Author: openjargon

• China built mock-ups of US aircraft out in the Taklamakan Desert, satellite images show. 
• Apparent blast marks and craters suggest China may be using the area for target practice. 
• China has previously built mock-ups of US warships and carriers, likely for similar purposes.

Satellite images show what appear to be mock-ups of fifth-generation US aircraft, among other aircraft, out in a Chinese desert.

The airplanes, along with the suspected runway covered in apparent scorch marks and craters, suggest that China may be using the mock aircraft and area for target practice. It would not be the first time that this sort of thing has been observed in China.

The satellite image of the mock-ups, captured April 19, 2024 by Planet Labs PBC and then obtained by Business Insider, show both covered and uncovered aircraft by a runway at a site in the Taklamakan Desert. There looks to be around 20 aircraft near a building and three more planes near the runway.

Brady Africk, an open-source-intelligence analyst and an associate at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, said that the mock aircraft appear to be targets for some sort of training, not unlike other mock-ups China has made.

While most of the aircraft in the image are covered up, nine look to be exposed. Six of the uncovered aircraft strongly resemble the US Air Force's F-22, the first fifth-generation fighter. As for the other aircraft, they look a bit like the P-8A Poseidon and the U-2 reconnaissance plane, though it is difficult to say for certain.

More recent satellite images from late May surfaced on social media this week, showing apparent F-35 mock-ups among the fighters.

Those satellite images, like the image from April, also appear to indicate that China has been using the aircraft and the area for target practice. Scorch marks and craters are evident at one end of the apparent runway, and some of the aircraft mock-ups appear wrecked. Those marks were not visible in an earlier image from a few years ago.

That satellite image from June 28, 2021, also courtesy of Planet Labs PBC, shows the same site but with only seven aircraft and an unscathed runway area.

China has previously built mock-ups of American assets for target practice.

In January of this year, satellite images showed what appeared to be a mockup of the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and a US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer also in the Taklamakan Desert. The mock-ups are believed to be targets and may be part of China's efforts to further develop its missile force against naval targets.

In a war with China, the US would likely turn to its carrier strike groups for combat power projection.

One expert previously told BI that these mock-ups potentially allowed China to refine seekers with image-recognition capabilities and help it develop the ability to accurately target particular ships or even specific parts of ships where a missile could do the most damage.

China has much to gain from practicing with mock-ups of US aircraft and ships. China has also built a mockup of Taiwan's capital city, including its presidential office and government buildings, out in the desert of the Alxa League area. Such a facility could be used for training to prepare it for conflict.

• Shivon Zilis quietly had a third child with Elon Musk earlier this year, Bloomberg reported.
• Business Insider first reported that Musk quietly had twins with Zilis in 2021.
• Zilis, 38, is a director at Neuralink and has had a successful career in venture capital and AI. 

Elon Musk quietly had another child with Shivon Zilis earlier this year, according to a Bloomberg report published Friday.

It's the third child Musk has had with Zilis. Business Insider first revealed in 2021 that she had a set of twins with the Tesla CEO. In 2022, Zilis and Musk filed a petition to change the twins' names in order to "have their father's last name and contain their mother's last name as part of their middle name," according to court documents. 

Their personal relationship was unknown prior to 2021, although Zilis worked in the billionaire's orbit for several years. She's the director of operations and special projects at one of the billionaire's companies — Neuralink, a startup that makes computer chips designed to be implanted in the brain.

Elon Musk's biographer, Walter Isaacson, shared a glimpse into Musk's relationship with Zilis in September 2023.

In an excerpt from Isaacson's biography on the Tesla CEO and in a post on social media, he shared a photo of Musk and Zilis with their twins — who were 16 months old at the time — sitting on each of their laps.

The biographer said the photo was taken when Musk ushered him to Zilis' house in Austin to talk about the threat AI posed to civilization.

"We were sitting on a suburban patio by a tranquil backyard swimming pool on a sunny spring day, with two bright-eyed twins learning to toddle, as Musk somberly speculated about the window of opportunity for building a sustainable human colony on Mars before an AI apocalypse destroyed earthly civilization," Isaacson said of the scene.

