An all-electric hydrofoiling boat from Swedish company Candela has set two new world records by travelling between Stockholm and the Finnish autonomous region of Åland, marking the first time an electric boat has crossed the Baltic Sea.
Candela, which has developed a range of electric hydrofoil boats and ships, wanted to demonstrate that “that zero-emission sea travel is not only possible today, but that foiling electric ships and boats are so much cheaper to operate than fossil-fuelled vessels.”
The record-breaking journey was undertaken in the Candela C-8, a €330,000 ($A544,500) leisure craft, equipped with a battery from technology partner Polestar.
The journey covered 150 nautical miles from the port of Frihamn in Stockholm, Sweden, to Mariehamn, the capital and largest town of the Åland Islands, an autonomous region of Finland, with a charging stop in Kapellskär.
While charging along the trip was made mostly with existing charging infrastructure, a 40kW Kempower Movable Charger was needed in Kapellskär.
Leaving from Frihamn at 6am, the Candela C-8 made it to Mariehamn by lunchtime, and returned to Frihamn the same day.
“The disadvantage of electric boats has been their short range, due to traditional boat hulls consuming so much energy,” said Gustav Hasselskog, the company’s CEO and founder.
“With our hydrofoil technology, we combine high speed and range, but you get so many other benefits. Flying over the Åland Sea in total silence and without slamming was absolutely magical.”
A gasoline-powered chase boat of similar size accompanied the Candela C-8 on the journey and had to be refuelled for a cost of €750, or around $A1,230. For comparison, the Candela C-8 consumed 213 kWh of electricity, at a cost of about €40-50 (around $A66-83).
“We actually had range anxiety, but not for the Candela,” said Gustav Hasselskog.
“The irony is that the photographer’s gasoline-powered chase boat had to refuel six times during the trip, while we only charged three times.
“We’re talking about 95% lower operating costs,” concluded Hasselskog. “This is a revolution that makes waterborne transöport competitive with land transport in terms of costs, which we will now demonstrate in public transport in Stockholm.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.
NORTHBROOK, Ill., July 18, 2024 –The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) today announced estimated catastrophe losses for the month of June of $230 million or $182 million, after-tax.
June month catastrophe losses include 18 events estimated at $274 million, primarily related to geographically widespread wind and hail events. Total catastrophe losses for the second quarter were $2.12 billion, pre-tax or $1.67 billion, after-tax, and total catastrophe losses for June year-to-date were $2.85 billion, pre-tax, or $2.25 billion, after-tax.
Financial information, including material announcements about The Allstate Corporation, is routinely posted on www.allstateinvestors.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” that anticipate results based on our estimates, assumptions and plans that are subject to uncertainty. These statements are made subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and may be identified by their use of words like “plans,” “seeks,” “expects,” “will,” “should,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “believes,” “likely,” “targets” and other words with similar meanings. We believe these statements are based on reasonable estimates, assumptions and plans. However, if the estimates, assumptions or plans underlying the forward-looking statements prove inaccurate or if other risks or uncertainties arise, actual results could differ materially from those communicated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements may be found in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the “Risk Factors” section in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements are as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.
Erin Brewer started identifying as a boy after she was sexually assaulted at the age of 6, which led to feelings of self-loathing that eventually resulted in her turning to pornography before she found peace through God and accepted His unending love.
After the assault, Brewer wore her brother’s hand-me-downs and cut her hair short, thinking that if she were a boy, the violation would never have happened. Brewer’s dissociation from her own body often manifested in a strong sense of rage, and she would do things like beat her head with a brush when she saw herself in the mirror.
A teacher referred the girl to a school psychologist, who encouraged Brewer’s mother to portray womanhood in a positive light and expose her daughter to strong female role models. The school psychologist also recommended Brewer join a group for children who struggled with communication, and these interventions helped set the girl on the path toward reconciling with her identity as a female.
