular right now. They're also capital-F fashion — they recently starred in ads for Fendi. They're good dancers, and they make the baggy jeans and denim miniskirts look cool and hip. Using the 2002 song "Milkshake" instead of one of Katseye's own songs makes sense when you look at the legacy of throwback songs like "Mellow Yellow" in Gap ads. Plus, everyone loves "Milkshake."

The ad isn't risking anything new; it's sticking to a formula that it knows works. The little extra flair it's adding is the choice of celebrities in the zeitgeist, and making it fun to watch and rewatch. This isn't too far from what makes the Gap's clothing appealing: it's safe, familiar, reliable — you know exactly when you walk into a Gap store, you get a striped tee or a pair of jeans — but with a faint whisp of trendiness that makes it work.

• I did the ultimate breakfast sandwich showdown with Ina Garten, Gordon Ramsay, and Martha Stewart.
• Stewart's sandwich took less than 10 minutes, while Garten's was partly made in a microwave.
• Ramsay's breakfast sandwich was the clear winner, thanks to his incredible scrambled eggs.

Ever since I left New York City (and my trusty local bodega), my craving for a great breakfast sandwich is at an all-time high.

So I decided to give a few recipes by some very famous chefs a try.

For my ultimate cooking showdown, I put Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, and Gordon Ramsay's "perfect" breakfast sandwiches to the test. I've tried many fantastic dishes by all three, so I knew they wouldn't let me down.

One sandwich took more effort than expected, and another was surprisingly dry. But the winner was easily one of the best breakfast sandwiches I've ever had, and I'll be making it for years to come.

Martha Stewart's sandwich was the simplest of the three.

The recipe, which Stewart demonstrated on "Martha Stewart's Cooking School," only has four ingredients.

All you need is an English muffin, applewood-smoked bacon, an egg, and some fontina cheese.

Stewart's recipe requires minimal work and very little cooking time.

The only prep I had to do was slice the fontina cheese. Then I just needed to cook my bacon, fry my eggs, and toast my English muffins.

Since Stewart cracks her eggs right in the bacon grease, you can cook both at the same time if you have a big enough pan. It's very minimal clean-up, which is always a huge bonus!

After my eggs were ready, I built the sandwich. The entire process took less than 10 minutes.

I placed my crispy bacon on the bottom halves of my English muffins and slid the fried eggs on top.

Voila! Breakfast was already done.

Stewart's breakfast sandwich is all crunch, with no creaminess to balance it out.

Between the crispy bacon, the fried egg, and the toasted English muffin, Stewart's favorite breakfast sandwich was far too dry for my taste.

The sandwich needed another texture to balance it out. Avocado slices or a creamier cheese would've helped, and some sauce could've gone a long way.

Stewart's sandwich could be a quick and easy breakfast staple, but it needs a few tweaks.

Get the full recipe for Stewart's favorite breakfast sandwich here.

Next up was Ina Garten's breakfast sandwich, which also only has a few ingredients.

Almost all of the ingredients in Garten's bacon, egg, and cheddar sandwich are pantry staples. You need:

• Extra-large eggs
• Thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon
• Sharp white cheddar cheese
• English muffins
• Avocado
• Whole milk

What makes Garten's recipe so unique is that she actually uses a microwave to cook her eggs.

Per Garten's instructions, I microwaved the bowls with my egg mixture in 30-second intervals, stirring them each time before popping them back inside.

Garten recommends doing this until the eggs "are puffed and almost cooked through."

It took about four minutes total to cook the eggs in the microwave.

I had never cooked eggs in the microwave before, so I was surprised to see how similar they looked to eggs cooked on the stove. They actually looked nice and fluffy!

But since I was making breakfast for the whole family, I still had to repeat the process for two more bowls, which was more time-consuming than I had expected.

The eggs looked deliciously fluffy as I put my sandwiches together.

I still couldn't believe that the eggs had come out of the microwave, and they tasted deliciously creamy as well — especially with the cheddar cheese mixed in.

The thick-cut bacon was also the perfect choice for this sandwich. Its crispy texture contrasted nicely with the fluffy eggs and served as the perfect base with the avocado.

I do think Garten's recipe could use just a bit more oomph. I recommend adding a bit more cheddar cheese — and some hot sauce if you like heat — to elevate the flavors even more.

Garten's sandwich is a great option if you're only making breakfast for one or two people.

Garten's breakfast sandwich takes less than 15 minutes to make, which is a huge plus in the morning.

It's also a creative way to get your egg fix when you only have access to a microwave. I wish I'd known about this dish during my dorm days.

Get the full recipe for Garten's breakfast sandwich here.

Gordon Ramsay's breakfast sandwich has the most ingredients of the three.

Ramsay has some special ingredients to take his sandwich to the next level. To re-create his recipe, you'll need:

• Eggs
• Brioche buns
• Goat cheese
• Cheddar cheese
• Thick-cut bacon
• Shallots
• Scallions
• Crème fraîche

The key to Ramsay's breakfast sandwich is his unique technique for making scrambled eggs.

Ramsay's technique involves cracking your eggs into a cold nonstick saucepan, then repeatedly taking it on and off the heat while adding knobs of butter.

I placed my saucepan on low heat and continuously stirred the mixture for one minute, per Ramsay's instructions. Then I took the saucepan off the heat while stirring my eggs for 30 seconds.

I repeated this method (one minute on, 30 seconds off) three times before my eggs looked ready. Ramsay believes moving the saucepan on and off the heat helps prevent the eggs from overcooking, leaving you with a "custardy and silky texture."

He also has a special secret ingredient —  a dollop of crème fraîche.

I also sprinkled in the scallions and seasoned everything with salt and pepper.

I could already tell how creamy the eggs would be as I built my sandwich.

I added the scrambled eggs on top of my bacon on the bottom half of my brioche buns and spread goat cheese on the top halves.

I then sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top of my eggs and got ready to dig in.

Ramsay's breakfast sandwich didn't just beat Stewart's and Garten's — it's also one of the best I've ever had.

Ramsay's legendary scrambled eggs were silky, fluffy, and luscious. I was so excited after my first bite that I wrote in my notes: "The eggs are so freaking creamy. Like, the creamiest I've ever had."

But they weren't the only great thing about Ramsay's sandwich. The bacon and spring onions gave a nice crunch to each bite, and I love that Ramsay uses a brioche bun instead of an English muffin — the fluffy texture paired perfectly with his smooth and creamy eggs.

I made this sandwich for my parents, and they were still raving about it days later, describing it as "juicy, light, and fresh."

When it comes to the breakfast sandwich showdown, Ramsay is my clear winner.

Get the full recipe for Ramsay's breakfast sandwich here.