Beside those fathered with Zilis, Musk has eight other known living children, including five with his first wife, Justine Wilson, and three with his former girlfriend, the musician Grimes. He's said in the past that he's doing his best to help the "underpopulation crisis." 

Zilis, 38, has had a successful career in both venture capital and artificial intelligence.

Zilis grew up in Ontario, Canada, and is a lifelong athlete

Zilis was born in Markham, Ontario, and grew up playing ice hockey. She attended Yale University, where she played goalie on the women's ice-hockey team. She graduated in 2008 with a degree in economics and philosophy.

Photos from Zilis' social media accounts, which were taken down in 2022, show Zilis surfing, zip-lining, and ice climbing. 

She started her career in finance and venture capital

After graduating from Yale, Zilis got a job at IBM, where she spent three years focused on financial technologies.

She later joined early stage venture-capital fund Bloomberg Beta, where she led investment efforts in data and machine learning. Her work at Bloomberg Beta earned her a spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in the venture-capital category in 2015.

Zilis worked as a project director at Tesla from 2017 to 2019, lending her AI expertise to the Autopilot and chip-design teams. 

She's passionate about artificial intelligence

Zilis developed an interest in artificial intelligence around the age of 12 or 13, when she learned about the concept from the Our Lady Peace album "Spiritual Machines." It led her to read a Ray Kurzweil book by a similar name and sparked her passion for AI, she said during a 2021 address at the Canadian Undergraduate Conference on AI. 

"I've basically spent pretty much all of the last decade focused in and around AI unfolding in the world in the best way possible," she said. 

It was AI that led her to Musk: In 2016, Zilis joined OpenAI, a nonprofit co-founded by a group that included Musk and former Y Combinator president Sam Altman. OpenAI's stated mission is to find ways for AI to benefit humanity as a whole. The company made headlines late last year when it released a new version of its AI chatbot, ChatGPT.

Zilis was the youngest member of OpenAI's board of directors until she stepped down in March 2023, The Information reported.

She has a high-level role at Neuralink

In 2017, Zilis joined Neuralink, the futuristic brain microchip company also cofounded by Musk. Neuralink has a short-term goal of using implantable devices to solve brain and spine problems, and a long-term mission of achieving "symbiosis" between artificial intelligence and the human brain, according to Musk.  

In her presentation at the Canadian Undergraduate Conference on AI in 2021, Zilis called Neuralink the most "complicated but also fascinating thing I've ever encountered in my life." 

"AI's going to be one of the fundamentally transformative technologies humanity creates, if not the most," she said. "And so we just need to make sure, from a humanity perspective, this goes well." 

In January, Noland Arbaugh became the first human patient to receive a Neuralink brain implant.

Zilis has defended Musk from critics

In 2020, Musk publicly sparred with the state of California over its COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, calling them "fascist" and "forcible imprisoning." He pledged that Tesla would move its headquarters to Texas as a result, which prompted California State Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher to tweet "F*ck Elon Musk."

Zilis responded on Twitter, writing that Gonzalez Fletcher's tweet made her sad.

"No one's perfect but I've never met anyone who goes through more personal pain to fight for an inspiring future for humanity – and has done so tirelessly for decades," Zilis wrote. "Everyone's entitled to their opinion but mine is that there's no one I respect and admire more."

Zilis had twins with Musk in 2021 and bought a house in Austin

Zilis purchased a home in a gated community in Austin in August 2021 — the real-estate website Zillow estimates the home is worth more than $4 million.

Tesla's Gigafactory is located near Austin, and court documents obtained by Insider list Musk and Zilis as residents of that address. Musk, however, has said that his primary residence is a $50,000 modular house in Boca Chica, near the SpaceX launch facility in South Texas. 

Zilis and Musk's twins were born in November 2021, a few weeks before Musk and the musician Grimes had their second child via surrogate. Musk and Grimes later had a third in June 2022, according to a biography of Musk that came out in 2023.

Grimes, whose legal name is Claire Boucher, said on X that communication about Zilis' twins "wasn't handled super well."  Musk's biographer said in an excerpt from his book that Grimes was initially "outraged" that she found out about Musk and Zilis' twins at the same time the public did. In September 2023, in a since-deleted post on X Grimes accused Zilis of blocking her on social media.