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The girl struggled with not wanting to be a woman throughout most of her teens. But the guidance she received, combined with getting her period, a biological development that is distinctly female, helped her to stop denying her sex.
“It was gradual, but I became tired of fighting reality,” Brewer told The Christian Post about why she stopped identifying as a boy.
Erin Brewer, a former trans child and public speaker, holding one of her three children. | Photo provided by Erin Brewer
She expressed gratitude toward the teacher who recognized something was wrong and referred her to the school psychologist, fearing that if she had been a child struggling with her gender identity nowadays, the school would have encouraged those feelings.
“My heart breaks for the little girls who are not getting the help they need and instead are being told they’re born in the wrong body,” she said, crying. “Especially because so many of these kids did suffer from sexual assault, and instead of getting the help that they need to process what happened to them, that sexual assault is pushed aside, and it’s almost like they’re being re-assaulted every time their gender confusion is reinforced.”
Brewer is now a public speaker who advocates against allowing children suffering from gender dysphoria to socially transition or undergo body-mutilating procedures. Five years ago, the advocate published a video discussing a fake male appendage that young girls who want to identify as male can buy and wear in their pants so they have a bulge. The video has since gone viral.
“The peckers are not even as bad as it gets,” she said. “There are puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones that undermine a child’s fertility and sexuality for the rest of their lives, setting them on a path of self-destruction.”
While the advocate never took drugs or underwent a sex-change surgery when she struggled with her identity, Brewer did ask teachers to call her “Timothy” at one point. She is afraid to even imagine what her life would have been like if her desire to identify as a boy had gone further. Now a mother to three children, she’s keenly aware that she might never have given birth had she gone down that path.
Erin Brewer, a girl who started identifying as a boy after a sexual assault at the age of six. She is now a public speaker who advocates against allowing gender dysphoric children to socially transition or undergo life-altering procedures. | Phot provided by Erin Brewer
Reconciling with the fact that she was not a boy is not the end of Brewer’s story, however. The advocate’s insecurities about her body and need for male attention continued to trouble her in her adult life. She started making pornography in her 40s, which, for a time, made her feel valuable and loved.
Men would send Brewer requests, and she would do things like pee on a flower if they asked. She admits that she was going through a rough period where she struggled with her self-confidence and finding a career. A therapist she spoke to even encouraged her to keep doing porn, likening Brewer to a social worker because she was providing a service for men who needed it.
“I’m kind of a quirky female, and I think that pornography filled this gap of needing male attention,” she said. “Suddenly, all these men told me I was attractive and beautiful; they thought I was a princess and wanted to marry me. I never experienced anything like that before, and it was like a drug.”
Brewer made pornography until September 2019, when she had an opportunity to speak in Washington, D.C., for the Eagle Forum, a conservative group founded by the late activist Phyllis Schlafly in 1972. Until that moment, Brewer said she never had a sense that making pornography was wrong.
“Being around the women at the Eagle Forum, I suddenly had a sense of God that I’d never had my whole life,” she said. “I’ve always been sort of an atheist and agnostic type, but just being around those women, those women who were so grounded in love, it was the first time I really felt unconditionally loved by people.”
After disclosing to those at the Eagle Forum that she had done porn, Brewer expected scorn, but instead, the organization expressed concern for her well-being. Members of the organization warned her that pornography was dangerous, and she eventually stopped doing it.
“I think it was unconditional love that God has for us that I had never felt before,” Brewer said.
A loving Christian community surrounded her, encouraging her to view herself as God’s daughter and to recognize that the Lord did not want to see His child harmed. Before surrendering herself to God, Brewer had over 400 videos on Pornhub, which she deleted after finding Christ.
After everything she experienced, Brewer would advise parents and school officials to stop allowing children to believe that they’re inherently flawed. She urged authority figures not to enable the discomfort young people sometimes feel about their bodies.
“The treatment should help them manage and resolve those feelings so that they can then be comfortable with who they are without damaging themselves,” she said.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
Jan: Together we got the loan, and then at some point, I received an extension to increase that loan. Initially, I just applied for a small amount, just thinking this would be a good backup or an emergency fund scenario. And then when I got approved, I got approved for the entire loan amount, which was way more than I was honestly looking for.
And then I sat with a couple of days and then I was just thinking that this would help me redirect my career. I was just hoping that that would be able to get me back on track. I was thinking, “Okay, cool. I can use this to start some kind of a small business or use it to generate some income for the lifestyle that both Emily and I want.” And then I took it and then I didn’t tell Emily about it, and then it just became this snowball that I became ashamed of.
Emily: I found out we were already under contract and our lender was requesting some information about this small business loan. Again, when we took it out, it was at the beginning of COVID. Jan had lost his job, which we knew we’d be set up for the whole year. We were aware that we were set. And so when he lost his job, it was all on me. And I had just started a new job, which is all commission based. So we knew at that point, okay, right now I have enough money to pay off that loan if we need. So I knew that if we’re taking it, I have the ability to pay it back, but it would give us a little cushion still considering or thinking that COVID would be done faster.
And so when our lender called and said, “Hey, I need these documents,” it was like, days had gone by and Jan keeps most of our– he’s very organized. He has everything in files. Everything is there. So I was like, “Babe, just send her the stuff. It’s all good. Just send her the stuff.”
And after a few days of that, I noticed that his mood was getting really weird. He kept saying, “They keep asking us for stuff. They keep asking us for stuff.” And I was like, “We haven’t done anything wrong. Open book, send them all.” And eventually, he just said, “I need to tell you something. I made a mistake.” And we were already a week and a half or two weeks into the home-buying process already.
I was walking home and he said the number and I just immediately like– sorry. I just immediately was like, “Am I going to be one of those wives whose husband gambles away all of their money?” Everything that I thought I had that I had been saving for the last year, working and working and working towards the thing, I didn’t have enough money to pay back that loan.
Ramit: I’m really enjoying this conversation. Yes, Jan made a mistake, a really dumb one, but he’s owned up to it. And Emily has acknowledged what happened and she’s accepted it. She said she’s not concerned he’ll do it again. I know a lot of you want me to sit here and beat Jan up, but that’s not what this podcast is about.
Everybody makes mistakes with their money, and you will often see me surprisingly compassionate when somebody does not know how to start investing. I mean, 90% of the time the people on this show don’t even read my book. I’m not going to blame them. I’m here to help them.
Now, I do get mad when people don’t take responsibility for their actions. But Jan has. He’s acknowledged it. He’s making amends. And I applaud him for that. And I applaud his partner, Emily, for accepting that and being so candid. Now, I want to go deeper. Again, I’m not interested in beating him up, but I want to make sure he understands why he took that loan out because if he does, he can get to the root cause of his lie around money.
Summer is a wonderful time to focus on self-care. The warm weather and longer days provide the perfect backdrop for establishing healthy habits and routines. Aromatherapy, the use of essential oils for therapeutic benefits, is a great addition to your summer self-care regimen. These oils can enhance your mood, boost your energy, and help you relax.
Essential oils come from plants and have many uses. They can be used in a diffuser, added to a bath, or applied directly to the skin (with proper dilution). When you inhale the scents of these oils, they can help you feel more awake, calm, or happy. In summer, when the heat can sometimes make you feel tired or overwhelmed, aromatherapy can be particularly helpful.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of aromatherapy for summer self-care. You’ll learn how to incorporate essential oils into your morning routine, how they can give you a mid-day energy boost, and how they can help you relax in the evening. Let’s dive into the ways you can make the most of essential oils for a refreshing and soothing summer experience.
Benefits of Aromatherapy for Summer Self-Care
Aromatherapy offers several benefits, making it an excellent choice for summer self-care. Essential oils like lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus can help elevate your daily routine. The scents from these oils have the power to influence your emotions and overall well-being.