"I have never been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart," Grimes wrote on X and later deleted.

The pair later appeared to make amends on X and Grimes said she now understands what happened.

"I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue. This wasn't her fault, plz don't be angry at her! We respect each other a lot and we're excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together," Grimes wrote on X on September 10, 2023.

Zilis' responded to Grimes post saying: "I can't wait for kiddo play date and congrats on baby Tau as well," referencing Grimes' third child with Musk.

The Neuralink director also frequently posts about her children on X. She posted a video in May of one of her kids responding "Tesla" when Musk pointed to a Tesla sign and asked what it said.

• I made classic vanilla ice cream using the bag trick, blender method, and Ninja Creami.
• The Ninja Creami required over 24 hours of time and the bag method took about 15 minutes.
• I liked the three-ingredient blender method the best because the ice cream had a great texture.

I love frozen treats and always thought there was something about making homemade ice cream out of just a few, simple ingredients that's extremely satisfying.

As someone who'd never made a homemade version of the treat before, I decided it was worth trying three ice-cream-making methods to see which technique yields a store-bought-quality product.

I made traditional vanilla ice cream three ways using the bag trick, the three-ingredient blender method, and my $200+ Ninja Creami.

Here's how each method went, and which one I'll be trying again.

I started with the bag method, which was super straightforward.

The ingredients for the bag-method ice cream included half-and-half, vanilla, sugar, salt, and ice. I also grabbed some cookies to possibly use as a garnish or mix into the finished product.

I poured the ingredients into two different plastic bags.

I filled a small sandwich bag with 1 cup of half-and-half, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, pushed the air out, and sealed it. Next, I filled a slightly bigger plastic bag with 3 cups of ice and 1/3 cup of salt.

Per the instructions, I placed the smaller bag in the bigger bag and started to shake them.

I thought the bag method required a lot of labor.

Things also became messy as the bag got wet from the condensation and dripped. To make the process easier, I stuck the bag in a big pot lined with a kitchen towel and shook the entire thing back and forth.

Overall, I vigorously shook the bags for about 10 minutes, which was tiring and just annoying.

 

Still, the ice cream came together pretty quickly.

After 10 minutes, it seemed the ice cream had come together so I spooned it out of the bag to try it.

The bag-method ice cream wasn't bad at all. It wasn't very smooth or creamy but it had an icy, chunky texture and good flavor.

I think that some of the salt water may have seeped into the smaller bag and gave the ice cream a slightly salty taste, but I actually didn't mind. The flavor was pretty good on its own so I decided not to add the cookies.

Overall, I was surprised the bag method worked so well.

The bag method yielded fast results and got the job done.

However, the ice cream seemed to melt quite quickly once I scooped it out of the bag, which may have been because it was no longer insulated by the bigger salt-water bag.

Though the whole process took only 15 minutes, I'd only use the bag method again if, for some reason, I desperately needed ice cream in the middle of the night.

Next, I used my Ninja Creami Deluxe to make ice cream for the first time.

Making this ice cream was my first time using my Ninja Creami, an appliance designed to make creamy desserts.

It took some fiddling around for me to figure out how to put it together. That said, once the appliance was up and running, the recipe was straightforward.

For this method, I followed the base ice-cream recipe from the pamphlet that came with my Ninja Creami. The recipe calls for cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream, milk, and an extract of the user's choice. To keep things consistent with my other creations, I used vanilla extract.

I combined the classic ice-cream ingredients, plus cream cheese.

Putting the base of the ice cream together was simple.

I softened 1 tablespoon of cream cheese in a bowl and added 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I began to stir and once that was smooth, I dissolved the paste into 3/4 cup of the heavy cream and 1 cup of milk. 

Next, I poured the mixture into the Ninja Creami pint.

The recipe called for freezing the ice-cream-filled pint for 24 hours.

This was my main issue with the Ninja Creami method because it's not very fast and it requires freezer space before the dessert is even finished. You also may need to really plan ahead if you want ice cream. 

After 24 hours, the pint was frozen solid. 

Then, it was time to see the Ninja Creami in action.

I stuck my frozen pint in the machine and let it do its processing.