First, aromatherapy can boost your mood. Certain essential oils promote feelings of happiness and relaxation. For example, citrus oils like orange and lemon are known for their uplifting properties. They can help counter feelings of sluggishness or sadness on hot summer days.
Another benefit is stress relief. Life can be busy and overwhelming, but taking a moment to inhale calming scents can make a big difference. Oils like lavender and chamomile are great for reducing anxiety and promoting a sense of calm. They can help you unwind after a long day in the heat.
Lastly, aromatherapy can improve your physical health. Essential oils have natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Using oils in a diffuser can purify the air in your home, making it easier to breathe and reducing the risk of summer allergies. Additionally, applying diluted oils to your skin can soothe minor burns or insect bites.
How to Incorporate Essential Oils into Your Morning Routine
Starting your day with essential oils can set a positive tone for the rest of the day. Here are some easy ways to include aromatherapy in your morning routine:
Morning Diffuser: Begin by adding a few drops of an uplifting essential oil to a diffuser. Scents like peppermint or citrus can energize you and help you wake up. Place the diffuser in your bathroom or kitchen to enjoy the aroma while you prepare for the day.
Aromatherapy Shower: Use essential oils in your shower to create a spa-like experience. Add a few drops of eucalyptus or peppermint oil to a corner of the shower. The steam will help the scent fill the space, providing an invigorating start to your morning.
Skincare Routine: Incorporate essential oils into your skincare routine. Mix a few drops of tea tree or lavender oil with your moisturizer or facial serum. These oils will not only nourish your skin but also provide a refreshing scent.
Morning Yoga or Meditation: Enhance your morning yoga or meditation with essential oils. Use a few drops of calming oil like sandalwood or frankincense on your yoga mat or around your meditation space. The soothing scent can help you focus and get centered before starting your day.
By adding these simple steps to your morning, you can enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy and start your day feeling refreshed and energized.
Mid-Day Pick-Me-Up: Using Energy Essential Oil
A mid-day slump is common, especially in the summer heat. Using Energy Essential Oil can be a great way to rejuvenate yourself and stay productive throughout the day. Here are a few simple methods to incorporate this invigorating oil into your routine:
Diffuser: Add a few drops of Energy Essential Oil to a diffuser. Place the diffuser in your workspace or living room. The refreshing scent of peppermint and citrus can help clear your mind and boost your energy levels. This is particularly useful if you’re working from home or need a quick pick-me-up during your break.
Topical Application: Apply diluted Energy Essential Oil to your wrists, temples, or behind your ears. This method allows the invigorating scent to stay with you as you go about your day. You can also mix it with a carrier oil and use it for a quick massage on your neck and shoulders to relieve tension.
Portable Inhaler: Use a portable essential oil inhaler for on-the-go stimulation. These handy devices allow you to enjoy the benefits of Energy Essential Oil wherever you are. Simply take a deep breath whenever you need an energy boost.
By integrating these simple steps into your day, you can combat fatigue and maintain a high level of productivity and focus.
Evening Relaxation: Enhancing Your Mood with Happy Essential Oil
After a long day, winding down can be challenging. Happy Essential Oil is designed to help you relax and boost your mood in the evenings. Here’s how to make it a part of your evening routine:
Diffuser: Add 3-5 drops of Happy Essential Oil to a diffuser in your bedroom or living area. The calming blend of bright and cheerful scents like bergamot and lemongrass can create a serene environment, making it easier to unwind and prepare for a restful night.
Bath: Enhance your evening bath by adding a few drops of Happy Essential Oil to your bathwater. The warm water will help disperse the oil, filling the room with a soothing aroma. This can aid in relaxing both your body and mind, making it a perfect end to a busy day.
Pillow Spray: Create a pillow spray by mixing a few drops of Happy Essential Oil with water in a spray bottle. Lightly mist your pillow before bed. The gentle aroma will help put you in a positive and calm state of mind, promoting better sleep and overall mood enhancement.
Using Happy Essential Oil in these ways can transform your evenings into a relaxing and joyful experience, preparing you for the next day.
Final Thoughts
Aromatherapy is a powerful tool for enhancing your summer self-care routines. By incorporating essential oils like Energy Essential Oil and Happy Essential Oil into your daily life, you can enjoy a range of benefits. From boosting your energy during the day to promoting relaxation at night, these oils offer simple yet effective ways to improve your overall well-being.
Starting your day with an invigorating scent can set a positive tone, while a mid-day energy boost keeps you productive. As the day winds down, soothing aromas can help you unwind and get a good night’s sleep. Each step of the day offers an opportunity to use aromatherapy to your advantage.
Ready to transform your summer self-care routine? Explore our full range of natural essential oil products at MOXĒ. Discover how our earth-friendly solutions can make a big difference in your daily life. Start your aromatherapy journey today with MOXĒ and feel the benefits of nature every day!
Smartwatches keep adding “life-saving” tech like fall detection, SOS calling, AFib warnings, and the latest Loss of Pulse feature on Pixel Watches, all to make you feel safe. But there’s a less flashy and more common concern that most watches treat as an afterthought: hydration tracking and sweat loss.
I’ve wanted better hydration tools on watches for a while, but last weekend’s report of 35-year-old runner Bobby Graves dying of cardiac arrest after finishing a Disneyland half marathon last weekend — a day after self-diagnosed heat exhaustion in 100ºF heat — brought it to the forefront of my mind.
This man was my age, had run several half and full marathons in the past, and wasn’t at an age where people worry about heart health. Perhaps the medical report will shine a light on mitigating circumstances, but there’s a reason why SFGate’s quoted expert specifically warns people to “make sure you’re remaining hydrated” during hot weather.
Smartwatches have the means to estimate sweat loss from workouts; Samsung even claims it’s clinically accurate at it. But most other brands (besides Garmin) ignore it, and those that do track it don’t do enough with it.
I’d say it’s past time for hydration to become more of a priority for fitness brands. Excessive heat will only get worse over time, and watches need to be ready for it.
Hydration tracking is as basic as can be
Both Wear OS and WatchOS have a few water-tracking apps like WaterMinder and Waterllama. Samsung’s One UI Watch has a first-party Hydration tile, and Garmin watches let you download a Hydration Tracking glance from the Connect IQ store.
They vary in looks and niche features, but they all work pretty much the same way: You open the app or tile and tap a button to say you drank a cup of water. The screen will show how many fluid ounces you have left to drink that day. You can also schedule regular reminder pop-ups to check if you’ve been drinking.
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It’s useful enough for everyday life! But that daily water reminder doesn’t take context into account, like how hot it is or if you’ve done a workout; you’d have to change the target goal yourself. And the combination of hourly drinking and move reminders can be so annoying that most people ignore or disable them.
A few fitness watch brands like Coros and Polar let you set reminders during workout activities to refuel or rehydrate, but at preset intervals; again, there’s no context for how much water or electrolytes your body truly needs.
Ideally, a watch would take heed of when the user has sweated (or is sweating) more or less than usual, and dynamically suggest that the person drink more water to avoid issues with dehydration and heat exhaustion.
Accurate sweat tracking IS possible with smartwatches
A fitness test at the University of Michigan while wearing Samsung Galaxy Watch tech. (Image credit: Regents of the University of Michigan. Eric Bronson/Michigan Photography.)
Earlier this month, Samsung boasted that a clinical study from University of Michigan proved how accurate its Galaxy Watches are compared to medical-grade sensors for heart rate (90%), VO2 Max (82%), and sweat loss (95%). That’s about what I expected from a wrist-based optical HR sensor, but the sweat accuracy surprised me.
Samsung doesn’t track your sweat loss directly. It estimates “based on your body size, age, gender, and the intensity of your workout, including heart rate, ambient temperature, and other conditions.” I’d always chalked my Galaxy Watch Ultra’s post-run sweat loss numbers to guesswork, but apparently it’s educated guesswork.