The Ninja Creami's blade drove into the frozen pint and churned the mixture into a creamy dessert. Though the process was a little loud, it was done within a couple of minutes.

If you want a creamier texture, you can also choose to go for a second respin cycle.

This ice cream tasted the most like a store-bought variety.

The consistency of the Ninja Creami ice cream wasn't hard, though it was a bit crumbly and melted somewhat fast when I started eating it. Next time, I'd opt to spin it again to get it smoother.

It had a somewhat creamy, soft-serve texture and that good classic vanilla ice-cream flavor. 

After freezing the finished ice cream for a day, it hardened up and had a fairly identical texture to a typical store-bought vanilla ice cream.

Lastly, I tried the three-ingredient blender method in my Nutribullet.

For the three-ingredient method, I opted to mostly follow a recipe from food blogger Mighty Mrs.

Right off the bat, it seemed like the simplest of the three recipes and required only heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract.

I decided to veer off the recipe and whip the heavy cream in the blender.

The recipe instructed me to beat 4 cups of heavy cream in a large bowl but I opted to blend it in my Nutribullet until I got stiff peaks.

The accompanying blog post for the recipe said whipping the heavy cream can "add air to your ice cream" to give it "that perfect ice-cream texture you know and love." As I followed the recipe, I realized this turned out to be true.

The blender created a thick whipped cream to combine with the rest of the ingredients.

After I blended the heavy cream, which took about 30 seconds, I mixed in a 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract. 

I added the fluffy ice-cream mixture to a loaf pan.

I transferred the ice-cream mixture into a loaf pan and stuck it in the freezer for several hours. According to the recipe, the ice cream needs a minimum of two hours in the freezer.

Minus the freezing time, the entire process literally took me under 10 minutes.

The three-ingredient ice cream turned out to be extremely delicious.

After a few hours, I took the ice cream out of the freezer and scraped a few bites off of the surface.

This ice cream was thick, super creamy, and unlike the other two ice creams, wasn't icy at all. It almost had a chewiness to it and didn't melt very fast. It had a similar texture to a Melona Bar, dense but still delicious.

Overall, the three-ingredient ice cream I made using the blender was my favorite.

Next time I have a craving for homemade ice cream, I'm going to whip out my blender and three ingredients. 

The simple recipe yielded my favorite creamy, thick texture. The finished ice cream didn't melt quickly, was nice and dense, and took very little effort to make.

Still, the Ninja Creami was a close second because making ice cream was pretty easy once the pint was frozen for 24 hours. I think those who prefer a softer, store-bought ice-cream texture might like this method best.

The bag trick was a little too annoying for me to want to try it again, but it certainly did work. 

This story was originally published on September 2, 2023, and most recently updated on June 21, 2024.

• Summer is a busy time for travel, especially as the world prepares for the Olympics in July.
• Business Insider spoke to Olympian Tom Daley about his top tips for staying fit while traveling.
• Daley recommends stretching, meditation, and looking for free activities near your destination.

The sun is shining longer and temperatures are getting hotter, which means summer is officially here.

Nearly 82% of American adults surveyed by The Vacationer plan to travel this season, with about a quarter planning to do so internationally. Between the Olympics in Paris, Wimbledon in London, and another leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Europe will likely be a popular destination.

But as exciting as traveling is, it can also be stressful. Long flights, jet lag, and packed itineraries can make it hard to prioritize physical and mental fitness.

Business Insider spoke with four-time Olympic medalist and British diving legend Tom Daley through his partnership with Trainline, a European train booking app, to learn his top tips for staying fit while traveling this summer.

Whether you're headed to Paris like Daley, the Eras Tour, or any other corner of the world, here are his five recommendations to maintain your physical and mental health while on the move.

The most important thing to remember when traveling is your routine, according to Daley.

Daley, 30, told Business Insider that the most important thing when traveling is to try to maintain some kind of routine.

He started diving at age 7 and made his Olympic debut in 2008 at just 14 — understandably, Daley said his body has changed since then, impacting how he can and can't travel.

"When I was younger, traveling when you're 10 to 15 years old, you don't really have many issues," he said. "But then as soon as you start getting a little bit older, and as I've been more of an athlete now for 23 years, I just have to start thinking about how can I look after myself best when I'm traveling," he added.

The concept of routine is also an important part of how he stays disciplined while training and focused during competitions.

"I think the one way to be able to stay motivated and determined and committed to what you need to do is a sense of routine. Being able to stick to the routine, being able to know what you're going to be doing, when, it's all about the consistency," he said. "If you consistently stick to your routine, then you'll eventually get there."

So, if you normally like to go for a walk in the mornings, plan to do the same thing on vacation; this will give you something familiar to do while you're away from home and make it easier to continue that part of your routine once you're back.

Whether you're traveling by train, plane, or car, don't forget to get up and move around.

While we understand wanting to use all your travel time to binge-watch "House of the Dragon" or "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars," it's a good idea to take a break to move around.

"Even just being able to get up and move around, being able to stretch your legs," Daley said. "I often find myself doing lots of things to be able to stay as loose and nimble as possible."

The American Heart Association recommends getting extra steps in at the airport by skipping the conveyor belt people-movers and walking around while waiting for your plane to board. The AHA also recommends staying active during long road trips by frequently stopping to stretch or take short walks around rest areas.

In-seat stretches are also a good way to stay loose.

"I try to find myself doing in-seat stretches, as far as standing up and stretching your legs out, stretching your arms out," Daley said.

Stretching is beneficial because it can help improve flexibility, mobility, posture, and mental health.

Some seated stretching options include neck, shoulder, wrist, and ankle rotations. These motions can improve circulation and allow you to avoid feelings of stiffness.

Daley recommends meditation to keep your mental fitness strong while traveling, too.

Daley told BI that he's found meditation "can be really, really useful to be able to arrive as fresh as possible."

Some of his personal meditation tips include focusing on contact points, such as where you're touching the floor or seat. He also recommends counting where you inhale on one and exhale on two — and so on — until you reach 10.

"It's being able to keep your mind constantly active, but then also not really thinking about anything other than breathing. But once you get the hang of it, it's really useful," he said.

The benefits of meditation range from better focus and concentration to improved self-esteem and self-awareness, as well as reduced stress and helping manage anxiety or depression.

Once you've arrived at your destination, remember to take full advantage of your surroundings.

Daley said there are "so many amazing things to be able to do around Europe," like playing tennis on public courts, surfing, or his favorite, wakeboarding.

Whether you're into hiking, biking, or water sports, Daley's "Summer Sports Tour of Europe" has other recommendations to help you stay active on vacation.

• I went glamping for the first time in the Sahara Desert with two kids and had an amazing time.
• Not even the sub-zero temperatures and minimal amenities ruined the beautiful views.
• After this experience, I'd go glamping again and I might even try camping. 

I don't require five-star accommodations to be comfortable, but I have spent most of my adult life avoiding camping, convinced I would hate it.

When I travel, I like having hot showers, reliable electricity, and a warm place to sleep at night. Those basics aren't a guarantee with camping, but they do often come with glamping.

Glamping varies widely but generally consists of accommodations and facilities more luxurious than a basic tent. Sometimes, it also involves sleeping in a yurt, cabin, or unique structure — after all, the glamping industry is booming in the US amid the rising demand for unique travel experiences.

So when I booked a group tour to Morocco with my two kids that included overnight camping in the Sahara Desert, I was down to give it a try.

I paid $4,256 for the three of us for the entire group tour, which included accommodations, a sunset camel ride into the dunes, dinner, and breakfast during the two days in the Sahara Desert.

At first, I didn't realize what I was in for

When I signed up for the trip, I naively assumed a desert in North Africa would be comfortable in December.

Only later while frantically searching what I would need to camp in the Sahara did I learn its temperatures in the winter could fall to 25 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.

I started to panic. The tent I was staying in did not have heat. I rush-ordered a merino wool base layer and hoped for the best.

I read reviews past travelers left saying that even though the camp I was staying in had showers, I could forget about using them because it would be far too cold.

At the last minute, I packed a few baby wipes so I could give myself a sponge bath in the desert if needed. I was no longer convinced this would be a very glam experience, but it was too late to change my plans.

Fortunately, the desert camp was much nicer than I expected

My camp in the Sahara — El Borj, located in Erg Chebbi — was anything but basic. Improbably, it had a cozy, home-like feel.