The only direct consumer sweat-loss tool I know of is the Nix Biosensor. It adheres to your bicep and sends your sweat down an “inlet” with electrodes at either end, calculating its “velocity” to determine your sweat rate. Then it extrapolates how much sweat the rest of your body is losing, since different body parts have varying sweat rates.
(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)
Nix’s sensors are potentially useful for serious athletes, and I intend to test them for a future column. But they’re niche and only worn in exercise concepts; we need mainstream smartwatches worn daily to be the authority on sweat.
The Pixel Watch 3 cEDA sensor can detect “tiny changes in the sweat level of your skin” for stress data, but I don’t think it’s designed to track overall sweat loss. Apple patented a perspiration sensor that would “measure of the amount of fluid lost over an interval of time” and even show a real-time sweat loss rate, but a patent is no guarantee that a company can make a concept work in real life.
For now, I’ll be happy if more brands emulate Samsung and Google, using their standard heart rate and body data to estimate sweat loss after workouts. Eventually, though, they need to go even further, in line with what Apple patented.
Picture this: Say you’re running a half marathon with a Galaxy Watch 7 in warm conditions. During the run, a data screen will show in real time how much sweat it estimates that you’ve lost, perhaps calculating the new total every few minutes or every mile. At certain thresholds, perhaps every 500ml of sweat loss or a customizable number, it could buzz your wrist suggesting that you refuel soon.
If your body’s sweat rate slows down during your run, that’s a serious sign of dehydration. Your Galaxy Watch would warn you to stop immediately and rehydrate or seek medical attention, the same way it would tell you if it detected arrhythmia or a low heart rate.
Once you’ve crossed the finish line, the watch would provide your total sweat loss estimate, as it does now. But it would also automatically add your lost sweat totals to your Hydration tile. Samsung recommends that you “replace 150% of what you lost within 1 to 2 hours,” so I assume it could easily multiply your workout’s total milliliters of sweat loss by 1.5 and add the fluid ounces there.
Then maybe it could send post-workout notifications at the one- and two-hour marks, reminding you to log your drunk-water totals in the Hydration tile to confirm that you’re refueling properly.
(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)
That’s my vision for how this could work. And ideally, the sweat sensor wouldn’t only activate during workouts, but measure sweat continuously (like the Fitbit cEDA sensor) and begin tracking more frequently if you reach a certain sweat or heart rate threshold, or if your local weather and humidity are especially high.
It’d come in handy for farm workers, delivery drivers in hot vans, construction crews, and plenty of other outdoor workers, not just athletes.
Garmin comes closest to my idealized vision for useful sweat loss data, though it buries the Hydration Tracker tool in Connect IQ like it’s ashamed of it. Once you download it, you can open the app settings and turn on “Auto Increase Goal” to add your workout sweat loss to your standard daily goal.
I tested it on my Garmin Forerunner 965, and it did add six cups of water to my daily total after supposedly sweating out that much during a 10K on a hot day. But Garmin underestimates my sweat compared to Samsung and doesn’t follow its “replace 150%” advice. I always need more water than Garmin thinks, so it’s more theoretically than practically useful.
For the sake of runners who try to push through and finish races when their bodies are trying to tell them to stop, fitness watches need to be ready to step in at any moment, not just warn you at the finish line that you’ve sweated a river.
Rather than rely on algorithms, it’d be best if they started measuring your body’s sweat directly for more tailored data, since reasonably accurate brands like Garmin and Samsung will produce different results with heart rate estimates. With sweat data, warnings to drink water or electrolytes would feel more relevant.
XPERSIS Professional double gold titanium foil shaver with Lithium battery
It delivers up to 1.5 hours of continuous run time for 30 minutes charging
Extra-close shave on the neck, face, and all around the hairline
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Great for travel
1 x USB cable, 1 x pouch, 1 x cleaning brush, 1 x instruction manual