Throughout the campsite, beautiful Moroccan rugs were carefully arranged over the sand. Each structure had pops of color on its exterior, too.

The camp had a welcoming walkway lined with solar-powered lights, which was great at night.

My tent was huge. Much to my relief, it was also insulated.

The camp had electricity, although I had been warned that the power source was unreliable and could fail at any moment.

Daytime in the desert was magical, and nighttime was cold but lovely

A day in the desert was just as magical as I had hoped.

I vowed that riding a camel into the sunset, watching the sun disappear over the vast desert, and sliding down enormous sand dunes would not be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

At night, I bundled up and enjoyed a feast with roasted olives, traditional Moroccan tagine, couscous, and fresh fruit sprinkled with cinnamon.

As the temperature dropped, I huddled by the fire and stared in awe at the desert sky, which was filled with more stars than I'd ever seen at one time. The moon was so full and bright it didn't look real.

I thought about how I would have missed all of this if I had let my fear of camping — and even glamping — stand in my way.

If being cold and going without a hot shower for a day was the trade-off for such an amazing experience, it was well worth the inconvenience.

When it was time to go to bed, the blankets were heavy, but I was so tired I barely noticed their weight as I drifted off to sleep.

I woke once, briefly, and considered getting up to use the bathroom in our tent. I felt the bitter cold nipping my face and decided I could wait until the morning.

I would gladly go glamping again — and I might even try camping

I woke up early, in time to catch the golden sunrise over the dunes. I sat by the fire with a hot cup of coffee mixed with warm milk and sugar.

As I watched the sunrise, I decided that I was a glamping person after all. Later that afternoon, driving away from the desert, I wondered if I should give old-fashioned camping a try, too.

Over 4,000 residents fled Tila, Mexico, after gangs ransacked the streets, shooting at buildings and burning homes.

• SpaceX internet division Starlink is offering a new smaller, more portable satellite dish.
• The laptop-sized Mini device draws less power than the full-sized Standard, and can reach 100Mbps.
• Sales are currently limited to areas where coverage has been "unaffordable or completely unavailable."

Staying connected while off the grid is getting even easier.

Starlink, the satellite internet division of SpaceX, is now offering a new smaller, more portable dish it calls the Mini.

At 11.75 inches by 10.2 inches and weighing less than 2.5 pounds, the laptop-sized device fits easily into a backpack and can reach 100Mbps.

It also draws less power than the full-sized Standard, which means the Mini is capable of running on a 100W USB-C PD battery pack, which The Verge estimates estimates could give you about an hour of run-time on a 10,000mAh pack.

"I just set it up right now and am writing this post through space. Took less than 5 mins," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X. "This product will change the world."

Musk also claimed his connection achieved a remarkably low 23ms latency — fast enough for online gaming.

The unit costs $599 in the US, but sales here are currently by invitation only as an add-on service to residential service plans.

Additional regions will be available in the future, but for now only customers in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama can purchase a Mini, where it is available at a lower price with a special standalone service option.

"Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely unavailable," Starlink said.

Outdoor enthusiasts and digital nomads alike welcomed the concept on X.

"This would be a game-changer for me," Ron Stauffer posted. "I've spent the past decade awkwardly Wi-Fi-hopping from coffee shops to restaurants to coworking spaces and tethering from my iPhone. I always have my backpack with me, so this sounds like the perfect solution."

• The Polybahn in Zurich is the most unique train ride I've ever experienced.
• The Polybahn is a train on a steep incline that takes riders up and down the hilly Swiss city.
• At just over $1, it's an affordable and historic travel experience with scenic views.

I've traveled 5,120 miles on trains in the US, Canada, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Germany.

My rail journeys in these seven countries have varied greatly. I've booked a range of classes on day trips and overnight rides. I've even been on the 21st-century version of a legendary luxury train— the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

But none of those experiences were as unique as my ride on the Polybahn in Zurich in 2022.

The Polybahn is a funicular, like a train on a steep incline (sometimes called a hillavator). The rails go up and down, making it feel like a slow roller coaster.

I thought the Swiss funicular was a great tourist attraction similar to an aerial tram because you can see a range of views of the surrounding areas. It's also a cool experience for history buffs, as the transportation mode has served Zurich since 1886, according to the company's website.

And for just over $1, it's the cheapest travel activity I've ever paid for — and one of the best.

My journey started at Central Polybahn station in Zurich's Altstadt neighborhood.

At the station, I used an automated machine to purchase a ticket. One ride cost me $1.30.

Inside, I walked up a set of stairs to the only platform and immediately noticed the tracks were on an incline.

The Polybahn pulled up within minutes.

According to the Polybahn website, the train arrives every five minutes. It has two cars that each carry 50 people at a time.

As I stepped on board, I was excited by the car's bold red exterior, wide windows, and unique shape.

I noticed that there were no staff members on board. Since 1996, the train runs automatically.

There were less than a dozen people on board. Some looked like fellow tourists with phones and cameras out; others seemed like locals.

But none were employees. According to the company's website, the Polybahn was upgraded in 1996 and has since operated completely automatically.

From the elevated train, I had wide views of Zurich from start to finish.

I saw a range of architectural styles, an abundance of greenery, and the hilly streets of the Swiss city from a window seat. A wide window at the back of the train reminded me we were moving up as the tracks sloped downward behind us.

Just two minutes later, my journey was over far too soon.

I could have spent at least an hour gazing at the city from the Polybahn, but just two minutes after departure, I arrived at Polyterrasse — a viewing deck at the University of Zurich.

With a panoramic scene of Zurich in front of a mountain range, I had an optimal view of the city I'll never forget.

• Two significant upgrades to the B-52 bombers are facing issues and delays, per a new watchdog report.
• The re-engined bombers, for instance, won't be operational until 2033, three years later than expected. 
• The upgrades are part of a plan to keep the B-52s in service until at least 2050.

Some significant upgrades to the US Air Force's 70-year-old strategic bombers are facing notable issues.

Plans to replace the engines and upgrade the radars of the B-52s now come with a higher price tag, delivery delays, and technology issues, according to a new government watchdog report.

The B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program, which seeks to substitute the bombers' older engines with military-configured commercial engines, is now delayed "in part due to funding shortfalls to complete the detailed design," the annual Government Accountability Office report on major US military programs said earlier this week.

Per the report, the B-52 CERP program "has worked with the contractors and submitted budget requests to support critical design review in August 2025 and initial operational capability in mid-fiscal year 2033." Delays are notably "a result of underestimating the level of funding needed to complete the detailed design activities."

That's three years later than the Air Force planned to have the re-engined planes operating. The service first announced plans in 2021 to replace the engines on its B-52s — which are out-of-production — with new Rolls-Royce-designed ones. The new engines boast improved fuel usage and easier maintenance.

Along with the delays, the cost of CERP saw a jump. The program's procurement cost, an initial $8 billion, is now up to around $9 billion, according to the Pentagon's fiscal year 2025 budget, as Inside Defense first reported. Its projected total cost is unclear.

The B-52 Radar Modernization Program also saw a bump in cost due to issues with lab testing, the GAO report said. "Costs grew by 12.6 percent since the program's initial estimate in 2021 due to additional hardware and labor for three integration labs, installation of test equipment, and an additional year of contractor support."

That upgrade involves switching the B-52s over to a new radar that provides greater range and resistance to electronic warfare countermeasures.

Along with the issues with these B-52 programs, GAO's report found that the Department of Defense was, across the board, "still struggling to deliver new technologies quickly, even while faced with constantly evolving threats."

For the B-52, the integration of new systems is critical to keeping its B-52s operational for the next few decades. The Air Force plans to keep the planes in service until 2050, almost 100 years after the first B-52 entered service. There are currently 72 active, with some in conventional roles and others still able to serve in a nuclear capacity. Those that are no longer active are in long-term storage at the Air Force's "boneyard" in Arizona.

The Air Force continues to rely on the B-52s for long-range strategic bomber missions, even though they lack the speed of the B-1 Lancers and the stealth of the B-2 Spirits.

Their formidable airframe and durable design keep them in good shape despite continued flights and operations. And updated weapons, communications, and other hardware and software keep the planes modern and capable, as well as make it easier to conduct future upgrades.